Hockey stick

A hockey stick is herein disclosed which is in conformance with the regulations required by hockey officials and the stick is so formed as to provide a longitudinal concave curved portion on the blade on the forehand side and a partial longitudinal concave curve on the blade on the backhand side, with at least a portion of each curve being substantially opposite each other.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention pertains to hockey sticks and more particularly to blade 
designs which have a curve on their forehand and backhand side. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
For many years hockey players have been using hockey sticks having curves 
in the blade on the forehand side. This forehand curve enables players to 
project a hockey puck with greater accuracy on a forehand shot, as 
compared to a stick with no curvature, known as a neutral stick. For 
various reasons, the curvature of hockey stick blades has now been 
restricted by hockey officials. 
While curved sticks improve forehand shots for most hockey players, they 
simultaneously increase the difficulty of projecting a puck with a 
backhand shot. This is due to fact that, because of the concave forehand 
curve, there is less flat blade area on the backhand side to use for 
hitting or slapping the puck. Furthermore, the forehand curve makes it 
more difficult to hold or control the puck from the backhand side. This is 
particularly true for school-aged players. 
The standard design for a hockey stick comprises an elongated handle or 
shaft portion disposed at approximately a 90 degree or slightly greater 
angle with respect to the handle. These sticks are commonly made of wood, 
plastic, or composite materials such as fiberglass. It has been common to 
blades that are curved in a forwardly direction to improve puck control 
and forward shooting ability. The disadvantage of a curved blade, however, 
is that the curvature adversely affects backhand shots because the puck 
may slide or be deflected off the convex rear surface instead of being 
squarely hit in the desired direction of travel. 
Recently, this problem has been addressed by the development of dual-blade 
hockey sticks comprising a split or bifurcated blade in which the front 
(forward-facing) blade toe is forwardly concave and the rear (rear-facing) 
blade toe is substantially flat. Such dual-blade hockey sticks are 
described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,932 issued to George R. Cote and U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,793,613 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,682 each issued to Owen P. 
Hughes. 
The Cote patent utilizes a wedge of relativity soft material positioned at 
the tip of the blade in order to create a winged tip resulting in a 
forward surface curvature while retaining a more or less flat rear surface 
while each of the Hughes patents describe a dual-blade hockey stick in 
which there is no separating spacer or wedge between the "toes" of the 
blade (as in the Cote stick) thereby, permitting the forward and rear toes 
to flex independently. 
Most ice hockey blades are laminated with wood and/or fiberglass. The 
individual laminae or plies are held together with some type of adhesive 
bond. These adhesive-type bonds work fine when supporting in-plane shear 
loads but not the inherent tensile load associated with the dual-blade 
sticks, especially where the forward and rear toes flex independently as 
in the Hughes hockey stick. On the other hand, street hockey sticks are 
typically molded in plastic as one material. 
For both laminated and molded constructions however, an open V-shaped blade 
is extremely susceptible to fracture. Out-of-plane (plane of blade) or 
through-the-thickness tensile stresses cause fracture by the formation of 
cracks or delimitations between the separate blades originating near the 
root of the V-joint and propagating towards the heel. A fulcrum effect was 
found to exist in the vicinity of the V-joint. In other words, 
displacement of points located before the root would be opposite in sense 
from those located beyond the root. Blade forces resulting from slapshots, 
backhand shots, and so forth, induced out-of-plane tensile stresses 
localized in the vicinity of the root. These detrimental tensile stresses 
are an inherent characteristic of the bifurcated blade geometry and exist 
in both laminated (ice) and molded (street) hockey blades. 
Indeed, recent experience with the existing dual-blade hockey stick has 
confirmed that in use these sticks have a relatively short and 
unsatisfactory playing life. Stresses and strains generated by repeated 
striking of the hockey puck, other players sticks, the ice (or ground), 
and so forth rapidly lead to stress fractures at and behind the point of 
bifurcation or crotch of the dual-blade leading to eventual separation and 
premature failure. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
A principal object of this invention is to provide an improved hockey stick 
having a longitudinal concave curve on the forehand side of the blade and 
a partial longitudinal concave curve on the backhand side of the blade. 
A further object is to provide a hockey stick which conforms to the 
regulations now enforced by hockey officials as follows; 
(a) The sticks shall be made of wood or other material approved by the 
rules committee, and must not have any projections. Adhesive tape of any 
color may be wrapped around the stick at any place for the purpose of 
reinforcement or to improve control of the puck. 
(b) No stick shall exceed sixty inches in length from the heel to the end 
of the shaft nor more than twelve and one-half inches from the heel to the 
end of the blade. 
The blade of the stick shall not be more than three inches in width at any 
point nor less than two inches. All edges of the blade shall be bevelled. 
The curvature of the blade of the stick shall be restricted in such a way 
that the distance of a perpendicular line measured from a straight line 
drawn from the base of the heel to the base of the toe to the point of 
maximum curvature shall not exceed one-half inch. 
