SE540601C2 - Anchoring base for delineator poles for snow or ice based applications - Google Patents

Abstract

This invention relates to an anchoring base (1) for a delineator pole for snow/ice based applications, comprising an upper flange (4), a center portion (2) and a lower portion (3) arranged along a longitudinal axis (C), said lower portion (3) including a plurality of bristle members (340, 350) extending outwards, at an angle (α) less than 90° from said longitudinal axis (C), and arranged in plurality of, preferably longitudinal, rows (34 A, 34B, 35), wherein said rows (34A, 34B, 35) comprise a first plurality of rows (34A, 34B) having bristles (340) of a first radially protruding length (B1) and second plurality of rows (35) having bristles (350) of a second radially protruding length (B2), wherein said first radially protruding length (B1) is substantially larger than said second radially protruding length ( B2).

Description

ANCHORING BASE FOR DELINEATOR POLES FOR SNOW OR ICE BASED APPLICATIONS TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an anchoring base for self-aligning, pivotable delineator poles used in snow sports. Comprising bristles arranged to withhold the anchoring base.

BACKGROUND Different types of pivotable delineator poles are used for slalom gates. A typical delineator pole generally comprises three major components, a shaft, which is typically hollow and made of plastic, a spring mechanism used for pole bending and an anchoring base, e.g. as known from U.S.4,588,324 and US4270873.

Slalom poles are usually anchored in a layer of snow or ice on a ski slope, commonly referred to as a snow pack. In most cases the anchoring is made by drilling a hole in the packed snow or ice, whereupon an anchoring device connected to the pole is fixed in the snow pack. It is desirable for the slalom pole to be fixable in and removable from the snow pack in a quick and easy manner. At the same time, the slalom pole fixed in the snow pack must be held in a stable manner even when subjected to impacts and blows from the skier.

DE 38 03 150 and EP 0173969 disclose delineator poles having anchoring elements at the lower ends. Intended to provide improved reliability and ease of use.

Further DE 85 18438 U1 discloses a delineator pole having at its lower end several elastically deformable anchoring elements, which extend radially and pointing upwards from the pole. The anchoring elements are elastically deformable, which allows an easy pushing of the anchoring base into the snow. The anchoring elements secure the pole in the snow up to a specific force limit. If this limit is overcome, the elastic anchoring elements will flip down which will then allow an easy removing of the pole.

Moreover, from EP 2179111 there is disclosed a delineator pole with elastically deformable upwardly pointing bristlers as anchoring element. The anchoring element is pushed straight down into the snow/drilled hole and as the bristlers then expand and secure the pole. To reclaim the pole, a rotation of the anchoring base is needed to get the bristlers out of locking action, i.e. the bristles require to be deflected radially by a rotation of the upper part of the pole to enable reclaim.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an anchoring base that can be secured in snow and ice, e.g. both packed snow/ice and soft snow and that is easy to anchor and easy to reclaim, which is achieved by means of an anchoring base according to claim 1.

Thanks to the invention there is provided an anchoring base that may be both anchored and reclaimed by a linear movement without any superfluous movements, i.e. without any rotation. Further the design of the anchoring base facilitates reliable anchoring in both soft snow and packed snow/ice.

According to further aspects of the invention; - said center portion has a cross-sectional distance/diameter that is substantially larger than the cross-sectional distance/diameter of said lower portion, which provides an advantage regarding stability, strength and balance of the anchoring base. - center portion has a cross-sectional distance/diameter that is larger than 38 mm, which further provides an advantage regarding stability, strength and balance of the anchoring base, - said first radially protruding length is in the range of 1,2 B2 < B1 < 2 B2, - said bristles arranged in the second plurality of rows are stiffer than the bristles arranged in the first plurality of rows, which also provides an advantage regarding stability, strength and balance of the anchoring base.

- The second radially protruding length, is less than half of the cross-sectional distance/diameter of said center portion, which is still a further feature that may provide an advantage regarding stability, strength and balance of the anchoring base. - number of rows having bristles of said first radially protruding length is larger than the number of rows having bristles of said second radially protruding length, which provides an advantage regarding stability, strength and balance of the anchoring base, which is still a further feature that may provide an advantage regarding stability, strength and balance of the anchoring base, - lower portion is arranged with a plurality of reinforcing, longitudinal ribs that extend more than 50% of the length of said lower portion, which is a feature that improves strength, may facilitates cost-effective production and keep the base fixed against rotation, especially if said longitudinal ribs protrude radially more than 100 % of the diameter of the center portion, i.e. to protrude outside of the periphery thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the following the invention will be described more in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 shows a perspective side view of an anchoring base of the present invention. Fig. 2 shows an anchoring base of the present invention seen from the bottom end, Fig. 3 shows a cross-sectional view along III-III of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 shows a cross-sectional view along IV - IV of Fig 2 DETAILED DESCRIPTION Fig. 1 shows an anchoring base 1 of the present invention. The anchoring base 1 comprises at one end a flange 4, a center portion 2, and a lower portion 3 at the other end. The lower portion 3 is arranged with a plurality of bristlers 34, 35, i.e. resilient strands, preferably made in polyester, that extend radially outward from the lower portion 3. The flange 4, center portion 2 and lower position 3 are preferably integrally formed of one piece.

