Title:
PUCK FOR ICE HOCKEY
United States Patent 3704891
Abstract:
The invention relates to a hockey puck which is weighted to provide a practice puck to improve the player's shooting strength and accuracy and his passing and puck control. This is accomplished by incorporating into the resilient body material of the puck a material having a specific gravity greater than that of the resilient material to provide the finished puck with a weight greater than 5.5 to 6.0 ounces. The resilient body material may be rubber or like material and the material incorporated may be in the form of a core, or plates or discs or spheres, or may be particulate or granular.
Application Number:
05/016627
Publication Date:
12/05/1972
International Classes:
A63B67/14; A63B67/14; (IPC1-7): A63B67/00
Field of Search:
273/1B,126R,128R,129R,58A,58,169,85,126A 272
Other References:
"Volt," Athletic Journal, Sept., 1958. pg. 7..
Primary Examiner:
Pinkham, Richard C.
Assistant Examiner:
Brown, Theatrice
Claims:
The embodiments of the invention in which an
exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows
1. A puck for practicing ice hockey having a substantially cylindrical body made of resilient material and having coextensive and even flat top and bottom surfaces and a smooth circumferential surface defining the height and periphery of said cylindrical body; comprising a plurality of weighted means spaced in transverse direktion of the median cross section and within the confines of said body, so distributed therein to maintain a substantially balanced body weight, said weighted means forming uniform solid ball pieces within said body to equally reinforce the latter, the specific gravity of said ball pieces being greater than that of said body of resilient material, the spacing between said ball pieces and the spacing of said ball pieces from the periphery of said body being substantially the same.
Description:
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a puck for ice hockey, and particularly to a weighted puck for practice purposes.
It is a practice during ice hockey practice sessions for some individuals or teams to use an object somewhat heavier than a hockey puck in order to build up their strength and rhythm enabling them to shoot and pass and control a standard size puck with greater speed and force and accuracy during actual game conditions.
The practice puck used is often simply two or more pucks nailed or secured together to provide the necessary additional weight, but with such a double-size puck the "feel" of the puck on a player's hockey stick is quite different than a standard puck due to its increased size; and while the use of the double-weight puck may enable the individual to increase his shooting strength, his shooting and passing accuracy does not improve and is in fact hindered by using the double-size puck arrangement.
Other objects used as practice pucks also are deficient for the purposes intended inasmuch as the "feel" of the practice puck on the stick is not the same as that of a standard official puck.
It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a practice puck for ice hockey which will assist in improving a player's shooting strength and improve his shooting accuracy and passing and puck control while at the same time giving the player the same "feel" of the practice puck as with a standard official puck.
An official ice hockey puck is made from vulcanized rubber (or other acceptable material) having a specific gravity of about 1.34 to about 1.47 grams per cubic centimeter giving the puck a weight of between 5.5 and 6.0 ounces (155.9 to 170.1 grams). In order that a practice puck be beneficial it must conform to the official size of an ice-hockey puck (1 inch thick and 3 inches in diameter) and have substantially the same resiliency as vulcanized rubber to afford the same "feel" on the stick, and must also be somewhat heavier than the standard vulcanized rubber puck.
This is accomplished in accordance with one embodiment of the invention by molding or incorporating into the rubber prior to vulcanization a material which has a greater specific gravity than the rubber when vulcanized. This material may be in the form of granules or particles or somewhat larger pieces such as chips or spherules or spheres. The material chosen for incorporation in the rubber and which will become imbedded therein after vulcanization may be lead, iron, copper, nickel, and any other suitable metal or mixture of metals having a specific gravity greater than vulcanized rubber, or may be any naturally occurring or synthetically produced materials such as stone granules, particles or chips, or various synthetic rubber or non-rubber products now on the market which have the necessary specific gravity.
