Wheeled skis

Claim 1

A wheeled ski adapted for travel on a ground surface, such as a paved roadway, in a manner to closely simulate actual maneuvers and conditions of conventional snow skiing, said ski cOmprising: a. a ski member having a longitudinal center axis, a horizontal transverse axis, a front portion, a rear portion, and two side portions, said ski member being adapted to engage a foot of a skier at a foot location of said ski member intermediate the front and rear portions thereof, b. a first set of longitudinally aligned tracking wheels located along at least one side portion of said ski member and mounted thereto for rotation about respective transverse horizontal axes substantially fixed angularly with respect to the longitudinal axis of said ski member, said tracking wheels extending below said ski member so as to be able to engage said ground surface, c. a second set of tracking wheels located along the other side portion of said ski member and mounted thereto for rotation about respective transverse horizontal axes substantially fixed angularly with respect to the longitudinal axis of said ski member, said second set of tracking wheels extending below said ski member so as to be able to engage said ground surface, d. a set of third turning and sliding wheels, each of said third wheels being mounted to a respective wheel mounting means for rotation about a respective horizontal axis, with each of said wheel mounting means being in turn mounted to said ski member for rotation about a respective generally vertical axis spaced horizontally from the horizontal axis about which its respective turning and sliding wheel rotates, and d. said turning and sliding wheels extending moderately below and positioned transversely between said first and second tracking wheels, whereby when one of said third wheels swivels about the vertical axis of its related mounting in a turning and/or sliding mode, it also moves laterally to increase an angle defined by two planes, one of which planes is defined by lower portions of the first and second tracking wheels, and the other of which planes is defined by said one of the third wheels and the set of tracking wheels toward which the one of said third wheels is rotated, thus permitting controlled differential engagement of the tracking wheels in conjunction with the turning and sliding wheels to facilitate maneuvers closely simulating corresponding maneuvers performed in snow skiing.