EP0838248A1 - Holding device for a boot on a snowboard - Google Patents

Abstract

The fixing attachment comprises a base (6) on which the boot sole is placed. The base is extended rearward to rise in an arc (7) which wedges the heel and by a rear cover (8) on which the boot ankle is supported. The rear cover comprises a lower part (8A) in the shape of a stirrup extending from the arc and pivoting on it about a transverse spindle (9). The cover upper part (8B) extends upward from the lower part and is pivoted on it. This pivoting is by means of a connection enabling modification of the relative positions of the two parts by rotation of the lower part about an axis (XX') in front of the cover.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for fixing a shoe on a gliding board for surfing on the snow.

The practice of snowboarding is traditionally done with a gliding board that a user drives by impulses it generates with body movements and members. These pulses are transmitted to the board by the lower limbs through shoes and means of fixing these shoes on the board. It follows that the board driving is partly at least conditioned by the characteristics of the shoes and also the means of fixation.

The prior art has proposed at least two large families of shoe retaining means with respect to a board Slides intended for the practice of surfing on snow.

A first family is that of rigid shoes, held to the board by one or more fixings called plates which generally cooperate with the base of a shell rigid shoe, an example of which is given by the document EP 525 580. The rigidity of the shoe-binding assembly allows direct transmission of support and facilitates the driving precision of the board.

The present invention relates to a second family of fastening devices for holding shoes relatively flexible more suitable for walking and therefore more comfortable in general. Some of these restraints include a kind of plastic shell in which position the shoe and is associated with several straps which are used to tighten the shoe in the shell. The device is attached to said board via a base on which the sole of the shoe rests. In general, the base is extended backwards by a hoop intended for wedging the heel. The device also includes a rear cover articulated on the base and on which rests the upper of the shoe at the lower leg the user, especially when taking a rear edge. A device of this type is described in the American patent 5,261,689 and in its division No. 5,356,170.

According to these documents, the rear cover is fixed to the roll bar of so as to tilt it forward, this, on the one hand, to facilitate transport or storage of the board and on the other hand, in order to be able to make the rear cover adjustable in front-back tilt using adjustment means forward advance provided for this purpose.

The aforementioned American documents also describe means for orienting the entire rear cover around a substantially vertical axis corresponding to that of the leg of the user so as to allow him to adjust the hood position. As shown in Figure 2, the setting is preferably chosen so that the cover is generally parallel to the rear edge of the board, what that is the chosen angular position of the front shoe and of the back shoe on the board.

This freedom of adjustment which is given to the user allows to obtain the desired laxity as well as the supports they according to the figures, the style, the geometry of the board, and the position of his feet on it.

To obtain this result, the aforementioned American documents describe means which are constituted by a part bottom of the rear cover inside of the arch that it doubles and extending according to extensions lateral of said cover which constitute articulation arms of this in relation to the base.

We can easily understand that having to articulate a element inside another implies some flexibility at least one of these, in this case the lower part of the cover which should be able to deform during a rotation in a horizontal plane to conform to the profile of the arch. This will have the harmful effect of changing the profile in one direction horizontal of the movable hood by interaction with the roll bar which remains fixed. In summary, among the disadvantages associated with this solution we can note, among other things, that the rear support will generally less rigid due to the necessary flexibility of the hood and, as a result, holding the lower leg and heel of the user will be variable due to the deformation of the whole of this cover inside the roll bar.

In addition, these drawbacks related to the flexibility of the materials entail an additional disadvantage which consists in having to make relatively long articulation arms in order to compensate for the lack of rigidity of the hood.

• une première partie inférieure en forme d'étrier, disposée en prolongement de l'arceau et s'articulant sur celui-ci autour d'un axe sensiblement transversal par rapport au plan vertical longitudinal médian de la chaussure;
• une seconde partie supérieure prolongeant la première vers le haut et articulée à celle-ci par des moyens de liaison pour permettre une modification de la position relative de ladite seconde partie par rapport à la première partie par déplacement en rotation de ladite seconde partie autour d'un axe sensiblement vertical situé en avant dudit capot arrière.

