Patent Grant
9155956
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a toepiece of a binding device for securing a boot to a gliding board. This toepiece is particularly suitable for ski touring. It also relates to a binding device for securing a boot to a gliding board and to a gliding board as such equipped with such a binding device and/or such a toepiece.
2. Related Art
The document EP-A1-2353673 describes a toepiece of a binding device for securing a boot to a touring ski. The front binding of the boot is based on two jaws of the toepiece that are articulated about longitudinal pivot axes with respect to a base of the toepiece that is intended to be fixed to the touring ski. Each jaw comprises retaining elements that are intended to engage with the touring ski boot. The two jaws are articulated by way of a spring system in order to take up a first stable position, known as the closed position, in which the retaining elements engage with corresponding hollow parts formed laterally in the anterior part of the touring ski boot, in order to fix the boot, only allowing it to move in rotation about a transverse axis with respect to the ski, and a second stable position, known as the open position, in which the jaws are spaced apart such that the retaining elements free the boot, which can be separated from the touring ski. The front part of the boot is secured to a touring ski equipped with such a toepiece by positioning the boot such that the two jaws take up the second, open position, then by pressing strongly with the heel of the boot on the spring-based system, thereby allowing the articulated jaws to move towards their first, closed position in which they move towards the boot in order to position the retaining elements within complementary hollow parts of the boot.
A drawback with such existing toepieces is their lack of safety in the case of the skier falling, in particular in the case of a twisting fall on the part of the skier in a downhill situation of the alpine skiing type, involving a twisting movement of the boot with respect to the ski, during which the boot remains trapped in the toepiece, thereby risking injury to the skier.
A known manner for automatically freeing the touring boot in order to prevent injury to the skier is to provide a heel piece which is associated with such existing toepieces, is intended to fix the rear part of the touring boot and is configured so as to be able to free the boot in the event of a fall, in particular as a result of twisting, but also as a result of a forward fall and/or a backward fall. However, such heel pieces are complex, resulting in higher costs and substantial weight, and are unable to comply with safety criteria dictated by the alpine standard ISO9462. This limits the safety imparted to the touring skier.
The document EP-B1-1393783 describes another type of toepiece comprising jaws that are likewise articulated about longitudinal axes on a transversely mobile part. The jaws are in contact with a tilter which prevents the jaws from tilting while the movement travel of the mobile part is less than a given travel. Next, the jaws tilt and free the boot. However, this solution is complex, bulky and heavy on account of the existence of the tilter.
The document EP-A1-2431080 describes a toepiece having a fixed part and a mobile part that rotates about a vertical axis. The mobile part comprises two jaws that are conventionally connected by a knuckle joint mechanism having a lever, said jaws being integral with the mobile part. The lever selectively changes between a lowered position in which the toepiece is placed in an open position in which the jaws are spaced apart to allow the boot to be fitted in the toepiece, a semi-raised position in which the jaws are moved towards one another in order to place the toepiece in a closed position suitable for downhill use and a raised position in which locking elements that are integral with the lever are in contact with a cam surface that is integral with the fixed part in order to prevent any possibility of the lever returning towards the semi-raised position and towards the lowered position, thereby making it possible to prevent any releasing of the jaws and freezing the toepiece in a walking position. In the closed position of the toepiece, which is taken up in the semi-raised position of the lever, the mobile part can pivot over a predetermined limited angular travel, this pivoting taking place counter to the action of a return spring for returning the mobile part towards a centred position. In the walking position of the toepiece, which is taken up in the raised position of the lever, the lever is placed between lateral arms that are integral with the fixed part, thereby preventing the mobile part from pivoting with respect to the fixed part. In the event of a fall, in a first phase the heel is released in the region of the heel piece. This allows the entire boot to move. During this movement, the boot rotates the mobile part with respect to the fixed part until it comes into abutment at the end of its predetermined travel. This thus results in the mobile part suddenly stopping. In a second phase, the continuation of the movement of the boot on account of the fall, while the mobile part is in angular abutment, causes one of the jaws to be pushed, thereby causing the jaws to open and the lever to pass into its lowered position, freeing the boot. Thus, releasing takes place in two phases: in the first phase, during the rotation of the mobile part, the jaws are blocked in the closed position and retain the boot in the toepiece, whereas in the second phase, which starts when the mobile part comes into angular abutment, the jaws begin to open under the action of the boot and place the lever in the lowered position. However, this solution is again complex, bulky and heavy. The safety imparted is somewhat unsatisfactory, since releasing requires a very large angular movement of the boot.
