Games using tangible projectile – Player held and powered – nonmechanical projector – per se,... – Club
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-04
2003-04-15
Graham, Mark S. (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Player held and powered, nonmechanical projector, per se,...
Club
Reexamination Certificate
active
06547683
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to improved hockey sticks, and in particular, but not exclusively, to hockey sticks intended for outfield players.
In this Specification, various terms are used to describe the shape and geometry of the hockey sticks of this invention and these terms will now be explained with particular reference to
FIGS. 1
to
8
of the accompanying drawings. All measurements of distance or related constants are given in centimetres (cm), and all angular measurements or constants are given in degrees. In the accompanying drawings most of the various embodiments of hockey sticks are viewed from the back, (i.e. showing the non-playing side) and references to vertical, horizontal, rearward, forward etc, refer to the stick when viewed in the orientation of
FIG. 1
, that is with the axis of the handle and shaft generally vertical, with the toe painting away from the player (i.e. forwardly). However some are viewed from the front (i.e. showing the playing side of the stick) and this will be apparent because in these Figures the toe will be to the left of the shaft as viewed.
Playing on the open stick means playing the stick forehand in the usual attitude with the toe of the stick pointing away from the player and the bulk of the stick on the player's right hand side, and playing on the reverse stick means playing the stick backhand with the stick flipped through 180° around the axis of the handle, so that the toe is nearest the ground and the bulk of the stick lies an the player's left hand side. When the stick is held on the reverse stick side with the free end of the toe in contact with the ground and the shaft held mare or less parallel to the ground, the action is known as a reverse stick block.
The traditional form hockey stick is made up of tour portions, namely a handle
1
, a shaft
2
, a head
3
, and a toe
4
. The handle extends for the upper part (e.g. three-fifths or so) of the stick, merging with the shaft
2
which occupies the majority of the remaining part of the stick. The head
3
occupies a small proportion of the vertical dimension at the base of the stick, but the bulk of the horizontal dimension. The head lies intermediate the shaft and the toe. The toe
4
lies at the lowest free end of the stick, and the region of the outer edge of the stick adjacent the merger of the head and the shaft is referred to as the heel. The front area of the stick is known as the face and is the allowable playing surface.
The perpendicular distance across the face between the edges
5
and
6
at any point is defined as the width of the face (F). The edge
5
furthest away from the player when the stick is held in open stick is the inner edge and the other edge
6
is the outer edge.
The handle
1
has traditionally bean straight in the vertical dimension and the central axis of the handle has continued directly into the shaft portion which has also tended to have straight edges
5
and
6
.
In many conventional sticks, the first curve is forward in direction, beginning at and defining the upper extent of the head portion
3
. A forward curve is an anti-clockwise rotation, when viewing the back of the stick, starting from the handle end and moving towards the toe end.
In a traditional stick, the head may be taken to be the curved portion at the base of the shaft, the notional dividing line between the shaft and the head being a horizontal line running through the point or region where the generally straight outer edge of the shaft meets the outer curved edge of the head. However, if the shaft of the stick incorporates a curve before it reaches the head, the head is defined as the lowermost forward curving element. The notional dividing fine between the shaft and the head in this instance is defined by taking the lowermost vertical tangent line to the inner edge of the stick, and the lowermost vertical tangent line to the outer edge of the stick, determining the higher point of contact of these tangent lines to the stick, and taking as the notional dividing line a horizontal line intersecting the higher point of contact.
The head although predominantly curved, may have straight or near-straight sections within it that break up the curvature of the inner or outer edge of the head.
The toe
4
is usually rounded, forming the lower end of the stick, having a distal edge which meets both the inner and outer edges of the head. The national dividing line of contact between the head and toe is defined by reference to the principle inflexion point
7
on the inner edge of the head, i.e. the last inflexion point before the edge begins to curve convexly into the toe. Minor variations in curvature such as indicated at
5
in
FIG. 8
should be ignored. The toe region should be short and usually no more than a 2 cm extension upon the head. The toe may be cut away or truncated as shown by the dotted lines
21
in
FIGS. 1 and 2
. Likewise the heel may be cut away in some sticks, as in FIG.
36
.
The current rules of the game lay certain restrictions upon the shape of a stick. These are detailed with reference to FIG.
4
. The width of the face of the stick (F) must not exceed 5 cm and the stick must pass entirely through a ring of metal of 5 cm internal diameter known as a “stick ring”. The height of toe (T) must not exceed 10 cm. Further the Rules Board make the following recommendation: the forward deviation (Cf) should not exceed 2 cm, the rearward deviation (Cr) should not exceed 2 cm.
Over the years the design of the hockey stick has changed from sticks with long and gentle curved heads to sticks with short and/or tightly curved heads. FIGS.
9
(
a
) to (
n
) show schematically the variation in stick design and its development over the years, with FIGS.
9
(
o
) and (
p
) showing sticks in accordance with the invention.
All sticks have three operational axes, each being defined by a line that runs from the top of the handle to the base of the head. The rotational axis of the handle runs down the median line of the handle and continues down to the head. The spatial axis starts at the top of the handle and ends at the central rotation point of the head, that is the lowest point of the outer edge of the head, and is the predominant axis of rotation in game play due to the physical presence of the head against the ground. The axis of balance is defined by the line of even weight distribution down the length of the stick and is the line that the stick would most comfortably rotate around in free space.
When designing a stick it is desirable to bring these three axes close together, hence making handling of the stick during play as comfortable as possible. In most prior art sticks, these axes have a spread of around 4-5 cms.
Furthermore, it is desirable to increase the playing surface available when the player is playing reverse stick or backhand, balancing the playing ability on both sides. It is also important to prevent the possibility of a hockey ball passing through the gap between the stick and the ground when in a reverse stick block.
There have been several attempts to satisfy at least some of these criteria. British Patent Specification 2115296 describes a stick in which the head is a compact U-shaped hook bending through about 180°, typified by the stick shown in FIG.
9
(
d
). The gap between the head and the shaft is of elongate form gradually tapering and terminating at its highest position with a gape which is made as small as possible, whilst still allowing the stick to pass the “ring pass” test, and is typically about half the width of the shaft region. Whilst this form of stick has some benefits, particularly in respect of the reverse stick block, it provides an ungainly movement in rotation due to the size of the upturned limb of the head which displaces the axis of balance from the rotational axis.
European Published Application 0165096 discloses a hockey stick in which the lower end of the shaft is curved rearwardly, then correctionally forwardly before meeting the head which is curved forwardly to bring the sweet spot of the head onto the longitudinal a
Graham Mark S.
Young & Thompson
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