This invention relates to objects such as hockey balls and the like for use in games on hard surfaces, such as roadways and sidewalks, to methods for making the same, and to games played therewith.

2. The State of the Art.

A typical hockey puckl used on ice has the geometry of a circular disk, about one inch thick and about three inches in diameter, and is made of a hard rubber. When used on ice, the puck has tendency to slide on one of the disk faces, even when the puck starts out rolling on the edge of the disk.

Hockey is also played on hard, non-ice surfaces, such as streets and roadways. When a conventional hockey puck is used on such a hard surface, the friction of the surface (greater than that of ice) tends to allow a rolling puck to roll. Further, the friction of such hard surfaces is typically so great that a puck will not slide very far on one of the disk faces, generally not sufficiently far to be used in a hockey game, and never as far as would be expected playing on ice.

Additionally, a conventional hockey puck has a tendency to bounce when used on such hard surfaces.

Conventional hockey balls (plastic spherical pucks) are too light in weight and too soft to provide the desired feel and action akin to ice hockey. In addition, such spherical pucks do not roll well if it becomes very warm (because of the increase in adhesion and/or tackiness of the plastic material).

Accordingly, there is a need for a puck, simulated puck, or ball that can be used on hard surfaces such as roadways and sidewalks and that will have the feel and action similar to that of a conventional hockey puck used on ice.

Summary of the Invention.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a device that simulates the feel and action of a real hockey puck, as if the user were playing with a conventional puck on ice. Such a device is useful not only for playing hockey off-ice, but also for off-ice stick and puck training.

In summary, this invention provides a play item, in a geometry such as a sphere, comprising a hard coating surrounding a hard elastomer having reduced bounce.

More particularly, in a preferred embodiment the device is a spherical ball, having a diameter of about two inches, and comprising a urethane core with little bounce and a tough ionmeric or urethane coating thereon.

Brief Description of the Figure Fig. 1 provides an idealized side view showing the approximate size relationship among a conventional hockey puck, a hockey ball according to this invention, and the blade of a hockey stick.

Description of Specific Embodiments The present invention is most preferably embodied as a sphere having a diameter of about two inches, more preferably having a diameter of from about two to three inches, more preferably from about 2-1/32 to about 2-1/2 inches, and most preferably from about 2-3/32 to about 2-5/32 inches. The widest part of the sphere (i. e., a diameter through the center) preferably lies at about 1 inch from the ground, the same height as a conventional hockey puck; preferably, the widest part of the sphere lies about 3/4 to about 1 inches, more preferably from about 1 to about ll/4 inches (i. e., the radius is more preferably I-1 V4").

With reference to Fig. 1, a conventional hockey puck 101 is shown from the side. Next to the conventional puck is a spherical ball 103 according to this invention. The radius of the sphere forming the novel ball 105 is the same height as, or slightly higher than, the height 107 of a conventional hockey puck. When the blade 109 of a hockey stick 111 contacts a conventional hockey puck, the contact typically occurs at the upper edge 113. The widest part of the inventive

all is essentially the same height as the contact edge 113 of a conventional puck in order for the stick blade to contact the ball in essentially the same location. As shown in the figure, the widest part of the ball 105 is the same height as, or slightly higher than, the height 107 of the conventional puck.

The weight of the preferred embodiment of the spherical ball is about 5.9 ounces, the weight of a conventional hockey puck, and preferably is about 5.9 4 oz., more preferably about 5.9 i 2 oz.; one-half pound (8 oz.) is about the heavies desirable for a ball, and significantly lighter weights (such as 2-3 oz.) can also be useful. The weight can be adjusted as desired; for example, one may prefer a lighter ball if the surface is rougher, and a heavier ball if the surface is smoother. The weight of the ball can be varied by changing the size of the ball, the materials of the ball (although most polymers have about the same density), and/or the parts of the ball (e. g., a ball with heavy core and one or more polymeric outer shells), or by adding a weight to the core.

The ball is made preferably of two materials, a core comprising a material with minimal rebound and a coating comprising a flexible, hard, and durable material. Alternatively, the ball can be made of a single material, or a single material having a outer portion that is modified (e. g., cured or hardened by, for example, cross-linking or treatment with a chemical agent). Although not preferred because of the likely increase in cost, the device could be made from multiple materials (e. g., multiple layers).

In the manufacture of a two-material device, or a single-material device, a preferred material is a polymer, preferably a polyurethane or polyisocyanate such as VIBRATHANEX 8050 or ADIPRENE LF 1950A cured with VIBRACURE A931. VIBRATHANE@, VIBRACURE@, and ADIPRENEX polymers are commercially available from Uniroyal Chemical (Middlebury, CT) and are the reaction product of an isocyanate (e. g., toluene diisocyanate, TDI) with a polyether or polyester. Other suitable durable polyurethanes are described by Gajewski and Gajewski et aL (US Pat. Nos.