The aim of the present invention is to propose a solution for securing a boot to a gliding board which remedies the drawbacks listed above.
In particular a first object of the present invention is to provide a simple, fairly compact, economical and lightweight solution for securing a boot.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a solution for securing a boot that ensures optimum safety for the skier in the event of a fall and limits as far as possible the risks of material deterioration.
In particular, the invention aims to propose a toepiece that allows releasing as a result of twisting associated with a heel piece designed to release only as a result of a forward fall.
The present toepiece is intended in particular to comply with both the touring standard ISO13992 and the alpine standard ISO9462.
These aims may be achieved by way of a toepiece for a binding device for securing a boot to a gliding board, comprising a fixed part which is intended to be secured to the gliding board, and a mobile part which is mounted on the fixed part with a possibility of relative movement with at least one transverse component and on which two jaws are mounted so as to pivot about a substantially longitudinal axis, the toepiece comprising a lever that is actuable from the outside of the toepiece and takes up a blocking position in which blocking elements that are integral with the lever prevent the jaws from tilting so as to keep the toepiece in a closed configuration in which the jaws retain the boot, the toepiece comprising releasing elements that cooperate with the blocking elements such that the execution of said movement of the mobile part beyond a predetermined travel with respect to the fixed part causes the lever to pass automatically, in particular from the blocking position, towards a freeing position which is different from the blocking position and in which the blocking elements allow the jaws to tilt.
In this context, it may be advantageous to provide that:
Preferably, the system for mounting the mobile part on the fixed part is such that the sliding movement of the mobile part with respect to the fixed part takes place along a rectilinear path, which is in particular oriented substantially in the transverse direction, or along a curvilinear path with at least one component mainly in the transverse direction, said curvilinear path being in particular approximately or exactly circular, delimiting a portion of a circle, the centre of which is intended to be located close to the heel of the boot.
The system for mounting the mobile part on the fixed part may comprise guiding elements of the slide type that ensure that a mobile base of the mobile part is mounted on a fixed base of the fixed part so as to slide by translation. Alternatively, the system for mounting the mobile part on the fixed part may comprise two mutually parallel links that are arranged in the manner of a deformable parallelogram ensuring that a mobile base of the mobile part is mounted on a fixed base of the fixed part so as to move in circular translation.
The blocking elements may in particular be mounted in an articulated manner, in particular a rotary manner, with respect to the mobile part in order to change between a first position, which is taken up in the blocking position of the lever and in which they block the jaws and the toepiece in its closed configuration, and a second position, different from the first position, which is taken up in the freeing position of the lever and in which they allow the jaws to tilt, and the releasing elements may cooperate with the blocking elements such that the execution of said movement of the mobile part beyond the predetermined travel with respect to the fixed part causes the blocking elements to pass automatically from their first position to their second position.
The lever may be mounted in an articulated manner on the mobile part.
The toepiece may comprise a knuckle joint mechanism provided with a fitting/removal spring that acts on the lever and is configured such that the blocking position and the freeing position are stable positions at the ends of an overall tilting travel of the lever, said travel including an unstable intermediate position of the lever corresponding to a hard point of inflection of the knuckle joint.
Preferably, the releasing elements may comprise first and second bearing surfaces, which are respectively integral with the mobile and fixed parts, one in contact with the other, undergoing relative sliding one on the other during the execution of said movement of the mobile part, the first and second bearing surfaces being shaped such that this relative sliding causes the lever to move from its blocking position towards its freeing position.
The first bearing surface may be carried by the blocking elements that are integral with the lever.
