Jean Beyl's big "break"

In 1948, in Nevers, France, following a broken leg while skiing, Jean Beyl built a plate binding that could swivel 360 degrees in a twisting fall. It used a cumbersome piston that sat beneath the pivoting plate and had to be mortised into the ski. Beyl’s binding didn't fully release the boot in a fall; it just turned to protect the lower leg against twist, without actually detaching from the ski. It also did something no other binding could do: It would absorb momentary shock and return to center.

The binding's lateral elasticity was a revolutionary idea and it wouldn't be matched by other manufacturers for almost three decades. The plate also eliminated the high friction produced by leather ski boot soles on the release mechanism, vastly improving reliability. Beyl wanted to give the product an American-sounding name, and liked the Look name after the title of the American weekly magazine.

At the time, Beyl had a small rubber manufacturing business called “Le Caoutchouc Manufacturé” which initials were LCM. The Look Moniker enabled him to easily “torture” the logo stamp LCM into LOOK. By 1950 Beyl had talked several members of the French team into using his Look plate, including world champions Henri Oreiller and James Couttet...