Patent Application
20110316257
Applicant claims priority under 35 U.S.C. ยง119 of Austrian Application No. A 1076/2010 filed on Jun. 25, 2010, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a binding for a sliding board having two side walls, which receive a shoe between them, having a heel clip, which is linked to the side walls, and having an instep strap.
2. The Prior Art
Known bindings for sliding boards form a shoe receptacle having two side walls, which receive a shoe between them and are connected to one another by a heel clip, and which carry an instep strap and a toe strap, typically in the form of tension belts. In order to force the shoe upper into a predefined minimum forward location, an additional calf support can be linked to the heel clip, which secures the minimum forward location in a stop-limited way. The maximum forward location is determined by the respective length of the instep strap.
In order to make it easier to step into a binding, linking the heel clip to the side walls of the shoe receptacle is additionally known (U.S. Pat. No. 5,918,897 A), so that it can be pivoted down toward the sliding board and the shoe can be inserted from the rear over the pivoted-down heel clip between the side walls. A clamping clip which engages on the heel clip in the upper area, and which is linked to the side walls at a distance in front of the heel clip, is used to fix the usage position of the heel clip. The clamping clip thus prevents the heel clip from pivoting down out of its usage location, which in turn results in a minimum forward location for the shoe upper determined by the heel clip.
Independently of whether a sliding board is provided in the form of a snowboard or a wakeboard, it has been shown that an unyielding stop of the calf support and/or a heel clip which causes a minimum forward location for the shoe upper are disadvantageous with respect to the sudden leg stress thus possibly caused.
The invention is thus based on the object of providing a binding for a sliding board, in which the support function is met with respect to a minimum forward location of the shoe upper, but can be overcome to a limited extent in the event of a correspondingly high stress against a resistance force.
Proceeding from a binding of the type mentioned at the beginning for a sliding board, the invention achieves the stated object in that the side walls form a stop for the heel clip, which is pivoted up into an end location, and the instep strap is linked to the heel clip at a radial distance from the linkage axis of the heel clip.
As a result of these measures, the instep strap supported on the shoe forms a support for the heel clip against pivoting downward, so that the heel clip can entirely fulfill the support task for a minimum forward location of the shoe upper. However, because of the possible upper displacement toward the heel clip, damped yielding of the heel clip is also possible, because the instep strap can also be displaced to the rear to a limited extent with such an upper displacement, which in turn results in limited pivoting downward of the heel clip. The shoe itself thus forms a damped stop for the pivot location of the heel clip, so that sudden leg stresses by forces pressing the leg against the heel clip are prevented. In order that the shoe cannot lift off of the binding in the heel area, a stop which delimits the upwardly-pivoted end location of the heel clip must be provided for the heel clip. This stop can be implemented in a simple way on the side walls of the binding.
The movement range of the heel clip, which supports itself via the instep strap on the shoe, is decisively determined by the effective lever ratios and can thus also be predefined in accordance with the respective requirements by the selection of the linkage axes of the heel clip on the side walls and the instep strap on the heel clip. Particularly advantageous transmission ratios result in this context if the instep strap is linked in the ankle area to the heel clip and the heel clip is linked to the side walls at a distance from the ankle area, preferably in a middle shoe section close to the shoe sole.
The object of the invention is shown in an exemplary embodiment in the drawing, specifically a binding according to the invention for a sliding board is shown in a side view.
The illustrated binding for a sliding board 1 has a base plate 2, which is fastened on the sliding board 1, having two side walls 4, which receive a shoe 3 between them. A heel clip 5 is linked on the side walls 4, on which in turn an instep strap 6 is linked. The shoe 3 is additionally held in the binding in the toe area by a toe strap 7. The configuration is made so that the linkage axis 8 for the heel clip 5 runs in a middle shoe section, close to the shoe sole. The linkage axis 9 for the instep strap 6, which is situated at a distance from the linkage axis 8 of the heel clip 5, runs in the ankle area. As is obvious from the drawing, the instep strap 6 supported on the shoe 3 forms a pivot stop for the heel clip 5 against pivoting downward. In order that the shoe 3 cannot lift off of the base plate 2 in the heel area, which would be possible because of the linkage of the instep strap 6 on the heel clip 5 and not on the side walls 4, the side walls 4 form a stop 10 for the heel clip 5, which determines a pivoted-up end location of the heel clip 5.
If the leg is pressed to the rear by corresponding forces, a free upper displacement of the shoe 3 as a result of this stress is opposed by the heel clip 5, which supports the shoe upper. Since the heel clip 5 is not supported with respect to its support function on the side walls 4, but rather via the instep strap 6 on the shoe 3 itself, a displacement of the shoe upper to the rear is not fundamentally prevented by the heel clip 5, because a limited displacement of the instep-side support of the instep strap 6 is also connected to a shoe upper displacement, so that in the scope of the possible displacement of the instep strap 6, the heel clip 5 can yield, the shoe 3 itself assuming the stop and damping functions. The damped yielding location is indicated by dot-dash lines in the drawing.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| A 1076/2010 | Jun 2010 | AT | national |
