Ste Look

Ste Look, French Societe Anonyme

Henri Peyre

Jean J Beyl

Jean Bernard

Daniel Le Faou

Rene Guerreau

Christian Campillo

Louis Andrieu

Patrice Viodet

Roland Bardin

Philippe Buzon

Daniel LeFaou

Jackie Cursillat

Jacky Veniat

The heel hold-down device, notably for safety ski bindings, comprises a fixed body, a tilting heel retaining member, a control lever, and an elastic mechanism incorporating an axial coil compression spring. The fixed body has two lateral vertical walls and is operatively connected to a movable U-shaped piston of which the two flat side arms are adapted to slide parallel to the vertical walls of the body. The heel retaining member is pivoted to the side arms of the piston by means of a pair of trunnions engaging registering holes formed in the side walls of the heel retaining member and in the piston arms. The trunnions are also slidably engaged in longitudinal slots formed in the lateral walls of the fixed body.

Heel hold-down device for safety ski bindings

A resilient mechanism for maintaining the jaw unit of a safety ski binding in the normal boot-retaining position includes two vertical flat faces extending transversely on a stationary jaw-unit support. Two flat cams applied against the flat faces by a single spring consist respectively of a bearing surface of the jaw-unit body and of a small bearing plate carried by a rod on which the jaw-unit body is slidably mounted. The rod is slidably mounted within a knuckle-bearing orifice of the stationary support and is thus capable of pivotal displacement with the jaw unit in all directions on the stationary support.

Safety ski binding

The operating pedal of a ski brake is directly pivoted about a cross-pin carried by the ski and mounted on the pedal at the end remote from the bearings which receive the elbowed extensions formed on the control ends of the braking arms. The braking ends of the arms are joined to the control ends by means of central portions which are capable of sliding on the top face of the ski during pivotal movements of the operating pedal about its cross-pin.

Ski brake

A ski binding of the multidirectional-trip type for obtaining a reduction in elastic resistance to rotational displacement in the event of a thrust exerted by the ski boot and in the event of upward disengagement of the boot. The ski binding comprises a boot-retaining jaw unit pivotally mounted for vertical displacement on a body which is rotatably mounted on a vertical pivot. The rotary body is maintained in the normal position by a resilient mechanism comprising two flat faces formed on opposite sides of the pivot. A bearing surface formed on the rotary body and a piston housed within the body are applied respectively against the two flat faces by a single spring. The jaw unit is provided with guide ramps and maintained in the normal position by a cross-pin the ends of which are in contact with the ramps.

A supporting device which is adjustable for height in order to adapt ski bindings to the thickness of ski-boot soles comprises a control member guided for longitudinal sliding motion within a stationarily fixed base plate. The control member cooperates with a support plate by means of stair-step surfaces having inclined risers. The longitudinal displacement of the control member produces a vertical displacement of the support plate by wedge effect.

Variable-height device for supporting a boot on a ski

The safety ski binding is primarily intended to retain the toe end of a ski boot and comprises a yoke pivotally mounted on a cross-pin in a stationary hollow body. The jaw unit for retaining the ski boot is guided in longitudinal sliding motion within the yoke. The jaw unit is provided with semi-cylindrical grooves directed towards the ski boot and having the function of cooperating with support rods attached to the yoke. The jaw unit is also associated with a cylindrical roller which is directed away from the ski boot and is intended to cooperate with a locking lever. The ski binding provides compensation for the parasitic friction forces which arise from complex falling movements involving forward-fall and twisting motion as well as backward-fall and twisting motion.

The braking arms of the ski brake are carried solely by an operating pedal which is pivoted to the ski about a transverse axis. The corresponding control ends of the braking arms are elbowed so as to form a V, the point of which is directed away from the braking shoes and/or away from the top face of the ski. The control ends are rotatably mounted within bores having the same angular orientation and formed in the operating pedal. By means of an elastic plug applied against a flat face formed in each control end, the braking arms are caused to rotate upon completion of an upward displacement and the active ends of the arms are automatically restored to their inwardly withdrawn position above the ski.

