Patent Application
20150182847
The present invention relates to sports boards ridden in a stand up position. More particularly the present invention relates to foot retaining means that easily adapt to the stance of the rider on the board in such a way the rider's feet are retained to the board in a comfortable, secure and safe way, while the board automatically adapts to the riding stance changes.
Riding boards are popular for water, land, ice or snow riding. Snowboarding, wave surfing, wheeled ‘skate’ boards, wind surfing, kite surfing, wake boarding and many more variations are well spread ‘fun sports enjoyed by millions of riders worldwide. Propulsion methods vary from wind by sail or kite, kicking a foot, small engines or water-jets, or a wave. Some propulsion methods require external towing sources, such as motor boats and cables.
Most riding boards are ridden with the feet apart from each other, with one foot towards the riding direction and one foot towards the back. This enables the rider to powerfully shift the weight across the board, for instance to steer the board or to make jumps. Due to this, the rider typically has the hips turned a bit towards the riding direction, resulting in a typical asymmetric stance.
Riding boards can be divided in two main classes, directional and bi-directional or ‘twin-tip’. Directional boards are typically designed for riding in one direction, and as such have a distinctive nose and tail. In case of a riding board, after changing the riding direction of board, the rider either turns around on the board to assume a position mirrored from the previous stance, or continues to ride with the feet in the same place on the board, in boarding terms, ‘heel side’ when the riders heels are towards the mountain, center of a turn, or wind, and ‘toe side’ when the toes are pointed towards the mountain, center of a turn, or wind.
Twin-tips boards have one very big advantage over directional boards, as the riding direction can be changed instantly without removing the feet from the board. This makes it easier to learn to ride both ways, and for advanced riders this opens up many creative possibilities to perform tricks involving body rotations and reversed riding.
Directional boards typically perform better, as they can be optimized for riding in one direction, whereas twin-tip boards have symmetrical tips, meaning that a nose is a tail and vice versa, which typically implies a compromised performance for sliding and planing boards. The board length is limited as a too long tail makes it difficult to steer the board with the center point of gravity too far away from the tail. The board shape is further compromised by the different requirements for ‘rocker’ (main board curvature in a vertical plane collinear with the board) and ‘scoop’ (nose curvature to assist the board to ride over bumps or small waves. Another compromise, which more specifically applies to towed water riding boards, is that twin-tips can only have really short fins, because fins would make the board uncontrollable if the nose fins drag through the water. Short fins have very limited use in kite boarding.
Most riding boards provide means to lock the feet to the boards, varying from high friction foam or grid patches, layers of sticky wax, straps with or without damping pads, to boots with or without unlocking means. Depending on the board and riding style, riders choose one of these means.
While fixed straps and boots provide the most secure locking of the feet to the board, and therefore are most suitable for high speed board riding like wake-, snow- and kite boarding, they have certain disadvantages.
One obvious disadvantage of fixed straps and boots on twin tip boards is that the foot stance for both riding directions is the same, while the hips are typically twisted towards the riding direction, and the knees are bent unevenly, as the leg pressure and the point of gravity are shifted between the riding directions. This causes the knees and ankles to contort, which over extended periods of time is damaging to the knee joints and ligaments. Riders typically prefer to use wide straps which allow a foot to twist inside the strap, in order to align the feet with the leg, while this obviously goes at the cost of safety, since an overly wide strap doesn't really embrace a foot very well. There are some serious risks involved with wide straps, as a foot can incidentally slip from the strap. The board can then turn around the other feet and cause injuries to typically the ankle, lower leg and knee. If two feet slip from the strap, the board is separated from the rider, and can incur damage injury by crashing in to objects and persons, or it can be lost completely.
Another disadvantage of a twin tip sliding board with fixed boots or straps is that the rider can't shift his weight by adjusting the foot position, which needs to be compensated by pushing and puffing forces of the legs on the board, which in turn causes fatigue.
Most riding boards nowadays provide ways to fix the foot straps at different angles to precisely adjust the stance to the riders preference, but one will have to agree that each such stance will be a compromise any on a bi-directional board, as the stance cannot be adapted while riding. Free-style snowboarders for instance fix their binding symmetrical to the snow board with the toes pointing slightly outward, in board riders terminology also referred to as ‘duck stance’. Riding in such a duck stance will contort the knees and ankles of the rear leg.
