Patent Publication Number: US-2015084292-A1

Title: Steerable Sled Board and the Like

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE OF RELATED APPLICATION 
     This is a Continuation application that claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to a non-provisional application, application Ser. No. 13/987,056, filed Jun. 28, 2013. 
    
    
     NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention relates to a snowboard, and more particular to a steerable sled board, wherein the rider is able to control the sledding route of the sled board in the downhill direction. 
     2. Description of Related Arts 
     Snow sports are considered as one of the most popular outdoor activities throughout the world. Generally speaking, there are two types of snow sports, which are skiing and sledding. Accordingly, skiing, including snowboarding and traditional skiing, requires the skier standing on the snowboard or skiing boards with foot bindings at the player&#39;s boots. In order to control the speed and direction during skiing, the skier must stand in a dynamic stance with the body weight forward to keep the balance of the skiing movement and shift the body weight to make a turn or slow down the speed. 
     Sledding, similar to sliding, requires the rider lying down in a prone or seated position. Therefore, the body center of gravity is lowered during sledding to make the sled board more stable and to increase the sledding speed. Similar to skiing technique, the rider is able to shift the body weight in order to make a turn or slow down the speed. Or, the rider may simply drag his or her boots in the snow for making a turn or for deceleration. Since the body center of gravity is lowered during sledding, the rider is hard to steer the sled board by shifting the body weight of the rider. Especially during the high speed sledding movement, a slightly shift of the body weight will make an uncontrollable sharp turn, or even flip over the sled board. 
     SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     The invention is advantageous in that it provides a steerable sled board, wherein the rider is able to control the sledding route of the sled board in the downhill direction. 
     Another advantage of the invention is to provide a steerable sled board, wherein the rider is able to make a turn by simply rotating a steering board while sitting on a supporting board. 
     Another advantage of the invention is to provide a steerable sled board, wherein the steering board provides increased control of the maneuverability by means of rider&#39;s foot operation or hand operation. 
     Another advantage of the invention is to provide a steerable sled board, wherein the steering angle of the supporting board is controlled by the rotation angle of the steering board, such that the rider is able to precisely control the turning of the sled board. 
     Another advantage of the invention is to provide a steerable sled board, wherein no expensive or complicated structure is required to employ in the present invention in order to achieve the above mentioned objects. Therefore, the present invention successfully provides an economic and efficient solution for providing a steering configuration for the sled board and for enhancing the control of the sled board. 
     Additional advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows, and may be realized by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particular point out in the appended claims. 
     According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by a steering sled board which comprises a supporting board for supporting a center of mass of a rider and a steering control. The steering control comprises a steering board aligned with and movably coupled in front the supporting board in an inline manner, wherein the steering board is self-rotatable with respect to the supporting board and is arranged in such a manner that when the steering board is controllably shifted at a rotatable angle, said supporting board is correspondingly turned at a steering angle. 
     Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings. 
     These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a steerable sled board according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a bottom view of the steerable sled board according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention, illustrating the alignment of the sledding grooves and the steering grooves. 
         FIG. 2A  illustrates a first alternative mode of the sledding grooves and the steering grooves according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2B  illustrates a second alternative mode of the sledding grooves and the steering grooves according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the steerable sled board according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention, illustrating the rider sitting at the sled board. 
         FIG. 3A  is a sectional view of the steerable sled board according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention, illustrating the rider lying at the sled board. 
         FIG. 4  is an exploded perspective view of the steerable sled board according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention, illustrating the guiding unit of the steering unit. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates the steering board being rotated at one direction to misalign the steering grooves with the sledding grooves while the rotational movement of the steering board is guided and limited by the guiding unit. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates the steering board being rotated at an opposed direction to misalign the steering grooves with the sledding grooves while the rotational movement of the steering board is guided and limited by the guiding unit. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates an alternative mode of the steerable sled board according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The following description is disclosed to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. Preferred embodiments are provided in the following description only as examples and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The general principles defined in the following description would be applied to other embodiments, alternatives, modifications, equivalents, and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  of the drawings, a steerable sled board for a rider riding thereon is illustrated, wherein the steerable sled board can be slid easily through snow or over other surfaces. Accordingly, the steerable sled board comprises a supporting board  10  and a steering control  20 . 
