Power Ski

Abstract

A power driven ski with an anterior sliding portion and posterior toothed endless belt portion, a motor for propelling the belt and control means attached to a ski pole for regulating the belt's speed.

Parent Case Text

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application titled "power ski," Ser. No. 828,968, filed on May 29, 1969 and now U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,348.

Description

SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND

This invention relates to skis, and more particularly to a ski having means of carrying a skier over snow covered surface under its own power.

Presently, there is polarization between outdoor winter sports' enthusiasts. The purists use nothing but skis, while the modernists take their relaxation along with their recreation and mount a snowmobile.

Applicant's invention provides the skier on one hand with some of the challenges, such as holding balance, etc., of downhill skiing without the dependency of hilly terrain and ski lifts, and on the other hand it is much less cumbersome to use, to transport and to store than the snowmobile, and less expensive to produce and maintain.

The power ski comprises an anterior elongated sliding ski portion which is similar to the anterior portion of a conventional ski. To this section, the skier's boot is attached by a conventional binding mechanism. The posterior ski portion is made of a toothed endless belt fit to engage with snow and resist slippage. It is important that the posterior portion of the ski will evenly pack and compress the snow from above while the endless belt is obtaining from the packed snow, a forward thrust. Without this even packing, the snow, especially if in powdery form, is easily blown away from under the belt. Thus, it is also important to proportion the anterior and posterior ski portions, and to locate the binding mechanism so that some of the skier's weight will be utilized to evenly compress and pack the snow through the posterior ski portion. In order to obtain an even packing under the toothed belt, the power ski has to be constructed with a dihedral angle somewhat smaller than 180.degree. between its anterior and posterior portions, when the ski is free of skier's weight, so that under skier's weight, the ski would be straightened, distributing skier's weight evenly along the posterior and anterior ski portions.

The motor utilized is preferably an internal combustion engine. It can be mounted directly on the ski or carried by the skier on his back or belt. (The reader should keep in mind the ultra light engines of the type utilized in chain saws, weighing 4-8 lbs., which develop several H.P.). If carried by the skier it can be coupled by a flexible shaft to the endless belt, or by a hydrostatic drive. The drive line between the motor and the endless belt can include clutching and/or speed changing mechanism, preferably a centrifugal clutch or a miniature hydrokinetic torque converter.

A skier may bind a power ski to each of his legs, or bind a power ski to one leg and a conventional ski to the other leg.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a side view of a skier equipped with a power ski according to my invention;

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the posterior section of the power ski shown in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 shows a top view of the center section of the power ski shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES:

FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 show a power ski generally indicated by numeral 10, having an anterior elongated sliding ski surface portion for slidingly contacting the snow 11, and a posterior toothed endless belt portion generally indicated by numeral 12, for driving the ski. A skier's boot 13 is attached to the ski by a conventional "step in" type ski binding mechanism indicated by numerals 14 and 15.

The skier carries on his back a motor 16 which transmits its power to a right angle gear box 19 through a hydrokinetic torque converter 16a and a flexible shaft having a core 17 and an outer protective cover 18. A driver pulley 20 is mounted on the output shaft 21 of the gear box 19 and secured to it by a spring pin 22.

A toothed endless belt 23 is rotatably supported on the driver pulley 20 and on an idler pulley 24 which is rotatably supported on a rear fork 25 which is secured to a posterior ski section 11a.

The anterior and posterior ski section 11 and 11a respectively, the ski binding mechanism 14 and the right angle gear box 19 are all secured to a central frame 26.

A flexible cable having a core 27 and a protective cover 28 connects a trigger mechanism 29 which is mounted on a ski pole 30 to the motor 16 regulating motor's power output to the endless belt.

Numeral 32 indicates a dihedral angle between the anterior and posterior portion of the ski, 11 and 12 respectively, which is somewhat smaller than 180.degree. when the ski is free of skier's weight.

This construction of the ski helps to even the weight distribution of skier's weight along the ski. The size of the ideal dihedral angle depends on the ski's stiffness, length and width as well as on skier's weight, thus it is possible to design a mechanism that will allow to adjust the dihedral angle to suit. Such a mechanism consists of bolts 33 and 34, and slot 35 in the center frame 26, which allow the skier to secure the binding mechanism 14 to the center frame 26 in different angles resulting in a different dihedral angle 32, since the anterior ski portion 11 is secured to the center frame 26 through binding mechanism 14.

An additional benefit of this construction is, that the anterior portion of the ski 11, is readily separable from the rest of the power ski 10, which can ease transporting the power ski in the trunk of a car, or substituting one anterior portion of ski with another portion having a different length, width or stiffness characteristics to suit a particular snow condition or a particular skier.

While the invention has been illustrated in connection with a specific embodiment, it is understood that various changes may be made in the form, details arrangement and proportions of the various parts without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

I claim:

1. A power driven ski comprising, in combination:

an anterior elongated sliding ski surface portion for slidingly contacting the snow,

a posterior toothed endless belt portion for driving said ski, said anterior and posterior ski portion forming a dihedral angle smaller than 180.degree.,

means for attaching a ski boot to said sliding surface portion so that part of the skier's weight is carried by said sliding surface portion, and the other part by the endless belt portion,

motor means for powering said endless belt portion, said motor means being coupled to said endless belt portion,

2. As in claim 1, where said dihedral angle is adjustable.