Skate Protector Cover and Lacing System for Impact Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing skate protectors often complicate the use of skates, poorly fit, and detract from their appearance, failing to adequately protect against impacts such as powerful puck shots in hockey.
Innovation Solution
A skate protector designed to be fastened to the skate boot, providing impact protection while allowing easy donning and doffing, and resembling the original boot to maintain appearance, with a cover and fastening system that covers key areas like the medial and lateral sides, heel, and instep, and includes a lacing system for secure attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a protector is mounted over the skate to provide impact protection, then the protection against impacts is improved, but the ease of operation (donning and doffing) deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The protector is divided into a cover portion and a fastening system portion, allowing the fastening system to be independently adjusted and operated without removing the entire protector, thus maintaining ease of operation while providing comprehensive impact protection
Solution Approach 2:
The fastening system incorporates adjustable components that can be dynamically modified during use, allowing the user to tighten or loosen the protector as needed without removing it, thereby maintaining both protection and operational ease
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a protector is mounted over the skate to provide impact protection, then the protection against impacts is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fastening system is integrated directly into the cover structure, combining two functional elements into a unified design that reduces overall complexity while maintaining comprehensive impact protection
Solution Approach 2:
The protector design incorporates a fastening system that serves multiple functions: securing the protector to the skate, allowing adjustment during use, and enabling easy removal, thereby reducing the need for separate components and simplifying the overall structure
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a protector is mounted over the skate to provide impact protection, then the protection against impacts is improved, but the appearance is deteriorated
Solution Approach 1:
The cover is designed to conform specifically to the contours of the skate boot, providing impact protection only where needed while maintaining the original aesthetic appearance of the skate in visible areas
Solution Approach 2:
The cover replicates the visual characteristics of the skate boot, creating a seamless appearance that blends with the original design and remains relatively unnoticeable while providing underlying protection
Data Source
AI summary
A protector for protecting a skate (e.g., an ice skate) and a foot of a user (e.g., a hockey player) against impacts, such as from pucks (e.g., during shots, which can be powerful), to reduce risks of pain or injury from such impacts, in which the protector is fastenable to the skate, is configured to cover at least part of a skate boot of the skate, and may be designed to facilitate its use, including by facilitating the user donning (i.e., putting on) and doffing (i.e., removing) the skate (e.g., while the protector is fastened to the skate boot), and/or to look like the skate boot (e.g., so as to be relatively unnoticeable such that it can seem as if it is not there).