WO2007077544A2

WO2007077544A2 - Grip handle for a pole

Info

Publication number: WO2007077544A2
Application number: PCT/IB2007/050033
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ihar Valkavitski
Original assignee: Ihar Valkavitski
Priority date: 2006-01-05
Filing date: 2007-01-05
Publication date: 2007-07-12
Also published as: WO2007077544A3

Abstract

This invention relates to the skiing gear, specifically to a grip handle of a ski pole. The object of the present invention is to further improve effectiveness of forces transmitted to the ski pole during the impulse by more efficiently using an additional force of fingers . The grip handle is characterized in that the upper portion of the grip handle is provided with a sector recess, with the strap attaching point being disposed in the recess and a lower edge of the recess being positioned below the strap attaching point .

Description

GRIP HANDLE FOR A SKI POLE (VARIANTS)

This invention relates to the sports gear, specifically to the skiing gear, to a grip handle of a ski pole.

Conventional grip handles of ski and other sports poles comprise a grip handle member of a substantially cylindrical shape disposed at the upper end portion of the ski pole with a wrist strap in a form of a closed loop attached thereto which is adapted to grip the pole and transmit forces from a skier hand directly to the ski pole.

The disadvantage of the prior constructions of the grip handles of ski poles is that they do not provide a sufficiently effective impulse.

It has previously been proposed the grip handle of the ski pole comprising a grip handle member of a monolithic form disposed at the upper end portion of the ski pole, a main wrist strap affixed to the grip handle member and adapted to transmit forces from a hand to the ski pole, an additional strap affixed to the grip handle member and adapted to more tightly grip the grip handle member, with the additional strap being fixed to the grip handle member from the same side and below the main wrist strap (Application PCT WO 090/14136, IPC A63C 11/22, 1990).

The disadvantage of the prior grip handle construction is that it does not provide a sufficiently effective impulse since the forces are transmitted exclusively by the hand onto which the main wrist strap is slipped, while the force of fingers is not used.

It has previously been proposed a grip handle comprising two wrist straps - the first one for a hand and a thumb, or the wrist strap surrounding the hand and i thumb, and also an additional strap surrounding the thumb in the so-called snare. (United States Patent 6,988,745, IPC A63C 11/22, 2002).

In one of the variations of the embodiments of such grip handle, it comprises a projecting support point disposed below the thumb and servicing as a support for it during the impulse. Such variations, however, are also characterized by insufficiently effective impulse since other fingers are not engaged and the impulse stroke is limited.

The most similar is the grip handle of the ski pole comprising a grip handle member of a monolithic form disposed at the upper end portion of the ski pole, a main wrist strap affixed to the grip handle member and adapted for transmission of forces from a hand to the ski pole and an additional strap in the form of a closed loop, wherein the point of attaching the additional strap to the grip handle member is disposed on the opposite side and higher in relation to the main wrist strap attaching point (Utility Patent RB No.50, IPC A63C 11/12, 1999).

However, insufficient effectiveness of the impulse by fingers and limited impulse amplitude prevent from further increasing the impulse effectiveness.

The object of the present invention is to further increase effectiveness of forces transmitted to the ski pole during pushing by more efficiently using an additional force of fingers.

The object set is to be achieved as follows:

A grip handle of the ski pole comprises a grip handle member being essentially a head piece fitting the hand shape disposed at the upper end portion of the pole, a main wrist strap affixed to the grip handle member and serving for transmission of forces from the hand to the ski pole and an additional strap in the form of a closed loop, wherein the point of attaching the additional strap to the grip handle member is disposed on the opposite side and higher in relation to the attaching point of the main wrist strap.

The grip handle is characterized in that the upper portion of the grip handle is provided with a recess, with the strap attaching point being disposed in the recess and a lower edge of the recess being disposed below the strap attaching point.

Further improvement of the grip handle resides in the fact that the recess is shaped as a guide along a sector groove and exits to the grip handle surface, while the strap attaching point is disposed at the top of the sector groove.