     The supporting board  10  is arranged for supporting a center of mass of the rider. Preferably, the supporting board  10  has a seated portion  11  indented on a top side of the supporting board  10  for allowing the rider sitting on or lying at the supporting board  10 , such that the center of mass of the rider will be located at the supporting board  10 . The supporting further comprises two handle frames  13  provided at two sides of the supporting board  10 , such that the rider is able to sit at the seated portion  11  and to grip at the handle frames  13  for keeping the body of the rider in balance and for stably sledding in the downhill direction. In addition, the supporting board  10  further defines a centerline CL in its longitudinal direction, wherein the center of mass of the rider should be located at the centerline CL of the supporting board  10  in a balancing manner. Accordingly, the supporting board  10  can be made of lightweight but durable material which can be a foaming material such as EPS or EPE, or injection material such as PVC, ABS, HDPE, etc. . . . 
     The steering control  20  comprises a steering board  21  aligned with and movably coupled in front the supporting board  10  in an inline manner, wherein the steering board  21  is self-rotatable with respect to the supporting board  10 . Therefore, when the steering board  21  is controllably shifted at a rotatable angle A, the supporting board  10  is correspondingly turned at a steering angle. In other words, when the steering board  21  is rotated at the rotatable angle A in a clockwise direction, the supporting board  10  will turn in the right direction. Likewise, when the steering board  21  is rotated at the rotatable angle A in a counter clockwise direction, the supporting board  10  will turn in the left direction. It is worth mentioning that when the rotatable angle A is increased, the steering angle, i.e. the turning angle, will be correspondingly increased. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 to 6 , the supporting board  10  has a convex front edge  12 . Correspondingly, the steering board  21  has a concave rear edge  211  spacedly aligned with the convex front edge  12  of the supporting board  10  to minimize a gap between the supporting board  10  and the steering board  21 . For example, when sledding on a snow surface, snow may be dragged through the gap between the front edge of the supporting board  10  and the rear edge of the steering board  21 . Therefore, the convex-concave configuration will minimize the gap between to minimize the snow being dragged therethrough. 
     The steering board  21  further comprises a front pointing end  212  aligned along the centerline CL of the supporting board  10  to indicate the steering board  21  at the original center position. It is worth mentioning that when the front pointing end  212  of the steering board  21  points forward along the centerline CL of the supporting board  10 , the supporting board  10  will be sledded in a straight forwarding direction. When the steering board  21  is rotated in the clockwise direction, the front pointing end  212  of the steering board  21  will point to the right such that the supporting board  10  is controlled for making a right turn. When the steering board  21  is rotated in the counter clockwise direction, the front pointing end  212  of the steering board  21  will point to the left such that the supporting board  10  is controlled for making a left turn. 
     According to the preferred embodiment, the steerable sled board further comprises a sledding arrangement  30  for improving the sledding performance. The sledding arrangement  30  comprises a plurality of elongated sledding grooves  31  spacedly formed at a bottom side of the supporting board  10  and a plurality of elongated steering grooves  32  spacedly formed at a bottom side of the steering board  21 . 
     The sledding grooves  31  are parallely extended from the front of the supporting board  10  to the rear thereof in the longitudinal direction of the supporting board  10  such that the sledding grooves  31  are parallely aligned with the centerline CL of the supporting boar  10 . Accordingly, each of the sledding grooves  31  has a predetermined depth indented on the bottom side of the supporting board  10 . 
     The steering grooves  32  are spacedly formed at the bottom side of the steering board  21  and are arranged to align with the sledding grooves  31  end-to-end respectively. In particular, the steering grooves  32  are identical to the sledding grooves  31 , wherein a depth and width of each of the steering grooves  32  are the same as the depth and width of each of the sledding grooves  31 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , a groove interval between every two of sledding grooves  31  is the same as a groove interval between every two of the steering grooves  32 . In other words, the groove spacing of the sledding grooves  31  is the same as the groove spacing of the steering groove  32 . 
     For controlling the speed of the sledding performance, the groove spacing at the steering board  21  can be different from the groove spacing at the supporting board  10 . As shown in  FIG. 2A , the groove interval between every two of sledding grooves  31  is smaller a groove interval between every two of the steering grooves  32 . In other words, the groove spacing of the sledding grooves  31  is smaller the groove spacing of the steering groove  32 . As shown in  FIG. 2B , the groove interval between every two of sledding grooves  31  is larger a groove interval between every two of the steering grooves  32 . In other words, the groove spacing of the sledding grooves  31  is larger the groove spacing of the steering groove  32 . 
