Land vehicles – Skates – Shoe attaching means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-20
2002-01-08
Johnson, Brian L. (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Skates
Shoe attaching means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06336650
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to snowboard bindings especially those designed to offer on the hill attack angle rotational adjustment and/or a stance width adjustment.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The sport of snowboarding is growing rapidly. Every day new skiers/snowboarders enter a rental ski shop and take their first ride. Unfortunately, most new boarders do not know their left foot from their right. This means the novice rider does not know which is his favored lead foot until he is on top of a mountain. If the ski shop guessed wrong, then the boarder cannot alter his stance until he returns to the ski shop. Most bindings are pre-set as to which is the lead foot as well as the relative angles of each binding to the longitudinal axis of the board. Fine tuning generally necessitates ski-shop adjustments. Generally, the forward foot is placed at an angle with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the snowboard during the snowboarding. Still further, most snowboarders like to have their feet as close to the snow as possible for reasons of control, comfort, and the like. Still further, some snowboarders like to have their foot at one angle while others like to have their foot at another angle, and some snowboarders actually like to change the angle depending on conditions associated with the activity. Also, a boarder may wish to have his feet at two different angles. Still further, some snowboarders like to have different stance widths (distance between feet and relative to board center either offset forward or back).
As noted above, most snowboarding is carried out with one foot, preferably the lead foot, oriented at an extreme angle with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the snowboard. While this is effective and efficient for snowboarding, it is not desirable under all circumstances. Specifically, it is not desirable when skating or when riding a ski lift. Skating is effected by removing one foot, such as the rear foot, from the snowboard and using that removed foot to contact the snow and propel the snowboarder forward in a skating movement. As can be understood, if the foot remaining attached to the snowboard is at an extreme angle with respect to the longitudinal centerline, skating will be uncomfortable and awkward and may even place undue stress on the snowboarder's body.
Another problem with the angled orientation of the snowboarder's foot on the snowboard occurs when the snowboarder is riding a ski lift. The angled orientation of the board with respect to the wearer may cause the board to be at an angle with respect to the wearer when that wearer is riding the ski lift. This may cause the board to contact other equipment or to contact other skier's equipment, or to be located in an undesired position. This, in turn, may require the wearer to twist his or her foot into an uncomfortable position while on the lift to hold the snowboard straight. Given the weight and length of the snowboard, holding the snowboard straight via twisting the foot or leg is very stressful to the body.
Some snowboarders actually remove their snowboards when moving across level ground or when riding a ski lift. This is cumbersome. It is also undesirable when the snowboarder demounts the ski lift as he or she must move out of line to replace the snowboard. Holding the snowboard while riding the lift is a potential hazard for skier's below the lift path.
Still further, requiring the snowboarder to maintain his or her foot attached to a snowboard at an angle may be undesirable if the snowboarder wishes to alter his or her snowboarding style or technique during a snowboarding activity. Such altered style or technique may be required or desired due to changed snow conditions, changed slope conditions or type of riding (i.e. half-pipe, racing, freeriding etc.). The snowboarder may wish to change his or her speed of snowboarding, or even to change his or her style altogether, or to change the amount of control exerted over the activity.
In some conditions, the snowboarder may want to alter the angular orientation of his or her lead foot. He or she may even want to switch his or her lead foot. He or she may even want both feet to be at an adjusted angle with respect to the snowboard longitudinal centerline.
The difference in styles and desires of snowboarders is most evident in the rental market. One snowboarder may have a preferred position and orientation with respect to the snowboard for a given condition and skill level, while another snowboarder may have an entirely different position and orientation for the same condition. Therefore, rental snowboards must be changed to suit the renter.
In the past, snowboards have required that the snowboarder's foot be completely separated from the snowboard to effect any significant change in angular orientation of the foot with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the snowboard. The change is effected by removing the snowboarder's foot, loosening fasteners and removing anchoring means which attaches bindings to the snowboard, re-orienting the anchoring means, and re-attaching the fasteners to the binding and snowboard, then re-attaching the snowboarder's foot to the binding.
A summary of the prior art is noted below. There are two basic types of snowboard bindings, namely, strap or step-in. From the summary below, only Erb and Berger™ offer an adjustable 360° stance angle on the hill. Erb is a strap system. Strap systems waste time on the hill and necessitate sitting down to secure the boot to the binding. Step-in systems allow the boarder to enter and dismount while standing. This is a convenience. Berger™ is the only step-in 360° adjustable stance angle system known. The present invention provides a firmer grip of the boot to the snowboard as well as providing a spring torsion ride, improvements to the Berger™ system. Also offered is an optional stance width adjustment and a one-motion step-in.
Below follows a brief description of the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,631 (1997) to Ratzek et al. discloses retractable pins in a boot heel which engage a binding element on the snowboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,630 to Perkins et al. discloses a snowboard binding. FIG. 1 of Perkins shows a snowboard 14, a boot 16 which is releasably attached to the snowboard 14 by binding 12. Each boot 16 has a pair of locating pins 18 that extend from a bottom surface 20 of the boot 16 (best shown in FIG. 2). The insert plate 30 of the bindings has a pair of protrusions 34 that extend into the pin apertures 26. A locking arm secures the pins to the snowboard baseplate. No 360° adjustment exists.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,322 to Perkins et al. discloses a snowboard binding. According to Perkins, the snowboard binding can readily attach and release a boot from a snowboard. FIG. 1 of Perkins shows a snowboard 14, a boot 16 which is releasably attached to the snowboard 14 by binding 12. Each boot 16 has a pair of locating pins 18 that extend from a bottom surface 20 of the boot 16 (best shown in FIG. 2). The insert plate 30 of the bindings has a pair of protrusions 34 that extend into the pin apertures 26. No 360° adjustment is provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,088 to Vetter et al. discloses a coupling for releasably mounting a boot with boot binding to a turnable 30 which is adjustably secured 360° to a snowboard 100. The boot binding includes a plurality of extending lock pins each with a shoe releasably locking into arcuate slot in the turntable. This is either a step in or a strap system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,386 to Schweizer discloses a binding mounting apparatus 20 having a baseplate 25 which is mounted to a board surface 21 of a snowboard. A pivot stem 30 with an enlarged head portion 31 is secured to the baseplate 25. A boot mounting plate has a least one mounting through hole and a stem through hole. The pivot stem is positioned within the stem through hole. Such stem through hole is sized large enough for the pivot stem to fit within the stem through hole and small enough for the enlarged head to prevent the mounting p
Chrisman Bynum & Johnson, P.C.
Johnson Brian L.
Klebe G B
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