U.S. patent number 3,897,077 [Application Number 05/436,544] was granted by the patent office on 1975-07-29 for safety ski binding having cable held sole plate.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Gertsch AG. Invention is credited to Gottfried Schweizer.
United States Patent |
3,897,077 |
Schweizer |
July 29, 1975 |
Safety ski binding having cable held sole plate
Abstract
Safety release ski binding engaging the bottom center of a boot.
There is provided a safety release binding wherein a sole plate is
fitted forwardly and rearwardly with conventional boot sole
engaging means. Said plate is then fixed removably to a ski by
being provided with openings therein which fit over suitable, as
conical or ball shaped, abutments projecting upwardly from the
upper ski surface. The plate is held down against the ski and onto
said abutments by an anchor disk which can slide longitudinally of
said plate and rotate with respect thereto but which is held
against movement perpendicular with respect thereto. A cable is
fastened at one end to said disk, passes through a guide on said
ski and is fixed at its other end to manually operable safety
tensioning means. In normal use, said cable holds the plate and
hence the ski boot tightly down against the ski and said abutments
prevent movement thereof with respect to the ski. In a fall,
however, sufficient force is applied to the cable to effect release
of the tensioning means. The plate (10) then leaves the ski but the
cable continues to function as a safety strap to prevent escape of
the ski from the skier.
Inventors: |
Schweizer; Gottfried (Vienna,
OE) |
Assignee: |
Gertsch AG (Zug,
CH)
|
Family
ID: |
3505560 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/436,544 |
Filed: |
January 25, 1974 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
Current U.S.
Class: |
280/618;
280/637 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63C
9/086 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63C
9/086 (20060101); A63C 9/08 (20060101); A63c
009/08 () |
Field of
Search: |
;280/11.35D,11.35C,11.35K,11.35F,11.35P,11.35R,11.35N |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,179,625 |
|
Dec 1958 |
|
FR |
|
1,923,001 |
|
Apr 1970 |
|
DT |
|
Primary Examiner: Schonberg; David
Assistant Examiner: Mitchell; David M.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Woodhams, Blanchard and Flynn
Claims
The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or
privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A safety ski binding arrangement for securing a ski boot to a
ski, comprising:
a sole plate having means thereon for securing said ski boot
thereto, said sole plate including guide means thereon;
carriage means reciprocably mounted in said guide means for
movement in the plane defined by the sole plate;
releasable securing means for releasably securing said sole plate
to said ski, said releasable securing means comprising nonelastic
cable secured at one end to the underside of said carriage means,
lever operated tensioning and release means secured to said ski,
the opposite end of said cable being secured to said lever operated
tensioning and release means, cable guide means for guiding said
cable downwardly from said sole plate and in the plane between the
sole plate and the ski to said lever operated tensioning and
release means; and
stop means for engaging and positioning said sole plate on said ski
prior to a tensioning of said cable, whereby a tensioning of said
cable by said lever operated tensioning and release means will
tighten said cable and draw said sole plate into tight engagement
with said stop means.
2. A safety ski binding arrangement according to claim 1, wherein
said sole plate is a flat plate;
wherein said stop means includes a plurality of recesses in the
bottom of said sole plate and a corresponding number of pins
mounted on the upper surface of said ski and projecting upwardly
therefrom, said pins being received in said recesses on said sole
plate.
3. A safety ski binding arrangement according to claim 2, wherein
said recesses have an internal tapered surface portion; and
wherein said pins have a tapered surface portion corresponding to
said internal tapered surface portion so that said surfaces are
parallel when in engagement with each other.
