EP0966315B1 - Improvement for snowshoe - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a snowshoe (1) in the shape of a plate comprising an assembly of walls constituting the strings, designed to rest on the snow and support the user's boot and a fixing element such as a plate (9) pivoting about a transverse axis (XX') for maintaining the user's boot, characterised in that between the plate and the snowshoe damping means are provided.

Description

The present invention relates to a snowshoe and more particularly an improvement which improves performance and comfort.

Snowshoes have been known for a long time many years because used for several centuries by Scandinavian populations to move on the snow. Until our days, snowshoes were used for utility or military purposes, to allow the populations and the alpine troops to move on the snow for their daily necessities. Currently, snowshoes are used more by athletes who go on hikes and walks, or even competitions. But athletes, although practicing for their pleasure, are more and more demanding for the material they use, and it is true that the products currently sold are not entirely satisfactory.

In addition, the practice of snowshoeing is becoming more and more more sporty and the material is thus much more used and therefore subject to increasingly significant constraints. So snowshoes current (for example described in FR 2 713 500A) have drawbacks, particularly in terms of their solidity, robustness and reliability.

This type of racket generally shows wear due to repeated shocks between the pivoting plate and the screen, said shocks having, in addition, a hearing impairment during the practice of this sport by repeatability as the racket user searches for the most often calm endrotis, suitable for snowshoeing.

Thus, the present invention proposes to solve the disadvantages mentioned above by means simple, reliable and easy to enforce.

According to the main characteristic of the snowshoe according to the invention, the snowshoe is of the type having the shape of a plate comprising a set of walls constituting the sieve, intended for lean on the snow and support the user's shoe thanks to fastening means, fastening means have an articulated plate on which means are arranged front retaining means and rear retaining means for the shoe and is characterized in that it includes damping means arranged between the screen and the articulated plate, said means being integral with the screen or the plate.

According to an additional characteristic, the means depreciation are made up of at least one element cushioning in elastically deformable material.

According to an embodiment of the snowshoe, the means of rear retainers are arranged sliding longitudinally on the plate adjustable articulated, said damping element being secured to the rear retaining means so as to slide under the hinged plate.

According to another characteristic, the screen has an edge longitudinal provided with a horizontal central bearing surface on which bears a plate, fixing means or the user's shoe, the cushioning element being arranged on said bearing surface.

According to a variant, the snowshoe comprises means for positioning intended to allow the longitudinal positioning of the damping element placed on the screen or on a fixing the fixing means.

According to another alternative embodiment, the damping means are removably arranged on the screen or on a fixing the fixing means.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge of the description which will follow with regard to the appended drawings which are not given only by way of nonlimiting examples.

Figures 1 and 2 are views, on the one hand, of above, and on the other hand, lateral, of a snowshoe according to the invention.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are views of a first mode of production.

Figure 3 is a side view, the plate being raised.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along AA of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view along BB of FIG. 3.

Figures 6, 7 and 8 are views of a second mode of production.

Figure 6 is a side view of the plate being lifted.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view along AA of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view along BB of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 illustrates a variant of the second embodiment in a view similar to Figure 8.

Figures 10 and 11 are two side views of a third mode of realization, the plate being raised

Figure 10 illustrates the retaining means for a shoe small size.

Figure 11 illustrates the retaining means for a shoe big size.

Figures 12 and 13 illustrate a fourth embodiment.

Figure 12 shows the retaining means in side view when the shoe is in the raised position.

Figure 13 shows in side view said means when the shoe is in support.

Figure 14 illustrates in side view an alternative embodiment of the damping element.

Figure 15 illustrates in side view another alternative embodiment of the damping element.

The racket designated under the general reference (1) is presented in the form of an openwork plate of general plane of symmetry (P) fixed under the shoe and which consists of a main frame (2) and a sieve (4), comprising a set of walls supporting the fixing (5) intended to retain the shoe (6) of the user.

Said screen (4) with its set of internal walls forms a general lower surface of support on snow allowing the user not to sink too far into the snow thanks to the bearing surface relatively large.

According to the invention, the snowshoe (1) has means cushioning intended to be placed between the sieve and the shoe user or between the screen and a fastening element (9, 10, 11) of the fixing (5). Note that the binding (5) intended to retain the shoe (6) is, according to a first embodiment, given by way of example, articulated with respect to the screen (4) of the racket itself, according to a transverse axis (XX ').

