TIGHTENING AND ADJUSTING DEVICE PARTICULARLY FOR SKI BOOTS

Abstract: The device (7) is composed of a vertical axle (9) positioned in a case (8) made rigid with the rear half-shell (6) of the quarter of ski footwear (1). The axle (9) having at a middle region thereof, an inclined tooth gear which is actuated by a ratchet lever (11) to cause its co-directional rotation with winding of stays (16) having second ends associated with the front portion (3) of the quarter thus effecting the closure of the boot (1). The lower end of said axle (9) includes a thread portion (24) adapted to cause upward movement of a block (27) which in turn causes tensioning of cables (33) associated with an element (35) positioned on the foot instep, thereby causing tightening of the same. Also provided are a means of releasing the inclined tooth gear with consequent opening of the boot (1) quarter (3), and a means (30) of adjusting the tension exerted by the upward movement of the block (27) on the cables (33).

Description: This invention relates to a tightening and adjusting device for footwear, particularly for ski boots. More specifically, the invention is directed to a device which is conveniently applied to ski boots wherein the quarter consists of two parts, substantially separated by a vertical centerplane and hinged to each other at the bottom portion. These are so-called rear-opening boots wherein the foot introduction occurs solely by opening the quarter. The technical problems encountered with such boot types and associated with their closure devices result from the fact that devices must be provided which permit the quarter to be closed and also permit the foot toe to be secured within the shell. A device of known type which performs such dual functions is disclosed in the French patent application No 2 536 254. This patent relates to an integrated locking system for ski boots having a connecting cable to be operated by lever between two parts of the boot. The cable is connected, at one end, with fastening mechanism provided on one of the two parts of the boot and, at the other end, to a draw mechanism having a cable tensioner and return element which is provided on the other part of the boot. The cable tensioner can be actuated by a lever which can occupy two positions, i.e. open position in which the element releases a length of cable which allows the boot to be opened and a closed self-locking position in which the cable is drawn tight to keep the boot closed. The return element transfers the traction force applied by the tensioner on the cable back in a suitable selected direction to guarantee a good fastening of the boot. Another tightening and adjusting device for ski boots of the considered type is disclosed in EP-A-0 053 340. Such a device comprises an actuating lever and first entrainment thread means adapted for cooperation with said lever in order to adjust the working length of a stay member which has one end attached to said first thread means and the other end attached to one part of the quarter of the ski boots. Moreover, second entrainment thread means cooperate with the said actuating lever for varying the length of a link element attached to a tongue portion of the ski boot. The above devices of the prior art, while substantially achieve their objects, lack of reliability are composed of several independent parts that make them difficult to adjust. Furthermore said devices tend to be clogged by ice and snow during use. The object of the invention is in the idea of how to provide a tightening and adjusting device for footwear, particularly for ski boots, to close the quarters and to permit the foot toe portion to be secured within the shell in such a way that closure of the quarter and/or tightening of the foot can be effected by one single compact device of low cost in an easy manner. This object is achieved by a tightening and adjusting device for footwear, particularly for ski boots, having the features pointed out in the following main Claim. Further features and advantages of the invention will be more clearly apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment given herein by way of illustration and not of limitation with reference to the accompanying drawings, where: Figure 1 is a partially sectional general schematic view of a ski boot employing the device of this invention; Figure 2 is a schematic perspective view of the constituent parts of the device of this invention; Figure 3 is a sectional plan view of a ratchet lever mechanism of the device according to the invention, in an engaged condition thereof, taken on the line III-III of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a sectional plan view of the ratchet lever mechanism of Figure 3, shown in a partially engaged condition thereof; Figure 5 is a further sectional plan view of the ratchet mechanism of Figure 3, shown in disengaged condition thereof. With