Lilienfelder steel sole binding
The Lilienfeld steel sole binding was the first modern ski binding .
history
The earliest ski bindings originally consisted of willow rods and later of leather straps and sea cane ("Rohrstaberl").
In 1884 the Norwegian ski pioneer Fritz Huitfeldt invented the Huitfeldt binding. He replaced the leather hanger that had been used up until then with an iron cheek piece - the shoe got a better fit in the cheek piece. This binding set the trend for the years to come.
Above all, the lack of lateral support in these bindings prompted Mathias Zdarsky to design a new one. It consisted of a steel sole that could be rotated around a horizontal axis, which had a heel instep strap and a toe strap and was restrained from rotating around its axis by a metal spring.
“The foot cannot slide off the ski sideways with the heel, no snow can accumulate under the foot and the heel can be lifted so high that you can kneel down or lie down without any discomfort. If, however, the ski is lifted from the snow cover, it cannot swing around the sole axis because the metal spring is so strong that it always presses the ski against the sole ”. (Mathias Zdarsky in his book “Lilienfelder Skiing Technique”, published in November 1896).
This bond was the prerequisite for Zdarsky to be able to develop the "Alpine (Lilienfelder) skiing technique" in the winters from 1890 to 1896.
Zdarsky entrusted the technical production, patenting and distribution of this binding to the hardware merchant and former ship's captain Karl Engel in Lilienfeld.