Abstract: A tire-chain assembly for a vehicle-mounted wheel basically comprises annular inner and outer holders respectively engaging the inner and outer faces of the wheel. At least one traction chain crisscrosses over the road-engaging surface of the wheel between the two holders. The inner holder is of variable diameter, so that it can be fitted over the tire and then have its diameter decreased to allow the traction chain to be tightened on the wheel. Mechanism on this inner holder is connected via a flexible element that passes over the road-engaging surface of the wheel to the outer face of the wheel so that a pull on this mechanism will reduce the diameter of the inner holder and tighten the chain assembly on the wheel. The outer end of this flexible element, which may be a chain, is then secured to the holder on the outer surface of the wheel.

Abstract: A ski brake comprises a wire pivoted on the support plate of a safety ski binding and displaceable from a rest position extending parallel to the ski to a braking position extending transverse thereto when one of the clamps of the ski binding disconnected from the skiboot and slides on the ski. To this end a guide may be mounted on the clamp and a formation on the brake element is engaged in this guide so as to automatically displace the brake element into the braking position when the skiboot is released. It is also possible to form two braking elements of a single springy wire extending through one of the clamps of the ski binding and otherwise pivoted on the support plate of the ski binding for automatic displacement of the ski brake into the braking position when a boot is released.

Abstract: A ski is provided with a heel clamp longitudinally slidable along the ski between a rear and a forward position and also pivotal on the ski between an up and a down position. A brake element is pivotal on the ski between a ready position extending parallel to the ski and a braking position extending generally normal thereto. A spring is provided for urging the brake element into the braking position. When a skiboot is securely held by the clamp it is in the down and rear position. When the boot is released and the clamp slides forwardly into the front position the abutments disengage to allow the brake element to assume the braking position. Similarly when the clamp pivots up into the upper position the brake element can assume the braking position. Pivoting of the clamp from the up to the down position automatically pushes the brake element back into the ready position.

Abstract: A ski brake has a pair of elongated braking elements which extend parallel to each other and are pivoted about their middle portions about a pivot axis extending parallel to the upper surface and transverse to the longitudinal direction of a ski so that these braking elements can pivot between a rest position parallel to the ski and a braking position transverse to the ski and digging into the snow under the ski. An actuating member or plate is displaceable toward and away from the upper surface of the ski and is linked to the upper ends of the braking elements so that its displacement toward the surface of the ski will swing the elements into the rest position. In addition this actuating member is provided with links which tend to swing the lower ends of the braking elements inwardly above the surface of the ski so that they do not project laterally from the ski during use thereof.

Abstract: An icecraft has a base provided with a plurality of ice-engaging runners. A sail-surfing rig including an articulated mast carrying a triangular sail held in place by means of a bow-type boom is fitted to this support plate so that a user can stand on the support plate and ice sail in much the same manner as in surf sailing. A standard surfboard can constitute the base plate for such an icecraft, and the runners can be replaced by wheels or the like if desired for summer use of the arrangement on land.

Abstract: A ski brake for automatic release upon lifting of a ski boot from the surface of a ski so as to prevent free flight thereof comprises a spring-loaded brake element adapted to reach downwardly below the bottom surface of the ski. A bent wire forms a bight which can be engaged by the ski boot and carries the brake element. A tread plate is disposed on the bight and is connected by another element, e.g. another bent wire, to the mounting structure for the ski brake.

Abstract: A ski brake for automatically braking the free flight of the ski upon the release of a ski boot therefrom comprises a mounting plate fixed to an upper surface of the ski and a bent-spring wire having a bight lying in one plane and a pair of offset portions angularly bent from the shank of the bight lying in another plane and received in passages in the mounting plate so that the pressing of the bight toward the surface of the ski resiliently deforms the wire and loads the same so that it tends to spring back into an operative position when the ski boot is released from the surface of the ski. A pair of brake elements are mounted upon the bent-spring wire so as to extend into the snow in the operative position of the brake. The brake elements are extended above the surface of the ski in this latter position so that they can be engaged by the ski boot so as to serve as actuators which can be held down by the ski boot and released when the ski boot is removed from the upper ski surface.

Abstract: A ski brake has a main spring element mounted upon the upper surface of a ski and resiliently biased into an operative position when the ski is released from the ski boot to bring into play at least one brake element, e.g. a blade. In order to protect the brake against impact with stones or the like, an additional spring element is provided between the actuator, which includes a pivotal member received in a mounting plate on the upper surface of the ski, and the blade or brake element so that the latter can yield on impact while retaining its braking function to prevent free flight of the ski.

Abstract: A device for braking a ski upon the release thereof from a ski boot which comprises a mounting plate affixed to the upper surface of the ski and a preferably one-piece U-shaped stirrup of spring wire having a bight and a pair of offset shanks received in and swingably mounted on the mounting plate. Upon depression of the bight of the spring-wire stirrup by the ski boot, the stirrup is deformed and swings a pair of brake elements or blades into an inoperative position parallel to the longitudinal edges of the ski. The deformation of the stirrup, because of nonplanarity of the stirrup or camming formations on the mounting plate, provides a prestress thereto which, upon release of the stirrup by the ski boot, causes the brake elements to swing into an operative position where they inhibit free flight of the ski.

Abstract: A ski brake has a stirrup-shaped bent-wire actuator upon which at least one brake element is mounted for swinging movement into an operative position to limit free flight of a ski released, for example, upon the fall of a skier. The spring wire is deformed when it is held in an inoperative position by the ski boot and springs into its operative position by the restoring force produced by deformation of the spring wire. A stretcher means is provided, e.g. in the form of a toggle, to deform the spring wire to draw its shanks together.

Abstract: A pair of skis are secured together by providing notched blades of a ski brake designed to prevent free flight of the ski down a slope, e.g. upon the falling of a skier. The notches in the blades are dimensioned so that when the blades straddle the respective skis, the notches of the blades of each pair of brake elements can receive the longitudinal edges of the other ski of the respective pair so that the skis are held in runner-to-runner relationship.

Abstract: An automatic brake for a ski comprises a resiliently deformable wire of generally U shape and having a pair of pivot portions which extend parallel to the upper face of the ski and at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the ski. These portions are pivoted in a support plate and actuation portions extending back from the pivot portions allow the wire to be deformed and flattened out in a planar manner on top of the ski. Brake elements are carried on this wire so that when it is stepped on and flattened out these brake elements lie on top of the ski out of the way, but when a skiboot is taken off the wire they spring down and project beyond the lower face of the ski so as to prevent it from sliding.

Abstract: A brake for a ski has a holder defining a pivot transverse to the ski and parallel to the upper surface thereof. A resiliently deformable wire has a central bight portion defining a plane, a pair of pivot portions confined in the holder pivot and bent inwardly toward each other out of the plane of the bight portion, a pair of connecting portions bent away from the pivot portions and extending outwardly away from each other toward the sides of the ski and a pair of leg portions extending generally parallel to each other from the connecting portions and lying out of the plane. The wire is symmetrical about a plane perpendicular to the surface and extending longitudinally of the ski. A braking element is carried on each of the leg portions, and is displaceable between a position in which it projects below the lower surface of the ski and a position in which it lies above this lower surface and within the lateral outline of the ski on displacement of the bight portion by the heel or toe of a skiboot.