One of the first and second bearing surfaces is preferably formed by a protrusion and the other of the first and second bearing surfaces by a hollow into which the protrusion penetrates prior to said movement of the mobile part and which is shaped such that the protrusion moves progressively out of the hollow during the relative sliding of the first and second bearing surfaces, such that the lever passes from its blocking position towards its freeing position.
The hollow may be integral with the lever and the protrusion is integral with the fixed part, but a reverse arrangement may be provided.
The toepiece may comprise a fitting pedal that is integral with the lever and the hollow may be formed in the fitting pedal.
The toepiece may comprise at least one releasing spring which is interposed between the fixed and mobile parts and urges the mobile part into a determined rest position with respect to the fixed part.
The toepiece may comprise a means for setting the stiffness of the releasing spring.
The blocking elements may be acted upon by a return spring which is independent of the releasing spring and urges the blocking elements towards a position, in particular said first position, in which they prevent the jaws from pivoting and block the toepiece in its closed configuration.
The toepiece may comprise elastic elements that urge the jaws to perform a tilting movement that tends to place the toepiece in a fitting configuration.
It may be ensured that, in the fitting configuration, the angular position taken up by the jaws is an intermediate position between the angular positions taken up in the closed configuration and the releasing configuration of the toepiece.
The blocking elements may be formed by lateral flanks of the lever which, in the blocking position of the lever, bear against bearing surfaces that are integral with the jaws, in particular on their inner face.
These aims may also be achieved by way of a toepiece for a binding device for securing a boot to a gliding board, comprising a fixed part which is intended to be secured to the gliding board, and a mobile part which is mounted on the fixed part with a possibility of relative movement with at least one transverse component, the toepiece having:
The system for mounting the mobile part on the fixed part may be such that the sliding movement of the mobile part with respect to the fixed part takes place along a rectilinear path, which is in particular oriented substantially in the transverse direction, or along a curvilinear path having at least one component mainly in the transverse direction, said curvilinear path being in particular approximately or exactly circular, delimiting a portion of a circle, the centre of which is intended to be located close to the heel of the boot.
The blocking elements may be mounted in an articulated manner, in particular a rotary manner, with respect to the mobile part such that the blocking elements pass from the first position to the second position and vice versa by the blocking elements pivoting with respect to the mobile part about an axis directed in the transverse direction.
The releasing elements may comprise first and second bearing surfaces, which are respectively integral with the mobile and fixed parts, one in contact with the other, undergoing relative sliding one on the other during the execution of said movement of the mobile part, the first and second bearing surfaces being shaped such that this relative sliding causes the blocking elements to pass from their first position towards their second position.
A binding device for securing a boot to a gliding board may comprise such a toepiece, which is intended to secure a front part of the boot, and also a heel piece which is intended to secure a rear part of the boot to the gliding board, the heel piece being designed to release the boot only in the case of a forward fall of the skier, the boot being released from the binding device in the case of a fall with a twisting movement of the boot only by way of the toepiece.
Finally, a gliding board, in particular touring ski, may comprise such a toepiece and/or such a binding device.
Further advantages and features will become more clearly apparent from the following description of particular embodiments of the invention which are given by way of nonlimiting example and are shown in the appended drawings, in which:
and
The following description relates to a toepiece 10 of a binding device for securing a boot to a gliding board (not shown). This toepiece 10 secures the front part of the boot and is particularly suitable for ski touring, but does not exclude use in the context of alpine skiing and/or cross-country skiing. More generally, the toepiece 10 is involved in the formation of the binding device for securing the boot to the gliding board, in combination with a rear heel piece (not shown) that secures the rear part of the boot.
To make it easier to understand the rest of the description, an orthonormal frame of reference is associated with the toepiece 10, the longitudinal direction X of the toepiece 10 being the horizontal direction oriented from the rear to the front of the toepiece 10. The transverse direction Y thereof corresponds to the horizontal direction perpendicular to the X direction and is oriented from the right to the left of the toepiece 10. The vertical direction Z is perpendicular to the horizontal plane defined by the X and Y directions and is oriented towards the top of the toepiece 10.
