US20060229144A1

US20060229144A1 - Durable golf tee construction

Info

Publication number: US20060229144A1
Application number: US10/907,580
Authority: US
Inventors: Hsien Ming Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-04-06
Filing date: 2005-04-06
Publication date: 2006-10-12

Abstract

A durable golf tee construction to prevent the loss of or damage to golf tees, allowing golf players to play many rounds of golf using only one golf tee. Breakable but connected tee prevents the tee to be damaged upon striking; a string connected two tees allowing the easy location of tee, and thus preventing loss of tee.

Description

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to design and construction of durable and reusable golf tees. The main advantage of present invention helps to reduce the loss of or damages to the golf tee, and therefore, has great environmental value.
Golf tees traditionally are simply a wood stick with a widened seat on top for the ball to be placed. Although tees are relatively inexpensive and golfers usually carry a package of them in the golf bags, golfers sometimes run into problems when these one-time-use tees are used up in a game.
Present invention provides a durable golf tee that allows golf players to carry only ONE tee of present invention and do not need to worry about buying a bunch of tees again and again.
Because golfers need not repeatedly buy those one-time golf tees, present invention also has high environmental value in reducing wasted material.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Present invention has a unique construction of a paired-up tees, wherein a first tee has a separable ball seat portion, so that the tee will not be damaged by golf swings.
Furthermore, a string is utilized to connect the first separable tee to a second tee, so that even when the first tee is hit up in the air, the string along with the second tee actually pull back and stop the first tee from flying out and disappear into any long grassy area on or around the tee-off box in the golf course.
The string used to connect the separable first tee and the second tee also helps to create a line for golfers to visualize and provides a good guidance for improving golf games.
The ball seat of the first tee is separable from, but connected to the center ring and base by a combination of a wire and spring, creating the desired structure to withstand hitting and quick restoration to original shape.
Present invention has great advantage over prior art application 2003/0181262 (“262 Application”, Hyung Choon Lee, filing date Sep. 17, 2002) in that:
(1) said 262 Application uses a clevis pin (8) to connect the ball seat to the base; often times these hard pins tend to break.
(2) said 262 Application has a flush outside circumference at the juncture of the body (1) and the projecting portion (11*). This “flush” junction lacks the advantage of present invention's extended outer circumferential edge that provides convenience for ease of handling. (*Note: 262 Application's notation of elements projecting portion 10 and ring hole 11 could be wrong; the two notation should be swapped.)
(3) said tee of 262 Application could become lost in the grass, just like other regular tees, lacking the string/second tee pulling of present invention, which ensures golfers will always be able to locate the tee.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A brief description of the drawings is as follows:
FIG. 1 shows the durable golf tee having a first tee and a second tee connected by a string.
FIG. 2 a shows the assembled profile view of first tee.
FIG. 2 b shows the exploded view of first tee.
FIG. 3 shows the position of the ball seat being slanted, upon striking by golf clubs.
FIG. 4 shows the present golf tee construction can be used to help line up golfer's swing to the target by keeping the string tight and lined up to the target.
FIG. 5 shows the existence of extended circumference on the center ring portion, for ease of human handling.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PERFERRED EMBODIMENT

Present invention uses the prevalent rubber or plastic material as the main ingredient for the production of the tee. These materials include, but are not limited to, PE, PVC, PU, etc., and help to enhance the durability of present invention. These are common art materials and need no disclosure herein.
FIG. 1 shows a first tee 100, connected to a second tee 200, by a string 150. By using this pair of tees connect by a string 150, golfers will be able to locate the tee after striking the ball (sitting on top of the tee), because the tee being struck upon (whether it's tee 100 or tee 200, depending on the use), the other tee will pull back the “flying out” action of the tee being struck upon. The string 150 can be made of bright color and thus helping to locate the tee construction.
FIGS. 2 a and 2 b show the breakable/separable construction of first tee 100. First tee 100 is further made up of 3 main parts: ball seat 80, center ring portion 50 and base 20. Ball seat 80 has an inner hollowed out space to receive a spring 86 and a wire 83.
Center ring portion 50 has a upright protruding 51 that is sized to snugly receive the opening of the inner hollowed out space of the ball seat 80, easily aligning the ball seat 80 to the center ring portion 50 and the base 20, as shown in the assembled view of FIG. 2 a.
To enhance the connectivity of the wire 83 to the top of spring 86 and the center ring portion 50, an upper end-clamp 839 and a lower end-clamp 831 are used to secure said wire 83 in place, so that the upper end of wire 83 will pull and compress said spring 86 towards the base, at time of impact from a golf swing.
Alternatively, lower end of wire 83 can be connected, through a hole in the center ring portion 50, and directly to the base 20, allowing different manufacturing arrangement to be made.
FIG. 3 shows the separable ball seat 80 of first tee 100 can be slanted and swayed as struck upon by golf clubs. When a golf player hits the ball, the ball seat 80 will be momentarily slanted, wire 83 pulls back the spring 86, so that the spring 86 will be in a stated of compression, exerting force to restore to the spring's original uncompressed state. Such a construction allows the first tee 100 to absorb the impact of a golf swing and hit by breaking away, yet remains connected by the wire 83 and then quickly restore its previous state due to the spring's 86 resilient force.
FIG. 4 shows the string 150 can be used to help line up golfer's swing, creating more utility for present invention. Depending on preference, golfers can switch the two tees and use the second tee 200 as the ball-striking tee, so that the ball sits lower and closer to the ground, creating better hitting surface more akin to using iron shot than a driver (using woods).
FIG. 5 shows the center ring portion 50 has extended outer circumferential edge (as marked by letters a and b) to allow better and convenient handling by human figures.

Claims

1. A durable golf tee construction, comprising:

a. A first golf tee having a base, a center ring portion, and a separable but connected ball seat;

b. A second golf tee; and,

c. A string connecting said first and second tee.

2. The golf tee of claim 1, wherein said separable ball seat of the first golf tee has a hollowed out inner space to receive a spring and a wire slidably stringing through the coaxial core of said string, with one end of the wire connected to said center ring portion and the other end of the wire fixed to one end of said spring, so that said ball seat may be temporarily separated from said center ring portion, but remain connected, and so that said spring, in its compressed state, will exert force on said ball seat to resume its original state of being connected to said center ring portion.

3. The golf tee of claim 2, wherein said center ring portion has a protruding sized to fit the diameter of the hollowed out inner space of said ball seat so that the ball seat will be easily aligned with the center ring portion and base after temporarily separated from said center ring portion after being struck upon by golf clubs.

4. The golf tee of claim 3, wherein said wire inside the hollowed inner space of said ball seat has an upper end-clamp and a lower end-clamp, respectively for connecting to said spring and said center ring portion.

5. The golf tee of claim 4, wherein said lower end-clamp can be optionally connected, through a hole in the center ring portion, to said base.

6. The golf tee of claim 3, wherein said center ring portion has extended outer circumferential edge for easy human maneuvering.

7. The golf tee of claim 3, wherein said base is made of metal.