1970-1990 ROSSIGNOL DEVELOPS ITS OPERATIONS 1950 - 1970 Rossignol develops its operations 1956 1950-1960 . The metal ski, a technological transition Laurent Bois-Vives took charge of Skis Rossignol in Metal, strong and available in thin sheets, grabbed the attention of ski manufacturers 1956. He straight away decided to focus solely on early on. The first metal skis date from the 30s, but the war and problems with wood/ ski production and was set to give the company an metal assembly put a stop to any developments. They were re-launched by an American international dimension. It was the end of an era in 1946. Aviation engineer Howard Head used his expertise in bonding processes to for of a certain type of craftsmanship to be progres- construct a ski with a plywood core and two strips of metal either side, a version of the sively replaced by industrial scale production for a “sandwich” design used in aircraft. Head’s skis were very slim, supple under flexion, rigid under torsion and handled exceptionally well on virgin snow. In France Charles Dieupart produced a ski that used a metal cover strip and began to make quite a name for himself, although distribution was limited. In Switzerland, Attenhoffer brought in a moderately successful ski with a wooden core and a ribbed metal support. Metal ski technology was therefore the focus of ski research and production for around 10 years. But despite its qualities, the metal ski was slow to take off. It was competition success that gave it the boost it needed. In 1960, Jean VUARNET won the Downhill in the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics, wearing Rossignol’s celebrated Allais 60 skis. But on the heels of this merited success the plastic ski was already emerging. Technology was developing at astonishing speed. So, in innovation terms, metal skis can be viewed as intermediaries, merely a bridge between laminated plywood and the fiberglass and laminate resin products that started a whole new era. 1957 . The leather boot makes strides In August 57, under a French patent, the Austrian company Koflach produced a ski boot with an inner lining that held the foot firmly in place by means of a lacing system separate from the main boot lacing. This design was the forerunner of the technique of using an inner liner separate from the shell, which was to become widespread in the 70s. At the same time a second lacing system at the rear was introdu- ced on the boot itself to make it easier to put on and improve heel grip. Head and Attenhoffer Skis 1950 - 1970 Rossignol develops its operations The Allais 60 The launch of Head metal skis in the US was of immense interest to Emile ALLAIS. Convin- ced of their potential, he brought back several pairs to France and together with Rossignol Emile ALLAIS - a force for change worked on improving their good features and ironing out weaknesses. And in 1952 the «I met Howard Head in the States when I was Voiron company patented a ski comprising an assembly of at least two aluminum alloy training the Canadian team. He asked me to try blades around a filler. Whilst Head skis were leisure based, Emile Allais and Rossignol had out some metal skis he had developed. Those produced a competition ski that performed exceptionally well on hard snow. They worked skis handled very nicely in soft snow and powder on the wood-metal sandwich construction, made adjustments to the ski’s rigidity under but were totally unsuited to hard snow because flexion and refined the sidecuts. The ski’s rigidity under torsion meant that racers could they had no edges or base. They didn’t perform now execute those wide radius turns (carving turns) that inspired a whole new competi- well enough for use in competitions. When I got tion event: the giant slalom. Extremely stable on big turns, the ski was perfectly suited for back to France, based on Head’s idea, I designed downhill. French champion Jean VUARNET invented the new «search for speed» position. together with Rossignol the first metal ski, the His gold medal in the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics Downhill brought worldwide re- Métallais, which had screwed-on edges and a cognition for both the «Egg» technique and his Allais 60s ... Allais 60 skis starred in inter- graphite-coated plastic base. That was the ski national competitions over many seasons. They were around for approximately 10 years that led to the Allais 60.” and helped improve understanding of shear stress at material interfaces during flexional moment on the ski’s structure. The public first became aware of the Allais 60 when Jean Vuarnet won gold in the Squaw «Allais 60s were the forerunners of today’s Valley Winter Olympics Downhill in 1960. This prestigious ski opened a whole new era in skis; they featured