A “toepiece” should be understood as being the front part of the binding device for securing the boot to the gliding board, this front part engaging with the front region of the boot in order to retain it, whether this be with a possibility of angular pivoting of the boot about an axis directed in the transverse direction, or not.
The toepiece 10, which thus belongs to the binding device for securing the boot to the gliding board, comprises a fixed part 11 intended to be fixed to the gliding board (for example by way of securing screws 15), a mobile part 12 mounted on the fixed part 11 with a possibility of relative movement with at least one transverse component. This may be in particular a possibility for the mobile part 12 to slide or move in translation with respect to the fixed part 11 along a rectilinear path (referenced “T” in
In the first embodiment, in order to form the system for mounting the mobile part 12 on the fixed part 11, a mobile base 26 of the mobile part 12 is mounted so as to slide with respect to a fixed base 27 of the fixed part 11 by way of guide elements of the slide type that ensure a possibility of movement in translation, for example having a rectilinear, transversely directed form. These guide elements may be in the form of elements having a complementary shape that are carried by the fixed and mobile bases, respectively.
The toepiece 10 comprises two rigid jaws 13d, 13g, respectively on the left and right, which are offset in the Y direction with respect to one another. Since the toepiece 10 is generally symmetrical on either side of a mid-plane of symmetry (X, Z) indices “d” and “g” are added to the references of certain elements of the right-hand part and of the left-hand part, respectively, of the toepiece 10. The jaws 13g, 13d have retaining elements 20d, 20g that are intended to retain the boot when the toepiece is in a closed configuration, described below. These retaining elements 20d, 20g are for example in the form of spikes that are intended to be inserted into lateral openings provided in the boot. The jaws are mounted so as to pivot about respective substantially horizontal axes Ad, Ag (see
As a result, each jaw 13d, 13g can tilt, in its plane of movement, over an overall angular travel respectively referenced αd, αg in
The toepiece 10 comprises a lever 16 which is actuable manually or with a stick, from outside the toepiece 10, between:
In the blocking position taken up by the lever 16 in
To this end, each jaw 13d, 13g comprises a bearing surface, respectively 18d, 18g, located in the lower part of the corresponding jaw, in particular below the pivot axis Ad, Ag corresponding to this jaw and on their inner faces. These bearing surfaces are visible in
However, the nature of the blocking elements may be different from that described above, since the blocking function described is fulfilled in particular depending on the way in which the jaws are mounted on the mobile part 12.
In the two embodiments, the blocking elements 25d, 25g are described as integral with the lever 16 in that they are produced from the same material as the rest of the lever so as to form a one-piece lever or in that they are mounted on the lever 16 in a fixed manner or with an optional possibility of moving with respect to the rest of the lever 16, for example by articulation, depending on the requirements.
The toepiece 10 comprises releasing elements, described in more detail below, that cooperate with the blocking elements, that is to say in this case the lateral flanks 25d, 25g, such that the execution of the at least transverse movement of the mobile part 12 beyond a predetermined travel with respect to the fixed part 11 causes the lever 16 to automatically pass towards the freeing position. In other words, the execution of the movement of the mobile part 12 beyond this predetermined travel with respect to the fixed part 11, this movement resulting from the boot applying releasing forces as a result of twisting to at least one of the jaws 13d, 13g, has the effect of causing the lever 16 to pass from its blocking position to its freeing position. By contrast, within this predetermined travel, the lever 16 remains in its blocking position and keeps the jaws 13d, 13g in their closed positions, which continue to retain the front part of the boot. The predetermined travel is in particular between around 5 and 15 mm and is in particular approximately equal to around 10 mm.
In addition, the toepiece 10 is configured such that the tilting of at least one of the jaws 13d, 13g, this tilting being allowed by the blocking elements in the freeing position of the lever 16 which is automatically taken up following the at least transverse movement of the mobile part 12, causes the toepiece 10 to pass into what is known as the configuration for releasing as a result of twisting. In this configuration for releasing as a result of twisting, the toepiece is such that the boot is freed from the jaws 13d, 13g under the effect of the boot applying releasing forces as a result of twisting to said jaw 13d, 13g. In other words, tilting of at least one of the jaws 13d, 13g following the movement of the mobile part 12 beyond the predetermined travel with respect to the fixed part 11 allows the toepiece 10 to pass from the closed configuration towards the configuration for releasing as a result of twisting, automatically freeing the boot from the jaws if the boot applies releasing forces as a result of twisting to at least one of the jaws. The position taken up by said at least one jaw which has tilted into the releasing configuration corresponds to the open position defined above.
