US2334860A - Hockey stick - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 23, 1943. I c, BERGER 2,334,860

' HocKEY STICK l Filed Aprn'za, 1942 El Ef 7a3-fon B e1- /crer ff,

Fae-.tentent Nov. 23, 1943 ange I UNITED STATES PATENT *OFFICE HOCKEY STICK Clayton Berger, New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada Application April 28, 1942, Serial No. 440,803

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to hockey sticks and is particularly directed to providing a hockey stick which can be manufactured with substantially no wastage of material and which is very light, strong and durable.

A hockey stick comprises a handle or shaft portion and a blade portion bent at an angle of from about 40 to 50 to the handle. In the manufacture of hockey sticks, the wastage of material is the most important factor in the cost of production. This is due to the necessity of cutting the billet, from which the stick is made, from material which is sufficiently Wide to produce a blade which is of suicient Width or height to be effective and to meet standard requirements. Ordinarily, the blade portion is about twice the width of the handle or shaft portion. As the blade portion constitutes only about one-sixth of the total length of the billet, about 40% of the wood used is wasted when the hockey stick is formed out of one piece of material.

A further diiculty is present in the manufacture of hockey sticks in that it is necessary to produce a stick which is very light and yet suiciently strong and durable to withstand the sudden strains to which it is subjected.

In view of the increased cost and the depletion of first grade raw materials, together With the demands for lightness, strength and durability, various forms of hockey stick construction have been proposed to overcome the difficulties.

One form of construction is that in which the handle or shaft portion and the blade portion are made in two separate pieces and joined together by a tongue and groove arrangement. This type of construction resulted in substantial savings in material, but the strains to which the blade portion is subjected are such that the blade soon becomes detached from the handle. Various arrangements for strengthening the joint have been attempted and found unsatisfactory.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to construct a hockey stick in which the handle or shaft and the main blade portions are formed in one piece without wastage of material.

A further object of the invention is to construct a hockey stick without wastage of material and, at the same time, increase the strength and durability of the stick far above that usually found in hockey sticks.

The hockey stick of the present invention comprises, in general, a handle or shaft portion and a main blade portion of substantially the same Width and formed in one piece. A groove is formed in one edge of the main blade portion and extends longitudinally thereof. The Width or height of the blade is increased to that required in standard practice by providing a strip alignable with the grooved'edge of the main blade portion and having a groove in one of its edges in alignment with the groove in the main blade portion. The strip is joined to the main blade portion by means of an insert or tongue vwhich is of similar shape and insertable into the grooves. The insert or tongue is formed, prefer ably, in such a manner that its grain is substantially at right angles to the substantially parallel grains of the main blade and the strip portions. The insert or tongue is, of c-ourse, effective for joining the portions of the blade together and by having the grain of the tongue at right angles to the grains of the blade portions, the strength of the blade is greatly increased.

An understanding may be had of the construction of the present hockey stick from the following description and accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a sidevelevation of a hockey stick embodying my invention, the built-up blade p0rtions being shown in full lines and the insert or tongue being outlined in dotted lines;

Figure 2 is an end view in section of the blade portions showing the aligned tongue receiving grooves;

Figure 3 is an end elevation taken along the line 3 3, Figure l;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the blade portions, partly broken away to show the tongue or insert;

Figure 5 is an end elevation of a modification showing the tongue or insert extending almost the full width of the blade portions; and

Figure 6 is an alternate modification in which the required width of the blade iS obtained by securing the added strip to the base of the blade.

Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the specification and drawing.

The hockey stick constituting the present invention is formed with a handle or shaft portion I, the lower end of which is bent, usually at an angle of from about 40 to 50 to form the main blade portion 2. The handle portion l and the main blade portion 2 are of substantially the same width and are formed of one piece of material, usually about one and one-half inch stock, Without any wastage except, of course, that small amount which may be lost as dust in the sanding and finishing operations.

