Athletic gear with a printed cover

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12370430-B2
Application number	US-201514820016-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 6, 2015
Priority date	Aug 6, 2014
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

An article of athletic gear, such as an article of protective athletic equipment (e.g., a leg pad, an arm pad, shoulder pads, a chest protector, or a protective glove), wearable by a user and comprising a core (e.g., comprising protective padding) and a cover that is disposed on the core and comprises synthetic material and a printed image (e.g., a digitally-printed image) on the synthetic material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A goalkeeper leg pad for a hockey goalkeeper, the goalkeeper leg pad being wearable on a leg of the hockey goalkeeper to protect the leg of the hockey goalkeeper, the goalkeeper leg pad comprising an upper leg portion, a knee portion, a lower leg portion, and a foot portion, the foot portion of the goalkeeper leg pad extending transversally and forwardly relative to the lower leg portion of the goalkeeper leg pad and being configured to overlie a skate of the hockey goalkeeper, the goalkeeper leg pad comprising an outer surface defining a front of the goalkeeper leg pad, the outer surface of the goalkeeper leg pad comprising a main frontal face and an edge projection that is at a lateral edge of the goalkeeper leg pad, projects forwardly relative to the main frontal face of the goalkeeper leg pad and is elongated in a longitudinal direction of the goalkeeper leg pad, the main frontal face of the goalkeeper leg pad extending at the front of the goalkeeper leg pad from the upper leg portion of the goalkeeper leg pad to the foot portion of the goalkeeper leg pad in the longitudinal direction of the goalkeeper leg pad and from the edge projection at the lateral edge of the goalkeeper leg pad to a medial edge of the goalkeeper leg pad in a widthwise direction of the goalkeeper leg pad, the goalkeeper leg pad comprising:
a) protective padding configured to be wider that the leg of the hockey goalkeeper; and
b) an outer cover disposed on the protective padding and constituting at least a majority of the outer surface of the goalkeeper leg pad, the outer cover comprising:
a digitally-printed layer including digitally-printed graphics; and
a transparent protective layer over the digitally-printed layer;

the digitally-printed layer and the transparent protective layer extending in at least one of the upper leg portion, the knee portion, and the lower leg portion of the goalkeeper leg pad and in the foot portion of the goalkeeper leg pad, the digitally-printed layer and the transparent protective layer being continuous and exposed from the edge projection at the lateral edge of the goalkeeper leg pad to the medial edge of the goalkeeper leg pad in the widthwise direction of the goalkeeper leg pad.

2. An article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment wearable by a hockey goalkeeper to protect a given one of a leg of the hockey goalkeeper and a hand of the hockey goalkeeper, the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment being one of: a goalkeeper leg pad wearable on and configured to protect the leg of the hockey goalkeeper, and a goalkeeper blocker or catcher wearable on and configured to protect the hand of the hockey goalkeeper, the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment comprising an outer surface defining a front of the article of hockey-goalkeeping equipment, the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment comprising:
a) protective padding configured to be wider than the given one of the leg of the hockey goalkeeper and the hand of the hockey goalkeeper; and
b) an outer cover disposed on the protective padding and constituting at least a majority of the outer surface of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment, the outer cover comprising:
foam;
a digitally-printed layer comprising digitally-printed graphics and bonded to the foam at least one of adhesively and chemically; and
a transparent protective layer over and thinner than the digitally-printed layer.

3. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 2 , wherein a print area of the digitally-printed graphics occupies at least 30% of a surface area of the front of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment.

4. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 3 , wherein the print area of the digitally-printed graphics occupies at least a majority of the surface area of the front of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment.

5. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 2 , wherein a print area of the digitally-printed graphics occupies at least one-third of a length of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment.

6. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 5 , wherein the print area of the digitally-printed graphics occupies at least a majority of the length of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment.

7. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 5 , wherein the print area of the digitally-printed graphics occupies at least one-third of a width of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment.

8. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 6 , wherein the print area of the digitally-printed graphics occupies at least a majority of a width of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment.

9. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 2 , wherein the digitally-printed layer includes polyurethane.

10. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 2 , wherein the protective layer includes polyurethane.

11. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 2 , wherein the transparent protective layer is laminated onto the digitally-printed layer.

12. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 2 , wherein the foam comprises molded foam defining a shape of the outer cover.

13. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 2 , wherein the digitally-printed layer comprises a plurality of separate pieces which include respective portions of the digitally-printed graphics and which are assembled together and affixed to collectively visually compose the digitally-printed graphics.

14. The article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment of claim 2 , wherein the digitally-printed layer is a one-piece layer which comprises an entirely of the digitally-printed graphics.

15. An article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment wearable by a hockey goalkeeper to protect a given one of a leg of the hockey goalkeeper and a hand of the hockey goalkeeper, the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment being one of: a goalkeeper leg pad wearable on and configured to protect the leg of the hockey goalkeeper; and a goalkeeper blocker or catcher wearable on and configured to protect the hand of the hockey goalkeeper, the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment comprising an outer surface defining a front of the article of hockey-goalkeeping equipment, the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment comprising:
a. protective padding configured to be wider than the given one of the leg of the hockey goalkeeper and the hand of the hockey goalkeeper; and
an outer cover disposed on the protective padding and constituting at least a majority of the outer surface of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment, the outer cover comprising:
a. foam;
b. digitally-printed layer comprising digitally-printed graphics and bonded to the foam at least one of adhesively and chemically; and
c. a transparent protective layer over the digitally-printed layer; the digitally-printed layer and the transparent protective layer being continuous and exposed from a first edge of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment to a second edge of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment that is opposite to the first edge of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment in a widthwise direction of the article of protective hockey-goalkeeping equipment.

16. The goalkeeper leg pad of cl

Assignees

• Bauer Hockey Corp
• Bauer Hockey Llc

Inventors

• Mackey Lee
• Martel Pascal

Classifications

• A63B2071/1208

  for the breast and the abdomen, e.g. breast plates · CPC title

• A63B71/143

  Baseball or hockey gloves · CPC title

• A63B71/1225

  for the legs, e.g. thighs, knees, ankles, feet · CPC title

• A63B71/12

  for the body or the legs {, e.g. for the shoulders (A63B71/081 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• A43B5/16

  Skating boots · CPC title