BATON DE HOCKEY

HOCKEY STICK

Abrégé anglais

The hockey stick is provided with a recess formed at its
lower edge of the blade. The recess eliminates ice build up on
the front surface of the blade and relieves the air resistance
and erratic buffeting of the blade when the latter is swung at a
high speed against the puck. The front surface of the blade also
slopes upwardly and rearwardly to enhance the release of air
resistance build up on the blade. A resilient bumper is provided
at the front end of the blade to safeguard against wear and tear
of such end as well as minimizing accidental injury to the
players hit by the blade.

Revendications

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CLAIMS:
1. A blade for a hockey stick comprising:
A generally rectangular body portion having one end
adapted to be mounted to a hockey stick handle, a middle
portion having a front surface operative for playing and
impacting with a hockey puck, said middle portion having
an elongated lower edge operative to contact with a play
surface of a hockey rink, said lower edge having a
laterally elongated recess formed therein, the height of
the recess being less than the height of a standard
hockey puck.
2. A blade for a hockey stick according to Claim 1 wherein said
front surface has substantially flat lower portion and an upper portion
sloping upwardly and rearwardly from said lower portion.
3. A blade for a hockey stick according to Claim 2 including
beveled top and bottom corners formed at a shoulder portion located
adjacent to a front end of said body portion.
4. A blade for a hockey stick according to Claim 3 wherein said
recess has sloping side edges.
5. A blade for a hockey stick according to claim 4 including a
resilient bumper means provided at a front end therein.

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6. A blade for a hockey stick according to Claim 5 including a
resilient bumper means provided at a front end therein.
7. In a hockey stick for impacting a hockey puck in a hockey game,
said stick having a blade comprising a substantially elongated body portion
including a middle portion having a front surface operative for playing and
impacting said hockey puck, said middle portion having a lower edge
operative to be in contact with a play surface for said hockey game, said
lower edge having a laterally elongated recess formed therein, said recess
having a height less than the height of a standard hockey puck.
8. A hockey stick according to Claim 7 wherein said front surface
includes an upper portion sloping upwardly and rearwardly from said lower
portion, and said recess has sloping end edges.
9. A hockey stick according to Claim 8 including beveled top and
bottom corners formed at a shoulder portion located adjacent to a front end
of said body portion.
10. A hockey stick according to Claim 9 wherein said body portion
of said play-head has a front end and a resilient bumper member is secured
to said front end.
11. A hockey stick according to Claim 10 wherein said bumper member
has an arcuate front edge.

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12. A hockey stick according to Claim 11 wherein said beveled top
corner and beveled bottom corner are juxtaposed to said bumper member.

Description

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This invention relates to hockey sticks and particularly to an
ice hockey stick used for maneuvering and/or impacting a hockey puck in a
hockey game.
A hockey stick for playing a hockey game has a long handle
having a play-head or blade either formed integrally with the stick handle
or mounted to the lower end of the handle. The play-head or blade is used
to either push or carry the hockey puck on the ice surface of the hockey
rink. The stick can also be used by swinging it at the hockey puck to
impact the hockey puck to travel at a high speed for shooting at the goal
1~ net in the hockey game. The play-head or blade has a generally rectangular
shape with a straight lower edge and a normally truncated front end, or the
blade may be curved at its middle portion to provide a hook shape for
improving puck handling.
In playing the game, when the hockey stick is used to maneuver
the hockey puck, the lower edge of the stick is glided over the ice surface
of the hockey rink, such sliding and gliding action inherently causes ice
to be scraped from the ice surface and to become accumulated and adhered
onto the surface of the playing front surface of the play head or blade.
Such ice accumulation often causes difficulties with the maneuvering of the
puck, since the profile of the front surface becomes irregular. Also, when
the blade is swung against the ice surface in shooting the puck lying on
the ice surface, the blade exerts an immense cutting action at the ice
surface which causes more considerable amount of ice to be scooped up by
the lower edge of the blade. The large amount of ice also becomes
accumulated to the playing front surface to compound the above mentioned
problem. Furthermore, when the blade is swung against the puck when
shooting the latter, a considerable air

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resistance is built up on the blade surface traveling at such extremely
high speed and the air resistance is particularly great when the lower edge
comes in intimate contact with the ice surface. The intimate contact does
not allow the air resistance to the blade to dissipate, so that it creates
$ a dragging effect to slow down the swing of the blade as well as a
vibrating or buffeting effects in the blade. Such dragging and buffeting
effects interfere with the maneuvering of the stick, and they contribute to
the inaccuracy of the shot.
The above drawbacks of the hockey stick are alleviated by the
present invention.
The principal object of the hockey stick of the present
invention is to provide a blade having means to release the air resistance
built up therein when it is swung against the puck.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a blade
which eliminate ice build up on the play surface therein.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a blade
having a resilient bumper to minimize the injury to the player when
accidentally hit by the front end of the stick.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a
hockey stick which is simple in construction yet facilitates the accuracy
in the shooting of the puck against the goal net.
Briefly, the hockey stick according to the present invention is
provided with a play-head or blade which has a front surface operative for
playing and impacting the hockey puck. The front surface has a middle
portion with a laterally elongated recess formed in its lower edge, the
height of which recess is less than that of a standard hockey puck. It is
preferred that the upper portion of the front surface

