The present disclosure refers to an anti-slip pad for a sliding sports board, as for example water sports boards, snowboards or skateboards.
There are several patent documents on the state of the art related to anti-slip pads, traction pads, namely the patent documents U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,316,597 B2, 9,045,201 B1, 6,767,264 B2, WO03070563 or 5,460,558 A.
The methods for creating an anti-slip pad consist of scrubbing a paraffin wax on said pad and/or applying a raised centre arch made of a polymer or thermoplastic copolymer.
Currently, most existing anti-slip pads are wholly or partially made of ethylene vinyl acetate which is a synthetic foam produced from the thermoplastic copolymer thereof. Therefore, known pads are pads of synthetic and non-recyclable materials, which contributes for the increase of pollution worldwide.
These documents illustrate the technical problem to be solved by the present solution.
A board for practising a water sport, in particular surf, may require the presence of an anti-slip pad (traction pad) located in the area in contact with the user. Normally, it is the upper rear area of the water sports board. The upper area of the board is defined as the area in contact with the user and which is not in contact with the water. The upper rear area of the board corresponds to the area the board the individual/surfer steps on when he/she stands up on it.
The function of the anti-slip pad (traction pad) is to allow the support foot of the individual/surfer to stay properly supported, thereby providing greater stability, adherence, support and control to the individual when he/she is standing up on the board. Anti-slip may be defined as being configured to avoid slidding between the user and the board.
Using an anti-slip pad (traction pad) avoids an individual's feet, a water sports practitioner, to slid during practice of said sport, allowing greater adherence and traction to the individual's foot, in particular the back foot, and further allowing the individual to orient and/or guide the board movement during practice of the sport.
The anti-slip pad may also be placed in the upper front zone of the board, providing greater adherence and traction to the individual's front foot.
An anti-slip pad (traction pad) is preferably formed by three elements: a pattern cross grid, a kicktail and raised centre arch
Anti-slip pads, currently available, are wholly produced with ethylene vinyl acetate or mostly produced with ethylene vinyl acetate, with possibility of being formed by various layers of one or more thermoplastic polymers or copolymers. The products currently available on the market are characterised by ethylene vinyl acetate foam blocks/sheets wherein the glueing of foam blocks/sheets is carried out so as to create a raised surface in the centre of the anti-slip pad, designated as raised centre arch.
Producing these anti-slip pads, in ethylene vinyl acetate, for practising water sports presents as disadvantage a greater contribution for pollution worldwide and even though it is possible to obtain anti-slip pads with different densities and, therefore, adaptable to the user's experience, currently this possibility is not taken into account by world producers of anti-slip pads.
Another disadvantage associated with the use of anti-slip pads produced wholly or partially in ethylene vinyl acetate refers to the union of the pattern cross grid with the kicktail. The union of these two elements for forming the anti-slip pad is responsible for generating a tension between these two elements and for creating a fragility zone, which with the use of the board allows the accumulation of waste and favours the detachment of the anti-slip pad from the board.
The disclosure herein presented comprises several advantages, namely environmental advantages, since cork is a sustainable material, recyclable, eco-friendly and whose use for producing anti-slip pads for water sports boards, renders the use of ethylene vinyl acetate unnecessary.
Therefore, the present disclosure suppresses the environmental disadvantages that current anti-slip pads (traction pads) present and also allows eliminating the tensions and fragility zones of the pad, increasing the lifetime thereof.
Currently, there is no anti-slip pad produced mostly with cork. This situation is due, among others, to the difficulty there is in working and machining cork so as to obtain an anti-slip pad able for water sports.
Obtaining the anti-slip cork pad herein disclosed was not a simple linear process. Several obstacles have been overcome to make it possible to obtain the anti-slip pad herein disclosed. The obstacles that had to be overcome are summarised in the following points:
The performance of the present disclosure is greater than the equivalent products already existing for the practice of water sports, namely in terms of adherence and traction to the individual's foot than the currently known pads and strength of said pad.
The advantages of the anti-slip pad of the present disclosure are summarised in the following points:
The present disclosure refers to an anti-slip cork pad for applying in a water sports board.
In an embodiment, joining a raw material of low and medium density, in particular a cork with a granulometry between 0.5-10 nm, with an agglutinating agent forms a compound agglomerate, being that the agglomeration of the cork granules may further be mixed with other materials as for example rubber, plastic, asphalt, cement, gypsum, casein, resins, glues, originating composite agglomerates, thereby obtaining a diversity of products.
