EP1345661A2

EP1345661A2 - Skiing boot and safety binding assembly for alpine skiing

Info

Publication number: EP1345661A2
Application number: EP01273015A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jurij Franko; Ales Jurca
Original assignee: Alpina Tovarna Obutve doo
Current assignee: Alpina Tovarna Obutve doo
Priority date: 2000-12-29
Filing date: 2001-12-24
Publication date: 2003-09-24
Also published as: AU2002222899A1; WO2002053239A2; SI20724A; WO2002053239A3

Abstract

The invention refers to a skiing boot and safety binding assembly for alpine skiing or snowboards, which need not be altered with respect to the size of the boot. It is based on clamping the toe (7) of the sole (2) and the head (3) of the safety binding in the front of the skiing boot. According to the invention, the second place of clamping the sole and the binding takes place on the sole side of the skiing boot. For this purpose the second place of clamping the sole and the binding provided on the sole side of the boot consists of a swinging element (4) of the safety binding (1) and a groove (5) in the function of a bearing on the sole side of the boot. It is achieved by the swinging element (4) containing a semicircular base section (10) for the stabilisation of the clamped state, above it a semicircular section (11) for the stabilisation of the opened state and, on its distant end, a tooth (12) orientated forwards for clamping into the groove (5) of the sole in the clamped state, while the groove (5) contains an upright passage for the entrance and reception of the swinging element (4) and the said upright passage in the area of its upper end is extended in the forward direction for the reception of the tooth (12) so that under the said extension a sole tooth (6) is provided.

Description

SKIING BOOT AND SAFETY BINDING ASSEMBLY FOR ALPINE

SKIING

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a skiing boot and safety binding assembly for alpine skiing.

TECHNICAL PROBLEM

The technical problem solved by the present invention is how to design a skiing boot and safety binding assembly for alpine skiing or for a snowboard that will eliminate the problem of matching the size of the skiing boot and of the respective safety binding.

PRIOR ART

As a rule, hitherto known skiing boot and safety binding assemblies have been constructed in such a way that the safety binding holds the skiing boot simultaneously clamped at the front (toe) and at the back (heel). The shape and the size of the attachments on the skiing boot are standardized in order to provide for compatibility of the skiing boots and safety bindings by different manufacturers.

As the skiing boot is clamped at the toe and at the heel, the safety binding is always adjusted to the size of the skiing boot. Since the daily rental of skis and skiing boots keeps increasing, there has developed a growing need for such a skiing boot and safety binding assembly that will allow and provide for the fitting of the assembly or of the safety binding to the size of the skiing boot without any adaptation whatsoever. Only in this way a rent-a-ski can offer an independent selection of skis and skiing boots.

With the known solutions of the safety binding and the skiing boot, each time the space between the front unit ant the rear unit has to be adjusted to the length of the skiing boot, which takes some time and at the same time makes the service more expensive. Although there exist safety bindings for quickly adjusting the space between the front and rear units where this job is done faster, manual setting in each particular case cannot be avoided.

Further, all hitherto known safety binding constructions have a negative effect on the characteristics of the ski. Since the skiing boot has to be stiffly clamped in front of the toe and behind the heel, the safety binding must be stiffly fixed to the base. If the safety binding is fixed directly to the ski, such stiff fixing of the binding affects the flexibilty of the central part of the ski by deforming the continuous arch of the ski resulting from its response to the manner of skiing and to the ground. Since it is impossible to avoid the deformed curving of the ski in the area of the safety binding, the construction of the safety binding must contain elements compensating the moving of the safety binding with respect to the sole of the skiing boot due to the flexibility of the ski. Actually, the force of clamping the skiing boot into the safety binding must be adjustable in a narrow tolerance range in order to secure the release of the skiing boot when the set load is exceeded in different directions with respect to the skiing boot. These requirements, however, result in a more complicated structure of the safety binding, which in turn involves a higher price and a higher probability of a defect or unsatisfactory operation. In order to avoid some of the above deficiencies, there have been developed intermediate elements between the ski and the safety binding. Such an intermediate element is flexibly mounted on the ski in order to provide for its smooth functioning. The safety binding is stiffly mounted on the intermediate element, which guarantees a correct and steady clamping force acting on the skiing boot. The necessity to adjust the space between the front and rear units of the binding to the size of the ski boot in each individual case, however, is not avoided thereby.

