Land vehicles – Skates – Runner type
Patent
1998-07-28
2000-12-12
Hurley, Kevin
Land vehicles
Skates
Runner type
280602, A63C 124
Patent
active
061587478
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to skiing equipment. In the following description and in the claims, this term is intended to include any equipment which allows the user to slide on snow clad slopes to practice any type of skiing discipline, such as, for example skis, snowboards and the like.
More precisely, the invention relates to equipment of the type comprising a resiliently deformable structure which is able to assume a variety of curved configurations in dependence on the dynamic actions which develop during use, and which is provided with means for damping its flexural vibrations.
Various systems have already been proposed which have the purpose of damping elastic oscillations of skis. In effect, flexural vibrations of skis represent an entirely unwanted phenomenon which, especially in use at high speed or on icy slopes, produces a loss of contact with the ground, a reduced capacity to hold to a curve, less control over the path of the equipment and impacts with the ground which increase the sliding friction.
Currently, state of the art industrial ski construction provides for different layers of materials such as wood, metal, thermoplastic materials, glass fibres, carbon fibres, thermosetting resins etc to be joined together, and utilises different parameters of resistance to flexion and torsion of each of the said materials to provide skis with given characteristics of elasticity and viscoelasticity capable of partly damping the flexural vibrations. Currently, the use of spacers (the so-called antivibration plates) fitted to the centre of the ski, already widely used in competitive alpine skiing, is being extended into the tourist and amateur sectors. These spacers or plates are not truly dampers and principally have the purpose of raising the boot binding from the ground to allow greater inclination in curves.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has the object of providing a system for damping flexural vibrations of skis, snowboards and the like, which is more effective than arrangements known up to now.
The present invention is essentially based on the principal of providing a deformable chamber filled with a damping fluid and disposed in such a way that the variations in the configuration of the ski, snowboard or the like, produce corresponding variations in the form of at least part of the deformable chamber.
Thanks to this arrangement the variations in the geometry of the ski cause a movement of damping fluid within the deformable chamber. The work necessary for the displacement of the damping fluid causes a damping of the vibrational motion of the ski. The magnitude of the damping can be varied at the design stage by a choice of the characteristics of the fluid or by providing restricted, possibly adjustable, flow cross-sections within the deformable chamber.
The system according to the present invention can be integrated into the structure of the ski, snowboard or the like or can be formed as an accessory which can be fixed on to the upper surface of any known type of ski like one of the said plates, which make it possible to increase the distance between the boot and the ground. Alternatively, the accessory can be fixed forwardly or rearwardly of the bindings, without influencing them.
The vibration damping system according to the present invention may possibly be associated with an elastic device comprising one or more flat springs subject to a variable pre-loading, which allow variation in the rigidity characteristics of the ski as well as its shape at rest.
The damping system according to the present invention behaves like a hydraulic or gas damper and acts to damp the elastic return oscillation after a flexing stress. One of the advantages of the system according to the invention is that it does not require the use of conventional piston-type dampers which would require mechanical members such as arms, levers or tie rods and would lead to a considerable increase in the weight and size of the ski. On the contrary, in the arrangement according to
REFERENCES:
patent: 5213355 (1993-05-01), Juhasz
patent: 5499836 (1996-03-01), Juhasz
patent: 5775716 (1998-07-01), Harsanyi et al.
Hurley Kevin
McKinley Kevin
LandOfFree
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