Patent Grant
10486040
The invention relates generally to sporting equipment maintenance and more specifically to cleaning golf clubs.
Employees of golf courses or golf players must maintain the quality of their sporting equipment, and this may require them to manually clean their golf clubs. This can be a time-consuming and laborious process, particularly if a user frequents the golf course, or uses multiple golf clubs during an outing. The cleaning and maintenance of all golf clubs used in a set of clubs may be a difficult process for some golf players. Thus, there is a need for a more efficient or automated process for the cleaning of golf clubs for golf players.
The aspects or the problems and the associated solutions presented in this section could be or could have been pursued; they are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches presented in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their presence in this section of the application.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key aspects or essential aspects of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, this Summary is not intended for use as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In an aspect a golf club cleaning apparatus is for performing a cleaning procedure on a golf club is provided, the apparatus comprising: a housing having eight side walls, a top side, a bottom side, an exterior surface and a hollow interior; a plurality of ventilation openings on the housing; a plurality of golf club holders on the exterior surface of the housing; a support frame within the housing and secured to the hollow interior; wherein one of the eight side walls is a rear side wall, the rear side wall having: an electromagnetic water supply valve opening providing access for a water supply pipe into the apparatus, wherein the water supply pipe has an electromagnetic water supply valve configured to open or close the water supply pipe, such that water enters the water supply pipe when the electromagnetic water supply valve is opened and such that the water flows towards a regulation valve; a regulation valve opening providing a user access to the regulation valve, the regulation valve being configured to control a flow of the water from the water supply pipe and direct the water into a water delivery pipe having a first pipe branch and a second pipe branch; a power cable opening permitting passage of a power cable connected to a frequency inverter to provide a power supply to the apparatus; a waste water pipe opening permitting passage of a waste water pipe out of the apparatus; a cover on the top side of the housing, the cover having a downward slope and a top opening having a rubber edging and broom bristles configured to reduce a spray of water out of the apparatus, the opening permitting access to an upper water trap and components housed by the upper water trap; the components housed by the upper water trap comprising: a first axle and a second axle, the first and second axles being received into the upper water trap through a first set of holes on a first upper water trap side wall, and the first axle and the second axle passing out of the upper water trap through a second set of holes on an opposite second side wall; the first axle being associated with a first brush, and the second axle being associated with a second brush, the first brush and the second brush being accessible through the top opening, the first axle and the second axle being associated with the support frame via a set of compressible elements biasing the first axle and the second axle towards each other and thus biasing the first brush and the second brush towards each other, and permitting a separation of the brushes when a force of is applied between the first brush and the second brush; the first brush and the second brush being configured to engage in a rotational movement towards each other via the drive belt driven by the electric motor; and the first pipe branch having a first set of sprinklers to discharge the water to the first brush, and the second pipe branch having a second set of sprinklers to discharge water to the second brush; a lower water trap underneath the upper water trap configured to catch waste water generated by the cleaning procedure, the lower water trap having a funnel shape and connected to the waste water pipe such that the waste water is drained out of the apparatus; an electrical motor associated with the frequency inverter, the electric motor configured to drive the rotational movement of the axles via a drive belt; a pulley pair and a main pulley associated with the drive belt configured to drive the rotational movement of the axles and thus a rotational movement of the brushes; and wherein one of the eight side walls is a front side wall having: an emergency shut-off switch configured to turn off the electric motor when actuated by the user; and a card reader configured to accept and process a payment, and associated with a logic configured to restrict an initiation of the cleaning procedure until the payment is processed; such that the user is permitted use of the cleaning procedure for the golf club after providing the payment. Thus, an advantage is that water can be saved over a user cleaning their golf clubs by hand. Another advantage is that the user need not expend the time or energy to manually clean their golf clubs, or need to move their golf clubs while it is being cleaned by the machine. Another advantage is that a plurality of golf clubs may be arranged in a spatially efficient manner.
The above aspects or examples and advantages, as well as other aspects or examples and advantages, will become apparent from the ensuing description and accompanying drawings.
For exemplification purposes, and not for limitation purposes, aspects, embodiments or examples of the invention are illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:
What follows is a description of various aspects, embodiments and/or examples in which the invention may be practiced. Reference will be made to the attached drawings, and the information included in the drawings is part of this detailed description. The aspects, embodiments and/or examples described herein are presented for exemplification purposes, and not for limitation purposes. It should be understood that structural and/or logical modifications could be made by someone of ordinary skills in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined by the accompanying claims and their equivalents.
It should be understood that, for clarity of the drawings and of the specification, some or all details about some structural components or steps that are known in the art are not shown or described if they are not necessary for the invention to be understood by one of ordinary skills in the art.
For the following description, it can be assumed that most correspondingly labeled elements across the figures (e.g., 703 and 803, etc.) possess the same characteristics and are subject to the same structure and function. If there is a difference between correspondingly labeled elements that is not pointed out, and this difference results in a non-corresponding structure or function of an element for a particular embodiment, example or aspect, then the conflicting description given for that particular embodiment, example or aspect shall govern.
