Patent Publication Number: US-10780572-B2

Title: Hockey stick toolbox

Description:
The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/708,332, filed Dec. 6, 2017. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention pertains to accessories for customizing a hockey stick according to preferences of a player. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In order to better understand the nature of the present hockey stick toolbox, one has to remember or imagine oneself being at a hockey tournament with a child playing in semi-final against the strongest team in the league. It is the first period of the game and your child&#39;s team is in the lead. Every kid plays good and hard. The pressure is high amongst players, coaches and parents. All of a sudden, your child breaks his/her hockey stick and has no spare. 
     As a parent, you are responsible to quickly get a new hockey stick. Your child wants to go back on the ice and play the last period, at least. However, the sport store is a few miles away and traffic in town is congested. Your child is in the car with you, dressed in full hockey gear, with the skates off, and telling you what you need to buy. When the new hockey stick is found, there is no one at the store to cut the handle to the proper length. Hockey sticks must be trimmed exactly to suit the arm&#39;s length, the height and age of the player. The blade must be wrapped very precisely, in a scrim-like grip tape first, a covering tape and waxed between the layers and over the tapes. Some players like their hockey stick to be taped in white, others prefer black tape, depending upon the stick of their hockey star for example. You finally return to the arena with a new hockey stick and an assortment of wax and tape, hoping to find another parent who has a handsaw that you can borrow. However, you cannot find a handsaw. Your child&#39;s team loses the game. Your child is upset. The entire team is blaming you for their loss. 
     Because the above scenario is too common in novice and junior hockey, it is believed that there is a market need for a hockey stick accessory kit or a furnished toolbox for quickly customizing a hockey stick. 
     A search in the prior art has failed to offer any solution for such improvised customizing of a hockey stick. The following documents are cited for reference purposes: 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,154 issued to R. E. Meumann et al., on Mar. 4, 1997; 
     U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,618 issued to T. J. Frischmon et al., on Sep. 19, 2006; 
     U.S. Pat. No. 8,586,177 issued to W. S. Wilbur et al., on Nov. 19, 2013. 
     These documents disclose respectively, a sleeve to join the broken ends of a hockey stick; a square plug to mend a hollow handle, and a mesh-and-adhesive-type sleeve to repair a broken handle. In all three cases, the ends of a broken stick must be trimmed and prepared in some way to receive the fixation. Such a repair can hardly be done impromptu by parents of a player. Therefore, it is believed that there is a need for a hockey stick accessory kit for quickly customizing a new hockey stick and let a player get back to the ice in a relatively short time. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present hockey stick toolbox has been design for sale in the hockey stick section of a sport store. The toolbox contains all that one needs to trim a hockey stick to length and to tape and wax the blade to satisfy popular blade covering practices. 
     In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hockey stick toolbox comprising a casing, and an assortment of tape and a pair of scissors, nested inside that casing. This toolbox is useful for preparing a new hockey stick that does not require cutting, for a junior player for example. 
     In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hockey stick toolbox comprising a casing, an assortment of tape; a pair of scissors; a handsaw and a miter box nested in that casing. The casing has spaced-apart notches for retaining a hockey stick steady in the miter box. The handsaw and miter box are particularly advantageous for trimming and customizing a new hockey stick for a novice player for example. 
     In a further aspect of the present invention, each of the aforesaid notches has a V-shape. Each of the aforesaid notches has an inclined side relative to a plan of the casing, for supporting a handle of the hockey stick such that a cross-section of the handle forms an apex pointing upward. With the hockey stick handle in this position, a handsaw has immediate grab on the handle to initiate a cut. 
     This brief summary has been provided so that the nature of the invention may be understood quickly. A more complete understanding of the invention can be obtained by reference to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof in connection with the attached drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A preferred embodiment of the hockey stick toolbox according to the present invention is described with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals denote like parts throughout the several views: 
         FIG. 1  is a plan view of the hockey stick toolbox according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is another plan view of the hockey stick toolbox, with the cover open; 
         FIG. 3  is a yet another open plan view of the hockey stick toolbox with a hockey stick positioned in the miter box, ready to be sawed to proper length; 
         FIG. 4  is an end view of the casing of the preferred hockey stick toolbox; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective plan, front side and left end view of the preferred hockey tool box; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective plan, front side and right end view of the preferred hockey tool box. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The preferred embodiment of the hockey stick toolbox according to the present invention is described herein below with reference to the attached drawings. The drawings have no dimension shown. The proportion of some features may have been emphasized for convenience. Some features might not be shown on all views. The drawings have been prepared in this manner to facilitate the understanding of the invention. It is to be understood that the drawings should not be scaled. 
     Many components of this toolbox were not illustrated to facilitate the understanding of the basic concept of the design. The components that were not illustrated are those for which the nature, mountings and functions would be obvious to the person skilled in the art of plastic boxes and cases. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1  the preferred hockey stick toolbox  20  is comprised of a casing made of wide portion  22  and a narrow portion  24 . Both portions  22 ,  24  are connected together to give the toolbox  20  a general appearance of a hockey stick, with the wider portion  22  representing the blade of a hockey stick and the narrow portion  24  representing the handle of a hockey stick. The angle “A” between the longitudinal axes of both portions  22 ,  24  is also similar to the angle between the blade and the handle of a standard hockey stick. 
