US 4,886,298 A · Roller ski

Abstract

The present device is a roller ski that closely simulates the sliding, edging, turning and weighting characteristics of a snow ski. The roller ski is comprised of an exterior frame with pivotally mounted skate rollers that are inclinationally biased in the longitudinal direction to the ski and an interior platform which has a skateboard truck or similar rollers and which is pivotably hinged to the exterior frame along the longitudinal center line of the ski. The pivoting rollers on the exterior frame are attached to a caster mounted to a horizontal plate that is springily hinged to permit forced rotation about a horizontal transverse axis on the bottom side of the exterior frame to which the caster is attached. Consequently, weighting of the ski depresses the pivoting rollers, which are continuously in contact with the ski surface; whereas the rollers on either side of the skateboard truck make contact with the ski surface if the interior platform is tilted about the longitudinal center line of the ski. This particular combination of roller, hinge, platform and pivoting elements provide an effective simulation of conventional downhill snow skiing on a hard smooth surface such as cement pavement or blacktop.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A roller ski for simulating the balance and motion of a conventional snow ski while skiing on a ground surface, the roller ski comprising:

a platform having a longitudinal axis;
a binding mounted on the platform for securing a skier's foot to the ski;
a frame having a longitudinal axis substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the platform, a front portion disposed in front of the binding and a rear portion disposed behind the binding;
a support rod for pivotally coupling the platform to the frame, the support rod disposed along the aligned longitudinal axes of the platform and frame, said support rod having distal and proximal ends;
a multiplicity of pivoting rollers for engaging the ground surface, the rollers being pivotally mounted to a bottom surface of the frame and arranged about the binding with a first pair of side-by-side rollers being attached to the front portion of the frame and a second pair of side-by-side rollers being attached to the rear portion of the frame to provide a stable support during use;
and
a turning wheel mounted to a bottom surface of the platform, the turning wheel being sized such that the turning wheel does not contact the ground surface when the frame and the platform are substantially co-planar, whereby the skier can pivot the platform relative to the frame about the support rod to cause the turning wheel to contact the ground surface by shifting body weight.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Roller ski

Life of this patent

Roller ski

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12