The object of the present invention is to remedy all of these drawbacks and to this end provides a device for fixing a shoe on a gliding board for practicing snowboarding, preferably but not exclusively; of the type constituted by a rigid shell associated with at least one strap and attached to said board; the device comprising a base on which the sole of the shoe takes place and which extends backwards in a ascending manner by a hoop intended for wedging the heel and by a rear cover on which the upper of the shoe is capable of bearing at the user's lower leg, characterized in that the rear cover comprises:

• a first lower part in the shape of a stirrup, arranged as an extension of the hoop and articulated on it around an axis substantially transverse with respect to the median longitudinal vertical plane of the shoe;
• a second upper part extending the first upwards and articulated thereto by connecting means to allow a modification of the relative position of said second part relative to the first part by displacement in rotation of said second part around a substantially vertical axis located in front of said rear cover.

Thus, it authorizes an adjustment of the orientation of a part of the hood to meet user needs but without affect the heel hold. Indeed, we can easily understand that the hoop profile will not be modified in any way by the presence of the hood having a rigid lower part independent of said hoop and upper part adjustable according to the wishes of the user, his heel still remaining wedged in a hoop of invariable geometry.

In addition, the fact of separating the hood into an upper part and in a lower part allows to reinforce the latter and thus bring the articulation axis towards the fulcrum rear and therefore reduce the length of the lever arms leaving hinge pins on the base.

A preferred aspect of the invention relates to the design of the stirrup which forms the first part of the cover comprising on the one hand two lateral vertical arms whose ends free extend and articulate on the external sides of the arch and on the other hand, a substantially horizontal branch forming a U with the vertical arms. The advantage is to be able keep, thanks to a partial external covering of the arch by the stirrup, an invariable heel holding since obtained by the roll bar fixed relative to the shell whatever the setting adopted from the hood.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the means of connection of the second upper part of the cover to the first lower part, or stirrup are formed by the interlocking of a arc-shaped groove, and a rail; of complementary shape and of dimensions corresponding to said groove. Such nesting has the advantage of allowing adjustment continuous angular and end of the top of the hood all by constituting an embedding resistant to bending during a rear support.

According to a preferred characteristic of the invention, the device comprises means of angular movement and of locking in position of the second upper part with respect to to the first lower part or stirrup comprising at least an oblong lumen traversed by a clamping means tightening the groove on the rail.

Such a means associated with groove-rail interlocking contributes to make continuous adjustment and installation resistant to bending. In addition, it also ensures locking in a reliable position.

• la figure 1 est une vue d'ensemble d'un dispositif de fixation selon l'invention sur lequel a été matérialisée une chaussure en lignes pointillées;
• la figure 2 est une vue de dessus d'une planche de surf sur neige montrant une orientation préférencielle des capots arrières du dispositif par rapport à la position particulière des chaussures sur la planche;
• la figure 3 est une vue arrière d'un capot de prise d'appui constituant l'un des éléments du dispositif de fixation de l'invention;
• la figure 4 est une vue en coupe transversale selon la ligne IV-IV de la figure 3;
• la figure 5 est une vue en coupe transversale selon la ligne V-V de la figure 4;
• la figure 6 est une vue de la partie supérieure du capot arrière ;
• la figure 7 est une vue en coupe transversale selon la ligne VII-VII de la figure 6.
• la figure 8 montre une vue en perspective arrière du capot selon une variante de l'invention.

The present invention also contains other characteristics and advantages which will emerge from the detailed description of the figures which follow.

• Figure 1 is an overview of a fastening device according to the invention on which has been materialized a shoe in dotted lines;
• Figure 2 is a top view of a snowboard showing a preferred orientation of the rear covers of the device relative to the particular position of the shoes on the board;
• Figure 3 is a rear view of a support socket cover constituting one of the elements of the fixing device of the invention;
• Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view along the line IV-IV of Figure 3;
• Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view along line VV of Figure 4;
• Figure 6 is a view of the upper part of the rear cover;
• Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view along line VII-VII of Figure 6.
• Figure 8 shows a rear perspective view of the cover according to a variant of the invention.

Referring to Figure 1, the fixing device 1 of the invention is intended to receive a shoe 2 (shown in dotted lines).

The device 1 is of the type constituted by a rigid shell 4, designated as a set of several rigid walls ensuring the maintenance of the shoe and certain supports necessary for the practice of surfing. The shell 4 is associated with 5 adjustable length straps attached on the sides 40, 41 of the shell and which have the function of retaining the shoe in the hull. The shell includes a plate-shaped base 6 horizontal on which the sole of the shoe rests. The base 6 is locked in position on the board by a disc central 60 fitted into a housing passing through the base comprising edges forming a shoulder and complementary to the edges of the disc; meanwhile, attached directly to the board at screw means, for example. Thus, the position of the base, and this fact of the shell, is adjustable in rotation around the disc central 60.