In figures 1 and 2 it can be seen that there are a plurality of rows 34A, 34B, 35 of bristles. According to the preferred embodiment there are four rows 35 of a first type of bristles 350 and a larger number of rows 34A, 34B for a second type of bristles 340. The rows are preferably symmetrically positioned and accordingly it is evident for the skilled person that also other configurations than four rows may be used, e.g. three rows. The second kind of rows 34A, 34B preferably are double as many as the number of the first row 35. According to the preferred presented embodiment this means that there are eight rows 34A, 34B of bristles of the second kind 340.

The second type of bristles 340 have one pair of rows 34A, 34B positioned very close to each other. The bristles 340, 350 are attached into holes 32 in the tubular body of the lower portion 3. Preferably the same diameter D6 is used for these holes 32 and a sufficiently large diameter to facilitate attachment of a plurality of bristles 340, 350. The number of bristles protruding from each hole 32 should preferably be in the range of 5 to 25. Depending on the diameter of the bristles 340, 350 a different number of bristles will fit into the hole 32 of the same size, which is a beneficial feature in accordance with the invention as will be clarified further below.

It can be noted that the outer diameter D5 of the lower portion 3 is substantially smaller than the diameter D1of the center portion 2. Thanks to the use of different diameters a more reliable anchoring base 1 may be achieved, as will also be explained more in detail below. Further it is shown that the lower portion 3 is arranged with ribs 31, that extend longitudinally and radially along substantially all of the longitudinal extensions of the lower portion 3. These ribs 31 will have a beneficial effect regarding the strength of the anchoring base 1.

Figures 1 and 2 also present that there is a hole 36 passing all the way through the anchoring base 1. Further shown is that the flange device 4 is formed to have indentations 41 regularly disposed around the periphery creating protruding lip portions 40 of the flange 4. Further there are fixation holes 22 for fixation of the lower part of the pole to be produced not shown.

In figure 2 it is shown that the radial extension B 1 of the first bristles 340 is substantially larger than the radial extension B2 of the second bristles 350. Thanks to this arrangement there is achieved an anchoring base 1 that may reliably be used both in very hard snow and also in softer snow.

The shorter rows of bristles 35 will have a reliable securing effect in connection with holes in very hard snow, whereas the longer rows of bristles 34A, 34B will have very little influence in that kind of hard snow. On the contrary, the longer rows of bristles 34A, 34B will have a reliable anchoring effect in softer snow and in such kind of snow the shorter rows of bristles 35 will have very little effect, thanks to being substantially shorter than the longer rows 34A, 34B. Thanks to the design according to the invention the anchoring base 1 may be both anchored and reclaimed by a linear movement without any undesired rotation, in different kind of snow.

In a preferred embodiment, the invention utilizes different stiffness for the different bristles 340, 350 in the different rows 35 and 34A, 34B respectively. Tests have shown that stiffer bristles 350 preferably are used in connection with the shorter rows 35 and that bristles 340 with less stiffness preferably are used in connection with the rows 34A, 34B with the longer bristles 340. A beneficial manner of achieving this, at the same time as keeping cost efficient production, is to use exactly the same diameter D6 (e.g. 3 mm) of the drill holes 32 for both kinds of bristles 340, 350 and to use bristles 340, 350 of the same kind of material but with different bristle diameter. According to the preferred embodiments the bristle diameter of the shorter bristles 350 should be in the range of 1,2 to 2 times the bristle diameter of the softer bristles 340, more preferred 1,3 to 1,8 times the bristle diameter of the softer bristles 340. The range of the bristle diameter may preferably be in the range of 0,4-0, 8 mm.

The transition between the center portion 2 and the lower portion 3 is preferably in the form of a frusto-conical shaped part L4, i.e. gradually decreasing diameter, both internally and externally, e.g. keeping substantially the same thickness t of the hollow anchoring base 1.

In figure 3 there is shown a cross-sectional view of the preferred embodiment according to the invention of an anchoring base 1, wherein the cross-sectional plane is shown in figure 2. Many of the features disclosed in this cross-sectional view have already been described above, and some of them will therefore not be repeatedly mentioned. It is shown that the bristles 350 and 340 are positioned at an angle ? in relation to the longitudinal axis C, which preferably is in the range of 10-30 degrees, more preferred 15-25 degrees, which is achieved by means of holes 32 being arranged to provide the desired angle ?.

