Folding ski

Claim 1

A folding ski for repeatable operation from an assembled condition to a folded condition, said ski including: a first elongated ski member having a top surface, side surfaces, a bottom skiing surface, and an end portion; a second elongated ski member having a top surface, side surfaces, a bottom skiing surface, and an end portion adapted to be fastened in abutting alignment with said first ski member end portion; connecting means including: at least two elongated main support bars permanently mounted on and extending outwardly from said end portion of said first ski member in longitudinal alignment with said first ski member, said bars each being provided at an outer end thereof with a hook having a slot facing open toward the bottom of said ski member, and, at least one support pin mounted in a clearance cavity provided in the end portion of said second ski member, said support pin being in position to be in supporting alignment with at least one of said hooks in said slot when said ski is in an assembled condition; a channel member permanently secured to said second ski member and including: a horizontal wall and depending vertical side walls, a first end portion of said horizontal wall being fixedly positioned with respect to the upper surface of said end portion of said second ski member and first end portions of said vertical walls lying adjacent to, and in contacting relation with, said side surfaces of said end portion of said second ski member, a second end portion of said horizontal wall and second end portions of said vertical side walls extending longitudinally beyond the end portion of said second ski member in parallel relation thereto and in position to removably receive said first ski member end portion when said first and second ski members are aligned and ski is in assembled condition, and at least a portion of said horizontal wall of said channel member being in stress bearing relation to said top surface of the end portion of said first elongated ski member at position spaced from the end thereof; a releasable fastening means on said ski for positioning said second end portion oF said channel member in fixed contacting relation to said top surface of said first ski member; a first end plate encompassing said end portion of the first ski member; a second end plate encompassing said end portion of the second ski member; said end plates each including: a horizontal portion embedded in its ski member, and a face portion extending across the end of its ski member in non-perpendicular relation to its horizontal portion, each face portion positioned to be in abutting supportive relation to the other face portion when the ski is in assembled condition; said face portion of said first end plate extending away from its horizontal portion at an obtuse angle; said face portion of said second end plate extending away from its horizontal portion at a supplementary acute angle; and a resilient cable assembly including: a cable anchored in one of said first and second end portions and extending longitudinally outwardly from the face portion of the face plate mounted thereon, said cable being slidably mounted through an aligned portion of the other face plate, and resilient means anchored with respect to the other of said first and second end portions and fastened to said cable to allow said ski portions to be moved against the action of said resilient means to folded position where said bottom skiing surfaces are in contact with each other, and to apply tension to said cable to urge said end portions toward each other as said ski is moved from folded toward and into assembled condition.