Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
1060494
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention:
The rearwardly controlled snow ski of the
present invention relates to a relatively short ski
which enables the skier to practice a novel skiing
- technique accommodating turns wherein the ski is
essentially pivoted about the rear extremity of the ski.
Description of the Prior Art:
As described in my United States Patent No.
:~ 10 4,007,946 dated February 15, 1977, the evolution of
~kiing has led to current day parallel ~kiing wherein
turns are accomplished in a number of different styles,
one of which involves ahifting of the weight abruptly
forwardly on the skis in order to swing the tails of
the skis to one side about the more forward portion of
the skis, thus accommodatingthe turn to the side opposite
such one side. Other styles emphasize merely sliding the
~ tails of the skis away from the direction of the turn and
0 further styles even emphasize unweighting of the tips of the
ski~ i* what is known a~ a '' jet tw n". Skis comr~only ulied in
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these various styles of skiing generally incorporate a ski
constructed of metal, fiber glass or the like to assume a
ca~ber wherein the central portion of the ski is self-biased
to a raised position elevated slightly from the opposite ends
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of the ski and having mounted thereon bindings for receiving
the skier's boots. Efforts have been made to simplify the
teaching of skiing by a technique known as a graduated
length method ~G~M~ wherein a skier initially begins on
shorter skis, as for instance skis in the neighborhood of
~100 centimeters long and even shorter, and then advances to
longer skis as his skills develop, such GLM skis being
conventionally shaped and of conventional flexibility throughout
their length. While all of the aforedescribed skis offer
great enjoyment for the skier, they are all characterized by
central location of the ski bindingin a forward-aft direction
~i on the ski and by the fact that they are all formed with
! tails projecting rearwardly of the binding and having a
length nearly equal to the leading portion of the ski
projecting forwardly of the binaing, with both such tail and
leading portions having substantially the same flexibility.
Such design characteristics extremely limit the ski performance,
thus preventing the skier from performing styles of turns
wherein the ski itself essentiall~ pivots about the tail of
the ski and requiring the tail to always be shifted to one
side or the other relative to the remainder of the ski while
a turn is being accommodated. Further, such prior art skis
provide substantially equal balance between the front and
rear of the skis and fail to mount the skier rearwardly on
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the ski to enable the flexibility o~ the leading ski portion
to lead the way over irregularities and obstacles without
the resistance normally offered by the leverage exhibited
the ski tail. . , . .- .-
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. SU~IMARY OF THE- INVENTION
, .. . The rearwardly controlled snow ski of the present
invention is characteri~ed by a configuration mounting the
: ski binding rearwardly on the ski over a relatively rigid
weight-bearin'g portion for r.eceipt thereon of the skier's
boot and having a flexible leadlng portion projecting forwardly
~herefrom to turn rather-abruptly upwardly at it5 forward
extremlty to form a ski shovel. ~ short trailing portion may
extend rearwardly of the weight-bearing portion but in no
instance should extend rearwardly from the skier's heel a
distance greater than 20% of the length of the planing portion
projecting forwardly of the skier's toe~ The forward planing
portion may curve gradually forwardly and upwardly from the
weight-bearing portion to the abruptly upturned shovel to
provide a camber which is reversed in comparison to
.conventional ski cambers to enable such planing portion to
project forwardly and upwardly with respect to the weight-
bearing portion to thereby prevent hooking thereof and give
excellent tracking charactexistics
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1060494
DESCRIPTION OF THE- DRAWIN(~S
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a ski
embodying the present invention;
, FIG. 2--is a side eleva~ional view similar
to FIG. 1 but showing a heel-elevatea binding
mounting on such ski;
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, ~ FIG. 3 is a top plan view, in enlarged scale,
' of the ski shown in FIG. 1
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' ~ - 'FIG. 4 is an elevational view of a second
''' embodimRnt of the ski of the present invention;
h
~t. - - FIG. S is a partial end view, in enlarged
;, gcale, of the'trailing portion of the ski shown in
~ ' FIG, 4;
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,~, - - FIG; 6 is a bottom view of the traili,ng portion
s
~ 15 . ' shown in FIG. S; '-
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'j' FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the trailing
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' . portion of,a third embo,diment of the ski of present
invention;
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. ' FIG. 8 is a force distribution diagram
associated with the operation of a conventional ski
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FIG. 9 is an elevational view of the ski
shown in FIG. 1 and force distribution diagram
associated therewith. ..
