Safety-straplike connecting member
AssigneeTMC Corporation
InventorJosef Svoboda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A structure for securing one end of a safety strap to a ski or to a component fixedly mounted on the ski. The other end of the safety strap is presumed to be secured to the skier by any conventional means. The structure by which the safety strap is secured to the ski structure enables the strap to hold the ski to the skier should the ski become disconnected from the skier while travelling on a chairlift or at slow speeds. However, this same structure will facilitate a release of the strap from engagement with the ski structure should the ski be pulled away from the skier with a sufficient magnitude of force, such as will occur during falls at high speeds. The thereafter released ski will be stopped by, for example, a ski brake mechanism mounted on the ski.
Claims2
A retaining device adapted for use with a ski having a ski binding mounted thereon releasably securing a ski shoe to the ski, said device comprising:
- a resilient T-shaped element having a stem of substantially elliptic cross section and a head which extends substantially parallel to the major axis of said elliptical cross section of said stem, the end of said stem remote from said head being fixedly mounted to a surface of said ski binding;
- a safety strap, one end of said safety strap being releasably securable to the leg of a skier;
- and
- a platelike holding part securely attached to the end of said safety strap remote from said one end and having two intersecting slots therein, one said slot being longer than the other said slot and having a shape substantially the same as the shape of said head and a size slightly greater than the size of said head, and the other said slot being slightly shorter in length than the major axis of said elliptical cross section of said stem;
- whereby said head can be passed easily through said one slot when aligned therewith to position said stem of said T-shaped element in said intersecting slots, said holding part can be rotated relative to said stem to effect a gripping of said stem by said other slot, and the magnitude of force which must then be applied to said safety strap to effect a deformation of said resilient T-shaped element sufficient to separate said holding part therefrom is controlled by the size of said head and said stem relative to the size of said other slot and by the degree of elasticity of said T-shaped element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.