Land vehicles – Skates – Runner type
Patent
1988-12-19
1992-10-27
Mitchell, David M.
Land vehicles
Skates
Runner type
A63C 5048
Patent
active
051583186
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to snow skis with small grooves near and adjacent the edge of the ski and under the longitudinal location of the boot attachment. The grooves on the bottom of the snow skis are useful for facilitating change in direction by cutting into the snow or ice, such cutting action being additional to the ski edges, thereby providing a better grip by the skis during turning in the usual manner of skiing. The grooves are necessarily limited in length such that the turning advantage is not offset by the tendency of a groove to track in a constant direction. The edge of the ski can also be beveled to minimize any increase in drag caused by the addition of the grooves.
BACKGROUND ART
Snow skis are intended to permit a skier to move rapidly and precisely down a snow-covered slope. Edge inserts are commonly built into the snow ski undersurface sides, typically made of metal although the inserts can be constructed of any other suitable material, or the ski can be constructed without edge inserts. The ski edges are typically sharp to penetrate severely compacted snow or ice.
Grooves on skis are known in the art, both for snow skis and for water skis. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,381,972, 3,395,411, 3,907,315, 4,585,249. However, none of these skis with grooves describe the art or provide the advantages of improved performance taught by this invention.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
This invention provides important improvements over previous skis. The objective of this invention is to provide a snow ski that permits a skier to move rapidly and to precisely maneuver down a snow-covered slope. Typically, a snow ski is provided with sharp metal longitudinal edges that cut into snow or ice when a skier negotiates a turn in the normal manner of skiing. It is the objective of this invention to facilitate more precise control during turning by providing additional small, longitudinal cutting edges in the form of grooves of limited length located near the ski undersurface edge, generally located under the boot area of the ski. Where the ski is provided with ski edge inserts, the grooves are typically located in those inserts. The groove shape or shapes are designed to maximize performance requirements for the intended use. An added benefit is that, with sharp edges provided on grooves within the ski undersurface near the edge, the requirement for sharpness on the ski edge is reduced. Thus, edges can be fabricated with less than very sharp edges to reduce occurrence of lacerations to the skier, especially occurring with accidents, to prolong the use of skis otherwise requiring high performance sharp edges, or to extend the mean time between edge sharpening.
It is also the objective of this invention to provide increased turning control and ability while maintaining minimum drag on the ski undersurface and not increasing the tendency of a ski to maintain a straight track, both of which are typically caused when grooves are added to a ski undersurface. This objective is achieved both by providing a slight bevel on the undersurface ski edge and by limiting the length of the grooves to less than or equal to twenty percent of the length of the ski.
One skilled in the art will recognize the advantages taught by this invention and illustrated by the preferred embodiment presented. The specification and drawings are not intended to represent an exhaustive description of the invention. Obvious applications and extensions of the invention are intended to be within the spirit and scope of this invention .
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows an enlargement of a ski edge with insert 40, typically made of metal, showing the location of a groove 50 near the edge of the ski.
FIG. 2 shows various possible configurations of a groove, which groove may in fact consist of a set of several separate groves producing the desired effect.
FIG. 3 shows representative dimensions of a groove 50 and its location in the ski edge insert 40.
FIG. 4 shows the qualitative advantage of providing a groove 50 in grippin
REFERENCES:
patent: 3063728 (1962-11-01), Patterson
patent: 3381972 (1968-05-01), Miller
patent: 4175766 (1979-11-01), Barwin
patent: 4722543 (1988-02-01), Brugger
LandOfFree
Snow skis with microgrooves does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Snow skis with microgrooves, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Snow skis with microgrooves will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-901546