THE SOLUTIONTOTHETECHNICALPROBLEM

The above- described tehnical problem has been solved by a new skiing boot and safety binding assembly for alpine skiing acording to the invention. Its essential characteristic is that the rear unit of the safety binding is moved forward under the sole of the skiing boot having a groove with a tooth to which the rear unit of the binding clamps. The front unit of the safety binding and the toe of the skiing boot are unchanged so that the distance between the toe of the skiing boot and the tooth in the sole is constant, independent of the size of the skiing boot sole, which means that the safety binding need not be adjusted to the different sizes of the skiing boots, while the distance between the groove and heel of the skiing boot changes with respect to the size of the skiing boot. The heel part of the skiing boot can be formed so as to meet the standards for known safety bindings. Thus, such skiing boot can be clamped on the ski with a known safety binding or with the safety binding according to present invention. The distance between the front and rear units at the binding according to the present invention is shorter than at the bindings according to the known standards, which diminishes the area of the ski requiring stiffness. The binding is designed as a safety binding meeting the standards and regulations for safety bindings. The system for opening the binding is designed in such a way that the binding is opened by pressing the point of the ski stick against the system. It is situated before the front part of the binding, which makes the opening easier in comparison with an opening system situated at the back because the skier more comfortably leans forwards on the ski stick while opening the binding. The binding according to the invention can also be used on a snowboard with the system for opening being designed at the side.

In the continuation the invention will be described in more detail on the basis of an example of embodiment and the attached drawings, wherein

Fig. 1 shows a side view of the binding and the sole of the skiing boot according to the invention, Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal section of the binding and the sole of the skiing boot according to the invention, Fig. 3 shows a perspective view of the binding according to the invention, Fig. 4 shows a top view of the binding according to the invention, Fig. 5 shows a side view of the part provided for clamping the sole of the skiing boot to the binding, Fig. 6 shows a longitudinal axial section of the binding and of the sole of the skiing boot according to the invention in the clamped state.

The skiing boot and safety binding assembly for alpine skiing consists of a safety binding 1 mounted on a ski or a snowboard and of a sole 2 of a skiing boot.

The safety binding 1 consists of a front part - a head 3 - and an element 4 provided for clamping the sole of the skiing boot to the binding.. The head 3 can be any known head of a safety binding. The toe part 7 of the sole of the skiing boot is designed to meet the valid standards for ski bindings. The heel part 8 can also have a form coresponding to the valid standards for ski bindings so that this skiing boot can also be used with known bindings. In the sole there is a groove 5 with a tooth 6 in its front part. The distance between the toe 7 of the sole and the tooth 6 is constant, which makes possible the compatibility of the binding with skiing boots of different sizes without adjusting the binding. The distance between the groove 5 and the point of the heel 8 changes with the size of the skiing boots. The tooth 6 extends over the whole width of the skiing boot and has a semicircular shape complementary to the element 4.

The element 4 provided for clamping the sole of the skiing boot into the safety binding swings around an axis 9. At the rear it has two concave semicircular sections 10, 11 serving for positioning the element 4 into an opened or clamped stable state with the section 10 serving for the clamped stable state and the section 11 serving for the opened stable state. On the top, the element 4 has a tooth 12 of a semicircular shape, which in the clamped state holds the tooth 6 of the sole 2.

A housing 13 of the binding contains a spring 14 pressing forward an element 15. In its front part the element 15 has a semicircular point 16 complementary to the sections 10 and 11. The spring 14 presses the element 15 forward and this one with the point 16 presses on the element 4 in the sections 10 or 11, thereby keeping the element 4 in one of the stable states.

The element 4 has a tooth 17 serving for opening the rear part of the safety binding. When pressing on an opening element 18, a lever 19 is moved forwards and at the same time the lever 19 is clamped to the tooth 17 of the element 4, the element 4 swings around the axis 9 and thus the element 4 is turned from the stable clamped state to the stable opened state.

The stepping into the safety binding according to the invention takes place similarly as at known bindings. Before stepping in, the binding must be in the opened state. The toe 7 of the sole 2 is put into the head 3. The heel 8 of the sole 2 is pressed down. The upper surface of the groove 5 presses on the tooth 12 of the element 4 and the element 4 is moved from the opened state to the clamped stable position.

Claims

1. A skiing boot and safety binding assembly for alpine skiing, based on clamping the toe (7) of the sole (2) as the male part of the assembly and the head (3) of the binding as the female part of the assembly at the front part of the skiing boot, characterized in that the second place of the clamping of the sole and the ski binding is provided on the sole side of the boot.

2. The assembly according to claim 1, characterized in that the second place of the clamping of the sole and the ski binding provided on the sole side of the boot consists of a swinging element (4) of the safety binding (1) in the function of a bolt of the male part of the assembly and of a groove (5) in the function of a bearing as the female part of the assembly on the sole side of the boot.

3. The assembly according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the swinging element (4) contains a semicircular base section (10) for the stabilisation of the clamped state and above it a semicircular section (11) for the stabilisation of the opened state and, on its distant end, a tooth (12) orientated forwards for clamping into the groove (5) of the sole in the clamped state, while the groove (5) contains an upright passage for the entrance and reception of the swinging element (4) and the said upright passage in the area of its upper end is extended in the forward direction for the reception of the tooth (12) so that under the said extension a sole tooth (6) is provided.