• 专利附录
  • 专利说明
  • 权利要求
  • 类似技术
  • 同族专利
  • 引用文献
  • 法律状态
  • 优先权
    • 专利摘要:
    A golf putter protection case is provided for protection of the putter head and holding the golf putter in a vertical orientation. The golf putter includes an injection molded case with a spring loaded pivotable rear portion. The rear portion is biased to firmly secure the head of the golf putter in a predetermined position within the case while permitting the putter head to be easily withdrawn from the case. The case has a stability to hold the golf putter in the vertical orientation when it is placed on the ground. The golf putter protection case protects the putter head when the putter is carried with or without a golf club bag and permits the golf putter to stay upright in a unique hands-free manner, thereby allowing line of sight determination which assists in aiming at target holes. Keeping the putter upright also helps keep the handles and shaft from being soiled or damaged while on the ground.
    公开号:CA2298113A1
    申请号:C2298113
    申请日:2000-02-09
    公开日:2001-08-04
    发明作者:Lawrence Winterfeld；Jack Dworkind
    申请人:CONTINENTAL VISPAK INC.；
    IPC主号:A63B55-10
    专利说明:
    GOLF PUTTER CASE This invention relates to golf clubs in order to provide conven-ience for golfers and, particularly, to a device which serves both as a protec-tion case and a stand for a golf club. Golfers must carry several different clubs with them while playing the game of golf. From time to time, a particular club that has just been used is laid aside while a different club is then selected for further use.In another situation, a chipper may be used while a putter is left on the ground. Experience has shown that golfers sometimes forget the club that was momentarily laid aside and it is then lost. Furthermore, there is a risk of damaging the club by golfers accidentally stepping on the clubs left on the ground. Efforts have been made in providing a device for supporting a golf club in a highly visible and easily retrievable position above the grass surface. Examples are described in U. S. Patent No. 4,832,338 which issued to Magazzi on May 23, 1989 and U. S. Patent No. 5,782,443 which issued to La Fontaine on July 21, 1998. Both devices described in the above patents are types of stands which have horizontal top plates or rod members as a base member to hold a club in an upstanding orientation, and two horizontally zo spaced spikes depending downwardly from the base member to be driven into the ground. The stands in the prior art do not cover the club head and, therefore, have no protective function for the club head. Moreover, the stands must be planted into the ground before the clubs can be installed on them, and they represent additional devices to be carried separately from the clubs. There exists a need for a device which serves not only as a stand for golf clubs but also as a protective case for the club heads, particu-larly for a putter, and can be easily carried together on the clubs. _2_ It is an object of the present invention to provide a golf club case which protects the club head when the club is carried in a golf bag or placed on the ground. It is another object of the present invention to provide a stand to hold a golf club in an upstanding orientation on the ground, which can be conveniently placed on the ground. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a golf club case which receives the club head of a golf club therein and has a stabil-ity to hold the club in an upstanding orientation when the case is placed on the ground. It is a further object of the invention to provide an aide to improve a golfer's putting game by permitting the golfer to better aim and direct the ball on a proper line to the hole. In general terms, a golf club case comprises a rigid hollow body for detachably receiving a head of a golf club therein for protection and has a stability to hold the club in an upstanding orientation when the golf club case is placed on the ground. The rigid hollow body preferably comprises a top opening for receiving the club head inserted therethrough into the hollow body and a bottom surface adapted to be supported on the ground, the body zo including a movable member adapted to detachably secure the club head in a predetermined position within the body so to ensure that the club is held in the upstanding orientation. The movable member is preferably a pivotable rear portion of the hollow body. The golf club case may further include a base surface within the hollow body, shaped to receive the club head so that a shaft of the club is in a substantially vertical orientation when the club is held by the case placed on the ground. More especially, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a golf club case for holding a golf club in an upstanding 30 orientation comprises: an upper section with a rear portion, forming a main casing of the case; a sole section attached to a bottom of the main casing, forming the case having a top opening; a base section restrained within the case for supporting the golf club in the upstanding orientation when the club head is inserted through the top opening into the case and seated on the base section; and the rear portion of the upper section being pivotable relative to the upper section and biased to releasably secure the golf club in the upstanding orientation. The upper section, sole section and base section are preferably made of injection molded material. The golf club case according to the present invention