US2763309A - Golf bags - Google Patents

Description

F. W. JONES Sept. 18, 1956 GOLF BAGS Filed Sept. 24, 1954 F1@ .6. zo@

' /A/ VEN7 'O,Q wwwjw BY biaMbw-MM Ja. ATToR/vm- United States Patent O GLF BAGS Frederick William Jones, Worcester, England Application September 24, 1954, Serial No. 458,225

9 Claims. (Cl. ISO- 1.5)

This invention relates to bags for golf clubs.

Hitherto it has been common practice to provide golf bags with partitions so that the shafts of two or more golf clubs may be separated from one another, but these prior arrangements have not proved effective in preventing the heads of the clubs knocking together, when placing woods or irons in the bag or when removing woods or irons, and have not proved effective in preventing the heads knocking together when the bag is being transported. (Clubs with Wooden heads are particularly subject to damage in this way, and for this reason it has been found desirable to protect the heads of the woods by means of small hoods made of a suitable fabric material.)

One object of this invention is the provision of a golf bag in which such hoods for protecting the club heads may be dispensed with, the bag itself being adapted to protect the heads from damage.

A second object of this invention is the provision of a golf bag adapted to facilitate the selection of a club contained therein. j

Another object of this invention is to provide a lightweight golf bag of a relatively rigid construction to provide a frame to which the undercarriage of a caddy car may be secured.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of a golf bag having an integral storage space for desired accessories such as an umbrella of conventional size, water-proof clothing or the like and also the wheels and undercarriage of a caddy car which is adapted to support the golf bag.

The present invention concerns a golf bag which enables such hoods to be dispensed with, while at the same time the risk of damage to the club heads is greatly reduced, such bag being characterised by the provision of a number of stalls separated from one another by partitions and each adapted to receive the head of a club and to maintain such head out of contact with the head of another club situated in an adjacent stall.

The surfaces of the stalls presented to the club heads will advantageously be of such a nature as to protect the heads from damage and may either be formed from a material having cushioning properties, e. g. natural or synthetic rubber, or may have such a material affixed thereto.

The bag is advantageously constructed so that the row of irons may be arranged suiciently remote from the woods to make it impossible for woods and irons to knock against each other when placing or removing and when in the bag. Further, the bag is preferably constructed so that the toes of the irons may be arranged adjacent to the heels of the woods, while sutciently remote to prevent contact.

In practice, the partitions which form the side Walls of the stalls are preferably arranged so as to extend slightly above the upper level of such heads, thus preventing clubs being knocked together when being placed in or removed from the bag.

Another preferred feature of the present improved golf bag is that provision is made for the lower ends of the clubs to lie above the bottom of the bag, the clubs being suspended by their heads upon a suitable transverse support to which the partitions are secured. Further, provision is also preferably made for the handles of the suspended clubs to hang between two closely spaced walls of a compartment in the golf bag, the spacing being arranged to prevent one club handle crossing over its neighbour and being in practice little more than the maximum diameter of the club handle.

A further preferred feature is for the partitions to take the form of discs or pads mounted upon one or more transverse rods or tubes and frictionally adjustable thereon. A rigid throat member may also be provided at the mouth of the golf bag to which the ends of the supporting rods are secured, and a rigid cover hinged thereto.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view of the top half of a golf bag containing a number of clubs with the cover removed;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the bag and its cover;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line A-A of Fig. 2;

Figs. 4 to 6 show various constructions of partitionforming members.

Referring now to the drawings, the generally tubular body of the golf bag 1, which is of rectangular crosssection, consists of three compartments 2, 3 and 4, the first compartment 2 being adapted to house the shafts 5 of irons 6, the second compartment 3 being adapted to house the shafts 7 of woods 8, these two compartments 2 and 3 each extending along one side wall of the bag body, and the third compartment 4, which is disposed intermediately between the first two compartments 2 and 3. This compartment 4, open at its top to facilitate access thereto, is particularly suitable for the storage of relatively long objects such as an umbrella of conventional size which may be accommodated Without interfering with access to the club heads, as well as the wheels and undercarriage of a caddy-car, water-proof clothing or the like. The sides of the compartments 2 and 3 are made of a stitfened material such as canvas covered plywood, plastic or fibreboard to form rigid compartments for the club handles. These compartments 2 and 3 are rigidly spaced apart by two metal frames (not shown) situated top and bottom of such compartments, and of an outline generally as indicated by Fig. 3. The third compartment 4, formed between the two said first and second compartments 2 and 3, has the two remaining sides completed by canvas, one side having a zip-fastened opening 9 therein, providing alternative access to the compartment. The bottom 10 of the bag as a whole is formed of one rigid piece, advantageously of a light alloy, which may conveniently be turned up around the bottom edges of the sides to form a beading and thus provide a neat finished appearance. As will be seen from Fig. 3 the compartments 2 and 3 which house the shafts 5 and 7 of the clubs are suiciently narrow to prevent the handle of one shaft crossing over that of its neighbour.

