DESCRIPTION The present invention relates to a ski boot and in particular to a new structure equipped with improved means for closing the shell in the region of the opening for introduction and extraction of the user's foot.

It is well-known that a conventional ski-boot structure comprises a rigid outer shell and an inner shoe, the shell being connected, preferably by hinging means, to a leg-piece which extends upwards so as to embrace the bottom portion of the user's leg.

The design of a ski boot, as well as that of many other industrial'products, usually results in the need to adopt compromise solutions in response to varying requirements which are not perfectly compatible.

Firstly it must be taken into account that the directional commands are imparted from the leg and transmitted to the skis via a chain, the"components"of which are the foot, the inner shoe, the outer shell, the sole and finally the ski binding to which the outer shelf is fixed. In order to obtain the maximum precision and rapidity of transmission it is desirable that the clearance between the components, in particular between foot and inner shoe or between inner shoe and outer shell should be that which is most suited to the skier's requirements, for example for use of the boot in a sports competition instead of by a beginner.

On the other hand, there is the requirement that the sporting activity should be conducted in comfortable conditions and therefore that the legs and the feet of the skier should not assume positions which are rigidly imposed. In'particular it is necessary that the inner shoe should be provided with suitable protective padding for the foot especially in the region of the projecting parts of

the foot itself and that moreover portions of the inner shoe and/or the outer shell should not exert excessive local pressure especially in the region of the tendons.

At the same time it is also necessary that the shell should allow the inclination of the leg-piece be varied with respect to the normal erect posture of the leg and consequently the leg-piece should be able to flex either forwards or backwards without these movements being hindered, for example in the zone where the instep of the foot is joined to the bottom end of the leg.

These requirements have hitherto been satisfied with various measures which, as regards the inclination of the leg-piece with respect to the shell of the boot and the normal posture of the leg, essentially allow the position of the leg-piece to be modified by adjusting the rear part of the shell- see for example the patent US-A-6,101, 745-and/or other elements such as for example the main tongue closing the front opening of the shell-see for example the patent US-A-5,553, 402.

A further and no less important requirement of skiers is that they should able to introduce and extract the foot easily into/from a boot. For this reason a justified success is enjoyed by ski boots in which the shell is provided with a front opening which, starting from the top edge thereof and terminating in the proximity of the tip, has two parallel and relatively thin flaps which sometimes are superimposed over a certain length and in any case are at least intended to be arranged close to each other in the closed condition, namely after the user has introduced the foot into the inner shoe of the boot-see for example the patent US-A-4,974, 346. Special hook-type levers, provided with specific adjusting devices, allow the force required for keeping the said opening closed to be controlled and adapted to the specific conditions of use-see for example the patent US-A-5,768, 804.

However, since the entire shell, including the flaps of the said front opening, is moulded, the choice of grade of plastic material may not be the most suitable for ensuring that the flaps of said opening are easy to manipulate also in the event of particularly low temperatures or other unfavourable environmental conditions. Consequently the skier encounters difficulties when introducing and extracting the foot.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a ski-boot structure in which the above mentioned requirements are satisfied without the conventional compromise solutions and in particular a ski boot in which the following advantages are achieved : - ensure a more or less rigid connection with the foot, also depending on the different conditions of use; - adapt the said connection to the anatomical form of the lower limbs of each individual skier; - make use of different materials for the various parts of the shell so as to choose the material which is most suited for each part;

- ensure the interchangeability, both during purchase and during practical use of the boot, of some parts of the shell.

These and other objects are achieved with a ski-boot structure having the characteristic features of the appended claims.

The main features of the present invention will appear clearly from the following description of a preferred and not limiting embodiment, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: - Fig. 1 is a three-dimensional view, from the front, of a first embodiment of the present invention where the leg-piece has an opening for introduction and extraction of the foot which can be closed with means which are shown in the open position; - Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 and shows said means in the closed position; - Figs. 3 and 4 show the same embodiment according to Figs. 1 and 2, but from a different angle so as to show the said means in a closed position in two different arrangements; - Figs, 5 and 6 are three-dimensional views, from the rear, of a second embodiment of the invention where the leg-piece has another opening which can be closed with means which are shown respectively in the open and closed position; - Fig. 7 is a three-dimensional view, from the rear, of a variant of the said second embodiment of the invention where the leg-piece has on the outer side an opening which can be closed with means which are shown in the closed position; - Fig. 8 is similar to Fig. 1, but relates to a third embodiment of the invention provided with openings both on the leg-piece and on the shell, which can be closed with means which are shown here only in the open position.

The ski boot shown in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises, as is known, an outer shell 10 made of plastic material and comprising a rigid sole 12 and two relatively flexible flaps 14A and 14B which are parallel with each other and partially superimposed to define a front opening 17 with which a main tongue (not shown) may be associated. A leg-piece 16, which is also made of plastic material, is hinged by means of a pair of lateral pivots 15 on the shell 10 where a soft inner shoe 18-only partially visible in Fig. 1-for receiving comfortably the skier's foot is accommodated.

According to the invention, the leg-piece 16 is also provided, extending from its top free edge 20, with two relatively flexible flaps 22A and 22B which are parallel with each other and located respectively on the outer side and on the inner side of the boot. Unlike the already mentioned flaps 14A and 14B of the outer shell 10, the flaps 22A and 22B of the leg-piece 16 are spaced from one another and define a front opening 24 which practically forms an upwards extension of the already mentioned front opening 17 of the shell 10.

