This invention relates to a protective apparatus, which provides means for protecting the working surfaces of a hockey stick which contacts the ground or floor.

Whether a hockey stick is used for playing on grass, concrete, or on ice, the active working surfaces need protection. It is the purpose of the present invention to provide such protection.

According to the present invention, there is provided a protective apparatus for fitting to a hockey stick blade comprising an elongate base having opposing end regions and opposing lateral edge regions extending between the end regions, a plurality of gripping fingers protruding upwardly at substantially right angles from the elongate base along the opposing lateral edge regions, the fingers being located at intervals along the elongate base with a gap between each of the fingers, the arrangement being such that the shape of the apparatus follows the curvature of the hockey stick. Owing to this aspect, a protective device provides protection for parts of the hockey stick blade that makes contact with i) the surface supporting the players who take part in the game of hockey, and ii) the puck or ball which is hit by the operational working part of the stick. The shape of the fingers is such that they do not impede one another when the protective devcie or device is fitted to the hockey stick blade. The elongate base part of the protective device makes contact with the lower surface of the working part of the blade, towards, and eventually around the curved end part of the stick, and so the device fits onto the blade by means of a slight gripping action provided by the gripping fingers which make contact with the hitting surfaces of the hockey stick.

In order to assist in maintaining the flexibility of the base part of the device, the thickness of the metal from which the device is constructed, is around 0.5 mm, and one preferred material of construction is stainless steel. Flexibility of the device is also assisted by the incorporation of curved cut-outs between each of the rectangular shaped fingers. The device could be made from any suitable material capable of withstanding repeated contact with the ground or floor.

The protection device can be used to protect the hockey stick blade, that is, the part of the stick which makes contact with the puck or ball, and which also makes contact with the ground or floor on which the game of hockey is played, for right-handed, or left-handed, hockey sticks. The design of the protection device is thus such that, owing to the flexibility of the device when constructed from suitably flexible but resilient material, it can be adapted to fit over, and protect, right-handed and left-handed hockey stick blades which have similar dimensions. The protection device thus prevents the hockey stick blade from being worn away when used on rough services.

In one example of the protection device, the width at the base part ranges from around 1 cm at its widest point to around 0.5 cm at its narrowest point; but the dimensions of the device are determined by the dimensions of the hockey stick to be protected,.

The material of construction is also chosen for lightness in weight, strength, and resistance to corrosion and due consideration is given, in the design and construction of the device, to the working environment, so that this is adequately catered for. Thus, use of the device for protecting ice hockey sticks, takes into consideration the low working temperature on an ice hockey pitch, whilst use on a grass pitch takes into consideration, the higher environmental temperature prevailing there.

The device is preferably constructed from stainless steel, by using laser cutting, and the resulting gripping fingers are folded to the required orientation relative to the elongate base by means of a metal folding tool, such that the predefined fold will enable the device to grip onto any hockey stick. This folding causes the gripping fingers to be bent to the desired amount so that each of them is at substantially a right angle with respect to the elongate base of the device, whilst following the changing shape and width of the blade of the hockey stick.

The blade protective device is initially supplied with the elongate base flat, and is then gently bent to the shape of the user's hockey stick blade whilst in contact with the blade. In order that the present invention be completely and clearly disclosed, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 , shows perspective views of a hockey stick, and of embodiments of a stick blade protective device before and after it has been fitted to the hockey stick; with enlarged views shown circled.

Figure 2 shows a side view of the protective device with enlarged views, shown circled.

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the protective device being taped to a hockey stick blade.

Figure 4 shows, in three-dimensional form, various views of the protective device, with enlarged views, shown circled.

