Abstract:
A hockey shirt with a lower trunk opening, a neck opening and collar, including sleeves and cuff assembly. The shirt has special protective cover stitched, surged or fused on the lower sleeves, underarm parts and armpits to prevent against gashes, cuts and other injuries caused by skate blades.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to the field of sports equipment, and more particularly to hockey equipment of the sort worn by a player to provide comfort and protection during the rough and tumble play of the game of hockey. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Ice hockey is one of the most popular team sports played in Canada and the USA. It is a fast-paced game that combines players of many sizes together on the rink with high skating speed and fast, furious action. 
     Hockey is known as a hard-hitting, collision sport. Players risk injury from high-impact collisions with each other, the rigid boards that mark the boundary of the playing surface, and the goal posts. Impact with a skate blade, long sticks, and pucks traveling more than 100 MPH also add to the risk. 
     Lacerations (cuts) to the head, scalp and face have been reduced by the use of helmets and face shields but sadly, more serious cuts still continue to cause physical trauma to players at all levels in minor and major league hockey, including ringette, recreational and pick-up hockey games and practices. 
     While newer protective equipment is lighter, stronger and offers more protection, it has also been modified to make hockey movement easier. In particular, hockey gloves are now shorter and expose players to more wrist and arms injuries than before. Likewise, there is no equipment to protect the underarms, sides of torso and armpits from serious cuts. 
     What is required is not only protection for the body parts susceptible to injury from skate blades, but protection that is lightweight, inexpensive and doesn&#39;t impede range of motion, particularly wrist and shoulder movement. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a protective undergarment worn for ice skating sports comprising a torso portion having a front, a back and a neck opening, said torso portion comprising a jersey fabric, and first and second sleeves which extend from and are joined to or integral with said torso portion, each sleeve including a flexible, high performance fabric, resistant to cutting; wherein at least a part of said front and back of said torso portion between opposed sides thereof comprises said jersey fabric without any flexible high performance fabric resistance to cutting. 
     According to the present invention, there is provided a protective undergarment comprising a torso portion having a front, a back and a neck opening, left and right arm sleeves which extend from and are directly joined to or integral with said torso portion such that the torso portion and said sleeves form a unitary undergarment, wherein, when the protective garment is laid flat, the upper arm portion of each sleeve has a front and a back, and opposed upper and lower edges, wherein each sleeve has a forearm portion comprising a flexible, high performance fabric, resistant to cutting by skate blades and at least part of the torso portion between opposed sides thereof comprises jersey fabric. 
     Advantageously, this arrangement provides an undergarment for ice hockey and other ice skating sports which provides arm protection from skate blade lacerations while providing comfort to the wearer by reducing chaffing, itching and other discomforts that might arise if the entire undergarment were made from high performance material only. Furthermore, the invention provides a product which does not add to the list of clothing or equipment worn today by players, but replaces an existing item of apparel. 
     Also according to the present invention, there is provided a protective undergarment comprising a torso portion having a neck opening, first and second arm sleeves extending from said torso portion and including an upper arm portion for covering the upper arms of a wearer, each upper arm portion having an underside portion, and wherein each underside portion includes a high performance, flexible fabric, resistant to cutting. 
     According to the present invention, there is further provided a protective undergarment worn for ice skating sports comprising a torso portion having a front, a back and sides between the front and back, and a neck opening, first and second arm sleeves extending from said torso portion and a high performance flexible fabric, resistant to cutting by skate blades, extending from an underside of each sleeve to a respective side to provide underarm protection. 
     According to the present invention, there is further provided a protective undergarment comprising a torso portion having a neck opening, first and second arm sleeves extending from said torso portion, each sleeve including a lower arm portion for covering a lower arm of a wearer and wherein said lower arm portion comprises a high performance, flexible fabric resistant to cutting. 
     According to the present invention, there is further provided a protective undergarment comprising a torso portion having a front, a back and a neck opening, said torso portion comprising a jersey fabric, and a flexible, high performance fabric, resistant to cutting and forming first and second sleeves which are joined to said torso portion. 
     According to the present invention, there is further provided a protective undergarment comprising a torso portion having a neck opening, first and second arm sleeves extending from said torso portion, each sleeve being formed of a jersey fabric and a high performance, flexible fabric, resistant to cutting by skate blades and joined to said jersey fabric to thereby form an integral sleeve therewith. 
     Embodiments of the invention provide a simple and easy method for protecting arm and torso parts not covered by existing hockey equipment protection. 
     Embodiments of the invention provide a product that is easily maintained and laundered as it will be worn often and close to the skin. 
     Embodiments of the invention provide a product that improves the comfort of the wearer, such as by reducing chaffing, itching and other discomforts that might arise if the entire shirt were to be fabricated with the protective covering only. 
     Embodiments of the invention provide a product that does not inhibit range of motion, thereby maintaining a player&#39;s effectiveness. 
     Embodiments of the invention provide a product that can be mass produced. 
     Embodiments of the invention provide a product that is affordable. 
     Embodiments of the invention provide a product that can accommodate players of all sizes. 