4, 195,150,5,023,040,5,223,599, and 5,654,390), O'Donnell et al.

US 5,112,933), Karoly et aL (US 4,166,042), and Chin et aL (US 5,714,561), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The VIBRACURE A931 curative is a polyol amine curative (e. g., containing phenyl diethanolamine) useful for curing polyether and polyester prepolymers (e. g., VIBRATHANE B-896 (mixture of 2,4- and 2,6-toluene diisocyanate with polyether), VIBRATHANE 8050, ADIPRENEX LF 1950A (mixture of 2,4- and 2,6-toluene diisocyanate with polyester)). Other suitable curatives include 4,4'-methylene-bis-(o-choroaniline) (called MBCA), and diamines, especially aromatic amines available under the trademarks ETHACURE 100 (diethyl-2,4- and diethyl-2,6-toluenediamide), ETHACUREt 300 (di (methylthio)-2, 4- and di (methylthio)-2,6-toluenediamine), and ETHACURE 400 (blend of ETHACUREe 300 and a diol). Especially preferred compositions include VIBRATHANE B896 cured with VIBRATHANE'A195 (a mixture or blend of VIBRATHANE A931, ETHACURE 100, and ETHACURE 300), and ADIPRENE LF 1950A cured with VIBRATHANE A195 at a 90% stoichoimetric ratio. Polymeric compositions made with a polyester are harder than those made with a polyether.

The inventive ball of this invention is preferably non-bouncing to avoid the ball bouncing on the play surface and thus not behaving as a puck would on ice."Ball rebound"is one indication of ball's bounciness and can be determined by testing according to ASTM D3574. This test involves dropping a steel ball of known mass from a predetermined height onto a sample of the material and the ball rebound height is expressed as a percentage of the original drop height. The lower the ball rebound number the more preferred for this invention; i. e., the "deader"the ball the better. A preferred rule of thumb is that the ball according to this invention should have essentially no bounce (<20", preferably s 10", and most preferably < 5") when dropped from about waist high (i. e., about 30").

VIBRATHANE 8050 cured with ETHACURE 300 has a Shore D hardness of about 50 and a Bashore Rebound of about 25-30%. The core preferably is not lively (i. e., has little bounce); for example, a Shore A hardness of about 50 or

less. In general, a ball having a ball rebound of about 20% or less is desirable, 15% or less being more preferred, and 10% or less being the most preferred.

If a coating material is used, preferably it is comprised of a tough, flexible, smooth material, such as CAPRON nylon (e. g., ULTRATOUGH'BU501, available from Allied Signal, Morristown, NJ), SURLYN ionomer, and the like as are typically used for coverings for golf balls. Additionally, VIBRATHANE polymers can be made tougher and harder, and so the device can comprise a VIBRATHANE core and a VIBRATHANE coating. The coating should be relatively hard (e. g., a Shore D harness of at least 70, more preferably at least 80).

The coating for this invention may have a smooth surface (i. e., without dimples) or may have dimples regularly spaced on the surface. Thus, this device preferably has two pieces, a core and a coating, although it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in these fabrication arts that the device could be made of a single, unitary piece, or could have multiple cores (as many sports balls do).

The device can be made with a core of sand (i. e., inorganic powder) or twine (i. e., wound fiber) inside of a polymeric shell, although such embodiments are not preferred.

It is possible to make a ball according to this invention without a covering if the bulk ball material is tough. One purpose of the aforementioned coating is to prevent the stick blade from sticking to the ball due to inherent tackiness of the polymeric material, which is likely to change as the ambient temperature increases; for example, a ball used outdoors in Tucson or Houston is likely to be much tackier than the same ball used in New York or Boston because of the warmer ambient temperature (polymers typically become tackier as the temperature increases). Thus, a tough and hard material, that has some elastic character is useful for this invention. The present ball can be constructed somewhat like a bowling ball, which has a hard and smooth exterior, but bounces too much to be useful for this invention; further, bowling balls tend to chip, which would greatly diminish the utility of the present novel ball.

As described, this invention includes a play device, preferably in the geometry of a sphere or disk, that has minimal bounce and a smooth and hard or tough outer surface, and most preferably a dead core and a hard surface. As such, when this device is used, for example, for street hockey, the device rolls very quickly because of the hard coating. Also, the device has a significantly reduced tendency to bounce because of the dead center having a reduced ball rebound. In essence, then, when struck, this device will tend to roll very quickly without bouncing, analogous to a hockey ball played with on ice. The hard coating and low rebound material provide a device that does not deform or warp.

While this invention has been described with reference to street hockey, the ball may be disk shaped and used in that game, or may be spherical and used in a game such as field hockey.

The foregoing description is meant to be illustrative and not limiting.

Various changes, modifications, and additions may become apparent to the skilled artisan upon a perusal of this specification, and such are meant to be within the scope and spirit of the invention as defined by the claims.