A rigid light alloy portion 11, which substantially encloses three sides of an upper portion of the golf bag 1, is rigidly attached thereto, the fourth side and top of the bag 1 being completed by a cover 12 of suitable fabric and hinged thereto.

Golf club irons 6 and woods S, in their respective places in the golf bag 1 are illustrated in Fig. l suspended by their heads 13 and 14- which rest upon horizontal supporting rods 15 and 16, 16. Said heads 13 and 14 are individually spaced apart by disc-shaped rubber partitions 17 and 13 threaded upon the rods 15 and 16. 16. and frictionally adjustable thereon and so may 3 be manually adjusted to suit varying sizes of golf club heads. The rods 15 and 16, 16', which may advantageously be made of light alloy tubing and encased by a rubber sleeve are attached by their ends to said rigid portion 11 as shown by Fig. 1.

Three forms of such disc- shaped partitions 17, 18 are illustrated in Figs. 4-6, although it is obvious that other shapes could readily be used, Fig. 4 showing a partition 18 suitable for spacing the heads 14 of woods 8 which being larger than the heads 13 of irons 6 require a deeper stall, the said partitions 18 being supported on two rods 16, 16' each encased by soft synthetic rubbery tubing 21 and, which positively maintain the partition in correct vertical position. The partition 19 shown in Fig. 6 is also suitable for spacing the heads 14 of woods 8 and is prevented from turning by having a hexagonal hole engaging a hexagonal bar 20. The partition 17 shown in Fig. is more suitable for spacing the heads of irons 6 as the stall does not need to be so deep, and the partitions may be rotatable to present a fresh surface from time to time.

A material reduction in the overall width of the preferred golf bag just described is possible by virtue of the method of suspension, viz. the method of suspending the irons by their heads with the handles hanging in a single narrow compartment without any individual vertical partitions, since these irons, whose handles take up more room than their heads, may be suspended with their handles in abutting relationship. Also due to the variation in the overall length of the various irons, the enlarged end of each iron handle may be arranged to lie in a different plane allowing a further reduction in the the width of the golf bag.

In a modification (not illustrated) of the invention, each of the first and second compartments 2 and 3 of the bag 1 may be provided with means for retaining in position the shafts and handles of clubs, in the form of a number of separate circular tubes of diameter suitable to receive a single club shaft, or alternatively may be formed by a pair of corrugated plates, the opposed ridges of which are in register with one another and nearly touching so as to define between the depressions a number of hollow, substantially cylindrical spaces into which the club shafts may be placed and retained. Alternatively, a single row of corrugations may be used with a at wall arranged at suliicient distance to prevent the shaft coming out of the semi-circular corrugated trough.

Alternatively, the mouth of the bag may be closed by a table or platform which has a number of holes in its surface corresponding in position with the shaft retaining means below, having a number of partitions arranged between such holes, and thus form the stalls in which the club heads are housed.

In a particular embodiment, for example, there may be a row of four comparatively widely spaced holes separated by comparatively deep partitions, thus providing space for four Woods, and a second row parallel to the first, of ten more closely spaced holes with intermediate partitions, these providing for ten irons to be housed. The bag can of course be designed for any number of clubs.

By this method of supporting the clubs in two rows with their heads resting against the platform while separated by the partitions, the possibility of contact between any two club heads taking place is positively precluded, the parts of the platform and the partitions that come into contact with the club heads being advantageously covered with a soft material. The table and stalls may conveniently be made in one piece from moulded rubber or similar resilient material the stalls for woods being moulded to fit snugly around the wood heads and the stall height being greater than the depth of the club head.

The bag may conveniently bc constructed of aluminium or other light metal, although leather, plastic covered cloth or other fabric may be employed, and it will preferably be provided with a cover or hood hinged thereto, as

above referred to, so as to be capable of being swung into a closed position in which it covers the platform and club heads while making the bag totally enclosed.

