Means for manually holding a stack of karate boards

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The foregoing and other objects are achieved with the novel means for manually holding a stack of one or more karate boards in a striking position, which boards have opposed major board surfaces, two opposite, substantially-parallel sides, and marginal areas in said major surfaces adjacent the sides of the boards.
The novel manual holding means consists essentially of two physically-separate components adapted to bind together each side of the stack of boards.
Each component of the holding means includes an elongated slat having a slat surface adapted to contact one of the marginal areas in the outside surface of the stack, handle means mounted longitudually on the slat opposite the slat surface, a strap attached at its proximal end to the slat, and means for fastening the strap over the stack and to the slat, so as to hold the stack together and the slat surface against the associated marginal area.
It is preferred that the two components have mirror image structures with respect to one another so that they attach symmetrically to the two marginal side areas of the stack.
In practice, one or more substantially identical boards are formed into a stack.
Then, the slat of each component is placed against one and the other of the marginal areas of the end board, and the strap is passed over the stack and fastened to the slat, whereby the stack is bound by one of the components at each side of the stack to form a solidly packed mass.
The stack with the novel manual holding means bound thereon is placed in any striking position for a karateka by the holding person or persons grasping the handle means and holding the stack firmly in the desired position.
The use of the handle means provides a firmer more positive hold on the stack with all of the fingers of the holding persons out of the way and protected.
When the stack is broken by a strike, each of the two stacks of broken board fragments is firmly bound by one of the straps and slats and is far less likely to shatter, as frequently happens when the stack is held directly by the hands of the the holding persons