Practice hockey puck
A practice hockey puck to be used by a young player to learn how to pick up a hockey puck off the ice with the blade of his hockey stick. The puck is like an ordinary puck but with a lower, outer, annular portion removed, thereby moving the outer perimeter of the bottom surface of the puck inwardly from the outer perimeter of the top portion of the puck. The outer perimeter of the bottom surface acts as a pivot edge. A portion of the puck lies outside this pivot edge. Pressing on this portion with the blade of the stick allows the player to easily pivot the puck about the pivot edge onto its side starting the process of picking the puck up with the stick.
1. Technical Field
This invention is directed toward a hockey puck. The invention is more particularly directed toward a practice hockey puck to be used to practice picking up the puck on the blade of a hockey stick.
2. Background Art
Young boys playing hockey like to emulate the professional hockey players. They see the players picking up the puck on the blade of their stick, to hand it to the referee for example, and try to do the same but the pick-up is difficult to learn.
To normally pick up the puck, a player places the front of the blade of his stick flat on the top of the puck on the ice. He then applies pressure to one side of the puck with the edge of the blade on that side to tip the puck up on its side. From its on-side position, with the blade now positioned flat against a flat side of the puck, the blade is moved against the puck while rotating the blade up to a horizontal position. This movement lands the puck flat on top of the blade. It is difficult for a young player to get a feel for the amount of pressure to be applied, and where and how the pressure should be applied, on the puck with the stick to tilt the puck onto its side.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe practice puck of the present invention is designed to make it easier for the player to get a feel for the correct pressure point and the amount of pressure needed to tilt the puck onto its side. The puck is designed to have an overhang past the pivot edge of the puck making it much easier to tilt the puck about the pivot edge onto its side. The overhang is achieved providing the puck with a cylindrical top portion and a bottom portion that lies within the perimeter of the top portion. The bottom portion can be cylindrical and concentric within the top portion. The bottom outer edge of the lower portion forms a bottom pivot edge and the bottom outer edge of the top portion forms a top pivot edge. It will be seen that the outer part of the top portion overhangs the bottom portion. Pressing down on the outer part of the top portion of the puck with the blade of a stick readily tilts it about the bottom pivot edge on the lower portion of the puck. The puck tilts till it abuts on the top pivot edge formed by the top portion of the puck. Continued pressure on the outer part of the top portion with the blade will further tilt the puck on its top pivot edge until the puck is on its side. Once a young player has practiced with the practice puck to build a feel for the amount of, and the location of, the pressure to be applied, he can more easily and quickly learn to pick up a regular puck.
The invention is particularly directed toward a practice hockey puck having a cylindrical top portion and a bottom portion. The top portion has a top, circular surface and a top, cylindrical, side surface extending down from the outer perimeter of the top surface. The top portion is between three-eighths and five-eighths the thickness of the puck. The bottom portion has a bottom surface parallel to the top surface with the outer perimeter of the bottom surface spaced inwardly of the outer perimeter of the top surface. The bottom portion also has a bottom, side surface joining the outer perimeter of the bottom surface with the bottom edge of the top cylindrical side surface. The connection between the bottom, side surface and the top, cylindrical, side surface forms a top pivot edge for the puck while the connection between the bottom, side surface and the bottom surface forms a bottom pivot edge for the puck located below and inwardly of the top pivot edge.
In the prior art, an ordinary hockey puck 1, as shown in
The manner of applying pressure with the blade of the stick to a puck lying on the ice to rotate it upright is difficult to learn. To help a young player learn, a practice puck is provided having a construction making it easier to rotate the puck from a flat position on the ice onto its side using a hockey stick blade. The practice puck is provided with a first bottom pivot edge located inwardly of the side of the puck. The puck has an overhang outwardly of the bottom pivot edge. The overhang makes it easier to initially tilt the puck about the bottom pivot edge with the blade of the stick applying pressure to the top surface of the puck adjacent its side. This pressure is applied outwardly of the bottom pivot edge making it easy to tilt the puck. The puck is first tilted about the bottom pivot edge until a top pivot edge, provide by the overhang and located above and outwardly of the bottom pivot edge, touches the ice. The application of pressure is continued with the blade to now continue tilting the puck about the top pivot edge until the puck is upright on its side. The pressure applied is still outwardly of the top pivot edge making it easy to continue tilting the puck to an upright position.
In more detail, the practice hockey puck 101 of the present invention, as shown in
The joint between the bottom surface 113 of the bottom portion 105 and the angled bottom side surface 117 forms a bottom pivot edge 121. The joint between the angled bottom side surface 117 and the cylindrical top side surface 111 of the top portion forms a top pivot edge 123. The angled side surface 117 forms an undercut 125 in the lower outer portion of the puck leaving an overhanging portion 127 over the undercut 125 formed by a upper, outer portion of the puck. The bottom pivot edge 121 is spaced inwardly, and downwardly, of the top pivot edge 123.