A bag according to the invention is particularly suitable for the construction of a caddy car, that is to say for mounting on wheels, the third or intermediate part of the body of the bag between the parts housing the club shafts, being conveniently employed for storage of the wheels and undercarriage when the latter are in the detached or retracted positions as the case may be. When the particular form of the bag according to the invention described above is mounted on wheels in this way, with the body of the bag inclined to the vertical in the usual manner, the row of woods will normally be arranged along the underside of the bag with their heads pointing downwardly, the row of irons being arranged along the upper side of the bag with their heads similarly oriented and thus extending towards the heads of the woods, but suiciently spaced therefrom to avoid contact.

A further feature of the invention resides in the fact that by virtue of the long central storage space in which the wheels and undercarriage may be housed, the Whole caddy car, particularly when the body portion of the bag is of rectangular cross-section, is particularly adapted for manufacture with external dimensions that render it suitable for storage in a conventional size club house locker. Moreover, manufacture of the bag itself of metal, so as to provide a rigid framework, provides a convenient structure to which the wheels and undercarriage may be secured, so that the golfer is saved the necessity of buying both a golf bag and a caddy car.

Finally, it may be mentioned that the particular arrangement of bag described above, greatly facilitates selection of a desired club from the bag, since the clubs may conveniently be arranged in numerical order, on substantially the same level and may be seen at a glance, there being no possibility of their becoming disarranged by movement of the bag during transporting.

I claim:

1. A golf bag of the type in which clubs are suspended by their heads, comprising in combination a substantially transversely extending club head supporting member at the mouth of the bag and a plurality of longitudinally extending club head partition members adjustably secured to said supporting member, such partitions being adapted to maintain each club head out of contact with the head of an adjacent club.

2. A golf bag of the type in which clubs are suspended by their heads, comprising in combination at least one substantially transversely extending club head supporting rod at the mouth of the bag and a plurality of longitudinally extending club head partition members frictionally adjustable on said supporting rod, said partitions being adapted to maintain each club head out of contact with the head of an adjacent club.

3. A golf bag of the type in which clubs are suspended by their heads, comprising in combination at least one substantially transversely extending club head supporting rod at the mouth of the bag, a sleeve of soft material encasing the supporting rod, and a plurality of longitudinally extending club head partitions frictionally adjustable on said supporting rod, said partitions being adapted to maintain each club head out of contact with the head of an adjacent club.

4. A golf bag comprising in combination: two closely spaced apart rigid walls defining therebetween a narrow pocket for the accommodation of club handles, the width of the pocket being little more than the greatest diameter of any club handle; a substantially transversely extending club head supporting means at the mouth of the bag; and adjustably secured to said supporting means a plurality of longitudinally extending club head partition members adapted to maintain each club head out of contact with the head of an adjacent club.

5. A golf bag of the type in which clubs are suspended by their heads, comprising in combination at least one substantially transversely extending club head supporting rod at the mouth of the bag and a plurality of longitudinally extending club head partition members on said supporting rod, said partitions being adapted to maintain each club head out of contact with the head of an adjacent club.

6. A golf bag of the type in which clubs are suspended by their heads, comprising in combination at least one substantially transversely extending club head supporting rod at the mouth of the bag and a plurality of longitudinally extending club head partition members adjustable on said supporting rod, said partitions being adapted to maintain each club head out of contact with the head of an adjacent club.

7. A golf bag of the type in which clubs are suspended by their heads, comprising in combination at least one substantially transversely extending club head supporting rod at the mouth of the bag, a sleeve of soft material encasing the supporting rod, and a plurality of longitudinally extending club head partitions on said supporting rod, said partitions being adapted to maintain each club head out of contact with the head of an adjacent club.

8. A golf bag comprising in combination: two closely spaced apart rigid walls defining therebetween a narrow pocket for the accommodation of club handles, the width of the pocket being little more than the greatest diameter of any club handle; at least one substantially transversely extending club head supporting rod at the mouth of the bag; and secured to said supporting rod a plurality of longitudinally extending club head partition members adapted to maintain each club head out of contact with the head of an adjacent club.

9. A golf bag comprising in combination: two closely spaced apart rigid walls defining therebetween a narrow pocket for the accommodation of club handles, the width of the pocket being little more than the greatest diameter of any club handle; at least one substantially ransversely exending club head supporting rod at the mouth of the bag; and adjustably secured to said supporting rod a plurality of longitudinally extending club head partition members adapted to maintain each club head out of contact with the head of an adjacent club.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,809,536 Tucker June 9, 1931 1,849,610 Boyce Mar. 15, 1932 2,534,096 Zapoleon Dec. l2, 1950 2,546,416 Alter et al Mar. 27, 1951 2,685,317 Lace et al. Aug. 3, 1954

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