The sides 40, 41 of the shell extend towards the rear of ascending manner by an arch 7 intended for wedging the heel of the shoe. The arch has a general curved U-shape open forward. The shell 4 finally includes a rear cover 8 on which is intended to bear the rod of the shoe 2 at the user's lower leg, especially when taking a rear edge.

• une première partie inférieure 8A en forme d'étrier, disposé en prolongement de l'arceau 7 et s'articulant sur celui-ci autour d'un axe de rotation 9 transversal ou perpendiculaire au plan vertical longitudinal médian P de la chaussure; plan pris pour référence, lorsque la chaussure est installée en position dans le dispositif;
• une seconde partie supérieure 8B prolongeant la première partie 8A vers le haut et articulée à celle-ci par des moyens de liaison, décrits ci-après en détail, qui permettent de déplacer en rotation la seconde partie 8B par rapport à la première partie 8A autour d'un axe X-X' sensiblement vertical situé en avant du capot arrière.

According to the invention, the rear cover 8 comprises:

• a first lower part 8A in the shape of a stirrup, arranged as an extension of the arch 7 and articulated on the latter around an axis of rotation 9 transverse or perpendicular to the median longitudinal vertical plane P of the shoe; plane taken for reference, when the shoe is installed in position in the device;
• a second upper part 8B extending the first part 8A upwards and articulated thereto by connecting means, described below in detail, which make it possible to move the second part 8B in rotation relative to the first part 8A around a substantially vertical axis XX ′ located in front of the rear cover.

In the example shown, the axis XX ′ corresponds substantially to the axis of the leg. This axis is not entirely vertical but rather slightly inclined towards having a small angle of the order of a few degrees from the vertical.

As shown in Figure 3, according to the present example of embodiment, the stirrup 8A forming the first part of the cover 8 firstly comprises two lateral vertical arms 10 whose free ends extend and articulate on the sides external of the arch 7 and on the other hand, a branch substantially horizontal 11 forming a U with the vertical arms 10.

Such a design of the rear of the device, in particular of the lower part 8A has the effect of bringing an invariable wrap of the heel part in contact primarily with the arch 7.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the means of connection of the second upper part 8B of the cover 8 on the first lower part 8A or stirrup are formed respectively by an arc-shaped groove 12 made at the 8Ba lower base with lower thickness reinforced, complementary in shape and dimension corresponding to those of a rail 13 made prominently on the horizontal branch 11 of said stirrup 8B. Of course, the groove 12 and rail 13 are concentric with respect to the axis X-X 'as shown in Figure 5; so as to authorize a rotary movement of the upper part 8B relative to the lower part 8A of the cover 8 according to an angular value determined by angular limitation means described below.

It should be noted that such a design offers the advantage of allow fine, continuous and rapid adjustment of the part top 8B of the cover and also has the advantage of providing a recess which retains superior resistance to grip rear support of the shoe on the hood.

As shown in Figure 2, thanks to the invention, the part upper cover 8B can be oriented angularly from the preferably, so that the tangent to the curvature of the upper part 8B is approximately parallel to the rear edge 30 of the board. Each device is, meanwhile, positioned on the board so that the shoe extends along a longitudinal main plane P and forms a variable angle with respect to the median transverse axis O of the board.

In accordance with the embodiments shown in the Figures 3 to 7, the means for limiting the angular movement and locking in position of the second upper part 8B of the cover 8 relative to the first lower 8A or caliper are constituted by two oblong slots 14A, 14B produced in the rail 13 of the first lower part 8A or bracket. The lights 14A, 14B extend in a horizontal plane and symmetrically with respect to a vertical median axis YY ' said rail 13 as illustrated in Figure 6, in particular.

Each light is traversed by a means of clamping the groove 12 on the rail 13 such as a fixing screw 15A, 15B crossing a smooth hole in one of the vertical walls forming the groove 12 of the second part 8B of cover 8 and are screwed into a threaded hole made opposite in the other vertical wall of said groove 12. When partially unscrewed, said grooves screws 15A, 15B can slide freely in each light during the search for an ideal angular position of the second part 8B of the cover 8 relative to the first part 8A. Once the ideal position has been reached, the the position is obtained by completely screwing the 15A screws, 15B.

