This invention relates to a simulated ski slope of the type disclosed by R. L. Hall in U.S. Pat. No. 3,164,247 consisting of an inclined deck and a continuous wide belt of material having a low coefficient of friction. The belt is made continuous by forming a closed loop around cylinders (hereinafter referred to as rollers) at the top and bottom of the inclined deck mounted on rotary axles. One of the rollers is driven by an electric motor to move the belt in an upward direction over the inclined deck.
The Hall ski deck was sixteen feet wide and thirty feet long, so that the loop belt weighed approximately 1500 pounds. Consequently, it was very difficult to set up the apparatus and install the belt. Moreover, it required a very large amount of power to move the belt over the inclined deck at speeds of five to twenty miles per hour in order to give the person skiing on the inclined deck the sensation of moving down the slope as the belt moves up over the inclined deck.
It has been discovered that a ski deck of the Hall type need not be so large in order to give instructions to a beginning skier or to give advanced instructions to an experienced skier, such as how to traverse and turn over moguls, which are bumps or ridges of closely packed snow built up on a curve where skiers turn as they cut back and forth on the slope of a mountain. Consequently, an object of this invention is to provide a ski deck of the Hall type that can fit in a normal room with an eight foot ceiling and can be more readily set up for use and knocked down for storage or moving to a different location. Another object is to facilitate simulating moguls on the looped belt, and to secure the moguls in such a manner as to permit the moguls to be placed anywhere on the looped belt and to make the turn at the rollers for another pass under and around the lower roller, up the inclined deck and over the upper roller.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds