1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to recreational water equipment and, in particular, to flying skis and methods of making flying skis.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,100,354, 5,249,998, and 7,097,523 disclose an apparatus known as a flying ski. The flying ski is a device adapted to be towed behind a powered watercraft in a manner similar to a water ski. In contrast to a water ski, however, the rider sits on a seat spaced above the ski board and primarily rides on a blade structure that is spaced below the ski board by a vertical strut. When the ski is in use, the rider, seat and board are above the water surface and the blade structure is submerged below the water surface. The flying ski disclosed in the above-identified patents was a pioneering recreational water device.
Disclosed herein are embodiments of flying skis and elongated boards for flying skis. Certain embodiments include an elongated board configured for use with a recreational device that supports a seated human rider while the rider and the device are towed behind a powered watercraft. The elongated board can include a front end and a back end. The front end extends from a front edge to about one-half of the length of the elongated board and the back end extends from a back edge to about one-half of the length of the elongated board. The back end includes an opening configured to couple with a seat portion extending upward from a top side of the back end of the board and a strut extending downward from a bottom side of the back end of the board. The back end has a greater mass than the front end. Furthermore, a back one-third of the board may have a greater mass than a front two-thirds of the board. For example, the back one-third of the board may have a back mass per square inch surface area and the front two-thirds of the board may have a front mass per square inch surface area less than the back mass per square inch surface area.
In certain embodiments, an elongated board includes a foam core, a first fibrous layer on a top surface of the foam core, and a second fibrous layer on a bottom surface of the foam core. At least one hole can extend through the foam core and the fibrous layer. An inner surface of the at least one hole includes fibers and a resin such that the resin extends from the first fibrous layer to the second fibrous layer. The resin, the first fibrous layer, and the second fibrous layer may form a unitized structure.
Disclosed herein are embodiments of flying skis and elongated boards for flying skis. Certain embodiments of skis and boards may be disclosed in the context of the types of skis disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,100,354, 5,249,998, and 7,097,523, each of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety herein. The principles of skis and boards described herein, however, are not limited to the types of flying ski in those disclosures. Instead, it will be understood by one of skill in the art, in light of the present disclosure, that the improved types of skis and boards disclosed herein can also be successfully utilized in connection with other types of skis, both presently known and later developed, as well as other recreational water and nonwater devices. One skilled in the art may also find additional applications for the improvements disclosed herein. However, the skis and boards described herein are particularly advantageous in connection with the types of flying ski disclosed in the incorporated patents.
With reference to
With reference to
Referring to
The board 20 is preferably manufactured by compression molding. However, in other embodiments the board 20 can be manufactured through a variety of other suitable manufacturing techniques, both presently known or later developed.
The board 20 can include holes to couple the seat 30 and the strut 36 to the board 20. For example, the board 20 can include a strut hole 11 to accommodate the strut 36 and a plurality of bolt holes 13 (e.g., D-nut holes) to accommodate bolts to mount the seat 30 to the board 20. The strut hole 11 may be, for example, about ⅝ inches wide and about 4 inches long. The board 20 may include four holes with two on each side of the strut hole 11 and two in front and in back of the strut hole 11. The holes are generally in a rear end 28 of the board 20. The board 20 may break during use, and a common location for failure to begin in a board 20 is at the holes and in particular the strut hole 11. A crack often starts at the strut hole 11, heads over to a front bolt hole 13, and out an outer edge of the board 20.
The top layers 304 and bottom layers 306 can include one or more fibrous layers 308 (e.g., fibrous patches) that include one or more types of fibers. For example, the fibrous layers 308 can include carbon fibers or glass fibers. The fibers may be substantially unidirectional or uniaxial within each layer. Fibrous layers 308 that are adjacent to one another can have unidirectional fibers that have orientations that are different relative to one another. For example, the fibrous layers 308 can have a fiber direction that is parallel with the board 300, across the board 300, or at other directions relative to the board 300. Mechanical properties can be improved by having the orientation or angle of the fibers in each neighboring fibrous layer 308 be varied. For example, resistance to crack propagation can be reduced. The fibrous layers 308 may also include layers that have crosshatched or bidirectional fibers.
To improve failure resistance, the number of fibrous layers 308 can be increased. However, the weight of the board 300 increases as the number of fibrous layers 308 is increased, and as a result, the performance of the flying ski can be reduced. Since the source of failure generally originates at the rear end 310 of the board 300 where the strut hole 314 and bolt holes 316 are located, the rear end 310 can include more fibrous layers 308 than the front end 312 of the board 300. For example, the rear end 310 may include about 24 fibrous layers 308 while the front end 312 may include about six fibrous layers 308. In certain embodiments, the ratio of the fibrous layers 308 in the rear end 310 to the fibrous layer 308 in the front end 312 can be about 4:1 to about 100:1. Furthermore, the ratio of the fibrous layers 308 in the rear one-third of the board 300 to the fibrous layers 308 in the front two-thirds of the board 300 may be about 4:1 to about 100:1. The number of fibrous layers 308 in the top layers 304 may also be different than the number of fibrous layers 308 in the bottom layers 306.