hidden edges and a poly- competition ski technology. It was closely associated with the great French team’s epic ethylene base. When they came out they were victories in the sixties. technically at least two years ahead of com- petitors. These skis were way above the wood skis still used at the time, especially in terms of grip on snow. They gave the French Team a decisive advantage as shown by Jean Vuarnet’s victory at Squaw Valley. The Austrians were Adrien DUVILLARD greatly envious. Winner of the great classics Emile Allais In the course of his career Adrien Duvillard won nearly all the great downhill and com- bined classics. He used various skis, each representative of their era: The Olympic 41, the Allais 60, the Fiberglass and the Strato. For Adrien «the most innovative ski was without doubt the Allais 60. Its performance was so totally different from what was Emile Allais and Adrien Duvillard around then. It was very fast; a great example of unanticipated product improvement. It was only afterwards that we noticed that, over and above all its other qualities, this ski was incredibly fast.» 1950 - 1970 Rossignol develops its operations 1960-1962 . Fiberglass opens a new era 1961-1963 . The ski boot locking lever By the early 60s technology had developed and it became possible to extrude glass into fibers to make what is commonly called fiberglass and then add a protective coating. At Standard fastening for laced ski boots the same time the chemical industry was developing fiber impregnated resins. The two was not very effective and led to the products together led to the invention of fiberglass laminate. Fiberglass was easy to use search for a better performing device. and offered an extremely wide range of potential applications in all fields. Its high limit of The strap tensioning buckle (or hook or elasticity and relative lightness immediately caught the attention of the ski industry. With lever) made its debut on Henke leather the possibility of countless combinations with other high tech synthetic fibers to be deve- boots and the Hans Martin patent was loped later, fiberglass was the perfect candidate for experimental research. This quality published in Switzerland. Competitors stimulated the creativity of researchers. were quick to improve on the techni- que (especially Raichle) by adding va- Various French and other ski manufacturers took out patents to protect applications and rious options for adjusting the tension. use of this new material. In 1963 Rieker came up with the idea of putting the buckles on the outside and side of a boot that opened and did up at the For example Fischer (Austria), Rossignol, Michal and Straver (France) all took out patents back. for this around 1964-65. The all leather boot changed too over the next few years with the use of plastic coated leather to give more rigidity and improve water-tightness. Claude Joseph An idea for a new ski «In 1955 I was running a small plastics business and a friend and I had the idea of using new materials like polyester to make skis. The basic idea was that these materials would have to be much more watertight than wood. After numerous attempts we finally produced a fiber «ski preform» and presented it during the Grenoble Show. Knowing nothing about ski manufacture techniques, the The Compound ski link made with Paul Michal helped us make real progress in developing the product. From his technical knowledge about skiing and my knowledge of syn- thetic materials came the “Compound” or the fiberglass ski. 1950 - 1970 Rossignol develops its operations 1960-1965 . Fiberglass technology Adrien Duvillard a champion dedicated to ski products At the same time as the metal Allais 60s were making their debut, Swiss engineer Gaston Hal- Adrien Duvillard joined Rossignol’s research & demann took out several patents for a hollow development team in 1958 when he was still core ski, the development of which led to the a downhill racer. Having worked on the Allais fiberglass ski. The idea was achievable becau- 60 with Emile Allais, Adrien Duvillard was also se high performance resins had hit the market involved with Gaston Haldemann’ Fiberglass. along with woven glass fabric, heat treated and This ski had excellent competition results, es- chemically treated to make it suitable for bon- pecially for the Swiss team; unfortunately it ding. Rossignol produced this type of ski for turned out to be difficult to manufacture on more than fifteen years, firstly in Voiron from an industrial scale. However, the era of the 1960 and then in its Swiss subsidiary. fiberglass ski had begun. And it was soon Adopted by many champions, including the realized with the development of a composite Swiss team, the fiberglass ski was a hit on the material ski: the Strato.