CA1243277A

CA1243277A - Ski rack

Info

Publication number: CA1243277A
Application number: CA000547500A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Harold Enquist
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-09-22
Filing date: 1987-09-22
Publication date: 1988-10-18

Abstract

SKI RACK

ABSTRACT OF DISCLOSURE

A ski rack for lockably receiving a pair of skis and pair of ski poles is disclosed. The apparatus is particulary useful at ski hills.

A generally longitudinal member having a plurality of cutouts along at least one edge of the member is disclosed. Each of the cutouts comprises a rectangular area for receiving a pair of skis with their bottom surfaces generally parallel to the direction of longitudinal extent of the member and a pair of slots extending from the inner edge of the rectangular area into the member each of the slots for receiving a ski pole. The ski rack also comprises a plurality of lockable closure members for lockably closing each of the cutouts to prevent removal of skis or ski poles therefrom.

Description

~L327'7 SKI RACK

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This application pertains to a ski rack for lockably supporting skis and ski poles.

BACK&ROU~D OF THE I~VENTION

~reas proximate ski slopes abound with facili-ties such as restaurants, lounges, hotels, restrooms, speciality sllops, etc.; many of which are established to attract the business of skiers before, during or after their use of the ski slopes. Frequently for example such establishments are located very close to the ski lift facilities which transport skiers to the upper reaches of the ski slopes. Skiers are thus enticed to patroni~e such establishments while they are skiing.
Because such establishments usually do not permit skiers to carry their skis or ski poles with them into the establishments, the skiers must leave their skis and ski poles somewhere while visiting the establishments. Un-fortunately, theft of expensive, unattended skis and ski poles is an increasing~y common problem.
Most ski facilities provide racks against which skiers may stack their skis and ski poles while they patronize establishments of the sort mentioned above. However, these racks often provide no means for locking the skis to safeguard them against theft. Some skiers adopt the practice of leaving one ski and ski pole at a first rack and the other ski and ski pole at a secon~ remote rack; the rationale being that a thief would be unlikely to steal one ski or ski pole ~nless he ~ 35 could also steal the mating ski or ski pole. This how-~zg~3277 ever is a cumbersome practice subject to obvious short-comings.

The prior art has evolved a number of locking devices specially aaapted to secure skis and ski poles against theft. Most of these incorporate a mechanism which may be lockably attached to the skis and poles and a cooperating cable or chain which may in turn be lock-ably attached to an immovable support structure such as the aforementioned ski racks. Such devices work toler-ably well, but have their own shortcomings. For exam-ple, to be of use they must be carried on the skier's person at all times. Unfortunately, such devices are typically rather bulky and thus cannot conveniently be carried on the person at all times. Frequently, skiers must park their vehicles at relatively great distances from the ski lift and other facilities likely to be of interest to them. Even if an individual possesses a device of the sort just mentioned he might very well not be inclined to return to his vehicle to retrieve the device in order to secure his skis while he visits, per-haps for only a short time, a particular establishment which may have attracted his interest. Thus, the skier might decide to take a chance in leaving his skis and ski poles unattended and unsecured against theft for a reIatively brief time, only to find that they have been stolen while unattended.

The operators of some establishments located at or near ski slopes have endeavoured to provide racks equipped with coin-operated locks so that their patrons may secure their skis and ski poles against theft while leisurely patronizing such establishments. Of course, one must have the correct change to make use of such de-vices. Since skiers typica]ly make several stops during ~243277 the course of a day's skiing they may find themselveswithout sufficient change to use such devices. A fur-ther drawback of coin-operated locks is that the locking mechanisms are subject to freezing. Therefore, racks equipped with coin-operated locks are usually sheltered from the elements, which implies increased costs, space restrictions, and further inconvenience to the skier.
It is typically also cumbersome to use such prior art racks - the lower portions of the skis must usually first be fitted into a bracket, after which the upper portions of the skis are locked to the rack; the bracket being provided to resist attempts to slidably advance the skis upwardly or downwardly and thus free them from the locked rack. For the foregoing reasons many skiers avoid racks of this type altogether or else use them only with their own cable locks, thereby exposing them-selves to the shortcomings outlined above.

