US3927896A - Ski and snow shoe device - Google Patents

Abstract

An attachable device which may be mounted on a ski so as to permit the ski to serve either as a snow shoe or a ski. The device incorporates an assembly of cleats that are retractably mounted over slots fitted in the ski such that the cleats may be pressed into a first position in which they project below the bottom surface of the attached ski or into a second position in which they rest flush with the bottom surface of the ski.

Description

United States Patent [191 Detoia 1 Dec. 23, 1975 SKI AND SNOW SHOE DEVICE [75] Inventor: Vincent D. Detoia, Bronx, NY.

[73] Assignee: The Raymond Lee Organization,

Inc., New York, NY. a part interest 22 Filed: June 21, 1974 211 Appl.No.:481,65 0

[52] US. Cl. 280/1143 C; 280111.13 B [51] Int. Cl. A63C 7/10 [58] FieldotSearch ..280/11.l3 C, 11.13 B, 280/ I 1.13 Y

[56] References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS $0,851 4/l9ll Austria 280/1 1.13 B 691,328 3/1965 Italy 280/1 1.13 B

5,721 4/1897 Norway...............,. 704,056 3/1941 Germany...........

14,420 12/1903 Austria 280/1 I 1 Primary Examiner-Leo Friaglia Assistant Examiner-David M. Mitchell Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Howard I. Podell ABSTRACT An attachable device which may be mounted on a ski so as to permit the ski to serve either as a snow shoe or a ski. The device incorporates an assembly of cleats that are retractably mounted over slots fitted in the ski such that the cleats may be pressed into a first position in which they project below the bottom surface of the attached ski or into a second position in which they rest flush with the bottom surface of the ski.

5 Claim; 7 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Dec. 23, 1975 FlG.I

FIG. 3

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FIG. 5

FIG. 6

SKI AND snow SHOE DEVICE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My invention relates to a shoe mount device which can be fastened to a specially prepared ski so that the ski may serve either as a snow shoe or ski. The shoe device is formed of an assembly of cleats mounted adjacent slots in the ski, so that alternately, the cleats may project below the bottom surface of the ski in the extended position converting the attached ski to a snow shoe, with the cleats being retractable to a position flush with the undersurface of the attached ski, when the installed assembly is utilized as a ski.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The objects and features of the invention may be understood with reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I illustrates a plan view of the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a top view of the snow shield of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a fragmentary side view of the cleat assembly of the invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of the latch release member, and spring assembly of the invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a side sectional view of the spring assembly of the invention; and

FIG. 7 illustrates a plan view of a cleat.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, FIGS. 1-2 show a ski 12 which is fitted with a rectangular longitudinal slot 18 at the forward end 31 of the ski 12 and a conventional boot clamp 1 1 at the rear end 32 of the ski 12. A plurality of inverted V-shaped cleats 13 are mounted on a retractable spring member 14 fastened to the ski 12 by rivets 22, with the cleats 13 inserted into the rectangular slot 18. As shown in FIGS. 1-7, each cleat 13 is mounted to the spring member 14 by a pin assembly 21 fastened to a link 17 fixed to spring member 14. A spring clamp 16 is mounted to the top surface 12U of ski 12. Spring clamp 16 springs under the rear edge 14R of spring member 14, when spring member 14 is retracted away from the ski 12 so as to maintain spring member 14 above the upper surface 12U of ski 12 and maintain attached cleats 13 flush with the lower surface 12L of ski 12. Spring clamp 16 snaps over the rear edge 14R of spring member 14, when spring member 14 is extended towards the ski 12 so as to cause cleats 13 to project below the lower surface 12L of the ski.

A snow shield housing is fixed to the upper surface 12U of ski 12 to enclose spring member 14 about the forward end and sides of spring member 14.

Projections 26 are fitted to the undersides of the cleats 13 so that in the retracted position, the projections 26 fit into recesses in the slot 18 to maintain the undersurfaces 13L of each cleat 13 flush with the undersurface 12L of the ski.

Slot 18 may be continuous in shape, or alternately, a series of slots, each of mating size to the cleats may be formed in the ski.

Ski 12 serves as a ski with the cleats l3 retracted and serves as a snow shoe when the cleats 13 project below the lower surface 12L of board 12.