Rotatable foot retaining for riding boards are found in the prior art, for instance by Tuurna (FR2518188 Al) and Kiintzel (WO 2011/064326 A2). These references present rotatable foot strap arrangements for riding boards. While these patents address the need for adaptable foot stances by providing rotatable straps, it will be difficult if not painful to adapt the stance when a foot is inside the strap, as the foot is for the largest part supported on the fixed deck of the riding board. Another design for a rotatable binding is made by Mike Geldart, who made a fully rotatable foot-pad and strap combo on a skim board. This is regarded as feeling to loose, as there is no locking of the rotational movement provided.
The present invention overcomes the limitations and disadvantages present in the art by providing a design for a riding board adapted with foot retaining means that allows adjustment of the foot stance relative to the board while riding, and adjustments to the board geometry, structure and fin configuration, with improved fitting of the feet. The present invention applies to both twin-tip and directional boards.
Therefore, a riding board is, for each foot that requires adaption to different stances, adapted with a rotatable foot support section which is essentially smaller than the foot, such that at least the heel, and in some embodiments also the toes, extend over the rotating support section. The rotatable section is provided with a boot, boot ramp or with one or more straps. The riding board is adapted with locking support sections, which is a part of the board deck or is attached to the board and which extend under the trajectory of the toes and heel. The rotatable foot support section may be shaped like a round disk, so it can rotate in a circular slot in a larger fixed support section.
As such, the rotating movement is easily locked by the heel-, toe- or combined heel and toe pressure on the locking support section.
Various styles and types of riding boards require various foot retaining means. The present invention provides for this variation in order to make the invention suitable for all riding boards that require foot retaining.
Kite-boards, and sud-boards, and also wheeled land boards are often equipped with foot straps. The waters sports boards are mostly ridden barefoot or with flexible neoprene boots. A riding board according to the present invention can have each rotating foot support section provided with a strap, preferably padded with soft and skin friendly material. As a riding board according to the present invention allows easy correction of the stance of the feet, there is no need to make the straps much wider than they should, therefore the riding board according to the present invention provides means for adjusting the strap size and shape to always fit the foot snugly and securely, yet easy to step in to and remove the foot. This is achieved by combining width adjustment, whereby the connection of the strap to the rotating support section is at one or both sides made adjustable, and the size and shape of the strap itself, by an arrangement of hook and loop flaps that allow adjustment of the strap length and conical shape, in such a way the inside of the strap stays open if the foot is removed, thus providing easy access of the foot in the strap, and by using a flexible liner that extend across the full inside of the strap whether the a large or small setting of the adjustable strap is made.
Thereto, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the rotatable foot support section is provided with a rigid support disk, and connecting means to one or both sides of this disk, which connecting means can installed at various offsets from the center of the disk to adjust to the width of the riders foot. In this embodiment of the invention the connection means can slide in a channel in the support disk, and can be fixed in position by means of a screw. To each connecting means, a connecting flap made from semi-rigid material like thin polyamide sheet, adapted with to one side the hook and to the other side the loop part of a hook and loop locking patch, is rigidly connected. A flexible liner, with thereto attached a comfort pad, is connected to both connection means, and partly to the support disk in order to cover the gaps that proceed from adjusting the connecting means to a wider position. The comfort pad on the top has to the left and right side the counterpart of the inside hook and loop patch of the connecting flaps attached. The comfort pad to the outside further has locking wings hinge ably attached parallel to the center line. Setting the strap to the right size and conical shape is done by placing the foot on the foot retaining means, inside the flexible liner, and by pressing the left and right connecting flap to the top of the comfort pad. Now, the size and shape is set, and the strap can be further locked by applying the locking wings.
The adjustable connection width, length and conical shape of the strap thus provide a snug and secure fit of the foot, while the skin of the foot is comfortably surrounded by the liner. By adapting the support disk with a part of a foot bed from comfortable material like EVA foam, the foot inside the rotatable section of a foot retaining means on a riding board according to the invention is retained not only snugly and securely, but also comfortably.