reference to the cited drawing Figures, a ski boot generally indicated at 1 consists of a shell 2 and a leg portion comprising a front half-quarter 3 to which there is connected, substantially at the lower portion of a openable flap 4, by means of an articulation 5, a complementary rear half-quarter 6 the opening whereof determines the possibility of an easy introduction of the foot into the footwear. Attached to said leg portion, advantageously at a rear middle region of said half-quarter 6 is the tightening device 7 contained on the interior of housing means comprising a case 8, which is expediently made rigid with the leg portion by connection means such as rivets, not shown because known per se, or alternatively formed integrally therewith. The tightening device more clearly shown in Figure 2 is composed of a vertical axle 9, the top end of which is rotatably supported in a seat 8 a formed in the inner portion of the case 8 which permits its rotation. Said vertical axle 9 has, rigidly associated therewith, at a substantially middle region thereof, a gear wheel 10 having inclined teeth 10 a formed thereon and on which acts a ratchet lever 11, provided with a first ratchet mechanism or pawl 12, adapted to move together with the lever 11, said pawl 12 being partially contained in a housing 11 a formed in said lever 11 and elastically biased by a spring 12 b towards the gear wheel 10. The pawl 12 includes a tip 12a, correspondingly shaped to fit in between the teeth 10 a of the gear 10 and being adapted to engage therewith when oscillated in a clockwise direction and to disengage thereform when oscillated in an anti-clockwise direction. By oscillating the lever 11 in the direction indicated by the arrow 13 a (Fig. 3) there occurs in a clockwise direction with respect to the figure, the entrainment of the gear 10 and consequently of the axle 9 by virtue of the fact that the tip 12 a of the pawl 12 is caused to engage with the teeth 10 a of the gear 10. Conversely, when the lever 11 is oscillated in an anti-clockwise direction, as indicated by the arrow 13 b , there occurs the recovery of the ratchet lever 11 with elastic disengagement of the first ratchet mechanism 12, owing to the particular inclination of said tip 12 a , which can slip over the teeth 10 a of the gear 10 (Fig. 3). To prevent the gear 10 from rotating in an anti-clockwise direction, during anti-clockwise movement of the lever 11, there is provided a second pawl or ratchet mechanism 14 including a second top or end 14 a , said second ratchet mechanism being elastically biased by a spring 15 and partly contained within a groove 8 b present in the case 8, the second tip 14 a is also adapted for engagement with the teeth 10 a of the gear 10, to hold the gear 10 in the position reached after clockwise oscillation of the lever 11, and thereby prevents it from returning by rotating in an anti-clockwise direction during the anti-clockwise movement of the lever 11. Also secured on said vertical axle 9 is a double stay 16 comprising a cable or web-like element which if made in a single piece as shown in Figure 2 is routed through a vertical slot 17 formed on the same axle 9. Thus, during the rotation of the axle 9, there occurs a winding of the two parts of the stay 16 with consequent shortening of their free length. The free ends of said stay 16 are advantageously connected as shown best in Figure 1 to the front half-quarter 3 by means of a riveted spot 18, for example. As a result of such a configuration, during clockwise rotation of the vertical axle 9, the double stay is wound around the same, thereby causing the rear half-quarter 6 to be brought towards the front half-quarter 4, thereby closing the boot. Clearly the stay may be embodied in any desired way, i.e. as a small cable or a plurality of small cables or a flexible strip. To effect the opening of the boot it is necessary to release the gear 10 from the action of the first and second ratchet mechanisms, 12 and 14 respectively. In order to release the first ratchet mechanism 12 there is provided a rotatable cam 18 (Fig. 4) associated by means of an off-centered pin 19 with the shank 20 of the ratchet mechanism 12 and having two faces, respectively 21 and 22, which, by virtue of the fact that the pin 19, is located closer to the face 21 than the face 22, on rotating the cam 19 to selectively position the ratchet mechanism 12, selectively permits the working length of the shank 20 to be selectively changed simply by pulling the cam against the biasing action of the spring 11 a and then rotating it about the pin 19 to selectively engage one of said faces 21, 22 with a notch 111 provided on the lever 11 thereby causing engagement of the cited tip 12 a , with or disengagement of the tip 12 a from the teeth 10 a of the gear 10. Thereafter, to release the second ratchet mechanism 14 the lever 11 is provided with an inclined