CA1128564A

CA1128564A - Ski binding

Info

Publication number: CA1128564A
Application number: CA349,035A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Sven I. Dysthe
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1979-04-02
Filing date: 1980-04-02
Publication date: 1982-07-27
Also published as: DE3065118D1; ATE4862T1; NO144320B; EP0018336A1; EP0018336B1; FI66755C; FI801004A7; NO144320C; NO791083L; FI66755B

Abstract

Abstract of disclosure.
A ski binding with means for pulling a ski boot into the keeper means of the binding and to retain it therein by means of clamping devices, preferably being adjustable. The means consist of a preferably U-shaped fixing strap arranged in guides on said keeper means, the upwardly extending free ends of the strap being coactable with holes in the front sole portion of the boot. The transverse portion of the fixing strap is in engagement with the clamping device in such a manner that the free ends of the strap upon depression of a tensioning arm hinged to said keeper means pull the ski boot forwardly in the longitudinal direction and into the keeper means. The clamping device incorporates a intermediate piece, preferably adjustable in length, which is hinge-connected to the tensioning arm and snapped onto said trans-verse portion at its other end. The binding may be released by letting the front end portion of the intermediate piece be caused to tilt about a section above the top surface of the ski.

Figure 5.

Description

The nresent invention rela-tes to a ski bindinq for use in racinn and cross country skiina. ~lore s~ecifica].ly the invention re-lates to a ski bindin~ with a keeper means and means for pullin~
a ski boot into said kee~er means and to retain it therein by 5 means of a clampin~ device which is nreferably adjustable.

There ls related a number of ~roblems to the new boot sole stan-dards of lighter ski boots. Thls is primarily the case of.the 50 mm "Mordic Racins Norm". Said s-tandard imnlles very small 10 bindin~ with small contact faces for the boot and such bindincJ
is therefore dependent on very small tolerances. It is therefore an object of the invention to nrovide a solution where these to].erance requirements may be reduced in tha-t the boo-t, as in r previously known ski bindin(3s, .is ~ul].ed or ~ushed into a sub-15 st~ntial.ly n.Low sha~ed kee~-er means. ~rhi.s has also thc advant~e that wear on the ront sole ~ortion and on the vert:Lca:L contact faces of the bindin~ is com~cnsated by nullill~ the boo-t into the bindin~

In Morwe~3ian Patent 132.576 there is arran~ed -two ~ins which are fixed relative to the lon-3itudinal direction of the ski but :
movable in vertical direction throu~Jh a -tiltable mountin~ about a mountin~J ~oint.

; 25 In Norwe~Jian Paten-t ~7.867 the boot is pulled into a bindin~
ei-ther by ~eans of a hook connected to the frontmost end of the boot or by ~eans attached to the heel.
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Norwe~ian Paten-t 107.796 i5 to some extent com~arable with what is shown in ~orwe~ian Patent ~7.~67. ~ bracket is attached to the .. ~ . . . .
, .. . , : .: - , ................................. ... .

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~: . . ~ . , . ~, boot and a clamping device can by means of an adjustable inter- ;
mediate piece be brouc~ht in encJacJement with a hook on said bracket, so that the boot may be pulled in-to and retained in the ski bin- .-ding. ~lowever i-t is not advantageous to have such brackets on ~:
boot~,both because these increase the cost of the boot itself and because binding consisting of several senarate parts requires a :.
very accurate and thus ti~e consuming installa-tion. ', Norwegian Patent 78.1181 relates to a ski bindin~ intended for 10 slalom and down hill racing with means for releasable bloc}:ing :~
of the swing action of the boot heel up from -the ski by r~eans of a riqid, possibly somewhat resilient, arm or plate.extendin~
in a rearward direction relative to the keener means and int.ended to enter into a channel, an indentation or the ].i.ke in the heel no~tion of the boot for thereb.v to cause lockin~J of -the heel to the ski. The.sai.d arm or plate is formed by an extension oE ~the bottom nlate of the keeper means or is fixedlv attached to the keeper rneans or the upner face of the ski.

Norwegian Patent 47.051 relates to a ski bindin~ wlthout any rear strap, comPrisin~ -tabs known per se with inwardly directed pro-jectlons bearinct against the upper edge of the sole. ~ plate known per se and shiEtable in the direction of the ski has on its upper face suitable r~eans (e.g. splkes) which can be brought in engaqement with the lower si.de of -the sole, blocking devices being arranged to prevent the plate when moved in.between said tabs to be pulled out again, so that the boo-t when arran~ed on the plate and moved therewitll in between, said -tabs will be firmly locked to the ski in coaction with said devices on the upper side of the shiftable plate, the blocking device and said inwardly .