The blade portion 2 is brought up to the required standard width of from two and one-half inches to three inches, which is the usual width of a players stick, or wider in the case of a goal keepers stick, by securing the strip 3 to the main blade portion. The strip 3 is permanently joined to the top of the main blade portion and extends from the toe of the blade to the shaft slightly above the curvature of the bend to the point indicated by the numeral 4, to which point the strip is tapered uniformly to the handle portion I.

The strip 3 is secured to the main blade portion by means of the tongue or insert 5.

One edge, preferably the upper edge, of the main blade portion 2 and the opposite edge of the strip 3 are formed with aligned slots or grooves 6-1 respectively, as shown in Figure 2. The slots or grooves 8 1 are in alignment and extend longitudinally the length of the respective blade and strip portions.

The tongue or insert 5 is shaped to t snugly in the aligned grooves 6-1 and is joined securely and permanently to the blade and strip portions by glueing, animal and vegetable glues or syntlietic resins being suitable for this purpose.

The strip used to increase the width of the blade portion may, if desired, be joined to the base of the blade portion, as shown in Figure 6, in the same manner as that described hereinabove. In this modication, the added strip is indicated by the numeral 3a, the main blade portion by the numeral 2a, and the insert by the numeral 5a.

The strength of the blade portion may be increased greatly by so designing and forming the insert 5 that when in place the grain of the tongue or insert, as illustrated in the preferred modification shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5, is at right angles to the grains of the main blade portion 2 and the strip 3. A plywood eiect is obtained byforming the insert in this manner andit has been found, by repeated tests, that the portion of the built-up blade containing the insert is the strongest part of the entire blade. In View of this discovery, it may be desirable to form the grooves 6 and l and design the insert 5 in such a manner that the insert extends almost the entire width of the built-up blade. This modification is illustrated in Figure 5.

The hockey sticks of the present invention are very easily manufactured. The billet is nrst bent to form the shaft and main blade portions, and one edge of the blade portion is grooved to receive the insert 5. The insert 5 is coated with glue and inserted into the groove 6 after which the strip 3 is set in place. The parts of the built-up blade may be united permanently by the application of pressure, or of heat and pressure. The hockey stick is then put through a sanding machine to remove any sharp edges and to apply a smooth finish to the handle and a slight tapering effect to the blade portion.

It has been found that hockey sticks constructed in accordance with the present invention meet with all the exacting requirements of the trade in that they have al1 the advantages of the hockey sticks formed in one piece, and they have the added advantage of increased strength along the blade and around the heel resulting from the plywood effect of the relationship between the longitudinally extending insert and the blade portions.

In the manufacture of the hockey stick, Waste of raw material is substantially completely eliminated thereby permitting extensive savings in the cost of producing the hockey stick accompanied by, as pointed out hereinbefore, decreased weight and increased strength and durability.

It will be understood, of course, that modifications may be made to the specic embodiment of the invention described and illustrated herein, without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A hockey stick comprising a shaft portion and a main blade portion made in one piece and of substantially the same Width, a longitudinally extending strip alignable with an edge of the main blade portion, a longitudinally extending aligned groove in each of the opposing edges of said strip and said main blade portion, and an insert adapted to t in close fitting relationship into said grooves, the grains of the stripobrtion and of the main blade portion being substantially parallel and the grain of the insert being substantially at right angles thereo, said strip portion being effective for increasing the width of the said main blade portion and said insert being effective for joining together and reinforcing the main blade portion and said strip portion.

2. A hockey stick comprising a shaft portion and a main blade portion made in one piece and of substantially the same width, a longitudinally extending strip alignable with the uppermost edge of the main blade portion, a longitudinally extending aligned groove in each of the opposing edges of said strip and said main blade portion, and an insert adapted to fit in close tting relationship in the slot formed by the said grooves, the grains of the strip portion and 0f the main blade portion being substantially parallel and the grain of the insert being substantially at right angles thereto, said strip portion being effective for increasing the width of the said main blade portion and said insert being effective for joining together and reinforcing the main blade portion and said strip portion.

CLAYTON BERGER.

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