HOLSTER
A holster for carrying a pair of skis (35), said skis being coupled together for example by means of a friction fit between the brake of one ski and the brake of the other, the holster comprising: a support plate (1), and a member extending, at least in use, from the plane of the plate to define a carrier limb (5; 33) with which a toe clip of one of said pair of skis (35) engages and on which top toe clip bears to spread the weight of the skis through the carrier limb to the support plate.
This invention relates to a holster, in particular to a holster for facilitating the carrying of an article or articles by a person. A particularly preferred embodiment of the invention relates to a holster that is adapted and arranged to facilitate the carrying of skis.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONAs any winter sports enthusiast will know, one of the least attractive aspects of skiing is the need to hand-carry the equipment needed to partake in the sport, to and from the base of the slopes. Indeed, the prospect of having to carry heavy and cumbersome ski equipment to and from the slopes is sometimes cited as a reason why otherwise enthusiastic skiers become disenchanted with the sport.
Skis are relatively heavy, and for most adults are at least a metre and a half in length. Whilst carrying their skies, most skiers will also be carrying, or attempting to carry, a set of poles and may also be carrying a pair of ski boots. To date skiers have tended to carry their skis over one shoulder with clearly hazardous implications as the ends of the skis move, around in front of and behind the person carrying them.
Furthermore, when transported over one shoulder it is the edges of the skis (which are relatively sharp) that bear on the shoulder of the skier and as such it can be uncomfortable for skis to be transported in this way—particularly if the skis have to be carried for some distance. Ski jackets tend to be provided with some padding in the shoulder area to help alleviate discomfort but as mentioned above, skis are relatively heavy items and the weight of the ski can still cause discomfort even with the presence of padding in the skier's jacket.
It is also the case that whilst carrying a pair of skis over one shoulder, the skier is not free to use both hands and as such will usually have to put down their skis before they can do anything with their hands. If the skier is fully loaded with a pair of skis on one shoulder (typically secured by placing one hand on the skis) and a pair of ski boots in the other, even simple tasks such as opening a door can be difficult and inconvenient to accomplish.
Efforts have previously been made to address these problems, and to some extent those efforts have been moderately successful. However, previously proposed arrangements have tended to concentrate on solutions for those skiers, for example hikers, who wish to transport their skis over relatively large distances and have tended to be complicated arrangements that the skis must be strapped into, and from which the skis cannot quickly be removed.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,883 discloses a combination ski carrier and fanny-pack wherein the skis are carried on the back of the skier in such as way that the ends of the skis are pointed away from the skier's body. The skis are strapped into the device, and the skier then puts on the device. Once in place the skis can easily be borne by the skier, but as the arrangement is carried on the skier's back it is difficult to remove the skis from the carrier for use. As such, a skier wearing such a device, but who only has to transport their skis a relatively short distance, would probably opt to manhandle the skis rather than waste time strapping them into the carrier. Similar arrangements, with similar drawbacks, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,518,107; 4,819,845; 5,350,096; 5,318,209 and 6,502,732.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,991, discloses another ski-carrier arrangement that is worn as a fanny-pack in one configuration and expanded to form a ski-carrier in another configuration. In the expanded configuration respective ends of the carrier are fastened round opposite ends of a pair of skis to form a loop through which the skier must then put their head and one shoulder so that the skis lie against the skier's back and the carrier lies diagonally across the skier's chest. This arrangement, in common with other previously proposed arrangements, requires the skier to take off the device before they can release their skis.
It would be highly advantageous if a means could be provided that alleviated the problems associated with the aforementioned previously proposed devices. In particular, it would be advantageous if a ski carrier could be devised that permitted skiers using the device to quickly and easily holster their skis for carrying, and subsequently easily remove their skis for use.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention seek to alleviate these and other problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONTo this end a presently preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a holster for carrying a pair of skis, said skis being coupled together for example by means of a friction fit between the brake of one ski and the brake of the other, the holster comprising: a support plate, and a member extending, at least in use, from the plane of the plate to define a carrier limb with which a toe clip of one of said pair of skis engages and on which the toe clip bears to spread the weight of the skis through the carrier to the support plate. The principle advantage of this arrangement is that the skis can easily be lifted into and out of the holster without necessitating the removal of the holster from the skier's person. It is also the cause that by utilising such a holster, the skier has both hands free, and has the weight of the skis spread over a much larger area of their body (as compared for example with carrying skis over one shoulder).
