Hand-Held Section of a Sporting Good Implement

This application claims priority from U.S. patent application 63/397,188 filed on Aug. 11, 2022, the entire content of which is incorporated herein.

The present disclosure relates generally to sporting good implement, such as but not limited to hockey sticks, and, more particularly, to shapes of handles and/or grips of such sporting good implements.

Conventional hockey sticks, such as those used for playing ice or street hockey, have a shaft and an adjoining blade. Typically, the shaft has a rectangular cross-section that is constant along an entirety of its length. Similarly, the shafts or handles of other types of sporting good implements, such as tennis racquets and golf clubs for example, may also have similar rectangular cross-sections that are substantially constant along the length of the handle or grip. This shape may present some drawbacks. Improvements are therefore sought.

There is accordingly provided a hand-held section of a sporting good implement, comprising: a body extending along a longitudinal axis, the body having multiple interconnected faces distributed around the longitudinal axis; a palm-engaging section defining a first face of the multiple interconnected faces; a finger-engaging section defining a second face of the multiple interconnected faces opposed to the first face, a shape of the palm-engaging section different than a shape of the finger-engaging section; and the palm-engaging section and the finger-engaging section being spaced apart by a transverse distance and the multiple interconnected faces of the body define a perimeter such that a circumferential overlap is defined between a distal phalanx of an index finger of a user and a thumb of the user, a tip of the thumb of the user circumferentially extending to at most a joint interconnecting the distal phalanx to a remainder of the index finger when the hand is wrapped around the hand-held section.

The hand-held section of a sporting good implement as defined above and described herein may also include one or more of the following features, in whole or in part, and in any combination.

In certain embodiments, the hand-held section defines a finger-engaging groove extending longitudinally from a first end to a second end of the hand-held section, the finger-engaging groove sized to receive tips of fingers of the user.

In certain embodiments, the finger-engaging groove is defined by a longitudinally extending face on the hand-held section, the longitudinally extending face being free of a convex surface.

In certain embodiments, the longitudinally extending face defines a concave surface.

In certain embodiments, the finger-engaging groove is located at an intersection between two of the multiple interconnected faces.

In certain embodiments, the multiple interconnected faces are convex but for at the finger-engaging groove.

In certain embodiments, the hand-held section defines a palm-engaging bump on the palm-engaging section configured to register with metacarpophalangeal joints of a hand of the user.

In certain embodiments, a distance between the longitudinal axis and the hand-held section is maximal at an apex of the palm-engaging bump.

In certain embodiments, the palm-engaging bump is defined by a first face of the multiple faces and located between a first intersection between the first face and a second face of the multiple faces and a second intersection between the first face and a third face of the multiple faces.

In certain embodiments, two faces of the multiple interconnected faces meet at a finger-engaging groove, the two faces including the second face and a fourth face of the multiple interconnected faces, the fourth face being opposite to the first face.

In certain embodiments, the hand-held section is defined by a shaft-plug removably secured to a shaft of the sporting good implement, the shaft-plug locally increasing a cross-sectional area of the shaft.

In certain embodiments, the hand-held section and a shaft of the sporting good implement are monolithic parts of a single body.

There is also provided a sporting good implement, comprising: a shaft extending along a longitudinal axis, the shaft having a hand-held section defining: multiple interconnected faces distributed around the longitudinal axis; and a finger-engaging groove at an intersection between two faces of the multiple interconnected faces, the finger-engaging groove extending longitudinally relative to the longitudinal axis and sized to receive tips of fingers of a user; wherein a perimeter of the hand-held section is selected such that a circumferential overlap is defined between a distal phalanx of an index finger of the user and a thumb of the user.

The sporting good implement as defined above and described herein may also include one or more of the following features, in whole or in part, and in any combination.

In certain embodiments, the perimeter is such that a tip of the thumb of the user extends to at most a joint interconnecting the distal phalanx to a remainder of the index finger when the hand is wrapped around the hand-held section.

