GYROSNOW

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GYROSNOW

• A project by Sam Patterson
• EN100

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SNOWBOARDING

• Problem Snowboarders have significant difficulty
  getting between two places when there isnt a
  downward slope between them. This scenario
  requires the snowboarder to remove both bindings
  in order to walk the distance. This is a time
  consuming and fun-inhibiting procedure.

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Skateboarding

• Skateboarders feet are not strapped on to their
  board. This allows skaters to adjust the position
  of their feet while skating in order to
  accommodate their natural stance. When a
  skateboarder attempts to pick up speed, the front
  foot sits on the board and points in the
  direction of movement. The back foot leaves the
  board and pushes back on the ground repeatedly.
  The most natural motion occurs when the natural
  direction of bending of the skaters knees is
  parallel with the direction of motion of the
  skateboard.

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Skateboarding
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SKATEBOARDING
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Problem

• Current snowboarding packages are designed so
  that the bindings which attach the snowboarders
  feet to the snowboard are fixed in place. Their
  rotational position can only be changed by
  removing the foot from the binding, undoing four
  screws, adjusting the position of the binding,
  and then reinserting the screws. Furthermore,
  they are fixed in the boarders preferred position
  for snowboarding downhill. This foot position is
  not ideal for skating along flat ground.

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Solution

• If a snowboarder removes his back foot from his
  binding when he reaches flat ground, and then can
  reposition his binding so that it is parallel to
  the direction of desired motion, then he will be
  able to skate along the flat ground in a
  stress-free, fast, and natural motion as though
  he was skateboarding.
• Gyrosnow is a mechanism which allows a
  snowboarder to easily rotate their binding from
  the snowboarding position (where their feet are
  perpendicular with direction of motion), to the
  skating position (where their feet are parallel
  to direction of motion), in minimal time by
  simply pulling a pin.
• This option was previously impossible to
  snowboarders!

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Patent Search
In order to find the right category and similar
patents to mine, I first searched for key words
relating to snowboarding and had trouble finding
patents and categories for accessories that fit
between the board and the snowboard. This Example
shows a patent for the plate that fixes the
binding in place in a permanent fashion but is
not in the same accessory category as Gyrosnow
US Patent 6,817,622 B2
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PATENT SEARCH
This patent was key in determining the category
of my product since it was hard to find the
definition for a Snowboard accessory that is
meant to be used between the snowboard and the
binding. This allowed me to find the current
United States classification which is CCL/280/613
US Patent 6,666,472 Filed Dec. 23, 2003
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DESIGN
Once design concept was finalized, formal
engineering drawings were drawn in order to get
the respective parts manufactured
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Assembly
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Lets test it!
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Room for Improvements

• The design has proven successful because it
  fulfills the En100 contract. However, as a
  product that is marketable, the weight, quantity
  and type of material needs to be rethought in
  order to make the product cheap enough to be
  salable.
• For example, hard molded plastics are a good way
  to replace expensive costs involved in machining
  aluminum, and alienating the product from the
  fluctuating and rising price of Aluminum.
• Stress analysis can be computed to find out
  minimal cross sectional widths