Snowshoe

Abstract

A lightweight, collapsible snowshoe formed from a plurality of sections which can be readily assembled to form a broad, support surface for use and that can be disassembled and compacted for storage and transporting.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Snowshoes have conventionally been bulky items, usually made of a hardwood frame and a thong lacing. While generally suitable for their intended use for providing over snow mobility, they are not always conveniently stored or carried. Thus, while cross-country winter hikers, for example, may find it necessary or desirable to carry snowshoes, they may also find it uncomfortable or difficult to carry them because of their size. Also, with the increasing popularity of snowmobiles, there has been an increase in the number of stranded snowmobile riders who are forced to hike to safety or help whenever their snowmobile breaks down. Snowshoes are frequently needed by the stranded operators of broken-down snowmobiles but they have seldom been available when needed in the past, since there has not heretofore been available a snowshoe that could be readily carried on the machine. Conventional snowshoes have just been too large and bulky for convenient storage in the small compartment space that may be available and are "in the way" if merely attached to the exterior of the machine.

In U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,958, there is shown a foldable snowshoe that folds to a compact condition, and this may be suitable for many purposes. However, the use of folding joints is not always satisfactory from a strength standpoint and it is not always possible to have a taut mesh support unless some means are provided to stretch the mesh.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a breakdown or collapsible snowshoe that is light-in-weight, easily assembled to provide a taut webbing support surface for use and disassembled for compact transporting or storage.

Other objects are to provide such a collapsible snowshoe that is unusually sturdy and yet that is made of readily available materials and that can be economically constructed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Principal features of the invention include a sectional tubular frame, a net webbing arranged to be tautly stretched across the frame and means arranged to releasably lock the sections of the frame together for use while at the same time stretching the webbing.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and claims, together with the accompanying drawing,

THE DRAWING

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of one embodiment of an assembled snowshoe of the invention;

FIG. 2, an exploded perspective view of the snowshoe of FIG. 1, showing how it is disassembled, and how the foot harness is affixed;

FIG. 3, a top plan view of another embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4, an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view showing an anchor member portion of the snowshoe of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawing:

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the snowshoe, shown generally at 10, includes a tail section 11, a center section 12 that has a foot harness 13 thereon, and a front section 14. As illustrated, the front, central and rear sections are of essentially the same length such that they can be superimposed over one another for placement in a storage and carrying bag, not shown. As so arranged, the snowshoe is a compact unit that can be easily stored or carried.

The center section serves as the support area to carry the weight of a wearer of the snowshoe and it must be strong enough to support the weight placed thereon. This section includes a pair of spaced, tubular siderails 15 and 16 that are connected intermediate their lengths by rigid crossbars 17-19. The crossbars thus provide a platform on which a user's foot may rest and to which the foot harness 13 may be secured.

The foot harness includes a toe piece 20 that is adapted to be secured to the forward crossbar 17 by rivets 21 and that folds back over the toe of a user's shoe and ties using a string 22 laced between the ends of the toe piece. Ankle straps 23 and 24 extend rearwardly of the toe piece and are held separated by a heel piece 25 that slides on the ankle straps and that is adapted to fit behind a user's foot. The ankle straps then come forward over the top of the foot to be tied at the front thereof. While this harness has proven very effective, it should be apparent that other harness constructions can be used. The harness can be made of leather, vinyls, reinforced neoprene or any other suitable material or combination of materials.

Tubular coupling sections 26 and 29 extend from the rear of the side rails 15 and 16, respectively, to provide telescoping coupling means for the tail section 11 and similar tubular coupling sections 27 and 28 extend from the front of the siderails to provide means for coupling the front section 14.

The tail section comprises a generally V-shaped tubular body member 30, the ends 30a and 30b of which are adapted to telescope into the coupling sections 26 and 29. The coupling sections are bent to be in alignment and receive the ends 30a and 30b.

The ends of member 30 are weaved through the sides of a net mesh or webbing 31 that is shaped to stretch tautly across the member.

An anchor member 32 has its center portion 32a weaved through the mesh 31 and has its end 32b and 32c bent to form hooks. The hooks are somewhat resilient and fit over rear crossbar 19 of center section 12, thereby holding the tail section and center section securely together and tautly stretching the mesh 31.

Front section 14 has a generally U-shaped frame member 38, turned up adjacent the web of the U, onto which is weaved a net mesh 35. The mesh is stretched tightly between the legs of the U-shaped member and another anchor member 36 has its center portion 36a weaved through the mesh and its ends 36b and 36c bent to form hooks that will engage the front crossbar 17 of the center section 12 when the front section and the center section are coupled together. The engagement of the hooks with the front crossbar insures taut stretching of the mesh 35.