Directional riding boards such as wave riding boards can usually be ridden with either the left or right leg towards the front. Many riders are skilled in stepping over to the reversed stance as part of a gybing or tacking maneuver, in boarding terminology also referred to as ‘switching’ between ‘regular’, with the left leg forward, and ‘goofy’, with the right leg forward. A riding board according to the invention can be adapted with one or two retaining means allowing foot stance adjustment that can accept the feet from both sides. Therefore, locking support sections are provided to at least the left and right side of a rotating support section, while, for the front foot, a locking support section towards the tail is useful. A regular ‘full deck pad’ as used on surfboards can easily be adapted to be used with rotating foot retaining to form a riding board according to the invention. A directional riding board according to the invention should not be adapted with rotating foot retaining means with conical straps like the bidirectional board according to the invention described above, as the strap will be accessed from both side.
Some styles of board riding, like wake and snowboarding, require a firmer bond of the legs to the board, mostly due to the higher loads occurring, and the higher speeds achieved by the riders. Connecting means for these boards are typically referred to as bindings, and come as two different types, one where a pair of boots is rigidly locked to the board and the rider either puts the boots on and attaches the boots to the board with quick-locking means on the underside of the boots, as with snowboard hard boots, or the boots stay on the board and the rider puts them on with the board attached to it, as with wake-boards. The other type is common in snowboarding, where the rider wears specially prepared soft boots that are strapped to the bindings by means of straps. These types of bindings often include high-back plates, for additional support around the ankles and lower legs.
In a preferred embodiment of a riding board according to the present invention the rotating section is provided with a boot that, for the parts that extend over the rotating foot retaining section has no sole, allowing the heel and toe section to directly contact the locking support section.
In another preferred embodiment of a riding board according to the present invention, the rotating foot support section is adapted with a full boot, for instance for used in cold conditions. The rotating support section can tilt by a few degrees about an axis sagittal to the foot and located sufficiently above the foot support section. A bevel gear is fixed to the foot retaining means in a plane parallel to the rotating foot support section, and concentric with the rotation axis of the foot retaining support section. The underside of the boot is, at both heel and toe side, provided with sections of matching internal bevel gears, all such that when the boot is tilted by pressure from the toes and lower legs leaning forward in the boot, the toe-side internal bevel gear section engages with the bevel gear fixed to the foot retaining means, and when the boot is tilted by heel pressure combined with the lower legs leaning back in the boot, the heel side bevel gear section engages with said bevel gear, while the foot support section can rotate freely if the pressure is applied evenly on the toe and heel.
In order to stabilize these movements, a compressible friction pad can be applied between the rotating foot support section and the part of the foot retaining means fixed to the riding board. A similar embodiment according to the invention is, instead of with gears, adapted with high friction material. For cold and/or wet conditions however, the gear provides a positive lock whereas water, ice and debris may impair the friction functionality.
For twin tip riding boards, changing the riding direction typically brings about some limitations of the board performance, as the tails and noses are identical. A riding board according to the present invention can be optimized for the riding direction by the rotation movement of the foot retaining means, as the foot stance will change when the riding direction is reversed. With fixed retaining mains, a twin tip board will usually be ridden with most of the pressure on the rear leg, even to the extent that the front leg is pulled towards the rider to increase the pressure on the tail of the board. Obviously this can be very enervating for the rider. Without even changing the geometry of the board, shifting the rider's weight towards the tail of the board will noticeably improve the board performance.
A riding board according to the present invention automatically shifts the weight towards the tail of the board as the heels are turned towards the tail, relative to the axis of rotation of the rotating foot support section. In an embodiment of the present invention, this effect can be further enhanced by offsetting the axis of rotation relative to the foot towards the toe-side of the board, as the heels describe a larger arc and therewith travel further towards the tail of the board.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the foot retaining means as a whole are rotatable about an axis towards the toe side of the riding board, in such a way the rotatable foot support section can swing in a plane parallel to the board deck to the preferred position. For each foot retaining means, a heel locking section is shaped and fixed on the board such that a foot can be partly in the foot retaining means and partly supported on the heel locking section, thus locking the rotation of both the rotatable foot support section and the foot retaining means. This embodiment is particularly useful for larger riding boards, like light wind kite propelled riding boards.
The rotating motion of the feet on a riding board according to the present invention can be further applied to optimize the performance to the riding direction by using this rotation to make adaptions to the board geometry and structure. This section describes some embodiments of the invention, where these adaptions are made by either, but not limited to, cable-pulling systems, movable beams, cams, gears and electric motors.
