Safety rotatable snowboard boot binding

• US 6,203,051 B1
• Filed: 05/06/2000
• Issued: 03/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Jeffrey Sabol
• Original Assignee: Jeffrey P. Sabol
• Inventors: Sabol, Jeffrey P.
• Primary Examiner(s): MAR, MICHAEL Y
• Application Number:
  US09/565,859
• Time in Patent Office: 318 Days
• Field of Search: 403/116, 403/103, 403/104, 411/354, 269/57, 269/67, 269/69, 269/82, 280/607, 280/617, 280/618, 280/633, 280/634, 280/14.21, 280/14.22, 280/14.24
• US Class Current: 280/607
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 10/14 Interfaces, e.g. in the shape of a plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63C 10/18 about a vertical rotation axis relative to the board
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32418 Plural distinct positions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/32581 Pin and slot

Abstract

A base plate is secured to any existing snowboard with screws or bolts through holes in the base plate mating with the standard holes in the snowboard. A rotatable plate has a wide groove to receive a standard existing boot binding and the two have circular openings which fit rotatably over a protruding circular guide post on the base plate. A cap plate with mating holes and a protruding bottom circular plate extends through the boot binding and rotatable plate openings to contact the guide post on the base plate with the screws or bolts passing through all the mating holes to the snowboard. An elevated rim around the cap plate fits within a circular groove of the boot binding to allow the boot binding and rotatable plate to rotate relative to the cap plate. A low-friction ring has bottom teeth to fit within the teeth of the boot binding and a top low-friction top surface to contact the cap plate. A two-position locking shaft may be locked with the locking shaft inserted in any of the lock holes in a lock ring around the perimeter of the base plate to secure the boot binding at a desired angle to the snowboard and alternately locked with the locking shaft out of the lock holes so that the binding rotates freely. A spring may bias the locking shaft in the locked position. Alternately a spring biased shaft may be lifted out of the locked position and released to return to the locked position by the force of the spring. The lock ring is elevated above the snowboard to allow the lock holes to drain to prevent icing of the lock holes. A protruding pin from the rotatable plate fits within an arc of a circular groove in the base plate to limit the degree of rotation of the snowboard boot for safety. Springs between the pin and the circular groove may control the rotation therebetween.

Claims

1. A snowboard boot binding attachment device for securing a snowboard boot binding to a snowboard and for permitting angular adjustment of the snowboard boot binding relative to the snowboard, comprising:

a pair of rigid plates including a circular base plate adapted to be secured to the snowboard and a rotatable plate for receiving the snowboard boot binding to be secured thereto, the rotatable plate being positioned above the base plate and being rotatably connected to the base plate; and

a locking assembly for locking the rotatable plate in selected positions of angular adjustment relative to the base plate and for selectively maintaining the rotatable plate in either a locked mode, in which the rotatable plate is prevented from rotating relative to the base plate or a released mode, in which the rotatable plate is free to rotate relative to the base plate, the locking assembly including a locking ring formed by a plurality of locking holes extending through a circumferential portion of the base plate, an opening extending through the rotatable plate and alignable with the locking holes in the selected positions of angular adjustment, and a locking shaft capable of alternating between a locked position extending through the opening of the rotatable plate into one of the plurality of locking holes in the base plate to retain the rotatable plate in the locked mode wherein rotation of the rotatable plate is prevented, and an unlocked position with the locking shaft retracted from the one of the plurality of locking holes in the base plate to put the rotatable plate in the released mode, thereby permitting angular adjustment of the snowboard boot binding relative to the snowboard, the locking assembly further including a locking base attached to the rotatable plate, a sleeve threadedly received within the locking base, and locking members depending from the sleeve, the sleeve being slidably fitted over the locking shaft and being nonrotatable relative to the locking shaft, the sleeve being rotatable relative to the locking base upon rotation of the locking shaft, and the locking members preventing sliding movement of the locking shaft relative to the sleeve upon selective rotation of the locking shaft for maintaining the locking shaft in the unlocked position and the rotatable plate in the released mode, thereby permitting free rotational movement of the rotatable plate relative to the base plate;