The present disclosure refers to a sports board anti-slip pad, in particular water sports, comprising
In an embodiment, said anti-slip pad preferably comprises
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad herein disclosed may comprise a granulometry varying between 0.5-10 mm, preferably between 0.5-2 mm, preferably between 0.5-1 mm.
In an embodiment, the measurement of the granulometry/size of the cork particle/granule may be carried out in various ways, in this disclosure the particle granulometry/size was carried out on the basis of the standard granulometry analysis by mechanical sieving, namely the one described by NP ISO 2030 of 2011. The cork granulometry may further be determined by screening, sieving and/or mesh.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad may comprise an agglutinating agent wherein said agglutinating agent may comprise 1-15% (w/w) of cork, preferably 2-10% (w/w) of cork, even more preferably 2-5% (w/w) of cork.
In an embodiment, the agglutinating agent may be selected from the following list: polyurethane synthetic resin, phenolic synthetic resin, phenol formaldehyde resin, melamine resin, resin of plant origin, enzyme-based resin, urea formalin resin, thermoplastic resin, in particular polyvinyl chloride, aqueous-based polyurethane or mixtures thereof, among others.
In an embodiment, and to obtain further better results, the anti-slip pad herein disclosed may comprise a density at 20° C. varying between 150-460 kg/m3.
In an embodiment, and to obtain further better results, said anti-slip pad may further comprise at least an additive selected from the following list: dyes, fragrances, emulsifiers, stabilizers, waterproofers or combinations thereof.
In an embodiment, one of the waterproofers that may be used is a polyurethane synthetic resin which is an aliphatic polyurethane resin comprising an acrylate copolymer.
In an embodiment, the cork granules may be dyed with pigments, therefore allowing various colourings.
In an embodiment, the pad thickness in the pattern cross grid may vary between 1-10 mm, preferably 2-5 mm.
In an embodiment, the pad thickness in the raised centre arch zone may comprise a maximum thickness up to 15 mm.
In an embodiment, the pad thickness in the rear kicktail zone may comprise a maximum thickness up to 30 mm.
In an embodiment, the pad thickness may vary between 1-10 mm, preferably 2-5 mm; the pad thickness in the centre kicktail zone may comprise a maximum thickness up to 15 mm; the pad thickness in the rear kicktail zone may comprise a maximum thickness up to 30 mm.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad may comprise a plurality of protuberances able to avoid or reduce slippage of its user, in particular user's one foot or feet slippage.
In an embodiment, said protuberances may be circular, triangular, square, pentagonal, hexagonal or combinations thereof.
In an embodiment, said protuberances may comprise wave-like patterns, graphic designs, or combinations thereof.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad may further comprise an adhesive layer able to adhere said pad to the board surface.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad may be obtainable by moulding.
In an embodiment, and to obtain further better results, the anti-slip pad may further be obtainable by machining of 2 or more parts, in particular 3 parts previously formed and glued to each other; being that one of said parts is a base part able to receive an intermediate parallelepiped part and able to further receive another parallelepiped part positioned in the end of the base part. In this embodiment, herein said parts are glued in “T” over the base part.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad is a traction pad.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad further comprises an adhesive material in the lower end thereof so as to promote its adhesion to the upper part of the board.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad may be installed in any part of the upper zone of the board.
In an embodiment, more than one anti-slip pad may be installed in any part of the upper zone of the board.
The present disclosure also refers to a water sports board comprising the anti-slip pad herein disclosed and wherein the water sports board may be a surfboard, a paddleboard, a skimming board, a windsurf board, a kitesurf board, a wakeboard, a kneeboard, a wakesurf board or a wakeskate board. Alternatively, the present disclosure also refers to a vessel hull for water sports comprising the anti-slip pad herein disclosed, for example catamarans or sailing vessels.
The present disclosure also refers to a winter sports board, in particular the anti-slip pad herein disclosed may be used in a snowboard.
The present disclosure also refers to a skateboard, in particular the anti-slip pad herein disclosed may be used in a skateboard.
The present disclosure further refers to a process for producing an anti-slip pad that may comprise the moulding and/or machining of the described material.
In an embodiment, the moulding process may comprise the following steps:
In an embodiment, the machining process may comprise the following steps:
In an embodiment, the present disclosure also refers to an anti-slip pad wherein the anti-slip pad is an agglomerate cork mono-block, this mono-block being produced by the machining or moulding process.