In certain embodiments, the finger-engaging groove defines a longitudinally extending face on the hand-held section, the longitudinally extending face being concave.

In certain embodiments, the hand-held section defines a palm-engaging bump configured to register with metacarpophalangeal joints of a hand of the user.

The sporting good implement of claim, wherein the palm-engaging bump is defined by a first face of the multiple interconnected faces and located between a first intersection between the first face and a second face of the multiple interconnected faces and a second intersection between the first face and a third face of the multiple interconnected faces.

In certain embodiments, the two faces of the multiple interconnected faces meet at the finger-engaging groove and include the second face and a fourth face of the multiple interconnected faces, the fourth face being opposite to the first face.

There is further still provided a hockey stick, comprising: a blade; and a shaft extending along a longitudinal axis from a blade end to a top end, the blade affixed to the blade end of the shaft, the shaft defining a hand-held section to be engaged by a hand of a user, the shaft having a baseline cross-sectional area taken on a plane normal to the longitudinal axis, the hand-held section: locally increasing a cross-sectional area of the shaft above the baseline cross-sectional area; and defining a finger-engaging groove extending longitudinally relative to the longitudinal axis along the hand-held section and sized to receive tips of fingers of a user.

The hockey stick as defined above and described herein may also include one or more of the following features, in whole or in part, and in any combination.

In certain embodiments, a perimeter is such that a tip of a thumb of the user extends to at most a joint interconnecting a distal phalanx to a remainder of the index finger when the hand is wrapped around the hand-held section.

In certain embodiments, the finger-engaging groove defines a longitudinally extending face on the hand-held section, the longitudinally extending face being concave.

In certain embodiments, the hand-held section defines a palm-engaging bump configured to register with metacarpophalangeal joints of a hand of the user.

In certain embodiments, the palm-engaging bump is defined by a first face of multiple interconnected faces of the hand-held section and located between a first intersection between the first face and a second face of the multiple interconnected faces and a second intersection between the first face and a third face of the multiple interconnected faces.

In certain embodiments, two faces of the multiple interconnected faces meet at the finger-engaging groove, the two faces including the second face and a fourth face of the multiple interconnected faces, the fourth face being opposite to the first face.

There is also provided a shaft-plug adapted to be affixed to a shaft of a hockey stick, comprising a body extending longitudinally from a first end to a second end, the body defining a cavity sized to receive the shaft of the hockey stick, the body increasing an effective perimeter of the shaft, the body defining a finger-engaging groove extending longitudinally between the first end to the second end, the finger-engaging groove sized to receive tips of fingers of a user.

In certain embodiments, the body further defines a palm-engaging bump configured to register with metacarpophalangeal joints of a hand of the user.

In accordance with another embodiment, there is also provided a hockey stick, comprising: a blade; a shaft extending from a blade end to a top end, the blade affixed to the blade end of the shaft; and a shaft-plug affixed to the top end of the shaft, the shaft-plug increasing an effective circumference of the shaft, the shaft-plug defining a finger-engaging groove extending longitudinally from a first end to a second end of the shaft-plug, the finger-engaging groove sized to receive tips of fingers of a user.

In some embodiments, the shaft-plug further defines a finger-engaging bump configured to register with metacarpophalangeal joints of a hand of the user.

There is also alternately provided a shaft-plug to be affixed to an end of a hockey stick, comprising a body extending longitudinally from a first end to a second end, the body defining a cavity sized to receive the end of the hockey stick, the body increasing an effective circumference of the shaft, the body defining a finger-engaging groove extending longitudinally from the first end to the second end, the finger-engaging groove sized to receive tips of fingers of a user.

