Two-piece axle bolt for skate wheel mounting

Claim 1

A two-piece axle bolt for mounting an in-line skate wheel having a centrally disposed bearing assembly between the spaced side walls of an in-line U-shaped skate frame, said bearing assembly having a centrally disposed axle receiving bore therein, said side walls each having a respective outer face and a respective axle receiving and mounting hole extending therethrough, there being a respective bolt head receiving counter bore formed in the outer face of each side wall around the hole therein, said axle receiving and mounting holes and said counter bores being disposed in coaxial alignment, said counter bores each having a respective annular inner surface that is spaced radially from said axis, said axle bolt comprising: a first shaft component having a first elongated central axle shaft portion having a first outer diameter, a first enlarged head disposed at one end of the first shaft portion and a male threaded segment of reduced diameter at the other end of the first shaft portion; and a second shaft component having a second elongated central axle shaft portion having a second outer diameter which is the same as said first outer diameter, a second enlarged head at one end of the second shaft portion and a female threaded segment at the other end of the second shaft portion, said threaded segments being complementarily configured and the male segment being threadably engaged within the female segment so that said central shaft portions are in axial alignment to thereby present said axle bolt, said enlarged heads each having a respective outer end surface which faces axially away from the engaged threaded segments, said enlarged heads each also having a respective peripheral wall surface which extends around the outer end surface, said axle bolt being configured so that when the wheel and the frame and the axle bolt are assembled the shaft portions present a support for said bearing assembly and an axis of rotation for the wheel, said heads are received within the counter bores with said peripheral wall surfaces disposed in closely fitted load bearing relationship relative to an adjacent corresponding annular inner surface of a corresponding counter bore, and the outer end surfaces of the heads do not project outwardly substantially beyond the outer faces of the side walls.