A further improvement of the grip handle is that the main wrist strap is fixed on an axle located at the top of the sector groove and is made in the form of two portions, namely, a closed loop surrounding the hand at the wrist to be housed in a palm; and a coupling link connecting the closed loop with the wrist strap attaching axle at the sector groove top, while the sector groove is provided with side walls guiding the wrist strap motion during the impulse phase, with the additional strap serving as a support.

Therefore, due to the fixing of the wrist strap in the groove and free movement of the coupling link therein and the main wrist strap respectively, the total impulse phase may be substantially extended and an effective additional impulse phase by fingers may be provided.

In this case, the axle attachment of the main wrist strap also facilitates return of the ski pole to an initial position and increases the wrist strap service life. It is also most preferably that side walls would easily pass between the thumb and forefinger during the second impulse phase.

As an additional improvement, a stop not allowing the ski pole to go beyond the operating range is mounted at the end of the groove.

Such a stop is to be preferably made of a plastic material, for example, a plastic tube reinforced with flexible aluminum or copper wire.

Another improvement lies in the fact that a lug is provided on the grip handle from the thumb side, which is disposed above the position of the thumb and which functions as a grip to return the ski pole to the initial operating position after the impulse phase has been completed and to accelerate the ski pole return.

Subject to another embodiment, the lug, adapted to operate as a grip, is disposed on the forefinger side.

A further improvement is that an additional strap is fixed on the lug.

An integrated variation of the embodiment of the present invention is that the grip handle comprises two additional straps - on the thumb side and forefinger side - and also an additional lug on the forefinger side, with the attaching point of a respective additional strap being located on that additional lug.

Further, the grip handle comprises a second additional lug and the attaching point of a second additional strap is also located on the respective additional lug.

Another improvement is that the respective loops are attached to a glove and are provided with connecting members which may be attached to the respective points on the grip handle through the respective coupling links. Embodiments of the invention and operation thereof are provided on Figs. 1-9.

Figs 1-3 illustrate different views of the ski pole grip handle being provided according to the first embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 4 illustrates the ski pole grip handle grabbed by a hand at the beginning of the impulse phase.

Fig. 5 illustrates position of the hand and fingers at an end of impulse phase.

Fig. 6 provides the variation of the embodiment of the invention with a grip for a thumb.

Fig. 7 provides the variation of the embodiment of the present invention in which an additional strap is affixed onto an additional lug on the forefinger side.

Fig. 8 provides the variation of the embodiment of the present invention with two additional straps and two lugs, with the straps being attached to these additional lugs.

Fig. 9 illustrates the diagram of three impulse phases with the respective position of a skier, a hand and location of points of forces application.

Variations of the embodiments of the present invention are disclosed by the examples and detailed description.

Referring to Fig. 1, a grip handle of the ski pole comprises a grip handle member

1 being of a solid form and disposed at the upper end portion of the ski pole. A main wrist strap 2 adapted for transmission of forces from a hand to the ski pole and an additional strap 3 in the form of a closed loop are attached to the grip handle member 1. A point 4 for attaching the additional strap 3 to the grip handle member 1 is located on the opposite side and above in relation to the attaching point 5 of the main wrist strap 2.

A sector groove ABC is provided in the top portion of the grip handle. The main wrist strap 2 shown also in Fig. 2 comprises 2 portions, namely, a main loop 6 and a coupling link 7. The coupling link 7 is fixed on the axle in the center B of the sector groove ABC.

In applying the provided invention of the ski pole grip handle, a hand is conventionally inserted in the main wrist strap 2, while fingers are inserted in the additional strap 3. The additional looped strap 3 with fingers inserted therein allows the increase in efficiency of forces transmitted to the ski pole during the impulse. In this case, the main loop 6 bears upon against an edge C of the ABC sector groove at the beginning of the impulse phase. In the process of motion, the impulse support force transforms to the second phase and shifts to the fingers via the additional strap 3. In this case, the coupling link 7 freely travels in the ABC sector groove up to the limiting edge A, thereby allowing the impulse length in the phase to be increased through support on the additional strap at the end of the impulse.

Hand positions at the beginning and at the end of the impulse illustrated in Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 show the main wrist strap position. In this case, the grip handle freely passes between the thumb and forefinger.