Of course, the length and positioning of the lights directly determine the available angular travel of the upper part 8B of the cover.

Furthermore, and according to another characteristic of the invention, the rear support cover 8 has a means of advance adjustment in the postero-anterior direction for the search for an ideal position for a given user; this adjustment made with respect to the hoop 7 of the shell 4.

This advance adjustment means is constituted by a zone notched central 16 produced on the internal face of the branch horizontal 11 of stirrup 8A and which cooperates with a zone notched 17 complementary to a stop element 18 attached to said branch 11 and kept in contact with said notched area 16 by means of a fixing element such as a screw fixing 19.

The stop element 18 is supported on an upper shoulder 7a of the arch 7. The screw 19 passes through an oblong lumen vertical 20 of branch 11 so as to allow the up or down movement of said stop member 18 for obtaining an advance position chosen in which is immobilized by tightening the screw 19. The zones notched in contact with each other are made up of preferably streaks each extending horizontally and arranged in a vertical row.

This means of advance adjustment can be of design different while ensuring the same function. For example, the stop element 18 could be replaced by a eccentric stop, without notched area, presenting several selectable positions by rotation of the element around a fixed axis.

As shown in Figure 4, the upper part 8B of the cover 8 has a built-in part for housing a internal lining 22 which constitutes an element of comfort and lateral anti-slip.

Figure 8 shows a variant in which the lights 140A, 140B are preferably produced through the upper part of the cover on either side of the groove 12. In this case the rail 13 is pierced with simple holes for the passage of the clamping means or screws 15A, 15B.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the mode of embodiment thus preferably described.

For example, the invention can be applied equally well to a 'step-in' mode fastener including a cover rear support such as that of the invention.

Claims (7)

Device for attaching a boot (1) to a gliding board (3) for snowboarding, comprising a base (6) on which the sole (2) of the boot (1) takes place and which extends backward upward by a hoop (7) for wedging the heel and by a rear cover (8) on which is likely to bear the upper of the shoe (1) at the lower leg of the user when taking a rear edge, characterized in that the rear cover (8) comprises: a first lower part (8A) in the shape of a stirrup, arranged as an extension of the arch (7) and articulated on the latter around an axis (9) substantially transverse to the median longitudinal vertical plane of the shoe; a second upper part (8B) extending the first (8A) upwards and articulated thereto by connecting means to allow a modification of the relative position of said second part (8B) relative to said first part (8A ) by displacement in rotation of said second part (8A) about a substantially vertical axis XX 'located in front of said rear cover (8). Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the stirrup (8A) forming the first part of the cover (8) comprises on the one hand two lateral vertical arms (10) whose ends free extend and articulate on the external sides of the arch (7) and on the other hand, a branch substantially horizontal (11) forming a U with the vertical arms (10). Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in what the connecting means of the second upper (8B) of the cover (8) on the first lower part (8A), or stirrup are formed by the interlocking of a groove (12) in the form arc, and a rail (13) of complementary shape and dimensions corresponding to said groove (12). Device according to claim 3, that it comprises angular displacement means and locking in position of the second upper part (8B) relative to the first part lower (8A) or bracket comprising at least one light oblong (14A, 140A, 14B, 140B) of the first part (8A) and crossed by a clamping means (15A, 15B) performing the tightening the groove (12) on the rail (13). Device according to claim 4, characterized in that means of angular movement and locking in position are consisting of two lights (14A, 14B) of the rail arranged symmetrically on either side of the vertical median axis (YY ') rail (13) constituting the means for limiting the travel angle of the upper part of the cover and that a screw fasteners (15A, 15B) cooperate in sliding and locking with each of them. Device according to any one of claims 2 5, characterized in that the rear support cover (8) has means for adjusting the advance in the postero-anterior direction (16, 17, 18,19) to find an ideal position for a given user, this setting being made with respect to the hoop (7) of the shell (4). Device according to claim 6, characterized in that the advance adjustment means consist of a zone notched central (16) produced on the internal face of the branch horizontal (11) of the stirrup (8A) and which cooperates with an area notched (17) of a stop element (18) attached to said branch (11) and kept in contact with said notched area (16) by means of a fixing element (19); said stop element (18) supported by an upper shoulder (7a) of the hoop (7).

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