A further embodiment of the invention provides for the use of a core in the form of a disc or plate or slug of material having a specific gravity greater than vulcanized rubber provided centrally within the finished puck. The disc or slug may be made of any of the materials recited above and placed in the rubber composition in a mold prior to final vulcanization. The slug or disc used can be perforated or provided with a roughened outer surface to improve the bonding within the vulcanized rubber, or other techniques used for rubber-metal (or other material) bonding which are known in the art can be used.
The disc or plate or slug may be of course have various configurations such as circular, star-shaped, hexagonal or other polygonal shape. In addition more than one central disc or plate could be used, with two or more plates or discs being positioned within the puck in parallel relationship separated by layers of rubber.
In the present description reference is made to the use of vulcanized rubber as the main body constituent of the practice puck. As official ice-hockey pucks are required to be of vulcanized rubber this is the preferred material for the practice puck. However, other natural or synthetic rubbers or plastics having a resiliency and specific gravity approximating that of vulcanized rubber could successfully be used. Examples of such materials are styrene-butadiene rubber, nitrile rubber, polyurethanes and neoprenes, etc. of a consistency providing the desired resiliency and specific gravity. In addition and depending upon the materials used the material can be vulcanized, or polymerized if the materials are polymer- or copolymer-forming in the presence of heat and/or a catalyst.
A further embodiment of the invention provides for a hockey practice puck of the same size and shape as an official puck but made wholly of a resilient material having a specific gravity greater than that of vulcanized rubber. Some of the various material and synthetic rubber and plastic materials mentioned above would be suitable for this purpose.
The size and shape of the practice puck made in accordance with any of the embodiments recited above will of course be substantially the same as an official hockey puck as prescribed by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association and the National Hockey League. However the weights of the practice pucks may vary according to individual player demands. For senior or adult players a weight of, for example, two or three times greater than an official puck may be used, while a somewhat lighter puck may be more suitable for younger players.
The finished weight of the practice puck according to the application will of course depend upon the amount and weight of the material added during manufacture of the puck, and the specific gravity of the vulcanized rubber (or similar) used.
The invention also provides methods for making the practice puck according to the various embodiments and these methods will be discussed in more detail below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
For a more complete understanding of the invention reference will be made to the accompanying drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention; having a portion of the puck cut away;
FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of another embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 3 is a side sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a perspective sectional view of a further embodiment showing a puck having a single central weighted core or plate;
FIG. 5 is a perspective sectional view of a further embodiment showing a puck having a central core consisting of three parallel plates;
FIG. 6 is a plan sectional view showing a puck having a plurality of weighted spheres containing therein; and
FIG. 7 is a side sectional view taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 6.
DETAILED SPECIFICATION OF THE INVENTION
Referring to FIG. 1 the puck body designated generally by numeral 1, is made of vulcanized rubber or other suitable material such as shown at 2. Molded within the puck body are granules or particles 3 of a material having a specific gravity greater than that of vulcanized rubber to give the puck an overall weight of more than 5.5 to 6.0 ozs.
In the manufacture of the puck according to FIG. 1, the granules or particles 3 are mixed thoroughly with the rubber composition 2 to obtain a uniform dispersion of the granules in the rubber. The rubber and granular material is then placed in a mold and vulcanized (or polymerized) under heat and pressure to form a unitary body having the same size, substantially the same resiliency, but greater weight than an official hockey puck.
Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 the practice puck is shown in a second embodiment.
In FIG. 1 the granular material 2 is uniformly dispersed within the vulcanizate material. In FIG. 2 and 3 the granular material is spaced from the outer surfaces of the puck whereby the resiliency and "feel" of the puck of this embodiment will be even closer to that of an actual puck than will the puck of FIG. 1.
In FIGS. 2 and 3 the puck body 4 is made from rubber (or the like) material, with the particulate material 3 being uniformly dispersed in a central core portion (indicated generally at 5) of the puck.
The type of puck according to FIGS. 2 and 3 may be made by first uniformly mixing the granular material 3 in a matrix of rubber of other similar type composition. This composition is then pressed (but not vulcanized) to form a core of matrix-granular material approximating in size core 5 and smaller than the size of an official puck. The pressed core is then placed in a vulcanizing mold and surrounded by rubber, and the rubber, matrix (and granular material) vulcanized together to form a finished puck.