To assemble the snowshoe of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, it is only necessary to couple the tail and front sections 10 and 11 to the center section 12. This is done by telescoping the ends 30a and 30b of body member 30 of the tail section into coupling sections 26 and 29, respectively; sliding the mesh 31 along the body member 30 and onto the coupling sections and siderails 15 and 16 of the center section before hooking the ends of anchor member 32 over rear crossbar 19. The ends of the U-shaped frame member 38 of the front section are inserted into coupling sections 27 and 28, the mesh 35 is pulled along the U-shaped frame member and the ends of anchor member 36 are hooked over front crossbar 17.

To disassemble the snowshoe, it is only necessary to release the anchor members and pull the front and tail sections from the center section.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, there is shown a slightly modified embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the tail center and front sections 11, 12 and 14 of the snowshoe 10' are the same as previously described, except for the manner in which the mesh is affixed.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the ends of body member 30 of the tail section are woven through a mesh 40, in the same manner as the mesh 31, previously described, but the mesh 40 is not adapted to move onto the center section. Instead, a guide rod 42 is woven through the mesh and rings 43 are provided at each end of the guide rod and around the ends of member 30. The rings thus serve as guides as the mesh is stretched, all as will be hereafter disclosed in more detail.

Another mesh 44 is woven onto the siderails 15 and 16 of the center section, passes beneath the rear crossbar 19 and is anchored to the center crossbar 18 by an anchor 44' that is woven through the mesh and that has its ends looped around the center crossbar. A guide rod 45 is then woven through the opposite end of the mesh 44 and rings 46 on the ends of the guide rod 45 extend around siderails 15 and 16 to slide thereon as the mesh 44 is stretched taut.

An adjustable strap 47 is passed around guide rod 45 and a hook 48, carried thereby is adapted to engage the guide rod 42, when the tail section and the center section are coupled together. The strap 46 is then drawn up tight to hold the sections together and the mesh taut.

Still another guide rod 49 is woven through the mesh 50, that is woven onto the U-shaped member 38, and rings 51 on the ends of the rod 49 extend around the legs of member 38 and slide thereon.

A pair of spaced-apart, adjustable straps 52 and 53 are then passed around the front crossbar and the hooks 54 and 55 carried by the straps are adapted to engage the rod 48, when the front section 14 and center section 12 are coupled. When the hooks 54 and 55 have been so engaged, the straps 52 and 53 are shortened in conventional manner, to hold the sections together and the mesh 50 taut.

The foot harness of the embodiment of FIG. 3 includes an adjustable, laced toe piece 57, riveted or otherwise fixed to the front crossbar 17, and an adjustable heel strap 56, extending rearwardly of the toe piece and having a buckle thereon whereby the heel strap can be adjusted.

The snowshoe 10' can be disassembled by releasing the tension on the straps 47, 52 and 53, releasing the hooks 48, 54 and 55 from the guide rods 42 and 49, and by pulling ends 30a and 30b of the tail section and the ends of U-shaped member 34 from the coupling sections 25 and 26 and 27 and 28, respectively.

To assemble the snowshoe 10', a reverse procedure is followed.

While the snowshoe has been here shown and described as being made up of three sections, it should be apparent that more or fewer such sections could be used and that the desired size of the compacted package will determine the size of the shoe and the number of sections utilized. The arrangement shown has proven very satisfactory for most uses however.

Although a preferred form of my invention has been herein disclosed, it is to be understood that variations are possible and are anticipated as coming within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A collapsible snowshoe comprising

a plurality of interconnectable frame sections;

mesh material stretched as webbing across at least some of said frame sections; and

releasable means interconnecting said mesh material and said sections for tautly stretching said mesh material along the said sections when the said sections are assembled and for holding said frame sections together.

2. A collapsible snowshoe as in claim 1, wherein the plurality of interconnectable frame sections comprise

a front section

a center section providing a top load-supporting surface and a bottom ground-engaging surface and having tubular coupling sections at the front and rear thereof;

a tail section having an essentially V-shaped frame, the ends of said frame being adapted to be telescoped into the rear coupling member of the center section and with mesh material extending across the frame.

3. A collapsible snowshoe as in claim 2, wherein the means for tautly stretching the mesh material comprises

hook means arranged to connect the center section with the mesh of each of the front and tail sections.

4. A collapsible snowshoe as in claim 3, wherein the hook means comprises

a plurality of straps secured to the center section and having the hook means thereon and means for shortening and lengthening said straps; and substantially rigid anchor and guide means interwoven through the mesh on the front and rear sections and adapted to be engaged by the said hooks.

5. A collapsible snowshoe as in claim 4, wherein

the center section has a pair of siderails and a plurality of cross braces extending therebetween to provide the load supporting surface.

6. A collapsible snowshoe as in claim 5, wherein the straps of the hook means are wrapped around cross braces of the center section to hold the sections in their assembled relationship and to stretch the mesh material taut.

7. A collapsible snowshoe as in claim 6, further including a foot harness fixed to the top load-supporting surface of the center section.