I was looking at some of the snowboard pattents they mention at grafsnowboards and though they're horribly hard to read (damn lawyers) some of them are interesting. Like "Patent Number 6,105,991 : Burton Snowboards - Engineered Wood Cores (End Grain Balsa)."
(If you're trying to look at patents this page gives you a pdf of the patent when you enter the patent number. Much easier that uspto.gov for actually reading them, though you still need to to find the patent number.)
Then I thought that I'd try to find patents that DrakeBoinay has, since they say their method is patented. I couldn't find anything. Has any one else looked?
Two things that DB says about their construction that confused me are that their edges ar "fully laminated" (I think scottybob's are too) and that they use an elastomer layer between the base and the rest of the ski.
Does "fully laminated" mean that the tabs (better word?) of the edges sit between the bottom composite layer and the core, instead of between the bottom composite layer and the base. Or is it just marketing speak and it means nothing.
Does anyone think that there's actually an entire layer of rubber in the DB skis? As opposed to strips near the edges. It seems to me that doing that would create a likely point of failure. Do other companies do this?
Ok, this post is getting too long. I'll save my other crazy questions for later.
Damping, edges, and looking at patents for ideas
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