Water-ski equipment comprising a pair of floating skis and a propulsion system carried as a rucksack by the skier

Abstract

 A pair of water skis (9) provided with a floating body (10) and combined with a propulsion system (94,40) carried as a rucksack by the skier is disclosed. A pair of ski-poles provided with a float at the lower end thereof help the skier to hold his balance. Each ski (9) has a buoyancy able to support at least 60% of the total weight ski-propulsion system and it is provided with a propeller (26) which is keyed to the outer end of a small shaft (25) rotatably mounted at the inside of the body of the ski (9) itself. Motion is transmitted from the propulsion (34,40) system to the propellers shafts (25) via a pair of flexible coaxial cables (45), each one of them being secured through a quick connection and a driving coupling, housed in an aperture (14) of the ski (3). To operate the accelerator and the opening of the inlet valve the use of tension rods or remote controls sent by a modulated carrier or an infrared rays carrier is provided for.

Description

[0001] The object of the present invention is a water-ski equipment which enables the skier to move in an autonomous way without being pulled by a motor boat or alike.

[0002] More particularly, the object of the present invention concerns a pair of water-skis combined with a propulsion system carried as a rucksack by the skier itself and a pair of particular ski-poles which help the skier to hold its balance and on the handgrips thereof the propulsion system control is arranged.

[0003] Water-skiing is well known as a sport and there are many persons keen on it. However, its diffusion has been limited by the fact that a pulling is always necessary in order to obtain the speed necessary to float and to move the skier forward. In fact, normal water-skis do not provide by themselves the buoyancy necessary to support the user.

[0004] Pulling requires a trained pilot, the installation of rear-view mirrors and others measures, which obviously make this sport rather expensive.

[0005] In recent time, many attempts have been made to ovecome such drawbacks, by proposing floating skis wherewith the user could, to a certain extent, walk on the water, with the help of special ski-poles, small oars or alike.

[0006] Obviously these solutions were not aimed to the real skier, but regarded as children and bathers games.

[0007] The present invention is aimed to solve the problem of rendering the skier autonomous avoiding the need of pulling, by using a propulsion system formed by an engine housed in a rucksack carried by the user and means to transmit motion from said engine to the propeller provided for in each ski.

[0008] These skis, according to a feature of the present invention, have a buoyancy able to support at least 60% of the total weight skier-propulsion system.

[0009] Preferably, the transmission of motion to the propeller is obtained via a pair of coaxial flexible cables which starting from two powers take-off, are ,each one ,connected to the propeller axle of each ski by a quick connection, by example a bayonet connection. In a preferred embodiment the transmission of motion to the propeller axle is accomplished by interposing a coupling housed in an aperture of the ski itself, substantially behind the user's foot supporting area.

[0010] According to another feature of the present invention, the engine accelerator and the opening of the air inlet valve are adjusted by the skier by means of tension rods with controls arranged within the handgrip of the floating ski-poles.

[0011] Alternatively, the tension rods can be replaced by a remote control, which can be sent employing both a radio-frequency carrier or an optical infrared rays carrier.

[0012] This second solution appears particularly interesting for money saving, easiness and sturdiness.

[0013] As known, in fact, only a group of LEDS is necessary, which can be controlled by pushbuttons or levers and a related group of photocells.

[0014] LEDS can be arranged within the upper part of the ski-poles handgrips, while photocells can be arranged within the belts wherewith the engine is fastened to the body of the user, in different positions according to the position of the control pushbuttons or levers. When the pushbutton is arranged on the front portion of the handgrip to be actuated by the index finger, photocells can be arranged on the front portion of the belts facing the ski-poles. When the pushbutton is arranged in the upper portion of the handgrip, LEDS can be placed in the lower portion of the handgrip itself or even on the staff of ski-poles and the photocells are located in the belts, obviously within optical range.

[0015] In case a radio frequency device is employed the antennas of the ski-poles can be arranged within the ski-poles themselves.

[0016] Preferably, in the rucksack floats are provided for in order to ensure that the engine does not sink in case of fall in the water.

[0017] Further features and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description and attached drawings which illustrate two preferred embodiments thereof given by way of examples.In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical rear view of the engine carried as a rucksack by the skier .

Fig. 2 is a plan view from above of the same rucksack.

Fig. 3 is a side view of a floating water-ski provided with a propeller.

Fig. 3a is a rear view of the ski which shows the propeller safety grid.

Fig. 4 is a detail of the quick connection of the motion transmission cable to the axle of the ski propeller .

