1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sporting goods, and particularly to skates. The field of the invention is that of skates having roller wheels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Skates having roller wheels are used for sporting, exercising, and recreational activities. Two varieties of roller skates are well known and used: in-line and parallel skates. These skate designs typically have four roller wheels, either all four in-line so that the planes of the wheels are all coplanar, or parallel in a two by two, or quad, arrangement. The skate also includes a foot or shoe enclosure with a base or chassis which rotatably supports the axles of the roller wheels. The in-line arrangement provides the wearer with the feel of an ice skate, while the parallel arrangement is more stable. Both arrangements are popular, with some activities being more suited for in-line skates, e.g., traveling over outdoor paths, playing field hockey, and other activities for quad or parallel skates, e.g., skating at roller domes, training skaters.
The foot or shoe enclosure portion of the skate is similar for both arrangements. However, the wheel support portions of the skates are typically made from a fixed frame that rotatably supports the axles of the roller wheels. The sharp contrast between the in-line and parallel arrangement requires that the wheel support portions of those skates be dramatically different. Also, the foot or shoe enclosure portion attaches to each type of wheel support arrangement differently. For example, with in-line skates, two elongated plates can serve as journals for all the roller wheel axles. However, it is impractical to provide parallel skates with common journals because of the increased width between the wheels of the parallel skates, although each pair of the parallel wheels may share a common axle. For a skater to utilize both arrangements, one pair of skates for each arrangement must be obtained.
One known convertible skate allows the substitution of a set of in-line roller wheels with a blade for ice skating. This structure actually requires that an assembly of roller wheels be removed and a separate blade assembly be attached to convert the skates. With this design, the same foot enclosure may be used with either arrangement. However, this design requires that the skater carry the spare parts that are removed and replaced. Further, while this design allows for the substitution of a support for in-line roller wheels and a support for an ice skating blade, it does not provide support for a parallel arrangement of roller wheels.
What is needed is a skate which may be readily converted from an in-line arrangement to a parallel arrangement.