Patent Application
20140034528
The invention is directed toward golf bags, golf bag top members and golf bag top member coverings. Golf bags typically comprise a top member that defines at least one aperture for receiving at least one golf club. An embodiment of the golf bag top member comprises a peripheral structure and a flexible covering material, wherein the flexible covering material covers at least a portion of the peripheral structure.
Golf is a popular game that requires a significant amount of equipment to play including balls, a set of clubs, shoes, tees and a golf bag to organize and protect the equipment. The golf bags are available in many styles and types of bags. Generally, there are at least four different types of golf bags including, but not limited to, cart bags, stand or carry bags, staff or tour bags and travel bags. All golf bags have a top member that provides structural rigidity to the golf bag aperture for receiving the golf clubs and to provide some protection from damage to the golf clubs. Various top members may have more partitioning dividers forming a rigid, grid-like structure for keeping each club separate and organized within the bag, a connector for attaching a stand system, a handle, and/or other accessories.
Golf club manufacturers are constructing golf clubs with increasingly more expensive materials such as, but not limited to, aircraft-grade aluminum, titanium, carbon fiber composites, and other metal alloys. These materials increase the performance of the golf club and make it easier for the average golfer to drive the golf ball farther and with more accuracy to achieve lower scores on a round of golf. As a result, golf clubs are more expensive.
Golf bag top members may be designed to provide some protection against damage to these golf clubs. Most top members comprise at least one partitioning divider that divide the top member into separate compartment to organize and protect the clubs from damaging another club. However, in some cases, the compartments allow the golf clubs to shift back and forth and contact each other, the peripheral structure of the top member, and the partitioning dividers with the possibility of causing nicks, scratches, dents or other damage to the club heads and shafts. Golf clubs using composite shafts are especially susceptible to damage.
To limit the damage to the golf clubs by the golf bag, the peripheral structure of the top member and the partitioning dividers may be covered in a flexible covering material such as, but not limited to, leather, soft cloth or fabric to protect the expensive composite shafts from damage. The flexible covering may be wrapped around the peripheral structure of the top member and/or wrapped around the partitioning dividers. This adds expense to the top members through additional materials and labor required to attach the flexible covering material. The manufacturing process becomes more complicated and expensive for attaching the flexible covering material for top members with many partitioning dividers.
Further, the flexible covering materials must be attached to the golf bag such that the ends do not fray, dangle, or tear and create a pleasing aesthetic to the golf bag. Further, these flexible covering materials tend to interfere with attaching the golf bag top member to the golf bag body.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved top member for a golf bag. In particular, there is a need for a top member that comprises a flexible covering material that is less expensive to attach to the top member and provides protection for golf clubs. There is a further need for a golf bag top member that does not interfere with further assembly of a golf bag.
In an embodiment, the golf bag top member comprises a peripheral structure and a flexible covering material, wherein the flexible covering material covers at least a portion of the peripheral structure of the top member. The peripheral structure may comprise an inner wall and an outer wall. In such an embodiment, the flexible covering material may be inserted in a recess defined by the inner wall and the outer wall, then wrapped around the outer wall and at least a portion of the inner wall.
In another embodiment, the top member may comprise at least one stiffening member attached to the flexible material. The stiffening member may also be inserted in the recess defined by the inner wall and the outer wall to retain the flexible covering material on the peripheral structure as the flexible material is wrapped around the outer wall and the inner wall.
Further embodiments, a golf bag comprises a top collar attached to a flexible enclosure, a top member comprising a peripheral structure, and a flexible covering material inserted between the inner wall and the outer wall of the peripheral structure. The flexible material may be wrapped around the outer wall and at least a portion of the inner wall. The flexible covering material may further comprise at least one stiffening member attached to one end of the flexible material, wherein the stiffening member is inserted between the inner wall and the outer wall. In some embodiments, the flexible covering material partially covers a portion of the peripheral structure and does not cover the outside surface of an inner wall. In some further embodiments of the golf bag, the flexible covering material may not extend between the top collar and an outer surface of the inner wall of the peripheral structure of the top member.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number of components, parts, techniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefit and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases, all of the other disclosed embodiments and techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possible combination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the invention and the claims.
The invention is directed to golf bags, golf bag top members, golf bag top member sub-assemblies, and coverings for golf bag top members. An embodiment of a typical stand golf bag is shown in
Generally, the golf bag shell defines the enclosure for storing and protecting the golf clubs and may comprise pockets, hooks, connectors for a golf bag stand system, connectors for a strap system, and other accessories. The enclosure includes an open end at a top portion of the golf bag shell for receiving golf clubs and other items into the interior of the golf bag shell. The top member 10 is connected to a top portion of the golf bag shell 3. The top portion of the enclosure defines the golf club receiving opening and, typically but not necessarily, the top member provides partitioning dividers dividing the golf club receiving opening for organizing the golf clubs to be carried in the golf bag. The bottom end of the golf bag shell 3 is typically connected to a bottom member 30 to close the bottom end to retain the clubs in the golf bag 1 and prevent wear of the enclosure during use of the golf bag.
