Ski binding with universal release

Claim 1

A ski binding for releasably securing a ski boot to a ski, comprising a circular releasable binding for selectively engaging the ski boot with the ski, said circular releasable binding including a base portion and two circular elements arranged parallel with the plane of the ski, one of said circular elements being mounted to the underside of the boot and the other of said circular elements being mounted on said base portion, said base portion having a pair of slotted portions extending outwardly therefrom, each of said slotted portions being mounted on said ski, said circular elements being nestable one within the other for positioning the boot relative to the ski, detent means being adapted for selective rigid locking engagement between said two circular elements to secure the boot to the ski, locking means for maintaining the detent means in locked engagement between said two circular elements, release actuating means for releasing the locking means to permit disengagement between said two circular elements and to permit release of the ski boot from the ski when necessary in order to minimize or prevent injury by permitting relative motion in any direction between the boot and ski during release, means for measuring deflection in each of said slotted portions and further for developing a plurality of electrical signals commensurate with selected ones of components of deflection about longitudinal, lateral, and vertical axes of said ski, computing means responsive to said electrical signals for computing angular deflections about selected ones of said axes, said computing means being preprogrammed with predetermined critical angular deflections for computing a relationship between said electrical signals for initiating a release signal to said release actuating means.