For closing the opening 24 of the leg-piece 16 a panel 26 is provided which may be advantageously made of the most suitable material, for example, so as to facilitate the movements performed by the skier in order to introduce and extract his/her foot and/or to satisfy the requirements of all skiers without being in any manner determined by the choice of the plastic material from which the other parts of the shell 10 are made. The panel 26 has a more or less rectangular shape and is supported along a first side 28 thereof, via a pivot 30, by the flap 22A which is located on the inner side of the boot. Preferably the hinging side 28 is the side located towards the rear of the leg-piece 16, and the axis Y of the pivot 30 (which may also be a laminar-type hinge formed integrally with the panel 26) is substantially vertical. The cross-section of the panel 26-as can be understood from Fig. 1-is curved inwards with the concavity directed towards the inner shoe 18 so as to mate with the curvature of the visible surface of the boot.

When it is open-see Fig. 1-the panel 26 facilitates in a manner which is decidedly better than conventional boots the introduction and extraction of the foot into/from the leg-piece 16 via the opening 24 of the leg-piece 16 as well as via the conventional opening 17 of the outer shell 10.

When it is closed-see Fig. 2-following a rotation about the axis Y and then locked using conventional means such as racks 32-which, for the sake of simplicity, are shown only in Fig. 1- and adjustable levers 34 which are arranged on the other flap 22B, the panel 26 closes perfectly the said opening 24, preventing the entry of snow or water into the boot during use.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention-shown in Figs. 3 and 4-the pivot 30 of the panel 26 is not directly supported by the flap 22A of the leg-piece 16, but is supported by an auxiliary element 36 which has a number of slots 38 perpendicular to the axis Y of the pivot 30 and/or a corresponding number of slots (not shown for the sake of the simplicity) parallel to the same axis Y and designed to co-operate with a corresponding number of studs 40 which are fixed to the said flap 22A. Owing to the sliding movement of associated studs 40 in the slots 38, the panel 26 may assume a series of configurations-of which only the end ones are shown in the accompanying drawing-both for ensuring a more or less rigid connection between the boot and the lower limb of the skier and for ensuring a better adaptation to the anatomical form thereof, in particular the so-called instep of the foot.

A second embodiment of the invention-shown in Figs. 5 and 6 in which, as far as possible, the reference numerals of Figures 1 to 4 are retained-differs from the preceding one in that it is provided with an opening 124 for introduction and extraction of the foot which is located on the inner side of the leg-piece 116. For closing the opening 124 a panel 126 is provided which is functionally similar to the panel 26 of the first embodiment since it is supported along a first side 128 thereof by

the leg-piece 116 via a folding hinge 130, the substantially vertical axis Z of which is located exactly along the longitudinal mid-plane of the boot. For the sake of simplicity in the accompanying drawings, not all the conventional details of the preceding figures are shown, such as the racks by means of which the second side 133 of the panel 126 may be closed and locked.

A variant of this second embodiment is shown in Fig. 7 and envisages that the opening 225 for introduction and extraction of the foot is provided on the outer side of the leg-piece 216. In this case the panel 226 for closing the said opening has a form similar to that of the lateral flaps of conventional boots and is supported along a first side 228 thereof by the leg-piece 216 with a folding hinge 230, the vertical axis Z'of which intersects the horizontal axis A of the hinging pivots 215 of the leg-piece 216 on the shell 10. In this case also, for the sake of simplicity, the conventional means for closing and locking the panel 226 which are located on its side (also not shown) opposite to said first side 228 are not shown.

In the third embodiment-shown in Fig. 8 and described here only with regard to the details which differ from the preceding embodiments-the outer shell 50, on which a leg-piece 58 is conventionally hinged by means of a pair of lateral pivots (only one of which is visible in the accompanying drawing under the reference numeral 57), has on the front and at the top a wide opening 52. The opening 52 is defined by two longitudinal edges, only the one of which located on the outer side of the boot is shown under the reference numeral 54, and is arranged in alignment with the opening 56 of the leg- piece 58. For closing the openings 52 and 56 a pair of inwardly curved panels 60,62 are provided which are entirely similar to the panels 26 of the first embodiment described hereinabove.

In particular, the panel 60 is supported along a first side 78 thereof by the outer shell 50 via a pivot (for the sake of simplicity not shown) which extends along a substantially horizontal axis X parallel to the said edge 54 and provided with conventional means, in particular a rack 64, so as to be closed and locked along the second side 75 thereof. In turn, the panel 62 is supported along its first side 68 by the leg-piece 58 via a pivot 70 which extends along the substantially vertical axis Y and is provided with closing means 73,75 along its second side 71. It is also possible to envisage for the panel 60 and/or the panel 62 a support provided by the shell 50 and/or the leg-piece 58 similar to that described with reference to the preceding Figs. 3 and 4 in such a way as to obtain an adjustment which is suited to the anatomical form of the lower limbs of the skier, in particular the form of the so-called arch of the foot.

From the preceding description it is clear that the invention effectively achieves all the objects indicated above and also provides the possibility, with a suitable design of the support elements thereof, to manufacture the panels 26,126, 226,60, 62 using the most suitable materials, i. e.

independently of that used for manufacturing the shell and the leg-piece. The invention also offers the possibility, with the use of so-called extractable hinges, to replace the panels with others having different physical characteristics, for example more or less soft, so as to satisfy the individual preferences of each skier, if necessary also after purchase of the boots.

Although the above description refers to preferred embodiments, it is understood that the invention may also be realised differently within the scope of protection of the following claims, in particular as regards the physical design of the panels and their hinging means.