Background of the Invention It is known to provide a snowboard with a brake to restrain the snowboard from riderless travel. An example of such a brake is shown in, for example, US Patent No. 5,085, 455, where two brake arms are provided on a trailing end of a snowboard and arranged to be deployed into the snow when a rider is released from the board.

The brake is deployed into a fully engaged position by a spring and, for that purpose, the spring strength has to be fairly high in order to ensure the brake functions properly. Some difficulty may, however, be experienced with resetting the brake since the resistive force of the spring needs to be overcome.

Object of the Invention It is an object of the invention to provide a brake to address the above difficulty.

Summary of the Invention In accordance with the invention, there is provided a brake for a snowboard including a brake arm biased toward a deployed condition in which the brake arm is intermediate a stowed position and an engaged position, wherein, in the deployed condition, the arm extends in a direction of travel of the snowboard and is placed for engagement with snow, and wherein the arm is adapted to be moved to the engaged position by force of the snow acting on the arm as a result of relative movement of the snowboard.

Preferably, the brake includes resilient means which serves to drive the brake arm from the stowed position to the deployed condition and an actuating device for triggering the resilient means, in response to absence of a rider's boot from a binding of the snowboard.

Preferably, the resilient means serves to bias the arm back toward the deployed condition

from the engaged position.

Preferably, the brake includes a second brake arm arranged to extend in an opposite direction of travel, when in the deployed condition, such that the brake is effective in arresting movement of the snowboard in either direction of travel.

Preferably, the actuating device includes two pivotally coupled members, with the arm being coupled to a respective one of the members, arranged whereby movement of the device into a released condition effects pivotal movement of the members which, in turn, translates into movement of the arms into the deployed condition.

Preferably, the resilient means is coupled between the members to draw the members together when the device moves into the released condition.

Preferably, the brake includes a mounting base which is arranged for adjustable attachment relative to a front binding plate of the snowboard.

In another aspect, there is provided a brake for a snowboard including two brake arms moveable from a stowed position to an engaged position, wherein the arms are arranged to extend in opposite directions of travel of the snowboard and the brake is effective in moving the arms to a deployed condition, intermediate the stowed and engaged positions for engagement with snow, and wherein the arms are adapted to be subsequently moved to the engaged position by force of the snow acting on the respective arm as a result of relative movement of the snowboard.

In another aspect, there is provided a snowboard including a brake, as described above.

Preferably, the brake is attached to a front binding of the snowboard.

Preferably, the brake is fitted to act over a toe-side of the snowboard.

In another aspect, there is provided a binding for the above-described snowboard, the binding having a toe plate which interacts with the actuating device in order to move the brake arms between the stowed and deployed positions.

Brief Description of the Drawings The invention is described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is perspective view of a portion of a snowboard with a brake; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the brake of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the snowboard, showing the brake with brake arms in a deployed condition; Figure 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the brake, from an opposite side, showing the brake arms in the deployed condition.

Detailed Description Referring firstly to Figure 1, a snowboard 1 is shown with a binding 2 secured to the board 1 via a binding plate 3. The binding 2 includes a toe plate 4 which engages an actuating device 5 of a brake 10, which is shown with two brake arms 11,12 in a stowed position adjacent a toe-side edge 13 of the board 1.

The brake 10 is illustrated in more detail in Figure 2 as including a mounting base 14 which has a front housing 15 and carries the actuating device 5 and associated brake arms 11,12. The base 14 has an elongate slot 16 which allows the brake 10 to be adjustably positioned relative to the binding plate 3. The actuating device 5 is formed of two pivotally coupled members 17,18 which are in turn connected to ends (not shown) of the brake arms 11,12 received within the housing 15.

When the toe plate 4 of the binding 2 is lifted from the position of Figure 1, so as to indicate absence of a boot from the binding 2, the device 5 moves into a released condition in which the members 17,18 are pivoted together and the brake arms 11,12 are moved into the deployed condition, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. More specifically, the members 17,18 are biased by resilient means 20 so as to be drawn together and pivoted into an A- frame type configuration. The relative movement of the members 17,18 causes translation

of the arms 11,12 outwardly of the board 1 and downwardly, into the deployed condition, where the arms are arranged for engagement with the snow. (The lateral translational movement of each arm 11,12 which results from pivoting of the members of the actuating device 5 is achieved by employing suitable camming structure or the like such as is commonly used in a conventional ski brake and details of the specific mechanism for <BR> <BR> achieving that movement are omitted for clarity. ) The resilient means 20 is preferably a torsion spring 21, as illustrated in phantom lines in Figure 4, although any other suitable resilient means may be utilised.

When the arms 11,12 are in the deployed condition, each arm extends either in a first direction of travel indicated by arrow 22 or a second direction of travel indicated by arrow 23, such that the arms act to dig into the snow when the board is moving in either of those directions. The engagement of the snow with, for example, the arm 11, forces that arm to rotate from the deployed condition into the fully engaged position (shown in dashed lines 30) and that in turn serves to arrest movement of the board 1. If the board 1 travels in the reverse direction 23, a similar function is performed by the second arm 12. At the fully engaged position, the arms 11,12 engage a mechanical stop (not shown), which may be provided by an end-of-travel position of the members 17,18 pivoting towards each other.

Caps 24, of greater width dimension than the arms 11,12, may be provided to enhance the action of the snow driving the arms 11,12 into the respective engaged position.

Since full engagement of the brake arms is achieved by way of force transfer between the snow and the brake arms, the resilient means 20 only needs to have a relatively low spring rate in order to force the arms into the initial deployed condition. In addition, the resilient means 20 tends to bias the arms 11,12 back toward the deployed condition from the fully engaged position. As a result, particularly when the board is at rest, the return distance and force required to return the brake arms to the stowed position is relatively minimal such that the brake may be readily reset by simply stepping back into the binding.

In particular, to return the brake from the fully engaged position to the configuration of Figure 1 all that is required is for the toe plate 4 to be depressed, by a boot re-entering the binding 2, so as to flatten out the members 17,18 and reset the actuating device 5, which

simultaneously pivots the arms 11,12 back onto the board 1 and into the stowed position.

As it is desirable for a rider to be able to"skate"on the snowboard, by releasing a rear binding in order to push themselves along the snow, the brake is preferably fitted to only the front binding 2. Further, the brake should be positioned adjacent the toe-side edge 13 only of the board 1 in order to avoid the brake 10 getting jammed between a heel-side edge 25 of the board 1 and the snow, when the binding 2 is engaged from a sitting position.

The invention has been described with reference to a snowboard 1, however is should be understood that the brake 10 may be applied to any other suitable type of board, ski or the like.