The bundle of bristles is preferably attached according to a well-known manner using a specific anchoring attachment means, which will not be described in detail. The distance between the drill holes 34 is preferably equidistant in each row, preferably in the range of 5-8 mm. The two closely positioned rows 34A, 34B having the longer bristles 350 are preferably positioned in an overlapping manner, such that the holes 32 of two neighboring rows will be positioned axially off-set in relation to each other. Preferably there are at least 6 holes per row 34A, 34B, 35 and preferably not more than 14 holes 32.

Further figures 3 and 4 show that the outer diameter D1 of the center portion 2 is substantially larger than the outer diameter D5 of the lower portion 3. Preferably the diameter D1 of the center portion 2 is in the range of 35-45 mm and the diameter D5 of the lower portion 3 in the range of 20-30 mm. In the preferred embodiment, the diameter D1 of the center portion 2 is in the range of 1,2- 1,8 of the diameter D5 of the lower portion 3. Further the length L2 of the center portion 2 is larger than the length L3 of the lower portion 3, preferably 1,2 L3< L3< 1,7 L3. The thickness is preferably in the range of 6-10 mm.

The ribs 31 preferably protrude a distance that will make their outer edges substantially in level with the outer surface 20 of the center portion 2. According to a more preferred embodiment the ribs 31 protrude slightly longer than the outer surface 20 of the center portion, whereby gripping edges are formed that may assist in eliminating rotation.

In figure 4 there is shown a differently positioned cross-sectional view of an anchoring base 1 according to the invention, wherein there is shown that the inner diameter D2 within the center portion 2 is substantially larger than the inner diameter D4 within the lower portion 3. According to a preferred embodiment the inner diameter D2 within the center portion 2 is at least twice as large as the inner diameter D4 within the lower portion 3.

Claims (10)

1. Anchoring base (1) for a delineator pole for snow/ice based applications, comprising an upper flange (4), a center portion (2) and a lower portion (3) arranged along a longitudinal axis (C), said lower portion (3) including a plurality of bristle members (340, 350) extending outwards, at an angle (a) less than 90° from said longitudinal axis (C), and arranged in plurality of, preferably longitudinal, rows (34A, 34B, 35), characterized in that said rows (34A, 34B, 35) comprise a first plurality of rows (34A, 34B) having bristles (340) of a first radially protruding length (B1) and second plurality of rows (35) having bristles (350) of a second radially protruding length (B2), wherein said first radially protruding length (B1) is substantially larger than said second radially protruding length (B2),

2. Anchoring base (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said center portion (2) has a cross-sectional distance/diameter (D1) that is substantially larger than the crosssectional distance/diameter (D5) of said lower portion (3), wherein preferably 0,7 D1 > D5 >0,4 D1.

3. Anchoring base (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that said center portion (2) has a cross-sectional distance/diameter (D1) that is larger than 38 mm, preferably in the range of 40-45 mm.

4. Anchoring base (1) according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that said first radially protruding length (B1) is in the range of 1,2 B2 < B1 < 2 B2, preferably 1,2 B2

5. Anchoring base (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the bristles (350) arranged in the second plurality of rows (35) are stiffer than the bristles (340) arranged in the first plurality of rows (34A, 34B), preferably by arranging the bristles (350) in the second plurality of rows (35) having a larger bristle diameter than the bristles (340) in said first plurality of rows (34A, 34B).

6. Anchoring base (1) according to any preceding claim, characterized in that said second radially protruding length (B2), is less than half of the cross-sectional distance/diameter (D1) of said center portion (2).

7. Anchoring base (1) according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the number of rows (34A, 34B) having bristles (340) of said first radially protruding length (B1) is larger than the number of rows (35) having bristles (350) of said second radially protruding length (B2).

8. Anchoring base (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that said lower portion (3) is arranged with a plurality of reinforcing, longitudinal ribs (31) that extend more than 50% of the length (L3) of said lower portion (3), preferably 60-100 % of said length (L3).

9. Anchoring base (1) according to claim 8, characterized in that said longitudinal ribs (31) protrude radially to at least 90 % of half the cross-sectional distance/diameter (D1) of said center portion (2), more preferred more than 100 % to arrange for gripping ridges outside of the periphery of said center portion (2).

10. Anchoring base (1) according to any preceding claim, characterized in that said bristles (340, 350) have a bristle diameter that is 0,4 mm or larger, preferably in the range of larger than 0,4 mm and smaller than 0,85 mm.