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PR~FERRED EMBODIMENTS
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Referring to FIG. 1, the rearwardly controlled
ski of the ~resent invention has an overall apPearance some-
what similar to conventional skis except that the ski which
is intended for use by both children and adults is only
about 106 centimeters long ana about 10 centimeters wide
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and is formed with a medial rigid weight-bearing portion 11
having a co~ventional ski binding 13 mounted directly
B thereover and normally ~pannLng approximately ~ of the
overall length of the entire ski to receive a ski boot 141.
Pro~ecting forwardly from the weight-bearing portion 11 1s
a relatively flexible leading portion 15 which curves upwardl~
slightly for approximately 32% of the overall length then
curves abru~tly upwardly to form within about 17~ of the
forwardmost portion a conven~ionally shaped shovel 17.
Projecting rearwardly from the rear end of the medial weight-
~ 20 bearing portion 11 is a trailing portion 19 which is also
:1l relatively rigid and constitutes approximately 17% of the
; . overall ski length termina~ing at its rear end in a trailing
edge 21. Consequently, the skier's weight is positioned
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~: rearwardly on the ski itself thus enabling the flexible
~, 25 leading portion 15 to ridge above the snow surface and act
.~ . to negotiate various undulations and obstacles appearing over
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1060494the ski course and the skier himself may initiate a turn
by merelv rollina his knees in the direction of the turn
thus causina the rear edge 21 to dig into the snow on the
side o~ the skis toward which his k.nees have rolled thus
causing the leading portion 15 o~ ~he sXi to be drawn
sideways in the direction of the turn therebv causina the
ski to, in éssence, pivot about the heel of the skier with
very little, if any, resistance thereto bein,a, offered bv the
trailing portion 19 or the front ~ortion 15. - --
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- TyPically, adult skis are on the order of 1~5
centimeters long and longer with a maximum width of about
8 to 9 centimeters and are formed with a self~biasing camber
causing the lonaitudinal media~ portion thereto to be
raised slightly with respect to the leadin,g an~. trailinq
' endsi o the ski. m e wei~ht-bearing portion of the ski
1s conventionally located meaially alona the fore-aft length
~,. of the ski with the tail of the ski beinq only sliqhtly
' less'flexible than the leading portion thereof. Con-
'i ~equently, typical skiing techniues on such conventional
skis result in the ski itself beinq rotated either ahout
the median Portion thereof during a turn or about a
portion somewhat orwardly of the ski binding. These
, skiing techniques have led to manv teaching methoas
i, emphasizing a skier keeping his weiqht forward on the ski
2S and even tending to shift his weight abruDtly upwardlv and
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'forwardlv when cominq into a turn in order to raise ~he
tails of the skis momentaxily of the ski trail while
simultaneously shiftin~ the tails to one sifle in a
direction opposite the direction of the turn in order to
facilitate such pivoting of thé s~i about a forward
portion thereof. Heretofore, there have been no efforts to
', provide a snow ski which essentially pivots about the trailin~
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extremity thereof and oroviaes for the weight of the skier
'being borne rearwardly of the ski median leaving the
flexible leading portion of the ski free to plane over the
, ski terrain thus leading the weiqht-bearing ~ortion
graduaily o~er obstacles and undulations encountered on the
ski trail.
'-- While the particular ski shown in FI~. 1 is 1~6
. 15' centimeters long, it will he understood that the lenath of
such ski, while being shorter than conventional adult sk.is,
will,vary in length from approximatel~ 90 centimeters to
'approximately 110 centimeters. It is only important that
the weight-bearing portion 11 be formed rearwardlv on the
ski, that the trailing portion l9 not exceed 2n% of the
overall ski length and that the leading portion 15iff~ be
relativel,y flexible to enable upward and downward flexing
thereof as the ski maneuvers over the ski trail.
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1060494
In order to support an adult skier's weight on
the 106 centimeter ski, the ski is formed with a width
; approximately 10% greater than that of conventional skis
and to enhance tracking and the planing effect of the
leading portion 15 to the widest portion thereof, immediately
behind the shovel 17, is approximately 10 centimeters
wide and tapers rearwardly and inwardly therefrom to the
trailing portion 19 which is approximately 8.5 centimeters
wide. The widest section of the planing portion 15 must
be approximately 10 centimeters wide for adult skiers.
