Method and device for applying a covering by sticking it on the upper face of a ski

Abstract

 The covering 2 fixed on the upper face of a ski 1 and particularly consisting of an adhesive plastics foil, initially has such a width dimension that covers the longitudinal upper corners of the ski 1, and has then its sides trimmed by means of cuts made in correspon­dence of the upper surface of the ski 1, parallely to the longitudinal corners thereof, at a slightly inward position with respect to said corners, the cut side portions of the covering 2 being subsequently removed.
For such a trimming, use is made of a blade comprising a handle 3, a blade 4 protruding from the handle 3, and a projecting blade-guiding part 5 extending from the handle 3 beside the blade 4, beyond the sharp edge thereof. The said projecting blade-guiding part 5 is so spaced apart from the blade 4 that when it is caused to bear against one longitudinal side edge of a ski 1, the sharp edge of blade 4, turned toward the upper face of the ski 1, is at a distance from the respective longitudinal upper corner of said ski 1.

Description

[0001] The object of the invention is a method of applying a covering by sticking it on the upper face of a ski. The object of the invention furthermore is a device for carrying out the said method, and a ski with its upper face provided with a covering that has been applied accor­ding to the said method, preferably with the aid of said device.

[0002] The invention aims to permit the application of a covering on the upper face of a ski pair, which is stuck thereon and consists of a covering foil mainly of plastics material, particularly a self-adhesive foil, or the like, and wich is meant for giving the ski pair a peculiar aesthetic appearance and/or for concealing any marks of wear or injury.

[0003] According to the invention, on the upper face of a ski a covering is stuck, which initially has a width dimension such as to cover the longitudinal upper corners of the ski, and which then has its sides trimmed by means of cuts made in correspondence of the upper surface of the ski, along the longitudinal corners of said surface, at a slightly inward position with respect to said corners, the cut side portions of the covering being subsequently removed.

[0004] For carrying out this method, the invention provides a device which consists of a knife comprising a handle, a blade protruding from the handle, and a projecting blade-guiding part extending from the handle beside the blade, beyond the sharp edge thereof, and which is so spaced apart from the blade that when the projecting blade-carrying part is caused to bear against one longitu­dinal side edge of a ski, the sharp edge of the blade, turned toward the upper face of the ski, is at a distance from the respective longitudinal upper corner of said ski.

[0005] One embodiment of the invention is shown in the annexed drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a device for carrying out the method according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view showing the use of the device illustrated in Figure 1, for carrying out the method according to the invention.

[0006] In Figure 2 numeral 1 denotes the body of a ski to be provided on its upper face with a covering for hiding any marks of wear and/or giving the ski a peculiar appearance. The covering consists, for example, of an adhesive or self-adhesive plastics foil 2 which is stuck on the ski. The said covering foil 2 initially has a width dimension which is greater than the width of the ski 1, so that once the foil has been applied and stuck, the same not only covers the entire upper surface of the ski 1, but also the longitudinal upper corners thereof, and extends downwardly from said corners, so as to adhere on the longitudinal side edges of the ski 1, as shown with solid lines in the left-hand side of Figure 2, and with dash-and-dot lines in the right-­hand side of said Figure 2.

[0007] Then the covering foil 2 having been thus applied to the ski 1, is trimmed, that is, it has both of its sides cut in correspondence of the surface of ski 1, along and parallelly to the longitudinal corners thereof, at a position more or less away from these corners in the direction of the median longitudinal axis of the ski 1.

[0008] Finally, the strips cut from the sides of the covering foil 2 are removed, i.e., they are detached and withdrawn, so that both the longitudinal side edges and the respective upper corners of the ski will be again exposed. A ski 1 is thus obtained, with its upper face provided with a screening and/or peculiar covering made, for example, of an adhesive plastics foil 2, and having a width dimension which is smaller than the width of the ski 1, so that in the transversal direction this covering terminates at a short distance from the longitudinal upper corners thereof, whereby the said covering cannot become detached, raised, or broken, as it would occur if the longitudinal lateral borders of the covering foil 2 should extend also on the longitudinal upper corners and the longitudinal side edges of the ski 1.

