In the past there were two basically different types of skiing, one known as "downhill" and the other as "cross country" or, alternatively, "touring". Downhill skiing involves negotiating relatively steep slopes and getting up the mountain on some kind of T-bar, chair or gondola-equipped tow. Touring, on the other hand, is generally confined to flatter ground where no tow is required and the skier is free to go more or less wherever he or she wishes. While slight changes in the terrain are encountered, for the most part the hills are nowhere near as steep as found in downhill skiing even on the very easy runs.
As one might expect, not only does the terrain differ but the equipment and the techniques used are quite different from one another. Downhill skiing, for the most part, requires the skier to wear very stiff, high-topped boots made of plastic rather than leather and which allow for very little ankle movement. The skis are wide, especially contoured and cambered, and steel-edged so that the turns can be "carved" even in hard-packed snow. Even the poles are shorter and oftentimes have what is known as "baskets" of different design. Racers even use crooked poles where the baskets come close together behind the back thus cutting down wind resistance. High speeds are commonplance and the equipment permits one to turn quickly and accurately on even bumpy terrain laced with so-called "moguls" carved by expert skiers following the same track and wearing away the snow to produce tracks made up of successive turns, first one way and then another. For all practical purposes, almost no energy is expended in getting from one place to another on the mountain, just in the maneuvering in between.
By way of contrast, in cross country skiing, a great deal of energy is expended in getting where one wishes to go and very little in the turning, jumping and control of one's speed. The technique involves alternately pushing off with one ski and then the other with long gliding strides in between. To facilitate this gliding technique, the boots are very pliable, almost like bedroom slippers and the skis are long and quite narrow to lessen the weight and the resistance. The bindings unlike those used on downhill skis which tightly fasten the whole boot to the ski, are ones which make the connection with the ski only at the tip of the toe, usually with a set of three upstanding pins that fit into corresponding holes in the sole of the boot. The net result is that cross country skis, boots and bindings are ill-suited for downhill skiing because there is so little control that can be transferred from the foot to the ski through the minimal connection between the boot and binding so necessary for performing the proper glide over relatively level terrain.
In recent years, however, an increasing number of skiers have taken to a combination of the two types of skiing where cross country skis are being used in a downhill environment. Unfortunately, for all but the most expert of the skiers, the cross country equipment ordinarily used is totally inadequate to make the turns at a much higher speed on a steep hill that becomes a simple matter for a downhill skier of even minimal skill to execute with downhill equipment. The equipment differences are such that even the technique of executing a turn is unique and cells for what is known as a "telemark" turn to be made on cross country skis where the tip of the trailing ski lies alongside the foot secured to the lead ski which is maneuvered much like a rudder.
A need exists, therefore, for a better way of transferring the turning motion of the foot and ankle to the ski than is presently available without, at the same time, interfering with the forward flexibility so necessary for gliding over relatively flat terrain. Certain high-topped, but stiff-soled, flexible leather boots offer a partial solution to the control problem, however, much needs to be done in terms of a proper binding.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel and improved binding for use with cross country skis that provides the degree of control necessary when skiing steep terrain, yet which retains the flexibility required for gliding over and even up gentle slopes found in relatively flat country.
2. Description of the Related Art
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,734 to Bentley shows a flexible sole plate attached to the ski at the toe with no provision being made, at least in the binding itself, for the heelplate to move relative to the toe plate thus accommodating the fact that they will tend to move closer together as the heel is lifted. The Marker combination downhill and cross country binding shown in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,045, like that of Bentley, makes no provision for the heel connector to move relative to the toepiece when the heel is raised off the soleplate. In the cross country version of Zoor's binding shown in his Patent No. 4,134,603, there is only one transverse axis aboout which the heel lifts and it is forwardly of the toe. There is no axis of pivotal movement under the ball of the foot. Parish's U.S. Pat. No. 2,094,667, on the other hand, shows a transverse axis at the ball of the foot and none at the toe. It appears that the distance separating the heel connection and the aforementioned axis of pivotal movement remains fixed.
Swensen's binding shown in his Patent No. 2,758,846 allows the skier to shift the transverse hinge axis forwardly underneath the ball of the foot for touring and back underneath the heel for downhill skiing where the boot should not raise off the ski. Once adjusted, however, the tongue interconnecting the heel and toe pieces apparently does not move thus maintaining a fixed separation therebetween. The Kubelka et al Patent No. 4,050,716 employs a specially-designed two part ski boot in which the base portion is pinned by means of a transversely-extending pair of pins to a baseplate set on the ski. When used in the cross country mode, the heel connection to the boots ankle-encircling cuff is disconnected and the boot is permitted to rock forward to a limited degree about the single axis of pivotal movement defined by these pins. It appears that the cuff can also pivot relative to the toe-engaging portion of the boot about an axis at about the skier's ankle bone thus providing a second axis of pivotal movement located behind the first but forming no part of the binding.
The Loughney Patent No. 4,322,090 shows a combination downhill, cross country and so-called "alpine touring" ski binding which in the cross country or alpine touring mode functions much like that of the Zoor patent previously described in that the soleplate attached to the boot lifts and pivots about a single axis at the toe. Of all the prior art patents known to applicant, the closest would appear to be that of Hausleithner No. 4,088,342 which also shows a combination cross country and downhill binding, but one having two transverse axes of pivotal movement, one at the toe and a second in the area of the ball of the foot. The spacing between the aforementioned second axis of pivotal movement and the heelpiece, while adjustable, appears to remain fixed once adjusted to accommodate the skier's boot. No provision is made for yieldably elongating the portion of the binding between this second axis of pivotal movement and the heelpiece as the boot bends at the ball of the foot nor does it appear to be necessary in that the boot does not appear to bend in this area, but rather, be of the stiff-soled downhill type.