advanta-geously permits the golf club to stand upright in a unique hands-free manner, thereby allowing line of sight determination which assists in aiming at the hole on the green. Keeping the clubs upright also helps keep the handles from being soiled while not in use. Furthermore, the club head of the golf clubs are protected by the cases which are conveniently carried together with the clubs with or without golf club bags. Having thus generally described the nature of the invention, reference will now be made to a preferred embodiment thereof and accompa-nying drawings, shown by way of illustration only, in which: FIG. 1 is a longitudinally cross-sectional view of a golf club case according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, holding a golf club which is partially shown; Zo FIG. 2 is a partially exploded perspective view of the embodi-ment in FIG. 1, with the golf club and a spring removed, partially showing the inside of the case; FIG. 3a is a top view of an upper section of the case shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 3b is a side view of the upper section shown in FIG. 3a; FIG. 3c is a cross-sectional view of the upper section taken along line 3c-3c in FIG. 3a; FIG. 3d is a cross-sectional view of the upper section taken along line 3d-3d in FIG. 3b;3o FIG. 3e appears on the sheet of FIG. 3a and is a cross-sectional view of the upper section taken along line 3e-3e in FIG. 3b; FIG. 3f appears on the sheet of FIG. 3b and is a cross-sectional view of the upper section taken along line 3f-3f in FIG. 3b; FIG. 4a is a side view of a base section of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 4b is a bottom view of the base section shown in FIG. 4a; FIG. 4c is a cross-sectional view of the base section taken along line 4c-4c in FIG. 4b; FIG. 5 is a bottom view of a sole section of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 6 is a bottom view of a shield of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2; FIG. 7a is a front view of a rear portion of the embodiment in FIG. 1; FIG. 7b is a bottom view of the rear portion shown in FIG. 7a; FIG. 7c is a side view of the rear portion shown in FIG. 7a; and FIG. 7d is cross-sectional view of the rear portion taken along line 7d-7d. FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the invention, a putter protection case, generally indicated by reference numeral 20, which holds a Zo golf putter 10 in an upstanding orientation. All parts of the putter protection case 20, except those particularly specified, may be made from rigid plastic material, preferably from injection molded A.B.S. Other injection molded mate-rials may be used. The putter protection case 20 is more clearly illustrated in FIG. 2. The case 20 includes an upper section 22 with a rear portion 24, forming a main casing of the case. A sole section 26 is provided at the bottom of the upper section 22 so as to form a hollow body with an opening 28 at the top. A base section 30 is restrained within the case 20 and formed to receive the putter head 12 of the golf putter 10 when the toe of the putter 3o head 12 is inserted through the top opening 28 into the case 20. The rear portion 24 is pivotable about a pair of pivotal pins 32 which are received respectively in two circular recesses 34 (see FIG. 2). The circular recesses 34 are formed between the upper section 22 and the base section 30, and will be explained below with reference to FIGs. 3c and 4a. Aspiral spring 36 in a conical shape is provided between the lower end of the rear portion 24 and the base section 30 so that the rear portion 24 is biased counterclockwise to secure the heel of the putter head 12 within the case 20 while permitting the putter head 12 to be easily withdrawn from the case 20. FIGs. 3a to 3f show the upper section 22 which is in a U-shape and includes a front portion 38 and two side portions 40. The side portion 40 in a side view is like a shape of a skate boot and has vertical ribs 42 at its inner side and vertical ribs 44 at its external side to increase the rigidity of the upper section 22. The transverse dimension of the ribs 44 increases from the top to the bottom to increase the stability of the case 20. The U-shaped upper section 22 with the rear portion 24, which covers the rear opening of the U-shaped upper section 22, forms a main casing to receive the head 12 of the putter 10 therein.FIGs. 4a to 4c show the base section 30 which includes a box portion 46, a rear plate 48, and two side plates 50. A top surface 52 of the box portion 46 is curved to fit to the outline of the base 14 of the putter head 12 (see FIG. 1 ), and especially has a concavely curved front portion 54 to zo receive a toe portion 16 of the putter head 12. The top surface 52 of the box portion 46 is oriented forwardly and downwardly at an angle so that the shaft 18 of the putter 10 is in a substantially vertical orientation when the putter head 12 is supported on the top surface 52 of the box portion 46 and the base section 30 is horizontally positioned. The rear plate 48 is provided for connection to the sole section 26 which is more clearly shown in FIG. 5 and will be described in more detail hereinafter. The inner side of each side portion 40 of the upper section 22 has recessed areas 56 and 58 which generally correspond to and receive the 3o respective outline of the box portion 46 and side plate 50 of the base section 30, and restrain the displacement of the base section 30 when it is assembled into the case 20. It is