Moreover, tilting of the jaws 13d, 13g following a voluntary actuation of the lever 16 by the user from its blocking position towards its freeing position, by said user manually applying forces to the actuating element 17 of the lever 16, allows the toepiece 10 to pass from the closed configuration towards what is known as a fitting configuration that allows the boot to be positioned between the jaws 13d, 13g. The position adopted by the jaws in the fitting configuration may be the open position or an intermediate angular position between the extreme open and closed positions defined above. Therefore, in the fitting configuration, the angular position taken up by the jaws may thus be an intermediate position between the angular positions taken up in the closed and releasing configurations of the toepiece 10, avoiding a need to space apart the jaws beyond requirements in order to position the boot between them.
In other words, when the lever 16 is in the blocking position in the manner illustrated at least in
Specifically, the closed configuration of the toepiece 10 corresponds to a state of the latter in which each of the two jaws 13d, 13g is positioned in its closed position.
Thus, the configuration for releasing as a result of twisting is automatically taken up in the event of a twisting fall, whether or not this is of the purely twisting type, that is to say is possibly combined with a forward fall and/or a backward fall of the skier.
The above description of the configuration for releasing as a result of twisting should be interpreted as implying that the angular tilting travel of at least one jaw 13d, 13g between the closed configuration of the toepiece 10 and the configuration thereof for releasing a result of twisting is such that the boot can escape from the space between the jaws 13d, 13g by a movement of the boot that has at least one component in the transverse direction Y, optionally associated with an upwardly directed vertical component along Z. This angular tilting travel may advantageously be greater than around 30 degrees, in particular greater than 45 degrees, for example approximately equal to 55 degrees, such that in the configuration for releasing as a result of twisting, the boot can escape freely from the space between the jaws 13d, 13g by the boot moving substantially horizontally in the longitudinal direction X and transverse direction Y, passing over at least one jaw 13d, 13g, in particular over the jaw tilted into the open position under the effect of the transverse twisting forces applied by the boot after the lever 16 has passed towards the freeing position, this being brought about automatically by the movement of the mobile part 12 with respect to the fixed part 11.
The toepiece 10 may comprise, in each of its first and second embodiments, elastic elements (not shown) that urge the jaws 13d, 13g to perform a tilting movement that tends to place the toepiece 10 in the fitting configuration. Each elastic element may in particular be in the form of a torsion spring that urges the jaws 13d, 13g to perform a tilting movement that tends to move them away from the closed configuration of the toepiece 10. In other words, each elastic element associated with a given jaw tends to urge this jaw to perform a tilting movement in a pivoting direction that runs from the closed position towards the open position of the jaw.
However, these arrangements are only optional in that such an elastic element may be absent. Specifically, the toepiece 10 may be designed such that the passage of each jaw from its closed position to its open position may result:
In these latter variants, the lever 16 prevents any tilting of the jaws 13d, 13g towards their open positions that is likely to arise under the effect of gravity and/or under the effect of transverse forces applied by the boot during its vertical movement during the fitting of the boot into the end piece and/or under the effect of the transverse forces applied by the boot during the transverse movement of the mobile part 12 during a twisting fall and/or under the effect of the abovementioned elastic elements. This blocking action of the lever 16 is realized by its blocking elements, which are formed here by the lateral flanks 25d, 25g which bear against the bearing surfaces 18d, 18g while the lever 16 is in the blocking position. The lever 16 then allows this tilting of the jaws under the effect of these various types of forces as soon as it takes up the freeing position that accompanies the separation of the contact between the bearing surfaces 18d, 18g and the blocking elements that are integral with the lever 16.