The difficulty, therefore, has been to provide a locking ski rack which will retain skis and ski poles against theft in a manner which affords optimal conven-ience to the skier.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention there is pro-vided a ski rack comprising a generally longitudinal member having a plurality of cutouts along at least one edge of the member. Each of the cutouts comprises a rectangular area for receiving a pair of skis with t~eir bottom surfaces generally parallel to the airection of longitudinal extent of the longitudinal member, and a pair of slots extending from the inner edge of the rec-tangular area into the rectangular member; each of the slots for receiving a ski pole. The ski rack further comprises a plurality of lockable closure members for 327~

lockably closing each of the cutouts to prevent removal of skis or ski poles therefrom.

Advantageously, the closure members may each comprise a bar pivotally secured to one siae of the outer edge of the cutout to swing across and close that outer edge, a first aperture in the opposite side of t'ne outer edge of the cutout, and a second aperture in the end of the bar; whereby the apertures are alignable for passage of a lock therethrough when the bar is pivoted to close the cutout. Cutouts may b~ provided along only one or, if desired, along both edges of the longitudinal member. If cutouts are provided along only one e~ge of the longitudinal member then the opposite edge of the longitudinal member may be provided with means for securing the longitudinal member to a surface such as the wall of a building.

If cutouts are provided along both edges of the longitudinal member then cutouts provided along one of such edges are preferably offset with respect to cutouts provided along the opposite edge to minimize interference of skis positioned along one edge of the rack with skis positioned along the opposite edge.
The longitudinal member may be curvilinear, and in particular may be ~ade circular so that the ski rack can take the form of a free standing carousel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a pictorial illustration of a prior art ski rack.

Figure 2 is a pictorial illustration of a ski 3~7 rack according to one preferred embodiment of the invention.

Figure 3 is an end view of the ski rack of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a partially fragmented bottom view of the ski rack of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a pictorial illustration of a ski rack according to an alternative embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Figure 1 illustrates a prior art ski rack con-ceived and reduced to practice by the inventor of the present invention. As may be seen, the prior art ski rack of Figure 1 comprises a channel shaped member 10 having opposed upper and lower surfaces 12, 14 joined together by surface 16, which may be provided with means (not shown) for affixing the ski racX to a surface such as the wall of a building. Pairs of vertically aligned cutouts 18, 20 are provided at spaced intervals along member 10 for receiving pairs of skis 100 as shown in Figure 1. A closure member comprising a bar 22 is pivotally secured to one side of each such cutout so that bar 22 may swing across the cutout opening to close the cutout. First and second apertures 24, 26 are pro-vided in bar 22 and upper member 12 respectively. Aper-tures 24 and 26 may be vertically aligned by pivoting bar 22 so t~at first aperture 24 is positioned imme-diately beneath second aperture 26, thereby facilitating passage of a lock through the aligned apertures in the manner of lock 104 illustrated in Figure 1. (Only one ~2~3Z7~

such lock is shown to avoid obscuring details of the prior art.) Bar 22 is provided with a pair of cutouts 28 for receiving the shafts of a pair of ski poles 102 as may be seen in Figure 1. It will thus be understood that a skier may position his skis with their bottom faces aaainst one another (i.e. with the tips of the skis facing in opposite directions), pivot bar 22 to open a selected one of cutouts 18, and then position the skis within cutouts 18 and 20 as shown in Figure 1. The skier then places his ski pole shafts within cutouts 28 and then pivots bar 22 to align first and second aper-tures 24, 26 for passage of a lock therethrough, thereby securely locking the skis and ski poles into the rack.

~ very serious shortcoming of the prior art sXi rack hereinbefore described is that the skis must be positioned in the rack such that the bindings of adja-cent pairs of skis are vertically staggered. Note, forexample, that the toe pieces of the bindings of the two outer pairs of skis lOOA and lOOC shown in Figure 1 are positioned above upper member 12, whereas the toe pieces of the central pair of skis lOOB are positioned between members 12 and 14. This is to prevent the bindings and t-ips of adjacent pairs of skis from interfering with each other during insertion and removal from the rack.
Unfortunately, it would be a practical impossibility to ensure such staggering of adjacent pairs of skis in a commercial environment in which the rack were left in the open for all skiers to use at will. For example one skier might lock his skis and poles into the rack with the binding toe pieces above upper member 12 and another sXier might select the same vertical position for place-ment of his skis two cutouts removed from the cutout -~2~3Z77 selected by the first skier. This would effectively preclude other skiers from placing their skis in the - intervening two cutouts since their skis would interfere with each other. This could in turn result in aamage to the skis as skiers attempted to forceably insert or re-move their s~is from the rack.

