Abstract:
An apparatus and method for stringing traditional pockets for a lacrosse stick is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a plurality of guides that hold thongs typically used in a traditional pocket of a lacrosse stick at any depth desired by a user and guides the user in the nylon placement during stringing. The guides can also be customized to produce a variety of different shaped pockets. The apparatus and method greatly decrease the skill required to install a high quality traditional pocket in a lacrosse stick. The apparatus and method also increase the consistency in the shape of the pocket. For example, the apparatus and method enable the user to replicate the same pocket for numerous lacrosse sticks because the depth of the thongs and the nylon placement are controlled. In other words, the apparatus and method remove the most influential variables associated with the installation of a traditional lacrosse pocket.

Description:
This application claims benefit of Provisional application Ser. No. 60/038,995, Feb. 14, 1997. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Over the last thirty years the number of people playing lacrosse has increased dramatically. Today, in some locations, little league lacrosse is as popular as little league baseball, college teams are drawing over 30,000 people to a single game, and a professional league has been formed with teams in many of the largest cities around the United States. 
     As the sport has grown, the quality of play has also improved. Players are faster, stronger, and more skilled than ever before. Today, it is not uncommon for players to shoot a lacrosse ball in excess of 100 mph or pass behind their back with pin-point accuracy. As a result, the players are demanding more of their equipment. The old hand carved wooden sticks are no longer sufficient. 
     To satisfy this demand, companies have improved the design of lacrosse sticks. The old wooden sticks have been replaced by the combination of an aluminum or titanium handle and a plastic head. The new handles and heads are designed to decrease the stick&#39;s weight, increase its durability, and improve its overall performance. However, no one has designed an apparatus or method for stringing a traditional pocket for a lacrosse stick; let alone stringing a high quality traditional pocket consistently. 
     People have tried to improve the quality of the pockets by stringing the pockets with different materials or in different patterns, but none of these ideas have succeeded. For example, mesh pockets were created as an alternative to traditional pockets. Although mesh pockets are easier to string, these pockets do not provide the ball control, accurate passing, and fast shooting demanded by today&#39;s players. As a result, traditional pockets are still used in over 75% of all lacrosse sticks. 
     To obtain a quality lacrosse pocket, lacrosse players must buy the materials for a pocket separately from the stick and pay an expert to install the pocket because the pockets sold at retail stores are strung inconsistently (i.e., the nylon placement, tension, depth, and shape of the pocket are random). If a lacrosse player does not know an expert, they must suffer the consequences of using a pocket which provides inadequate ball control, passing accuracy, and shooting speed. In addition, even an expert cannot string the same pocket twice in the same way. Thus, every time a player uses a new pocket, it takes several weeks to become familiar with how that particular pocket passes and shoots. These inconsistent pockets are a significant problem because lacrosse sticks frequently break during the middle of a game. 
     What is needed is an apparatus and method for stringing a traditional lacrosse pocket consistently. 
     What is needed is an apparatus and method for stringing a traditional lacrosse pocket without requiring an expert. 
     What is needed is an apparatus and method for stringing a traditional lacrosse pocket that can be mass produced to satisfy the growing demand. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is a new apparatus and method for stringing traditional pockets for a lacrosse stick. The present invention uses a plurality of guides to hold the four thongs typically used in a traditional pocket at any depth desired by the user and guides the user in the nylon placement during stringing. The guides of the present invention can also be customized to produce a variety of different pockets. Thus, the present invention greatly decreases the skill required to install a high quality traditional pocket in a lacrosse stick. 
     The present invention also increases the consistency in the shape of the pocket. For example, if someone strings a traditional pocket with the present invention, the present invention enables the user to replicate the same pocket because the depth of the thongs and the nylon placement are controlled. In other words, the present invention removes the most influential variables associated with the installation of a traditional lacrosse product. 