A free motion of the coupling link in the rounded guides prevents the ski pole from deviation and automatically returns it to the initial position ready for the next impulse. Attaching point location and strap length may be chosen to match individual features.

Subject to another embodiment of the present invention, the ski pole grip handle comprises a grip handle member 1 being a head piece to fit the hand shape disposed at the upper end portion of the ski pole, a main wrist strap 2 attached to the grip handle member and adapted for transmission of forces from the hand to the ski pole and an additional strap 3 in the form of a closed loop. An attaching point 4 at which the additional strap is affixed to the grip handle member is located on the opposite side. In this case, the upper portion of the grip handle is provided with a recess ABC, with the attaching point 5 of the wrist strap 2 being located in the recess on an axle B. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 6, the grip handle comprises additionally a lug 8 for a thumb made in the form of a grip to return the ski pole at the end of the impulse and located above in relation to the thumb position.

To prevent displacement of the ski pole beyond the operating sector limited by the ABC sector, a support 9 is additionally mounted on the A side. For the sake of convenience and safety, the stop is made of a plastic material reinforced inside with a flexible aluminum or copper wire. In this case, the stop 9 is given a suitable form, for example, a loop, which is to be chosen to match individual features. This is sufficient because the support performs a passive function and during the ski pole operation and is self-adjusted in the extreme deviation position.

Referring to Fig. 7 in another embodiment, the grip handle is additionally provided with another lug 10 on the forefinger side. This lug is also disposed in the upper portion of the grip handle, above the forefinger position and it may function as a grip to return the ski pole from the impulse end position to the initial position, thereby reducing time needed for return owing to an additional traction force and additional twisting of the ski pole in return direction. This improvement reduces a passive interval and increases duration and effectiveness of the operating interval, i.e. the impulse during all phases.

In this case, the additional strap 10 may be affixed to the additional lug.

Fig. 10 illustrates the embodiment with two additional straps in which another additional strap 11 is affixed to an additional lug 8 and id adapted to surround a thumb. In this case the thumb additional strap also serves as a support for the thumb, thereby increasing the impulse force and accelerating the ski pole return to the initial position.

The three-impulse phases diagram is provided in Fig. 9 and shows 3 impulse phases sequentially identified by Roman numerals I, II and III to correspond to the position of a skier, a hand and location of points of forces application - D and E. During the initial phase, the total force is applied to the hand via the main wrist strap at the point D. During the mid phase, the force is distributed between points D and E, where point E is the point of forces application by hand via an additional strap. During the final phase, the impulse is performed by fingers.

The advantages of the invention provided herein are as follows:

Comparing the impulse performed by ski poles having conventional grip handles with that of the grip handles provided in this invention reveals no differences during the first, initial, impulse phase: the force is transmitted to the ski pole via the main wrist strap. During the second, mid, phase, the force is gradually shifted to the additional strap due to the change in angle between the hand and ski pole in a new system, and during the third, final, impulse phase, the force is transmitted only via the additional strap that leads to the following differences in performing the impulse: Firstly, increase in ski pole impulse due to the following reasons: when the force is shifted to the additional strap, forearm muscles are involved into active work, while in the conventional variation they are not sufficiently engaged in the action. It should be noted that an additional force generated by the action of the forearm muscles is contributed to the impulse during the second and final phases when the horizontal push component is maximal. Due to this, the efficiency of muscle forces substantially increases.

Secondly, an active ski pole impulse increases by 6-8 cm. When the force is shifted to the additional strap, the force arm elongates, thereby allowing a longer ski pole impulse to be performed using the given construction without excessively bending a body forward and higher main stand to be maintained that is extremely important subject to modern tendencies in developing the skating step techniques.

Thirdly, applying an additional force during the second and third impulse phases by ski poles makes the leg impulse more active due to shifting a part of load on hands (for skating step with smaller angle of ski impulse), while holding the body in a more upright position by a skier is a positive factor.

The applied invention may be used both for sports purposes to improve the results and for common ski touring.

