Field of the invention This invention concerns a folding ski that can be used for all the following ski disciplines: downhill, cross-country, alpine, acrobatic, snowboard and telemark.

State of the art It is well-known that skis of all types used today, whether for alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, telemark, or snowboard, are pieces of equipment which vary in length and width according to the various uses, and which are made in such a way that their bulk can not be varied, given that the body of the equipment is a single unbroken piece. This creates difficulties for transporting the equipment and means using special ski racks fixed to the car roof, given that it is the length in particular that is the limiting factor.

Putting the skis on the roof of a vehicle, as happens with

the skis currently in commerce, has been shown in recent studies to be highly dangerous. In the case of an accident (crashes between vehicles or bumps and knocks received during normal driving), the skis can become detached from their support as a result of the impact and their kinetic energy, becoming"spears"hurtling towards another vehicle and its occupants, with the risk of causing serious damage or injury.

The skis produced today differ from one another on the basis of the construction methods used by the various manufacturers ; furthermore, even within the same ski type, there are differences due to the specific final use. However, it is possible to organise and classify the essential ski parts that constitute the equipment. It consists of an underside for sliding, two metal edges on either side of the underside for cutting into the snow, a core made in wood or injecte material, an outer covering made in composite materials and with printed designs. Furthermore, it is common practice nowadays to fix a shock-absorber plate between the ski and the ski boot bindings, which helps improve the elasticity of the ski-binding unit as well as increasing the distance between the boots themselves and the underside of the ski.

Aims and advantages of the invention The aim of this invention is to supply a folding ski, with reduced bulk in terms of length.

Another aim, deriving from the first, is to make a ski that maintins the physical and mechanical characteristics required to practise the sport of skiing in all its forms, but which can be folded in half in order to make transportation easier, no longer by using special systems, but using any kind of container with reduced dimensions, which, consequently, can be stowed easily in the boot of the vehicle.

Details of the invention These aims are achieved with a ski for use in all skiing disciplines, consisting of : -a separate front and back part of the ski, each having an underside and edges, with the adjoining ends designed to fit together; -a hinging device located between said adjoining ends for joining them together rigidly in a position that is both aligned and co-planar with the ski, and which will allow the two parts of the ski to fold over (without becoming completely detached) in an overlapping position, underside against underside; and -means for stabilising the two parts of the ski in the aligned position.

This invention is applicable to skis both with or without the usual shock-absorbing plate and the support platform for the ski boot bindings.

Brief description of the drawings Further details of the invention will become clear from the following description, made with reference to the enclosed drawings, which are indicative but not binding, and where: Fig. 1 shows a ski ready for use; Fig. 2 shows an enlarged view of part of the ski circled in Fig. 1, in a first version; Fig. 2a shows a view from above of Fig. 2, with a first stabilisingsystem; Fig. 3 shows an enlarged view of the part of the ski circled in Fig. 1, but with another stabilising system; Fig. 4 shows a view of the two parts of the ski at the moment of separation before folding over; Fig. 5 shows an enlarged view of the part of the ski circled in Fig. 4; Fig. 5a shows a view from above of Fig. 5; Fig. 6 shows a view of the ski when folded over; Fig. 7 shows an enlarged view of the part of the ski circled in Fig. 6; and Figs 8,9 and 10 show views of one ski ready for use, at the moment of separating its two parts for folding over, and folded over, respectively, with the hinging device in a second version.

Detailed description of the invention The ski in question consists of two separate parts, a front part 11 and a rear part 12, each consisting of an underside 13 to which the edges 13'are applied, of a core 14 in wood or injected material, of a covering 15 in composite material.

In the version in Figs 1-7, the adjoining ends of the two parts of the ski 11 and 12 fit together in an inclined plane 12'. These also incorporate an upper base 16 for fastening the bindings and a hinging device A for joining said ends.

This device consists of two internal plates 17 and 18 in composite material, for example carbon, kevlar, or fibreglass, joined by means of a hinge axis 19. The first plate 17 is fixed to one part of the ski, in the example shown it is the rear part 12, while the other plate 18 can slide along a runner 20 located on the other part of the ski, the front part 11.

When the ski is ready for use, the sliding plate 18 and at least one part of the fixed plate 17, near to the hinge axis 19, are inserted into the runner 20 and the two parts 11 and 12 of the ski are kept aligned and co-planar. This position is ensured by means of two check pins 21, to be inserted into two corresponding holes 22 located on opposite sides of the matching plane 12' (Figs 2,2a). As an alternative, it is possible to use a vertical pin 23 for this purpose, placing it perpendicularly to one of the hinging plates 17,18, as

shown in Figs 3 and 3 a, and which can also be designed so as to cause, once removed, a slight separation of the two ski parts 11,12 in such a way as to facilitate the successive phase of folding.

To fold the ski, having removed the check pin or pins, it is necessary first to separate the two front and rear parts by extracting the plate 18 from its runner 20. Said plate 18 is prevented from coming out from the runner completely by a catch 24, located near the front end and interacting with a stop placed at the mouth of the runner 20 (Figs 5,5a).

Once the two parts 11 and 12 have been separated, they are in a position to rotate with respect to one another around the hinge axis 19 that joins the two plates 17,18, until they come together in parallel, with their undersides 13 facing (Figs 6,7).

In the version shown in Figs 8,9 and 10, the adjacent ends of the two parts of the ski 11 and 12 still join in an inclined plane 12'. However, they incorporate a hinging device B, consisting of three elements: a first plate 26 fixed to the adjoining end of one of the ski parts, for example the front one, a second sliding plate 27 which fits the adjoining end of the other part of the ski, being joined with a runner 28, and a third hinging plate 29, joining the first two by means of hinge axes 30, set at right angles to the ski. The plates 26 and 27 have housings 26'and 27'designed to take

a fixing screw 31. This screw is perpendicular to the plates 26,27 and, when tightened in the housing 26', it stabilises the two parts of the ski ready for use (Fig. 8) and, when tightened in the housing 27', it stabilises the two parts of the folded ski (Fig. 10).

The sliding plate 27 also has a blocking ridge 33 designed to interact with one end of the runner 28 in order to prevent the two parts of the ski from becoming completely detached when they are separated (Fig. 9).

For this reason, in this case too, when the ski is ready for use (Fig. 8), the front and rear parts are brought together and held in that position by the screw 31, which is tightened in the housing 26'of the fixed plate 26. For folding over, the screw 31 is removed and the two parts of the ski separated (Fig. 9), folding them by rotation around the hinging axes 30, until they are brought together and blocked again with the screw 31, as shown in Fig. 10.

It should be noted that the screw 31 can also be used for blocking in the version shown in Figs 1-7, in place of the pin 23 perpendicular to the hinging plate.

It is worth mentioning, furthermore, that both versions of the ski can be equipped with a usual base plate as support platform for the bindings 32, with the sole requirement that said base plate be divided into two parts 32'and 32", each fixed to a respective part of the ski and both designed to fit together in a drawer-like fashion 32a when the two ski parts are aligned and blocked ready for use.