The present invention relates to slides for sport or play, for example for skating or other activity requiring low friction so as to facilitate sliding or gliding.

Presently sport or play activities requiring a low friction support, for example skating, takes place on artificial skating grounds or on natural ice. Artificial ice grounds involve high investment costs, and solely the 0 cooling plant for a conventional ice ground amounts pre¬ sently to several million SEK. To this comes high opera¬ tional costs which for cooling only are estimated to about half a million SEK per year. An artificial skating ground is furthermore restricted to a specific geographic loca- 5 tion and is thus useful only at the site where the cooling tubes are cast into the support.

Another inconvenience with artificial ice grounds is the fact that the cooling equipment uses cooling media containing ammonia and water containing salts. The ammonia 0 will have to be replaced at frequent intervals and the waste is considered as an environmental hazard and must be especially treated according to the environmental laws.

Furthermore, the usefulness of today's artificial ice grounds is very limited. When the outdoor temperature ex- 5 ceeds about 10°C artificial ice grounds function only in¬ doors within an enclosure. This, however, results in very high operational costs. In practice an iceground can be used only if the surface of the ice has a temperature of between about -1°C and -20°C. In countries having a high 0 average temperature skating is virtually impossible to practice.

The present invention has for an object to provide slides for sport and play which involve essentially re¬ duced investment and operational costs and furthermore are 5 capable of operation within a much broader temperature range. Another object of the invention is to provide sli- _;7 aes _Mhioh are eas _y to restore «* t _h e action coe _ffi c--ent

and surface hardness of which can be modified according to the activity involved.

For these and other objects which will be clear from the following description the invention provides for a slide for sport or play which is characterized in that the exposed slide surface thereof is built up from a natural and/or synthetic hardwax. Thus, the slide according to the invention does not require energy consuming cooling and the surface may thus have the environmental temperature which can vary between wide limits, for example from -20°C to +40°C. In this manner it is possible to avoid the in¬ convenience caused by a cold ice surface in the form of the chill that the sport practitioners are subjected to. The surface of the slide has suitably a hardness of from about 2 to 20 measured using needle penetration according to Din 51579 or Norm ASTM 1321 at +20°C.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the hard was has a melting point of from about 80 to about 160°C, especially about 80 to about 105°C. A multitude of waxes are useful in the invention, and a suitable wax can be selected among technique waxes, mic- rowaxes, synthetic waxes, such as polyethylene waxes and paraffin waxes. The mentioned waxes are particularly pre¬ ferred. For the purpose of increasing the homogeneity of binding and also to increase the hardness of the surface of the slide it is preferred to mix into the wax a polymer material in an amount of up to about 30% by weight based on the total weight. Such polymer material is suitably in the form of powders, granulates or dust, and useful types of materials are polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, poly- tetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), nylon and the like.

It is preferred that the viscosity of the wax at 100°C is from about 12 to about 20 centiStoke (cSt). It may also be suitable to add to the wax stabilizing addi¬ tives, such as UV-stabilizers, anti-oxidants etc. Such additives are of a conventional kind and do not require

further detailed description.

As previously mentioned it is particularly preferred to use in the hardwax composition a material which con¬ tains wax as a major component. By the expression "major component" is meant that the wax component of the compo¬ sition exceeds about 50% by weight and that it may con¬ stitute the sole wax component in the composition.

The advantages associated with the slide according to the present invention is the fact that the surface thereof may be easily restored by using equipment that is passed across the surface with heating to melt the uppermost sur¬ face layer of the slide. The slide according to the inven¬ tion can also be used anywhere and thus also in countries having a high round-the-year temperature. The slide according to the present invention has a versatile use and can be used i.a. as a slide for hockey, bandy, curling, and as minor playgrounds for skating. The slide according to the invention can be used also for cross-country skating, as slides for sliding, bob sleigh- ing etc.

It is preferred to use in the slide according to the invention a hard wax where the coefficient of expansion from solid to liquid form is as close to zero as possible, in order that possible cracking in the restoration of the surface by melting of the surface layer shall be elimi¬ nated.

The invention will now be further described by exem¬ plifying embodiments, but it should be noted that the in¬ vention is not limited to these specific embodiments and that its scope is defined only in the appended patent claims.

EXAMPLE

Three types of waxes and two types of polymers are• resent in the composition. The waxes are mixed and molten at a temperature of about 120°C. The polymers are then added while stirring and the temperature is increased to about

150°C. Stirring is maintained for at least 10 min. The molten mixture is poured into a suitable mold for soli¬ dification. The total quantity of ingredients is 280 g.

INGREDIENTS: Waxes

1. Polyethylene wax 80 g

Manufacturer: Dussek Campell, England or Germany Manufacturing No: Techniwax 9591 Melting point: ASTM D 127 about 116°C Penetration at 25°C ASTM D 1321 about 2 Viscosity at 150°C ASTM D 3236 20-40 mPas

2. Synthetic wax 80 g Manufacturer: TerHell Paraffin, Germany Manufacturing No: Syntetervax 2010

3. Special wax 80 g

Manufacturer: Terhell Paraffin, Germany Manufacturing No: THP 7040

Melting point about 72°C Penetration at 25°C ASTM D 1321 about 13 Viscosity at 100°C ASTM D 445 about 6

Polymers

4. Polyethylene powder 20 g Manufacturer: NESTE Oy Chemicals, Finland Manufacturing No: NCPE 8683

Meltindex Ml ₂ g/10 min ISO 1133 Cond 4 4.0 Density kg/m ³ ASTM D 1928 C/D 1505 924

5. Polyethylene powder 20 g

Manufacturer: NESTE Oy Chemicals, Finland Manufacturing No: NCPE 8645

Meltindex Ml ₂ g/10 min ISO 1133 Cond 4 8.0 Density kg/m ³ ASTM D 1928 C/D 1505 935

If required UV-stabilizer and antioxidant can be added to the composition.