Each of the fibrous layers 308 can extend from approximately the back edge 318 of the board 300 to a position between the front edge 320 of the board 300 and the back edge of the board 300. Each of the fibrous layers 308 may extend at least beyond the holes 314, 316 to improve structural strength around the holes 314, 316. The mechanical properties of the board 300 can be further improved by having the fibrous layers 308 extend to different positions between the front edge 318 of the board 300 and the holes 314, 316. For example, the fibrous layers 308 can have an adjacent or neighboring fibrous layer 308 that is longer and another adjacent or neighboring fibrous layer 308 that is shorter (e.g., a first fibrous layer 308 may be sandwiched between a second fibrous layer 308 that is longer a third fibrous layer 308 that is shorter than the first fibrous layer 308). In other words, the fibrous layers 308 can each be longer than the one before it as fibrous layers 308 progress out from the foam core 302. For example, each fibrous layer 308 can be about 1 to about 1.5 inches longer than the one before it. The fibrous layer 308 furthest from the foam core 302 can extend the entire length of the board 300 from the back edge 318 to the front edge 320 of the board 300 to provide some strength to the front end 312. Furthermore, the front end 312 may only include a single fibrous layer 308. The fibrous layer 308 that extends the entire length of the board 300 may have a fiber direction parallel with the length of the board 300. In addition, each of the fibrous layers 308 can have a front edge 322 with a v-shape or a curvature. A board 300 with fibrous layers 308 with v-shape front edges 322 can have further improved failure resistance compared front edges 322 that are straight across the board 300.
The board 300 can result in significantly less weight compared to certain typical boards. Certain typical boards can weight around about 10 to about 14 lbs and have a balance point (e.g., center of mass) in the center of the board, so the front of the board weighs as much as the back of the ski. By minimizing the fibrous layers 308 in the front end 312 of the board 300, the weight can be reduced to about 6 lbs, and the board 300 can have a center of mass closer to the back end 301 than the front end 312. The performance of the flying ski is increased even further than merely due to the weight reduction. The flying ski rotates by the planing blade 38, shown in
The board 300 can be about 54 inches long and all but about 12 inches of the board 300 extends out in front of the seat. However, the back about 12 inches of the board 300 tends to be where the board 300 brakes or fails. Therefore, about 42 inches or about two-thirds of the board 300 extends out front that acts as cantilevered weight. By minimizing the weight on the front ⅔ of the board 300 by minimizing the number of fibrous layers 308 on the front end 312, the front ⅔ may weight about ⅓ of the total weight of the board 300 and the back ⅓ may weight about ⅔ of the total weight of the board 300. For example, the back ⅓ may weight about 4 pounds while the front ⅔ may weight about 2 pounds.
As described above, the board 300 may have a generally bullet shape such that the front end 312 may be wider than the back end 301 of the board 300. When the front end 312 is wider than the back end 301, the front end 312 may weigh even more than the back end 301 if all of the fibrous layers 308 extend the entire length of the board 300. In particular, the front end 312 may have a front surface area and the back end 301 has a back surface area less than the front surface area. For example, the front ⅔ of the board 300 may be about 12 inches wide (except for the front tip) while the back ⅓ of the board 300 may be about 6 to about 8 inches wide. The result can be the front ⅔ of the board 300 has a surface area of at least about three times a surface area of the back ⅓ of the board 300. However, by minimizing the number of fibrous layers 308 that extend to the front end 312 of the board 300 as described herein, the weight of the front end 312 can be less than the back end 310 even when the front end 312 is wider (e.g., has a greater surface area) than the back end 310.
Furthermore, the front end 312 can have a front mass per square inch surface area and the back end 301 can have a back mass per square inch surface area less than the front mass per square inch surface area. For example, the front mass per square inch surface area may be at least three times less than the back mass per square inch surface area. Furthermore, the mass per square inch surface area of the front ⅔ of the board 300 may be at least three times less than the mass per square inch surface area of the back ⅓ of the board 300.
The fibrous layers 308 can be sandwiched between additional layers and the foam core 302. The additional layers can include a barrier paper 324 adjacent the fibrous layers 308. The barrier paper 324 can block sun rays from the carbon fiber to prevent degradation of the carbon fiber. A nexus layer 326 can be sandwiched between the barrier paper 324 and graphics 328. The nexus layer 326 can act as an impact absorber and can also improve adhesion of the graphics 328 compared to the barrier paper 324. The barrier paper 324 also helps eliminate texture on the surface of the board 300 as a result of the texture of the fibrous layers 308 as well as covers the black color of the carbon fiber. The barrier paper 324 can be white which can improve the appearance of the graphics 328.
Certain boards typically have a plurality of fiber glass layers with each extending the entire length of the board.
Certain typical methods of making broads includes fiberglass wrapped around a foam core. The strut holes and bolt holes are drilled or routed out after the fiberglass has been applied to the foam core. The foam core is then exposed on the inside of the holes. As discussed above, the holes are often the location of failure of the board. Described below is an improved hole structure that can improve failure resistance around the holes.
Referring to
Referring to
Although boards for flying skis have been described in terms of certain preferred embodiments and suggested possible modifications thereto, other embodiments and modifications apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art are also within the scope of the boards described. It is also understood that various aspects of one or several embodiments or components can be used in connection with another or several embodiments or components. Accordingly, the scope of the boards and skis is intended to be defined only by the claims that follow.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/506,882, filed Jul. 12, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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