Roller skate and wheel trucks therefor

Abstract

A roller skate having enhanced steerability and stability is disclosed. The skate includes a platform for supporting a skater's foot and front and rear wheel trucks secured to the underside of the platform. A pair of front wheels is rotatably mounted in transverse axial alignment on the front wheel truck and a pair of rear wheels is rotatably mounted in transverse axial alignment on said rear wheel truck. The pairs of front and rear wheels are also in parallel axial alignment with each other and mounted on their respective wheel trucks for resiliently controlled, tilting movement about downwardly inclined longitudinal axis. In addition, a fifth wheel is rotatably mounted on the front wheel truck between the pairs of front and rear wheels and in parallel axial alignment with the wheel pairs. An additional preferred roller skate includes a single wheel rotatably mounted to the front toe plate. The front wheel is not tiltable about the skate's longitudinal axis. This roller skate includes three wheels rotatably mounted to a rear wheel truck. The rear wheel truck is mounted to the skate's heel plate by a pivot mount allowing the three rear wheels to pivot about the skate's transverse axis which also allows a rear center wheel to engage a brake pad. Moreover, the rear wheel truck is mounted to the heel plate for providing tilting movement at least partially about the skate's longitudinal axis to permit turning.