The weight-bearing and trailing portions 11 and
19 are substantially rigid for 40.5% of the overall ski
length to maintain their straight planar configuration
when weight i5 applied thereto and commencs curving
gradually upwardly and forwardl~ from the horizontal
plane thereof at a gradually decreasing radius of curvature
from a point directly beneath the ball of the boot 14,
the ski continues to curve upwardly and forwardly and
gradually becomes flexible to, at about the toe of the
boot, incorporate the flexible leading portion 15 projecting
forwardly of the boot. The entire reverse cambered planing
portion, gonerally designated 22, forms 42.5% of the ski
length and raises in its unflexed condition, to 0.5
centimeters above the plane of the weight-bearing portion
I 11 at the base of the shovel 17~ While the reverse camber
i of such planing portion 22 may be sufficient to raise the
-, front thereof several centimeters off the snow it should
be sufficient to raise it at least 0.3 centimeters and
preferably 0.5 centimeters. Such planing portion 22 becomes
gradually more flexible as it projects forwardly and in-
corporates the leading portion 15. Such planing portion 22
must exceed 35% of the overall ski length for proper ski
performance.
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In skiing stee~ slopes the entire weight of the skier may
at: times be bor~ by such trailing edge 21 so it is important
from a performance standpoint that the traillng portion be
rela~ively short, not exceeding 20% of the ski length and
preferably no more than 17% of the,overall ski length. Also
since the trailing edge 21 acts as a third edge it should
incorporate a metallic edge or other wear resistant covering
¦ to be discussed hereinafter.
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The ski may be constructed as set forth in mY
U,S~ f~tQ n~ O ~ ~ ~6
o B aforementioned parcnt appli~atlon to incorporate longitudinally
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extending spaced apart I-beams of extruded polystyrene and
wrapped with layexs of various different weaves of fiber
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cloth pre-impregnated with resin with the space between such
~ I-beams being filled with expanded urethane foam. The sides
', 15 of the ski are closed by adhering plastic strips to the ends
of the impregnatéd fiber cloth and elongated steel strips
are secured to the opposite sides of the ski to form edges
25. The longitudinal I-beams may gradually decrease-in- ;
cross section toward the forward extremity of the planing
~ 20 portion 15 to thereby gradually increase the flexibility
j of such planing portion thus providing the greater relative
flexibility with respect to the weight-bearing and trailing
portions 11 and 19.
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1060494
In operation, the ski binding 13 may be of conventional
construction and is mounted over the weight-bearing portion
11 with the toe thereof being positioned approximately medially
in-a fore-aft direction on the ski. ~.he skier's boot will
then be received in such binding and in standing on such
ski his weight will be positioned rearwardly on the ski thus
distributing his weight in a gradually increasing magnitude
toward the rear of the ski as depicted by the broken line
forçe diag~am shown in FIG. 9.
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T~is weight distribution should be contrasted
with' that for'a conventional ski as shown in FIG. 8 wherein
thé'weight-bearing portion is located ce~trally in a fore-aft
directian and the ski is formed with a conventional camber
raising the central portion theréof relative to the shovel
and tail. Consequently, as the skier skis down the ski
~lope, the relatively unweightea shovel 17 and planing portion
22 wiIl encounter various obstacles and unevenness in the
terrain and will flex upwardly and downwardly in response to
s'uch encounter, thus leaaing the weight-bearing portion over
the~obstacles.. It will be appreciated that such flexing of
the planing portion 22 will not only absorb sho~k ana forces
resulting from consequent changes in direction as dictated
by such obstacles, but will essentially telegraph forces
applied thereto to the skier's foot, thus providing advance
notioe of the expected encounter with such obstacles by the
weight-bearing portion 11 thereby giving the skier an opportunity
to anticipate sudden changes in direction, s~eed and the like.