Since obvious changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention described herein, such modifications being within the spirit and scope of the invention claimed, it is indicated that all matter contained herein is intended as illustrative and not as limiting in scope.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A ski fitted with slidable cleats which enables the assembly to be employed alternately as a ski or as a snow shoe, comprising a ski fitted with open slots, extending through the ski from the top surface to the undersurface of the ski, said slots located forward of the shoe mounting position of the ski, and said slots located in a line along the longitudinal axis of the ski, shaped flat spring member, said spring member formed of a sheet of generally rectangular shape and of a length to extend beyond the extreme longitudinal ends of the slots in the ski, with the forward end of said spring member shaped to form a flange, which flange is fastened to the top surface of the ski forward of the most forward located slot, so that the spring member extends over the slots at a distance from the ski, with the rear end of the spring member extending past the most rearward located slot, and with the undersurface of the spring member facing the top surface of the ski and the spring member projecting above the top surface of the ski, said spring member fitted with cleats that are each in the form of a shaped block of uniform cross-section of a size to freely fit into and through a slot of the ski, with each cleat mounted to the undersurface of the spring member, with each cleat being of a transverse width to serve as a fin, when extended through the ski, and each cleat being of a height to extend from the spring member mounting through a slot in the ski and to project beyond the undersurface of the ski when the spring member is in a first fixed position, said cleats each individually mounted to the spring member in line with an individual slot of the ski in which the individual cleat fits in either said first fixed position or in a second position of the spring member so that each cleat is transversely supported by the walls of the slots, with the free end of the cleat shaped as a generally flat surface lying in a plane generally parallel to the undersurface of the attached ski, with each cleat mounted to the undersurface of the spring member to slidably project into a slot of the ski,

a spring retention device in the form of a clamp fastened to the top surface of the ski for holding the rear end of the spring member alternately in either a said first fixed position so that the cleats project through the slots and below the undersurface of the ski, or in a said second position in which the rear end of the spring member is held away from-the ski so that the cleats are positioned in the slots, flush or above the undersurface of the ski, said clamp being in the shape of a shaped section of semi-rigid material forrned with a recessed section into which an edge of the rear end of the spring member may latch in one of said positions.

4. The combination as recited in claim I in which each cleat is formed as a V-shaped section taken in the plane of the attached ski. with the apex of the cleat oriented in the attached position towards the front of the ski.

5. The combination as recited in claim 4 in which each slot is of a mating shape to the sectional shape of the cleat which freely rides in the slot.

Claims (5)

1. A ski fitted with slidable cleats which enables the assembly to be employed alternately as a ski or as a snow shoe, comprising a ski fitted with open slots, extending through the ski from the top surface to the undersurface of the ski, said slots located forward of the shoe mounting position of the ski, and said slots located in a line along the longitudinal axis of the ski, a shaped flat spring member, said spring member formed of a sheet of generally rectangular shape and of a length to extend beyond the extreme longitudinal ends of the slots in the ski, with the forward end of said spring member shaped to form a flange, which flange is fastened to the top surface of the ski forward of the most forward located slot, so that the spring member extends over the slots at a distance from the ski, with the rear end of the spring member extending past the most rearward located slot, and with the undersurface of the spring member facing the top surface of the ski and the spring member projecting above the top surface of the ski, said spring member fitted with cleats that are each in the form of a shaped block of uniform cross-section of a size to freely fit into and through a slot of the ski, with each cleat mounted to the undersurface of the spring member, with each cleat being of a transverse width to serve as a fin, when extended through the ski, and each cleat being of a height to extend from the spring member mounting through a slot in the ski and to project beyond the undersurface of the ski when the spring member is in a first fixed position, said cleats each individually mounted to the spring member in line with an individual slot of the ski in which the individual cleat fits in either said first fixed position or in a second position of the spring member so that each cleat is transversely supported by the walls of the slots, with the free end of the cleat shaped as a generally flat surface lying in a plane generally parallel to the undersurface of the attached ski, with each cleat mounted to the undersurface of the spring member to slidably project into a slot of the ski, a spring retention device in the form of a clamp fastened to the top surface of the ski for holding the rear end of the spring member alternately in either a said first fixed position so that the cleats project through the slots and below the undersurface of the ski, or in a said second position in which the rear end of the spring member is held away from the ski so that the cleats are positioned in the slots, flush or above the undersurface of the ski, said clamp being in the shape of a shaped section of semi-rigid material formed with a recessed section into which an edge of the rear end of the spring member may latch in one of said positions.

2. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which the undersurface of the spring member adjacent the ski is fitted with detachable means for fastening individual cleats to the spring member.

3. The combination as recited in claim 1 together with a housing in the shape of a hollow curved shield mounted to the top surface of the ski about the forward end and sides of the spring member.

4. The combination as recited in claim 1 in which each cleat is formed as a V-shaped section taken in the plane of the attached ski, with the apex of the cleat oriented in the attacHed position towards the front of the ski.

5. The combination as recited in claim 4 in which each slot is of a mating shape to the sectional shape of the cleat which freely rides in the slot.

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