Training Ice Skate With Adjustable Side Rails
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional ice skates lack adjustable support mechanisms that adapt to the user's skill level, leading to potential formation of bad habits in skating form and inadequate balance assistance during learning.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a training ice skate with a boot mount featuring a base, a center blade housing, and removable side rail housings that can accommodate interchangeable side rails of varying heights, providing adjustable balance support through friction fit, dovetail, or t-slot joints, and secure attachment using screws or adhesives.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional handheld support devices are used, then users receive balance assistance while learning, but the user experience becomes unrealistic and the devices cannot be easily reused after improvement
Solution Approach 1:
The side rails are made height-adjustable and interchangeable, allowing the support structure to dynamically adapt as the user's skill level progresses. Users can modify the rail heights or remove rails entirely based on their improving abilities, transforming a static support device into a dynamic one that evolves with user competence.
Solution Approach 2:
The support system is divided into separate, modular side rail components that can be independently adjusted, removed, or reconfigured. This segmentation allows users to selectively modify different parts of the support structure as they progress, rather than being constrained by a fixed monolithic design.
2Reliability
If multiple blades are provided on ice skates, then constant support is offered to users, but the support does not adjust according to user skill level and may create dependency
Solution Approach 1:
Unlike fixed multiple-blade designs, this invention employs height-adjustable side rails that can be modified as users progress. The dynamic adjustability allows the support level to decrease appropriately as user skill increases, preventing over-support and promoting skill development.
Solution Approach 2:
The support characteristics are changed by adjusting the height and configuration parameters of the side rails. This allows continuous modification of the support properties to match user progression, rather than providing fixed constant support throughout the learning process.
3Reliability
If fixed support structures are used in training skates, then balance assistance is provided, but proper skating form cannot be enforced and bad habits may form
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustable side rails can be positioned at specific heights and angles to guide proper skating posture and form. As users improve, the rails can be repositioned or removed to enforce independent balance, dynamically adapting to maintain correct technique throughout the learning process.
Data Source
AI summary
A training ice skate with support components that can offer built-in balance support and can teach proper form to a user who is learning to ice skate. More specifically, the training ice skate can include a boot mount having a base, a blade housing configured to house a blade, and a plurality of support mounts. The base can be configured to attach to a bottom of a boot, the blade housing can be centered on the base and configured to house a center blade, and the plurality of support mounts can be comprised of a plurality of side rail housings at non-center locations on the base that are configured to house a corresponding side rails.