GB2134797A

GB2134797A - Golf club transporter

Info

Publication number: GB2134797A
Application number: GB08303422A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hugh Michael Benham
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1983-02-08
Filing date: 1983-02-08
Publication date: 1984-08-22
Also published as: GB8303422D0

Abstract

A transporter for golf clubs comprises a plurality of elongate tubes 2, 4 which are connected together side by side with their axes parallel to form a single tubular unit which defines an elongate interior space, the tubes 2 being adapted to accommodate the shafts of golf clubs. The interior space is divided into compartments by transverse bulkheads 6 and two or more adjacent tubes constitute a door which is pivotally connected to the remainder of the tubes and may be opened to provide access to the compartments. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Golf club transporter The present invention relates to transporters for golf clubs, that is to say containers for containing and transporting golf clubs to and around a golf course. Such transporters generally comprise an elongate container or bag which is open at one end and which is either carried by the user by means of a shoulder strap or is carried on a wheeled trolley with a handle by which it may be moved by the user.

Conventional golf bags are usually made of leather, plastics material or like flexible material and afford a single cavity to accommodate the shafts of the golf clubs. With, typically, fourteen clubs in a bag the shafts inevitably become disorganised and criss-crossed thus making the selection and removal of a particular club rather difficult and this is frequently aggravated by the tendency of the handles on the shafts to interlock.

Such bags generally have a number of external pockets for the accommodation of articles of clothing, golf tees and the like and when these pockets are used the bag tends to be distorted thereby further complicating the removal of a selected club.

Trolleys for golf bags are frequently collapsible but in their usual configuration constitute a stable framework to which the bag is connected by straps or the like. When in position on a trolley the bag tends to distort under its own weight which further complicates both removal and replacement of golf clubs and also access to the external pockets.

Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a golf transporter in which each club may be accommodated in a predetermined position in relation to the other and may be readily removed and reinserted without its handle or head being obstructed or impeded by that of the other clubs and which further provides one or more readily accessible storage compartments for additional equipment. It is a further object to provide such a transporter on a wheeled trolley which is constructionally simpler than known trolleys and is readily collapsible.

According to one aspect of the present invention a transporter for golf clubs comprises a plurality of elongate substantially rigid tubes which are connected together side by side with their axes substantially parallel and compartment means which defines an elongate interior space and together with the tubes forms a substantially rigid unit, at least some of the tubes being adapted to accommodate the shaft of a golf club and the compartment means including a door which may be opened to provide access to the interior space.

Thus in one embodiment of the invention the tubes are connected together in one or more straight lines, e.g. two lines of seven tubes each, to form a rectangular section unit connected to one side of which are three walls which define a space extending the length of the tubes and one of which is pivotally mounted to constitute a door to permit ready access to the space in which any desired items may be stored.

It is however preferred that the tubes themselves together constitute the compartment means and define the interior space. Thus according to a further aspect of the present invention a transporter for golf clubs comprises a plurality of elongate substantially rigid tubes which are connected together side by side with their axes substantially parallel to form a single tubular unit which defines an elongate interior space, at least some of the tubes being adapted to accommodate the shaft of a golf club, and two or more adjacent tubes constituting a door which is pivotally connected to the remainder of the tubes e.g. along one longitudinal side edge to provide access to the interior space.

Thus in the transporter of the present invention the golf clubs are accommodated in a respective one of the individual substantially rigid tubes which, in the preferred embodiment, are connected together to form a single tubular unit which may have any desired cross-section, e.g.

polygonal, but is preferably substantially circular.

The shafts of the clubs are accommodated in the tubes with their heads projecting from the tops of the tubes and it will be appreciated that, in the embodiment in which the tubes define the interior space, this results in the heads of the clubs being spaced apart from each other by the maximum possible distance and thus not interfering with each other or impeding the withdrawal of any selected club. In addition, it is impossible for the shafts of the clubs to get tangled or stuck together. The interior space within the tubular unit or defined by the separate compartment means connected to the tubes may then be used for the accommodation of additional items such as articles of clothing, golf tees and the like. This space is of course relatively long, that is to say approximately the same length as the shaft of a golf club.The transporter also preferably includes one or more bulkheads extending transverse to the length of the tubes and dividing the interior space into two or more compartments. Thus in the preferred embodiment access may be gained to the various compartments simultaneously simply by opening the door and it will be appreciated that whilst the uppermost compartment may be exposed to the elements, in particular rain, though a removable cover may be provided on the top of the transporter to prevent this, the remaining compartments are completely protected from the weather and are thus ideally suitable for storage purposes.

