EP0691816B1

EP0691816B1 - Ski boot provided with a device for locking the collar relative to the shell base

Info

Publication number: EP0691816B1
Application number: EP95908239A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Alfio Mogno; Agostino Visentin
Original assignee: HTM Sport SpA
Current assignee: HTM Sport SpA
Priority date: 1994-02-02
Filing date: 1995-02-01
Publication date: 1998-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 2015-02-01
Also published as: ATE166543T1; WO1995020888A1; DE69502667D1; ITVE940003A0; ITVE940003A1; DE69502667T2; EP0691816A1

Abstract

A ski boot provided with a device for locking the leg portion relative to the foot portion and comprising a foot portion (1) and a leg portion (2) articulated thereto by hinge pins (3) disposed adjacent the location of the ankles, characterized in that between said foot portion (1) and said leg portion (2) at the rear of the ski boot there is interposed a tappet (4) hinged to said leg portion (2) and resiliently held in engagement with said foot portion by a toggle link to thereby maintain said leg portion in an inclined configuration, said tappet being provided with a release element (8) projecting rearwards of said leg portion.

Description

The present invention relates to a ski boot provided with a device for locking the collar relative to the shell base.

In known embodiments a ski boot comprises an outer shell made of a substantially rigid plastic material, and an inner lining made of an elastic foam material.

For permitting the leg of the skier to bend forwards with the sole of the ski boot rigidly retained on the ski during the skiing activity, it is further provided to form the boot shell in two parts, namely, a shell base including the sole, and a collar articulated to the shell base at the location of the ankle with a slight forward inclination.

Known ski boots of this type suffer from the disadvantage that the inclination of the collar, although helpful in skiing activities, leads to difficulties in walking and in getting, on and off a ski lift due to the inclined position imposed on the part by the boot's collar which is prevented from pivoting rearwards by suitable stops provided at the rear of the shell base.

With a view to obviating this inconvenience it has been proposed to provide means permitting the collar to be locked in the inclined position relative to the shell base during downhill skiing so as to only allow further forward bending, and to be unlocked for walking.

An example of a device of this type comprises a lever hinged to the rear of the collar and provided with a traction ring adapted to engage a sawtooth rack secured to the shell base.

The document EP-A-577926 represents the prior art as referred to in the preamble of claim 1.

All of the known devices of this type suffer from the shortcoming that they are scarcely reliable in that they are apt to be activated or deactivated in an uncontrolled manner.

Another inconvenience consists in that the operation of these devices is rather cumbersome, considering the environmental and other conditions (gloved hands) under which the skier is forced to actuate them.

It is an object of the invention to eliminate these shortcomings and to create a ski boot provided with a device for locking the collar relative to the shell base, this device to be operable in a simple and reliable manner.

This and other objects to become evident from the following description are attained according to the invention in a ski boot according to Claim 1. The technical effects which can be reached by the invention are listed at the end of the detailed description.

Claim 2 enables a compact arrangement of the release element on the tappet.

The embodiment of the release element according to Claim 3 enables for the user a very simple movement from the downhill position into the walking position of the ski boot by rotating the actuator arm of the release element, whereby the other arms act as obturator elements for the slot-shaped aperture.

A further feature of the invention according to Claim 4, the release element extends with one of its obturator elements in the slot-shaped aperture so that this aperture is closed in the skiing position of the ski boot and with its other obturator element in the walking position of the ski boot.

When the actuator arm rotates in the direction to unlock the collar from the shell base, the release element slides according to Claim 5 with the lateral cams on the inner wall of the collar so that the elastic reaction of the spring will be overcome and the lower end of the tappet is disengaged from the stop.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment, given by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein

fig. 1: shows a longitudinally sectioned partial view of a ski boot according to the invention, with its collar in the locked state,
fig. 2: shows a view similar to fig. 1 with the collar in the unlocked state, and
fig. 3: shows a sectioned view taken along the line III-III in fig. 1.

A ski boot according to the invention as illustrated in the drawings is made of an injection-molded plastic material and substantially comprises a shell base 1 and a collar 2 articulated there to by hinge pins 3 provided adjacent the location of the ankle.