In using the practice puck 101, with the puck flat on the ice ‘I’ on the bottom surface 113 of its bottom portion 105, the player places the blade 131 of his hockey stick flat on the top surface 107 of the puck, as shown in
Once on its side surface 111, the player can then sweep the puck sideways and up with the blade of the stick as shown by the arrow ‘E’, in
The practice puck can have different shapes to provide the undercut and overhanging portion. As shown in
The practice puck 201 has an undercut 219 about its lower, outer portion and an overhang 221 about its upper portion over the undercut 219. The joint between the cylindrical side surface portion 217 of the bottom side surface 216, and the bottom surface 213 in the bottom portion 205 forms a bottom pivot edge 223 while the joint between the top side surface 211 and the annular surface 209 of the top portion 203, forming part of the bottom side surface 216, forms a top pivot edge 225. As with the puck 101, a blade 231 of a hockey stick is laid flat on the top 203 of the puck and pressure is applied along one edge 233 of the blade as shown by the arrow ‘F’ to tilt the puck first about the bottom pivot edge 223 until the top pivot edge 225 hits the ice I, and then about the top pivot edge 225, as shown in
The bottom cylindrical portion 205 of the practice puck 201 could be replaced with a bottom cylindrical ring portion, as shown in
If desired, the ring portion 305′ could be discontinuous composed of ring segments 345 as shown in
It will be obvious that other shapes or forms could be provided for the bottom portion of the puck. The bottom portion could, for example, be octagonal or hexagonal in shape. The only criteria for the bottom portion is that it must be smaller than the top portion, generally centered with respect to the top portion and provide a bottom pivot edge located within the outer diameter of the cylindrical top portion of the puck. The bottom side surface (117, 216) joining the bottom surface of the bottom portion of the puck to the top cylindrical side surface of the top portion of the puck can have other shapes as well. The bottom side surface could have a curved cross-section for example, curving gradually up and out from the outer edge of the bottom surface of the bottom portion to the bottom edge of the top, cylindrical, side surface. It could also angle up and out from the outer edge of the bottom surface to the bottom surface of the top portion, and then continue outwardly to the bottom edge of the top, side surface.
If desired, the top surface of the top portion of the puck could be roughened to make it easier for the edge of the blade to grip the top surface to apply pressure to the puck to tilt it with less chance of slipping.
Claims
1. A practice hockey puck comprising; a cylindrical top portion having a top, circular surface and a top, cylindrical, side surface extending down from the outer perimeter of the top surface, the top portion being between three-eighths and five-eighths the thickness of the puck; a bottom portion having a bottom surface parallel to the top surface with the outer perimeter of the bottom surface spaced inwardly of the outer perimeter of the top surface, and a bottom, side surface joining the outer perimeter of the bottom surface with the bottom edge of the top cylindrical side surface; the connection between the bottom, side surface and the top, cylindrical, side surface forming a top pivot edge, the connection between the bottom, side surface and the bottom surface forming a bottom pivot edge located below and inwardly of the top pivot edge.
2. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bottom portion is an inverted, right truncated, conical portion, the bottom of the conical portion forming the bottom surface, and the bottom side surface is an angled surface extending upwardly and outwardly from the bottom surface.
3. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 2 wherein the top of the inverted conical portion has a diameter equal to the diameter of the top portion, the angled surface joining the top and bottom of the conical portion extending at an angle to the bottom surface ranging between thirty and sixty degrees.
4. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bottom portion is a cylindrical portion having a smaller diameter than the top portion and concentric within the top portion when viewed from the bottom; the bottom, side surface having a bottom cylindrical surface portion extending up from the bottom surface to the top portion, and an annular surface portion extending outwardly from the top of the bottom cylindrical surface portion to the bottom of the top, cylindrical surface, the annular surface being parallel to the top surface and forming part of the top portion.
5. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 4 wherein the difference in diameter between the top and bottom portions is about equal to twice the height of the bottom portion.
6. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 4 wherein the bottom portion is a cylindrical ring portion having a smaller diameter than the top portion and concentric within the top portion when viewed from the bottom.
7. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 6 wherein the difference in diameter between the top and bottom portions is about equal to twice the height of the bottom portion.
8. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 4 wherein the bottom portion is a discontinuous, cylindrical ring portion having a smaller diameter than the top portion and concentric within the top portion when viewed from the bottom.
9. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 8 wherein the difference in diameter between the top and bottom portions is about equal to twice the height of the bottom portion.
10. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 1 wherein the bottom portion is formed by a ring of spaced-apart posts, the outer portion of the posts touching a circle within and concentric to the top portion, the outer portion of the posts defining the outer edge of the bottom portion.
11. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 9 wherein the height of the posts is about half the difference in diameter between the top and bottom portions.
12. A practice hockey puck having a top cylindrical portion with a circular top surface, a circular bottom surface and a cylindrical side surface joining the top and bottom surfaces, a bottom portion integral with the top portion, the bottom portion comprising a set of posts arranged in a circle, the posts extending down from the bottom surface, the posts spaced inwardly from the periphery of the bottom surface, the connection of the bottom surface to the side surface forming a top pivot edge, the outer, bottom edge of the posts forming a discontinuous, bottom, pivot edge.
13. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 12 wherein the top portion is three-eighths to five-eighths the thickness of the puck.
14. A practice hockey puck as claimed in claim 13 wherein the height of the posts is about half the difference in diameter between the top and bottom portions.
Type: Application
Filed: May 31, 2007
Publication Date: Dec 4, 2008
Inventor: Shawn Harpell (Kingston)
Application Number: 11/809,837
International Classification: A63B 69/00 (20060101);