Land vehicles – Skates – Runner type
Patent
1989-08-14
1991-06-04
Kashnikow, Andres
Land vehicles
Skates
Runner type
280607, 280618, A63C 502
Patent
active
050208217
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a ski and safety binding assembly.
Hitherto, skis have been made as one piece and have been equipped with safety bindings for the boots generally comprising a front stop allowing lateral release and a rear heel-piece allowing release of the boot in the vertical direction in the event of excessive forces.
This design, although it has proved successful in many respects, neverthless has a certain number of drawbacks which the present invention aims to overcome.
On the one hand, if the safety binding is released, the entire ski becomes detached from the boot. The total loss of maneuverability resulting therefrom can be particularly inconvenient when skiing off-piste, i.e. in deep snow.
On the other hand, in view of their length, skis made as one piece are bulky and are often difficult to transport.
Moreover, a ski is generally made, with regard to its dimensions (length, width), its rigidity, flexibility or responsiveness, and its shape, so as to be suitable for a specific style of skiing (downhill, slalom, skiing on-piste, skiing off-piste, acrobatic skiing, monoskiiing, etc.), so-called multipurpose skis representing only a more or less satisfactory compromise. Consequently, a skier wishing to practice different styles of skiing must have several different skis corresponding to these different styles and all equipped with safety bindings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a ski and safety binding assembly which allows a ski, after release of the safety binding following an excessive lateral force, to retain a certain maneuverability, which facilitates transportation of the ski and safety binding assembly, and which, at a low cost, can be simply adapted for the practise of different styles of skiing.
In the ski and safety binding assembly according to the invention, the ski is divided into three parts comprising a front part, a rear part and a middle part. The middle part comprises means for fixing a boot with release in the vertical direction in the event of excessive forces. The middle part, the front part and the rear part comprise means for fixing the front part and the rear part to the middle part with lateral release in the event of excessive forces.
Consequently, in the ski and safety binding assembly according to the invention, part of the safety fixing means, namely that allowing release in the lateral direction, is transferred to the ski itself, such that in the event of excessive lateral force on the front part or on the rear part of the ski, this part separates from the middle part to which the boot remains fixed. In the event of release of one of these fixing means, the ski therefore retains partial maneuverability obtained by the middle part and the rear part or the front part which remains integral with the middle part. In order to transport the skis, the front part and/or the rear part is/are separated from the middle part, which enables the overall length to be reduced by a third or even more than half. Finally, by using front parts and rear parts having different shapes, which all fit onto the same middle part, it is possible to adapt the ski so that different styles may be practiced.
Preferably, the middle part has at the front and at the rear lateral-release fixing means and the front part and the rear part have at the rear and at the front a shape allowing cooperation with the said releasable fixing means of the middle part.
In this manner all the releasable fixing means are grouped together on the middle part, thus enabling the front part and the rear part to be simplified and the cost of these two parts to be reduced, which parts can be exchanged with a view to adapting the ski to different styles, while the middle part which groups together the fixing means always remains the same.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the fixing means provided on the middle part comprise at the front, on the one hand, and at the rear, on the other hand, of the middle part a pair of opposite lateral
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patent: 2545209 (1951-03-01), Meehan
patent: 3884315 (1975-05-01), Fox
patent: 4155568 (1979-05-01), Galich
patent: 4316618 (1982-02-01), Sampson
patent: 4361344 (1982-11-01), Hull et al.
patent: 4408779 (1983-10-01), Shekter
patent: 4645228 (1987-02-01), Bertonneau
Johnson Brian J.
Kashnikow Andres
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