The lever 16 is mounted in an articulated manner on the mobile part 12 and is for example articulated in front of the jaws 13d, 13g in the longitudinal direction X and is designed so as to vary the position by way of a tilting movement about a pivot axis referenced “D”, which is for example oriented parallel to the transverse direction Y. However, it remains conceivable for the lever 16 to be mounted, in particular in an articulated manner, on the fixed part of the toepiece 10.
The lever 16 may comprise a fitting pedal 19, on a rear side with respect to the axis D, that is designed to form an abutment for the boot in the vertical direction Z such that a downwardly directed movement of the boot in the direction of the fixed part 11 and thus in the direction of the gliding board in the vertical direction Z, in particular during the fitting of the boot into the retaining elements 20d, 20g that are integral with the jaws, causes the lever 16 to tilt towards the blocking position in which it keeps the toepiece 10 in its closed configuration on account of its action of blocking the jaws 13d, 13g in their closed positions in the region of their bearing surfaces 18d, 18g by virtue of the blocking elements formed in this example by the lateral flanks 25d, 25g of the lever. This tilting movement of the lever 16 towards the blocking position automatically entrains the return of each jaw towards its closed position. In other words, the blocking elements 25d, 25g are formed by lateral flanks of the lever 16 which, in the blocking position of the lever 16, bear against bearing surfaces 18d, 18g that are integral with the jaws 13d, 13g, in particular on their inner face.
The fitting pedal 19 is also configured so as to form an abutment along Z such that tilting of the lever 16 towards its freeing position, resulting from the passage of the toepiece 10 from the closed configuration towards the configuration for releasing as a result of twisting, causes the boot to be lifted by the fitting pedal 19 upwardly in the vertical direction Z in a direction away from the gliding board so as to make it easier to interrupt the engagement between the boot and the retaining elements 20d, 20g carried by the jaws 13d, 13g. The bearing surface 18d, 18g, which is carried by each jaw which tilts while passing towards the configuration for releasing as a result of twisting, under the effect of transverse forces applied by the boot to this jaw during a transverse movement of the boot and of the mobile part 12, is involved, on account of its contact with the lever 16, in the tilting of the lever 16 towards its freeing position.
On the other side, the lever 16 comprises the abovementioned actuating element 17, which is disposed on a front side with respect to the axis D and is intended to allow the application of forces that are mainly oriented in the Z direction to the lever 16. These are manual forces or forces applied by way of a stick. The arrangement of the actuating element 17 is such that the application of these forces causes the lever 16 to tilt towards the freeing position, in which it allows the toepiece 10 to pass towards its fitting configuration and thus allows the jaws 13d, 13g to tilt in the direction of their open positions, in particular allows the jaws 13d, 13g to pass towards their intermediate position between the angular positions taken up in the closed configuration and releasing configuration of the toepiece 10.
Generally, the releasing elements comprise first and second bearing surfaces that are respectively integral with the mobile part 12 and the fixed part 11. The first and second bearing surfaces are in contact with one another and undergo relative sliding one on the other during the execution of the movement of the mobile part 12 from its rest position along the path T when transverse forces are applied by the boot to one jaw during a transverse movement of the boot during a fall of the skier that involves twisting of the boot. The first and second bearing surfaces are shaped such that this relative sliding causes the lever 16 to pass from its blocking position towards its freeing position.
In the embodiment illustrated, which has the advantage of its simplicity, one of the first and second bearing surfaces is formed by a protrusion 21 and the other of the first and second bearing surfaces is formed by a hollow 22 into which the protrusion 21 penetrates prior to the movement of the mobile part 12 from its rest position and which is shaped such that the protrusion 21 moves progressively out of the hollow 22 during the relative sliding of the first and second bearing surfaces, such that the lever 16 passes from its blocking position towards its freeing position.
In the two embodiments illustrated where the lever 16 is integral with the mobile part 12, the hollow 22 is integral with the lever 16, in particular by being formed in the fitting pedal 19 which is itself integral with the lever 16 in the case of the first embodiment, while the protrusion 21 is integral with the fixed part 11.
These arrangements are visible in
A reverse organization is entirely conceivable, in which the protrusion 21 is integral with the mobile part 12 while the hollow 22 is formed in the fixed part 11.