4. A safety ski binding arrangement according to claim 2, wherein
said guide means comprises an elongated slotted hole in the bottom
of said flat plate, the axis of elongation extending parallel to
the longitudinal axis of said flat plate;
wherein said carriage means comprises a disk capable of
reciprocating movement back and forth in said slotted hole and
rotation about its own axis, the axis of said disk being
perpendicular to the plane of said flat plate; and
wherein said cable is secured at said one end to said disk; and
wherein said disk is located intermediate the ends of said slotted
hole when said cable is tightened and said stop means engages and
positions said flat plate on said ski.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a safety ski binding having a cable or the
like which is connected at one end to the ski boot and at the other
end to a release mechanism and wherein stops on the ski boot abut
shoulders fixed to the ski.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a known safety ski binding of this type, a cable is for example
suspended at one end in a boot fitting and is connected at its
other end to a rotatably supported drum. The cable is constantly
maintained under tension by a spiral spring which is installed in
the drum. A pivotable lever is supported in the housing and one end
of such lever engages a slot of the drum. The lever is loaded by a
torsion spring which is of greater strength than that of the spiral
spring and therefore serves as a release spring. Through this
arrangement, the fitting of the ski boot is urged against a
projection on the housing and the ski boot is thus held on the
ski.
A disadvantage of this arrangement lies in that it is difficult to
place the ski boot properly in the binding. The one end of the
cable must extend into a corresponding slot of the boot fitting. It
is also possible that the boot fitting may be damaged during
walking and snow, ice, dirt or the like can accumulate in the slot.
Further, snow, ice, dirt or the like can penetrate between ski boot
and ski whereby a secure frictional connection between boot and ski
or between the binding parts is no longer assured. Thus there
exists in this type of binding a considerable likelihood of
breakdown.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the invention is to avoid these disadvantages and
the invention is characterized in that the ski boot is held in a
known manner on a sole plate, on which engages a cable or the like
which is movably supported in a guide and further in that the
shoulders fixed to the ski are for example cone-shaped or
ball-shaped pins or the like, which engage stops formed by recesses
in the sole plate and do so in response to a tensioned release
mechanism.
Through this construction, the user can enter into or be released
from the ski binding without operating or releasing the safety
mechanism. Also it is not possible to damage the pins on the ski
during transporting of the ski because they remain at all times
firmly connected to the sole plate. By arranging a tensioning means
as a release mechanism the susceptibility to breakdown is almost
completely avoided. A further advantage consists in that by
suitably arranging a sole plate, an adjustable heel holder for
various boot sizes can be used without changing the position of the
safety elements.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The subject matter of the invention is exemplarily illustrated in
one embodiment in the drawing, in which:
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a safety ski binding embodying the
invention wherein FIG. 1 is a partial central cross-sectional view
and FIG. 2 is a side view, but wherein the sole plate has been
lifted off and is illustrated in a plan view from below.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
As shown in the drawing, a ski boot 1 is secured by means of a toe
piece 2 and an adjustable heel piece 3 on a sole plate 4. The sole
plate 4 has recesses 5 into which engage pins 8, here of conical
shape, which are mounted on the ski 6 through a base plate 7.
Furthermore a slotted hole 9 is provided in the sole plate 4, in
which slotted hole a disk 10 is supported against perpendicular
movement with respect thereto but in a manner to permit parallel
sliding and rotation. A cable 11 is secured at one end on the disk
10, which cable slides in a guide 12 on the base plate 7 and
engages by its other end an eyelet 13 of a safety tensioning means
14. As already known, the sole plate 4 has bores 15 into which the
heel piece 3 can be connected according to the ski boot size. By
using the disk, the same stress directions of the cable are always
obtained during forward, backward and twisting falls and thus
substantially constant frictional relationships are also
obtained.
If a safety release occurs, the recesses 5 of the sole plate
release from the pin 8 and the disk 10 pulls the cable 11 against
the force of the spring of the safety tensioning means 14 and
causes same to open. (See also FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,190,667.)
Thus the ski boot 1 with the sole plate 4 is completely freed from
the ski 6 and the cable 11 now serves with respect thereto only as
a catch mechanism. After a release, the ski boot 1 together with
the sole plate with the recesses 5 may be replaced onto the pins 8,
the lever of the safety tensioning means 14 again moved forwardly
and the safety ski binding is again ready to be used.
The invention is not limited to the illustrated exemplary
embodiment. A number of further embodiments exist which lie within
the scope of the invention. For example in place of the pins, webs
could be provided which engage corresponding recesses of the sole
plate. Further, a stop or marking may be provided on the ski which
facilitates the placing of the standing plate on the pin.
Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has
been disclosed above for illustrative purposes, it will be
understood that variations or modifications thereof which lie
within the scope of the appended claims are fully contemplated.
* * * * *