EP1151767A1

EP1151767A1 - Cross-country ski stick

Info

Publication number: EP1151767A1
Application number: EP01107736A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Enzo Gianola
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-04-13
Filing date: 2001-04-02
Publication date: 2001-11-07
Also published as: ITMI20000819A1; IT1317237B1; ITMI20000819A0

Abstract

Cross-country ski stick with a front side and a rear side and comprising a rod with a handgrip at one end with a first longitudinal axis (A-A') and on the other end a means of engagement with the layer of snow with a second longitudinal axis (B-B'). Said first longitudinal axis (A-A') of the handgrip and said second longitudinal axis (B-B') are separate and preferably intersect. Moreover, the means of engagement with the layer of snow is frontally spaced with respect to said first axis (A-A'). In addition to this, the rod comprises at least one straight part and at least one inclined part and in a preferred embodiment said inclined part may be curved.

Description

The present invention relates to a new cross-country ski stick, and specifically a stick comprising a front arrangement of one end to obtain improved thrust during use.
Traditional ski sticks, manufactured in various materials, such as aluminium and carbon fibre, are composed essentially of a plastic handgrip fixed to one end of a straight cylindrical rod on the opposite end of which is a ring and spike which act as means of engaging with the layer of snow. In cross-country skiing, by applying force to the stick engaged in the snow, the skier obtains a thrust (or push) that, in combined action with the movement of the legs, permits forward movement.
The object of the present invention is to improve the performance of existing sticks and obtain a greater thrust (push) with the same amount of effort by the skier.
This and other objects are achieved by means of the present invention that relates to a cross-country ski stick, or rod (hereinafter only stick) comprising a rod 1 with a handgrip 10 at one end having a first longitudinal axis (A-A') and at the other end a means 9 of engagement with the layer of snow having a longitudinal axis (B-B') characterised in that the longitudinal axis (A-A') of the handgrip 10 and the longitudinal axis (B-B') of the means 9 of engagement are separate and that said means 9 of engagement is frontally spaced with respect to said first axis (A-A'). The two axes (A-A') and (B-B') preferably intersect.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the rod comprises at least one straight portion and at least on inclined portion, the inclined portion preferably being curved.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention the angle of intersection β between the axis of the handgrip and the axis of the means of engagement is included in the range from 5° to 45°.
The principal advantage of the invention is to extend the thrust time (or push time) from the moment of maximum efficiency, delaying, thanks to the specific shape of the stick, the instant of disengagement between the stick and the layer of snow, thus improving thrust.
The invention shall now be described, as a purely exemplary and nonlimiting example, with reference to the appended drawings in which:

fig.1 shows a schematic side view of a cross-country ski stick according to the invention;
fig. 2a and 2b show a side view of cross-country ski sticks according to two other forms of embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 3 schematically shows a conventional stick and a stick according to the invention; and
fig.4 shows the different action of the sticks in fig. 3.

