Patent Application
20240139593
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document may contain material which is subject to copyright protection, or which has become trade dress. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the US Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/345,125, filed May 24, 2022, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
If an Application Data Sheet(s) (ADS) has been filed in this application, it is incorporated by reference herein. Any applications claimed in an ADS for priority under 35 USC 119, 120, 121 or 365, and any and all parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc. applications of such applications, are also incorporated by reference, including any priority claims made in those applications and any material incorporated by reference, to the extent such subject matter is not inconsistent herewith.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates, generally, to athletic equipment. More particularly, the invention relates to golf equipment. Most particularly, the invention relates to a golf club system, device and methods. The invention is especially suitable for reusable, gadget, gag, prank, or joke golf club, for enjoyment, gift and other purposes.
Existing technology, in general, includes apparatus, devices and clubs used in the game of golf.
This technology is believed to have limitations and shortcomings. For these and other reasons, a need exists for the present invention.
All US patents and patent applications, and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The present invention provides an apparatus and method which is practical, reliable, and efficient, and which is believed to fulfill a need and to constitute an improvement over the background technology.
Golf is a social game, often played among family or friends, with two, three or four member in a group. From time to time, the desire arises for playing gags or pranks on fellow golfers. One prank for example, is to surprise a golfer with a collapsing golf club. Another example is for the golfer to surprise their fellow golfers by breaking a golf club over their leg/knee with a look of feigned indignation. In any event, the use of the club 10 is intended to elicit a positive, humorous response from the player, and particularly to the other members of the group. The club 10 has the look and feel of a typical, normal club, and therefore the player or spectators are surprised. After each use, the broken connector 24 is discarded and replaced with a new breakable connector 24, and the club 10 may be reused with a new unsuspecting golfer.
In one aspect, the invention relates to a golf club including a shaft having first and second ends, a grip attached to the first end of the shaft, and a head attached to the second end of the shaft, and wherein the shaft is constructed and arranged to intentionally break at a predetermined point or area under the force of a normal ball strike or by the user bending the shaft over their outstretched knee.
In another aspect, the golf club shaft has a length of 100 units, and the shaft break point is disposed 40 units above the second end of the shaft.
In a further aspect, the golf club shaft includes an upper shaft member, a lower shaft member, and a connector disposed between and connecting the upper shaft member and the lower shaft member, the connector being breakable under the force of a normal ball strike or other intentional force.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides a breakable and reusable gadget golf club which is useful for entertainment purposes, including:
The aspects, features, advantages, benefits and objects of the invention will become clear to those skilled in the art by reference to the following description, claims and drawings.
The present invention, and the manner and process of making and using it, will be better understood by those skilled in the art by reference to the following drawings.
The description that follows describes, illustrates and exemplifies one or more embodiments of the breakable, reusable prank golf club 10 of the present invention. This description is not provided to limit the disclosure to the embodiments described herein, but rather to explain and teach various principles to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to understand these principles and, with that understanding, be able to apply them to practice not only the embodiments described herein, but also other embodiments that may come to mind in accordance with these principles. The scope of the instant disclosure is intended to cover all such embodiments that may fall within the scope of the appended claims, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
It should be noted that in the description and drawings, like or substantially similar elements may be labeled with the same reference numerals. However, sometimes these elements may be labeled with differing numbers in cases where such labeling facilitates a more clear description. Additionally, the drawings set forth herein are not necessarily drawn to scale, and in some instances proportions may have been exaggerated to more clearly depict certain features.
Referring to
The club 10 appears substantially similar to a typical, conventional golf club. In this particular embodiment, the club 10 is in the fashion of an iron, particularly a nine (9) iron. However, the club 10 could be altered in length and distal end as an iron from one to eight, pitching wedge, sand wedge, gap wedge, or a wood, such as a Driver, two to nine wood, or one of many other specialty clubs. The club 10 has a three conventional aspects, namely a distal club head 12, a medial shaft 14 connected to the club head 12, and a grip 16. The grip 16 typically surrounds the proximal, top, and/or first end of the shaft 14, as opposed to extending proximally from the shaft 14. The club head 12 is connected to the distal, bottom, and/or second end of the shaft 14, typically by a friction fit and an adhesive. In the embodiment shown, the golf club 10 has a total length of 43.0 inches. The shaft 14 may be constructed of steel, graphite or fiberglass. The shaft 14 has a hollow lumen and has an outside diameter of approximately 0.5 inches. The grip 16 has a length of 9.0 inches. The club head 12 has a length of 5.1 inches.