One solution to the problem might be to extend the rack of Figure 1 to provide greater spacings be~ween adjacent pairs of cutouts 18, 20. ~owever, the inventor has found that this would likely require at least one foot between each pair of vertically aligned cutouts 18, 20; thus wasting valuable space and material and ren-dering the ski rack of Figure 1 unsuitable for commer-cial purposes.

In an effort to overcome the serious disadvan-tages of the prior art ski rack of Figure 1, the inven-tor has conceived and reduced to practice the preferred ski rack shown in Figures 2 through 5 which will now be aescribed. The first embodiment of the preferre~ ski rack to be described is that indicated by the reference number 30 in Figures 2 through 4.

Ski racX 30 comprises a generally planar, longitudinal member 32 having a plurality of cutouts 34 along opposed edges 36, 38 of member 32. As may be seen, cutouts 34 located along edge 36 are offset with respect to cutouts 34 located along edge 38, thereby minimizing interference of skis positioned in cutouts on opposed sides of rack 30.

Each of cutouts 34 comprises a rectangular area 34' (the inner and outer bounds of one such area being denoted by dotted lines on the cutout depicted in ~Z9L327'7 the upper right corner of the ski rack portion shown in Figure 4). Rectangular area 34' is Eor receiving a pair of skis with the ski botto~ surfaces generally parallel to the direction of longitudinal extent of me~ber 32, as illustrated by the cross-sectioned portions of skis 100 depicted in Figure 4. Eac~ of cutouts 34 also comprises a pair of slots 40 (best seen in Figure 4) which extend from the inner edge of rectangular area 34' into longi-tudinal member 32. Each of slots 40 is for receiving a ski pole 102 in the manner of the cross-sectioned ski poles 102 which may also be seen in Figure 4.

Ski rack 30 further comprises a plurality of lockable closure members; namely, bars 42 each of which is pivotally secured to one side of the outer edge of cutouts 34 to swing across and close the cutout gap.
Cutouts 34 are each provided with a first aperture 4~
located in the outer edge of cutout 34 opposite the side of cutout 34 to which bar 42 is pivotally secured. A
second aperture 46 is provided in the end of each of bars 46 opposite the end of the bar which is pivotally secured to ~ember 32. Apertures 44 and 46 may be vertically aligned, one above the other, by pivoting bar 42 relative to number 32. Once the apertures have been aligned a lock may be passed the~ethrough in the manner of lock 104 shown in Figure 2, thus closing cutout 3~.
Lock loa is depicted to one side of the apparatus de-picted in Figure 2 to avoid obscuring details of the in-vention. In normal use a plurality of locks 104 would be placed through the aligned apertures of each of the cutouts in which the depicted skis and ski poles are located.

~n operation, the skier pivots one of bars 42 to open a selected one of cutouts 34. Ski poles 102 are ~Z~3~7~

then located in slots 40 with their grips above the up-per surface of member 32, as may be seen in Figures 2 and 4. The bottom surfaces of the skis are then placecl together and the skis themselves placed in rectangular area 34' of the selected cutout 34 so that the bottom surfaces of the sXis are generally parallel to the direction of longitudinal extent of member 32. Bar 42 is then pivoted to close cutout 34 and align apertures 44 and 46 for passage of a lock therethrough to securely locX skis 100 and ski poles 102 to rack 30.

It will be noted that the preferred ski racX
is a far simpler construction than the prior art ski rack depicted in Figure 1. For example, longitudinal member 32 comprises a single sheet of material from which cutouts 34 can easily be punched. By contrast, prior art ski rack of Figure 1 requires an additional forming step in which upper and lower surfaces 12 and 14 are bent, relative to surface 14, to give the Figure 1 ski rack its cross-sectional channel shape. Moreover, adjacent cutouts 34 of ski rack 30 may be positioned much closer together than adjacent pairs of aligned apertures 18, 20 of the Figure 1 ski rack, thus facili-tating more compact storage of a larger number of skis and ski poles. Furthermore, despite its simplicity, relative to the prior art ski rack of Figure 1, ski rack 30 sacrifices nothing in the way of security.