     Consequently, lacrosse players will no longer be forced to become familiar with a different pocket shape every time their stick breaks. With the present invention, lacrosse players can prepare backup sticks with essentially identical pockets, allowing the players to pass and shoot as confidentially with their backup stick as they did with their primary stick. 
     In addition, the present invention also decreases the amount of time required to string a traditional pocket. By holding the thongs and dictating the nylon placement, the present invention frees the user&#39;s hands to weave the nylon. 
     As a result, lacrosse players will no longer have to buy a stick from a store, tear out the pocket, and pay an expert to string it properly. Using the present invention, any lacrosse player can consistently string high quality pockets. Or, if the present invention is adopted by lacrosse stick manufacturers, lacrosse players will be able to buy a stick strung by a manufacturer and use the stick immediately. The present invention works with any type of lacrosse head. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a head of a lacrosse stick strung with a traditional pocket. 
     FIG. 2 is a side view of a guide. 
     FIG. 3 is a bottom view of a guide. 
     FIG. 4 shows the top view of a guide. 
     FIG. 5 shows a front view of a guide. 
     FIG. 6 shows a rear view of a guide. 
     FIG. 7 is a side view of a pocket loom. 
     FIG. 8 is a side view of a pocket loom with a depth adjuster. 
     FIG. 9 is a side view of an alternative embodiment of the pocket loom. 
     FIG. 10 is a top view of the preferred embodiment of the pocket loom. 
     FIG. 11 shows a front view of a pocket loom. 
     FIG. 12 shows a front view of an alternative embodiment of a pocket loom. 
     FIG. 13 a  shows a side view of an alternative embodiment with guides perpendicular to the thongs. 
     FIG. 13 b  shows a front view of an alternative embodiment with guides perpendicular to the thongs. 
     FIG. 14 shows an alternative embodiment for a guide using thong supports. 
     FIG. 15 is a top view of the present invention with an unstrung lacrosse stick head placed around it. 
     FIG. 16 is a top view of the present invention with a strung lacrosse stick head placed around it. The side walls and shooting strings are not shown. 
     FIG. 17 shows a flow diagram of the preferred steps for using the present invention. 
     FIG. 18 shows a thong with two holes. 
     FIG. 19 is a front view of a guide with ridges. 
     FIG. 20 is a top view of a guide with ridges. 
     FIG. 21 shows a technique of weaving a nylon string between a side wall and a thong. 
     FIG. 22 a  shows a technique of interlacing a nylon string. 
     FIG. 22 b  shows the results of interlacing a nylon string. 
     FIG. 23 shows a technique for weaving a shooting string. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     To explain the present invention, the description of the preferred embodiment provides: a brief description of a traditional lacrosse pocket; a detailed description of the components within the present invention; and a detailed description of how to use the present invention, in that order. 
     A traditional pocket is explained because the present invention is a method and apparatus for stringing traditional pockets  70 . As shown in FIG. 1, a traditional pocket  70  generally comprises an interlaced string  50 , a shooting string  55 , two side walls  57 , and four thongs  60 . The interlaced string  50  is preferably nylon, but can also be a variety of other natural or man-made materials. The thongs  60  are usually made of leather, but they may also be nylon or a variety of other natural or man-made materials. 
     The present invention is an apparatus and method for stringing the head  75  of a lacrosse stick with a traditional pocket  70  easier, and producing a higher quality traditional pocket  70 . As shown in FIG. 2, the present invention can comprise a guide  110  with a plurality of notches  150 . 
     The guides  110  can be made of metal, wood, plastic, or a variety of other materials. It is preferred the material be relatively stiff and rigid. The guides  110  usually have a front end, back end, flat side, curved side, and a plurality of T-shaped supports  124 . A T-shaped support  124  is the portion of the guide  110  creating the notches  150 . Preferably, a guide  110  is wider in the middle  120  than at the edges in order to make the shape of a pocket for a lacrosse stick, but the location of the widest portion  120  of a guide  110  may vary depending on where the user wants the ball (not shown) to rest in the pocket. 