Figure 5 shows, in three-dimensional form, various views of the invention, with protective device, shown circled. With reference to Figure 1 , a hockey stick, 1 comprises a handle, 2 and a working part or blade 3, which makes contact with a puck or ball used in the game of hockey. In order to protect the blade 3, a protective device, 4, having a form which is easily adaptable to closely follow the contours of the blade 3 is fitted to the hockey stick. The device 4 is shown alone, in the lower middle part of Figure 1 , and is shown fitted over the blade 3 in the lower right part of Figure 1 . The enlarged diagrams which are circled in Figure 1 , show a plurality of gripping fingers 5, 7, and 8, ii) a flexible elongate base part 9 and iii) a plurality of cut-out regions, 6, 10A, and 10B between the gripping fingers 5, 7 and 8. It will be apparent from Figure 1 that the fingers are of differing size. The finger 7 and its associated fingers along the straight edge of the blade 3 are significantly wider that the fingers 5 and 8, which are relatively narrow in order to be able to closely fit around the curvature of the blade 3 at the heel and toe ends of the blade 3 when the device 4 is pushed onto the blade 3 by a user.

With further reference to Figure 1 , the fingers 5, 7, and 8 can be seen to protrude from the base part 9 at an angle of substantially 90 degrees (giving a substantially U-shaped profile when the device 4 is seen in end view, as seen in Figure 5) with respect to the plane which is a tangent to the base part 9 at the region of protrusion for each of the pairs of parallel protrusions, which are opposite one another at a series of locations along opposing lateral edge regions of the base part 9. Pairs of curved cut-outs 10A and 10B in the base part 9 which are opposite one another, ensure that there is sufficient flexibility in the structure of the device 4, whilst flexibility is also assisted by optimising the thickness of the fingers 5, 7, and 8 and of the base part 9 with respect to strength, weight, cost, and durability. The curved cut-outs, as seen, are continuations of the gaps between neighbouring gripping fingers.

One suitable material for construction of the device 4 is stainless steel of a thickness of around 0.5 mm, and the dimensions of the base part 9 are such that, for one working example of the protective device 4 the width of the base part 9 is around 1 cm at its widest point and around 0.5 cm at its narrowest point owing to the fact that the width of the blade narrows towards the toe end of the blade, thus matching, with sufficient allowance for fitting, the dimensions of the blade 3.

With reference to Figure 2, the lower part of the Figure shows the fingers 16 and 18, which have a cut-out region 17 between them, and the circled region at the wider, left-hand end of the device 4 is shown in enlarged form, where it can be seen that an end finger 12 is adjacent to a cut-out region 1 1 . The narrower, tightly curved region circled at the other end of the device 4 has fingers 13 and 14 which have a cut-out region 15 between them. With reference to Figure 3, the hockey stick 1 , the handle 2 and the device 4 fitted to the blade 3 is shown with a roll of hockey tape HT being used to apply a layer of tape over the device 4 and the blade 3. After the device 4 has been fitted to the blade 3, the hockey tape HT should be wound over the blade region from a starting region at the end of the device 4 which is nearest to the the heel of the stick blade 3, and at a position such that the tape overlaps the starting end of the device by approximately 1 cm to 1 .5cm. The tape then continues to be wound over the blade 3 until the tape HT overlaps the end part of the device at the toe end of the blade 3, thereby covering the whole device and the blade 3, whilst keeping the device in place on the stick. One layer of the hockey tape HT, which covers the protective device 4 and the blade 3 of the hockey stick has been found to be sufficient. The region of overlap at the commencement of covering with hockey tape at the heel end of the blade 3, is shown as region TO. The enlarged diagram, shown circled, provides more detail.

With reference to Figure 4, the device 4 is shown in various orientations, with circled regions shown in enlarged form. It can be seen that the two fingers 19 and 20 are separated by a gap with the cut-out region 21 between them. Similarly, fingers 22 and 23 are separated by the cut-out region 24.

With reference to Figure 5, the device 4 is again shown in various orientations, with circled regions shown in enlarged form. It can be seen that the two fingers 25 and 26, are separated by the cut-out region 27 and that the wider end region 28 of the device 4 has an open rectangular cross-section, i.e. it is substantially U-shaped as described above. The other end of the device 4 has a similarly shaped open rectangular cross-section, which is narrower.

It is pointed out, with reference to the foregoing, that whilst the fingers referred to are generally rectangular in shape, slight tapering of their side edges towards the upper free end of each finger, will not prevent the device from working properly.