An examination of Figures 2 through 4 will reveal that skis 100 cannot be removed from rack 30 by sliding the skis upward relative to rack 30, since the ski bindings are restrained by bar 42 and by the tongue-like protrusion between apertures 40. Skis 100 also cannot be removed from rack 30 by positioning skis 100 at an angle and then attempting to slide them downward ~Zg~3;~77 relative to rack 30. This is because the upwardly pro-truding grips of ski poles 102 prevent skis 100 from lying at an angle sufficiently close to the upper sur-face of member 32 to enable such sliding removal of skis 100 from rack 30. Moreover, each rectangular area 34' of cutouts 34 is preferably made 3 inches wide (measured - in the direc~ion of longitudinal extent of member 32).
The "waist" region of a modern ski is typically 3 inches or less in width. However, modern skis widen to about 3 1/4 inches or greater in their "shovel" regions. Ac-cordingly, it woula not be possible to slide the skis downwaraly to free them of racX 30 if cutouts 34 are 3 inches wide, because the shovel regions of the skis could not pass through such a comparatively narrow re-striction.

. Of course, member 32 would be mounted on somesuitable support structure, such as that ~enerally il-lustrated by.reference numeral 106 in Figure 2, which should be positionea at a convenient height to support skis and ski poles in rack 30, while affording easy ac-- cess to closure bars 42. Even if cutouts 34 did not have the pre~erred 3 inch width, one could still prevent removal of the skis from rack 30 by ensuring that support structure.106 is not so high that skis 100 could be slidably removed from rack 30 by angling the skis and sliding them downward relative to rack 30.

A further subtle, yet important advantage of the invention is that ski poles 102 are stored inside the skis, whereas the prior art rack of Figure 1 stores the ski poles outside the skis. Storage of the ski poles outside the skis exposes the ski poles to vandal-ism by individuals who bend the ski pole shafts away from the rack. The invention offers a significant mea-~;~4;~27~
sure of protection agains~ such vandalism by shieldingthe ski poles behind the skis.

Figure 5 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the invention comprising a ski rack 60 having a gen-erally longitudinal member 62 with a plurality of cut-outs 64 along only one edge of member 62. Cutouts 64 are identical to cutouts 34 and are provided with pivot-al bars 66 and vertically alignable apertures for re-ceiving locks identical to t~e corresponding componentsdescribed above with reference to the first embodiment of Figures 2 through 4. Ski rack 60 is provided with a rear flange 68 which constitutes a means for securing ski rack 60 to a surface such as the wall of a building-As will be apparent to those skilled in theart in the light of the foregoing disclosure, many al-terations and modifications are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. ~or example, either of members 32 or 62 may be curvilinear. More particularly, members 32 or 62 may be circular so that ski racks 30 or 60 may take the form of a free standing carousel. If member 32 were made circular then it would probably not be expedient to include cutouts 34 along the inner edge of member 32 since it would be difficult for skiers to gain access to such apertures. However, other forms that would afford access to cutouts located along the inner edge of member 32 suggest themselves, such as a "U" shaped configura-tion of member 32. Accordingly, the scope of the inven-tion is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined by the following claims.

Claims

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

1. A ski rack, comprising a generally longitudinal member having a plurality of cutouts along at least one edge of said member, each of said cutouts comprising:

(a) a rectangular area for encircling the waist re-gions of a pair of skis with the bottom surfaces of said skis generally parallel to the direction of longitudinal extent of said member, said area being sized to prevent passage of the shovel re-gions of said skis therethrough; and, (b) a pair of slots extending from the inner edge of said rectangular area into said member, each of said slots for receiving a ski pole;

said ski rack further comprising a plurality of lockable closure members for lockably closing each of said cutouts to prevent removal of skis or ski poles therefrom.

2. A ski rack as defined in claim 1, wherein said closure members each comprise:

(a) a bar pivotally secured to one side of the outer edge of said cutout to swing across and close said outer edge;

(b) a first aperture in the opposite side of the outer edge of said cutout; and, (c) a second aperture in the end of said bar;

- Page 1 of Claims -whereby said apertures are alignable for passage of a lock therethrough when said bar is pivoted to close said cut-out.

3. A ski rack as defined in claim 1 or 2, wherein said cutouts are provided along only one edge of said mem-ber and wherein the opposite edge of said member is pro-vided with means for securing said member to a surface.

4. A ski rack as defined in claim 1 or 2, wherein said cutouts are provided along opposed edges of said member and wherein cutouts provided along one of said edges are offset with respect to cutouts provided along the opposite edge.

5. A ski rack as defined in claim 1 or 2, further comprising support means for supporting said member at a convenient height to support skis and ski poles while affording easy access to said closure members.

- Page 2 of Claims -