Road Hockey Puck

The game of road hockey bears a similar relation to ice hockey as soft ball bears to hard ball. The rules are similar, and a similar puck is put in play between, about and in similar goals, by people manipulating similar sticks to those used in normal play of ice hockey. A stick specially designed to be used as a road hockey stick is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,377,065, issued Apr. 9, 1968, and another U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,825, issued Sept. 22, 1970.

Because road hockey can be as enjoyable to play for recreation as it can be to play in an essentially competitive spirit, it is enjoyable for a greater number of participants each time an innovation makes it safer to play, provided in enhances or does not reduce the basic similarities between the games. Many who play road hockey also play ice hockey and most at least follow the latter sport. Thus, it is important that a road hockey puck when passed or shot act in flight and in interaction with sticks much like an ice hockey puck does. It is easy to see that a traditional ice hockey puck, if used for road hockey, may make the game too rough to be played by people wearing no more physical protection than street clothes, except those keen enough to avoid or tolerate injury.

Road hockey can be played on convenient hard surfaces like play grounds, parking lots, roads or even on ice.

In my aforesaid patents, more about the game of road hockey is set forth, as are several designs of road hockey pucks. In view of the availability of copies of those patents, their disclosure is not duplicated here.

In the course of time and with further experience, I have made what I believe to be refinements of these basically good designs of road hockey pucks. They are described herein.

The present invention provides a puck for playing an ice hockey-like game, or untraditional surfaces, which is provided with a generally cylindrical body of foam rubber or the like. Two smaller-diameter disks or end plates of glide material are adhesively secured coaxially therewith on respective opposite ends of the body. In some instances, a provision is made within the main body and between the end disks to receive weights. A way is disclosed for installing a selected amount of internal weighting after the disks and main body have been secured together.

The principles of the invention will be further discussed with reference to the drawings wherein preferred embodiments are shown. The specifics illustrated in the drawings are intended to exemplify, rather than limit, aspects of the invention as defined in the claims.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a presently preferred embodiment of the road hockey puck of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the puck of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view thereof; and

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a variation thereof.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, the road hockey puck 10 is assembled from a main body 12, and two end plate members 14, 15 bearing end disks 16. Internal weighting means 18 is preferably provided within the main body 12, between the end disks 16. The puck 10 should weigh no more than a regular ice hockey puck, 170.1 grams (six ounces). However, it is preferable for the puck 10 to be somewhat less massive, though substantially the same size as a regular ice hockey puck. For instance, the puck 10 (not counting the weight 18) may weigh about 120 grams and the weighting means 18 weigh up to about 15 grams.

Typically, the main body 12 measures 8.572 cm diameter by 2.222 cm thickness and the end disks 16 6.35 cm diameter by 0.476 cm thickness.

The main body 12 is made of material that is substantially less dense than the hard rubber of conventional ice hockey pucks. The ideal material is one (a) durable enough to withstand being shot against the boards placed about the perimeter of the playing surface, and (b) resilient enough to be used in the play of road hockey by players wearing no more rugged protection than blue jeans or the like, yet (c) not so flexible that when the puck hits the boards or a person, the main body compresses enough to let the disks 16 smack against the boards or persons. A material I presently prefer to use to make the main body is a durable and relatively firm foam rubber known as Nuron Crepe which is available in sheets from American Biltrite Inc., Tech. Sq., Cambridge, Mass. and Sherbrooke, Quebec. The main body may be cut from that sheet material.

The end plate members 14, 15 are made of denser material with good axially outwardly presented glide surfaces 20, 21. I presently prefer to injection mold the end plate members 14, 15 of a thermoplastic material such as high density polyethylene that can be which permits the end plate members to be adhered to the main body using an adhesive at A.

The weighting means 18 is preferably lead or steel shot or one or more slugs or sleeves of those or similarly weighty materials.

In the preferred embodiment shown, the end plate member 14 has a circular disk 16 with a flat axially outer glide surface 20, filleted at 22 at the radially outer edge 24 of the disk.

The end plate member 15 has a circular disk 16 with a generally flat axially outer glide surface 21, filleted at 52 at the radially outer edge 54 of the disk. A very shallow, e.g. circular recess 56 may be provided in the surface 21 for receiving a decal, label or the like 58 bearing a logograph of the puck manufacturer, a particular sports team or the like. The recess 56 preferably has the same depth and figure as the label 58 so that when the label 58 is in place, the recess 56 is completely filled.

Where it is desired that the puck 10 be heavier than it would be if made only of foam rubber and high density polyethylene, a body of bodies of weighting material 18 may be put in the cavity 94 before the part 15 is assembled to the subcombination 12, 14 and/or a small filler port 96 may be formed e.g. axially centrally through the disk 16 of the end plate 15. Then, even after the part 15 is secured to the subassembly 12, 14 weighting means 18 in the form of small shot pellets or the like may be dropped into the cavity 94 through the opening 96. When about enough weighting means has been added, the opening may be closed, e.g. by melting it closed with the tip of a hot soldering iron or clothes iron. Or it can be blocked by applying the label thereover and or pouring a settable composition such as rubber cement or melted wax into the cavity filling the remainder thereof.

In the variation shown in FIG. 4, each end plate member 14, 15 is constituted by a disk 16. The disks 16 are coaxially secured to the respective end faces of the main body 12 using a suitable adhesive A. In the instance of this variation, the main disk may have its central opening 94 filled with weighting bodies 18 before the second of the disks 26 is secured in place, or the opening may be left empty or omitted.

It should now be apparent that the road hockey puck as described hereinabove, possesses each of the attributes set forth in the specification under the heading "Summary of the Invention" hereinbefore. Because the road hockey puck of the invention can be modified to some extent without departing from the principles of the invention as they have been outlined and explained in this specification, the present invention should be understood as encompassing all such modifications as are within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

In the variation shown in FIG. 9 the opening 198 centrally through the main body 12 when it is molded by the blowing agent method which tends to shrink when curing has a puckered inside diameter wall formed by triangles 182 which extend axially radially from the apexes 190 to the bases 192. In the process of curing the triangles 182 shrink to a smaller size 180 and the bases 192 are withdrawn axially radially by the shrinkage of the main body 12 to a new position 188 and it follows that the apexes are necessarily withdrawn to a new position 186 which is a greater inside diameter than 190 but of lesser inside diameter than the wall 134 of the flange which is thrust into said opening 198 thus when the flange is inserted into the central opening 198 the apexes 184 are compressed sufficiently enough to allow entry of the plastic flange while at the same time now frictionally grasping the wall 134, thus supplying a fit which is neither too loose nor too tight, either condition of which would be detrimental to the functional fit of the main body 12 and the plastic flange wall 134.

In the variation shown in FIG. 10 the pucker is moulded in curved convolutions 282 at a dimension 292 arcing at 290 then shrinking to the dimensioning represented at 288 and 286 then when the flange is inserted the outer diameter of its wall 234 will compress the arcs 286 into a surface 284 which is now frictionally grasping wall 234.