Patent attributes
A skate blade sharpening system includes a chassis and an elongated slot for receiving a skate blade, and a skate blade retention mechanism to retain the skate blade in the sharpening position. A grinding wheel moves along the slot including the lower edge of the skate blade during sharpening. One or more slot covers are mounted to the chassis at respective ends of the slot. The slot covers are movable between covering and non-covering positions. In the non-covering positions the slot covers uncover the slot sufficiently to permit insertion and removal of the skate blade. In the covering positions, the slot covers cover end portions of the slot adjacent the ends of the skate blade to avoid exposing the user and mechanical components of the sharpening system to unsafe operating conditions.