Land vehicles – Skates – Shoe attaching means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-14
2001-11-13
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Skates
Shoe attaching means
C280S607000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06315318
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND—FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to snow sport bindings, and is specifically an improved non-safety release binding, which affixes a boot to a skiboard, snowboard, ski, or snow sports equipment.
BACKGROUND—Discussion of Prior Art
Early ski bindings provided various mechanisms to affix and detach a boot to a ski. Such bindings would require the user to willfully attach and detach the boot from the ski before and after use and did not employ any type of safety release mechanism. Numerous injuries to skiers' legs forced the development of safety release ski bindings. Many of these injuries are attributable to the long length of the ski. Modern safety release ski bindings employ sophisticated mechanisms to ensure proper safety release of the skiers' boot and minimize the likelihood of injury.
The development of the snowboard has evidenced a different scenario in that the reduction of bodily injuries has not been correlated with safety release binding features. Hence, snowboard bindings are similar to early ski bindings in that they attach and detach the boot from the snowboard only when the user desires. Snowboard bindings do not employ a safety release mechanism to release the snowboarders boot while in use.
A skiboard is a type of snow ski, which is short, looks like a snowboard, and provides a sensation similar to that of inline skates. Skiboards tend to be less than 1.1 meters in length, and therefore do not present the same potential for injury, as do traditional longer skis. Consequently there is no substantial evidence for the case of employing safety release bindings on skiboards. Like snowboard bindings, skiboard bindings attach and detach the boot from the skiboard only when the user desires and do not employ a safety release mechanism to release the snowboarders boot while in use.
Snowboarders use either ‘hard-boots’ or ‘soft-boots’ depending on their preference while the majority of skiboarders use ‘hard-boots’. ‘Hard-boots’ include modem plastic shell ski boots and versions of them slightly modified for skiboard and snowboard specific use. This invention is a binding designed to affix ‘hard—boots’ to a skiboard, snowboard, or other snow sports equipment.
Much of the relevant prior art exists in the field of ‘plate’ snowboard bindings and skiboard bindings. Plate snowboard bindings and skiboard bindings attach hard shell boots to the snowboard or skiboard. Traditionally hard shell boots have a means to engage the binding at the boot's toe and heel. This usually is in the form of two lips, each existing at the boot's extent. The relative position of the two lips varies with the boot size. Hence the binding must be easily adjustable to engage various boot sizes. Another desirable feature of plate snowboard bindings is their ability to provide a rigid interface between the boot and skiboard or snowboard. A rigid interface provides the user with increased performance. Durability is a third desirable feature, which provides the user with reliable equipment. Skiboard binding and snowboard plate binding manufacturers have succeeded to varying degrees in terms of their implementation the above desirable qualities, namely ease of adjustment, rigidity, and durability.
The most popular mechanism used for binding size adjustment is a lead screw. Generally rotating the lead screw changes the position of a boot support relative to a binding plate. A bail is connected to the boot support and hence rotating the lead screw performs size adjustment. This is evidenced in the prior art and is widely employed in the industry. A disadvantage to an adjustment means comprising a lead screw is that the boot support must be affixed to the binding plate in a manner such that it can slide when the lead screw is turned. Hence, the boot support-binding plate connection must have dimensions and tolerances that prevent excessive friction. Such a connection inevitably prevents rigid holding of the boot support, allowing the boot support to move when in use. These movements, especially in the lateral direction, detract from the bindings overall performance because the bindings rigidity is reduced.
Another widely used adjustment means affixes the boot support and attached bail to the binding plate by a clamping means. The clamping means often comprises fastener(s), which are threaded into the binding plate, and when tightened, hold the boot support firmly against the binding plate. This type of clamping means must prevent all movement between the boot support and binding plate.
There are numerous examples of bindings that use such a clamping means. Many use two screws to affix the boot support to the binding plate, and this has numerous disadvantages. First, size adjustment requires removal of the screws, which lends itself to loss of the fastener. Second, two screws are required to properly prevent the boot support from movement, adding to user complexity and cost. Additionally, to accommodate the size range, the binding plate has many costly threaded holes, each of which contributes to the manufacturing cost. Lastly, the size adjustment increment is limited by the required spacing of the tapped holes.
A first skiboard binding once produced by Caron Alpine Technologies, Inc. is similar to the above binding in that it uses two fasteners and threaded holes, but additionally has mating teeth on the binding plate and boot support. While the teeth enable the quantity of threaded holes to be reduced and also simplify adjustment, this binding still shares most of the above disadvantages.
A second skiboard binding produced by Caron Alpine Technologies, Inc. has far fewer disadvantages. It replaces the threaded holes by a single fastener, nut, and slot arrangement in combination with mating teeth on the binding plate and boot support. This implementation overcomes all the aforementioned disadvantages. However, a disadvantage of this binding is the cost increase to add the mating teeth to the binding plate and boot support, although this cost does not make the total binding cost unreasonable.
As a variation to the aforementioned binding, another binding is similar in that the boot support is attached to the binding plate by a single fastener, nut, and slot arrangement. However, the primary difference is that the mating teeth of the aforementioned binding are replaced by two series of locating holes in the binding plate and two locating pins in the boot support. The cost of this implementation is a disadvantage due to the multiplicity of locating holes and the expense associated with the locating pins.
Additional prior art reveals a snowboard binding having boot supports slideably attached to a plate structure for size adjustment. The boot support is locked into a position along the plate by a part which functions like locating pin. The part is shaped such that the user can readily remove and insert the part without the use of tools. This provides the user with a simple adjustment means. This implementation has the same disadvantage evidenced in most lead screw based bindings, specifically that the part dimensions and tolerances needed for the binding plate and boot support to be slideable prevent rigid holding of the boot support. This allows the boot support to move when in use and thereby decreasing the bindings performance.
A final binding design affixes the boot support to the binding plate by two fasteners. The binding plate has teeth, which mate with a toothed lever cam attached to the boot support. To adjust the position of the boot support, one disengages the lever cam, slides the boot support to the desired position, and finally re-engages the lever cam. When the lever cam is disengaged, the boot support and fasteners are free to slide along slots in the binding plate. When the lever cam is engaged, the boot support and fasteners are not free to slide along the slots in the binding plate. A disadvantage to this implementation is the product's complexity and associated cost. Specifically, two fasteners are required per boot support, thereby requiring two
Caron Jeffrey E.
Smith Geoffrey W.
Caron Alpine Technologies, Inc.
Johnson Brian L.
Klebe G B
Samuels Gauthier & Stevens
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