Fig. 5 is a detail of the automatic closing device of the air inlet valve to the engine which operates when the handgrip of a ski-pole is released.

Fig. 6 is a detail of the accelerator control on the handgrip of the other ski-pole.

Fig. 7 shows a ski-pole provided with a floating bulb at its lower end.

Fig. 8 is a detail of the engine starting handle.

Fig. 9 shows a infrared rays remote control fixed to the handgrip of a ski-pole to be used as alternative to the tension rods control as above.

Fig. 10 shows the related photocells distributed on the engine support belt.

[0018] With reference to the drawings, the invention is comprised of a pair of floating skis 9 which body 10 is preferably formed by a core of polyurethane foam covered by a solid, resilient and strong material, for example reinforced plastics, ABS or alike.

[0019] The skis length will obviously change from m. 1.30 to 2.20 according to the weight to be supported and the use it is aimed to.

[0020] The skier foot is housed, as usual, in a footwear 12 of plastic material, for instance, rubber, fixedly secured to the ski in a position sub- stantially in the middle, inside a hollow as it is seen in Fig. 3, while the calf rests upon a fork 13 which renders the skier's leg more integral with the ski. Such a fork is hinged to ski and it is provided with an elastic returning like a spring to keep the skier's leg in a position slightly bent forward in the advancing direction.

[0021] Suitably, the spring will be calibrated so as to offer an increasing strength for angular movements in the direction opposite to the ski advancing direction up to a stop at 100-110°.

[0022] The hollow housing the skier's foot is adjacent to an aperture 14 at the inside thereof it protrudes the square head end 16 of the hub of a sprocket wheel 18 which engages a second sprocket wheel 22 to transmit motion to the pinion gear 24 keyed to the axle 25 of the propeller 26. Preferably the conical gear is contained within a closed box 20 which forms the bottom of the hollow 14, while the propeller axle is assembled, with an adjustable inclination, passing through the inside of a duct made in the body 10. For safety reasons the propeller 26 is enclosed by a grid 32.

[0023] According to a peculiar feature of the present invention, as already mentioned, the engine, developing a power between 2 and 12 HP, is carried as a rucksack by the skier. To this purpose, the engine 34 is supported by a rigid frame 36 having a substantially parallelepiped shape which is fastened to the skier's body through belts 38. Obviously, the belts should be distributed and sized in such a manner as to avoid inertial phenomena. A series of rubber spacers 39 prevent the rucksack to lean completely on the shoulders and help to reduce the trasmittance of vibrations from the engine to the user's body.

[0024] On the support frame 36 the fuel tank and suitable floating masses 41 apt to balance the engine weight are fixed. The whole equipment makes up an actual unsinkable rucksack.

[0025] From the bottom of this rucksack, two powers take-off 43 and 44 protrude, whereto flexible cables 45 -to transmit motion to the propellers are fixed.

[0026] A detail of the quick connection of the flexible cable 45 to the skis is shown in Fig. 4.

[0027] The bottom of the hollow 14 is formed by the cover of the box 12 comprising the motion transmittance gears to the propeller axle. At the square head end of the hub of the first sprocket wheel, the sheath of the flexible cable for motion transmittance is bayonet coupled. The sheath ends with a thick annular edge of hard plastic material which enters the coupling seat forcing on the steel ring 68 housed within a groove in the wall of the seat itself. To the purpose of avoiding vibrations, the sheath end will not directly touch the cover of the box, but an interposed rubber washer 70 will be provided for.

[0028] As common in small outboard motors, the engine starting is operated by pulling. The starting cable is then provided with an handle 72 (Fig. 8) apt to close in a waterproof way the exit duct of the starting cable itself.

[0029] In a first embodiment shown in Figs. 5 and 6 the accelerator and the air inlet valve of the engine are operated by tension rods.The flexible cables with the control tension rods for the accelerator 46 and the air inlet valve 48 respectively lead to the control pushbutton or lever 50 and 52 arranged on the handgrips of the floating ski-poles 54.

[0030] The automatic device to close the air inlet valve to the engine is clearly illustrated in Fig. 5. In said figure: 60 discloses a plaque whereto the fixing pivot of the tension rod 48 is fixed, 62 discloses the raking slot made in the plaque and 64 discloses the end of the air inlet valve stem 63 to the engine which slides as slider in said slot. When the pushbutton is pushed and the tension rod is stretched, the plaque 60 moves rightwards overcoming the strength of a counter spring 66 and the valve stem raises, opening the valve 63. If the control on the ski-pole handgrip is released, the counter spring 66 moves to cause the plaque into a rest position and the valve will move to a closing position preventing the air inlet and therefor the engine operation.