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-~ 3 bent projections on said -tabs. Thus the boot is moved in the longitudinal direction of the ski during the clamping process.
The clampin~ itself is provided by means of a resilient plate unon which a knob is placed bein~ coactable with holes in said ~late. If the boot should be of a form to most suitably be clamped by hole number two of the holes, i-t may so happen that this is not possible and -tha-t clampin~ therefore must take place by the first hole, whereby the risk is that the boot will not fi-t pro-perly in the bindin~. The solution is therefore not partlcularly advantac~eous in practice.
,~
Norwegian Patent 63.959 relates -to a binding consis-ting of two se~arate and on-screwable parts, one part consistin~ of a clampin~
device with an adjustable interrnedia-te piece and where a rear :l5 str~ loop is i.nt~nded to cJrlp ahou-t the heel oE the boot.

Norwe~ian Patent 84.786 relates to a presensionar for a ski bindin~
where a tensioning device fixed to the ski is connected with -~
the front end of a helical spring, the other end of ~Ihich for regulation purposes is in thread engagement wi-th a screw spindle connected to the rear strap. The screw spindle extends throu~h the means supporting the front portion of the straps, and on -the rear side thereoE is provided with a service~button for reyula-tion of the connection and the tensioning is transEerred -to the rear strap. It is here the case of two separate main parts.
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In Morwe~ian Patent 130.563 there are fixed pins which are brought in engagement with corresponding holes in the toe part of the boot and where strap means may be clamped by means of a clamping .. , ~ . .
device over the top of the front sole edge, thl~s to keep the boot .: ... .:: ,: : - . :. : :: -: . :
. .
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retained in the keening means o-F the binding.
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The present invention has an a object to provide a ski binding which overcomes the many disadvantageous of the kno~m bindings and which is simple and cheap to manufacture and advanta~eous upon-installation on the ski.

The ski binding according to the invention is charac-terized in that the said means consist of a prefel-ably U-shaped fixin~ strap arranged in guides on the keeper means, the free upwardly extendin~
ends of the strap beinq coactable with holes in -the front sole portion of the boot, and that the substantially transverse por-tion of the fixing strap is engagable with said cla~E~iny device, so that -the free ends o~ the straP upon ~'lepressioll of a tenSionincJ
arm oE said alampinc3 device E~ull thc ski boot Forwarc11y ln the lon3itudinal direction of -the ski and into said keeper means of the bindincJ.

~ccordin~ to a further feature of -the ski binding the clamping -~
means comprises an intermediate piece into one end of whlch saicl transverse portion of the fix'ing strap may be snaE~d and the otller end of which is hinyed to a middle portion of the tensionlny arm, one end of whlch is hlncJc-connected to the front,preferably up~er, portion of said keeper means and the other end of which ~5 upon said depression causes forward pushing of -the fixin3 stra~.

Accordinc3 to another feature the intermediate piece may be adjustable in length by letting it consist of -two par-ts, one being screw shaped and -the other threaded internally.

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,' _~ 5 Accordin~ to ano-ther fea-ture the Eorwardly directed end portion of the intermediate piece is preferably shaped to form contact face for an actin~ means, e.~. a ski pole point, said binding being releasable by depression of said end portion when it tilts about a ~ortion raised above -the to~ surface of the ski.

Accordin~ to still another feature of the present lnven-tion the '~
fixing strap compasses substantially most of the clampin~
device.

The invention is now to be described further wi-th reference ~;
to the enclosed drawin~s illustratin~ the present invention as examples thereof.

FicJure 1 shows a first embodiment oE the bindin~, seen rom above, accordin~ to the invention.

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Figure 2 sho~s a longitudinal vertical sentral section throu~h the bindin~ in fi~ure 1.
Figure 3 is a side view of the bindin~ in figure 1.

Figure 4 is a second embodiment of the bindin~J, seen Erorn above, according to the invention.

Fi~ure 5 is a lon~itudinal vertical sentral section throu~h the bindin~ in fi~ure 4.

Fi~ure 6 is a side view oi the bindin~ in fi~ure 4.
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1~2~3S~i~

~igure 7 shows a cross section oE the bi.nding according -to figures 1 and 4, section VII-VII.

The binding has a keeper means l known per se for the front sole 5 portion of the ski boot. The ski boot is provided with grooves .
or recesses 3 providing free passage for a movable, substantial]y ~.
U-shaped strap 2, e.g. of metal wire, wi.th upwardly protruding '~
end portions 4 coactable with holes in the front sole portion `~
oL the boo-t, which holes may be arranyed in accordance with accepted standards.

, The strap 2 is freely movable in the longitudinal direction of the ski and rnay thereby together with -the :boot be pu].led for- '~
~ardly and lnto the bind.in~. The aclvantacJe of usinc3 a stxap with the said conEi~Juration :is basecl both on productional reasons . ~;
and use. As reg~rds production the number of parts are reduced because the upwardly projectin~ end portions coact with -the boo-t. -.
The advantage in use is the free movemen-t of the strap in the spacy grooves :or recesses 3. The movability of the strap is not barred by collection of snow or formation of ice, a problem that may be encountered with some of the known solutions.

