SPORTS ATTRIBUTE

Abstract: The present invention relates to a sports attribute from the group substantially comprising klap skates, cross-country skis, and klap skeelers, which sports attribute comprises: a gliding or rolling mechanism, such as a skate blade, a ski surface or a set of wheels arranged in a row; and a shoe, which are connected by means of a tilting mechanism comprising a tilting pin around which the gliding or rolling mechanism is tiltable with respect to the shoe, which tilting pin is placed obliquely at an angle deviating form 90 DEG with respect to the longitudinal direction of the gliding or rolling mechanism.

Description: Title: Sports attribute The present invention relates to a sports attribute from the group substantially comprising klap skates, cross-country skis, and klap skeelers. Other similar attributes, in particular for sporting purposes, are also meant hereinafter when the term "sports attribute" is used. Klap skates, cross- country skis, and klap skeelers are commonly known, which comprise a gliding or rolling mechanism, such as skate blades, a ski surface or a set of wheels arranged in a row, and a shoe. The shoe and the gliding or rolling mechanism are connected by means of a tilting mechanism comprising a tilting pin around which the gliding or rolling mechanism is tiltable with respect to the shoe. Such sports attributes are known, in which the tilting pin is situated transversely, i.e. at an angle of 90°, with respect to the gliding or rolling mechanism, in particular the skate blade, the ski or the set of wheels arranged in a row. Thus the gliding or rolling mechanism and the shoe are substantially tiltable in one plane from and towards each other. During the takeoff by a user at the end of his skating or cross-country skiing stroke the ~ gliding or rolling mechanism and the shoe tilt away from each other, while the gliding or rolling mechanism remains in contact with the ice which is skated along, the sheet of snow which is cross-country-skied along, or the road surface which is skeelered along. This gives a more natural movement, i.e. a movement resembling walking, during the skating or cross-country skiing stroke, and in particular at the end thereof. With this more natural movement more force can be applied and a higher speed can be developed. It is an object of the present invention to improve such sports attributes, to which end a sports attribute is characterized according to the present invention in that the tilting pin is placed obliquely at an angle deviating from 90° with respect to the longitudinal direction of the gliding or rolling mechanism. With a sports attribute according to the invention the force to be transmitted with the gliding or rolling mechanism to the ice, snow or road surface is increased. At the end of a skating or cross-country skiing stroke, where the takeoff takes place, the gliding or rolling mechanism and the shoe not only tilt away from each other in one plane, but the shoe rolls over__ the skate blade, the ski or the set of wheels arranged in a row into a position in which an optimum takeoff is possible. The leg and the foot of a user approach normal walking even more, as to mutual positioning, while the foot is oriented towards the direction of movement to a higher degree. Within the scope of the present invention various embodiments are possible. Preferably, the angle corresponds to the position of the sports attribute with respect to a direction of movement at the end of a skating or cross-country skiing stroke. This ensures that a position of the foot of a user as true to nature as possible with respect to his leg is maintained during the takeoff, so that a highest possible force can be transmitted to the ground, that is to say the sheet of ice, the sheet of snow or the road surface. Within the scope of the invention different angles are possible, at - which the tilting pin is placed with respect to the longitudinal direction of the gliding or rolling mechanism. Preferred embodiments are those of— — claims 3-6. In another preferred embodiment the angle at which the tilting pin is inclined is adjustable. Because the style of each user, i.e. the manner in which this user makes the skating or skiing stroke, may be different and therefore the position of the gliding or rolling mechanism at the end of the skating or cross-country skiing stroke with respect to the direction of movement may vary, the adjustability of the tilting pin with respect to the gliding or rolling mechanism ensures that a sports attribute according to the present invention can be adapted to the style of the relevant user. Thus the optimum result is obtained for each individual user. Preferably, the angle is adjustable depending on movement in a curve or in a straight line. In a curve, in particular in skating or skeelering, a crossover movement is often made to take such a curve. In particular at the inner leg