[0031] Alternatively, to completely avoid the cable connections between the ski-poles and the engine as already mentioned, remote controls are provided for, which are sent employing both a radio frequency device or an infrared optical optical device.

[0032] Figs. 9 and 10 disclose this second solution.

[0033] In said figures : 74 discloses LEDS on the handgrip 56 of the ski-pole 54, 76 discloses the control pushbutton for opening the air inlet valve, 78 discloses the photocells arranged on the front belt 38 of the engine 34.

[0034] The valve opening control is preferably a two-positions control device (open-closed) corresponding to the existence or not of a carrier, which in case is modulated with a fixed code.

[0035] Operating the pushbuttons 76 the emitting device is actuated and the air inlet valve opens. The release of pushbutton 76 causes instead a switch off of the device and therefor the valve closing. Therefore the use of other switches to switch off the remote control transmitter is not required.

[0036] As an advantage to carry out the engine starting and heating operations, without continuosly pushing on the pushbuton 76 this latter will be of the bistable type.

[0037] Preferably the accelerator control takes place through a proportional control, the position of lever 52a of the speed control being suitably codified with a certain number of positions which code is transmitted to the receiver.Also in this case the complete release of the lever can switch off the receiver.

[0038] Fig. 7 illustrates one of the two ski-poles with its floating foot which offers a support to the skier both when in movement and at still. In this latter case the ski-poles enable the skier to push on and move forward on the water surface.

[0039] The specific shape of the floating skis has not been described herein, obviously the waterline will be changed from time to time to ensure the desired results.

Claims

1. Nautical equipment characterized by the fact of comprising:

a pair of floating skis each one of them being provided with a propeller which is keyed to the outer end of a shaft rotatably mounted at the inside of the body of said floating ski;

a propulsion system comprised of an engine housed in a rucksack apt to be carried on the skier's shoulders;

a pair of ski-poles provided with floats at their lower end;

means to transmit motion from said engine to the propellers axles of said skis;and

means to control the starting of said engine and its speed,also during the running.

2. Nautical equipment as claimed in claim 1 characterized by the fact that means to transmit motion to the properllers are formed by a pair of coaxial flexible cables,the metallic core of each one being keyed to a power take-off which is driven by the engine axle,said flexible cables being fixed at their opposite end through a quick connection and a driving coupling which is housed in an aperture of the ski body and therethrough the propeller axles is driven.

3. Nautical equipment as claimed in claim l,characterized by the fact that the propeller axle is mounted,with an adjustable inclination,passing through the inside of a duct made in the ski body and thet the propeller is enclosed by a metallic grid.

4. Nautical equipment as claimed in claim 1 characterized by the fact that the engine is housed i a rucksac, which is fastened on the skier's shoulder by means of belts,within said rucksack the fuel tank and floating masses to render unsinkable the rucksack itself being further comprised.

5. Nautical equipment as claimed in claim l,characterized by the fact that the air inlet valve to the engine is controlled by a safety device operated by the handgrip of a ski-pole which causes the valve to automatically close when the skier releases the handgrip itself.

.6. Nautical equipment as claimed in claim l,characterized by the fact that the accelerator and the opening of the air inlet valve are operated bu tension rods which control is arranged on the floating ski-poles handgrips.

7. Nautical equipment as claimed in claims 1 and 3,characterized by the fact that the engine is operated by a remote control arranged in the handgrip of a ski-pole which transmit operations to a receiver fixed to the rucksack or its belt.

8. Nautical equipment as claimed in claim 7,wherein the remote control uses a infrared rays optical carrier,to such purpose the remote control comprises control pushbuttons or levers arranged on the ski-poles handgrips which energize related LEDS while the receiver comprises photocells arranged on the rucksack or its belts in optical position with respect to the same LEDS.

9. Nautical equipment as claimed in claim 7,wherein the remote control to send control signals used a radio frequency device.

10. Nautical equipment as claimed in claim 8,wherein the operation for opening the air inlet valve to the engine is a two-position control device related to the presence or not of a carrier.

11. Nautical equipment as claimed in claim l,characterized by the fact that the skier's calf rest upon a fork keyed to the ski and provided with an elastic returning to keep the skier's leg slightly bent forward in the advancing direction.

Drawing