The present invention relates to a metal sheet for obtaining a frame for an in-line roller skate. The present invention also refers to a method for obtaining a frame for in-line roller skates starting from such a metal sheet.
As a rule, the frame for an in-line roller skate comprises a central support intended to receive the skate boot and a pair of side wings, between which a plurality of aligned wheels are mounted.
Said frame should be as light as possible, so as to improve the user's comfort during skating and avoid excessive and unnecessary efforts.
Moreover, manufacturing of said frame should be simple and inexpensive and it should allow to obtain a wide variety of different frame designs, even complicated ones, so as to satisfy the aesthetical requirements of the users.
Frames made of plastic or metallic material by casting molten material in a mould are known in the art.
Nevertheless, the costs for manufacturing such frames are very high, due to the expensiveness of the moulds as well as to the need for successive finishing and perfecting steps by mechanical machining.
Frames comprising a supporting base of plastic material and a pair of metallic side wings fastened to said supporting base by means of screws or other known fastening means and oriented in a direction opposite to the supporting base for the skate boot are known.
However, also the costs for manufacturing such frames are very high, due to the large number of different parts to be assembled together and to the large number of steps in the manufacturing process.
In order to obtain frames with a simpler structure and lower manufacturing costs, frames obtained from a metallic sheet folded into a "U"-shaped structure have also been developed. Nevertheless, even such frames are not free from drawbacks. First of all, since the frame is obtained by simply folding a metal sheet into a "U"-shaped structure, the number and variety of designs that can be obtained are limited. Secondly, in said frames the heel and the toe of the user are necessarily at the same level, which in general strongly limits the user's comfort.
The main object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of prior art by providing a suitably shaped metal sheet that allows to obtain an in-line roller skate frame that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture while being at the same time versatile and comfortable.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for obtaining an in-line roller skate frame starting from a suitably shaped metal sheet that allows to make the manufacturing process of said frame easy and inexpensive. These and other objects are achieved by a metal sheet and a method as claimed in the appended claims.
The metal sheet according to the invention has a pair of longitudinal slits that separate the central portion - intended to form the central support of the in-line roller skate frame, onto which the skate boot is to be mounted - from the lateral portions - intended to form the wings of the in-line roller skate frame, between which the aligned wheels are to be mounted.
Thanks to this measure, in the frame obtained from the metal sheet according to the invention the central support and the side wings are independent from each other, so as to ensure a high versatility in the choice of the form and design of such frame.
Moreover, thanks to the presence of the longitudinal slits, the central portion of the metal sheet according to the invention in shaped as a strip which is partially separate and independent from the lateral portions, so that it can be shaped at will.
More particularly, it can be shaped so that the rear portion, intended to support the user's heel, is at a height from the ground greater than the front portion, intended to support the user's toe, which increases the user's comfort. Thanks to the fact that, once the longitudinal slits are made, the in-line roller skates frame is obtained by simply folding the metal sheet according to the invention, its manufacturing process is simple and inexpensive.
Advantages and features of the invention will be clearer from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
With particular reference to
Preferably said metal sheet 1 is made of light metal, such as aluminium.
Said sheet 1 has a substantially quadrilateral shape and it comprises a front side 1a and a rear side 1b, opposite and substantially parallel to each other, and a pair of lateral sides 1c, 1d, they too being opposed and substantially parallel to each other. Said sheet 1 has a shape symmetrical about its longitudinal axis L, which is parallel to the lateral sides 1c, 1d and divides the front side 1a and the rear side 1b in substantially equal parts.
Preferably, the sides 1a - 1d are not straight, but they are shaped so as to give the desired appearance to the in-line roller skate frame made from the metal sheet 1.
According to the invention, the metal sheet 1 includes a pair of longitudinal slits 3c,3d starting from the front side 1a and extending until near the rear side 1b and defining a central portion 11 and a pair of lateral portions 13,15.
The slits 3c,3d are preferably - but not necessarily - symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal axis L.
Said slits 3c,3d extend in a substantially longitudinal direction, but they can be shaped according to a desired shape, thereby contributing to give the desired structure and appearance to the in-line roller skate frame made from the metal sheet 1.
In particular, the slits 3c, 3d are shaped so as to give a substantially "T"-shaped form to the central portion 11 with a wider front region 11a near the front side and a narrower intermediate region 11b.
The wider front region 11a of the central portion 11 is devised so as to allow the connection of the central portion 11 to the lateral portions 13,14 near the front side 1a in the in-line roller skate frame made from the metal sheet 1. To this purpose, through-holes 17 for the passage of connecting and fastening means, which are arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis L, are provided in said region 11a.
Correspondingly, respective through-holes 19, also provided for the passage of said connecting and fastening means, are made in the lateral portions 13,15.
Furthermore, in
As it is evident from the above description and from
With reference to
Turning now to
In
The holes 19 provided in the lateral portions 13,15 are thus aligned with the holes 17 provided in the front region 11a of the central portion 11, thus allowing the passage of connecting and fastening means 21, which rigidly fasten said lateral portions 13,15 to said central portion 11 near the front side of the metal sheet 1.
These fastening means may be rivets 21, as shown in
Turning now to
The central portion 11 of said metal sheet forms the support for the skate boot.
More particularly, the front region 11a of the central portion 11 forms the platform for the toe of said shoe, while the rear region 11c of the central portion 11 forms the platform for the heel of said shoe.
As mentioned above, the through-holes 7,9 respectively provided in the front and rear regions 11a, 11c allow the passage of the means for the connection to the skate boot. Advantageously, since the rear region 11c is at a height greater than the front region 11a, the boot is inclined forward, which increases the user's comfort during use.
The lateral portions 13,15 of the metal sheet form instead the side wings of the frame.
As mentioned above, the holes 5c, 5d provided in the metal sheet 1 allow the passage of the axles of the skate in-line wheels.
It is evident from the above description that the invention achieves the object set forth above, since the in-line roller skate frame illustrated in
It is also clear that the above-described preferred embodiment is in no way to be considered as limiting and that many modifications and variants can be made without departing from the scope of protection of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
This list of references cited by the applicant is for the reader's convenience only. It does not form part of the European patent document. Even though great care has been taken in compiling the references, errors or omissions cannot be excluded and the EPO disclaims all liability in this regard.