of the user with respect to the curve (when going round a track in an anti-clockwise direction, the left leg) the tilting pin may preferably be oriented with respect to the gliding or rolling mechanism in a direction opposite to a movement in a straight line. Within the scope of the possibilities belongs a fixed adjustment for skating in curves or straight on and a variable adjustment of the angle of the tilting pin, which adapts itself to skating in a curve or straight on. For adjustability of the tilting pin a rotating device may be arranged between the shoe and the tilting pin and/or between the tilting pin and the gliding or rolling mechanism for adjusting the position of the tilting pin with respect to the gliding or rolling mechanism. The present invention also relates to a pair of sports attributes, that is to say for each leg of a user one such sports attribute. These sports attributes may be designed jointly or individually according to any one of the preceding claims. In particular the angles of each of the pair of sports attributes may be in opposite direction. This is particularly favorable when - skating without curves straight on, cross-country skiing or skeelering. The angles for each of both sports attributes of the pair may have an equal absolute value when the style of the user is substantially symmetric. This, however, will seldom be the case, to which end the angles may have an unequal absolute value, with which allowance has been made for unequal power in each of the two legs of a user and an asymmetric style of moving. Furthermore, the angles may have the same direction for each of the pair, which produces a pair of sports attributes which is particularly suitable for skating or cross-country skiing in curves. The invention will hereinafter be described in more detail with reference to a number of embodiments as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a skate according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the skating movement of a user in a first embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the skating movement of a user in a second embodiment of the invention; and Figs. 4 and 5 are cross- sections along the lines IV- IV and V-V in Fig. 1. In the various views the same reference numerals are used for equal or similar components of the skate according to the invention. Fig. 1 shows one skate 1 according to the present invention. The skate comprises a shoe 2 and a skate blade 3, between which shoe 2 and skate blade 3 a tilting mechanism 4 is provided at the front near the toe of the shoe 2. Provided at the heel of the shoe 2 is a block 5 which engages the skate blade 3 in a freely detachable manner. At the end of a skating stroke the block 5 is disengaged from the skate blade 3 at the heel of the shoe 2, while the skate blade 3 remains in contact with the sheet of ice 6. The heel of the shoe 2 moves up, which promotes the takeoff at the end of the skating stroke. The relative movement of the shoe 2 and the skate blade 3 with respect to each other is indicated in Fig. 1 by a double arrow A. The movement back to each other of the shoe 2 and the skate blade 3 is effected by means of a spring construction, which is not described here in more detail and is schematically indicated by reference numeral 8. The spring construction 8 pulls the shoe 2 and the skate blade 3 back together, so that the block 5 comes into contact with the skate blade 3, after the skate blade 3 has been lifted from the sheet of ice 6 after the takeoff. The tilting construction 4 comprises a claw 10 at shoe 2, a tilting pin 7, which according to the present invention is placed obliquely over the skate blade 3 at an angle deviating from 90° with respect thereto, as also shown in Fig. 5, and an extension 12 at the skate blade 3. As a result of this inclined positioning in the horizontal plane of the tilting pin 7 with respect to the longitudinal direction of the skate blade 3, not only the klap movement takes place according to the double arrow A in Fig. 1, but the shoe 2 assumes an inclination with respect to the longitudinal direction of the skate blade 3 when the shoe 2 moves up at the end of the skating stroke. The shoe 2 rolls over the longitudinal direction of the skate blade 3 and assumes during the upward movement an inclination with respect to that longitudinal direction of the skate blade 3 along the double arrow A. The foregoing will be described in more detail with reference to Figs. 2 and 3, in which different embodiments are shown within the scope of the present invention. In Fig. 2 the direction of movement is the direction of arrow B. Fig. 2 is a schematic view of the skating stroke of a user. The skate 1 makes a skating stroke from below to above in Fig. 2 the skate 1 makes a skating stroke from below to above, which is indicated by arrow C, during which the skate blade 3 and hence the shoe 2 assume an- inclination with