Patent Application
20070215500
A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sports bag. More particularly, the present invention relates to an abbreviated golf bag for carrying a full set of golf clubs with less weight and extra convenience.
B. Description of the Prior Art
To keep golf a healthy sport with no compromise in the desired precision, golfers had better carry their own set of all fourteen regularly allowed clubs rather than getting an assistance of carts or paid carriers.
Apart from full-sized golf bags which are heavily clad with layers and meant to be carried on hand-pulled or motorized carts in the golf course, choices of lighter golf bags have been offered using lesser and/or lighter materials especially suited to female golfers.
Extra restrictions by golf facilities against using golf carts to help carry golf clubs in a bag have made male as well as female golfers today look for a lightest golf bag, although there are already introduced many lighter versions of conventional heavy golf bags available to buy or reference.
Prior arts show a variety of golf bags. U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,024 to Clayton describes a Golf Club Bag that can be made with two pieces of planar flexible material stitched together and then a plurality of elongate tubes are inserted in a row between the material pieces for receiving the club shafts, respectively. The assembled bag may be changed in form between a “bundled” position where the clubs are arranged in a circle and an unfolded flat arrangement.
Kjose U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,391 shows a reversible equipment carrier that is converted into a golf bag with multiple tubular sleeves for holding individual club shafts. Again, each of the sleeves are inserted into the corresponding number of separate compartments of the main structure of the bag calling for multiple manufacturing steps for making each of the sleeves in position.
While the above examples of improvements resulted in lighter bags, there are found substantial improvements to make in the area of golf bag in lightness and convenience in the actual use in the field.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide an ultra light golf club carrier with an extra convenience means of hand rest.
A golf club carrier comprises: (a) cylindrical accessory container having a closed bottom, an open top and a hand-held lid removably attached to the open top for closing the same; (b) an extrusion molded cylindrical main frame with multiple integral sub-cylinders each longitudinally extending in parallel to accommodate at least the length of a golf club shaft, the sub-cylinders being latitudinally arranged in a circle for enclosing the container tightly from its open top and extending past the closed bottom to provide a plurality of circumferential tubular compartments; and (c) a shoulder strap attached externally to the main frame for holding the carrier during its transportation, whereby a number of golf clubs are received in the sub-cylinders and carried by a hand-shoulder coordination of a golf player holding the hand-held lid and wearing the shoulder strap.
According to one embodiment of the present invention the lid of the container has a rigid hand held area generally extending longitudinally of the cylindrical container. In another embodiment, the lid of the container has a rigid hand held area generally extending latitudinally of the cylindrical container.
The golf club carrier of the present invention further comprises an outer skin that covers the main frame leaving at least the top entrances of the compartments for the golf shafts.
Because of the one-piece structure of the main frame the overall lightness of the carrier of the present invention is easily controlled at manufacturing in a matter of choosing a lighter plastic material for extrusion molding. Therefore, the club carrier made according to the present invention allows a golf player to carry the permitted fourteen clubs throughout the golf play with less labor of transporting a golf bag itself.
To improve the texture over the plastic main frame an outer skin of fabric may be layered on the frame. The skin may be also made of one or more resin coatings.
The shoulder strap is attached at its two opposite ends to the main frame through the outer skin with localized reinforcements. In another embodiment, the shoulder strap is attached directly to the main frame and extends in a spiral path along the length of the main frame.
The golf club carrier of the present invention further comprises a stand and multiple pointed protrusions at the bottom end of the main frame cooperating with the stand for propping the carrier. The stand has at least one pole connected at its top end pivotally to an upper area of the main frame and may be swiveled between a propping position away from the main frame and a rest position in a lower area of the main frame.
Similar reference numbers denote corresponding features throughout the attached drawings.
