Powered roller skates

Claim 1

A powered roller skate device, comprising: a motor and means for supporting the motor on a user's body; a front wheel truck for a two-axel roller skate, with a pair of wheels, and means for removably mounting the front wheel truck on a standard roller skate, interchangeably with a standard two-axel front wheel truck; flexible drive means extending between the motor and the front wheel truck, having an upper end at the motor and a lower end at the front wheel truck; clutch means for selectively engaging the motor with the flexible drive means; gear reduction means at at least one end of the flexible drive means; drive direction-changing means between the lower end of the flexible drive means and the front wheel truck, for converting rotation about a generally downwardly oriented axis in the flexible drive means into rotation about a horizontal axis at the wheel truck; wheel drive means connected to the direction-changing means, for directly engaging one wheel of the front truck from its outer side, to drive the one wheel directly at the rate of rotation of the direction-changing means when power is applied from the motor; the front wheel truck including a rigid bar between the wheels and supporting the wheels for rotation with respect to the bar, means affixed to the rigid bar for supporting the removable mounting means, and strut means secured to the rigid bar and extending laterally outwardly, around the one driven wheel, to a supporting connection with the direction-changing means, positioning the horizontal output axis of the direction-changing means generally coextensively with the axis of the one driven wheel; ratchet means associated with the wheel drive means, for driving the one wheel when power is applied but for permitting free-wheeling coasting of the one wheel without resistance from the motor when power is cut; and motor control means for regulating the speed of the motor.