     A knob  26  at the end of the narrow portion  24  represents a ball of tape on the end of a hockey stick. This knob  26  is in fact, a hinged cap covering the end of a miter box inside the narrow portion  24 , as will be described further herein. 
     Both portions  22 ,  24  are preferably made of plastic, preferably transparent or semi-transparent plastic. However, opaque plastic is also acceptable. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the toolbox  20  is made of two halves joined by a hinge  28 . The bottom half  32  is preferably deeper than the top half  34 . Both halves  32 ,  34  comprises bosses and compartments for nesting tools and accessory for customizing a hockey stick. 
     The top half  34  has two cylindrical bosses  40  therein to retain a pair of scissors  42 , and a region  44  with clips to retain a marker  46  thereto. The bottom half  32  has two cylindrical bosses  50 ,  52  therein to retain one or more rolls of hockey tape and a roll of grip tape. A rectangular compartment  54  is provided for stowing blocks of hockey tape wax. A second elongated compartment  56  has dimensions to enclose a small handsaw therein. The bottom half  32  of the right end of the narrow portion  24  has a miter box  58  formed thereon or nested therein. The cap  26  is attached to the miter box by a second hinge  60 . 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 3 to 6 , the left end of the bottom half  32  has a notch  70  to receive a hockey stick  72  therein. A similar notch  70 ′ is provided in the miter box  58  as can be seen in  FIG. 6 . Both notches  70 ,  70 ′ are aligned with each other and with a longitudinal axis of the miter box  58 . 
     The top half  34  of the casing has a flap  74  to seal the notch  70  when both halves  32 ,  34  are closed over each other, as can be understood from  FIG. 4 . Also in  FIG. 4  it can be seen that the top half  34  has two latches  76  to engage with a corresponding pair of grooves  78  in the bottom half  32  to secure both halves  32 ,  34  together when the toolbox  20  is not being used. Hinges  28  and latches  76  can take various forms and are not explained further herein as this is not the focus of the present disclosure. 
     Referring again particularly to  FIG. 3  the elements included in the preferred toolbox  20  are illustrated. Most importantly, the preferred toolbox  20  comprises a handsaw  80 , a first roll of tape  82 , which has been taken out of its holding boss  52  to make room for a hockey stick  72  in the miter box  58 . The toolbox  20  also comprises a second roll of tape  84 , a pair of scissor  42  and a marker  46 . As mentioned before, at least one block of wax  86  is also included. A second stick  88  of wax or other tape treatment material may be stowed in the center of the large boss  50 . 
     Preferably, the height of the bosses  50  and  52  and the depth of the first half  32  have sufficient dimensions to accommodate at least two rolls of tape on top of each other. The toolbox  20  preferably contains white tape, black tape and a roll of scrim-like grip tape  82 . 
     As mentioned before, a new hockey stick  72  is positioned in the miter box  58 , and is supported steady by the spaced-apart notches  70  and  70 ′. The handsaw  80  is then used to cut the stick  72  along a previously marked line  90  to corresponds to the height, age and position of the player that will be using the new hockey stick. 
     It will be appreciated that the toolbox  20 , the marker  46 , the scissors  44  and the handsaw  80 , have a portion thereof with a shape representing a hockey stick. These forms contribute to the enforcement of a trademark for the preferred hockey stick toolbox  20 . 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the hockey stick  72  is only partly illustrated, for convenience. In use, the toolbox  20  is opened and laid on a flat surface. The handle of new hockey stick  72  is measured and marked such as at label  90 . The handle is positioned in the spaced-apart notches  70 ,  70 ′, with the marking  90  aligned with the slots of the miter box  58 . The handle is then sawed off using the handsaw  80  guided into the slots of the miter box  58 . 
     It will be appreciated that the bottom of each notch  70 ,  70 ′ has a V-shape, with one side inclined relative to the plan of the open toolbox  20 . This inclination supports the handle of the hockey stick  72 , with one edge of the handle being first exposed to the handsaw  80 . It will be appreciated that a cross-section of the hockey stick handle  72  when steadied in the V-shaped notches  70 ,  70 ′, form an apex  92  pointing upward, as can be seen in  FIG. 5 . A cut of the handle is easily started on this apex  92 , to facilitate the sawing of the handle. Also, this inclination helps to accommodate and retain hockey stick handles of different cross-section dimensions. 
     In another feature of the preferred embodiment, the miter box  58  is positioned on the end of the narrow portion  24  of the toolbox  20 . This is where a cut is made on the handle of a new hockey stick. This location is believed to be a logical one which makes the preferred embodiment of the present hockey stick toolbox easy to understand without written instruction. 
     It is believed that the hockey stick toolbox  20  described herein has all the necessary tools needed to personalize a hockey stick in a hurry, in a team dressing room, in a hotel room, or while sitting in the bleachers of an arena.