A Spring-Loaded Ice Skate

[Digityman]

David Blois manages condominium properties near Toronto, but at any given time he’s usually also working on several inventions—a solar-powered smoke detector, say, or an age-spot-erasing skin cream. In 1998 he was ice skating at his local rink when an idea popped into his head: a hockey skate that used springs to harness a skater’s kinetic energy. “It’s really hard to invent something new,” Blois says. “As I researched patents, I got more excited. No one had ever tried this before.”

Ice skates haven’t changed much in 5,000 years. Whether they’re made of leather and sharpened whalebone or carbon fiber and stainless steel, every one of them consists of a boot, a blade and something to hold them together. To make his Launch Skates, Blois had a prototype builder insert two compression springs into the hollow plastic blade holders on a pair of battered hockey skates and then attach the springs to the blades (one at the toe, one at the heel). When the skater begins his stride, the springs compress and the blade slides a few millimeters up into the holder. As he lifts his foot, the springs release their stored energy, and the blade slides to its original position, giving the skater an extra push off the ice.

Blois hasn’t had the money to get ice time and run comprehensive time and fatigue trials with hired skaters. But experts who have tried the skates see the benefits. “They feel a little different, but once you get used to them, you can definitely feel a boost, especially getting going from a standing start,” says Bill Heath, a hockey instructor with Hockey Extreme hockey school in Toronto. “I skated for 20 minutes and I felt less fatigued.” Michael Austin, an athletic therapist and amateur hockey player, says that the skates allow players to push with just their forefoot rather than skating flatfooted, and that could reduce injuries to muscles and joints.

Another tester, however—Curtis Brown, a center for more than a decade in the NHL and now a youth-development coach for the San Jose Sharks—says the skates still need to provide better balance and be more responsive for quick direction changes. To address these concerns, Blois will machine-mold blade holders with tighter spring tolerances. After that, he plans to approach skate manufacturers. If a company licenses the design, he says, it could put Launch Skates on the ice within a year.

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2012-05/spring-loaded-skate-boosts-hockey-players-speed

[Podein25]

There's a contraption I would like to try out.

[blocker]

Don't racing skates have hinged blades? Is there some kind of spring that causes the blade to retract toward the boot?

[Podein25]

Don't racing skates have hinged blades? Is there some kind of spring that causes the blade to retract toward the boot?

You mean speed skates? Yeah, I think they are called "clap" skates

[blocker]

"Yeah, I think they are called "clap" skates"

Because they cause infections?

[hf101]

I have a sister-in-law that has been wearing zcoil shoes daily for years.

I wouldn't be surprised if the idea for the skates originated from these.

zcoil.com

[Polaris922]

But will hockey leagues allow them? That will be the thing. Is it going to be seen as cheating? I know the argument as a technological advancement, but think stick curve or even aluminum bats.

[Podein25]

I think what everyone is overlooking here is what these type of skates would mean for Hartnell. He would literally go spurting across the ice like a waterbug. And then fall down.

Some things never change, despite technological advances. And thank the good Lord for that!