noted that a semi-circular curve 60 is provided at the top of the recess 58 and a corresponding semi-circular curved recess 62 is formed on the top of the side plate 50 so that the completely circular recess 34 is formed in the combination of the semi-circular curved recesses 60, 62 when the side plate 50 is received in the recessed area 58. It is also noted that the sidewalls of the box portion 46 of the base section 30 are slightly tapered from the bottom to the top, as shown in FIG. 4c, to facilitate both the injection molding process and the assembly process. A central rib 64 is attached beneath the top surface 52 of the box portion 46, extending longitudinally to increase the rigidity of the base section 30. The sole section 26, shown in FIG. 5, includes a plate having a shape corresponding to the bottom of the U-shaped upper section 22. The outline of an enlarged rear portion 66 of the sole section 26 corresponds to and is slightly larger than an outline 67 shown in broken lines in FIG. 3a, defined by the enlarged bottoms of the ribs 44 so that the sole section 26 provides an enlarged base supporting the case 20 on the ground, stable enough to hold the golf putter 10 in the upstanding orientation. The bottom surface of the sole section 26 is provided with projecting treads which may be in any tread patterns, one example of which is shown in FIG. 5.zo Two positioning pins 68 protrude upwards from the top surface of the sole section 26 (see FIG. 1 ) and are snugly received in two holes 70 (see FIG. 4b), respectively, which are located at the respective front corners of the box portion 46 of the base section 30. One mounting hole 72 is included at each side in the enlarged rear section 66 of the sole section 26. The mounting hole 72 at each side is aligned with a mounting hole 74, verti-cally extending through a block 76 (see FIG. 4b) which is attached to either side of the rear plate 48 of the base section 30. The holes 74 in turn are aligned with respective mounting holes 78, each extending vertically through a block 80 (see FIG. 3f) which is attached to either external side of the side 3o portion 40 of the upper section 22. With this structure, a screw bolt (not shown) is enabled to be inserted from the bottom to the top through the mounting holes 72, 74, and 78 to engage a nut (not shown) or threads provided within the holes 78, in order to fasten the upper section 22, base section 30 and the sole section 26 together in an assembly. The rear plate 48 of the base section 30 includes an enlarged and extended rear portion 82 with a treaded undersurface (see FIG. 4b) which is formed as an extended rear part of the sole section 26 when the sole section 26 is assembled with the base section 30 and the upper section 22 to further increase the stability of the case 20. FIG. 6 shows a shield 84 which can be made from aluminum or steel using a stamping process. The shield and equivalent parts could also be made from plastics material. The shield 84 has a side outline 85 which is shown in FIG. 2 and corresponds to the rear part of the side portion of the upper section 22, and a bottom outline 86, similar to the outline 67 shown in broken lines in FIG. 3a. Therefore, the shield 84 is enabled to perfectly cover the ribs 44, the mounting bolt and nut at each side of the side portion 40, and provides an aesthetic exterior of the case. An integral tab 88 extends inwardly from the bottom of the shield 84. A mounting hole 90 is provided through the tab 88 so that when the tab 88 is inserted between the sole section 26 and the block 76 of the base section 30, the mounting hole 90 is enabled to be aligned with the other mounting holes 72, 74, and 78 to receive the mounting bolt zo extending through. The rear portion 24 is illustrated in FIGs. 7a to 7c. The rear portion 24 includes two parallel side walls 92 which has a curved rear outline similar to the corresponding part of the outline of the upper section 22. The front outline of the sidewalls 92 include two straight sections 96, 98 and a semi-circular curve 100 which matches the outline of heel 19 of the putter head 12, as shown in FIG. 1. A middle wall 102 interconnects the two side-walls 92. The middle wall 102 is formed with curved surfaces as better shown in FIGs. 2 and 7b to serve both an aesthetic purpose and an operative function. The middle wall 102 is generally recessed inwardly to abut the heel 30 19 of the putter head 12 while the curved rear outline 94 generally matches the corresponding outline of the upper section 22 (see FIG. 1 ). The pivot pins 32 extend outwardly from the respective sidewalls 92 and are rotatably _$_ received in the circular recesses 34 to permit the rear portion 24 to pivot clockwise or counterclockwise about the axis of the pivot pins 32. The pivot pins 32 must be received in the respective circular recesses 34 during the assembly of the upper section 22 and the base section 30. The spiral spring 36 (see FIG. 1 ) is attached at its ends to the box portion 46 and the lower portion of the middle wall 102. The spiral spring 36 has an appropriate length when it is not compressed so that the rear portion 24 is maintained in a proper position convenient for receiving the putter head 12 being inserted into the case 20. Otherwise, a stop member (not shown) must ~o be provided to prevent the rear portion 24 from over-pivoting counterclockwise to cause inconvenience for placing the putter head 12 of the golf putter 10 into the case 20. When the golf putter 10 is not in use and to be