Lacrosse head pocket and related method of manufacture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10092805-B2
Application number	US-201514815057-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 31, 2015
Priority date	Aug 7, 2014
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

A lacrosse head pocket and a related method of manufacture are provided to facilitate consistent, repeatable and/or custom manufacture of lacrosse equipment. The pocket can be constructed from multiple different sections joined with one another, or can be knitted, weaved or otherwise assembled on an automated assembly machine from strands, and/or can be formed as a unitary textile material having regions/sections with different physical and/or mechanical properties. The pocket can be integrally molded within portions of a lacrosse head to eliminate manually constructed connections between the pocket and lacrosse head. The lacrosse head can be integrally molded with a lacrosse handle to provide a one-piece unitary lacrosse stick. Related methods of manufacturing also are provided.

First claim

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A lacrosse head comprising:
a lacrosse pocket constructed from a unitary textile material having a plurality of at least one of knitted strands and weaved strands, the lacrosse pocket comprising:
a predefined, three dimensional, concave shape that is integrally formed in the lacrosse pocket due to at least one of a knit structure and a weave structure being knitted or weaved respectively in a predetermined manner so as to provide the predefined, three dimensional concave shape, and
a pocket body bounded by a perimeter flange constructed from the plurality of at least one of knitted strands and weaved strands and formed integrally with the pocket body;
a lacrosse head comprising:
a base;
a scoop distal from the base; and
a first and a second sidewall, each joined with the base and scoop;

wherein the plurality of at least one of knitted strands and weaved strands are disposed in the perimeter flange and are embedded and encapsulated in a portion of the lacrosse head so that the lacrosse pocket is permanently joined with the lacrosse head,
wherein a user cannot remove the lacrosse pocket from the lacrosse head without destroying at least one of the head and pocket,
wherein the plurality of at least one of knitted strands and weaved strands in the pocket body form a plurality of vertical elements and a plurality of join elements extending between and connecting adjacent ones of the plurality of vertical elements,
wherein adjacent ones of the plurality of join elements are closer to one another nearer to the scoop than in a middle pocket that is configured to hold a lacrosse ball,
wherein the plurality of vertical elements include a first vertical element and a second vertical element,
wherein the first vertical element includes at least 100 more rows of the plurality of at least one of the knitted strands and the weaved strands than the second vertical element,
wherein the difference in a number of rows in the plurality of vertical elements enables the vertical elements to collectively cooperate with one another to form a side-to-side, concave curvature of the lacrosse pocket.

2. The lacrosse head of claim 1 ,
wherein the unitary textile material includes the plurality of knitted strands,
wherein plurality of knitted strands are knitted together on a knitting machine, and include a plurality of first knitted strands and a plurality of second knitted strands,
wherein the plurality of first knitted strands are constructed from a first material,
wherein the plurality of second knitted strands are constructed from a second material, the first material having a first modulus of elasticity that is less than a second modulus of elasticity of the second material,
wherein more of the plurality of first knitted strands than the plurality of second knitted strands are disposed in the perimeter flange and embedded and encapsulated in the portion of the lacrosse head so that the first knitted strands dampen rebound of the lacrosse pocket upon capture of a lacrosse ball.

3. The lacrosse head of claim 2 wherein the first material is at least one of an aromatic polyamide and an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene and second material is a thermoplastic polymer, so that the first knitted strands dampen rebound of the lacrosse pocket upon capture of a lacrosse ball.

4. The lacrosse head of claim 1 ,
wherein the unitary textile material includes a plurality of knitted strands,
wherein the unitary textile material includes a first region and a second region, the first and second regions comprising different knitted constructions that are integrally joined with one another,
wherein the different knitted constructions comprise different knit patterns having different mechanical properties.

5. The lacrosse head of claim 1 wherein the predefined, three dimensional, concave shape in the pocket forms at least one of a concave shooting ramp and a concave middle pocket, wherein the concave shooting ramp is flanked on opposing sides by first and second substantially planar shooting flanks.

6. The lacrosse head of claim 1 ,
wherein the perimeter flange is 1.0 mm to 20 mm in width extending outward from the pocket body with which it is integrally formed, the width configured to provide an adequate surface area to permanently join the pocket body to the lacrosse head,
wherein the perimeter flange includes a first plurality of knitted strands having a first modulus of elasticity,
wherein the pocket body inside the perimeter flange includes a second plurality of knitted strands having a second modulus of elasticity that is less than the first modulus of elasticity so that the first knitted strands dampen rebound of the lacrosse pocket upon capture of a lacrosse ball.

7. The lacrosse head of claim 6 ,
wherein the first plurality of knitted strands are constructed from a first material selected from the group consisting of an aromatic polyamide and an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene,
wherein the second plurality of knitted strands are constructed from a second material selected from the group consisting of a high strength polyethylene, a polypropylene and a polyethylene multi-fiber yarn.

8. The lacrosse head of claim 1 ,
wherein the perimeter flange includes a first portion and a second portion inward from the first portion,
wherein the first portion is embedded and encapsulated in the portion of the lacrosse head, but the second portion is not embedded and encapsulated in the portion of the lacrosse head.

9. The lacrosse head of claim 8 ,
wherein the first portion is a majority of a width of the perimeter flange.

10. The lacrosse head of claim 8 ,
wherein the first portion is a minority of a width of the perimeter flange.

11. The lacrosse head of claim 8 ,
wherein the perimeter flange is constructed from an aromatic polyamide,
wherein the second portion reflects wavelengths of light between 570 nm and 590 nm,
wherein the second portion is exposed below the lacrosse head so that a user can visibly confirm that the aromatic polyamide is included in the lacrosse pocket body.

12. A lacrosse head comprising:
a lacrosse pocket constructed from a unitary textile material having a plurality of at least one of knitted strands and weaved strands, the lacrosse pocket comprising:
a predefined, three dimensional, concave shape that is integrally formed in the lacrosse pocket due to at least one of a knit structure and a weave structure being knitted or weaved respectively in a predetermined manner so as to provide the predefined, three dimensional concave shape, and
a pocket body bounded by a perimeter flange constructed from the plurality of at least one of knitted strands and weaved strands and formed integrally with the pocket body;

a lacrosse head to which the lacrosse pocket is joined, the lacrosse head comprising:
a base;
a scoop distal from the base; and
a first and a second sidewall, each joined with the base and scoop;

wherein the plurality of at least one of knitted strands and weaved strands in the pocket body form a plurality of vertical elements and a plurality of join elements extending between and connecting adjacent ones of the plurality of vertical elements,
wherein adjacent ones of the plurality of join elements are closer to one another nearer to the scoop than in a middle pocket configured to hold a lacrosse ball,
wherein the pocket defines a longitudinal axis generally centered between a first side edge and a second side edge of the lacrosse pocket,
wherein the plurality of vertical elements include a first verti

Assignees

• Warrior Sports Inc

Inventors

• Morrow David K
• Huffa Bruce
• Burns Thomas H
• Janisse Richard J
• Slater Sean J
• Kohler Dale W
• Herman Craig M

Classifications

• D05B19/12

  characterised by control of operation of machine · CPC title

• A63B2102/14

  Lacrosse · CPC title

• B29C66/43

  Joining a relatively small portion of the surface of said articles (B29C66/45 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B29C66/729

  Textile or other fibrous material made from plastics · CPC title

• B29C45/14786

  Fibrous material or fibre containing material, e.g. fibre mats or fibre reinforced material · CPC title