(c) The blade of the goalkeepers stick shall not exceed three and one-half 
inches in width; nor shall the goalkeepers blade exceed fifteen and 
one-half inches in length from the heel to the end of the blade. 
The widened portion of the goalkeeper's stick extending up the shaft from 
the heel where it must not extend more than twenty-six inches from the 
heel and shall not exceed three and one-half inches in width. 
Still a further object is to provide a partial concave curve on the 
backhand side which does not form an illegal pocket. 
Yet another object is to use the natural construction of the stick and 
blade to form both curves. 
A further object of the present invention is to provide a forehand 
longitudinal concave curved portion on the blade which has a portion of 
its curve at least partially opposite a backhand partial longitudinal 
concave curved portion on the blade.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
Referring now in detail to the drawings wherein like characters represent 
like elements throughout the various drawings, in FIG. 1, (10) is an over 
view of the present invention which is a hockey stick which can be made 
from substantially any material of engineering choice which is approved by 
the Rules committee, such as wood or the like, with (12) being a portion 
of an elongated linear handle and (14) being a blade of predetermined 
length, having width, thickness, a mid-portion (40) an inner end defining 
a first heel portion (46) and a second heel portion (44), an outer end toe 
portion (42), opposed faces respectively defining a forehand side ((32) 
and a backhand side (34), with the thickness being considerably less than 
the length of width of the blade and the blade width being substantially 
constant over its length and the blade having a cross section of 
substantially uniform thickness over a substantial portion of its length. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, the distance between arrows (18) represent a 
first longitudinal concave curve formed on the forehand side of blade (14) 
beginning at the first heel portion (46) and terminating at the outer end 
(42), while the distance between arrows (16) represent a second partial 
curve on the backhand side of the blade (14) beginning at the second heel 
portion (44) and terminating at substantially the midpoint (40), and each 
of the curves being substantially opposed to each other with the blade 
(14) being secured to the elongated linear handle (12) at its inner end 
and forming an obtuse angle with the handle (12). 
It will now be seen that we have developed a partial concave curve on the 
backhand side of the blade and a longitudinal concave curve on the 
forehand side of the blade with the longitudinal forehand concave curve 
extending substantially the entire length of the blade, and each of the 
curves are formed from the natural construction of the blade, and the 
blade when so constructed, conforms in all details to the official 
regulations pertaining to hockey sticks with the valleys of each curve not 
exceeding the allowed depth. 
It will also be seen that we have provided a hockey stick which can be made 
from substantially any material of engineering choice, such as wood, or 
the like. 
Also, the stick may be made in a left or right configuration and no pocket 
is created. 
Also, at least a portion of the curved forehand side and the curved 
backhand side of the blade are substantially opposite each other on 
opposite sides of the blade. 
One of the advantages of a neutral stick is that in "sticking" that is, 
handling the puck repeatedly on both sides of the blade, the stick attacks 
or contacts the puck at the same angle on both sides of the blade and the 
control of the sight line is controlled by movement of the wrist. With the 
advent of the curved blade, better sight line control is achieved on the 
forehand side but at a sacrifice of less control on the backhand side. 
This has been addressed in the prior art by attempting to create a 
forehand curved surface and a backhand curved surface and the closest to 
success is exemplified by the Melby U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,379 which teaches 
a forehand curved side and a partially curved backhand curved side, 
however, inherent disadvantages in the placement of the two curves occur 
as it is not possible to "stick" the puck directly across from either 
curve without moving the stick laterally, that is toward and away from the 
player, as the two curves are at no point aligned opposite to each other. 
Controlling the wrist movement does not help as directly across from each 
curve on its opposite side is a negative curve instead of the concave 
portion of a curve. This is clearly illustrated in FIG. 3 which shows the 
prior art with (20) representing the blade portion of a prior art stick 
and (22) being the forehand curved side with (24) being the backhand 
curved side and (26) being a first position of a puck and (28) being a 
second position of a puck. 
Hockey players are taught to "stick" close to the heel of the blade for 
better control and it will be noted in the present invention that the heel 
portions (30) & (31) respectively, present two opposite curved portions as 
illustrated by FIG. 2, with (32) being the forehand curved side and (34) 
being the backhand curved side. The angle of the stick handle (12) to the 
playing surface (represented by line (36)) may be changed by moving the 
stick handle (12) in the direction of the arc shown by arrows (38). By 
changing this stick position while "sticking", namely, simultaneously 
alternating the puck back and forth between the forehand curve and the 
backhand curve with no lateral movement, the "sweet" spot of the blade on 
"both" sides contacts the puck. This not only improves the line of site in 
both directions but also allows the player to have improved control of the 
puck as well as allows the player to have control by only back and forth 
movement of the wrist, rather than undesirable lateral movement as 
required by the previously curved hockey sticks as taught by the prior 
art. 
Although the invention has been shown and described in what is conceived to 
be the most practical and preferred embodiment it is recognized that 
departures may be made therefrom within the scope and spirit of the 
invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but 
is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and 
all equivalent devices and or apparatus's.