Safety toe unit for a ski binding

A safety toe unit for a ski binding having a safety release mechanism comprising toe clamp means for releasably securing the toe of a ski boot to a ski, spring means having first and second ends and being maintained in biased condition to be operative to bias said toe clamp means into a ski boot securing position and operative, on the occurrence of a predetermined sideways load on said toe clamp means to permit sideways pivoting movement of at least a part of said toe clamp means to a ski boot releasing position, means for transmitting a force from said toe clamp means to said first end during said sideways pivoting movement to produce corresponding movement of said first end and abutment means for reacting said force at said second end of said spring means, a force signalling device adapted to be arranged at a position corresponding to the position adopted in operation by the ball region of the sole of the ski boot, said force signalling device being responsive to pressure exerted from above to generate, via a force transmission device, an auxiliary force active on said first end in the direction of the first said force whereby to reduce the bias of said spring means on said toe clamp means to assist the release thereof, and wherein the mechanical advantage produced by said force signalling device and said transmitting device is such that the magnitude of said auxiliary force is always smaller than the spring bias which determines the release setting of the binding for any load exertable by a skier through the ball region of the ski boot on said force signalling device.