[0009] The above-disclosed method also permits to apply the covering foil 2 to a ski 1 without having to specially profile beforehand the covering foil 2, and without having to perform any particular operation for exactly aligning the longitudinal borders of said foil 2 with the longitudi­nal edges of the ski 1, thence with no particular care and exertion, and nextly permits by means of a simple longitudinal trimming of the foil sides, to correctly adjust the outline of the covering foil 2 to the shape of the ski 1, and to obtain a precise parallelism and spaced apart relation between the longitudinal borders of the applied covering foil 2 and the longitudinal upper corners of the ski 1. Moreover, a covering foil 2 of a suitable width can be used for variously wide ski 1.

[0010] Preferably, a device is used for longitudinally trimming the sides of the covering foil 2 having been applied to the ski 1, and this device consists of a knife comprising a handle 3 and a blade 4 protruding from one and of handle 3, and preferably having a pointed-end sharp edge. From handle 3, a projecting blade-guiding part 5 extends parallely to the blade 4 at a certain distance therefrom, and is longer than the blade 4, so that it protrudes from the handle 3 beyond the free end of said blade 4.

[0011] To trim the covering foil 2 having been applied to the ski 1, the projecting blade-guiding part 5 of the knife is caused to bear against the respective longitu­dinal side edge of the ski 1, while the pointed-end sharp edge of blade 4 pierces the covering foil 2 in correspon­dence of the upper face of the ski 1, at a certain distance from the respective longitudinal upper corner thereof, as shown in the left-hand side of Figure 2. The knife is then moved along the ski 1, and its projecting blade-­ guiding part 5 is kept always bearing against the longitu­dinal side edge of said ski 1. Such a trimming therefore is extremely accurate and fast, and can be effected with no difficulty even by unskilled persons.

[0012] The distance of the cut and then of the longitudinal lateral border of the covering foil 2 from the respective longitudinal upper corner of the ski 1, depends on the distance between the blade 4 and the projecting blade-­guiding part 5. In order to have an alterable distance, the above-disclosed knife may be also made in such a manner as to permit to modify within certain limits the distance between the blade 4 and the projecting blade-­guiding part 5. To this end, the knife may, for exemple, consist of a U-bent lamina with one of its arms being shorter and having its estremity made in form of a blade, or carrying a blade, while its other arm is longer and its extremity constitutes or carries the projecting blade-­guiding part, and the distance between the two arms can be modified by means of a forcing-apart screw.

[0013] Of course the blade 4 may be secured, such as in the shown embodiment, to the handle 3 either in a fixed or exchangeable manner, with the aid of any suitable means.

Claims

1. A method of applying a covering by sticking it on the upper face of a ski, which particularly consists of an adhesive foil of plastics material, or the like, characterized in that on the upper face of a ski (1) a covering (2) is stuck, which initially has a width dimension such as to cover the longitudinal upper corners of the ski, and which then has its sides trimmed by means of cuts made in correspondence of the upper surface of the ski (1), along the longitudinal corners of said surface, at a slightly inward position with respect to said corners, the cut side portions of the covering (2) being subse­quently removed.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the covering (2) stuck on the upper face of a ski initially has a width dimension such as to at least partly cover also the longitudinal side edges of the ski (1).

3. A device for carrying out the method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it consists of a knife comprising a handle (3), a blade (4) protruding from the handle (3), and a projecting blade-guiding part (5) extending from the handle (3) beside the blade (4), beyond the sharp edge thereof, and which is so spaced apart from the blade (4) that when the projecting blade-­guiding part (5) is caused to bear against one longitudinal side edge of a ski (1), the sharp edge of a blade (4), turned toward the upper surface of the ski (1), is at a distance from the respective longitudinal upper corner of said ski (1).

4. The device according to claim 3, characterized by means for altering the distance between the blade (4) and the projecting blade-guiding part (5).

5. A ski characterized in that it is provided on its upper face with a covering, particularly a covering consisting of an adhesive plastics foil, or the like, and having a width dimension which is smaller than the width of the ski, and which transversely to the ski termina­tes at a short distance from the longitudinal upper corners of said ski.

Drawing