Boots – shoes – and leggings – Boots and shoes – Occupational or athletic shoe
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-14
2001-10-02
Patterson, M. D. (Department: 3728)
Boots, shoes, and leggings
Boots and shoes
Occupational or athletic shoe
C036S118700
Reexamination Certificate
active
06295745
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a ski boot comprising a first component, consisting essentially of a sole and an upper which encloses the foot and the malleolar region, and a second component consisting of a cuff which is articulated with respect to the upper so as to allow the cuff to move from front to rear and vice versa, and means for retaining the cuff which counteracts the rearward tilting of the cuff but gives way when the force tending to tilt the cuff exceeds a specific value.
The purpose of such a design is to protect the skier's knee, and more precisely the anterior cruciate ligament, when an excessive forward force is exerted on the tibia relative to the femur. It has been observed that tears of the anterior cruciate ligament due to an excessive force of this type have become much more widespread while other types of injury, in particular broken legs and ankles have become much less frequent because of the progress made with safety bindings. Excessive force on the anterior cruciate ligament occurs, in particular, when going over a bump, either when jumping, on landing, or when going down the bump again quickly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,608, the content of which is incorporated by reference, has already disclosed a boot equipped with a releasable retaining device intended to protect the anterior cruciate ligament in case of excessive force. This device comprises a latch in the form of a bent lever of the first class which is retained by a spring. In case of excessive force on the cuff, the spring will no longer be capable of retaining the latch, which will tilt and free the cuff. Such a device has the drawback that the skier cannot put it back into its initial position. It is also relatively bulky.
International Application WO 97/22 271, the content of which is incorporated by reference, moreover discloses a ski boot which is also equipped with a retaining device which releases in case of excessive force on the cuff, rearward. This device consists of a sprung linkage, the articulation of which has enough play to allow the articulation pin some degree of longitudinal movement in the lower element of the linkage, and the elements of which abut, at a point lying some distance from the articulation pin, at the end of a travel smaller than the possible displacement of the pin. Once the elements of the linkage have come to abut and the spring of the linkage has already undergone some degree of compression, if the force on the cuff continues to increase then the elements of the linkage will pivot about their bearing point and the linkage will release if its articulation moves beyond alignment of the points of articulation of the linkage to the upper and to the cuff. This device has the advantage that the skier can put it back into its initial position, but it is relatively complex and bulky.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention proposes to produce the means for retaining the cuff much more simply and much less expensively than the devices according to the prior art.
The boot according to the invention is one wherein the retaining means are bistable elastic means consisting of a stop (
11
;
13
;
21
) integral with one component of the boot and an elastically deformable part (
6
;
4
;
23
) which is integral with the other component of the boot and is intended to be deformed by said stop.
The elastic part advantageously consists of a simple convex flexible leaf fitted by its ends into one of the components of the boot, preferably the cuff, so as to form a bistable part. The stop may be molded integrally with the other portion.
The design of the retaining means may be simplified further by doing without an extra elastic part. The elastically deformable part will consist of the cuff itself, in which an oblong cutout is formed which is oriented substantially vertically and has two components which have dimensions at least equal to the dimensions of said stud and are joined together by a narrowed section whose width is at least less than the horizontal dimension of the stud, so that it obstructs the stud. In this case, the elasticity of the plastic forming the cuff is therefore used.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4406073 (1983-09-01), Spademan
patent: 4447970 (1984-05-01), Delery
patent: 4519150 (1985-05-01), Arieh et al.
patent: 4761899 (1988-08-01), Marxer
patent: 5033210 (1991-07-01), Dodge et al.
patent: 5065533 (1991-11-01), Paris
patent: 5107608 (1992-04-01), Kreitenberg
patent: 5283964 (1994-02-01), Chemellp
patent: 5446976 (1995-09-01), Donnadieu et al.
patent: 5901470 (1999-05-01), Begey
patent: 0379836 (1990-08-01), None
patent: 0596281A (1994-05-01), None
patent: WO 97/22271 (1997-07-01), None
International Search Report in SN 1435/98—Switzerland.
Bugnion S.A.
Lange International S.A.
Moetteli John
Patterson M. D.
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