IES66814B2

IES66814B2 - A stick for playing a game

Info

Publication number: IES66814B2
Authority: IE
Inventors: Peter Curran
Original assignee: Peter Curran
Priority date: 1995-10-25
Filing date: 1995-10-25
Publication date: 1996-02-07
Also published as: GB9621695D0; GB2306336A; IES950834A2

Abstract

A stick (10) for playing a game comprises a shaft (11). The shaft has at one end a grip portion (12) and its opposite end (13) is adapted to engage a surface (15) for striking a ball. The surface is formed of a plastics material such as polyurethane.

Description

The present invention relates to a stick for playing a game. In particular, the invention relates to a hurling stick.

Safety is an important aspect in playing games, in particular, in a game where the players wield sticks, such as hurling sticks, in close proximity to one another, unnecessary stick contact injuries are frequently caused in hurling training particularly at junior level, when players are being taught the rudimentary skills of the game.

Games such as hurling are preferably played on an outdoor natural grass surface over a relatively large pitch, due in part to the length of flight of a ball when struck with a hurling stick. It is, however, desirable for players to be able to train during the winter without causing excess wear on such pitches. For this reason, players wish to train on artificial surfaces either indoors or outdoors where space is usually limited. However, conventional sticks such as hurling sticks cause excess damage particularly to indoor surfaces.

Natural wooden sticks are also prone to breakage and expensive to replace. For example, several attempts have been made to produce an unbreakable hurling stick, but these have failed due to poor handling qualities and failure of materials used in fabrication of the stick.

It is an object of the present invention therefore to provide a stick for playing a game which mitigates - 2 S’ Ρ, -ή / U L· O I “t the danger of injury to players during training; which limits the flight of a ball when struck with the stick; 'and which is less prone to breakage. ' f Accordingly, the present invention provides a stick for playing a game comprising a shaft having at one end a grip portion, its opposite end being adapted to retain a surface for striking a ball, said surface being formed of a plastics material.

Preferably, the surface is formed from polyurethane.

Preferably, the stick is a hurling stick and the surface is shaped to form a boss for striking a sliotar.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which is a perspective view of a stick for playing a game according to the invention.

Referring now to the drawing, there is shown a stick for playing a game generally indicated at 10 according to the invention. The stick 10 comprises a shaft 11 of the conventional type for a hurling stick having a grip portion 12 formed at one end of the shaft. At the opposite end 13, the shaft 11 is tapered in both width and depth to form a wedge 14.

A boss 15 for the hurling stick is formed by dipping the wedge 14 into a mould containing liquid plastics material, such as polyurethane, and allowing the plastics material to cure to form a flexible boss. The stick thus produced conforms to the shape of a 1 conventional hurling stick.

A suitable apparatus for producing polyurethane is manufactured by Afros SpA of Italy and marketed under the name Cannon. Suitable examples of polyurethane are marketed under the names Daltotapedtm or Supersectm and manufactured by I CI.

The stick according to the invention, thus comprises a flexible boss which presents less danger from contact to players of a game. The flexible boss also absorbs a proportion of the energy transmitted to a ball when struck by the stick and thus the flight of the ball is limited.

It will be seen that the simple wedge 14 of the present embodiment can be varied to provide enhanced engagement between the shaft 11 and boss 15. For example, the end 16 of the wedge could be tapered to first narrow and then widen in thickness to provide a narrowed waist in the wedge. It is possible to drill holes through the wedge 14 to allow the plastics material to flow through the wedge and thus provide more positive engagement between the shaft 11 and boss 15.

It is also possible to modify the construction of a standard hurling ball, sliotar, to include several holes drilled in the surface of the ball. This would further limit the flight of the ball when struck by the stick according to the invention.

It will be realised that the above invention is not limited to hurling sticks, and is equally applicable to any stick for playing a game where a ball, puck or any projectile is struck by a stick.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. A stick for playing a game comprising a shaft having at one end a grip portion, its opposite end being adapted to retain a surface for striking a ball, said surface being formed of a plastics material.

2. A stick as claimed in claim 1 wherein the surface is formed from polyurethane.

3. A stick as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein, the stick is a hurling stick and the surface is shaped to form a boss for striking a sliotar.

4. A stick for playing a game substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.