Patent ID: 7887084

Claim:
A safety binding assembly for securing a heel portion of a ski boot to a ski, comprising: a lower heel assembly attached to the ski, the lower assembly including a surface having a first plurality of cams disposed on either side of a longitudinal and vertical plane of the ski; and an upper heel assembly coupled to the lower heel assembly, including (i) a heel cup assembly for applying longitudinal securing pressure to the ski boot; (ii) a lateral release assembly for applying lateral securing pressure to the ski boot, the lateral release assembly including a surface having a second plurality of cams, corresponding to and facing the first plurality of cams, disposed on either side of a longitudinal and vertical plane of the ski; (iii) a vector decoupling assembly for separating and isolating two or more force vectors applied to the safety binding assembly; and, (iv) a lateral heel biasing component for biasing the surface having the second plurality of cams against the surface having the first plurality of cams wherein the lateral release assembly is constructed and arranged to pivot in a lateral and horizontal plane of the ski, against a force applied by the lateral heel biasing component, about any one of a plurality of cam axes each defined by a contact point of one of the first plurality of cams and one of the second plurality of cams, such that a lateral force applied to the heel portion of the ski boot in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal and vertical plane of the ski causes the lateral release assembly to progressively pivot about consecutive cams, producing an incrementally increasing force opposing the lateral force applied to the heel portion of the ski boot, until the lateral release assembly rotates beyond a predetermined cam axis and releases the ski boot.