placed into the case 20, the golfer places his or her foot on the extended rear portion 82 of rear plate 48 (see FIG. 1 ), and holds the shaft 18 to place the toe 16 of the putter head 12 in the forward portion 54 of the case 22. The shaft is rotated clockwise so that the heel 19 of the putter head 12 abuts the rear portion 24 to pivot clockwise against the spring force and the heel 19 engages the concavely curved recess 100 defined in the rear portion 24 as shown in Fig. 1.Zo Thus the club head 12 is secured in the predetermined position in which the shaft 18 of the putter 10 extends substantially vertical. When the golf putter is needed for use, the golfer again places his or her foot on rear portion 82 and the shaft 18 is rotated counterclockwise so that the putter head 12 is rotated to force the heel 19 out of curved recess 100 of rear portion 24 and cause it to pivot clockwise against the spring force, and then the putter head 12 is easily removed from the case 20. When the club is fitted with the case 20 the case can be placed on the green several feet behind the ball with the putter in an upstanding mode. The golfer steps back an additional few feet behind the putter, allowing 3o the golfer to view with ease what is commonly known as "line of sight" from this and all areas on the green. This will help the golfer estimate the angle of _g_ the green and enable the golfer to better direct and aim the ball on the proper line towards the hole. This method takes the need of "plum bobbing" away (whereby the golfer kneels down and tries to hold the putter behind the ball, but in the air and in front of the golfer, at the same time closing one eye to see the line in which the ball will travel).The golf putter protection case can be used for any type of golf clubs and the foregoing description is intended to be exemplary rather than limiting. Modifications and improvements to the above-described embodiment of the invention may become apparent to those skilled in the art and may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which are intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
    权利要求:
    Claims (11)
    [1] 1. A golf club case comprising a rigid hollow body for detachably receiving a club head of a golf club therein for protection, and having a stabil-ity to hold the club in an upstanding orientation when the golf club case is placed on the ground.
    [2] 2. A golf club case as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rigid hollow body comprises a top opening for receiving the club head inserted there-through into the hollow body and a bottom surface adapted to be supported on the ground, the body including a movable member adapted to detachably secure the club head in a predetermined position within the body so as to ensure the club being held in the upstanding orientation.
    [3] 3. A golf club case as claimed in claim 2, wherein the movable member is a pivotable rear portion of the hollow body.
    [4] 4. A golf club case as claimed in claim 3, comprising a base surface, within the hollow body, which is shaped to receive the club head so that a shaft of the club is in a substantially vertical orientation when the club is held by the case on the ground.
    [5] 5. A golf club case as claimed in claim 4, wherein the base surface includes a concavely curved portion shaped to the toe of the club head for positioning the club head in the predetermined position within the hollow body.
    [6] 6. A golf club case claimed in claim 5, wherein the pivotable rear portion is biased by a resilient force to contact the heel of the club head in order to secure the club head in the predetermined position within the hollow body.
    [7] 7. A golf club protection case for holding a golf club in an upstand-ing orientation comprising:an upper section with a rear portion, forming a main casing of the case;a sole section attached to a bottom of the main casing, forming the case having a top opening;a base section restrained within the case for supporting the golf club in the upstanding orientation when the club head is inserted through the top opening into the case and seated on the base section; and the rear portion of the main casing being pivotable relative to the upper section and biased to releasably secure the golf club in the upstanding orientation.
    [8] 8. A golf club protection case as claimed in claim 7, wherein the upper section, sole section and the base section are made of injection molded material.
    [9] 9. A golf club protection case as claimed in claim 8, wherein a pair of metal shields cover two respective rear sides of the case.
    [10] 10. A golf club protection case as claimed in claim 8, wherein a pair of plastic shields cover two respective rear sides of the case.
    [11] 11. A golf club protection case as claimed in claim 7, wherein the base section comprises a supporting surface on which the club head of the golf club is seated, the supporting surface being formed so that the golf club is held in a substantially vertical orientation.
    类似技术:
    公开号 | 公开日 | 专利标题
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    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    引用文献:
    公开号 | 申请日 | 公开日 | 申请人 | 专利标题
    US20170282033A1|2013-11-06|2017-10-05|PutterUp, LLC|Combined golf club head cover and stand|
    法律状态:
    2003-02-10| FZDE| Dead|
    优先权:
    申请号 | 申请日 | 专利标题
    US49768100A| true| 2000-02-04|2000-02-04||
    US09/497,681||2000-02-04||
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