Land vehicles – Skates – Runner type
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-28
2001-06-05
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Skates
Runner type
C280S601000, C280S602000, C280S608000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06241272
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a pair of skis for alpine skiing with asymmetrically waisted skis, each ski at its outside having a sidecut of heavier curvature than on its inside.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In common skiing techniques, when going through curves, the outer ski (i.e. that ski which is outwardly arranged in the curve) of a pair of skis is loaded, whereas the inner ski remains more or less unloaded. For going in curves, thus, in this type of skiing technique primarily the shape of the inside of the respective outer ski is of importance. To facilitate the triggering of a swing, the most varying ski geometries have already been suggested in this connection, cf., e.g., AT 387,147 B or the corresponding FR 2,559,673 A, wherein, for going in curves more easily, particularly in fresh snow, a specific, heavy waisting has been suggested, which, moreover, in the front and rear parts is to merge into straight sections via kinks. A comparable ski comprising straight sections in the shovel region and in the end region and having a heavy waisting is furthermore described in DE 4,112,950 A1. Therein, also different curvatures of the sidecuts at the inside and outside, respectively, of the ski for adapting the traveling behavior to the desired conditions of use has been disclosed. In detail, according to DE 4,112,950 A1 the curvature at the inside of the ski is to be more pronounced than that on the outside of the ski. On the other hand, from the afore-mentioned FR 2,559,673 A as well as from AT 316,376 B, there result ski geometries in which the outsides of the skis have more heavily curved sidecuts than the insides. According to AT 316,376 B this situation is given if the skis of a pair of skis, in which preferably the inside curvature of the skis is more heavy than the outside one, are interchanged, to make them particularly suitable for long-drawn giant slalom turns instead of short turns.
The known ski designs have in common that they are designed for a conventional skiing technique, in which particularly “the inner edge” of the outer ski (or bottom ski) is traveled on, where, due to the respective shape or geometry of the sidecut at this inside, the suitability for shorter or longer turns is maintained for an easier triggering of the turn etc.
A new skiing technique is the socalled “carving” technique, in which the skier tries to load both skis as uniformly as possible also when going in curves; this new technique has originated from snowboarding, and, similar to snowboarding, when skiing according to the carving technique, a turn, i.e. traveling in curves, is simply introduced in that the legs in the region of the knee joints are “switched over”, with equal load on both skis, in which case the curve is to be traveled both on the inner edge of the outer ski and on the outer edge of the inner ski. In this instance, the known skis all give rise to problems, since the turns given by the waistings of the inner edge of the outer ski and of the outer edge of the inner ski, respectively, are not “parallel” to each other, but intersect one another. When going in curves according to the carving technique, consequently the inner ski cannot or can only with difficulty be guided in parallel to the outer ski; the skis will cross each other, or the inner ski will be drawn away from the outer ski, causing falls.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention has as its object to provide a pair of skis of the initially defined type which solves these problems and, on account of its design, is particularly suited for the carving skiing technique.
The pair of skis according to the invention, of the initally defined type, is characterized in that the waisting at the outside of each ski is rearwardly offset relative to that at the inside by a distance in the range of centimeters, wherein, when going through curves, when the two skis are guided at a distance in the range of decimeters from each other, with the outer ski rearwardly offset in travel direction relative to the inner ski, the waistings of the outside of the inner ski and of the inside of the outer ski describe at least approximately concentric curves.
In the pair of skis according to the invention, by the fact that the respective skis do not only have a heavier curvature of the waisting at the outside as compared to the inside, but also the waisting at the outside of each ski is rearwardly offset relative to that at the inside (by which tribute is paid to the fact that the innser ski will be led forwardly of the outer ski when going in curves), an at least approximately concentric course of the curves defined by the waistings at the outside of the inner ski and on the inside of the outer ski, respectively, is obtained. On account of the thus approximately “parallel” curves followed by the inner edge of the outer ski as well as by the outer edge of the inner ski, despite loading also the inner ski when skiing according to the carving technique, it becomes possible to maintain the two skis generally parallel to each other when going through curves with the skis guided relatively wide apart, thus avoiding crossing or the like.
To attain as good a parallel ski guidance as possible when going in curves, by rearwardly offsetting the outside waisting in combination with the heavier curvature of the outside waisting, it is particularly advantageous if the centers of curvature of the waistings at the inside of the outer ski and of the outside of the inner ski substantially coincide, at a center-to-center ski distance of approximately 30 cm to 50 cm, in particular approximately 40 cm to 45 cm, and at a rearward offset of the outer ski relative to the inner ski of approximately 10 cm to 25 cm, in particular approximately 15 cm to 20 cm.
To facilitate travelling according to the concentric curves defined by the inner edge of the outer ski as well as by the outer edge of the inner ski, with comparatively generally useful radii of curvature, i.e. useful for any type of curve (narrow or long-drawn), it has also proven advantageous if the beginning of the waisting at the outside of each ski, following upon the shovel region, is outwardly offset as compared to the waisting at the inside, by a distance in the range of millimeters, the offset of the waisting at the ski outside disappearing rearwardly. In this manner it becomes possible to let the radii of curvature of the outside and inside waistings, respectively, not differ too much from each other, and to keep small the amount of the rearward offset of the waisting at the outside of the respective ski relative to that at the inside thereof; the difference between the radii of curvature may, e.g., be merely 2 m, or less than 10%, respectiely. Thus, in a pair of skis having a ski length of approximately 200 cm, the radii of curvature at the inside of the skis may be defined at approximately 28 m each and at the outside by approximately 26 m each; for shorter skis, having e.g. a length of 170 cm, the corresponding radii of curvature may be 26 m and 24 m, respectively. The preferably provided outward offset of the waisting at the outside of each ski as compared to the waisting at the inside (or as compared to a symmetrical design of the ski, respectively) is, e.g., in the range of approximately 1 mm up to (preferably) 1.5 mm for shorter ski lengths (approximately 170 cm) and at approximately 2 mm to 4 mm, preferably 2.5 mm, for greater ski lengths (approximately 200 cm)
On the other hand, in tests for the concentricity of curves sought, it has proven both possible and advantageous if—more or less irrespective of the ski length—the distance of the rearward offset of the beginning of the outside waisting of each ski in the region adjacent the ski shovel amounts to approximately 4 cm. Such a slight distance of a rearward offset is easily possible if, as has been mentioned, the beginning of the waisting at the ski outer side is outwardly offset.
For the desired parallel guiding of the skis when going through curves one embodiment of the ski geometry has proven suitable, according to which the waisting at the outside
Atomic Austria GmbH
Draper Dianne
Johnson Brian L.
LandOfFree
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