Interiorly of the ski boot and at the rear thereof between shell base 1 and collar 2 there is provided a tappet 4 articulated to collar 2 by a pin 5. An upper extension of tappet 4 is formed as a fork 6 supporting a pin 7 with a release element 8 mounted thereon. Release element 8 is formed with an actuator arm 9 projecting from collar 2 through an aperture 10 formed therein, two obturator arms 11 and 11' angularly offset from actuator arm 9, and two lateral cams 12 taking support on the inner vertical rims of the slot-shaped aperture 10.

A helical spring 13 interposed between collar 2 and the lower end 14 of tappet 4 acts to hold this end in contact with shell base 1 in the absence of external forces. Foot portion 1 carries a stop 15 mounted thereon at a location opposite lower tappet end 14.

The ski boot according to the invention is used in the following manner:
during downhill skiing collar 2 is maintained at a forwards inclined position relative to shell base 1, this configuration being maintained stable by a toggle mechanism formed about hinge pin 7 by cams 12 of release element 8 and tappet 4 with its lower end 14 taking support on stop 15. In this configuration arm 11 of release element 8 obturates aperture 10 to prevent snow from entering the ski boot.

For changing over to the walking configuration, in which collar 2 is unlocked relative to shell base 1, all that has to be done is to rotate actuator arm 9 in the direction indicated by the arrow 16 in fig. 1, causing cams 12 to slide on the inner wall of collar 2 to thereby overcome the elastic reaction of spring 13 for rotating tappet 4 about pin 5. As a result, lower end 14 of tappet 4 is disengaged from stop 15. In this configuration aperture 10 is obturated by arm 11' of release element 8 to thereby prevent snow from entering the ski boot.

From the above description it is evident that the ski boot according to the invention offers numerous advantages, such as:

the impossibility of accidental unlocking of the tappet thanks to it being held by spring 13 in a position beyond the dead point of the toggle mechanism,
the possibility of executing the locking operation by simply pivoting the collar, and
the possibility of executing the unlocking operation by simply rotating an arm in a circular arc, i.e. by an effortless manoeuvre.

The present invention has been illustrated and described in a preferred embodiment thereof, it being understood that its practical execution may be amply varied within the scope of protection claimed for the invention.

Claims

A ski boot provided with a collar (2) articulated on a shell base (1) of this boot connected with hinge pins (3) which are arranged in the area of the ankle part of the boot and with a device for locking its collar (2) relative to its shell base (1) which includes a tappet (4), provided at the rear of the ski boot, articulated on the collar (2) and pivotable on a substantially horizontal axis (5) between two extreme positions, where, in one of them, the lower end of the above said tappet (4) constitutes an interactive hip by its lower end with a stop means (15) integral with the shell base (1) in order to maintain the collar (2) in the forward inclined position, while in the other extreme position the lower end of the aforesaid tappet (4) is released from that stop means (15) characterised therein that the upper arm of that tappet (4) is provided with a release element (8) coming out from the collar (2) through a preferably slot-shaped aperture (10) therein, and that the release element (8) is interacting with said upper arm for the articulated control of the tappet (4) by means of a spring biased dead point toggle mechanism (4, 5, 13, 15) in order to insure the stability of the tappet (4) in both of said extreme positions.
A ski boot according to claim 1, characterized therein that said tappet (4) has its upper end formed as a fork (6) provided with a pin (7) for mounting thereon pivotable said release element (8).
A ski boot according to claim 2, characterized therein that said release element (8) comprises three arms (9,11,11') angularly offset from one another, one arm (9) being formed as an actuator element, the other arms (11,11') acting as oburator elements for said aperture (10).
A ski boot according to claim 3, characterized therein that said actuator arm (9) of the release element (8) extends in each position outwardly of the collar (2) and one of the obturator elements (11) closes the aperture (10) in the skiing position of the skiboot and the other obturator element (11') closes the aperture (10) in the walking position of the skiboot.
A ski boot according to one of the Claims 1 to 4, characterized therein that the release element (8) comprises two lateral cams (12) taking support on the inner vertical rims of the preferably slot-shaped aperture (10).