It is well known that the game of ice hockey can generally be played in either a lighted indoor or outdoor ice rink, or during daylight on any convenient frozen pond, lake, or other suitable ice-covered surface. Clearly, the ice surfaces provided by mother nature during the winter are one of the most economical arenas for the playing of ice hockey, and also, the forum of choice for most young hockey players. However, as stated above, these "free" arenas are generally limited to daylight play.
Any device which would make available the extended use of these naturally free arenas, e.g., for playing ice hockey after school, in the early evening, etc., would be a most sought after and worthwhile invention, especially to the grade school, junior high school, and high school age children living in the northern United States and Canada, for whom the playing of ice hockey during the winter is a most popular sport.
At least one attempt has been made to provide a hockey puck which would be sufficiently visible in the dark so that limited play of ice hockey might be attempted on unlighted ice. Such a puck is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,536 to Nicholas W. Platt of Madison, N.J. (hereinafter, the "Platt puck").
The Platt puck comprises a translucent cylindrical impact member (or puck part) from which there is carved out of the central axial core a cavity (akin to a partial dough-nut hole). Into this partial void there is inserted a chemiluminescent light means. The light means is retained in this axial cavity by means of a plug.
In one illustrated embodiment of the Platt puck, two separate chemiluminescent chemicals are retained in separate portions of the axial cavity, and are mixed by throwing the puck on the ice, rupturing a barrier placed between the chemicals. On mixing, these two chemicals produce a chemiluminescent light which lasts for a few hours. Thus, there is taught a "one-time" glow-in-the-dark hockey puck which can only be used once for playing ice hockey in the dark.
The complicated structure of this puck is believed to be one reason why there has been no apparent commercialization of the device. Another apparent reason for a lack of commercialization, is the apparent "disposable" nature of the preferred embodiment. Clearly, if any part of a glow-in-the-dark hockey puck is to be disposable and/or preferably replaceable, it should be the source of illumination, not the entire puck assembly.
The present invention represents a significant improvement over the Platt puck, and provides for both simple and economical construction of an illuminated or glow-in-the-dark hockey puck, which utilizes a commercially available, and readily replaceable chemiluminescent light stick as the source of illumination.