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is also sloping upwardly and rearwardly to allow the air
resistance to be release from the front surface.
Other objects of the invention will appear in the
following description and appended claims reference being made to
the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is a perspective front elevation view of the
hockey stick according to the present invention.
Figure 2 is a perspective bottom elevation view of the
hockey stick showing the provision of the recess therein.
Figure 3 is a side elevation view of the blade thereof
resting on the ice surface with the hockey puck juxtaposed to the
front surface of the blade.
Figure 4 is an enlarged partial side elevation view of
the blade front end having bevelled top and bottom corners.
Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional side view along
section line V-V in Figure 3.
With reference to the drawings wherein like reference
numerals designate like parts in the several views, the hockey
stick 10 according to the present invention has a play head or
blade 11 which may be integrally formed on the handle 12 or
provided separately which can be mounted to the end of the handle
12 in a well known manner. The blade 11 commonly may either be
flat or has a slight curvature curving forward at its middle
portion with the front end 13 curving slightly towards the front
surface 14.
A recess 15 is formed at the lower edge 16 of the blade
11. The recess 15 is located at the middle portion of the lower
edge 16 and may extend about three quarter the entire length of
the lower edge 16. It has a height extending inwardly from the
lower edge 16 less than the height of a standard hockey puck 17.
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Typically, the height is about quarter of an inch for a standard
hockey blade of about three inches in total height.
The lower portion 18 of the front surface 14 of the
blade 11 is generally flat or slightly curved at it middle
portion similar to a common hockey stick blade. However, the
upper portion 19 slopes upwardly and rearwardly as best shown in
the sectional view in Figure 5. The reason for such sloping
surface portion will become apparaent in the following
description.
A bumper piece 20 may be provided at the front end 13 of
the blade 11. The bumper piece 20 is made of a resilient but wear
resistant material such as rubber or similar rnaterial, and it has
an arcuate front end 21. The resilient bumper piece 20 eliminates
any rough break away edges or irregular shapes of wood material
of the blade 11 that may have developed through wear in the
hockey game. Furthermore, it would lessen the injury to the
player who may accidentally be hit by the front end of the blade
11. The resilient bumper piece would encourage glancing off and
cushioning of any such accidental contact.
As best shown in Figure 4, the front end 13 of the blade
11 may also be provided with bevelled top corner 13A and bevelled
bottom corner 13B at a shoulder portion located adjacent to the
front end 13 of the blade. Such bevelled corners provide a smooth
profile to lessen the accidental injury to the player when hit by
the front end of the blade even when the bumper piece 20 is not
provided. They also can serve to facilitate the mounting of the
bumper piece 20 to the front end of the blade 11.
The recess 15 provides several purposes. It allows the
snow of the ice surface to pass through the slot opening formed
between the ice surface 22 and the recess 15 when the blade 11 is
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sliding over the ice surface 22. Therefore, ice build up on the
front surface 14 of the blade 11 is eliminated. Also, the recess
15 reduces the amount of surface contact between the ice surface
22 and the blade 11 thus reducing surface friction to render
quicker handling of the hockey stick. Such quick handling is
particularly essential in launching a wrist shot with more power,
and facilitates the snapping of the shot with higher accuracy
from a face off. Moreover, more importantly it provides a release
of the air. resistance built up against the blade 11 when the
latter is swung quickly at the puck. As best shown in Figure 5,
the air turbulence against the blade 11 travelling at such
extremely high speed shown by the arrows will pass through the
opening formed between the blade and the ice surface. Also, air
resistance is released by glancing off the sloping top portion of
the front surface 14. With the large reduction of air resistance,
and the elimination of vibration and buffeting of the blade, the
player can maneuver the stick more freely and with much higher
speed and precision which axe extremely essential in playing the
game. The above improvements are particularly noticeable with a
curved blade, since the air resistance is released by the recess,
and is not trapped in the curved pocket formed between the curved
blade and the ice surface. The recess continuously relieves
turbulence to the blade, thus assuring a smooth, uninterrupted
swing of the blade at the puck with a follow through motion to
result in a maximum impact power.
Obviously, numerous modifications and variations of the
present invention axe possible in light of the above teachings.
It is therefore to be understood that within the scope the
appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as
specifically described in the above exemplary embodiments.
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