     As shown in FIG. 3, the bottom of a guide  110  is preferably rectangular. In the preferred embodiment, the bottom portion  112  of the guide  110  is probably an inch or two thick and four to nine inches long. In contrast, FIG. 4 shows the top portion  115  of the guide  110  which is preferably approximately an eighth of an inch thick or less. FIGS. 5 and 6 show a guide from a front and rear view, respectively. 
     The notches  150  on a guide  110  are preferably spaced evenly along the curved side of the guide  110 , but the distance between the notches  150  may vary depending on where the user desires to interlace  80  the nylon  50  on the thongs  60  (i.e., the nylon placement), shown in FIG.  1 . The spacing between the notches  150  on different guides  110  may also vary depending on the type of pocket the user prefers. The notches  150  are preferably small at the top to assure the nylon placement is consistent in every pocket. The bottom portion of the notches  150  are wider to enable the user to interlace the nylon at the desired nylon placement. In the preferred embodiment the wider portion of the notches  150  are circular, but in alternative embodiments the notches could have a variety of shapes, such as square, rectangular, hexagonal, or diamond. 
     As shown in FIG. 7, in the preferred embodiment, a plurality of guides  110  can be connected with a base  130  to form a pocket loom  100 . FIG. 8 shows a pocket loom  100  with a depth adjuster  190 . The depth adjuster  190  usually includes a hinge  170  and an adjustable arm  160 . The hinge  170  allows the user to change the angle of the pocket loom  100  relative to the platform or working surface  195 . In the preferred embodiment, the adjustable arm  160  is a screw and two nuts. One of the two nuts is not shown, but is located in the working surface  195 . The other nut  162  is located at the end of the screw  160 , opposite the head of the screw, to prevent the screw  160  from coming out of the working surface  195 . By adjusting or turning the screw  160  into the nut  162 , the front of the pocket loom  100  is lowered, decreasing the depth of the pocket created by the pocket loom  100  and reducing the angle between the base  130  and the working surface  195 . By turning the screw  160  in the opposite direction, the front of the pocket loom  100  is raised, increasing the depth of the pocket made by the pocket loom  100  and increasing the angle between the base  130  on the working surface  195 . In an alternative embodiments, the depth could be adjusted by simply propping the front of the pocket loom  100  up in relation to the back or changing the shape of the guides  110 . As shown in FIG. 9, the guide  110  can be shaped at a desired angle without using the depth adjuster  190 . An embodiment which may be preferable if the user always wants the same pocket. 
     As shown in FIG. 10, the preferred embodiment contains four guides  110 ,  110 ′, and a base  130 . However, in alternative embodiments, the pocket loom  100  may contain anywhere from two to six guides  110 . In the preferred embodiment, the pocket loom  100  contains two inner guides  110 ′ and two outer guides  110 . The two inner guides  110 ′ are generally equal in length (approximately eight and three-quarters inches), width (approximately two and one-half inches to four inches), and depth (approximately one eighth of an inch to one half inch). The back ends  225  of the two inner guides  110 ′ are positioned slightly closer than the front ends  226  to replicate the position of the thongs  60  within a pocket. 
     The two outer guides  110  are a little shorter than the inner guides  110 ′ (approximately eight inches), a little thinner (as shown in FIG.  7 ), and equal in depth. These two outer guides  110  are positioned on the outside of the two inner guides  110 ′. The back end  225  of the outer guide  110  is slightly closer to the back end  225  of its adjacent inner guide  110 ′ than the front end  226  of the outer guide  110  is to the front end  226  of the inner guide  110 ′, so that the guides  110 ,  110 ′ converge towards the bottom of the pocket and diverge at the top. 
