US3594007A - Golfing device - Google Patents

Abstract

A device for detecting unwanted movement of a golfer''s head has a base which fixes to a golfer''s cap, and a pivotal arm extending from the base. The arm and base are interconnected by an adjustable spring, the tension of which holds the arm in a cocked position. However, when the golfer''s head is moved in an undesirable manner, the arm, through its own inertia, overcomes the spring tension holding it cocked, and the arm snaps over against the base.

Description

United States Patent Inventor Karl H. Kalberer 2348 Westview Way, Santa Rosa, Calif. 95401 Appl. No. 815,413 Filed Apr. 11, 1969 Patented July 20, 1971 GOLFING DEVICE 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 273/183 B, 273/190 Int. Cl A63b 69/36 Field of Search 273/183,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,215,438 11/1965 Sheldon etal. 1 273/183BX 1,980,101 11/1934 Schneider 273/190 A X 2,440,878 5/1948 Schneider.. 273/183 B X 3,437,339 4/1969 Starck 273/190 A X Primary Examiner-George J Marlo Attorney-Mellin, Moore and Weissenberger ABSTRACT: A device for detecting unwanted movement of a golfers head has a base which fixes to a golfers cap, and a pivotal arm extending from the base. The arm and base are interconnected by an adjustable spring, the tension of which holds the arm in a cocked position. However, when the golfer's head is moved in an undesirable manner, the arm,

through its own inertia, overcomes the spring tension holding it cocked, and the arm snaps over against the base.

PATENTED JUL20 m:

SHEET 1 BF 2 INVENTOR. KARL H. KALBER ER ATTORNIEYS GOLFING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION As is well known, it is quite important that a golfer, when swinging at and hitting a ball, keep his head down in a fixed position. That is, the golfer must keep his head as motionless as possible until after impact. Applying such rule in practice has proved quite troublesome, since, when swinging a golf club, one has a natural tendency to lift and turn his head as the club isbrought downward toward the ball to see where the ball is going after it is hit.

Various devices have been designed as aids for keeping the golfers head still in such asituation. Such devices generally attempt to indicate to a golfer that he has undesirably moved his head, by visual or acoustic means. However, these devices are disadvantageous in some areas of design. Each of-them appears capable of detecting a sudden, sidewise movement of the golfers head, yet none appears capable of detecting the i more serious upward type of movement. Furthermore, certain of these devices are (i) incapable of being simply adjusted for sensitivity, which is an obvious drawback, and (ii) responsive to simple tilting of the golfer's head, even on proper followthrough. And finally, each of these devices appears to be relatively complicated in design.

SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION Broadly stated, the invention device for aiding a golfer in keeping his head still while golfing comprises a base fixed relative to the golfers head, and an arm mounted to the base and pivotable relative thereto about an axis in first and second directions. First stop means are provided for limiting the movement of the arm relative to the base in the first direction at a first position. Second stop means are provided for limiting the mvement of the arm relative to the base in the second direction at a second position. Means are included for holding the arm in the first position when the head of the golferis relatively still, and allowing the arm topivot to the secondposition relative to the base when the golfer's head, is moved, through inertia of the arm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from a study of the following specification and drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a plan view of the device, with the arm in cocked position;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the device, with the arm snapped over from its cocked position;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the area 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the device, similarto FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the device as mounted to the visor of a golfers cap.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Shown generally in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 isthe inventive golfing device for aiding a golfer inkeeping his headdown while striking the ball. The device 10 includes a base 12 which defines clips and 16. An arm 18 is mounted to the base I2 b means of bolt 20, and is pivotal relative thereto about the axis of the bolt 20 in first and second direction X and indicated by the arrows in FIGS. I and 2. The arm I8 can be moved in the direction X until it contacts the base I2, at-ll2a, at a first position A (FIG. 'I). The arm 18 can be moved in the opposite direction until it contacts clip I6, of base I2, at 16a at a second position B (FIG. 2).

Base 12 has a flange portion 22 extending upwardly therefrom, and arm 18 has a flange portion 24 extending upwardly therefrom. A spring 26 interconnects these flange portions 22, 24 under tension. The spring 26 is positioned so tat the arm 18 may be cocked (i.e., arm I8 is held in the first position A shown in FIG. I under the tension of spring 26)v The arm 18 defines clips 28,29 into which may be' fitted a member 30. A resilient pad 32is fixed to a flange 33.on the arm 18 adjacent the clip28.v

In the use of the device -10, the golfer fits it onto the visor 34 of his cap 36 (FIG. 5) by means of cl'ip I4 and I6, which hold the base 12 firmly on the visor of the cap. The arm I8, with the member 30 fitted into clips 28, 29 is swung to its first position so that it is cocked (FIG. 5). As previously described, the

spring 26, under tension, holdsthe arm I8 in its cocked posi' tion, extended from the visor 34 of the cap 36.

The golfer then addresses the ball andswings. If the golfer lifts and/or turns his head as he swings, the base 12 of the device 10 will move-with his head as he swings. However, the inertia of the arm 18 (and of the member 30) will tend to keep the arm 18 from moving with the base 12. That is, the arm 18 will move in the direction Y relative to base I2, through its own inertia.