A toe-abutment member providing safety ski boot release in the event of a backward-fall movement combined with a twisting movement of the skier's leg comprises a fixed locking member having an inclined ramp and an abutment body pivotally mounted on a cross-pin. The jaw unit for retaining the toe end of the ski boot is movably mounted within the abutment body and carries a transverse rod which is applied against the ramp by means of a spring-loaded piston.

Safety toe-abutment member for a ski

A pivotal control flap carried by the top section of one ski-braking arm is connected to an identical flap carried by the other braking arm by means of a top arcuate member. Each flap has two separate bores forming swivel-bearings respectively for the top section of the corresponding arm and for the respective leg of the arcuate connecting member. The angle made by the bores with respect to each other is such that the pivotal displacement of the two flaps under the pressure of the ski boot produces a movement of relative inward withdrawal of the bottom sections of the braking arms when they are in the raised position.

The toe abutment member of a ski binding is adapted to cooperate with a ski boot provided with a sole having a truncated front end and a toe-cap extension in overhung relation to the truncated front end. The abutment member comprises a feeler element placed directly beneath the toe-cap extension of the ski boot in close proximity to the toe-cap extension under normal skiing conditions. In the event of a forward fall, the feeler element undergoes a vertical displacement in the downward direction under the thrust exerted by said extension while producing a reduction in inherent stiffness of release of the toe abutment member.

Ski-binding toe abutment member for a ski boot having a truncated sole

The control ends of two pivotal braking arms have elbowed extensions rotatably mounted in bearings provided on or within an operating pedal. In the active braking position of the pivotal arms, the axes of the elbowed extensions form a V having a downwardly-directed point and the braking ends of the pivotal arms are outwardly displaced with respect to each other on each side of the ski. In the withdrawn position, the braking ends are close together and set back with respect to the sides of the ski. However a tension spring tends to produce a pivotal displacement of the operating pedal with respect to the pivotal arms to an angular position such that the braking ends are spaced at a sufficient distance to pass on each side of the ski.

A ski brake is provided with two braking arms pivotally mounted in bearings disposed transversely with respect to the ski. The braking arms are downwardly inclined towards the interior of the ski and joined together by means of a resilient stirrup-piece located above the ski and capable of undergoing resilient flexural deformation in its own plane. The stirrup-piece is connected to the braking arms by means of pivot-pins in the form of rivets, the axes of which are located at right angles to the plane of the stirrup-piece.

A ski brake comprising two pivotal arms having intermediate elbowed portions pivotally mounted in fixed bearings about an axis transverse to the ski, an operating pedal and a spring for restoring the pivotal arms to their braking position. A flexible and resilient metallic strip provides a connection between the control ends of the braking arms, is secured to an operating pedal actuated by the ski boot and is subjected to the action of a restoring spring and traction member. The ends of the resilient strip are fixed in cylindrical sleeves which are rotatably mounted on the control ends. When a boot is in position within the safety ski binding and the ski brake is therefore in a standby position of withdrawal above the ski, the resilient strip has a flat configuration and is located in practically the same plane as the traction member, thus preventing the appearance of a parasitic stress which would otherwise be liable to interfere with the operation of the ski binding.

The toe abutment member comprises a jaw unit pivotally mounted on the ski and consisting of two lateral arms adapted to cooperate with the front portion of the ski boot in order to maintain the boot in the axis of the ski, and a resilient device housed within the body of the abutment member for locking the arms in the boot-retaining position with a predetermined stiffness of release. The toe abutment member essentially comprises in addition a feeler member placed in contact with the front portion of the ski boot and adapted to cooperate with the resilient device to reduce the stiffness of release at the time of a forward-fall position and/or when an axial thrust is exerted on the ski boot. The jaw unit is mounted on the body for pivotal displacement about a transverse horizontal axis, and the feeler member is also mounted for rotation about a transverse horizontal axis so as to produce action on the resilient device by reducing its stiffness of release in the further event of a backward-fall position of the skier.

Growing community of inventors

Nevers, France

Henri Peyre