US2596733A - Skiing pole - Google Patents

Description

May 13, 1952 slBNER 2,596,733

SKIING POLE Filed May 28, 1948 INVENTOR.

Patented May 13, 1952 UNITED rss PATENT QFFICE 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to skiing poles, and more particularly to skiing poles possessing improved characteristics of better balance, uniform flexibility and substantially longer useful life.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a skiing pole constructed in such manner as to afford protection to the skier from being hurt or injured by the. pointed prong located at the end of the ski pole. The skiing pole, furthermore, is designed in such a manner as to substantially protect and eliminate danger to other skiers if the user of this skiing pole should fall while skiing.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a skiing pole constructed in such manner as to afford protection from the pointed end of the prong while carrying the skiing pole, when not skiing.

Other and further objects residing in the details of construction of this skiing pole will be apparent from the following specification and claim. In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the embodiment of the invention,

Fig. l is a side elevationalview of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view, substantially in section;

Fig. 3 is a rear inverse cross section along the line 33, Fig. 2,

It is a requirement that skiing poles be light in weight and that said poles possess a certain degree of flexibility or transverse resilience in order to be suitable for use. The poles have commonly been constructed with bamboo shafts, Wood, metal rings interrelated to wood, and from partial wood and metal constructions. Poles constructed in this manner, while possessing a slight degree of flexibility, yet do not possess flexibility to the extent to which it is desired, nor can these poles be bent uniformly, as the interlocking of the steel and wood members, or the existing joint of the knuckles or rings at the natural bent of the bamboo will burst upon exertion or stress. been found suitable, because the pole is required to have a certain amount Of strength, and to obtain this strength in steel the weight of the pole would have to be increased to an extent where the pole would be unsuitable for use beof heaviness and lack of resilience.

A feature of the present invention resides in employing a cylindrical aluminum tube in order to form the pole. The cylindrical aluminum tube will provide the necessary required strength without adding an undue amount of weight to the Steel or other metals have not pole. Furthermore, the use of the uniform cylindrical aluminum tube provides a pole of controlled and uniform resilience.

Referring now to the drawings, I designates the shaft comprised of the cylindrical aluminum tube. On the lower cylindrical portion thereof, a collar 6 is attached. At the end of the shaft, there is an open-end chamber 3 adapted to hold and contain the retractable sharp ski prong 4. The collar 6 serves as a connecting member for the customary snow-contact ring 5.

At the top end of the shaft is located the hand strap 1 with the adjustable buckle 8, and also the flexible leather cover 9 for covering the movable handle arrangement III. The movable handle arrangement I0 consists of hinge-levers I2 and IZx, to which is pivoted an intermediate pressure-bar. The hinge-lever l 2 is formed with a finger which projects inwardly of the shaft through a slot therein. A spring I3 engages the top I4 of a rod I5, which rod I5 terminates in the retractable sharp ski prong 4. The finger of hinge lever I2 abuts the top of rod I5. When the handle member I 0 is moved in an upward vertical direction by means of pressure exerted by the hand of the skier, the prong 4 is extend through the pole opening 3. By releasing the manual pressure upon the handle member ID, the spring I3 will automatically retract the rod I5 thus retracting the prong 4.

The skiing pole thus formed, as above described, is capable of sustaining a bending load, when applied, of up to six hundred pounds, which is a sufiicient load capacity for all ordinary purposes. Thus, the tubular shaft is capable of sustaining a bending load substantially in excess I of that ordinarily sustained by bamboo poles. The retractable prong of the ski pole affords protection from injury to the skier because it requires projection by positive hand action of the skier and is automatically retracted when such action is released.

The aluminum tubing employed in the construction of the shaft gives the skier a better balance while skiing and the safety features set forth are of importance in eliminating the large number of accidents commonly caused by means of the ski prong. In actual use, ski poles constructed in accordance with this invention have proved to be superior to poles of the present art, both in operation and desirability.

Having set forth my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

A ski pole comprising in combination a tubular shaft, a rod. having a point slidably mounted within said tubular shaft, a spring normally retracting said rod, with the point held inwardly of the shaft, lever means engaging'the upper end of the rod and operable in opposition to said spring, a hollow handle enclosing said lever means, said handle having a flexible wall portion adjacent said lever means and movable laterally inwardly so as to engage and actuate the latter in responseto manuallgripping pressure applied 10 Number" to the handle member.

MARVIN SIBNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,204,469 Birkhofer June 11, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Country; Date 153,861.: Austria July 25, 1938 181,839 Switzerland Mar. 16, 1936 334,915 Germany Mar. 22, 1921

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