In some embodiments, the body further defines a finger-engaging bump configured to register with metacarpophalangeal joints of a hand of the user.

illustrates a sporting good implement, which in a particular embodiment is a hockey stick(or simply “stick”). It will be appreciated that the present disclosure may apply to any sporting good implement configured to be held by a hand of a user. For instance, the sporting good implement may be a racket (e.g., a tennis racket, or a badminton racket), a golf club, a baseball bat, a cricket bat, and so on. The hockey stick, which may for example be used for the sport of ice hockey, is descried herein as an exemplary embodiment. The hockey stickhas a bladewhich is adapted to contact a sport object, such as a ball or a puck, as well as a generally elongated shaftextending along a longitudinal axis A and which can be manipulated by the user of the hockey stick. Put differently, the sporting good implement has a hand-held section (e.g., a stick, a handle, a grip, etc.) configured to be engaged by a hand of the user. The sporting good implement may have more than one hand-held section in certain cases. The sporting good implement further has an end section configured to impart velocity to an object (e.g., a puck, a ball, etc.). The end section may be, for instance, a frame and net of a racket, the bladeof the hockey stick, a head of the golf club, and so on. The bladeand the shaftare joined together at a joint. In some other embodiments, the bladeand the shaftmay be monolithic part of a single body of the hockey stick.

The blademay be any suitable curved body which provides a contact surface to be used to manipulate the object. It may be made from any suitable material, including but not limited to, solid wood, laminated wood, fiber-glass-reinforced-polymer-coated wood, fiber-reinforced polymers, aluminum, titanium, and carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers, or any combination thereof. It may also be curved along its length to provide for improved manipulation of the object. Some portion, or all, of the blademay be hollow in order to reduce the overall weight of the hockey stick. The bladehas a blade body which is generally defined by its neck, its heel, and its toe. The shaftextends from a blade endto a top endopposite the blade endalong the longitudinal axis A.

As shown in, the user holds the shaftwith one hand on the top endand the other hand between the blade endand the top end. When used to propel the sport apparatus, depicted as a puck Pin, the user pushes the shaftwith the hand located between the blade endand the top endand pulls the shaftvia the top end. As shown, a pushing force Fis exerted on the shaftbetween the blade endand the top endand a pulling force Fis exerted on the top endof the shaft. A propelling force Fis then exerted on the puck P. The hand of the user located between the blade endand the top endwhere the pushing force Fis exerted effectively acts as a fulcrum about which the shaftpivots, and in this case bends, to propel the puck P.

For some players, the pulling force Fexerted on the top endof the shaft, and in some cases the pushing force F, may be substantial. Thus, the users have to exert significant grip strength to be able to hold the top end, or a middle section, of the shaftwhile moving through large ranges of motion. Hand injuries, tendonitis, and so on may result from this repetitive movement over time.

Put differently, in hockey, the hand at the top endof the shaftdoes most of the work for some shooting motions. This requires a strong grip on the top hand, also known as power grip. Current sticks may be undersized for an optimized power grip. Therefore, it may be beneficial to increase the size of the shaftat the top end.

Referring now to, a hand, a left hand in the present case, is shown at H. The hand H includes four fingers F and a thumb T. The hand H has a palm P on a front, palm, or inner side of the hand H. Each of the fingers F is pivotable relative to the palm P at their respective metacarpophalangeal (‘MCP’) joints (simply “finger joints” or “knuckles” herein). While slight differences in range of movement and precise location pivot axis for each finger may exist, for the purposes of the present disclosure the four fingers F may be pivoted in relationship to the palm P about a collective or common first pivot axis Athat is a substantially linear axis, although it may be slightly curved. The first pivot axis Ais located slightly below roots R of the fingers F; the roots R being defined as a location where the fingers F meet the palm P (i.e. at or proximate to the metacarpophalangeal joints. The first pivot axis Asubstantially registers with knuckles at intersections between the fingers F and the palm P. The hand H also defines a second pivot axis Abetween the palm P and a wrist W.

Referring now to, a hand-held section of the hockey stickis shown at. The hand-held sectionis used to increase an effective perimeter or effective diameter of the top endof the shaftto improve the grip of the user. The hand-held sectionis described in greater detail below.