front tooth 23 which, as the lever 11 is rotated into its full clockwise position, interferes with the ratchet mechanism 14 against the bias of the spring 15 thus moving the end 14 a of the mechanism 14 away from the teeth 10 a of the gear 10, which is thereby released and thus permits the axle 9 to rotate freely. This operation is performed during the boot opening step. The bottom portion of said vertical axle 9 has a thread formation 24 preferably a multi-start square screw thread, which is threadedly engaged during the rotation of the axle 9 by a correspondingly threaded sleeve 25, including a flange formation 26 adapted for rotatably securing it within small guidable member or block 27. The block 27 having a substantially parallelepipedal cross-section can slide within a vertical guide 27 a formed inside the case 8. During the rotation of the axle 9 there occurs the threading engagement of the same with the sleeve 25. Resultantly, clockwise rotation of the axle 9 generates an upwards closing movement of the block 27, thereby applying tension force to the cables 33, 34, and causing the hood 35 to press onto the foot instep region. Conversely, anti-clockwise rotation of the axle 9 generates a downward opening movement of the block 27, releasing the tension in the cables 33, 34 and thus releasing the hood 35 from the foot instep region. Below said flange 26 the sleeve 25 defines on the exterior thereof, a gear 28, on which there acts a worm 29 rotatively housed in said block 27 and being actuatable from the outside of the case 8, by acting on an actuating knob or enlarged continuation 30, of its own axle, extending perpendicularly to said axle 9 and protruding through a vertical slot 8 b provided in said case 8. By acting, therefore, on the worm 29 according to the arrows 31 (Fig. 2), there occurs the positioning of the block 27 with respect to the thread formation 24 independently of the rotation of the vertical axle 9. Once manually positioned the worm allows no rotation of the sleeve 25. As such, during the rotation of the vertical axle 9 the sleeve 25 remains stationary with respect to the block 27 while the same as already mentioned moves either upwards or downwards according to the arrows indicated at 32, on actuation of the ratchet lever 11. Connected to the block 27 are two link elements advantageously comprising small cables 33 and 34 respectively. The cables 33, 34 extend from the block 27 and pass out of the case 8, through small holes 8 c provided at a bottom portion thereof. Each of the cited two cables then extends forwardly and downwardly along the rear half-quarter 6, and passes to the interior of the front half-quarter 3, substantially at the articulation points 5, which each include a guide element 5 a comprising a pin or small wheel. The cables then extend, downwardly past their respective guide elements at the articulation points 5 and along the longitudinal direction of the boot 1, inbetween the interior surface of the shell 2 and the exterior of an inner boot (not shown), to a small capstan element 40 comprising a guide pin or small wheel, whereat, said cables are diverted upwardly to an instep presser element or hood 35, whereto they are attached. With the cited structure, during upward movement of the block 27 which occurs simultaneously with the actuation of the ratchet lever 11 to provide closure of the rear half-quarter 6 on the front quarter 3 there also occurs a pulling force exerted upon the cables 33, 34 causing the hood 35 to be drawn downwardly such that it secures the foot instep region by pressing thereon within the shell 2. Thus, the pulling force exerted by the cables 33 and 34 on the hood 35 can be adjusted independently of the force applied to the stay 16 by the lever 11 to close the boot merely by rotating the adjustement knob 30, to cause rotation of the worm 29, which in turn rotates the gear 28 and the thread formation 24, of the axle 9 causing the block 27 to move therealong and thus vary the working length of the cables 33, 34, thereby independently attenuating or enhancing the compressive force exerted on the foot instep by the hood 35. It should be noted that the boot closing action and the foot instep pressing action are independently adjustable whilst being both simply obtained by actuating the same single lever both during the closing step and the opening step. If after the full closure of the quarter-half 6 onto the front quarter 3 the compression of the hood 35 on the foot is not adequate, one can act directly on the control 30 and hence on the worm 29 to again achieve a translation of the block 27 by rotation of the threaded sleeve 25 engaged with the threaded section 24. With the same action effected in the reverse direction one can also attenuate the effect of the hood 35 if the pressure exerted by the latter is excessive after closing the boot. Once a proper calibration of the