With reference to figure 1, the cross-country ski stick, according to the invention, comprises a rod 1 with at one end a handgrip 10 and at the other end a spike or means 9 of engagement with the layer of snow.
In particular, the handgrip 10 comprises, in the known manner, a front portion 10b, generally provided with a contour capable of receiving and holding the fingers of the skier in the correct position and a rear portion 10a, generally provided with a slot 11 positioned on the top end of said rear portion 10a, fixed to which is a strap in flexible material 12 of the type known in the state of the art. The handgrip 10 has a longitudinal axis (A-A').
The portions 10a and 10b respectively define the front 6 and rear 7 side of the stick; during use, as is known, the front side faces the direction of forward movement of the skier, indicated in the figure with the arrow F.
Figure 1 also shows a conventional spike, or means of engagement with the layer of snow, comprising a ring 9a, in plastic, aimed at providing maximum penetration of said means 9 in the snow and a spike 9b, having for example a conical or a frustum-conical shape, capable of penetrating the layer of snow. The spike, or means 9 of engagement, has a second longitudinal axis (B-B'); as can be seen in fig. 3, in the stick according to the state of the art the axes (A-A') and (B-B') coincide. According to the present invention the axes are separate from one another and the spike 9 is frontally spaced with respect to the first axis (A-A'). In other words, the invention envisages that the means 9 of engagement with the snow is spaced from the handgrip axis (A-A') of a segment D (fig. 1) so that the means 9 is located on the front side of the stick.
Preferably, the two axes (A-A') and (B-B') intersect, forming an angle β (fig.1 and 2), but the invention also comprises the embodiment of fig. 2b, where the spike 9 is frontally spaced with respect to the axis (A-A') and its axis (B-B') is parallel to the axis (A-A').
The angle β formed by the intersection between the longitudinal axis (A-A') of the handgrip 10 and the longitudinal axis (B-B') of the means 9 of engagement is included in the range from 5° to 45°, preferably in the range from 35° to 40°.
As can be seen in fig. 2, the inclination of the axis (B-B') involves that the spike 9 is displaced towards the front side 6 of the stick, in relation to the axis (A-A').
In the preferred embodiment shown, the stick 1 comprises a straight portion 2 and an inclined portion 3.
The inclined portion is preferably curved to guarantee better distribution of the stresses inside the rod.
The length of the straight portion 2 is greater than the length of the curved portion 3; in particular, the ratio between the length of the straight portion 2 of the rod 1 and the length of the chord subtended by the curved portion 3 of said rod 1 is included in the range from 1.8:1 to 3:1, preferably from 2:1 to 2.5:1 and even more preferably about 2.2-2.3.
Figure 2a shows a side view of a cross-country ski stick, according to another form of embodiment of the present invention.
In particular, in this embodiment the rod comprises a straight portion 13 (vertical) and an inclined portion 14, also straight. The angle β is included in the aforesaid range from 5° and 45° and more preferably from 35° to 45°. Just as in the previous case, the straight portion 13 is greater than the inclined portion 14 and the ratio between the length of the straight portion and the length of the inclined portion of said rod is included in a range from 1.8 to 3 and more specifically from 2 and 2.5.
Figure 3 shows a stick 15 according to the state of the art compared to a stick 16 according to the invention. As can be seen, the sticks are of the same height h, while the stick 16, which has a lower portion curved towards its front side 6, is longer than the stick 15. As can be seen in figure 4, this difference allows a delay in the moment that the stick is removed from the snow at the end of the push (thrust) movement, thus permitting, in relation to conventional sticks, the push time to be extended at its moment of maximum efficiency. In fact, with the same push instant the stick according to the invention allows engagement with the layer of snow even for very small and almost null angles of inclination of the longitudinal axis (A-A') of the handgrip, that is with the straight part of the stick positioned almost parallel to the ground. In figure 4 this fact is shown with Y indicating the angle of the stick in the point in which the stick is removed from the ground (that is, the minimum angle beyond which the angle of the stick would inevitably cause removal of the engagement spike 9 from the snow). As can be seen, the stick according to the invention allows a lower Y value to be obtained, with an increased push time and improved push component.

Claims

Cross-country ski stick having a front side (6) and a rear side (7) and comprising a rod (1) with a handgrip (10) at one end having a first longitudinal axis (A-A') and on the other end a means (9) of engagement with the layer of snow having a second longitudinal axis (B-B') characterised in that said first longitudinal axis (A-A') of the handgrip and said second axis (B-B') are separate and that said means (9) of engagement is frontally spaced with respect to said first axis (A-A').
Cross-country stick as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said first axis (A-A') and said second axis (B-B') intersect.
Cross-country ski stick as claimed in claim 2 characterised in that the rod (1) comprises at least one straight part (2) and at least one inclined part (3).
Cross-country ski stick as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that the angle of intersection β between said axis of the handgrip (A-A') and said axis (B-B') of the means of engagement is included in the range from 5° to 45°.
Cross-country ski stick as claimed in claim 3, characterised in that the angle of intersection β in included in the range from 35° to 40°.
Cross-country ski stick as claimed in one of the claims from 3 to 5, characterised in that said inclined part (3) of the rod (1) is curved.
Cross-country ski stick as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that the ratio between the length of the straight part (2) of the rod and the length of the chord subtended by the curved part (3) of said rod is included in a range from 1.8 to 3 and preferably from 2 to 2.5.