The most important denominators for surfboards are the outline and rocker. Riding boards for use on water preferably have a relatively flat tail section and an increased rocker towards the nose.
An embodiment of a riding board according to the present invention can be adapted such that rotating the front rotating foot support section to a front foot position applies a bending moment to the nose section to increase the rocker, while rotating the other foot support section to a rear foot position releases such a bending moment in the tail section, allowing the tail side of the board to spring back to a relatively flat rocker, as such providing a reversible rocker.
Another embodiment of a riding board according to the present invention can be also be adapted to lift parts of the sliding or planing surface from the underground it slides over, by rotating the foot support sections. Such a riding board has three sections, a mid-section with the foot retaining means and one or more fins, and two symmetrically placed nose sections that can tilt upward relative to the mid-section, which tilting is activated by rotating a foot support section. Obviously such tilting mechanism has to be locked in either extreme of the tilting motion.
Yet another way to adapt the board geometry of a water riding board according to the invention to the riding direction is by enlarging the lateral area of the fins when they are tail side, while decreasing the fin depth when they are nose side. In an embodiment of the invention, this is achieved by using the rotation of the support section to fold in and out fins, or to slide the fins in and out of slots in the board hull. Such a board would typically be used for kite surfing, in which case the fins can be made asymmetric to generate more lift towards the leeward side, benefiting from the fact that the kite will be flown over the leeward side of the board, which in case of a twin tip board is always the same.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a disk-shaped rotating foot support section is adapted with a center axis and one or more replaceable friction pads between the rotating foot support and a sliding surface fixed to the board. Such a friction pad, preferably made from a wear resistant and slightly compressible material like EVA foam, for instance laminated with a thin wear layer, when placed towards the perimeter of the disk shaped rotating foot support, and pressed on the sliding surface, stabilizes the rotating foot support in both axial and tangential directions, and therewith provides appropriate stability for the rider to precisely control the riding board according to the present invention.
In another preferred embodiment, the rotation movement of the foot support section can be locked, for instance by joining the loot support section to a fixed part on the board.
In yet another preferred embodiment, the foot retaining means are removable from the board to be installed at a different location on the board to adjust the distance between the foot retaining means or to adapt the balance of the board, to be replaced with another foot retaining means, or to ride the board without foot retaining means, in surf terminology also referred to as ‘strapless riding’. Such a removable retaining means can be adapted with holes for fixing that comply with the de facto standard for mounting foot retaining means used in the particular industry for similar boards.
Thus, the present invention involves providing a various types of riding boards with rotating foot retaining means provided with a rotatable support section, which for directional boards allows for ergonomically and comfortably adapting one foot retaining means to be accessed from two sides, and which for bi-directional or ‘twin-tip boards allows for both ergonomically and comfortably adapting the foot retaining means while adapting the board to the reversed riding direction by shifting the riders weight, changing the geometry of the board and or adjusting of a fin setup.
For kite surf board according to the invention, the fins 7, 7, can be adapted with asymmetric hydrodynamic profiles to provide windward lift, as wind ward and leeward on a bidirectional board is most always on the same side.
In
Disk 21 is further provided with connecting means 24 which are locked in place by screws 25 therewith providing adjustable spacing of the connecting means. To the connecting means, connecting flaps 26 from semi rigid plastic or hard rubber sheet covered with hook and loop sections are attached. Liner 27 from elastic and soft material like neoprene is attached to the left and right side of orthopedic pad 28 mounted to disk 21 in such a way that even when adjusting the connecting means to a wide setting the gaps between orthopedic pad 28 and other parts are covered.
When the correct width of the connecting means 24 is adjusted and fixed, the shape and size of the upper can be fixed by setting comfort pad 29 over foot 30, and pressing it on the connecting flaps to engage the hook and loop. By folding down and pressing locking wings 31 on to the top of comfort pad 29 which is also covered with hook and loop, the boot ramp is closed and made to fit foot 30 snugly.
Finally,
Changes and modifications to the specifically described embodiments may be carried out without departing from the principles of the present invention which is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
This application is a National Stage Completion of PCT/CA2013/050386 filed May 17, 2013 which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/652,715 filed May 29, 2012
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CA2013/050386 | 5/17/2013 | WO | 00 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61652715 | May 2012 | US |
