Education and demonstration – Physical education – Skiing
Reexamination Certificate
2003-01-31
2004-06-08
Fernstrom, Kurt (Department: 3712)
Education and demonstration
Physical education
Skiing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06746248
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to body supports and teaching aids, particularly, but not necessarily exclusively for use during skiing.
Skiing is a sport enjoyed by considerable numbers of skiers over a wide age group. Even relatively gentle skiing down ski runs that are not severe and better suited to less experienced skiers imposes considerable strains on the muscles of the skier, particularly in the legs, resulting from the skier adopting an incorrect stance or posture along with the repeated impacts of the skis with uneven compacted snow or ice causing a bouncing effect that the skier must combat by repeatedly bending the legs, whilst at the same time the legs must continue to support the skier. The more severe is a ski slope, the greater is the stress on the legs, and consequently all skiers, whether young and with leg muscles not yet fully developed, in their prime and wanting to ski for prolonged periods in difficult conditions, or more elderly and with leg muscles past their prime, can benefit from the use of body weight supports that assist in setting the skier in a correct position.
Body weight supports and teaching aids must not only allow a part of the body weight of the skier to be removed from the skier's legs, but also must allow the legs to bend at the knee, and additionally must not inhibit a skier from moving the hips laterally to incline the legs to set the skis on edge and allow the skier to implement turning movements to the left and to the right.
There have been earlier proposals for providing leg supports, where skiers employ poles connected to the skiers boots and linked by springs at the upper ends of the poles to a harness worn by the skier. Not only is such a construction cumbersome, springs of conventional construction have a variable load resistance as they are stretched or compressed, and consequently give a variable supporting force that is not conducive to good skiing. Additional to this, prior art constructions do not give any effective assistance in putting a skier into a correct skiing posture. Such a construction has the further disadvantage in stopping the skier from bending and flexing the legs when not skiing and consequently a skier cannot board such as ski lifts or chairs with the support mean fitted for use. Consequently the construction must be dismantled to allow a skier to sit and walk normally, and reassembled at the top of a ski slope. The construction involved is inevitably visible, and aesthetically unattractive. Whilst giving support to the skier, such constructions offer nothing by way of assistance in setting the skier in a correct position or posture.
The object of the invention is to provide a body weight support and teaching aid, particularly for use in skiing, that is effective and avoids those disadvantages mentioned above and provides still further advantages.
According to the present invention a body weight support configured for connection to a boot of a user is characterised in that said body weight support has a first upper member adapted for location against the thigh area of the leg, a second lower member adapted for location against the calf area of the leg, a pivotal connection between the first and second members, the second member being connectable to the boot of the user to form a connection between the second member and the boot, load bearing means formed by at least one compression spring located on the support to provide a resistance to pivotal movement between the first and second members, and deactivating means configured to provide that said load bearing means is deactivatable to permit substantially free pivotal movement between the first and second members, wherein said deactivating means is actuateable to provide that the load bearing means is inactive through a full range of motion and remains inactive while the user walks and sits.
Preferably, the connection between the second member and the boot is a rod fitted to a socket at the lower end of the second member and the socket and the rod may be correspondingly threaded, the rod extending to a snap fit connection on the boot, preferably at the rear of the boot.
With the majority of able bodied skiers, it is desirable to provide two supports, one for each leg, with the upper ends of the supports connected by a strap or other member extending around and below the posterior of the skier.
With a disabled skier, such as those with one leg only, two support members can be provided to locate to either side of the one leg, and a strap or other member extending around the back of the thigh and connecting the upper ends of the two supports.
The upper member may be formed as a generally straight elongate, eg rectangular bar, to locate on the outside of the respective leg of the user, and is provided with a bracket at its upper end for straps to engage around the upper leg or thigh area, in addition to a strap to pass around the posterior of the user. The lower member extends from the pivot with an upper member to a curved and plate-like lower part to locate behind the calf muscle of the respective leg of the user, and a lower fixing strap may be attached to the lower end of the lower support. Desirably, quick release fittings are provided on all of the straps. A quick release fitting may be located on a shin support or protector, attached to the lower member and adapted to overlie the shin of the user.
In one possible form of construction, a load bearing means is attached to the outer surface of the upper support. The load bearing means may be such that when active it provides a substantially constant force, such as can be provided by a gas strut. Thus, the gas strut may be located in a cradle on the upper leg support, there being a cable connecting the gas strut to the lower leg support, said cable passing around a guide at the pivotal connection between the upper and lower members. The cylinder of the gas strut may be attached to a cradle secured to the upper member, below which is a cable attachment member. The cable attachment member has two guide rods extending through corresponding holes in the cradle which extend to a bridging member connected to and extending across the tops of the guide rods. Desirably, in the bridging member is a rotatable stop, able to be rotated from a position where it forms an abutment to engage the top of a piston rod extending from the cylinder, to a position where a through hole in the stop is aligned with the piston rod, to allow the passage of the piston rod therethrough. With the rotatable stop in a position where its hole is aligned with the piston rod of the gas strut, the bridging member could slide down the guide rods, and with the piston rod engaging the hole, the rotatable member could not be rotated to activate the support means. Therefore, between the cradle and the bridging member, the guide rods may have surrounding coil return springs to hold the bridging member in an elevated position with the rotatable member clear of the top of the piston rod. An alternate possibility is to have a coil spring surrounding the or each gas strut, and bearing against the cradle and the bridging member.
In the alternative, load bearing means may be a compression spring of required strength, located on the cradle in place of the gas strut. The coil spring may surround a sleeve slidably mounted on a locating rod extending from the cradle, and the coil spring may be positioned between an abutment on the sleeve and the bottom of the cradle. The compression spring is such that it has a strength to allow a proportion of the body weight of the user to be supported before the spring is fully compressed, and compression strength can be selected to suit the body weight of the user. Above the abutment there may be an operating rod able to co-operate with the bridging member, to engage it when it is rotated to a position to serve as an abutment, and pass through a through hole when the bridging member is rotated to bring the through hole into alignment with the operating rod. In common with the embodiment employing a gas strut, two guide rods ma
Fernstrom Kurt
Trexler, Bushnell Giangiorgi, Blackstone & Marr, Ltd.
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