Patent Application
20050005382
The present invention relates to golf equipment. More particularly, the present invention concerns the cleaning of the soles of golf shoes.
One of the important purposes of golf shoes is to provide traction for the player, both to prevent slippage during the golf swing and to provide for safe navigation of the golf course. This purpose is accomplished by various spikes, lugs, cleats, etc., attached to the soles of typical golf shoes. During the course of a round of golf, debris, including mud, grass, and leaves, accumulates on the soles of the shoes reducing the effectiveness of these various traction providing devices. Thus, the soles of the shoes must be frequently cleaned to provide the appropriate traction for playing the game and walking the course.
The frequent cleaning of golf shoes is accomplished through the use of brushes, tees, sticks or whatever is available to the player. Often stationary brushes are located around the golf course for the purpose of cleaning the soles of the golfer's shoes.
The present invention generally comprises a sheet of material having a cleaning surface. The cleaning surface could, for example, comprise a plurality of projections The sheet of material may be configured to be removably attached to the floor board of a power golf cart. This cleaning surface, when attached to the cart, provides an efficient and effective means for cleaning the soles of golf shoes. Since the cleaning surface is attached to the cart rather than scattered around the course like stationary brushes, little delay in play occurs because the player does not have to go out of their way to use the shoe cleaning device.
In one embodiment, the sheet of material is wrapped around the outside edge of the floorboard. An advantage of this embodiment is that the debris removed from the shoes can easily fall off of the edge of the floorboard as a result of normal jostling of the cart, preventing unsightly accumulation of debris on the device and ensuring continued effectiveness. The sheet of material may be attached to the floorboard by friction, a hook and loop fastener, a snap fastener, a threaded fastener, or by other mechanism well known in the art.
A second embodiment of the invention has the first sheet of material with the cleaning surface attached to an underlying second sheet of material, where the underlying second sheet of material is configured to be removably attached to the floor board of a golf cart. The second sheet of material can be attached as described above. In this embodiment the second sheet of material may be advantageously made of a more durable constituent to improve the durability of the invention and the security of the attachment to the golf cart.
The invention may also comprise a sheet of material having a cleaning surface, the second sheet of material described above, and a tapered border surrounding the at least a portion of the perimeter of the second sheet of material, where the tapered border provides an aesthetically pleasing transition from the shoe cleaning device to the floor board and improves the safety by minimizing any abrupt edges of the shoe cleaning device.
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To use the invention, the person wanting to clean their shoe simply rubs the shoe across the cleaning surface 50 of the invention until the bottom of the shoe is clean. This can be done in the ordinary course of entering, exiting, or riding in the cart. This eliminates the delay inherent in using stationary brushes installed around the course or brushes located in other less convenient locations. Since the invention is removably attached to the cart, it may be easily removed for occasional cleaning or replacement. The invention can be attached anywhere on the floorboard 10 of the golf cart 40 so that it is easily accessible to the driver of the golf cart and any passenger. More than one unit of the invention may be attached to a single golf cart to provide ease of access and use.
In one embodiment of the invention, the cleaning surface 50 is made of plastic and contains a plurality of bristles, each approximately ½″ long. The sheet of material from which the bristles extend is about ⅛″ thick. The cleaning surface 50 is inset within the tapered border 70 and fastened to the tapered border with epoxy. The tapered border 70 in this embodiment is made of formed rubber. The second sheet of material 60 in this embodiment is made of stainless steel and is glued to the tapered border with epoxy to provide a durable base for attachment to the floorboard 10.
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In another embodiment, the cleaning surface 50 of the invention could simply be wrapped around or attached to the floor board 10 of the golf cart 40 directly using the above-mentioned attachment mechanisms or any well known in the art.
While exemplary embodiments of this invention have been illustrated and described, it should be understood that various changes, adaptations, and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.