As illustrated in Ei.~ures 1~3 the bindin~ has a tensionin~ rnechatlism 7, 8 consisting of a tensioning arm 7 and an in-termediate piece 8. The tensioning arm is hinge-connected 5 to the keeper means l and the intermediate piece 8 is at one end hinged 6 to sub-stantially a middle portion of the tensionin~ arm 7 and at its other end snapped onto the transverse portion 9 of the strap 2.
Upon depression of -the -tensioning arm 7, the upwardly extendit~g . . . .
ends 4 of the strap will be pulled into the keeper means l together ~ . " ~

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.. - . . , :

with the boot. ~t -the lower position of the tensioninc3 arm 7, the hinge 6 forms a dead ~oin-t so that the movemen-t of the -tensioning device in said pOsitioll is locked.

The reference nu~erals 13 indicate holes for attaching the bin-ding to the ski by means of screws (not shown). Three holes will norrnally be sufficient for the ins-tallation.

In figures 4 to 6 the intermediate piece 8 is provided with a longitudinal hole for introduc-tion of a threaded bolt 10 adapted to be hinge-connected 6 to the middle portion of the tensionin~
arm. If the intermediate piece, is ~de of e-~. plastics, the bolt itself may provide the neccessary in-ternal threads in -the inter-mediate piece, and expensive tools for castlng the re~uired threacls or maklng threadc; throu~tl machlnincJ ~l^ellnecces~sary. Ilowever it may still be suitable to rnake -the lcngtll adjustable plece Erom e.g. brass or other suitable metal. A construc-tion with a clamping mechanism bein~ locked throu~h a dead point is known, but since this function is acting conversly, so that the stra~ in a new manner lies around the struc-ture, the components will be subjected to compression instead of tensioning. One may thereby consider a slimmer climensioning than for the known solutions and thereby also reduction of weight. It is however important that by turnin~ ;;
the construction one obtains an interrnediate piece 8 at the front 2g in such a manner that the binding may be released by a ski pole pin by le-tting the wide end portion 12 at one end of the inter- -mediate piece in snap engagemen-t with the s-trap branch 9 tilt about a front portion ll of the keeper means when said end portion 12 is acted upon by said ski pole pin, whereby -the hinged poin-t 6 is brought above the dead point such that the bindin~ is released. --~

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--~ 8 There is thus provided a ski binding which is more compact in that the clampin~ mechanism lays within the conture oE the strap.
The keeper means 1 and the tensionin~ arm 7 are preferably made from a suitable plastics ma-terial. The intermediate piece 8 with its integral end piece 12 may be made from e.g. reinforced plastic ma-terial or a me-tal. Thus, there is provided a bindin~ which is -small and lig]lt and which represents substantial technical ad-vantages relative to the prior art bindings.

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Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A ski binding which comprises a keeper element which includes a base portion and a bridge portion, said base portion including two spaced-apart grooves therein extending below said bridge portion, and a clamping mechanism for pull and and retaining a ski boot within said bridge portion of said keeper element, said clamping mechanism including a generally U-shaped fixing strap which has two legs, a transverse portion connecting corresponding ends of said two legs, the opposite corresponding ends of said two legs having upwardly extending end portions intended to fit within said grooves in said keeper element base portion, and a tensioning device for moving said U-shaped fixing strap such that it will slide in said grooves from a position wherein the upwardly extending end portions thereof are outside said bridge portion of said keeper element to a position wherein the upwardly extending ends there are within said bridge portion of said keeper element, said tensioning device including a tension arm rotatably connected to said keeper element and an intermediate piece, the first end of the intermediate piece being rotatably connected to said tension arm to form a hinge joint and the second end being rotatably connected to said transverse portion of said U-shaped fixing strap, said tension arm and said intermediate piece being operable such that when said tension arm is rotated towards said base portion of said keeper element, said hinge joint will move downwardly to a dead point.

2. The ski binding of Claim 1, wherein the tension arm of the tensioning device is rotatably connected to the bridge portion of the keeper element, wherein the first end of the intermediate piece is rotatably connected to the tension arm at about halfway along the length of the tension arm, and wherein the second end of the intermediate piece which is connected to the transverse portion of the U-shaped fixing strap is generally C-shaped and is snap fitted thereto.

3. The ski binding of Claim 2, wherein the intermediate piece is composed of two parts which are adjustable with respect to one another to change the overall length of the intermediate piece.

4. The ski binding of Claim 2, wherein the intermediate piece has a sufficient length that the second end thereof connected to the transverse portion of said U-shaped fixing strap can extend beyond the end of the base portion of the keeper element, thus, when desired, allowing the intermediate piece to be activated by a ski pole pin so as to lift said hinge joint upwardly and away from said dead point.

5. The ski binding of Claim 1, wherein said tensioning arm is generally T-shaped, the head portion being the end of said tensioning arm which is rotatably connected to said keeper element.

6. The ski binding of Claim 5, wherein the base portion of said T-shaped tensioning arm and said intermediate piece have a lesser width than the width of said generally U-shaped fixing strap.