     When the steering grooves  32  are aligned with the sledding grooves  31 , the supporting board  10  is controlled for sledding in a straight forwarding direction. In other words, the steering board  21  is remained at the original center position, the supporting board  10  will be sledded in a straight forwarding direction. The original center position of the steering board  21  is the position that the steering board  21  is not rotate neither in clockwise nor counter clockwise direction. When the steering board  21  is rotated to misalign the steering grooves  32  with the sledding grooves  31 , the supporting board  10  is controlled for making a turn. In particular, when the steering board  21  is rotated in the clockwise direction, the steering grooves  32  are moved in an inclined direction (to the right side) with respect to the sledding grooves  31 , as shown in  FIG. 4 . As a result, the supporting board  10  is controlled for making a right turn. Likewise, when the steering board  21  is rotated in the counter clockwise direction, the steering grooves  32  are moved in an inclined direction (to the left side) with respect to the sledding grooves  31 , as shown in  FIG. 5 . As a result, the supporting board  10  is controlled for making a left turn. It is worth mentioning that the rotatable angle of the steering board  21  can be defined as an inclination angle between the steering groove  32  and the sledding groove  31 . 
     According to the preferred embodiment, the steering control  20  further comprises a connection link  22  coupled the steering board  21  with the supporting board  10  to enable the steering board  21  to be self-rotated with respect to the supporting board  10 . As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4 , the connection link  22  has a triangular shape defining a front corner and two rear corners. 
     The connection link  22  comprises at least a rear affixing end  221  coupled at a front portion of the supporting board  10  and a front affixing end  222  rotatably coupled at the center of the steering board  21  to enable the steering broad  21  to be self-rotated at the center thereof. It is worth mentioning that the center of the steering board  21  is aligned along the centerline CL of the supporting board  10 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the rear affixing end  221  of the connection link  22  is defined at each of the rear corners thereof. Therefore, when the rear affixing ends  221  of the connection link  22  are affixed to the front portion of the supporting board  10  at the top side thereof, the connection link  22  is immovably affixed and frontwardly extended at the supporting board  10 . The front affixing end  222  of the connection link  22  is defined at the front corner thereof, wherein the front affixing end  222  of the connection link  22  is coupled at the center of the steering board  21  via a rotatable joint which also forms a rotatable shaft to enable the rotational movement of the steering board  21 . It is worth mentioning that the triangular shaped connection link  22  is preferably an isosceles triangle. 
     According to the preferred embodiment, the steering control  20  further comprises a guiding unit  23  for guiding the rotational movement of the steering board  21  and for limiting the rotational movement thereof so as to prevent the overturning of the supporting board  10 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 4 to 6 , the guiding unit  23  has an arc-shaped guiding slot  231  indented at a bottom side of the connection link  22  and comprises a limiting guider  232  which is upwardly protruded from the top side of the steering board  21  and is slidably engaged with the guiding slot  231 . The curvature of the guiding slot  231  matches with the arc of the steering board  21  to guide the rotational movement of the steering board  21  by the curvature of the guiding slot  231 . The guiding slot  231  further has a predetermined arc length to define two ends thereof, wherein the limiting guider  232  is slid along the guiding slot  231  between the two ends thereof to limit the rotational movement between two ends of the guiding slot  231 . In other words, when the steering board  21  is rotated in the clockwise direction, the limiting guider  232  is arranged to slide along the guiding slot  231  and is blocked by one of the ends of the guiding slot  231  so as to block the further rotational movement of the steering board  21  in the clockwise direction. Likewise, when the steering board  21  is rotated in the counter clockwise direction, the limiting guider  232  is arranged to slide along the guiding slot  231  and is blocked by the other end of the guiding slot  231  so as to block the further rotational movement of the steering board  21  in the counter clockwise direction. It is worth mentioning that when the steering board  21  is over-rotated, the supporting board  10  will be forced to make a sharp turn which may flip the supporting board  10  over. 
     It is appreciated that the guiding slot  231  can be indented and formed at the top side of the steering board  21  while the limiting guider  232  can be downwardly protruded from the bottom side of the connection link  22  in order to slidably engage with the guiding slot  231 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 3 , the rider is able to sit at the seated portion  11  of the supporting board  10 , wherein the feet of the rider can extend and rest at the steering board  21 . Preferably, the rider is able to rotate the steering board  21  by foot operation. Accordingly, the steering control  20  further comprises an operation unit for controllably operating the rotational movement of the steering board  21 . The operation unit comprises two foot pedals  24  spacedly provided at the top side of the steering board  21  to rotate the steering board  21  by foot operation. The foot pedals  24  comprises two heel steps  241  (left heel step and right heel step) upwardly protruded from the top side of the steering board  21  and defined two pushing surfaces  242  (left pushing surface and right pushing surface), wherein the heels of the rider can rest at the heel steps  241  respectively. Therefore, when the left foot of the rider pushes forwards at the left pushing surface  242 , the steering board  21  will be rotated in a clockwise direction. When the right foot of the rider pushes forwards at the right pushing surface  242 , the steering board  21  will be rotated in a counter clockwise direction. It is appreciated that the foot pedals  24  can be two pedal cavities (left pedal cavity and right pedal cavity) indent from the top side of the steering board  21  to define the pushing surfaces thereat, wherein the heels of the rider can rest at the heel cavities. When one of the pedal cavities is pushed by the foot of the rider, the steering board  21  is controlled to make a corresponding turn. 
