TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to security devices for activities on ice, and more particularly to an ice claw integrated with or arrangeable in a glove or other garment for wearing on a person’s hand.

BACKGROUND

During the winter, activities are undertaken for work and/or pleasure which may require that a person ventures onto a frozen lake or other body of water. Under certain circumstances, such as early or late season, currents, headlands or necks or other features relating to the topography of the lake etc., the ice which forms on the surface of the lake may be thin, broken, or otherwise unable to support the weight of a person or vehicle. As a result, individuals may fall through the ice and then the body’s exposure to cold water quickly results in a rapid onset of hypothermia. In the event the person is in trouble, and if alone or otherwise unable to receive help, the person’s life is in danger since it may be impossible for him or her to crawl out of the ice cold water and onto the surface of the wet and slippery ice. However, a modest additional amount of friction will often enable the person to crawl out of the water and survive the ordeal. Therefore, different varieties of security devices, such as ice prods, ice picks or ice claws are often carried by persons travelling across a frozen lake. A common ice claw/ ice pick is carried in a string around the neck to be easily accessible if a person falls through the ice. It is important that such ice picks are carried high up around the neck, close to the chin, to avoid needing to submerge the hands into the cold water in order to reach them. Many people fail to carry them properly, and there is also a risk that the strings get entangled and that the ice picks are covered by clothing. Therefore, there is a need for an ice claw for use as safety equipment for activities on ice that is easy to carry, readily accessible and easily operated when needed. SUMMARY

It is an object to provide an ice claw for use as safety equipment for activities on ice which is easy to carry, readily accessible and easily operated when needed. This and other objects are met by embodiments of the proposed technology.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ice claw for use as safety equipment for activities on ice. The ice claw comprises spikes for providing friction against the ice when being stabbed into the ice, elongated grip bars for providing a grip for a person’s hand, and an elongated support frame for supporting the spikes and the grip bars. The spikes and the grip bars extend along a respective extension plane and the support frame extends along an extension plane which is transversal to the extension planes of the spikes and the grip bars. First ends of the spikes and first ends of the grip bars are attached on opposite sides of the support frame with a displacement along the short edge of the support frame, such that second ends of the spikes extend from the support frame in a different direction than second ends of the grip bars and such that the extension planes of the spikes and the grip bars are displaced from each other. The support frame is bendable around the normal of its extension plane to follow a bent palm of a hand when the hand is gripping the ice claw, and the ice claw is configured to be arranged such that when the hand is gripping the ice claw, the grip bars extend along the palm of the hand, the frame bar provides support for the edge of the hand opposite to the thumb, and the spikes protrude away from the hand at the edge of the hand opposite to the thumb.

With an ice claw integrated with or arrangeable in a glove, mitten or similar apparel/ garment for wearing on a hand, a security device for activities on ice is provided, which is easy to carry, readily accessible and easily operated when needed. Other advantages will be appreciated when reading the detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by making reference to the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a pair of gloves provided with an ice claw arrangement according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of an ice claw according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and its intended position in a hand;

Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of an ice claw according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention generally relates to security devices for activities on ice, and more particularly to an ice claw integrated with or arrangeable in a glove, mitten or similar apparel/ garment for wearing on a hand.

Throughout the drawings, the same reference designations are used for similar or corresponding elements.

As described in the background section, there is a need for an ice claw for use as safety equipment for activities on ice that is easy to carry, readily accessible and easily operated when needed.

