Chapter 6: Slice and Dice

My challenge is to come up with an improved hockey stick. Here are the current attributes of the average composite hockey stick:

1. Made of a composite material (graphite, metals, Kevlar, etc.)

2. Shaft

3. Blade

4. Long

5. Slender

6. Lightweight

7. Expensive

8. Flexible

9. Two hands

10. Hollow

Here are my analyses of each attribute:

1. Find lighter and more durable materials that can still maintain a good amount of flexibility out of which to make new hockey sticks.

2. Make shaft slightly slimmer or thicker to make the stick more durable or flexible.

3. Make blade more easily manipulated to be shaped to the player’s specifications.

4. The length of the stick can’t really be affected because the length is usually determined by the player’s height or position.

5. I touched upon this topic in #3. A change in the thickness of the stick could improve it’s design

6. Possibly make the stick lighter or heavier; I personally prefer a heavier stick, but many players prefer a stick that is extremely light as a feather.

7. Design the new stick out of materials that could possibly reduce prices for the consumer.

8. Increase flexibility for sticks of certain players who would benefit from taking heavier shots, or reducing sticks for certain players who need a stiffer stick.

9. Change the stick’s attributes at different parts of the shaft depending on which hand will be at each part to maximize the potential of the stick.

10. Keep the stick hollow, but change the thickness of the layer of material to maximize the stick’s potential.

Tonight, I worked on this thinkertoy exercise in my living room chair at about 10:30 PM. My source of light was a 100 watt lamp a few feet to my left. I had my television on and watching the show Leverage on TNT and I can hear the hum of the air conditioner a few feet to my right. Also in the room are my girlfriend and my older brother. I worked on this exercise from the Thinkertoys Google-book and typed it into Microsoft Word before copying and pasting back into blogger.com. It was pretty easy to keep my focus on this project while taking frequent breaks to watch television.