With reference to
The tubular wall 12 and sub-cylinders 14 of main frame 11 may be formed through extrusion molding plastic into an ultra light single piece structure having the cross section of
An outer skin 18 of fabric is bonded to the main frame 11 for providing a good texture to the touch and aesthetic value of the golf club carrier 10. Outer skin 18 may also be formed by resin coatings. Skin 18 may be so thin that no significant weight is added to the carrier 10.
At the top of the main frame 11, a cylindrical container 19 snuggly plugs the inner space of the tubular wall 12 partially and is capped by a dome-shaped lid 20, which is threaded into the container 19. The container 19 has a shoulder 21 that rests on a top surface of the tubular wall 12. From atop the lid 20 is protruding a vertical hand rest 22 centrally thereof. The hand rest 22 is textured to provide a good grip for a hand to carry out a comfortable transportation of the golf clubs in the carrier 10 without swinging and clanking of the golf clubs 15 against each other. The hand rest 22 also works as a handle to turn the lid 20 in closing or opening the container 19.
A shoulder strap 23 is attached through hooks 24 at its opposite ends to the main frame 11 providing a comfortable carrying means in cooperation with the hand rest 22. To provide eyelets for the hooks 24, two reinforcement straps 25 are attached to the outer surface of the skin 18 with folds 26 formed in a longitudinal projection line. The straps 25 may be directly on the main frame 11 if the outer skin 18 is of resin coatings, which then cover the straps 25. Each of the folds 26 has a through hole reinforced with a grommet where one of the hooks 24 penetrates. The straps 25 may be replaced by cable loops disposed inside of the tubular wall 12 of the main frame 11.
The strap 23 has pronounced soft ridges 27 on its underside to provide a positive grip on the shoulder of a bag carrier. Thus, with a number of golf clubs received in the sub-cylinders 14 the carrier 10 may be transported by a hand-shoulder coordination of a golf player holding the hand rest 22 and wearing the shoulder strap 23.
Top ends of outer walls of the main frame 11 where golf clubs 15 mostly bear against are reinforced by a cap 28 to resist wear and tear. The cap 28 may be a separate member as shown in
Alternatively, the cap 28 may be a thick coating of a resin material, which is readily available in various forms suitable for spraying or dipping for localized reinforcement of the main frame 11 at its top end.
The screw-on connection of continuous threads between the container 19 and lid 20 is the preferred fastening mechanism although modified threads of snap tabs-notches or tabs-hooks may be used to engage and disengage the lid 20 to and from the container 19 with quick partial turns of the lid 20 against the container 19.
The U-shaped bottom member 34 in transverse cross section (not shown) is press fitted to the main frame 11 with the skin 18 at three sides including the bottom end and parts of the inner 12 and outer 16 walls of the frame 11. The skin 18 may have an extended bottom end that coextend with the bottom and inner wall 37 of the member 34. The main frame 11 and bottom member 34 may be fastened together by mechanical means such as bolts and nuts or through a chemical bond.
The strap 123 may be adjustable in length by a well-known means including an adjustable fasteners used in conventional luggage and a garment buckle mechanism.
In
Fitted to the lower end of the carrier 200 is a bottom member 234 having two or more balancing toes 235 protruding at a wide angle to prevent the carrier 200 from rolling from side to side. Toes 235 may be formed integrally with the bottom member 234 or they may be separate attachments to the member 234. Alternatively, the bottom member 234 may have flat sidewalls like a square, pentagon or hexagon rather than a circle as illustrated. Thus, the multiple toes 235 help to maintain the carrier 200 an upright posture on the ground. Optionally, a three-point support of the carrier 200 may be established by two toes 235 and the heel cap 204 for an easier access to the golf clubs.
Though single pole 202 is illustrated in
Even with the various optional convenience attachments described above, the inherent structural oneness of the main frame 11/111/211 keeps the golf club carrier of the present invention made lighter as more improved materials become available for extrusion molding.
Therefore, while the presently preferred form of the golf club carrier with hand rest has been shown and described, and several modifications thereof discussed, persons skilled in this art will readily appreciate that various additional changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined and differentiated by the following claims.