The tubes may be formed by integrally moulding two or more of them together and in the embodiment in which the tubes together define the interior space they may be formed as only two units of which one is the door connected by means of hinges to the other. The tubes may be moulded in a foamable plastics material, e.g.

polyurethane, and this opens up the possibility of the transporter constituting a hollow cylindrical shell in which a plurality of elongate parallel holes are formed, in which event the tubes are not separately identifiable but are integrally formed.

Such plastics materials can be foamed into a mould to produce a rigid component with a tough skin which may be imparted with a desired surface finish by appropriately texturing the surface of the mould. Alternatively individually formed tubes may be connected together by such a moulding process.

It is however preferred that separately formed tubes are used and these may be connected together by connecting each of them to the or each bulkhead or alternatively or additionally the tubes may be directly connected to one another.

The precise manner in which the tubes are connected together or to the bulkhead may depend on the material from which they are formed but it is preferred that these are either of plastics material, such as PVC, or of metal and that they are connected together and/or to the bulkheads either by welding or by means of adhesive.

Whilst all the tubes, which are preferably of circular cross-section, may have the same crosssectional area it is preferred that one or more of them have a larger cross-section than the remaining tubes so that they may house items larger than golf clubs, such as an umbrella. The bulkhead or one of the bulkheads is preferably positioned at the bottom of the tubes thereby closing the bottom of the interior space and the tubes are preferably provided with an end wall at their bottom ends also.

It is preferred that the tubes project up above the single bulkhead or the uppermost bulkhead thereby defining one compartment which is immediately accessible without opening the door.

The tubes preferably terminate at differing heights above this bulkhead to accommodate the differing lengths of the clubs and thus further diminishes the risk thar the heads of adjacent clubs might contact or become entangled. In the preferred embodiment some of the tubes, e.g. those which are intended to contain the "irons" are dimensioned such that their ends are spirally disposed, that is to say of progressively increasing height. It is preferred also that the upper ends of at least some of the tubes, e.g. those which are intended to accommodate the "irons", are formed with a slot adapted to accommodate the head or blade of a golf club whose shaft is within that tube.This enables the precise position of each club to be predetermined with respect to the transporter and each slot may be outwardly facing thereby ensuring that the clubs within those tubes all have their heads facing outwards thereby facilitating their selection and withdrawal.

Alternatively or in addition some or all of the tubes may have an inwardly facing slot at their upper end to retain the clubs with their heads facing inwards which facilitates transport of the transporter to a golf course and placing a cover over the top of the transporter.

The transporter may be designed to be carried over the shoulder, in which case it will preferably be provided with a shoulder strap. It is however preferred that it is connected to a wheeled trolley and it will be appreciated that since the tubular unit is substantially rigid it can form a structural component of the trolley whereas known golf trolleys must form a stable structure in themselves since the bag connected to it has no structural strength. It will be appreciated that in this context the term "rigid" does no preclude the possibility of a small degree of bending being possible, at least of the individual tubes, though when connected together even tubes of, say, PVC, will have relatively little flexibility.

The transporter preferably includes a handle by means of which it may be wheeled along and the trolley is preferably foldable from a use position in which the wheels are spaced from the tubes to a storage position in which the wheels are adjacent the tubes. The handle preferably extends substantially parallel to the tubes and is slidably connected to the tubes to be longitudinally movable with respect to them between a use position and a storage position in which it extends less far beyond the tubes than when in the use position.In the most preferred embodiment the wheels are carried by one or more struts which are pivotally connected to the tubes and to one or more further struts which are directly or indirectly pivotally connected to the handle, and the trolley is constructed and arranged so that movement of the handle between the use and storage positions moves the wheels between the use and storage positions also. Thus, as is conventional, the transporter is supported by the trolley at two separate points spaced apart along its length but it is not necessary that the trolley be provided with a structural member interconnecting these two points since this function is fulfilled by the tubular unit itself.

Further features and details of the invention will be apparent from the following description of two specific embodiments which is given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic end view of a golf club transporter in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the transporter of Figure 1 with the lid in the-open position; Figure 3 is a scrap side elevation of the top of the transporter; Figure 4 is a scrap end sectional elevation showing the lid in the open position and a single hinge; and Figure 5 is a diagrammatic perspective view from underneath of the trolley to which the transporter is connected; and Figure 6 is a perspective view of the golf transporter on a slightly modified construction of trolley.