Many golf bag shells comprise an enclosure made from a flexible fabric or other flexible material such as nylon, polyester, nylon/polyester blends, ripstop nylon, plastic, leather, synthetic leathers, and woven materials such as cotton, canvas, or woven synthetics. Each of these materials is available in various weights and properties. Golf bag shells, especially golf bag shells for travel bags, may also comprise rigid materials such as, but not limited to, plastics to protect the golf clubs during travel. The golf bag shell 3 may be manufactured and assembled with other components as a golf bag shell sub-assembly. If the golf bag shell is made of a rigid plastic, the golf bag shell may comprise all the connectors and may not further comprise collars.
A top collar 20 (see
The connectors on the top collar 20 may be any connector capable of permanently connecting the top member 10 or the bottom member to the golf bag shell 3. The term “permanently”, as used herein, means the connector retains the two components connected during normal use of the golf bag during play and travel. The components may be capable of being separated with the use of sufficient force or tools, in some embodiment, the connectors must be broken to remove the components once the golf bag is assembled. Other embodiments may comprise releasable connectors that allow removing and replacing the bottom members without damage to the components. For example, the bottom member could be removed and replaced to convert a stand bag into a cart bag.
The golf bag top members may vary in shape, color, weight, perimeter shape, number, pattern and/or position of partitioning dividers, handles, cover attachment capabilities, stand system capabilities, accessory attachment capabilities, or other features. In other embodiments, the top members may not comprise a connector but may be attached to the golf bag shell by a separate connector such as, but not limited to, stitching, rivets, hook and loop connectors, or adhesives, for example. The golf bags, golf bag top members, golf bag top member sub-assemblies, and golf bag top member coverings may be a component of a golf bag kit as described in the patent application by the same inventor entitled “Golf Bag Kits” and/or selected as part of a method of selling a golf bag as described in a patent application by the same inventor entitled “Method of Selling Golf Bags and Golf Bag Kits,” for example, both applications incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
An embodiment of a top member 10 attached to a top collar 20 is shown in
Cross-sectional views of embodiments of the top member 10 sub-assemblies comprising a flexible covering material 14 are shown in
In the embodiment of
The stiffening member 16 and the flexible covering material 14 may be profiled to match the profile of the peripheral structure of the top member as shown in
Another embodiment of a contoured flexible covering material 14 is shown in
Embodiments of the flexible covering material comprise a first end inserted into a recess in the top member and a second end may be attached to at least one of the top member, the top collar and/or the partitioning divider. For example, the embodiment of the flexible covering material shown in
In an assembly as shown in
In the embodiments of the top member shown in
An embodiment of a method of assembling a golf bag comprises inserting a flexible covering material and a stiffening member into a recess in a top member peripheral structure, wherein the stiffening member is attached to the flexible covering material. The method may further comprise wrapping the flexible covering material around an outer wall of the peripheral structure, over a top edge of the peripheral structure and along an inner wall of the peripheral structure. The flexible covering material may be attached to the inner wall of the peripheral structure. In other embodiments, the flexible covering material is connected to a portion of the enclosure divider system such as an inner partitioning divider sleeve or divider panels. Thus the top member sub-assembly will be connected to a top portion and a bottom portion of the enclosure 3. The intermediate member 40 may further comprise stay receiving members 40b. The intermediate member 40 may be connected to the inner partitioning divider sleeve 50. The embodiment shown in
An embodiment of a top member sub-assembly 60 is shown in
Embodiments of the method may further comprise inserting a top collar attached to a golf bag enclosure into the recess and permanently connecting the top collar to the top member. The method may result in a top member assembly as shown in
The embodiments of the golf bag, golf bag top member, golf bag top member covering and methods of producing a golf bags are not limited to the particular embodiments, components, method steps, and materials disclosed herein as such components, process steps, and materials may vary. Moreover, the terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing exemplary embodiments only and the terminology is not intended to be limiting since the scope of the various embodiments of the present invention will be limited only by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
Therefore, while embodiments of the invention are described with reference to exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that variations and modifications can be effected within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Accordingly, the scope of the various embodiments of the present invention should not be limited to the above discussed embodiments, and should only be defined by the following claims and all equivalents.
