Self-centering skate holder

Abstract

A self-centering skate holder for clamping a skate blade from above and below which maintains the blade at a pre-determined height and parallelism. A handle is connected with a cable which is taut and extends around the circumference of the upstanding vertical member. The movements of the cable activate cam levers which rotate cams that move a pair of jaws towards or away from each other. The simultaneous movements of the cams ensure that the jaws move in unison and through a similar distance allowing a skate blade of any thickness to be clamped along the desired centerline. In an alternative mechanism, a tie bar extends between the jaws and is operated by a cam to induce equal and opposite movement of the jaws.

1 . A skate holder comprising a base, a mounting plate secured to said base and having an elongated slot therein to receive a blade of a skate, a pair of jaws located on said mounting plate on opposite sides of said slot and moveable relative to one another to engage opposite sides of said blades, and an operating mechanism connected to each of said jaws and operable to move said jaws conjointly from an open position to a closed position whereby said jaws remain equally spaced to opposite sides of a datum during such movement.  
   
   
       2 . A skate holder according to  claim 1  wherein said operating mechanism is supported on said mounting plate.  
   
   
       3 . A skate holder according to  claim 2  wherein said operating mechanism includes a flexible tensile member to transfer movement of one of said jaws to another of said jaws.  
   
   
       4 . A skate holder according to  claim 2  wherein each of said jaws is slidably mounted on said plate and constrained for movement in a direction perpendicular to said slot.  
   
   
       5 . A skate holder according to  claim 4  wherein movement of said jaws relative to said mounting plate is induced by a cam acting on each of said jaws.  
   
   
       6 . A skate holder according to  claim 5  wherein each of said cams is rotatably mounted on said mounting plate and engages a follower of a respective arm of said jaws.  
   
   
       7 . A skate holder according to  claim 6  wherein each of said cams include an operating arm and a linkage to interconnect said operating arms.  
   
   
       8 . A skate holder according to  claim 7  wherein said linkage includes a flexible tensile member extending from a manual operator to selected areas of said operating arms.  
   
   
       9 . A skate holder according to  claim 8  wherein said manual operator is connected directly to one of said operating arms.  
   
   
       10 . A skate holder according to  claim 9  wherein said tensile member is entrained about guides disposed about said slot.  
   
   
       11 . A skate holder according to  claim 10  wherein said tensile member is located in a recess in said mounting plate and said guides are disposed in said recess.  
   
   
       12 . A skate holder according to  claim 3  wherein said operating mechanism includes a tie bar that extends across said slot to transfer a force applied to one side of said slot to the opposite side thereof.  
   
   
       13 . A skate holder according to  claim 12  wherein said force is applied by a cam member acting between said one side and said tie bar.  
   
   
       14 . A skate holder according to  claim 13  wherein said cam member is rotatably secured to one side and a follower engages said cam member to transmit said force to said tie bar.  
   
   
       15 . A skate holder according to  claim 1  wherein said mounting plate includes a pair of beams disposed on opposite sides of said slot and a jaw is located on a respective on of said beams.  
   
   
       16 . A skate holder according to  claim 15  wherein said beams have a similar stiffness in bending such that a force applied to each of said beams produces a substantially equal deflection of each beam.  
   
   
       17 . A skate holder according to  claim 16  wherein one of said beams is defined between an edge of said plate and said slot and the other of said beams is defined between said slot and a slit formed in said mounting plate.  
   
   
       18 . A skate holder according to  claim 15  wherein said jaws are slideably mounted on said beams and said operating mechanism cause equal and opposite movement of said jaws relative to said slot.  
   
   
       19 . A skate holder according to  claim 15  wherein said jaws are secured to said beams for movement therewith and said operating mechanism induces equal and opposite deflection of said beams.