Racket for a ball to be hit and guided on the ground

A racket for a ball to be hit and guided at the ground includes a frame of an oval shape and surrounding a central opening through the frame. The frame has opposite arcuate-shaped top and bottom portions being oppositely curved away from another and opposite arcuate-shaped lateral end portions extending between the top and bottom portions and being oppositely curved away from one another so as to provide the frame with the oval shape. The racket also includes a striking face mounted to the frame and extending across the central opening thereof and an elongated shaft joined with the frame at one of the arcuate-shaped lateral end portions thereof and extending from the frame in a generally tangential relationship to the frame. The striking face has a pair of opposite sides. The frame at the bottom portion thereof has a bottom surface and opposite inner faces adjacent to the bottom surf ace being concavely shaped and converging with the opposite sides of the striking face and with the bottom surface of the frame to form therewith a sharply cornered angle. The bottom portion of the frame is wider than the top portion thereof in cross section so as to reinforce the bottom portion of the frame to withstand coming into contact with the ground during play.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 1. Field of the Invention
 The invention relates to rackets for hitting game playing objects and, more
 particularly, is concerned with a racket for a ball to be hit and guided
 (advanced, or "stick-handled") at the ground, comprising a shaft and a
 grid structure striking face extending angularly from said shaft.
 2. Description of the Prior Art
 In sports and pastime activities, a large number of rackets (also referred
 to as sticks, bats, clubs or similar) are known. Among these are a first
 group of rackets comprising shafts disposed as an extension of the
 longitudinal axis of a relatively large striking face (tennis, squash,
 badminton, table tennis "rackets" etc.) as well as a further group of
 rackets comprising a relatively small striking face extending angularly
 away from the shaft (e.g. ice hockey, street hockey, field hockey and golf
 "rackets").
 U.S Pat. No. 4,340,224 discloses a racket (stick) for ice hockey
 goalkeepers comprising a surface extending from the shaft in angular
 fashion and, connected thereto, a surface of the same width arranged in
 extension of the stick shaft. Both faces comprise a frame in which a net
 made of nylon or leather strings are tension mounted. The purpose of this
 net is to avoid or at least diminish rebounds of the puck from the stick.
 Otherwise, this stick is in no way different from the typical construction
 of an ice hockey goalkeeper's stick.
 U.S. Pat. No. 3,720,410 relates to a ball hockey stick with a closed,
 dished striking face arranged angularly in relation to the shaft, whereby
 between said striking face and said shaft there is provided a striking
 face also angular in relation to the shaft and diverging in relation to
 the dished striking face. Hereby, the dished striking face serves for
 hitting a ball while the diverging striking face is meant for guiding
 (handling) a ball.
 EP 0 74 339 A1 teaches a tennis racket deviating from the typical
 construction for tennis rackets. While its striking face and its shaft,
 each viewed on its own, correspond to the hitting face and the shaft of a
 typical tennis racket, the longitudinal axis of the essentially oval
 striking face is disposed angularly in relation to the shaft whereby the
 extended axis of the shaft runs through the center of the striking face.
 BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 It is the object of the present invention to provide a completely new type
 of racket for a ball to be hit and guided on the ground.
 This task is solved by means of a racket of the aforementioned kind in that
 its striking face essentially exhibits the shape and size of a typical
 tennis, squash, badminton or table tennis racket, its shaft joining at one
 lateral end of the striking face end, and the frame being reinforced in
 its bottom area.
 At first glance, the features stated in the main claim for the racket
 according to the invention appear to be simplistic. It is a fact, however,
 that the above-mentioned groups of rackets were co-existing for decades
 where no one proposed a novelty as in this invention. The present
 invention breaks new ground, leaving old, well known paths. The result is
 a racket giving a completely new optical impression unifying one element
 of the aforementioned first group of rackets, namely the hitting face,
 with an element of the second group of rackets, namely the shaft disposed
 angularly in relation to the striking face in the plane of the striking
 face. The racket can be used for hitting and guiding (handling) a ball on
 the ground, and this can be used for playing on roller blades or roller
 skates or on foot as well as on the ice with skates.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
 In the following, at first, features will be described that are present in
 all embodiment examples. Subsequently, the differences will be
 illustrated.
 Since the shaft 1 of the racket is shown broken off in all representations,
 it should be pointed out that the shaft 1 is shorter and steeper pitched
 than that of an ice hockey stick. Moreover, the racket is constructed very
 lightly, so that it can be played essentially one-handed both forehand as
 well as backhand. The ball used to play is a plastic foam ball having a
 diameter of at least 5 cm. This combination of light racket and foam ball
 makes the game relatively safe since both the danger of injury of players
 engaging each other by handling the racket as well as the risk of third
 party personal or property damages by the soft ball is minimal.
