Indoor Hockey Puck

This invention relates to a floor hockey puck and, more particularly, to an improved floor hockey puck which is intended to be used primarily indoors.

In countries where winter is a significant season, ice hockey is a popular sport. Because of the rigorous Physical activity involved in playing the sport, combined with the co-ordination necessary to excel, it is also a favoured activity for fitness purposes and, in particular, for fitness activities involving school children. However, the vagaries of the outside ice conditions, coupled with time constraints in physical education classes and the outside weather often dictate that the hockey be played inside. As such, indoor floor hockey has evolved to a popular sport and fitness activity in its own right.

The pucks presently used in floor hockey are typically, plastic-like pucks of the same general dimensions as an ice hockey puck. These plastic pucks, while being durable, do not properly simulate the motion of an ice hockey puck, they leave the floor frequently when struck by a stick, they are non-deformable and hard and therefore sting when hitting people which can cause apprehension and an outright refusal to play by the participants. Other pucks have also been used in various configurations and of various other materials but they all suffer from disadvantages similar to those mentioned.

According to the invention, there is disclosed a floor hockey puck in the form of a cylindrical disc, said Puck comprising an inner layer means having substantiallY felt-like characteristics and two outer disc means having substantially leather-like characteristics, said two outer disc means sandwiching said inner layer means therebetween and attachment means to connect the outer disc means to said inner layer means, the outside circumference of said inner layer means being substantially coincident with the outside circumference of each of said disc means.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the floor hockey puck according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the plane II--II of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, the floor hockey puck according to the invention is generally shown at 10 in FIG. 1. It comprises a felt inner layer 11 sandwiched by two relatively thin leather discs 12, 13 located on opposite sides of the felt inner layer 11. The circumferences of the felt inner layer 11 and the oppositely located discs are generally similar and have the same general diameter as a regular ice hockey puck, namely about 70-75 mm. The Puck also has approximately 25 mm.

Stitching 14 is used to fasten the outer leather disc 12 to the felt inner layer 11 as illustrated. The stitching used can be, for example, waxed or nylon thread. The distance of the stitching from the circumference of the puck is approximately 8 mm. as illustrated in FIG. 1. The stitching length of approximately 10 mm. as illustrated has also been found to be suitable.

The thickness of the felt layer is approximately 20 mm and leather having a weight of approximately 4 to 6 oz./square foot has been found satisfactory as material for the outer discs which sandwich the felt inner layer 11.

While the materials disclosed and the dimensions given in the specific embodiment have resulted in a very suitable floor hockey Puck with the desirable attributes of lightness, softness, smooth operation on floors and durability, it is clear that other materials having similar characteristics to the felt and leather disclosed would also fall within the scope of the invention. For example, leather-like simulated material such as vinyl could be used for the two disc-like covers 12 and 13 and a felt-like simulated material could be used to replace the actual felt layer 11 specified. The combination of a number of pieces of leather or felt or similar material could also be used rather than the single pieces described. Insofar as the stitching specified is nylon, which stitching is used to connect the disc covers and the felt layer, other stitching or fastening means could also be used. Stitching or other soft connection means, however, is preferable as narrow hard portions are not present in the floor hockey puck according to the invention and the absence of hard areas is desirable to prevent injury.

In respect of the dimensions given, it is clear that even substantial dimensional changes can be made, either for efficient manufacture or other purposes which will not adversely affect the desirable characteristics of the puck when in operation. The dimensions of the floor hockey puck given above, however, have proven to provide excellent handling and wear characteristics.

Many other modifications may be made to the specific embodiment of the invention described and such description should be taken as illustrative only and not as limiting the scope of the invention as defined in accordance with the accompanying claims.