     The rider is able to control the sled board of the present invention to sled at different sledding routes. For example, when making a right turn, the rider is able to push the left pushing surface  242  to rotate the steering board  21  in a clockwise direction. Then, by pushing the right pushing surface  242  to rotate the steering board  21  in a counter clockwise direction, the steering board  21  will be returned back to its original center position, such that the supporting board  10  will be sledded in a straight forwarding direction. The rider is able to sled in a zigzag sledding route by reciprocatingly pushing the left and right pushing surfaces  242  in order to reciprocatingly rotate the steering board  21  in clockwise and counter clockwise directions. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3A , the rider is able to lie on the supporting board  10 , wherein the hand of the rider can extend to the steering board  21 . Preferably, the rider is able to rotate the steering board  21  by hand operation. The hands of the rider can grip at the heel steps  241  respectively. Therefore, when the left hand of the rider pushes forwards at the left pushing surface  242 , the steering board  21  will be rotated in a clockwise direction. When the right hand of the rider pushes forwards at the right pushing surface  242 , the steering board  21  will be rotated in a counter clockwise direction. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates an alternative mode of the sled board according to the above preferred embodiment, wherein the structural configuration of the sled board is the same as the preferred embodiment, expect the connection link  22 ′ and the operation unit. 
     As shown in  FIG. 7 , the connection link  22 ′ has a V-shape defining a front vertex end and two rear free ends. The rear affixing end  221 ′ of the connection link  22 ′ is defined at each of the rear free ends thereof. Therefore, when the rear affixing ends  221 ′ of the connection link  22 ′ are affixed to the front portion of the supporting board  10  at the top side thereof, the connection link  22 ′ is immovably affixed and frontwardly extended at the supporting board  10 . The front affixing end  222 ′ of the connection link  22 ′ is defined at the front vertex end thereof, wherein the front affixing end  222 ′ of the connection link  22 ′ is coupled at the center of the steering board  21  via a rotatable joint which also forms a rotatable shaft to enable the rotational movement of the steering board  21 . 
     It is worth mentioning that the limiting guider  232  is upwardly protruded from the top side of the steering board  21  and is located between two inner edges  223 ′ of the V-shaped connection link  22 ′. Therefore, the two inner edges  223 ′ of the connection link  22 ′ function as the two ends of the guiding slot  221  of the above embodiment to block the limiting guider  232  and to limit the rotational movement of the steering board  21 . In other words, when the steering board  21  is rotated in the clockwise direction, the limiting guider  232  is blocked by one of the inner edges  223 ′ of the connection link  22 ′ so as to block the further rotational movement of the steering board  21  in the clockwise direction. Likewise, when the steering board  21  is rotated in the counter clockwise direction, the limiting guider  232  is blocked by the other inner edge  223 ′ of the connection link  22 ′ so as to block the further rotational movement of the steering board  21  in the counter clockwise direction. 
     As shown in  FIG. 7 , the operation unit comprises two controlling handles  24 ′ extended from the steering board  21  for being gripped by the rider&#39;s hands to rotate the steering board  21  by hand operation. Each of the controlling handles  24 ′ comprises a hand grip  241 ′ and an elongated cable  242 ′ having one end affixing to the steering board  21  and an opposed end affixing to the hand grip  241 ′. Therefore, the rider is able to grip the hand grips  241 ′ by two hands to operate the rotation of the steering board  21 . When the hand grip  241 ′ is pulled by the right hand of the rider, the steering board  21  will be rotated in the clockwise direction such that the supporting board  10  is controlled to make a right turn. When the hand grip  241 ′ is pulled by the left hand of the rider, the steering board  21  will be rotated in the counter clockwise direction such that the supporting board  10  is controlled to make a left turn. It is appreciated that the elongated cable  242 ′ is a length-adjustable cable such that the rider is able to adjust the length of the elongated cable  242 ′ to adjust the hand grip  241 ′ with a hand-reachable distance. Furthermore, the two heel steps  241  can be formed as two heel rests for the feet of the rider resting thereat respectively. 
     It should be appreciated that the steerable sled board of the present invention incorporates with a motorized propeller mounted at the supporting board  21  for propelling the supporting board  21  forward on a flat surface such that the rider is able to steer the steerable sled board via the steering control  22 . 
     One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting. 
     It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.