US2260057A - Collapsible ski - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 21, 19 1. J. T. RYDBE'RG 2,260,057

COLLAPSIBLE SKI Filed May 13, 1939 j] 7-. a I

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hip ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 21, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COLLAPSIBLE SKI John T. Rydberg, Harrison, N. J. 7 Application May 13, 1939, SerialNo. 273,386

7 Claims.

This invention relates to snow shoes or skis, and especially to devices of this kind which may be folded in order to facilitate their shipping and carrying.

The prime object of this invention is to provide snow shoes or skis consisting of at least two interconnected, foldable or collapsible parts and means whereby these parts may be brought into usable or operative position, in which'position they may be kept until it is desired to fold or collapse them to reduce their length dimensions for facilitating their being handled, when not in use.

Another object of this invention is to provide collapsible skis consisting of front and rear members connected by aligned, double-pin or linked hinges which are inobtrusively secured to and which are flushed with the bottom face of the members, and wherein to one of the members is fixedly attached a foot supporting element, extending over the hinge area of the members and a portion of the second member, and which foot supporting element is so constructed and arranged as to automatically snap into engagement with said second member, and to hold the two members in aligned, operative or usable position, when desired, and which element is adapted to release the second member when the ski is to be collapsed or folded.

A further object of this invention is to provide in conjunction with the foot supporting element a suitable instrumentality for accommodating the front portion of a shoe, in such a way that the person using the ski may pivot his toe portion in relation to the foot support.

The foregoing and still further objects and important advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the ensuing description of the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. l is a side elevation of a ski in its operative position, in accordance with my invention.

Fig, 2 is a fragmental plan view of the hinge area of my device.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof, with portions of the foot support broken away.

Fig. 4 is the bottom view of my hinge construction connecting the front and rear members of my ski.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the middle area of my collapsible ski, showing 'the portion of one member in horizontalposition, while a portion of the other member is shown partly folded against the first member.

mitting the two members shoe fastening straps.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view taken on lines 6-6 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a cross section through a modified form of my ski.

Fig. 8 is a detail view of one for-moi a looking arrangement by means of which the two ski members are held in alignment.

Fig. 9 is a cross sectional view taken on lines 99 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is another type of a locking provision for the foot supporting element, and

Fig. 11 is a cross sectional view taken on lines II-II of Fig. 10.

Referring now more specifically to the drawing, numeral Ill denotes the front member of my ski, while numeral II indicates the rear member thereof. These two members are preferably provided with a longitudinal guide groove I2, which may be readily observed from Figs. 4 and 5, and which groove is aligned in both members when the ski is in use. The members are united by a pair of double-pin hinges I3, which are flush with the bottom faces of the members, and which are separated by groove I2. These double-pin hinges are connected with one another by means of links I4, which may be clearly noted in Fig. 4. These links and the double pins are designed for the purpose of perto be collapsed with their running or bottom faces against one another, in the manner indicated in broken lines in Fig. 1, and in full lines in Fig. 5.

Permanently secured to front member I0 is a substantially channel-shaped foot supporting element I5, which extendsover the hinge area between the two members as well as over the adjacent portion of member I I. This foot supporting element is provided at the heel rest end with projections, prongs or similar surface roughening means I6, for preventing slippage, while at the front end of the member there is secured a shoe support consisting of a channel shaped bridge or toe plate I I, passing through the side flanges of element I5, and resting on top of front member II).

This cross member possesses upturned sides I8, provided with apertures I9, for accommodating To the interior face of sides I8 are hingedly secured at 20 shoe tip engaging elements 2I, which facilitate the swinging of the shoe in an arc, whereby the user of the skis is enabled to bend his knees and Stand at the tips of his feet, when completing a jump. Extending from sides I8 are headed pins 22 to which is secured a resilient strap'23, shown in Fig. I, intended for urging the shoe tip into proper engagement with elements 2|.

At the free end of foot supporting element l5 there are provided in its resilient flanges outwardly directed sockets 24 or similar equivalent means, which are adapted to snap over corresponding heads or pins secured in rearv member II. The simplest construction of such locking means is illustrated in Fig. 6, wherein the socket 24 is shown to engage the head of screw 25, extending from the side surface of member I The side flanges of foot supporting element iii are made sufliciently resilient to automatically snap over and engage the head of screws 25, thereby keeping the ski members in their operative position.

A modified form of the locking arrangement between element l5 and member II is shown in Figs. 8 and 9, wherein instead of the head of a screw, a pin 26 is provided which is supported by a spring 21 for normally urging pin 26 into engagement with socket 24 of element l5. Pin 26 projects from both faces of spring 21, and is adapted to be held in position by recess 28 of a plate 28' mounted in member ll.

Another modification of my locking arrangement between member I I and foot supporting element I5 is illustrated in Figs. and 11, wherein again a pin 29 is illustrated which is .mounted on spring 30, which latter urges pin 29 outwards and into socket 24 of element l5. For releasing either pins 26 or 21, shown, respectively, in Figs. 9 and 11, the respective springs 21 and 30 may be depressed. It ist'o be noted that in the construction shown in Figs. 10. and 11, there is provided a recess 3| for permitting the operation of spring 30.