According to this first embodiment, said attachment carrying the general reference (5) is advantageously constituted by a set of fasteners, namely, an articulated plate (9) comprising shoe retaining means, front means (10) and rear means (11). Thus, the front end (12) of the shoe is, for example, retained by a front stirrup (13), while its rear end (14) is, thanks to a pivoting rear bracket (15) comprising a retaining lever (16). The plate (9) is advantageously rigid and extends longitudinally, comprising a bearing surface upper (17) for supporting the sole of the shoe. Of course, the racket of the invention can be equipped with any other type of device shoe attachment like, for example, that described in the French patent application No. 94 05919 of the applicant, consisting of a rubber casing to enclose the front end of the shoe and elastic return means intended to pass behind the heel thereof, so as to urge the shoe towards the envelope elastic.

According to the first embodiment of the snowshoe (1), the articulated plate (9) can pivot around the transverse axis (XX ') by relation to the sieve (4) between a support position (A) where the plate is resting against the screen and a free position (B) where the plate forms a non-zero angle with the screen (4). When in the support position (A), the articulated plate (9) is positioned against the central area (20) of the sieve (4). The central area (20) located under the boot (6) of the skier and therefore under the plate (9) in the case of a fixing as illustrated includes a longitudinal edge (18) which advantageously serves as a support for the plate (9) in the case of an articulated plate type fixing (9). Add that, according to the first embodiment, the edge longitudinal (18) includes a horizontal central bearing surface (18a) which can be extended laterally on either side by a inclined longitudinal side surface (18b, 18c), i.e., a surface tilted left (18b) and a tilted surface right (18c). Note that the two inclined surfaces (18b, 18c) converge upwards to form an angle which can be between 10 and 170 °,

As we said before, the plate (9) is articulated around the transverse axis (XX ') so that it can pivot towards the top according to F1 by lifting the heel and pivoting downwards according to F2 by lowering the heel as shown in Figure 3.

According to the first embodiment of the snowshoe of the invention, between the plate (9) and the racket itself (1) and more particularly its sieve and in particular in the case illustrated as example, its longitudinal edge (18), means are provided depreciation (23). The damping means (23) can advantageously be constituted by a damping element in more or less soft material made, for example, of plastic material of elastically deformable type.

According to the first embodiment, the damping element (23) is integral with the articulated plate (9), as shown in the Figures 3, 4 and 5. It is advantageously located under the rear end (9a) of said plate. The damping element (23) is arranged so fixed under the plate (9); it can be glued, welded or fixed by any other means equivalent to said plate.

According to the preferred embodiment, the damping element (23) has a rectangular shape and has a width (L1) identical to the width (D1) of the plate (9), so as to avoid any shock between said plate and the central zone (20) of the screen (4). The thickness of the damping element is advantageously a function of the type of elastic material to be used and the type of use (sport or walk) and the type of user to whom the snowshoe is intended. Furthermore, its length can also be chosen in based on the previous criteria.

According to a second embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 6, 7 or 8, the damping element (23) is integral with the central zone (20) of the screen (4) and is fixedly arranged on the central support surface horizontal (18a) of the edge (18) of the sieve. Said damping element (23) is of parallelepiped shape, its width being advantageously equal to the width of the support surface (18a). It goes without saying that the element of depreciation could have any other form, without however, depart from the scope of the invention.

According to a variant of this second illustrated embodiment FIG. 9, the bearing surface (18a) and the damping element are of identical width (L2) greater than the width (D2) of the plate (9), the damping element (23) having on its upper face (19) a longitudinal groove (21) of width (L3) identical to the width (D2) in which is intended to come to position the plate (9). It is obvious that this type of variant could also be implemented on the first embodiment, the groove then being located on the underside of the damping element and having inclined side walls intended to cooperate with the inclined lateral surfaces (18b, 18c) of the edge (18).

