If you’ve got even a grain of engineering in your genes, stay away from the US Patent Office online. Going there could wreck your job and your marriage. You could even end up in rehab. If you do go there, a couple of tips. The query system is easy but you probably need to study the help tips for at least five minutes. Key thing is once you find an interesting patent, click on ALL the back referenced patents “References Cited” That’s where you can really have some fun.
Paul Ramer’s 1977 patent for a frame touring binding that used a ball-socket at the toe for both pivot and release. I love this beautiful drawing. Ramer binding was the point of departure for Fritz Barthel to change the world with the tech binding he invented around 1981. Fritz based his idea on the combined pivot-release toe concept that Ramer came up with, only with using the ski boot as the binding frame.
Ramer’s first heel riser really was a coil spring. If that ain’t trivia I don’t know what is. And, it did make for some ribald jokes.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