In Fig. '7 I have illustrated a cross section of a ski construction wherein the body of the ski, instead of being solid, is made of hollow material. In this figure member II" is equipped with a through-pin 32 ending into heads which are adapted to engage outwardly directed recesses 24' provided in element l5. This figure represents a cross section somewhat similar to that taken on lines 6-6 of Fig. 3.

One of the important features of the present invention is the construction of the hinge connection. which consists of at least two aligned link-hinges, arranged alongside each other and spaced by guide groove l2. These hinges are imbedded in the material of the two ski members, and are flush with their bottom surfaces. It is important that the hinges be entirely smooth to avoid danger to the user of the skis.

Another important feature of the present invention is the construction of channel-shaped foot support and especially the cooperating locking instrumentalities described in connection with Figs. 6, '7, 8 and 10, which are designed to automatically interlock with one another when the two ski members. are brought into aligned position, ready for use. These locking instrumentalities must be so constructed as to avoid the formation of deep pockets, wherein snow or ice may gather and render them inoperative, or

difiicult to manipulate, especially during freez ing weather. For this reason I make the necessary recesses for accommodating such devices as shallow as possible.

When the ski of my construction is to be folded up in the manner indicated in Fig. l, the only thing necessary is to place its hinge portion over the knee and press down one of the members,

which operation will automatically cause the disengagement of the locking instrumentalities of foot support l5 from the corresponding instrumentalities provided in rear ski member II.

It is to be noted that hinges l3 terminate in rounded ends 33, which are imbedded in corresponding semi-circular recesses, preferably made by a circular cutting tool into the bottoms of the two ski members. This construction of the hinge ends and their recesses have their own technical significance. It is well known that when wood is cut at right angles to its grain, it will have a tendency of breaking out along the cut, and may cause splitting of the wood. A circular recess successfully prevents that.

It will be also noted that toe plate [1 actually consists of two halves which abut with one another along dotted lines 34, clearly seen in Figures 2 and 5, since it would be difficult to pass a onepiece strip through the side openings made for the cross member in channel element l5 and then bend its ends to conform with the shape indicated.

While I have shown specific constructions of my foldable or collapsible ski, it is quite obvious that improvements and changes may be incorporated therein, and I therefore reserve for myself the right to make such changes and improvements without departing from the broad scope of my invention, as expressed in the annexed claims.

I claim: v

1. In a collapsible snow shoe construction, such as a ski,- front and rear members, a. pair of spaced and aligned double-pin hinges secured at bottom of and operatively connecting said members, a.

one member, and cooperating with and adapted to engage,.embrace, overlap and interlock with the other member, and locking means provided at the sides of said other member and at the flan es of said element for sustaining the mem bers in continuous position relative to one another.

2. In a collapsible ski, front and rear members adapted to form aligned continuations of one another when used, each member having a longitudinal guide groove at its bottom face, the groove of one member adapted to form an aligned continuation of the groove of the other member, a pair of double-pin hinges secured flush with and attached to the under surface of the members at both sides of the guide groove, a foot support, having a flat upper web portion and resilient side flanges, fixedly secured to one of the members and extending beyond the hinges of that member and adapted to overlay, embrace and interlock with the other member, and cooperating locking means provided with the support and said other member for holding the members in alignment during use.

3. In a collapsible ski, as set forth in claim 2, said foot support comprising a substantially channel-shaped structure adapted to engage the sides of both members in the vicinity of their hinged connection, said locking means comprising socket formations at the sides of the support and corresponding projections extending from said other member and adapted to snap into engagement with said socket formations.

4. In a collapsible ski, as set forth in claim 2, said foot support comprising a substantially channel-shaped structure adapted to engage the sides of both members in the vicinity of their hinged connection, and a foot-accommodating instrumentality secured to the front portion of the foot support, said instrumentality having a pair of hinged members for the retention of the tip of a shoe.

5. In a collapsible ski, as set forth in claim 2, said foot support comprising a substantially channel-shaped structure adapted to engage the sides of both members in the vicinity of their hinged connection, and a foot-accommodating instrumentality, secured to the front portion of the foot support, for operatively retaining the tip of a shoe, said instrumentality comprising a toe plate having means for accommodating attaching straps, a pair of cooperating shoe-engaging members hingedly associated with said toe plate, and means at the exterior of the toe plate for removably securing thereto a foot holding element.

6. In a collapsible ski, as set forth in claim 2, said foot support comprising a substantially channel-shaped structure adapted to engage the sides of both members in the vicinity of their hinged connection, and a foot-accommodating instrumentality, secured to the front portion of the foot support, for operatively retaining the tip of a shoe, said instrumentality comprising a toe plate having means for accommodating attaching straps, a pair of cooperating shoe-engaging members hingedly associated with said toe plate, and means at the exterior of the toe plate for removably securing thereto a foot holding element, and an adjustable foot holding element secured to said means.

7. In a ski consisting of front and rear members. a hinge connection operatively uniting the members to permit them to become either aligned or to be folded with their bottom faces against one another, and substantially channel-shaped means fixedly associated substantially half-way with one member and having a free extension, the latter being adapted to engage, embrace and to overlap the other member, for keeping the members aligned longitudinally when in use, said means and said other member being provided with sidewisely arranged, cooperating locking instrumentalities for automatically interengaging with one another when said members are brought to their aligned, operative position.

J OHN T. RYDBERG.

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