In an embodiment, producing the anti-slip pad further comprises a step for softening the edges of said pad and diminish possible aggressions, both caused by the user's foot and by the leach holding the board to the foot.
Throughout the description and claims the word “comprises” and variations thereof, are not intended to exclude other technical features, as other components, or steps. Additional objects, advantages and features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the description or may be learned by practice of the invention. The following examples and figures are for illustrating the description and sould not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure. Besides, the present disclosure covers all possible combinations of specific or preferential embodiments herein described.
The following figures provide preferred embodiments for illustrating the description and should not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure.
The present disclosure refers to an anti-slip pad for a sliding sports board, as for example water sports boards or snowboards.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad herein disclosed is a mono-block part that may be produced by a machining process or a moulding process.
In order to compare the pad of the present disclosure with pads already existing in the market, a quantitative/compositional analysis was carried out resorting to digital microscopy techniques (
With a view to characterizing the composition of said alveolar synthetic material, a qualitative analysis thereof was carried out resorting to techniques of infra-red spectroscopy with an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) accessory. To that end, an insulation of small fragments representative of the alveolar material under study was carried out obtained by micro-lamination of the state of the art pad, followed by apposition thereof on the crystal plate of the ATR accessory. After exposing the fragments to infra-red radiation, it was possible to obtain the characteristic absorption wavelengths inherent to the composition of the alveolar synthetic material in study, as well as, the absorption intensities thereof.
Based on the structural information from the qualitative interpretation of the main infra-red spectrum (
Table 1 compares the percentages by weight of cork incorporated in the anti-slip pad herein disclosed with the state of the art pad. These values were determined after microscopic analysis of a known portion of the state of the art pad (test specimen) and subsequent (approximate) quantification of the volume of the cork particles included in that portion. Upon conversion into weight, after an approximate deduction of the characteristic density of each component (copolymer and cork) it is possible to estimate the percentage by weight incorporated in the state of the art pad.
The volume of the analysed portion of the test specimen was 500 mm3; the total volume of cork particles included in the analysed portion of the test specimen was 1.07 mm3; the total weight of the analysed portion of the test specimen was 129 mg; the total weight of the cork particles included in the analysed portion of the test specimen was 0.10 mg. Therefore, the estimate of the percentage by weight of cork incorporated in the pad is 0.08% (w/w) of cork.
The present disclosure may be obtained by a moulding process comprising the following steps:
In an embodiment, the CNC milling is the most used process for producing the mould, the turning and drilling are also much used processes for producing the components that are part of the mould.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad herein disclosed may be produced by machining, that is, resorting to a mechanical buffing process aiming at giving the intended shape to the anti-slip pad.
in an embodiment, the machining processes that may be used include sawing, levelling, turning, milling, among others.
The obtention method of the present disclosure according to the machining process comprises the following steps:
With the present disclosure, glueing/union of one or more cork blocks may occur, however, how cork subunits are arranged so as to avoid fragility of the final product, is something different from the way ethylene vinyl acetate pads, already known in the state of the art, are produced.
In an embodiment, said subunits are glued resorting to suitable adhesive materials and with a viscosity varying between 4000-15000 mPa·s at 20° C., preferably 9000-14000 mPa·s at 20° C., even more preferably 10000 mPa·s at 20° C.
In an embodiment, said subunits are glued resorting to suitable adhesive materials and with a density varying between 1.20-1.60 g/ml at 20° C., preferably 1.47-1.59 g/ml at 20° C.
In an embodiment, the adhesive materials may be polyurethane-based or a dispersion of polyvinyl alcohol, among others. In an embodiment, the adhesive materials may also be mono-component reactive glue, polyurethane-based or a dispersion of polyvinyl alcohol, of medium viscosity.
In an embodiment, the anti-slip pad may further be cut in two parts, three parts, four parts or five parts. This disclosure has the advantage of eliminating the fragility points and provides adhesion to the surface without any tension, because the surface to be glued is completely flat.
Although particular embodiments of the present disclosure have merely been represented and described herein, the subject matter expert will know how to introduce modifications and replace some technical features with equivalent ones, depending on the requisites of each situation, without leaving the scope of protection defined by the appended claims. The disclosed embodiments are combinable. The following claims set out particular embodiments of the disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
109248 | Mar 2016 | PT | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/IB2017/051581 | 3/17/2017 | WO | 00 |