In one embodiment the carrier limb is generally U-shaped. In another embodiment the carrier limb is generally annular, and preferably circular. In one arrangement, the carrier limb extends generally perpendicularly from the plane of the plate in use.
The carrier limb may be pivotally coupled to the support plate, and said pivotal coupling may be effected by means of one or more hinges. In another arrangement, the carrier limb is integrally formed with said support plate.
In one embodiment the limb may comprise an elongate strip of material respective ends of which are fittable through apertures in the support plate, said respective ends of said elongate strip of material each being provided with an aperture, respective apertures being configured to receive a peg to thereby resist removal of the strip from the plate.
A retaining member may be provided. The retaining member may be securable to the toe clip that bears on said carrier limb. In one embodiment the retaining member may comprise a resiliently extendable portion and means for facilitating manipulation of the retaining member. In this case, the extendable portion may comprise elastic rope, and the manipulation facilitating means may comprise a toggle.
In one embodiment the holster is engageable with a belt, and the plate comprises a pair of apertures through which said belt can be threaded. In another embodiment the plate is configured to be attachable to an item of clothing worn by a user. The plate may comprise a clip for attaching the plate to said item of clothing. The clip may comprise a spring clip.
In a preferred embodiment, the tips of said pair of skis, when mounted in said holster are inclined at an angle of 40 to 50 degrees from the horizontal, more preferably at an angle of substantially 45 degrees from the horizontal.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a holster for carrying a pair of skis that are coupled together with running faces abutting, the holster comprising: a support plate attachable to a belt worn a user; a member moveable with respect to the support plate and extending, at least in use, from the plane of the plate to defined a carrier limb with which a toe clip of one of said pair of skis engages to suspend said pair of skis from the limb, the engagement of said toe clip with said limb acting to spread the weight of the skis through the carrier limb to the support plate; and a resilient retaining member coupled to said support plate, the retaining member being extendable over a pair of skis hung from said limb and securable to a toe clip of said skis or to a hook provided on said support plate to securely attach the skis to the holster.
Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a method of carrying a pair of skis that have been coupled together with running faces abutting, the method comprising: providing a holster comprising a support plate, and a member moveable with respect to the support plate and extending, at least in use, from the plane of the plate to define a carrier limb with which a toe clip of one of said pair of skis is engageable to suspend said pair of skis from the limb; attaching the holster to a user such that the holster is located in the vicinity of the user's waist; and suspending said coupled pair of skis from the carrier limb of the holster.
Preferred features of these and other embodiments are claimed in the dependent claims, and mentioned elsewhere in the following description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSPreferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of illustrative example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which;
FIGS. 12 to 14 are photographs of a representative prototype holster.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to
The support plate 1 also includes fixtures for attaching the plate to a user's clothing, for example a pair of generally T-shaped lateral cutouts 7 and a pair of apertures 9. The cutouts 7 are provided to enable the support plate to be fixed onto a waist belt (not shown in
The apertures 9 are provided to enable a retainer (not shown in
If a retainer should be provided, it may comprise (as will later be described in detail) a pair of elastic ropes fixed at one end in a toggle. The elastic ropes are passed through, respective apertures and knotted behind the plate to fix the retainer to the plate. In another arrangement the retainer may comprise a single length of elastic rope passed from the front of the plate though a first of the two apertures, and from the back of the plate through the second of the two apertures, the free ends being secured together for example by passing them through a central bore of a toggle and knotting them together. This arrangement could of course readily be reversed so that the free ends of the single length of rope are knotted together behind the plate. As an alternative, the retainer need not necessarily be resilient, although it has been found that a resilient retainer helps reduce the chance of the skis decoupling from the holster.