a safety means incorporated in the base plate and the rotatable plate, the safety means capable of limiting the degree of relative rotation therebetween to permit the snowboard boot to turn within a safe limit and prevent the snowboard boot from turning beyond the safe limit, the safety means comprising one of the pair of rigid plates having a groove therein in the shape of an arc of a circle and the other of the pair of the rigid plates having a mating pin protruding therefrom, the pin engaging the groove and thereby limiting the degree of relative rotation of the rigid plates to the degree of the arc of the circular groove.

2. The device of claim 1 further comprising at least one elastic element interconnecting the rotatable plate and the base plate to regulate the rotation of the rotatable plate relative to the base plate.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein the at least one elastic element comprises at least one spring inserted in the groove in contact with the pin, the at least one spring capable of regulating the rate of the rotation of the rotatable plate and biasing the rotatable plate to return to a single angular orientation relative to the base plate.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein a pair of springs are inserted in the groove with one spring on each side of the pin.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein the locking shaft comprises a rigid shaft and a shaft elastic element between the rigid shaft and the rotatable plate biasing the rigid shaft in the locked position.

6. The device of claim 5 wherein the shaft elastic element comprises a spring.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein the locking shaft further comprises an elastic element communicating between the locking shaft and the rotatable plate biasing the locking shaft into the locked position upon release from the unlocked position.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein the arc of the circular groove is 100 degrees.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the locking shaft is provided at its top end with a T-shaped handle protruding above the rotatable plate.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the locking ring having the locking holes therein is elevated above the snowboard so that fluids may drain from the locking holes and icing of the locking holes is prevented.

11. The device of claim 1 further comprising a roller bearing between the rotatable plate and the base plate to facilitate rotation therebetween.

12. The device of claim 1 further comprising a cap plate for securing the boot binding and the rotatable plate to the base plate so that the boot binding and rotatable plate are rotatable relative to the base plate and the cap plate.

13. The device of claim 12 wherein the rotatable plate and the boot binding further comprise mating circular openings therethrough and the cap plate further comprises an elevated peripheral rim and a downwardly protruding circular bottom smaller in diameter than the mating circular openings so that the downwardly protruding circular bottom of the cap plate is capable of fitting in the mating circular openings and contacting the base plate to which the cap plate is secured, while the elevated peripheral rim of the cap plate is sufficiently elevated above the boot binding so that the rotatable plate and the boot binding are rotatable relative to the base plate and the cap plate, with the rotatable plate and the boot binding sandwiched therebetween.

14. The device of claim 13 wherein the boot binding further comprises a ring of upwardly protruding teeth around an edge of the circular opening and further comprising a low-friction ring having a bottom ring of downwardly protruding teeth which are capable of meshing with the ring of upwardly protruding teeth of the boot binding and the low-friction ring having a top low-friction surface, the low-friction ring capable of being inserted between the cap plate and the boot binding so that the top low-friction surface of the low-friction ring slidably engages the elevated peripheral rim of the cap plate.

15. The device of claim 14 further comprising a roller bearing between the cap plate and the low-friction ring to facilitate rotation therebetween.

16. The device of claim 15 further comprising a roller bearing between the rotatable plate and the base plate to facilitate rotation therebetween.

17. The device of claim 1 wherein the base plate further comprises an elevated circular guide post protruding from the top center of the base plate and the rotatable plate is provided with a circular opening therein larger in diameter than the guide post and the elevated guide post is capable of receiving the circular opening of the rotatable plate to guide the mounting of the rotatable plate onto the base plate in a desired orientation.

18. The device of claim 1 wherein the rotatable plate further comprises a wide groove in the top surface of the rotatable plate to accommodate the snowboard boot binding therein.

19. The device of claim 1 wherein the rotatable plate further comprises an elevated information surface capable of displaying information thereon visible on the top of the rotatable plate.