device has been carried out on the foot, at each successive fitting it will be sufficient to act on the ratchet lever only to simultaneously fully tighten the boot, and cause the hood to press on the foot instep region. The passage of the cables 33 and 34 at the articulation point 5 of the two parts which make up the boot quarter, avoids any actions on the hood 35 due to rotation of the rear half-quarter 6 relatively to the front half-quarter 3. This enables a perfect adjustment of the pull of the cables 33 and 34 due solely to the tightening device. Alternatively to the hood 35 inside the shell, the closure on the foot instep may be achieved by pulling a hollow frusto-conical element which encircles the shell exterior. Tensioning will be accomplished anyhow with at least one small cable or a stay associated with the block 27 of the device. In an equivalent embodiment, the axle 9 may be made in two sections independent of each other but engaged, for example, by a front insert which may be disengaged by means of a preferably axial outer control. Thus, the adjustment which was achieved with the worm may be eliminated or any other coarse adjustment device may be used such as a ring nut acting on the threaded sleeve. From the foregoing description and illustration it may be noted that all of the inventions' objects are achieved and in particular, a lever means has been provided which is extremely simple and the actuation whereof enables one to close the boot and simultaneously effect the inner securing of the foot. The two actions requiring to be different according to the wearer's foot conformation are made independent as regards adjustment but unitary in actuation. This allows a considerable simplification of the devices, present on the boot for effecting opening and closure thereof, and securing the foot instep, which are reduced in practice to a single element. Conveniently, as shown, the stays and cables may be in the forms of strips, webs, or proper cylindrical cross-section cables depending on convenience without departing from the scope or inventive concept. Stays and cables may be conveniently contained within seats out of sight, formed in the boot structure. Of course, the material and dimensions may be any selected ones according to necessity. Evidently, based on the same inventive concept, embodiments of the invention may be different and still be within the protection scope of the instant patent.

Claims: A tightening and adjusting device (7) for footwear, particularly for ski boots (1), including a shell (2) having an instep portion, and a leg portion defining a quarter including two sections (3,6) articulated to each other, said device comprising actuating means (9-11, 12-12b, 14-15, 18-23), entrainment means (17) housing means (8) and at least one stay member (16), said stay member (16) defining a working length and having at least one end thereof attached to one (3) of said two sections (3,6) and an entrainable portion adapted to be entrained by said entrainment means (17), said actuating means (9-11, 12-12b, 14-15, 18-23) and said entrainment means (17) being located on one (6) of said two sections (3,6), to which said end of said stay (16) is not attached, said stay (16) being at least partially contained in said housing means (8), said entrainment means (17) being adapted for co-operation with said actuating means (9-11, 12-12b, 14-15, 18-23) for adjusting the working length of said stay member, a presser element (35) adapted for exerting pressure at said instep portion, at least one link element (33,34) including a tractable portion and defining a working length dimension and having at least one end thereof attached to said presser element (35), traction means (24-27), and adjustment means (28,30), said traction means (24,-27) being adapted for co-operation with said actuating means (9-11, 12-12b, 14-15, 18-23) for varying said working length dimension defined by said at least one link element (33,34), said adjustment means being adapted for varying said working length dimension defined by said at least one link element (33,34) independently for said actuating means (9-11, 12-12b, 14-15, 18-23), said actuating means (9-10, 12-12b, 14-15, 18-23) comprising an axle (9) supported substantially vertically, at least partially in said housing means (8), said axle (9) having an inclined tooth gear wheel (10) rigid therewith, said axle (9) and said gear wheel (10) being actuable by a ratchet lever (11), said ratcher lever (11) being adapted to cause co-directional rotation of said gear wheel (10) and said axle (9), said entrainable portion of said at least one stay (16) being associated with said axle (9), said traction means (24-27) comprising a thread (24) formed at the lower end of said axle (9), said thread (24) being adapted for engagement with a guide block (27), said guide block (27) being adapted to be moved vertically upon