respect to the direction of movement of arrow B. This eventual inclination with respect to the direction of movement of arrow B is connected with the style of a user and is therefore not defined more closely. The tilting pin 7 of the tilting mechanism 4 in Fig. 1 shows, as shown in Fig. 2, an angle β, which deviates with angle α from a position of 90° with respect to the longitudinal direction of the skate blade, which 90° position is indicated by reference numeral 9. When reaching the end of the skating stroke, i.e. after making a movement corresponding to arrow C, the tilting or klap movement takes place for the takeoff, which movement is indicated in Fig. 1 by double arrow A. Simultaneously, the shoe 2 swings outwards in the direction of arrow D with respect to the direction of movement of arrow B. With the upward movement of arrow A in Fig. 1 and the lateral swinging movement of arrow D in Fig. 2 the shoe 2 rolls over the skate blade 3. The shoe 2 assumes a position with respect to the skate blade 3 which highly facilitates takeoff in the direction of arrow E and with which force components in a direction other than that of arrow E are considerably reduced. Furthermore, the position of the shoe 2 and hence that of the foot of a user is substantially in accordance with a normal walking position, which not only increases the comfort of the user when skating on a skate according to the invention, but also increases the ability to transmit force to the ground, i.e. the sheet of ice 6, or in the case of a skeeler with a set of wheels arranged in a row, to the road surface which is rolled over. In the case of cross-country skiing the force is transmitted to the sheet of snow. What is shown in Fig. 2, and in particular the position of the tilting pin 7, is in agreement with the forward movement in the direction of arrow B. As mentioned above, the angle β may have different values. Preferably, the angle β ranges between 60° and 88°, and in the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 2 the angle β is approximately 79°, which is within the even more preferred range, between 78° and 80°. It should be noted that the invention is not limited to any of these values. The position of the tilting pin 7 is preferably adjustable. To this end, a rotating device (not shown) can be used, with which the position of the tilting pin with respect to the longitudinal direction of the gliding or rolling mechanism, in particular the skate blade 3, is adjustable. Thus the angle β is adjustable and therefore the degree of swinging in the direction of arrow D, depending on the style of a user and the degree of inclination of the skate blade 3 with respect to the direction of movement of arrow B at the end of a skating stroke. Fig. 3 shows the configuration when the left skate 1 shown herein has a specific design for taking a curve at the inner leg of the user with respect to that curve. More in particular, this situation applies when a track is skated in laps in an anti-clockwise direction. In itself the effect is the same as described in connection with Fig. 2, but the optimum takeoff direction along arrow E' corresponds to a curve to the left (in an anti-clockwise direction). To this end, the angle β' of the inclination of the tilting pin 7 ranges between 92 and 120°, more in particular between 100 and 102°, and is approximately 101°. The skate 1 glides in the direction of arrow B', and at the end of the skating stroke the shoe 2 is tilted again during the takeoff in the direction of arrow A (see Fig. 1) and also in the direction of arrow D', such that an optimum takeoff in the direction of arrow E' is made possible. The angle α' represents the deviation of the inclination of the tilting pin 7 with respect to the 90° line according to the present invention. Figs. 2 and 3 show left skates. Fig. 2 shows a configuration which specifically concentrates on skating straight on, while Fig. 3 specifically concentrates on taking a curve in the direction of arrow E' with crossover movements. Within the scope of the invention it is possible that when skating - laps in an anti-clockwise direction, a right skate shows a configuration mirrored with respect to that of Fig. 2, while the left skate has one of the two configurations shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The inclination of the tilting pin 7 may be equal for a right skate and for a left skate, but more in general they will deviate slightly from each other, often because a right or a left leg can produce more force, because a user is right-legged or left-legged. Also, with different angular positions of the tilting pins 7 for a right skate and for a left skate differences in style of one user between the left leg and the right leg can be compensated. In particular in connection with the differences between Figs. 2 and 3 it should be noted that it is within the normally expected possibilities of a skilled