These and other objects are met by embodiments of the proposed technology. Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a pair of gloves 30 with an ice claw arrangement according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 an ice claw 10 is arranged in a garment or apparel 20 which is designed to fit on a hand or a normal glove 30 for a hand. Spikes 1 are provided for stabbing into the ice to increase the friction against the ice and help the person crawl out of the water. The garment 20 may in an embodiment be provided with e.g. Velcro or similar hook-and-loop fastener, a hook-and-eye arrangement, elastic bands, or other means for easy opening and closing of the garment 20 around the glove or hand, so that the garment 20 can easily be pulled on and/or removed from the hand. In one embodiment the garment is made from elastic fabric. The ice claw 10 can also be similarly arranged in or integrated with the glove 30 itself in another embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of an embodiment of an ice claw 10 without the garment or glove, showing the intended placement of the ice claw 10 in a person’s hand when the hand is gripping the ice claw 10, whereas Fig. 3 shows only the ice claw 10. The ice claw 10 illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 comprises spikes 1 for stabbing into the ice to increase the friction against the ice and help the person crawl out of the water, and elongated grip bars 2 configured to extend inside the palm of a person’s hand, for allowing the person to grip around the ice claw 10. First ends of the spikes 1 are attached to a first side of an elongated support frame 3, whereas first ends of the grip bars 2 are attached to a second side, opposite to the first side, of the elongated support frame 3, such that second ends of the spikes 1 extend from the support frame 3 in a different direction than the second ends of the grip bars 2. In an embodiment, the second ends of the spikes 1 and the second ends of the grip bars 2 extend from the support frame 3 in opposite directions to each other.

The spikes 1 and the grip bars 2 extend from the support frame 3 along planes which may be substantially parallel to each other in an embodiment, or form an angle with each other in another embodiment. The support frame 3 extends along a plane which is transversal to the extension planes of the spikes 1 and the grip bars 2. In a particular embodiment the angle between the extension plane of the support frame 3 and the extension planes of the spikes 1 and the grip bars 2 is 90°. As described above, the first ends of the spikes 1 and the grip bars 2 are attached on opposite sides of the support frame 3, and they are also attached with a displacement along the short edge of the support frame 3, such that the extension planes of the spikes 1 and the grip bars 2 are displaced from each other at a certain distance.

As seen in Fig. 2, the support frame 3 can be bent/ flexed /folded to fit/follow the bending of a palm of a hand when the hand is gripping the ice claw 10. The support frame 3 bends around the normal of its own extension plane, i.e. it bends within its extension plane, which also means that the extension planes of the spikes 1 and the grip bars 2 will be curved/ shaped in an arc form when the support frame 3 is bent.

As shown in both Fig. 1 and 2, the ice claw 10 is configured to be arranged in the garment 20 or glove 30 such that, when the garment 20 or glove 30 is worn on a person’s hand, the grip bars 2 will extend along the palm of the hand and the spikes 1 will protrude from the garment 20 or glove 30 at the edge of the hand opposite to the thumb. The second ends of the spikes 1 are pointed in an embodiment to provide better grip on the ice. Furthermore, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the pointed second ends of the spikes 1 may be inclined towards the person’s elbow to provide even better grip on the ice. The grip bars 2 will then extend along the palm of the hand and the second side of the support frame 3 will provide support for the edge of the hand opposite to the thumb, due to the displacement of the extension planes of the spikes 1 and grip bars 2. This arrangement will give the person wearing the garment 20 or glove 30 with the ice claw 10 the best opportunity to stab into the ice with the spikes 1 to crawl out of the water.

The ice claw 10 may be made from e.g. metal in an embodiment, or composite or other suitable material in another embodiment.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the pointed second ends of the spikes 1 may be protected by protection pads/ covers/ sheaths 4 in an embodiment, to prevent the ends from becoming blunt and also to prevent that the sharp ends of the spikes 1 cause any harm to the surroundings when the ice claw is not in use. The protection sheaths 4 are snapped on to the spikes in an embodiment, and easily removable when needed. The protection sheaths 4 may be manufactured from e.g. plastic or rubber in an embodiment, or other suitable material in another embodiment.

Since the ice claw according to the present embodiments is integrated with or arranged in a glove, mitten or similar apparel/ garment for wearing on a hand, no extra equipment needs to be carried by the user and the ice claw is always ready to be used when needed. Therefore, a security device for activities on ice is provided, which is easy to carry, readily accessible and easily operated when needed. The embodiments described above are merely given as examples, and it should be understood that the proposed technology is not limited thereto. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and changes may be made to the embodiments without departing from the present scope as defined by the appended claims. In particular, different part solutions in the different embodiments can be combined in other configurations, where technically possible.