rotation of said axle (9), said tractable portion of said at least one link element (33,34) being connected to said guided block (27), said at least one end thereof being connected to said presser element (35), said entrainment means comprising a slot (17) formed in said axle (9), said slot (17) being adapted for allowing said at least one stay (16) to be passed therethrough, said entrainable portion of said at least one stay (16) being adapted to be wound around said axle (9) during rotation thereof. A tightening and adjusting device according to Claim 1, characterized in that said housing means (8) comprises a case (8), including an axle (9) centering and rotation seat (8 a ), and a guide seat (27 a ) adapted for slidingly accommodating said guided block (27). A tightening and adjusting device according to Claim 1, characterized in that said actuating means (8-11; 12-12 b , 14-15, 18-23) comprises an axle (9) having a gear wheel (10) rigid therewith on which acts a ratchet lever (11) including a first ratchet mechanism (11 a -12 b ) and a second ratchet mechansim (14, 15), said first ratchet mechanism (11 a -12 b ) and said second ratchet mechanism (14-15) being secured to said housing means and adapted to act on said gear wheel (10). A tightening and adjusting device according to Claim 3, characterized in that said first ratchet mechanism (11 a -12 b ) is releasable by means of a cam (18), said cam (18) being journalled on said ratchet lever (11) and acting with two engagement faces (21, 22) on an abutment (111) formed on said actuating lever (11), one (21) of said two engagement faces (21, 22) determining interference of said first ratchet mechanism (11a-12b) with teeth of said gear wheel (10) the other (22) of said two engagement faces (21, 22) being adapted for freeing said first ratchet mechanism (11a-12b) of any interference with teeth. A tightening and adjusting device according to Claim 3, characterized in that said second ratchet mechanism (14-15) is releasable or removable from said teeth of said gear wheel (10) by bringing said ratchet lever (11) into a position of full opening, whereat a front wedge-like tooth (23) thereof interferes with said second ratchet mechanism (14, 15) by moving said second ratchet mechanism (14, 15) away from said gear wheel (10). A tighting and adjusting device according to Claim 1, characterized in that said at least one stay (16) has a second end, said second end being made rigid with a front portion of said quarter (3, 6) to form a unitary body with said shell (2). A tightening and adjusting device according to Claim 1, or 6 characterized in that said at least one stay (16) is formed preferably of a single strip adapted to be passed through a slot (17) formed on an axle (9) and rigidly attached at ends thereof to a front portion of a quarter (3, 6). A tightening and adjusting device according to Claim 1, characterized in that said traction means (24-27) comprise a thread formation (24), said thread formation (24) preferably being a multi-start square thread. A tightening and adjusting device according to Claim 1, or 8, characterized in that said traction means comprise a thread formation (24) threaded into a sleeve (25) having an outer flange (26) contained in a guided block (27), said sleeve (25) being rotatable within said guided block (27) without disengaging itself therefrom. A tightening and adjusting device according to Claim 1, characterized in that said adjustment means (28-30) comprise a gear (28) formed on a sleeve (25) whereon there acts a worm (29) including a middle pin (30), protruding from said guided block (27) for allowing manual actuation thereof, which by obtaining the rotation of said sleeve (25) determines a mutual position of said guided block (27) with respect to said axle (9) prior to rotation of the latter by actuation of said ratchet lever (11). A tightening and adjusting device according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said presser element (35) comprises a frusto-conical hollow element encircling said shell (2) at the exterior thereof and adapted to be pulled toward a rear portion of said ski boot (1) by at least one link element associated with a guided block (27). A device according to Claim 1, characterized in that said actuating means comprise an axle formed in two parts independent of each other and mutually associated by a disenagageable front clutch, with a control actuatable from the outside, to make the tension on the quarter and that on the foot instep independent and adjustable. A device according to Claim 1, characterized in that said at least one link element (33, 34) is inserted into a throughgoing sheath at points of articulation of said two sections (3, 6) of said quarter.

Inventors: GOBBO, FRANCO, SARTOR, LEO
Applicants: ICARO OLIVIERI & C. S.P.A.
Application year: 1985
Main classification: A43B5
IPC codes: A63C9, A43C11, A43B5