The toepiece 10 according to the first embodiment comprises a knuckle joint mechanism (visible in
The first and second bearing surfaces, that is to say in this case the protrusion 21 and the hollow 22, are shaped such that their relative sliding during the movement of the mobile part 12 has the effect of causing the lever 16 to tilt about an angular travel that runs from the stable blocking position towards a position located between the hard point of inflection and the stable freeing position. Thus, following the movement of the mobile part 12 beyond the predetermined travel, this having the effect of causing the lever 16 to tilt towards the unstable intermediate position, it is the action of the knuckle joint mechanism on the lever 16 which causes the latter to tilt from the unstable intermediate position towards the stable freeing position, in order to place the toepiece 10 in its configuration for releasing as a result of twisting.
The hollow 22 may have any desired shape as long as it is suitable for the provision of a function as explained above. In the variant shown, the hollow 22 has a profile, seen in section (Y, Z), in the form of a circular arc which ensures that the movement of the lever 16 is progressive during the movement of the mobile part 12 and is involved in an effect of realigning the mobile part 12 towards its rest position, explained below. However, in its central part, the profile of the hollow 22, seen in section (Y, Z), may be different, for example in the form of a horizontal flat along Y. This makes it possible to ensure that when the protrusion 21 is in abutment against said flat, the lever 16 is not urged towards its freeing position.
The first and second bearing surfaces, that is to say in this case the protrusion 21 and the hollow 22, may, however, be shaped such that their relative sliding during the movement of the mobile part 12 has the effect of causing the lever 16 to tilt over its overall angular travel running from the stable blocking position towards the stable freeing position.
As indicated above, the toepiece 10 comprises a releasing spring 14, which is interposed between the mobile and fixed parts 12, 11 and urges the mobile part 12 into a determined rest position with respect to the fixed part 11. In the first embodiment, the releasing spring 14 extends along an axis oriented substantially in the transverse direction Y of the toepiece, which also comprises a means 24 (
At the time of fitting and of removal by way of the voluntary action of the user on the lever 16, only the spring 23 of the knuckle joint mechanism is stressed. The forces necessary for this action are advantageously low, in particular less than around 110 N, and are constant however the binding is set in accordance with alpine standard ISO9462. In particular, they are independent of the setting of the stiffness of the releasing spring 14. During the automatic return phase of the mobile part 12 towards its rest position following a releasing configuration, only the stiffness of the releasing spring 14 takes action on account of the fact that the spring 23 of the knuckle joint mechanism is then stressed very little if at all. During releasing, as the mobile part 12 moves and the lever 16 tilts, the two springs 14 and 23 are stressed and are involved in the definition of the force threshold for releasing the toepiece.
Finally, as indicated above, the binding device for securing the boot to the gliding board comprises both such a toepiece 10, intended to secure the front part of the boot, and a heel piece (not shown) intended to secure a rear part of the boot to the gliding board. By virtue of the arrangement of a toepiece 10 as described above, the releasing of the boot from the binding device in the event of a twisting fall can advantageously be realized only by way of the toepiece 10. Thus, the heel piece can be designed to release the boot only in the event of a forward fall of the skier, and not to release as a result of twisting. Even in the context of ski touring, the use of a simple heel piece becomes possible, resulting in a lower cost and lower weight of the binding device compared with the prior art. This favours the performance of the touring ski, for which the overall weight is currently an essential criterion.
