Braking mechanism for in-line skate

Claim 1

An in-line wheel roller skate, including: a. a boot; b. an elongate base plate having a top to which said boot is secured, opposite sides, a front and a rear, a longitudinal axis and an underside; c. a plurality of wheel assemblies attached in-line to said base plate underside, said plurality of assemblies including a front assembly that supports a free-turning wheel in a fixed, straight-ahead orientation, said plurality of assemblies including a rear assembly and at least one assembly located intermediate to said rear and front wheel assemblies, and at least said rear assembly of said rear and intermediate assemblies mounting a wheel and having a pivotable wheel support that is connected to said base plate for rotation about a vertical axis, said pivotable wheel support having a straight-ahead position and being capable of pivoting in one direction to a first substantially inclined position with respect to a vertical plane through said longitudinal axis, and pivoted in the other direction to a second substantially inclined position with respect to said plane; d. spring means for biasing each of said pivotable wheel supports, in their straight-ahead positions; e. brake means, affixed to said base plate, and having first and second generally vertically-extending surfaces disposed in spaced-apart relationship on opposite sides of a wheel of at least one of said pivotable wheel supports, whereby the wheel of said pivotable support, in said first inclined position will make frictional engagement with said first brake surface, and the wheel of said pivotable support in its second inclined position will make frictional engagement with said second brake surface.