As the arm 18 moves in the direction Y relative to the base 12, the tension of spring 26 is increased until the spring 26 passes through the axis of rotation of the arm 18, defined by bolt 20. At thatposition, arm -18 is carried further both by (a) its own momentum, and by (b) the tension of spring 26, sharply snapping arm 18 against surface 16a of base 12, in the second position B. In such second position B, pad 32 strikes against the visor 34, insuring that such movement of the arm does not chafe the visor 34. Such stricking emits a certain sound to the golfer, and with the arm '18 in such position, member 30 falls in the line of vision of the golfer. Through such signals the golfer is wellaware of the fact that he has improperly moved his head.

As best shown in FIG. 3, flange portion 22 has a plurality of apertures 38, 39, 40, 41, 4|, 43, 44, 45, 46 therein. Spring 26 has formed therein a loop 26A definingan end 26B which may be positioned in an one of these apertures, by means of the golfer grasping loop 26A, extending spring 26, and fitting end 26B into the chosen aperture. Such adjustment changes the position of the arm where the maximum tension of the spring 26 occurs. Suchposition'may be brought closer to or further away from the cooked position FIG. 5), by means of such adjustment. The closer that position of maximum tension is to the cocked position A, the less pring force must be overcome to move the arm to that position, from which position the spring forcehelps to move the arm to itsopposite position B. Thus, the sensitivity of the device 10 to head movement may be easily and conveniently varied.

Although it is generally quite advantageous to leave member 30 in clips 28, 29, it may be that the wind may act on the member 30 to undesirably move arm I8 to its uncocked position B. In such case, the golfer may remove member 30 and use it without such member or may place a coin between flange 33 and the back of clip 28 to compensate for the loss of weight caused by removal of member 30. Use of the device 10 in this manner has proved quite effective, although, of course, there is now no member which falls directly into the line of vision of the golfer.

The device I0, because of its configuration, is naturally more sensitive when being used with shorter clubs, down to and including a putter. This is due to the fact that, when using The device is responsive to errors of turning the head, and more important, even more responsive to errors of the more serious lifting of the head. This is because, when the golfer tilts his head down, the arm 18 will become easily uncocked by an upward movement thereof.

It will be understood that the device 10 can be designed in many different ways, and fixed relative to the golfers head by a large variety of means. ln an case, the golfing device 10 is capable of properly detecting improper and undesired movement of the golfers head as he swings at a ball. The device 10 provides means for adjusting the sensitivity thereof to its proper setting, depending on the circumstances. Finally, it will be seen that the overall device 10 is extremely simple in design, and can be properly used in an easy and convenient manner.

lclaim:

1. A device for aiding a golfer in keeping his head still while golfing comprising:

a. a base adapted to be fixed relative to the golfers head;

b. an arm mounted to the base and pivotable relative thereto about an axis in first and second directions;

c. first stop means for limiting the movement of the arm relative to the base in the first direction at a first position;

d. second stop means for limiting the movement of the arm relative to the base in the second direction at a second position;

e. holding means for holding the arm from pivoting from said first position to said second position when the base is held relatively still;

mean for permitting the inertia of the arm to overcome the holding force of said holding means in response to various movements being imparted to said device, said movements being of the type corresponding to undesired head movements of a golfer while executing a golf club swing, so that when attached to a golfers head, upon an improper head movement by a golfer while executing a club swing, said arm will move from said first position to said second position; and g. said holding means comprising a spring fixed to and interconnecting the base and arm under tension in such a manner that pivoting of the arm from the first position toward the second position increases the tension of the spring to a maximum when the arm reaches a predetermined position relative to the base, from which position tension of the spring aids the inertia of the arm to move the arm to the second position.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein are included means for varying the point at which the spring is fixed to the base, to vary the position of the arm relative to the base at which maximum spring tension occurs.

3. A device according to claim 2 wherein is further included means removably fixed to the arm positioned to move into the line of vision of the golfer when the arm is in the second positron.

Claims (3)

1. A device for aiding a golfer in keeping his head still while golfing comprising: a. a base adapted to be fixed relative to the golfer''s head; b. an arm mounted to the base and pivotable relative thereto about an axis in first and second directions; c. first stop means for limiting the movement of the arm relative to the base in the first direction at a first position; d. second stop means for limiting the movement of the arm relative to the base in the second direction at a second position; e. holding means for holding the arm from pivoting from said first position to said second position when the base is held relatively still; f. mean for permitting the inertia of the arm to overcome the holding force of said holding means in response to various movements being imparted to said device, said movements being of the type corresponding to undesired head movements of a golfer while executing a golf club swing, so that when attached to a golfer''s head, upon an improper head movement by a golfer while executing a club swing, said arm will move from said first position to said second position; and g. said holding means comprising a spring fixed to and interconnecting the base and arm under tension in such a manner that pivoting of the arm from the first position toward the second position increases the tension of the spring to a maximum when the arm reaches a predetermined position relative to the base, from which position tension of the spring aids the inertia of the arm to move the arm to the second position.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein are included means for varying the point at which the spring is fixed to the base, to vary the position of the arm relative to the base at which maximum spring tension occurs.

3. A device according to claim 2 wherein is further included means removably fixed to the arm positioned to move into the line of vision of the golfer when the arm is in the second position.

Images