     As shown in FIGS. 7,  8 ,  10  and  11  in the preferred embodiment, these guides  110 ,  110 ′ are all connected by a base  130 . The base  130  is used to maintain the position of the guides  110 ,  110 ′ in relation to each other and improve the users ability to create the same pocket time after time. The base  130  also maintains the location of the notches  150  in one guide  110  to the notches  150  in the adjacent guides  110 ,  110 ′. As shown in FIG. 10, the notches  150  in one guide  110  are usually offset from its adjacent guides  110 ,  110 ′. The position of these notches  150  in relation to each other is important because they assist the user in creating the diamond shaped weave  80  (shown in FIG. 1) of a traditional pocket  70 . An alternative embodiment is shown in FIG. 12, where the base  130  is thicker to add stability. In another embodiment, the guides  110  may slide into a base or fit into slots located at the top of the base. When connected in this manner, the guides  110 ,  110 ′ are interchangeable within the same base  130 . This allows for changing the shape of the pocket without changing the base  130 . 
     Although the guides  110 ,  110 ′ are usually attached in the form of a pocket loom  100 , they may be used separately. The purpose of using them separately is to facilitate the user&#39;s ability to create a variety of customized pockets without using several pocket looms  100 . For example, some lacrosse players desire deeper pockets than others. With separate guides, a user could simply replace the two inner guides  110 ′ with wider inner guides and reuse the same outer guide  110  and create a wider pocket. 
     In an alternative embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13 a , guides  110 ,  110 ′ may also be positioned perpendicular to the thongs  60 . In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13 b , the guides  110 ,  110 ′ are curved to resemble the shape of a pocket. The grooves are all aligned to hold a thong in the proper position to shape the pocket. The grooves holding the thongs at the bottom of the head are generally closer to replicate the slightly fan-shaped configuration of the thongs. 
     In another alternative embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, guides may also be replaced with thong supports  400  connected by a frame  420 . The thong supports  400  are used to support a thong. The thong supports  400  have flat ends  410  to hold the thongs in the shape of a pocket. The other end of the thong supports  400  are mounted in a frame  420  to maintain their position in relation to each other. The thong supports  400  can be fixed to the frame  420 , or placed in holes within the frame  420  to make them removable or adjustable. If these thong supports  400  are removable, the user could insert different thong supports  400  within the same frame  420  to create different pockets. The number of thong supports  400  used and the length of the flat ends  410  may vary depending on the type of pocket desired by the user. The thong supports and frame can be made of a variety of rigid materials, including wood, plastic, and metal. 
     The space between the ends of the thong supports are preferably small to control the placement of the interlaces and wider at the bottom to permit the user enough room to interlace the nylon string. Similar to the notches, the chamber created between the thong spaces can be a variety of shapes. 
     To use the pocket loom  100  described above, as shown in FIG. 15,  16  and  19 , the head  75  of a lacrosse stick, such as the head shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,947, issued Oct. 22, 1996 under the name of Tucker et al., is placed over the curved side of the pocket loom  100  with the holes for the side walls facing up. U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,947 issued Oct. 22, 1996 and entitled LACROSSE STICK HAVING OPEN SIDE WALL STRUCTURE is incorporated herein by reference. As shown in FIG. 17, the side walls (not shown) and thongs  60  are usually already installed  620  or woven onto the head  75  before the head is placed  628  over or around the pocket loom  100 , but they can also be installed after the head is placed over the pocket loom  100 . The side walls are usually fixed in some manner to the base of the head. The side walls are for example, installed by tying a hitch knot or a variety of other types of knots at one end of the nylon string and inserting it through a hole in one side of the base of the head from the outside of the head. That side wall or string is then fed into the adjacent hole from the inside of the head. Next, the side wall is threaded  620  behind the portion of side wall between the first and second holes, before being threaded into the third hole from the inside of the head. To install the side wall, this procedure is continued until the side wall reaches the top of that side of the head and is fixed or tied off with a knot. Similarly, another side wall is installed on the opposite side of the head. 