     In one embodiment, the undergarment comprises an undershirt for use by hockey players, the undershirt comprising: a torso portion with a lower trunk opening; a pair of sleeves attached to the torso portion with protective covering on the forearms, underarms and armpit areas; a sleeve cuff assembly on each of said sleeves; and a head opening. 
     In one embodiment, the protective covering is made of an aramid fiber to guard against cuts and gashes between the hockey gloves and the elbow pads and shoulder pads; on the underside of the arms, in the armpit and on the sides of the torso. 
     In some embodiments, the protective covering is sewn, surged (interlock) or fused between a layer of garment fabric made of 50% polyester and 50% cotton (or tubular 100% cotton and other similar materials without affecting the integrity of the safety features) and a layer of rip-stock nylon on top. In some embodiments, the protective covering is 100% aramid fiber material. It is five times stronger than an equal weight of steel, has exceptional stretch resistance and is inherently flame resistant. This fibre is used extensively in Personal Body Armour, specialized gear for Correctional Officers and has many other uses in workplace safety. As well as providing protection against lacerations, it is light in weight, provides an extended-wear life and can be laundered. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Examples of embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, in which  FIG. 1A  shows a front view of an undershirt according to an embodiment of the present invention, 
         FIG. 1B  shows a back view of the undershirt shown in  FIG. 1A , and 
         FIG. 1C  shows an enlarged view of a portion of the undershirt showing an assembly of garment material and aramid fibre material, used in embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1A and 1B , an undershirt  1  according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a torso portion  3 , having a front  5 , a back  7 , and two side portions  9 ,  11 , and right and left arm sleeves  13 , extending from the torso portion  3 . The torso portion further includes a neck opening  17 , which may include a cuff  19 , and a lower trunk opening  21 . 
     The torso portion comprises a fabric, for example a combination of 50% polyester and 50% cotton. In other embodiments, the torso portion may be made of tubular 100% cotton or other similar materials without affecting the integrity of the safety features. 
     The sleeves  13 ,  15  each comprises a first layer of fabric  23 ,  25  which may comprise for example a combination of 50% polyester and 50% cotton, tubular 100% cotton or other similar materials. The sleeves  13 ,  15  further include a second layer of material, shown by broken lines, comprising a high performance, flexible fabric, which is resistant to cutting by skate blades and which overlays the first layer of fabric  13 ,  15  in the regions of an underside portion  27 ,  29  of the upper arm of the sleeve, the lower arm portion  31 ,  33  and a portion  28 ,  30  of the undergarment which extends from the upper arm to the side portions  9 ,  11  of the torso portion  3 . 
     In the particular embodiment shown in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , the second layer, which may comprise 100% Kevlar, covers the lower arms, both front and back, the upper underarms, the armpits and the sides of the torso down to where the ribcage ends. However, in this embodiment, the protective layer does not cover a portion of the back of the upper arm of the sleeve proximate in the elbow region  32  and the upper edge  34 . Regions of the sleeves which include high performance flexible cut resistant fabric are shown in the figures by hatching. In this embodiment a layer of rip-stock nylon covers the protective layer and regions of rip-stock nylon are also shown by the hatching. The protective layer may be joined to the jersey fabric by for example stitching, as shown in  FIG. 1C .  FIG. 1C  shows an enlarged view of a stitch in which reference numeral  36  indicates jersey fabric, for example 50% polyester and 50% cotton,  38  indicates high performance, flexible cut resistant fabric, and  40  indicates rip-stock nylon. 
     The undershirt may be manufactured in standard Canadian sizes for children and adults or could be custom made. 
     In this embodiment, the sleeves include a wrist cuff assembly  37 ,  39  comprising a rib fabric (eg. a knitted rib fabric) to ensure a secure and comfortable fit for all wrist sizes. Likewise, the neck opening or cuff  19  may comprise a rib fabric (eg. a knitted rib fabric) designed to fit various neck sizes and to be comfortable. 
     Thus, in embodiments of the protective undergarment, a mixture of 50% polyester and 50% cotton, or other similar material is used for the non-protective parts of the garment. Rib knit or similar material may be used for the collar and cuffs. An aramid fibre material is used for protection in the underarms, cuffs and armpit areas. This material is sewn, surged (interlock), or fused between layers of the polycotton or other similar material and rip-stock nylon cover layer. 
     A particularly advantageous feature of embodiments of the present invention is the combination of an undershirt with a protective covering. 
     It can now be appreciated that the most preferred form of an embodiment of the present invention is to combine protection and undershirt into one product, providing essentially built-in protection. Instead of providing a 100% Kevlar undershirt protection as well as a regular hockey undershirt, two dressing room steps are reduced to a single one. All that is needed is to pull the undershirt on over the head and arms. When removing the undershirt it is just as easy. Further, the whole undershirt can be easily put into the wash, meaning that the sweat accumulated is eliminated. In this way this equipment can be kept clean and fragrant. 
     Various modifications and alterations are possible to the form of the invention, without departing from the scope of the broad claims as attached hereto. In particular, while reference has been made to a particular jersey material or rib fabric, it is possible to alter those fabrics without compromising the protective nature of the undershirt or its value to hockey players.