US3529818A - Ski training device - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 22, 1970 s. A. AIJALA SKI TRAINING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Aug. 6, 1968 INVENTOR SULO A. AIJALA flaw Wm ATTORNEYS p 7 s. A. AIJALA 3,529,818

SKI TRAINING DEVICE Filed Aug. 6. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f2 57 43 r I 4/ |NVENTOR SULO A. AlJALA Mia ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,529,818 SKI TRAINING DEVICE Sulo A. Aijala, Attleboro, Mass., assignor to Intricate Machine & Engineering Inc., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Aug. 6, 1968, Ser. No. 750,609 Int. Cl. A63b 21/04, 23/04 U.S. Cl. 272-57 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A ski training device having a foot supporting carriage for each foot of the user. Attached to the underside of the carriage are downwardly extending pins which pass through arcuate slots in the deck of the base and said pins bear against arms rotatably mounted in the base. The carriages are rotatably mounted on spindles extending upwardly through the deck of the base and enable the feet to be relatively moved from a position parallel to each other to position with the toes turned out or toes turned in or swung together from a parallel position either to the right or left with all the relative movements of the pins attached to the bottom of the carriages directed against said rotatable arms and said movements being resisted by springs attached to the arms.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In skiing many muscles are used which do not in the ordinary course of living develop to the extent necessary to properly ski, and this apparatus is for use in strengthening those muscles used in sking and for simulating the conditions of actual ski operation. Various attempts have been made to provide a foot exerciser to strengthen the muscles used in certain torsion movements in skiing which have often resulted in rather complicated mechanisms or mechanisms which did not achieve the desired result. If complicated the expense was so increased as to make them prohibitive to all but a few.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A base which is raised from a support by downwardly extending flanges has on its upper surface two pivotally mounted foot supporting carriages which are adjustable for varying sizes of shoes or feet. The carriages are restrained in their pivotal movement by springs located beneath the base with some means extending from the carriage through the base and connected to the springs beneath. The springs may be adjusted for varying tensions and the amount of tension may be indicated by slots in the flanges with pins extending through the slots to show the position of the springs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the two foot supporting carriages mounted on the upper face of the base;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view through one of the foot supporting carriages and the base generally on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view through the end portion of one of the foot supporting carriages;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the mechanism on the undersurface of the base;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are plan views illustrating certain positions of the two carriages.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to the drawings, 10 designates generally the base which consists of a deck plate 11 from which "ice side flanges 12 and end flanges 13 extend downwardly to provide a hollow under portion which houses certain of the mechanism of the apparatus and support the deck 11 spaced above the floor. Also extending downwardly from the deck 11 there is a cylindrical tubular bearing member 14, there being two of these generally positioned on the central lengthwise line of the base and spaced from each other so as to be near the ends of the base.

Two foot supporting carriages (see FIG. 2) each consist of a bar 21 having a spindle 22 secured to its underside by a threaded screw 23, this spindle 22 extending into the bearing 14 to be pivotally mounted therein. A spacer 24 holds the bar above the deck 11. At the opposite ends of the bar 21 there are mounted means for laterally confining the foot and centralizing the same on the bar which are designated 25 and are shown in greater detail in FIG. 3. These means 25 comprise a pair of arms 26 each formed with a channel 27, one channel facing upwardly and the other channel facing downwardly so as to receive the bar 21 in the space formed between them. Blocks 29 and 30 are located on the upper face of the upper member 26 while bolts 31 extend through the blocks and both members 26 so as to draw the members 26 toward each other to grip the bar 21 and secure the blocks to the upper members 26. Nuts 32 are located in channels 33 of a width to prevent the nuts 32 from turning and so that the threads 34 of the bolts 31 may be turned by a slotted head 35 to provide the tightening action. By this arrangement the blocks 29 and 30 may be arranged at a desired angle to each other and they may be moved along the slots 36 toward and from each other for desired adjustment. Likewise, the members 26 may be moved along the bar 21 so that the desired length distance of a foot may be accommodated. Both carriages 20 are essentially the same.

Arcuate slots 40 and 41 are provided on either side of the bearing 14 to receive pins 42 and 43 which are secured to bar 21 by screws 44 and 45. Thus, as the bar 21 swings on its pivot, the pins 42 and 43 will swing in the arcuate slots 40 and 41.

Beneath the deck 11 an arm having a hub 51 is pivotally mounted on the outer surface of the bearing 14. The pin 42 is of such a length as to engage this arm when moving in slot 40 toward the nearest flange 13. Also there is an arm 52 mounted by its hub 53 on the outer surface of this bearing 14. Pin 43 is of such a length as to engage the arm 52 when moving in slot 41 toward the nearest flange 13. A spring 55 is secured to the end 56 of arm 52 while the other end of the spring is secured to a nut 57 threadedly engaging the shaft 58 which extends through the flange 13 and has a handle 59 with a hub 60 engaging the outer surface of the flange so that the tension of the spring may be varied. A pin 61 secured to the nut 57 extends through a slot 62 in the flange 12 so as to indicate by the indicia 63 the tension of the spring.

A spring 65 is similarly attached to the end 66 of arm 50 and may be similarly attached by a nut to shaft 67 and its tension adjusted by handle 68 with its hub 69 engaging flange 13, the tension being observed by pin 70 indicating through slot 71.

Stops 72 limit the movement of the arms 50 and 52 under action of the springs 55, 65 while the elbow shape of the arms 50, 52 provide an abutment 73 to engage the flange 13 and limit the movement of the arms in the 0pposite direction. The other foot supporting carriage is similarly spring controlled by springs 55 and 65'. A plate supports hubs 51 and 53 in position and is held on the spindle 22 by a spring ring 81 in a recess in the spindle.

By this arrangement as a carriage is pivoted in one direction one of the pins urges an arm to pull on a spring beneath the deck of the base resisting such pivotal movement, while the other pin of the carriage moves freely without being restrained by spring action whereas when the carriage is pivoted in the other direction, the previ ously free-moving in presses against its arm to cause a tension on the spring connected to such arm While the first-mentioned pin moves freely in its slot. Also as each of the foot carriages is independent of the other, the feet may be placed in a parallel position and pivoted to move the heels toward each other or away from each other, while at the same time the toes may be swung away from each other or toward each other or if it is preferred both feet may be moved either clockwise or counterclockwise with thier axes maintaining a generally parallel relation, and by this arrangement all of the torsional action of the feet and legs may be assumed either together or separately or oppositely as is desired against the resistive movement of springs which may be set for a light tension to begin with but tightened up as the muscles are strengthened to apply a greater resistive movement.

I claim:

1. A device for simulating the conditions of actual skiing comprising a base, a pair of generally parallel spindles supported by said base and rotatably mounted on axes generally perpendicular to said base, a foot supporting carriage secured to each spindle, arms each pivotally mounted on said base, a spring connected to each arm, means connecting each carriage to one of said arms to move the arm against the action of the spring connected thereto, said carriage is on one side of the base and said arms and springs are on the other side of said base, said base is provided with arcuate slots and the means connecting said carriage and arms comprises pins extending through said slots.

2. A device as in claim 1 wherein said arms are pivotally mounted co-axial with said spindles.

3. A device as in claim 1 wherein means are provided to vary the tension of each spring.

4. A device as in claim 1 with means to pre-stress said spring.

5. A device as in claim 1 with adjustable means on the said foot supporting carriages for securely holding the different sized feet of the users.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,206,902 7/ 1940 Kost 27257 2,230,033 1/1941 Hackett 27257 3,374,782 3/1968 Izzo 27257 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner R. W. DIAZ, JR., Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 27283

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