 The striking face 2 of the rackets is framed. It is of about the size and
 shape of the striking face of a tennis racket. From the drawing it can be
 seen that the frame 3 in its lower area starting at its front is
 consistently growing wider, while simultaneously gaining in strength, and
 then, approximately in the middle, starts to become narrower again. This
 construction serves to reinforce the frame 3 at its bottom, i.e. in the
 area coming into contact with the ground during play. In addition, the
 frame 3 is made of wear-resistant material.
 As can best be seen from FIGS. 1.1, 2.1, and 3.1, the strength of the frame
 in its bottom area consistently increases from its front end up to its
 shaft-side end. Here, the frame 3 terminates upwards in a plug joint 4 for
 the shaft 1. This plug joint 4 comprises a pocket bore 5 with a
 cylindrical pin 6 at the bottom of the bore. The shaft 1 can be plugged
 into the pocket bore 5 and onto the pin 6. It can be glued into the pocket
 bore 5 in order to attain a permanently fixed connection with the striking
 face 2 or, if a detachable connection is preferred, splinted or screwed to
 said bore, for example. Likewise, of course, striking face 2 and shaft 1
 can be formed as one piece.
 It can be seen from the sectional representations according to FIGS. 1.2,
 2.2, and 3.2, that the frame 3 in its bottom area is formed concavely at
 its interior face on both sides of the striking face 2 and converges with
 the bottom of the frame, on both sides, always at a sharp-cornered angle.
 This shape facilitates elevating a ball lying or rolling on the ground.
 Now, having describe above the features common in all three embodiment
 examples, the differences shall be explained in the following.
 The racket according to FIGS. 1.1 through 1.4 comprises a grid-type, level
 striking face 2. The grid can be made of a rigid plastic grid; in this
 case, it would be practical to manufacture the frame 3 and the plastic
 grid as a one-piece pressure die-casting member. However, it may also be
 generated by strings being tension mounted in the frame 3, as known from
 tennis rackets.
 The racket according to the FIGS. 2.1 through 2.4, likewise, exhibits a
 grid-type striking face 2. This consists of two intersecting, level string
 faces. The strings of each face extending essentially vertically are
 tension mounted between the left upper edge of the frame 3 and the right
 lower edge of the frame 3 or, respectively, between the right upper edge
 of the frame 3 and the left lower edge of the frame 3, as can best be seen
 from FIG. 2.2. The result is a striking face 2 essentially concave on both
 sides. This construction of the striking face 2 allows the ball to be hit
 angularly upwards or downwards, facilitated by a corresponding hitting
 technique.
 In a racket according to FIGS. 3.1 through 3.4 the striking face 2 also
 consists of a plastic grid which, however, comprises a closed central area
 7. This central area 7 can be covered with an optically pleasant printing
 or used as an advertising surface, for example.
 Of course, besides the embodiment examples represented in the drawings,
 many further variations of rackets constructed according to the invention
 are conceivable. Thus, the shaft 1 could terminate, at its lower end,
 following the contours of the striking face, in a groove open towards the
 front or the top respectively. This can most easily be conceived if one
 looks at, for example, FIG. 1.1 and imagines the plug-in joint 4 with the
 connected reinforced frame 3 as integral parts of the shaft 1. In this
 case, the frame 3 would be of consistent strength over its entire
 perimeter and would be inserted into the open, U-shaped groove of the
 shaft terminal and fixed there. In this case, the shaft terminal forms the
 bottom side reinforcement of the racket. This embodiment of the racket
 allows replacement or exchange of the striking face 2.
 In the racket according to FIGS. 1.1 through 1.4, likewise, it would be
 possible to replace the shown plastic grid. To that end, the frame 3 would
 have to be slitted in the plane of the striking face, the slit being
 through in its upper area and not through in its shaft-side and lower
 area, i.e. the slit forms, in the latter areas, a groove extending in the
 center of the frame in the width of the plastic grid. The depth of the
 groove must be dimensioned such that the plastic grid is safely supported
 laterally. The plastic grid can then be inserted into the slit from above
 until it is firmly seated in the groove in the frame 3. Its edge area will
 then be in contact with the frame 3 on both sides over the entire
 perimeter. The slit in the frame 3 can be closed, following insertion of
 the striking face 2, for example, by means of a T-shaped flexible
 impression band.
 It would be sensible to equip the racket with a telescopical shaft in order
 to be able to adapt the length of the shaft to the height of the player,
 which might change, for example, for the only reason that the game is
 played on roller blades instead of on foot.