According to a third embodiment of the snowshoe according to the invention, the fixing (5) is of the hinged plate type (9) and comprises rear retaining means (11) arranged slidingly longitudinally adjustable way. Said rear retaining means may consist, for example, of an adjustable heel piece (25) or by a stirrup, the sliding of which can be obtained in a known manner per se thanks to a longitudinal light of the plate, for example, or any other equivalent system to adapt to size shoes different, small shoes as illustrated in figure 10 or large shoes as shown in Figure 11.

According to this third embodiment, the element damping (23) is integral with the rear retaining means (11) of so that they can slide with them longitudinally under the plate. Therefore, the damping element (23) is located under the plate (9) directly above the rear retaining means (11) and therefore heel (14) of the user's shoe regardless of the size of the shoe and therefore the longitudinal position of said retaining means. Thus, the damping element (23) is located under the heel of the user at the exact place where the force is greatest when the racket is in the support position (A), as illustrated in Figures 10 and 11.

According to a fourth embodiment, the attachment (5) is rubber-wrapped type (22) and has no hinged plate (9), the user's shoe coming directly to bear on the surface horizontal support (18a) of the screen (4). The damping element (23) is then located on said bearing surface plumb with the sole of the shoe as shown in Figures 12 and 13. Note that, according to this embodiment, in order to be able to adapt the snowshoe to the morphological characteristics of the user, the element damping (23) can be arranged in an adjustable manner longitudinally thanks to positioning means not represented. Thus, according to an embodiment of this fourth mode of embodiment, the damping means can be clipped onto the edge longitudinal (18) in a longitudinal position chosen by the user, It goes without saying that the positioning means could be obtained by other equivalent systems, without leaving the field of protection of the invention. Likewise, said positioning means longitudinal could be used in the embodiments previously described to allow longitudinal positioning the damping element (23) under the plate (9) or on the surface support (18a).

Furthermore, the damping element (23) can be of shape any, parallelepiped, as described above, hemispherical as shown in Figure 14 or wedge-shaped as as illustrated in figure 15 for example. It can be made up of several different cushioning materials to obtain cushioning variable. Note also that the depreciation means can include several damping elements arranged opposite and having complementary forms so as to cooperate in the support position (A), or arranged in several places on the plate or sieve.

According to a variant not shown of the different modes of previous embodiments, the damping means are mounted on the snowshoe removably thanks to assembly means removable. Thus, the user can choose from several elements different depreciation available to him whose are the most suitable for the use he wants to make of snowshoeing snow. According to this variant, the damping elements can have different shapes, be made of materials whose depreciation capacity is different. They can also own of different thicknesses or heights, so as to allow, by example, to obtain an elevated support position relative to the conventional support position without damping element. Note that, according to this variant, the damping elements are provided with means of identification such as a color code, for example, allowing easily identify their characteristics.

The means of fixing the damping elements can be made by a clipping system, for example, or by a system screw mounted on the damping element cooperating with holes corresponding threads, arranged longitudinally regularly on the edge or under the plate.

Claims (6)

1. Snowshoe (1) having the form of a plate, comprising a set of walls constituting the deck (4), intended to bear on the snow and to support the foot (6) of the user by virtue of fixing means (5), the fixing means (5) comprising a hinged plate (9) on which front holding means (10) and rear holding means (11) for the foot are disposed, characterised in that it comprises damping means (23) disposed between the deck (4) and the hinged plate (9), these said means being fixed to the deck (4) or to the plate (9).
2. Snowshoe (1) according to Claim 1, characterised in that the damping means (25) consist of at least one damping element made from elastically deformable material.
3. Snowshoe (1) according to Claim 2, characterised in that the rear holding means (11) are disposed so as to slide longitudinally on the hinged plate (9) in an adjustable manner, the said damping element (23) being fixed to the rear holding means (11) so as to slide on the hinged plate (9).
4. Snowshoe (1) according to either one of Claims 1 or 2, characterised in that the deck (4) comprises a longitudinal ridge (18) provided with a horizontal central support surface (18a) on which the hinged plate (9) comes to bear, the damping element being disposed on the said support surface (18a).
5. Snowshoe (1) according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterised in that it comprises positioning means intended to allow the horizontal positioning of the damping element (23) disposed on the deck (4) or on a fixing element (9, 10, 11) of the fixing means.
6. Snowshoe (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the damping means (23) are removably disposed on the deck (4) or on the hinged plate (9).

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