The support plate may be of a plastics material (such as polypropylene), of metal material (such as aluminum), or of carbon fibre. The plate can easily be formed by stamping it from a sheet of appropriate material, or in the case of a plastics material by injection moulding. In a highly preferred arrangement the plate is substantially rigid. The limb may be substantially rigid, or optionally may be arranged to flex when loaded. This latter arrangement is advantageous in that the flexible nature of the limb 5 acts as a shock absorber which reduces the likelihood of the skis becoming disengaged from the holster whilst being transported.
As depicted in
In an alternative arrangement not depicted in
The limb may be substantially two-dimensional, as depicted, or can include lateral stiffeners (so that the limb is generally C-shaped in cross-section) to increase its rigidity. Such lateral stiffeners may be provided by bending the material from which the U-shaped apertures 3 are formed to either side of the limb.
This arrangement is advantageous over that depicted in
In this particular embodiment, the limb is shown as being coupled to the plate by means of a pair of hinges 11 so that the limb can readily be moved into and out of the plane of the plate 1. The plate is also shown as having a pair of apertures 9, by means of which a retainer (as described above) may be coupled to the plate if desired. As an alternative to being hinged to the plate, the limb could of course be formed as an integral component of the plate (as described above in connection with
The holster depicted in
To assemble the holster for use, respective ends 29, 31 of the strip 33 are passed through respective holes 25, 27 and a peg (not shown) is, then passed through each of the through-holes 35 in the strip. The pegs couple the strip 33 to the plate 1 by preventing respective ends thereof 29, 31 from being drawn out of the holes 25, 27.
Also depicted in
FIGS. 9 to 14 depict the holster in use. Prior to describing in detail how the holster can be used it is appropriate at this juncture to provide a brief explanation of how a ski is constructed. A ski comprises a planar member upturned at one end (the tip), and often widened at the other (the tail). A binding is affixed to the ski, and comprises a toe section and a heel section, each of which are adapted to engage with respective parts of a ski boot. The toe section of the binding comprises a generally crescent shaped member pivotally mounted on the ski. The heel section of the blinding includes a brake that comprises a pair of prongs that are spring-loaded to move to project below the face of the ski and towards the tip, when the heel of a boot is removed from the binding.
As has been mentioned briefly above, two skis of a pair of skis can be coupled together (with running faces abutting) by interlocking the projecting brake of one ski with the brake of the other. The following description assumes that the skis have been so interlocked prior to mounting them on the holster. It will be apparent, however, that a variety of alternative means exist for coupling one ski to the other (for example, the skis could be bound to one another), and as such the following description should not be read as being limited solely to a pair of skis interengaged by means of their brakes.
Referring now to
When the peripheral part 37 of the toe clip is engaged with the support limb 5, the weight of the interengaged skis is borne by the support limb and transferred through the limb to the plate 1, and via the waist belt (and/or clip) to the user of the holster. In this position the skis are balanced on the support limb so that the tips of the skis are angled upwards, typically by no more than 55 degrees to the horizontal (generally between 40 to 50 degrees from the horizontal, and generally substantially 45 degrees from the horizontal). The tails of the skis are lifted off the ground, and as such a user can move around with both hands free and without having to hold the skis in place.
In the event that it is necessary or desirable to positively restrain the skis in place in the holster, a user can tug on the toggle 21 in a downward direction to extend the elastic rope 19 and loop part of the rope 19 over the toe clip 39 (as depicted in
As is immediately evident from the photographs of FIGS. 12 to 14, the holster of the preferred embodiment provides a means whereby the carrying of skis can be greatly facilitated. As depicted particularly in
It is also the case that the holster described herein can be manufactured relatively inexpensively, and as such it offers a real and effective alternative to carrying skis by hand or indeed to prior art systems of the type briefly described herein.
In another embodiment of the present invention based on a modification of the holster depicted in
Whilst illustrative embodiments of the invention have been described above in detail, it will be appreciated that modifications may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims. For example, the universal joint described above in connection with the embodiment depicted in
It should also be noted that whilst certain preferred features of the invention have been set out in the accompanying claims, the scope of the invention is not limited to the particular combination of features specifically enumerated, but instead extends to encompass any combination of features mentioned herein irrespective of whether or not that particular combination has explicitly been claimed at this time.