The hand-held sectionmay be located at or proximate the top end, or between the top endand the blade endof the shaft. This alternate position of the hand-held section is shown atin. The hand-held sectionis, in this embodiment, defined by a shaft-plugconfigured to be affixed to the shaftof the hockey stick. The shaft-plugmay be removably secured to the shaft. In the embodiment illustrated, the shaft-plugis designed to cover the top endof the shaft. The shaft-plug may be referred to as a shaft grip located at any suitable locations along the shaft. In some embodiments, the hand-held sectionmay not be a separate component secured to the sporting good implement, but may be a monolithic part of the sporting good implement. The features of the hand-held sectiondescribed below may define a hand-held section of any sporting good implement, such as the hockey stickof. The hand-held sectionmay be defined by a handle or grip of the sporting good implement.

The hand-held sectionhas a body and extends axially from a first endto a second endopposite the first endrelative to a central axis C of the hand-held section, which may be substantially co-axial with the longitudinal axis A of the shaftof the hockey stick. The second endmay be closed and located proximate the extremity of the shaft. Alternatively, both ends of the shaft-plugare open to allow the shaft-plugto be located between opposite ends of the shaft. The shaft-plugmay be hollow and sized to accept the top endof the shaftvia the first end, which defines an opening of a cavity(). As shown in, the cavityis sized to accept the top endof the shaft. The shaft-plugmay be glued, press-fitted, fastened, and so on onto the top endof the shaft.

The hand-held sectionhas many features to improve the grip of the user on the top endof the shaft. The hand-held sectionmay have a length L extending in an axial direction relative to the longitudinal axis A and that is selected to ensure that an entirety of a width W() the hand H of the user is overlapped by the hand-held section. In other words, the length L of the hand-held sectionis selected to ensure that no portion of the hand H is floating and unsupported by the hand-held section.

Referring to, in the depicted embodiment, the hand-held sectionincreases the effective perimeter or circumference of the shaft. Stated differently, the shaftmay have a greater equivalent diameter, which may be defined as four times the cross-sectional area divided by the perimeter, at the hand-held sectionthan at another location on the shaft. Stated otherwise, the shafthas a baseline cross-sectional area taken on a plane normal to the longitudinal axis A of the shaft. The cross-sectional area of the shaftis locally increased above the baseline cross-sectional area at the hand-held section. The hand-held sectionmay thus provide the optimal circumference or cross-sectional area at the hand-held sectionof the shaft, which may correspond to the upper portion of the shaft, being that which allows the player to obtain a full wrap around the shaftby achieving the optimum amount of overlap between the thumb T () and the fingers F (). As shown in, an effective cross-sectional area of the top endof the shaftis increased at the hand-held section. Herein, the expression “effective” is meant to refer to what the user perceives when he or she holds the shaftwith the hand-held section.

As shown in, at this optimum circumference or perimeter, the thumb T and fingers F minimally overlap to direct grip forces back towards the palm P, which may allow a player to minimize the amount of effort required to grip. In the embodiment shown, the overlap between the thumb T and an index finger I may be such that a distal phalanxof the index finger I circumferentially overlaps the thumb T in such a way that a tip Tof the thumb T extends circumferentially to at most a jointthat interconnects the distal phalanxto a remainder of the index finger I when the hand of the user is circumferentially wrapped around the hand-held section.

Stated differently, the added circumference provided at the hand-held sectionmay ensure that a distal phalanx of the index finger and the thumb T partially overlap one another. The inventors of the present application have been found this configuration to provide the best grip to maximise the pulling force. Put differently, this overlap may maximize grip normal forces which may minimize the effort required by the user to grip the shaft.

At circumferences above and below this, the fingers F and thumb T may struggle to conform the hand H to the shape of the shaft, requiring greater muscular effort. In other words, at circumferences above and below the optimum circumference, the user may be required to expend greater muscular effort to hold the shaft, or any handle of any sporting good implement. The disclosed shape of the shaft-plugmay drastically reduce the effort required for players to grip the shaftproperly with the top hand. As a result, this shape may improve players' stick control and handling while reducing the risk of wrist overuse injuries.