In this embodiment of the club 10 the shaft 14 is constructed and arranged in three sub portions, a reusable first, upper and proximal shaft member 20, a reusable second, lower and distal shaft member 22, and a breakable and replaceable connector 24 disposed between and coupling the upper and lower shaft members 20 and 22. The connector 24 is designed to break when a predetermined force is applied to it by virtue of the club 10 being swung downwardly and upon the club head 12 striking a ball (not shown). The impact force of the club head 12 meeting a ball translates force upwardly through the lower shaft 22, and then to the connector 24. Although the lower shaft 22 is strong enough to resist breaking, the connector 24 is not and it therefore fractures. The upper shaft member 20 is similarly strong and therefore remains intact after impact and breakage of the connector 24. The club 10 has the look and feel of a typical, normal club, and therefore the player is surprised. As golf is a social game, often played among family or friends, with two, three or four member in a group, use of the club 10 is intended to elicit a positive, humorous response from the player, and particularly to the other members of the group. After each use, the broken connector 24 is discarded and replaced with a new breakable connector 24, and the club 10 may be reused with a new unsuspecting golfer. Alternatively, a golfer may grasp the shaft 14 with two hands and break it over their knee or strike the ground to achieve a break and surprise onlookers. In this embodiment of the shaft 14, the upper member 20 has a length of 21.9 inches and the lower member 22 has a length of 15.0 inches. This places the connector 24 at an optimal break point of 40 percent of overall shaft length above the distal end of the shaft 14 to maintain the structural integrity of the shaft 14 during address, backswing, and downswing, but facilitate breaking of the connector 24 upon ball strike or force from breaking over a knee, leg, or even hand pressure, or by striking the ground, tree, or another object.
Referring also to
Referring also to
Although the apparatus/method has been described in connection with the field of golf, it can readily be appreciated that it is not limited solely to such field, and can be used in other fields including, but not limited to sports or games.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” and “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, device, or apparatus.
The terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the apparatus, methods, and/or articles of manufacture described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
Although the invention or elements thereof may by described in terms of vertical, horizontal, transverse (lateral), longitudinal, and the like, it should be understood that variations from the absolute vertical, horizontal, transverse, and longitudinal are also deemed to be within the scope of the invention.
The terms “couple,” “coupled,” “couples,” “coupling,” and the like should be broadly understood and refer to connecting two or more elements mechanically and/or otherwise. Two or more electrical elements may be electrically coupled together, but not be mechanically or otherwise coupled together. Coupling may be for any length of time, e.g., permanent or semi-permanent or only for an instant. “Electrical coupling” and the like should be broadly understood and include electrical coupling of all types. The absence of the word “removably,” “removable,” and the like near the word “coupled,” and the like does not mean that the coupling, etc. in question is or is not removable.
As defined herein, “approximately” can, in some embodiments, mean within plus or minus ten percent of the stated value. In other embodiments, “approximately” can mean within plus or minus five percent of the stated value. In further embodiments, “approximately” can mean within plus or minus three percent of the stated value. In yet other embodiments, “approximately” can mean within plus or minus one percent of the stated value.
The embodiments above are chosen, described and illustrated so that persons skilled in the art will be able to understand the invention and the manner and process of making and using it. The descriptions and the accompanying drawings should be interpreted in the illustrative and not the exhaustive or limited sense. The invention is not intended to be limited to the exact forms disclosed. While the application attempts to disclose all of the embodiments of the invention that are reasonably foreseeable, there may be unforeseeable insubstantial modifications that remain as equivalents. It should be understood by persons skilled in the art that there may be other embodiments than those disclosed which fall within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims. Where a claim, if any, is expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function it is intended that such claim be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof, including both structural equivalents and equivalent structures, material-based equivalents and equivalent materials, and act-based equivalents and equivalent acts.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63345125 | May 2022 | US |