The cleaner may be provided with built-in golf club holders 103 (as shown in
Each side of the cleaning apparatus may be provided with a ventilation opening 107. The front side of the cleaning apparatus 100 may be provided with a card reader 108, which may be able to accept cards as payment from users for use of the golf club cleaner 100. The cleaning apparatus may also include software, circuitry, or logic for modulating the apparatus. The card reader may accept and process payment. Once a payment is confirmed to be processed, the apparatus may initiate a cleaning procedure. The user may also actuate a button or touch screen or any other suitable means in order to begin the cleaning procedure after the processing of payment. As an example, the logic may restrict initiation of the cleaning procedure. The card reader may also include a screen, which may display information such as price or service activation status or information. The cleaning apparatus may also be provided with a stop switch 109. An advantage may be that the stop switch 109 may function as a safety device such that a user may quickly shut off the device if needed for safety or any other reasons.
The enclosure 101 of the golf club cleaner 100 may be a body, housing, or frame constructed to house the components that perform washing functions, and the frame may be sectional steel. As an example, each section may be 20×20 millimeters (mm). Some pieces may be welded together. The enclosure may be constructed from, for example, high-quality 1.5 mm thick sheet metal, which may be protected by a primer, a heat-processed final layer of varnish or finish resistant to UV radiation and other weather conditions.
The card reader for accepting payment 508 is also shown in this view. Some components for the golf club cleaner may be constructed from inox steel, or any other suitable material. As an example, the axles 523 may be inox steel. The pipe 521 may be constructed from copper.
The electrical engine 616 may be a 180 W, 400 V electrical engine, and may also be provided with the cleaner 100 for providing power. The brushes 622 for cleaning a golf club may be constructed from plastic, and may be mounted onto stainless steel axles. The axles may be fastened to the bearings 620, which may be housed in bearing enclosures and screwed onto the support frame 641. The axles may be constructed from cast aluminum or aluminum alloy, and the pulleys may also be constructed from cast aluminum or aluminum alloy, and the pulleys which may include specialized slots for belts or other moving parts. As an example, one slot on the first pulley may be made for a standard drive v-belt.
The electric engine 716 may, for example, be secured to the interior of the enclosure 701 by, for example, screws (not shown). A valve 717 for the regulation of the flow of water may direct water flow into, for example, two branches such as the pipe 721 and the pipe branch 721-a, and the valve may be associated with the opening for the manual water supply regulation valve 410 of
A discharge pipe or waste water pipe 732 may be associated with a GK coupler 726 for the discharge of waste water produced after the cleaning of the golf clubs (which may go through the opening for the waste water discharge pipe 413 of
As an example of an exemplary method, a user may first insert a payment into the card reader to access the cleaner. Next, a price and service or status information may be displayed on the screen of the card reader. Next, the frequency inverter 729, which may be connected to the engine via a line 734, may engage the following functions: A soft starter as known in the art may be used to start the rotation of the brushes, and the rotation may occur with the two brushes turning inwardly towards each other. The electromagnetic water supply valve at the rear of the device may switch on, which may allow water to run via a brinox pipe towards a ½ inch valve 728 to copper pipe 721, which may be associated with sprinklers 740 that are installed next to each of the brushes. The sprinklers 740 may be holes provided in the copper pipe 721, or may be drilled into the pipe, and the holes may be drilled at a 125-degree angle. An advantage may be that the spray of water provided by the sprinklers may cover the entire width of the brushes. Again, to prevent water from spraying to the outside, a blocking device made of thin plastic bristles with an aluminum section may be provided on the opening of the cleaner. The regulation valve may be used to control the supply of water manually. As an example, various weather conditions may require different levels of water flow. During operation of the cleaner, waste water may be released through a funnel into a discharge pipe, and the waste water may be released onto the golf course, for example, or any suitable drainage system.
It may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used in this patent document. The term “couple” and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another. The term “or” is inclusive, meaning and/or. The phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like.
Further, as used in this application, “plurality” means two or more. A “set” of items may include one or more of such items. Whether in the written description or the claims, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of,” respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims.
If present, use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed. These terms are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements. As used in this application, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives, but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items.
Throughout this description, the aspects, embodiments or examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus or procedures disclosed or claimed. Although some of the examples may involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understood that those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to accomplish the same objectives.
Acts, elements and features discussed only in connection with one aspect, embodiment or example are not intended to be excluded from a similar role(s) in other aspects, embodiments or examples.
Aspects, embodiments or examples of the invention may be described as processes, which are usually depicted using a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may depict the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. With regard to flowcharts, it should be understood that additional and fewer steps may be taken, and the steps as shown may be combined or further refined to achieve the described methods.
If means-plus-function limitations are recited in the claims, the means are not intended to be limited to the means disclosed in this application for performing the recited function, but are intended to cover in scope any equivalent means, known now or later developed, for performing the recited function.
If any presented, the claims directed to a method and/or process should not be limited to the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readily appreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Although aspects, embodiments and/or examples have been illustrated and described herein, someone of ordinary skills in the art will easily detect alternate of the same and/or equivalent variations, which may be capable of achieving the same results, and which may be substituted for the aspects, embodiments and/or examples illustrated and described herein, without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of this application is intended to cover such alternate aspects, embodiments and/or examples. Hence, the scope of the invention is defined by the accompanying claims and their equivalents. Further, each and every claim is incorporated as further disclosure into the specification.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6269509 | Mays | Aug 2001 | B1 |
| 20040255990 | Taylor | Dec 2004 | A1 |
| 20120260864 | Jonsson | Oct 2012 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20190184248 A1 | Jun 2019 | US |
