HOCKEY STICK CONSTRUCTION

BATON DE HOCKEY

English Abstract

ABSTRACT
A hockey stick having opposed metal outer skins of
continuous one piece including integral handle and blade
portions with a metal honeycomb sandwiched therebetween. An
adhesive secures the metal honeycomb to the inner surfaces of
the metal outer skins, and a filler encloses the side edges of
the stick between the metal outer skins. An expandable foam
adhesive is disposed in the metal honeycomb portion between
the metal outer skins along the blade portion, and is disposed
in the honeycomb portion between the metal outer skins along
the handle portion adjacent the blade portion. The edge filler
is a plastic extending between and adhering to the inner
surfaces of the metal outer skins and adhering to and filling
the sides of the metal honeycomb.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive
property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A hockey stick, comprising front and back metal outer
skins of continuous one piece including an elongate handle por-
tion and an integral blade portion, metal honeycomb sandwiched
between the metal outer skins along the handle and blade portions,
the metal honeycomb including a first honeycomb portion between
the outer metal skins along the handle portion, the first honey-
comb portion tapering in thickness at the neck of the handle por-
tion and extending to the blade portion, and a second honeycomb
portion, thinner than the first honeycomb portion, between the
outer metal skins along the blade portion and extending to the
handle portion, the tapered first honeycomb portion and the thin
second honeycomb portion having substantially the same thin
thickness at a juncture for flexibibility of the blade portion
and neck of the handle portion.
2. A hockey stick as defined in claim 1, in which an ex-
pandable foam adhesive is disposed in the thin second honeycomb
portion between the metal outer skins along the blade portion,
and is disposed in the tapered first honeycomb portion between
the metal outer skins along the neck of the handle portion ad-
jacent the blade portion, and an urethane plastic edge filler
extends between and adheres to the inner surfaces of the metal
outer skins and adheres to the metal honeycomb.
3. A hockey stick as defined in claim 1, in which the
longitudinal axis of the honeycomb extends in a direction
transversely between the metal outer skins, the tapered first




honeycomb portion and the thin second honeycomb portion having
substantially the same thin thickness at an abutting juncture
for flexibility of the blade portion and neck of the handle
portion, an adhesive of epoxy sheet material secures the metal
honeycomb to the inner surfaces of the metal outer skins, an
expandable foam adhesive is disposed in the thin second honey-
comb portion along the blade portion and in the tapered first
honeycomb portion at the neck of the handle portion across the
abutting juncture of the first and second honeycomb portions,
and a urethane plastic filler encloses the side edges of the
stick, the filler extending between and adhering to the inner
surfaces of the metal outer skins and adhering to and filling
the sides of the metal honeycomb.

Description

76~

This invention relates generally to improvements in a
hockey stick, and more particularly to an improved ~etal hockey
stick construction that is extremely durable and light weight.
The conventional wood hockey stick has an obvious disad-
vantage in that the wood has a tendency to crack under the
impact loads imposed upon the wood during usage of the hockey
stick, and therefore a woGd hockey stick has a short life
span.
There have been attempts to develop other sport implements
such as baseball bats and tennis rackets of a combination of
wood and metal or of metal alone. However, these attempts have
not been successful because the use of metal in the particular
constructions increased the weight and made the cost pro-
hibitive.
The present hockey stick is of a metal construction
and provides an extremely long life span. In the particular
hockey stick construction, tha metal does not materially
increase the weight beyond that of wood, and provides a stick
that is extremely durable and able to withstand severe impace
loads during usage, and results in a stick that is relatively
inexpensive.
The hockey stick is constructed of opposed, front and
back metal outer skins of continuous one piece including
integral handle and blade portions, with a metal honeycomb
sandwiched between the metal and outer skins along the handle
and blade portions. An adhesive secures the metal honeycomb
to the inner surfaces of the metal outer skins, and a filler
encloses the sid~ edges of the stick between the metal outer
29 skins.
~.~..


--1--

~99 76~ ~
The metal honeycomb includes a f irst honeycomb portion
between the outer metal skins along the handle portion and
extending to the blade portion, and a second honeycomb portion
between the outer metal skins along the blade portion and
extending to the handle portion, the first and second honey-

comb portions meeting at a juncture. ~ -~
An expandable foam adhesive is disposed in the second
honeycomb portion between the metal outer skins along the blade ~ ;
portion, and is disposed in the first honeycomb portion between
10 the metal outer skins along the handle portion adjacent the ;~
blade portion. More particularly, the expandable foam adhesive
is located at the juncture of the first and second honeycomb
portions.
The adhesive s~curing the metal honeycomb to the
inner surfaces of the metal outer skins is an epoxy sheet
material laid between the honeycomb and the skins.
~ The edge filler is a plastic extending between and
; adhering to the inner surfaces of the metal outer skins and
adhering to and filling the sides of the metal honeycomb.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the hockey stick;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary front view of the
handle and blade portions, partially cut away to show the
interlor;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective, cross-sectional view
of the handle portion tàken on line 3-3 of FIG. l;
FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the blade
portion as taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2, and
FIGo 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary cross-sectional view
29 taken on line 5~5 of FIG. 2.




. -2-

6~L

Referring now by characters of reference to the drawing,
and first to FIG. 1, it will be understood that the hockey stick
has an elongate handle portion referred to by 10 and a blade
portion indicated by 11. opposed front ancl back metal outer
skins 12 and 13, made of aluminum, are of continuous one piece
including integral handle and blade portions 10-11. A metal
honeycomb referred to by 14, made of aluminum, is sandwiched
between the metal outer skins 12 and 13 along the handle and
blade portions 10 and 11 with the longitudinal axes of the
honeycomb 14 extending in a direction transversely between the
metal outer skins 12-13. The metal honeycomb 14 includes a
first honeycomb portion 15 along the handle poxtion 10 and
extending to the blade portion 11, and includes a second honey-
comb portion 16 along the blade portion 11 and extending to
the handle portion 10. The Eirst and second honeycomb portions
15 and 16 abut at a juncture C.

: _
The honeycomb portion 15 of the handle portion 10 begins
to taper in thickness at the reference line B to the juncture
indicated by reference line C, at which point the first honey-

comb portion 15 has substantially the same thickness as therelatively thin honeycomb portion 16 of the blade portion 11.
The blade portion 11 tapers upwardly as is best shown
in FIG. 4 to provide a thicker base and a thinner top.
An epoxy adhesive 17 secures the metal honeycomb 14 to
the inner surfaces of the metal outer sXins 12 and 13. The
epoxy adhesive 17 is of a sheet material laid between the metal
honeycomb 14 and the metal outer skins 12-13 and which when
subjected to heat during assembly, secures the honeycomb and
29 outer skins together.

9761

An expandable foam adhesive 20 is located in the second
honeycomb portion 16 along the blade portion 11, and is located
in the first honeycomb portion 15 of the handle portion 10
across the abutment of the first and second honeycomb portions
15-16~ This expandahle foam adhesive 20 fills the metal
honeycomb 14 the full length of -the blade portion 11, acxoss ;~ ~.
the abutment juncture C o~ the adjacent honeycomb portions
15-16, and fills the honeycomb 14 of the handle portion 10 for
the length that the honeycomb portion 15 is tapered in the
handle portion 10. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the expandable
foam adhesive 20 fills the honeycomb 14 between the reference
lines D and B, and is indicated by dotted shadingO
A urethane plastic filler 21 encloses~the side edges
of the stick. The filler 21 extends between and adheres to
the inner surfaces of the metal outer skins 12 and 13 and
adheres to and fills the sides of the metal honeycomb 140