Ice skate

Abstract

The center point of an ice skate rocker with respect to the plane of the skater's foot, in a skating position, is adjusted without changing the contour or profile of the skate blade. This is done by adjusting the angular position of the foot inside the skating boot with a shim placed under the heel or under the ball of the foot.

1 . In an ice skate comprising a boot having an inner sole, a blade mounted to the bottom of said boot, said blade in the xy plane having a large radius rocker curvature, the rocker having a radial line which makes an angle with respect to a foot plane, the boot and the inner sole having a heel portion at the rearward end of the boot and having a ball-of-foot portion at the forward end of the boot, the improvement being in a removable shim being inserted in one of said heel portion and said ball-of-foot portion of said boot to shift said rocker center relative to the foot plane by elevating a generally uniform distance the entire respective one of the heel and ball-of-foot of the skater in the xy plane. 
     
     
         2 . The skate of  claim 1  wherein said shim is a heel shim inserted in said heel portion of said boot. 
     
     
         3 . The skate of  claim 1  wherein said shim is a ball-of-foot shim inserted in said ball-of-foot portion of said boot. 
     
     
         4 . The skate of  claim 1  wherein said shim is substantially flat in the xz plane. 
     
     
         5 . The skate of  claim 1  wherein said shim has a length in the x direction which is greater than 20% and less than 50% of the total length of said inner sole. 
     
     
         6 . The skate of  claim 1  wherein said shim has a thickness which creates an elevation no greater than ½ inch. 
     
     
         7 . The skate of  claim 6  where said elevation is at least 1/64 inch and no greater than 3/16 inch. 
     
     
         8 . The skate of  claim 1  wherein a plurality of said shims are stacked atop each other. 
     
     
         9 . The skate of  claim 1  wherein said shim has a shape created by a substantially straight inner edge which extends transversely across said boot, a pair of side edges extending rearwardly of said inner edge, and said side edges merging into an arcuate outer edge which conforms to the size and shape of said boot where said shim is snuggly located. 
     
     
         10 . A method of shifting the rocker center with respect to a foot plane of an ice skate having a blade mounted to and below a boot, comprising inserting a shim in one of the heel portion and the ball of the foot portion of the boot, and the shim elevating a generally uniform distance in the xy plane the entire respective one of the heel and the ball of the foot of the skater/wearer. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the shim is a heel shim located below the heel of the skater/wearer. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the shim is located below the ball of the foot of the skater/wearer. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the shim is substantially flat in the xz plane. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the shim has a length in the x direction which is greater than 20% and less than 50% of the length of the foot of the skater/wearer. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the respective one of the heel and the ball of the foot is elevated a distance at least 1/64 inch and no greater than 3/16 inch. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the respective one of the heel and the ball of the foot is elevated a distance at least 1/64 inch and no greater than ½ inch. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10  wherein a plurality of shims are stacked atop each other. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the skate is one skate of a pair of skates, and the method being done on each of the skates. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein a shim is inserted in the heel portion of each skate. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17  wherein a shim is inserted in the ball of the foot portion of each skate.