person to realize a change-over mechanism for varying the position of the tilting pin 7, depending on the situation in which to move straight on or in which to take a curve. A possibility therefor is that the tilting pin 7 is movable between two extreme positions, for instance those which are shown in Figs. 2 and 3, with a snap mechanism for keeping the tilting pin in one of the two extreme positions, as long as the takeoff is in a specific direction E or E'. The change-over mechanism for changing over the tilting pin 7 between the extreme positions is therefore sensitive to the takeoff direction E or E'. Such a "change-over mechanism" retains the position of the tilting pin 7, until another takeoff direction E or E' is detected. Fig. 4 shows a cross-sectional view along the line IV- IV in Fig. 1. In itself this is an alternative and/or additional embodiment within the scope of the present invention with respect to the configuration shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 4 the tilting pin 7 shows an inclination with respect to the horizontal plane 11, as an addition or as an alternative to the deviation from the 90° position along line 9, as shown in Fig. 5. The horizontal plane 11 is defined as the horizontal plane when the skate 1 is in an upright position. Due to this, the above-described advantages of an inclination are increased even further, as is the rolling movement of the shoe 2 over the skate blade 3 to effect an optimum takeoff at the end of the skating stroke. Here, too, the rolling movement of the shoe over the skate blade is adjustable by means of the position of the tilting pin 7 with respect to the horizontal plane 11. The foregoing has been described in connection with ice skates. It should be noted that within the scope of the present invention skeelers, cross-country skis, and more such similar sports attributes should be comprised. Furthermore, various designs are possible for both the tilting pin and means for adjusting the position thereof with respect to the direction of movement, the gliding or rolling mechanism, in particular the skate blade 3, etc. All these options should be regarded as alternative or additional embodiments which are within the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A sports attribute from the group substantially comprising klap skates, cross-country skis, and klap skeelers, which sports attribute comprises: a gliding or rolling mechanism, such as a skate blade, a ski surface or a set of wheels arranged in a row; and a shoe, which are connected by means of a tilting mechanism comprising a tilting pin around which the gliding or rolling mechanism is tiltable with respect to the shoe, which tilting pin is placed obliquely at an angle deviating from 90° with respect to the longitudinal direction of the gliding or rolling mechanism. 2. A sports attribute according to claim 1, wherein the angle corresponds to the position of the sports attribute with respect to a direction of movement at the end of a skating stroke. 3. A sports attribute according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the angle ranges between 60° and 88°. 4. A sports attribute according to claim 3, wherein the angle ranges between 78° and 80°. 5. A sports attribute according to claim 1, wherein the angle ranges between 92° and 120°. 6. A sports attribute according to claim 5, wherein the angle ranges between 100° and 102°. 7. A sports attribute according to claim 1, wherein the angle at which the tilting pin is inclined is adjustable. 8. A sports attribute according to claim 7, wherein between the shoe and the tilting pin and/or between the tilting pin and the gliding or rolling mechanism a rotating device is arranged with which the position of the tilting pin is adjustable with respect to the longitudinal direction of the gliding or rolling mechanism. 9. A sports attribute according to claim 7, wherein the angle is adjustable depending on movement in a curve or in a straight line. 10. A pair of sports attributes, such as klap skates, cross-country skis or klap skeelers, of which at least one of the sports attributes is designed according to one or more than one of the preceding claims. 11. A pair of sports attributes according to claim 10, wherein the angles in each of the pair are in opposite direction. 12. A pair of sports attributes according to claim 11, wherein the angles have an equal absolute value. 13. A pair of sports attributes according to claim 11, wherein the angles have an unequal absolute value. 14. A pair of sports attributes according to claim 10, wherein the angles in each of the pair are in equal direction.

Inventors: VELDHUIS JOHANNES THEODORUS JO, VELDHUIS, JOHANNES, THEODORUS, JOZEF
Applicants: INTERRAPS B V, VELDHUIS JOHANNES THEODORUS JO, INTERRAPS B.V., VELDHUIS, JOHANNES, THEODORUS, JOZEF
Application year: 2000
Main classification: A63C1
IPC codes: A63C1, A63C3, A63C5, A63C9, A63C17