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~ It will be appreciated that with the weight
positioned rearwardly on the ski, there is no necessity or
the skier to make extra effort to manipulate his bodv in such
~a manner as to unweight the tails of the ski during turnina
maneuvers, thus enablina the skier to utilize an entirelv
'new skiin~ techni~ue ~n ne~otiatin~ a turn. Surprisingly,
a mere rolling to one side of'the skier's knees will cause
the edges of the skis on such one side to'be weighted and
-with the weights positioned rea~ardly on the ski, the rear
corner of the trailing edge 21 on such one side will dig
into the snow, thus tending to'draw'the planing portion 15
Of the ski to such oné side theréby causing the ski itself
~' to pivot about the skier's heel, thereby ne~otiating such
turn~ This turnin~ maneuver can be further.facilitated by
the skier shi~ting hls weight even further rearwardly on the
-skis, as by assuming a n~arlv sitting position, thus applying
~ ' ~éven more wéight to the trailing edge 21 as depicted by the
i solid line force distribution diagram shown in FI~. 9 to
' -thereby exaggerate the braking effect of the corner digging
~' 20 into the snow and further sharpening the curvature of the turn.
-~ : ~ It has been found that in norma~ skiing over
relatively'hard-packed snow, the planing portion 22 may
project upwardly from the plane'of the snow at an angle of
'~ approximately seven degrees, thus causing the forwardmost
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1~6049~
portion thereof to onl~ encounter rises in the terrain
itself and to normally be elevated from the snow surfacP.
~ However, when the skier is skiing down an extremely steep
-slope or skiing through soft powder, the planing portion
'5 ' 22 may project from the snow surface at an angle of 80
''degrees' or more, as shown in FIG. 4.
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~ ' ~~'~' ~~he''flexibility of the planing portion 22 enables
.' '''the leading extremity thereof to flex upwardly to facilitate
'plowing'through soft powder while the rigid trailing portion
l9 enables the skier to dig the trailing edge 21 into either
hard or loose snow on a steep slop~ to thus act as a highly
-èfective brake enabling the skier to maneuver essentially
'5traight down an e~tremely steep slope, even up to an 80
' ~degree incline, without making significant contact of the
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~ lS underside of the pl aning portion 22 with the snow. Con-
.'' sequently, the combination of the rigid weight-bearing and
trailing portions 11 and lg with the flexible planing
` 'portion 22 exhibits an entirely new ski performance heretofore
' . -unknown. '
Because of the nature of the skis being rearwardly
controlled, the skier normally assumes a position leanin~
further rearwardly from the vertical than for normal skis in
order to apply greater pressure ~n the third edge of the ski.
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This position may lead to early fatigue or eventual dis-
comfort so it is desirable to provide a new ski binding,
generally designated 30, which incorporates a suPport wedge
31 which acts to elevate the heel of the boot relative to
the toe itself, thus enabling the skier to maintain his
weight rearwardly on the trailing portion without assuming
a skiing position angling his body excessively rearwardly
of the vertical. It will be appreciated that the angular
binding support may take many aifferen~ forms, as shown in
my aforementioned co-pending application, and the wedge
type support 31 is merely shown as a representative embodiment.
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Referring to FIGS. 4, S and 6, the trailing edge
21 may be formed by the rear edge of a pressure plate,
generally designated 37, which is received in a relief
i5 formed in thé underside of the trailing portion 19 and is
removably secured thereto by méans of screws 39 so the pressure
plate may be removed and replacea with different pressure
plates having other configurations and characteristics for
different snow conditions and intended use.
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Referring to FIG. 7, the pressure plate may be
formed with one or more longitudinal downwardly projecting
skegs 41 to enhance maneuverability and facilitate control,
- it being appreciated that in many instances the longitudinal
edges 25 of the ski may have little contact with the snow,
25 thus placing great emphasis on such pressure plate for control.
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1060494
From the foreaoin~, it will he apparent that the
s~ki of present invention exhibits characteristics enabling
a skier to ski a totallv new stvle of skiing whereby a
xelatively unaccomplished skier may accommodate what were
heretofore considered extremely challenqina sl~pes and
adverse snow conditions. A relatively unaccomnlished skier
will not be plagued by the feeling of awk~ar~ness normallv
; accompanying the learning to master skis having rather
lengthy tails projecting substantial distances rearwardly
of the binding and offering resistance to turning of the
ski. Because of the rearward control a ski in the 100
centimeter range will be suitabie for use by both male and
female adults thus eliminating the necessity of carefullv
,
~electing the ski length in accordance with the physical
size of the skier.
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Various modifications and changes may be made
with regard to the foregoi~g detailed descri~tion
without departing from the s~irit of the invention.
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