The second embodiment is illustrated in
A first difference relates to the nature of the system for mounting the mobile part 12 on the fixed part 11 of the toepiece 10. In the second embodiment, in order to form the system for mounting the mobile part 12 on the fixed part 11, the mobile base 26 of the mobile part 12 is mounted so as to move in circular translation with respect to the fixed base 27 of the fixed part 11 by way of two mutually parallel links 28 that are arranged in the manner of a deformable parallelogram. Each link 28 comprises a first end 28a articulated on the fixed base 27, and a second end 28b, opposite the first end 28a, articulated on the mobile base 26. The articulation movement of the two links 28 with respect to the mobile and fixed bases provides a possibility of movement in curvilinear translation, in particular circular translation, directed transversely. The path of the mobile part is referenced C in
A second difference resides in the elimination of the fitting pedal 19 and of the knuckle joint mechanism that are used in the first embodiment. The lever 16 and its operating principle with respect to the blocking elements 25d, 25g and the jaws 13d, 13g are retained but the way in which it is mounted on the rest of the mobile part 12 is different. A return spring 32 permanently urges the lever 16 towards its blocking position, in which the blocking elements 25d, 25g that are integral with the lever 16 prevent the jaws 13d, 13g from tilting, by way of their contact with the bearing surfaces 18d, 18g. The return spring 32 (
With reference to
The fitting configuration of the toepiece 10 corresponds to an organization of the toepiece 10 in which the mobile part 12 is in its rest position as above and at the same time the jaws are in their open positions. It is adopted by lowering the lever 16 towards its freeing position. By contrast, the transverse movement of the mobile part 12 from its rest position while the toepiece 10 passes towards the configuration for releasing as a result of twisting, under the effect of the transverse forces applied by the boot to one of the jaws during transverse movement of the boot in the event of the skier falling with a twisting movement, is accompanied by relative sliding of the surfaces 30, 31 and progressive compression of the two releasing springs 14 in the longitudinal direction X by way of the piston 29, which tends to return the mobile part 12 towards its rest position as soon as these efforts stop. The second embodiment still comprises a means 24 for setting the stiffness of the two releasing springs 14 (
The toepiece 10 according to the second embodiment comprises releasing elements of the same nature and having the same function as those described in relation to the first embodiment.
In
Finally, the invention relates to the gliding board as such, which comprises such a toepiece and/or such a binding device. Advantageously, the gliding board constitutes a touring ski.
The advantages of the solution described above are:
An additional advantage is that the toepiece 10 described above gives the lever 16 two different functions:
In summary, the principle is identical in the first and second embodiments and is as follows. The lever 16 is mounted so as to pivot, in particular on the mobile part 12, so as to change between:
The blocking elements pass from the first position to the second position and vice versa by way of the blocking elements moving by pivoting with respect to the mobile part 12 about an axis directed in the transverse direction: the blocking elements are mounted in an articulated manner, in particular a rotary manner about this axis, with respect to the mobile part 12.
In their first position, the blocking elements extend between the jaws 13d, 13g and bear against the bearing surfaces 18d, 18g of the jaws 13d, 13g. In particular in the second embodiment, the blocking elements 25d, 25g are kept in their first position as defined above by the action of the return spring 32.
The releasing elements 21, 22 cooperate with the blocking elements such that the execution of said movement of the mobile part 12 beyond the predetermined travel with respect to the fixed part 11 causes the blocking elements to pass automatically from their first position to their second position.
It is also apparent from all the above that the mobile part 12, in particular the mobile base 26, is acted upon by a first spring, formed by the transversely or longitudinally oriented releasing spring 14, while the blocking elements 25d, 25g are acted upon by a second return spring, which is independent of said first spring and urges the blocking elements 25d, 25g towards a position in which they prevent the jaws 13d, 13g from pivoting and block the toepiece 10 in its closed configuration. In the first embodiment, said second return spring is formed by the fitting/removal spring 23. In the second embodiment, said second return spring is formed by the return spring 32.
As indicated above, in each of the first and second embodiments, the first and second bearing surfaces 22, 21 are shaped such that their relative sliding causes the lever 16 to pass from its blocking position towards its freeing position, and concomitantly the blocking elements 25d, 25g to pass from their first position to their second position.
In each of the first and second embodiments, the toepiece 10 has:
Once again, in the first embodiment, said second return spring is formed by the fitting/removal spring 23, whereas in the second embodiment, said second return spring is formed by the return spring 32.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 51596 | Feb 2013 | FR | national |
| 14152476 | Jan 2014 | EP | regional |
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| Entry |
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| Search Report issued by French Patent Office for priority application FR 1351596 dated Oct. 21, 2013. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20140239615 A1 | Aug 2014 | US |
