Improving the Old 



DURING this winter, when socie- 

 ty's revival of ice skating has 

 caused many dance hall managers 

 to turn their polished hardwood floors 

 into ice rinks, manufacturers have stud- 

 ied the patent office files in search of 

 novelties in skates which might be of- 

 fered to the public. 



It is a surprising fact, that a large pro- 

 portion of patents which have been 

 awarded to inventors have described 

 skates which are capable of being trans- 

 formed from ice to roller skates at a 

 moment's notice. j\Iany and weird are 

 the skates described in the patents, and 

 hardy indeed would be the skater who 

 would offer to experiment with them on 

 hard and unyielding ice. 



A skate which may be used as a ski 

 is shown in Fig. 1. It may be used sin- 

 gly or in pairs, and is designed to be 

 used on a thick crust of snow. The run- 

 ner projects over the front of the skate, 

 and forms an adjustable handle by which 

 the skees may be steered. A turn of the 

 handles guides the runners in any de- 

 sired direction. 



In Fig. 2 is shown a skate which is 

 claimed by the inventor to have most un- 

 usual advantages. The lever which ex- 

 tends upwards from the skate contains a 

 mechanism for clamping it tightly to the 

 shoe. By turning the top, the position 

 of the clamps is changed, and when the 

 lever is swung to an upright position, as 

 illustrated, the clamps are drawn tightly 

 to the shoe. A gaiter is furnished with 

 the skate, and when the lever has served 

 its other purposes, it is fastened to the 

 gaiter, and forms an ankle brace. . 



When one thinks of the blade of a 

 skate, it is natural to believe that it must 

 be absolutely straight. Should we see a 

 blade that had several kinks in it, we 

 would be tempted to take it to a black- 

 smith and have him hammer it until it 

 became straight. To do this, however, 

 would be to defeat the purpose of a Ger- 

 man inventor, who has patented in this 

 country a skate which has several curves 

 in the blade. Each of these curves is de- 

 signed to correspond with the natural 

 movements of the skate in use, or with 

 the curve or figure which is described 



434 