Claims

GRIP HANDLE FOR A POLE (VARIANTS)CLAIMS

1. A grip handle of the pole comprising a grip handle member being essentially a head piece fitting the hand shape disposed at the upper end portion of the pole, a main wrist strap affixed to the grip handle member and serving for transmission of forces from the hand to the ski pole and an additional strap in the form of a closed loop, wherein the point of attaching the additional strap to the grip handle member is disposed on the opposite side characterized in that the upper portion of the grip handle is provided with a recess, with the strap attaching point being located in the recess.

2. The grip handle according to claim 1 characterized in that the recess is shaped as a guide along a groove and exits to the grip handle surface, while the main wrist strap attaching point is disposed on the inner side of the groove closer to the grip handle axis.

3. The grip handle according to claim 1 characterized in that the main wrist strap is fixed on an axle located at the top inside the groove and is made in the form of two portions, namely, a closed loop surrounding the hand at the wrist to be housed in a palm; and a coupling link connecting the closed loop with the wrist strap attaching axle at the sector groove top, while the groove is provided with side walls guiding the wrist strap motion in the impulse phase, with the additional strap serving as a support.

4. The grip handle according to claim 3 characterized in that a stop is additionally disposed in the upper portion of the grip handle.

5. The grip handle according to claim 3 characterized in that the stop is made flexible.

6. The grip handle of the pole comprising a grip handle member being a head piece to fit the hand shape disposed at the upper end portion of the ski pole, a main wrist strap attached to the grip handle member and adapted for transmission of forces from the hand to the ski pole and an additional strap in the form of a closed loop, wherein the point of attaching the additional strap to the grip handle member is located on the opposite side, and also a lug for a thumb characterized in that the upper portion of the grip handle is provided with a recess, with the attaching point of the wrist strap being located in the recess, and the lug for a thumb is made in the form of a grip to return the ski pole at the end of the impulse and is located above in relation to the thumb position.

7. The grip handle of the pole comprising a grip handle member being a head piece to fit the hand shape disposed at the upper end portion of the ski pole, a main wrist strap attached to the grip handle member and adapted for transmission of forces from the hand to the ski pole and an additional strap in the form of a closed loop, wherein the point of attaching the additional strap to the grip handle member is located on the opposite side, and also an additional lug characterized in that the upper portion of the grip handle is provided with a recess, with the additional strap being adapted to surround a forefinger, a middle finger and a fourth finger, and the additional lug is made in the form of a grip to return the ski pole at the end of the impulse and is located on the side of the forefinger and above in relation thereto.

8. The grip handle according to claim 7 characterized in that the additional strap attaching point is located on the additional lug.

9. The grip handle of the pole comprising a grip handle member being a head piece to fit the hand shape disposed at the upper end portion of the ski pole, a main wrist strap attached to the grip handle member and adapted for transmission of forces from the hand to the ski pole and an additional strap in the form of a closed loop, and also and an additional lug characterized in that the upper portion of the grip handle is provided with a recess, with the wrist strap attaching point being located in the recess, the additional strap is adapted to surround a forefinger, a middle finger and a fourth finger, and the additional lug is made in the form of a grip to return the ski pole at the end of the impulse and is located on the side of the forefinger and above in relation thereto, with the point of attaching the additional strap to the grip handle member being located on the additional lug.

10. The grip handle of the pole comprising a grip handle member being a head piece to fit the hand shape disposed at the upper end portion of the ski pole, a main wrist strap attached to the grip handle member and adapted for transmission of forces from the hand to the ski pole and an additional strap in the form of a closed loop adapted to surround a thumb, and also an additional lug characterized in that the upper portion of the grip handle is provided with a recess, with the wrist strap attaching point being located in the recess, and additionally comprises another additional strap in the form of a loop adapted to surround a forefinger, a middle finger and a fourth finger, and the additional lug is made in the form of a grip to return the ski pole at the end of the impulse and is located on the side of the forefinger and above in relation thereto, with the point of attaching the additional strap to the grip handle member being located on the additional lug.

11. The grip handle according to claim 10 characterized in that it comprises another additional lug shaped as a grip on the side of the thumb and located above it, and the attaching point of the second additional strap is located on the respective additional lug.

12. The grip handle according to claim 11 characterized in that the respective loops are attached to a glove and are provided with coupling members connectible to the respective grip handle members.