Elastic return device for ski binding

Details Elastic return device for ski binding Elastic return device for ski binding

1998-06-01

2001-09-11

Mar, Michael (Department: 3619)

Land vehicles

Skates

Shoe attaching means

C280S629000, C280S624000, C280S632000, C280S625000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06286856

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an elastic return device for a safety ski binding comprising a coil spring with a stiffness which varies as a function of the stress rate, in which the springs works in compression.
PRIOR ART
Patents FR 1 454 511, DE 24 15 957, DE 26 34 649, FR 2 424 040, FR 2 625 687 and FR 2 661 334 disclose bindings in which a damper is associated with a spring with a view to preventing premature release due to impacts or the like. This damper makes it possible to vary the force with which the binding resists opening as a function of the stress rate, the release force being high for violent stresses, but relatively low for gentle stresses. This makes it possible to adapt the response of the front binding better to the mechanical strength characteristics of a skier's leg, which can withstand a stress which is intense but brief, but risks being breaking in the case of a stress which is relatively weak but is exerted for a relatively long period of time.
The damper is mounted in series with the spring in the bindings described in patents FR 1 454 511 and DE 26 34 649. In the binding according to patent FR 2 642 657, the damper is mounted coaxially inside the spring. The use of devices of this type, in a front binding which has two jaws that are articulated and act on a rod passing through the spring, would require very extensive modification to the binding.
A similar device is disclosed by patent FR 2 642 657.
Patents FR 2 424 040, 2 625 687 and 2 661 334 propose mounting the damper parallel to the spring. This arrangement makes it possible to leave the interior of the spring free for the rod, but increases the volume of the body of the binding and, in any case, also requires significant modification to the binding.
Patent application DE 24 15 957 further proposes mounting a spring between the two pistons of a hydraulic damper, inside the cylinder.
Further, in all the known designs, the damper is of the hydraulic piston type, of the type described in patent FR 1 454 511, that is to say consisting of a cylinder and a piston which displaces a liquid in this cylinder through a nozzle. It is therefore still a conventional damper device which can be detached from the spring and works in parallel or in series with the spring.
International patent application WO 92/08527 proposes arranging a piece of viscous material as a dynamic damping means between the tip of a rear binding piston and the jaw of this binding.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As a radical departure from those embodiments which involve a hydraulic damper, the object of the present invention is to produce a variable-stiffness device which is simple, compact, robust and can be mounted in a front or rear binding without modification to this binding.
The elastic return device according to the invention is one which comprises a deformable plastic interposed between the turns of the spring, so that the stiffness of the spring increases with the rate at which it is compressed.
The plastic may constitute a helical line between the turns of the spring, or be present as a tubular cylinder in whose thickness the spring is embedded. In both cases, the interior of the elastic return device remains free for a rod to pass through it, so that the return device can be mounted in a rod-type front binding without modification to the binding, as a replacement for the usual spring.
The deformable plastic may also constitute a solid cylinder, at least in its central part, the spring being embedded in the peripheral region of this cylinder. A return device of this type can be mounted in a rear binding without modification thereto. The central part of the cylinder essentially constitutes a mechanical support for the spring and the plastic located between the turns of the spring, and as an optional accessory, an auxiliary central damper.


REFERENCES:
patent: 407261 (1991-01-01), None
patent: 2 610 842 (1988-08-01), None
patent: WO 92 08527 (1992-05-01), None

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