     As for the installation of a thong  60 , as shown in FIG. 18, about a two inch portion  500  of the thong  60  with two holes  505 ,  507  cut in the middle of it, is inserted through one of the four holes at the top of the head. The two inch portion  500  is then double backed toward the bottom of the head. Then the other portion  501 , usually at least nine inches long, is threaded through the first hole  507  in the two inch portion, then it is weaved back through the second hole  505  (to prevent the end of the two inch portion from interfering with the performance of the stick). Then the long portion  501  is threaded into a hole at the bottom of the head corresponding to the same hole in the top of the head. Once the thong  60  is threaded through the hole at the bottom of the head, the long portion  501  can be tied off with a hitch knot or other type of knot. Depending on the depth of the pocket desired, some slack should be left in the thong  60  before tying it off at the bottom of the head. For another description of the installation of the side walls and the thongs, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,042, issued on Aug. 29, 1989 in the name of Douglas F. Trettin, incorporated herein by reference. 
     The thongs  60  should be attached loosely until they are aligned  640  with the guides  110 ,  110 ′ as shown in FIG. 16, at the desired pocket depth and shape. When the thongs are positioned at the depth desired by the user, the user should tie the bottom ends  315  of the thongs  60  so they do not slip during stringing. During stringing, the thongs  60  may also be held from slipping by the means for securing  200 , such as the ridges shown in FIG. 19 and 20, ties, or clips. A ridge may run the entire length of the guide  110 . However, a means for securing  200  is not required if the bottom ends  315  of the thongs  60  are tied tightly against the guides  110 ,  110 ′ because friction will stop the thongs  60  from slipping. 
     Once the thongs  60  are aligned with the guides  110 ,  110 ′ as shown in FIG. 16, the user can weave  650  the nylon  50  between the side wall (not shown) and the thongs  60  to create a pocket. One technique of weaving the nylon  50  in this manner is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,042 (incorporated herein by reference). The nylon placements are made where the notches  150  on the guides  110   110 ′ are located. As stated earlier, the notches  150  are wider at the bottom to give the weaver more room. 
     With a traditional-style pocket, the person stringing the pocket usually starts weaving the nylon  50  from the bottom of the head  75  between a side wall  57  and its adjacent thong  60 . When the nylon  50  reaches the top of the head  75 , the nylon  50  is weaved between the first thong  60  and the second thong  60  toward the bottom of the head  75 . This procedure is continued until the nylon  50  reaches the top of the head  75  on the opposite side from the starting place. 
     The weaving is started by fixing or tying a hitch knot or other knot in one end of the nylon string. Then, the nylon is threaded through a hole on one side on the bottom of the head, like a side wall weave. Next, as shown in FIG. 21, the nylon  50  is woven around the outer thong  60 . After the nylon string  50  is wrapped completely around the outer thong  60 , it is threaded behind and under itself. Next, the nylon string  50  is woven around the side wall  57  in the same manner. Using this technique, the nylon  50  alternates between the outer thong  60  and the side wall  57  until it reaches the top. How many times it alternates depends on how many notches are in the guide supporting that thong  60 . 
     When the nylon string reaches the top of the head  75 , the user repeats the same procedure between the outer thong and the inner thong until it reaches the bottom/base of the head. The only differences is that when the nylon string  50  is woven around the outer thong  60  on the way back down, it is interlaced with itself, as shown in FIG. 22 a . The results of the interlaced nylon string  50  is shown in FIG. 22 b . The nylon string  50  that is woven into the pocket may be one piece or several pieces of nylon string. 
     This procedure is continued between the first and second inner thongs, then between the second inner thong and the second outer thong, and then between the second outer thong and the second side wall. After the nylon weaving is complete, the user can install the shooting strings. As shown in FIG. 23, the shooting string  55  is a nylon string braided across the top part of the head  75 . Usually, the shooting string  55  is first braided  710  from one side of the head to the other, and then back in parallel about a half an inch above or below the first pass. The shooting string  55  usually controls the release of the ball. 
     The foregoing description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. The description is not intended to limit the invention to the forms described. Variations and modifications commensurate with the above teachings, and within the skill and knowledge of the relevant art, are part of the scope of the present invention.