Heating arrangement for ice skate blades

Abstract

An ice skate comprising a boot arranged to receive a person's foot, a skate blade assembly and a blade heating arrangement mounted within a blade mounting arrangement. The blade heating arrangement is arranged to use a field-effect transistor controlled by an electronic controller to operate in the non-linear range to heat skate blades from a power source. The blade is formed as a two part structure with a central core plate within the steel blade part of a higher thermal conductivity material such as copper. The circuit controlling the heating includes a charging component which uses as a contact for the charging current the blade itself. The blade is mounted on the mounting arrangement by a manually releasable mechanical coupling for readily removing the blade and the heating element from its mounting with the manually releasable coupling includes at least one inclined wedge member for co-operating with a corresponding shaped receptacle on the mounting arrangement and a cam lock for pulling the blade along the mounting member longitudinally of the blade and to draw the inclined wedge member into its receptacle.