The matrix material for the core may be rubber or synthetic material or other suitable material, and all that is required is that the matrix material and the material chosen for the puck body 4 be vulcanizable or polymerizable together.
As an alternative to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the core 5 may be made of homogeneous non-metal material, if the latter material chosen has a specific gravity greater than 1.34 to 1.47 gms/c.c. to provide the finished puck with a weight greater than 5.5 to 6.0 ozs.
A further embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 4. In this Figure a central metal core or disc or plate 6 is surrounded by rubber or the like material 4 in a mold and the material is vulcanized around the disc 6 to form the puck. The disc 6 may be made of iron or lead, etc., or a lighter material such as aluminum-containing alloy or magnesium-containing alloy or other metal alloy, and all that is required is that the disc material have a specific gravity which will raise the total weight of the puck to greater than 5.5. ounces. For example, if the specific gravity of the metal disc 6 is about 2.9 to 3.0 gm/c.c. and the density of the material forming the puck body 4 is about 1.47 gm/c.c. then the ratio of disc material to puck body material need be about 3:1 to provide a puck having a weight of about 12 ounces or double that of a standard puck.
The specific gravity of the metal or metal alloy from which the disc 6 is made will of course determine the size of the disc. In an official puck of size 1 × 3 inches the total volume is approximately 116 c.c. If the disc 6 is made of lead (specific gravity 11.4 gm/c.c.) then to increase the weight of the puck to 12 ounces (1 ounce = 28.35 gms.) the size of the lead disc need be only 17 c.c. by volume. If iron is used (specific gravity 7.85 gm/c.c.) the size of the disc will be 26.5 c.c. by volume.
The surface of the disc 6 may be roughened, corrugated or provided with holes or apertures (not shown in the drawings) in order to ensure proper bonding with the vulcanized rubber.
As shown in FIG. 5 the central weighted core (indicated generally at 7) may be in the form of two or more (three are shown in the drawings) parallel plates 8 having layers 9 of vulcanized rubber therebetween. In the manufacture of this embodiment layers 9 of rubber alternating with plates 8 are built up in a puck mold and the whole is then vulcanized. As above discussed the plates 8 may be apertured or start-shaped or of any suitable configuration, and made of any suitable material.
The circular core 6 of FIG. 4, and the circular cores or plates 8 of FIG. 5 could be the same diameter as the finished puck with their side edges forming a portion of the edge surfaces of the puck, but a core or cores having smaller dimensions than the finished puck is preferred.
A further embodiment is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 which illustrate the use of metal or metal alloy weights or spheres 10 uniformly positioned and embedded within a puck body 11. The spheres may be of varying size and number and the twelve spheres shown in the drawing are for purpose of illustration only.
As a practical example the use of eleven lead (specific gravity 11.4 gm/c.c.) spheres each having a diameter of about 1.5 cms. in a rubber body having a specific gravity of about 1.5 gm/c.c. when vulcanized will result in a practice puck having a weight of about 12 ounces or double that of an official puck.
The weights or spheres shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 may alternatively be in the shape of cubes or small cylinders or small hollow tubes, etc.
From the above disclosure, including drawing, it can thus be seen, that there has been provided according to the invention a puck for practicing ice hockey having a substantially cylindrical body made of resilient material and having coextensive and even flat top and bottom surfaces and a smooth circumferential surface defining the height and periphery of said cylindrical body; comprising a plurality of weighted means spaced in transverse direction of the median cross section and within the confines of said body 1, so distributed therein to maintain a substantially balanced body weight, said weighted means 10 forming uniform solid ball pieces within said body to equally reinforce the latter, the specific gravity of said ball pieces being greater than that of said body of resilient material 11, the spacing between said ball pieces 10 and the spacing of said ball pieces 10 from the periphery of said body 1 being substantially the same.