Claims
1. A holster for carrying a pair of skis, said skis being coupled together for example by means of a friction fit between the brake of one ski and the brake of the other, the holster comprising:
- a support plate, and
- a member moveable, with respect to the support plate and extending, at least in use, from the plane of the plate to define a carrier limb with which a toe clip of one of said pair of skis is engageable to suspend said pair of skis from the limb, the engagement of said toe clip with said limb acting to spread the weight of the skis through the carrier limb to the support plate.
2. A holster according to claim 1, wherein said carrier limb is pivotally coupled to said plate.
3. A holster according to claim 1, wherein said comprises a bendable section and a remaining section, said carrier limb being formed by bending said bendable section of support plate out of the plane of the remaining section of the plate.
4. A holster according to claim 1, wherein said carrier limb is coupled to said plate by means of a universal joint.
5. A holster according to claim 1, wherein said carrier limb comprises an elongate strip of material, respective ends of which are insertable through slots formed in said plate, one or more fasteners being provided to resist removal of the ends of said strip through said slots.
6. A hoister according to claim 1, wherein said carrier limb is resiliently flexible to permit flexing of the limb when a pair of skis is carried by means of the holster.
7. A holster according to claim 1, further comprising a retaining member coupled to the plate for securing the skis to the holster.
8. A holster according to claim 7, wherein said retaining member is securable to said skis to secure the skis in place on the holster.
9. A holster according to claim 8, wherein said retaining member is attachable to the plate to secure the skis in place on the holster.
10. A holster according to claim 7, wherein the retaining member comprises a resiliently extendable portion, and a means to facilitate manipulation of the retaining member by a user.
11. A holster according to claim 1, wherein the plate is configured to be mountable on a belt that is wearable by a user or directly to an item of clothing worn by a user.
12. A holster according to claim 1, wherein said pair of skis, when mounted in said holster, are inclined such that tips of said skis are at an angle of no more than 55 degrees from the horizontal.
13. A holster according to claim 12, wherein the tips of said pair of skis, when mounted in said holster are inclined at an angle of 40 to 50 degrees from the horizontal.
14. A holster according to claim 12, wherein the tips of said pair of skis, when mounted in said holster are inclined at an angle of substantially 45 degrees from the horizontal.
15. A holster according to claim 1, wherein said plate is of metal or plastics.
16. A holster according to claim 1, wherein a pair of skis supported in said holster are enabled for hands-free carrying by a user.
17. A holster for carrying a pair of skis that are coupled together with running faces abutting, the holster comprising:
- a support plate attachable to a belt worn by a user;
- a member moveable with respect to the support, plate and extending, at least in use, from the plane of the plate to define a carrier limb with which a toe clip of one of said pair of skis engages to suspend said pair of skis from the limb, the engagement of said toe clip with said limb acting to spread the weight of the skis through the carrier limb to the support plate; and
- a resilient retaining member coupled to said support plate, the retaining member being extendable over a pair of skis hung from said limb and securable to a toe clip of said skis or to a hook provided on said support plate to securely attach the skis to the holster.
18. A method of carrying a pair of skis that have been coupled together with running faces abutting, the method comprising:
- providing a holster comprising a support plate, and a member moveable with respect to the support plate and extending, at least in use, from the plane of the plate to define a carrier limb with which a toe clip of one of said pair of skis is engageable to suspend said pair of skis from the limb;
- attaching the holster to a user such that the holster is located in the vicinity of the user's waist; and
- suspending said coupled pair of skis from the carrier limb of the holster.
19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the holster additionally comprises a resilient extendable retaining member coupled to said support plate, the method additionally comprising extending the retaining member over the pair of skis suspended from said carrier limb, and coupling the retaining member to the skis to secure them to the holster.
20. A method according to claim 18, wherein the holster additionally comprises a resilient extendable retaining member coupled to said support plate and a hook, the method additionally comprising extending the retaining member over the pair of skis suspended from said carrier limb, and coupling the retaining member to the hook to secure the skis to the holster.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 21, 2006
Publication Date: Jun 7, 2007
Applicant: KARISKI LIMITED (Victoria)
Inventors: Nicholas Forster (St. Martin, Jersey, Channel Islands), Nigel Smith (Alhaurin El Grande, Malaga)
Application Number: 11/459,243
International Classification: A45C 7/00 (20060101);