As seen in Figures 1 and 2, the transporter comprises fourteen tubes 2 of the same diameter and one tube 4 of larger diameter which are connected together side by side over their entire length by means of solvent adhesive to form a single substantially rigid tubular unit which in this case is of circular cross-section. The tubes are made of PVC and the space within the tubular unit is traversed by four equispaced substantially planar bulkheads 6 extending transverse to the length of the tubes and thereby dividing the interior space into four compartments of which the uppermost one is open to the atmosphere.The lowermost bulkhead is substantially flush with the lower ends of the tubes 2 and 4 and is formed with a central hole 8 which permits any water which may have gained access to the interior of the transporter to drip out again as do the holes 10 formed in an end wall closing the bottom of each tube. The periphery of each bulkhead is formed with a plurality of part-circular recesses which accommodate the individual tubes 2 and 4 and are connected thereto by adhesive thereby imparting additional rigidity to the transporter.

However, the large tube 4 and the smaller tube 2 on each side of it are connected not to the bulkheads 6 but to correspondingly positioned subsidiary bulkheads or straps 12. At one end, each strap 1 2 is provided with a projecting flange or hinge member 14 affording a part-circular edge portion which engages the periphery of the adjacent small tube 2. The tube 2 connected to the strap 12 nearest the hinge member 14, that is to say the tube on the right of the large tube 4 as seen in Figure 1, is not positively connected to the small tube adjacent it but it carries a tangentially extending flap 1 6 over its entire length which engages the external surface of the adjacent tube 2 under the action of its own resilience.The flap 1 6 and hinge member 14 together constitute a snap hinge by means of which the large tube 4 and the two adjacent small tubes 2 which together with the straps 12 constitute a door are connected to the remainder of the tubes. The door is therefore connected to the remainder of the tubes by deflecting the flap 1 6 outwardly and bringing the circular section surface of the hinge member 14 into contact with the periphery of the adjacent tube 2. The resilience of the flap 1 6 maintains the connection between the door and the remainder of the tubes whilst the circular surface on the hinge member 14 permits rotation of the door from the open position shown in Figure 4 to the closed position in which the door completes the circular configuration of the transporter shown in Figure 1.The tube 2 on the other side of the larger tube 4, that is to say on the left hand side as seen in Figure 1, carries a tangentially extending flap 1 8 which engages the adjacent tube 2 when the door is in the closed position and forms a dust and water seal. It will thus be appreciated that the door and the remainder of the tubes are connected together by adhesive (shown at 20 in Figure 4) to form two separate units which are connected together by the snap hinge 14 and 1 6 to form a single substantially tubular unit. When the door is open access may readily be had to all the compartments defined by the bulkheads 6 simultaneously whilst when the door is closed these compartments are concealed and all but the uppermost one are shielded from rain and dirt.

As can be seen in Figure 3, all the tubes extend differing distances above the uppermost bulkhead 6. The tubes are in fact dimensioned such that the upper ends of most of them are disposed in a spiral configuration, that is to say of progressively increasing height. This spiral is however interrupted by the two tubes in the door adjacent the hinge end which are rather shorter to ensure that when the door is opened the heads of the clubs in these tubes do not contact those of the clubs in the adjacent tubes and also by four tubes opposite the door which are also rather shorter and intended to accommodate the "woods".All those tubes which are intended to accommodate an "iron", that is to say all the tubes except the single large tube 4, the four shorter tubes which are intended to accommodate the "woods" and one tube in the door to accommodate a "putter", are provided with an outwardly directed slot or notch 20 which, in use, accommodates the blade of the "iron" within that tube and thus ensures that all the blades are retained facing outwardly which facilitates the selection and withdrawal of an individual club and ensures that the blades do not become tangled with one another.

Thus, in use, the large tube 4 is used to accommodate a large object such as an umbrella, those tubes with a slot 20 are used to accommodate a respective "iron" and the remaining tubes are used to accommodate the "woods" and a "putter". The blades of the clubs are thus all retained facing outwardly around a relatively large circle and at different heights and can therefore easily be selected, withdrawn and replaced without the blades of any one club coming into contact with that of any other club.

The compartments defined by the bulkheads 6 are used to accommodate articles such as clothing, golf tees and the like and these are protected from dirt and rain by virtue of the fact that the tubes are connected together along their entire length. If access is required to any of the compartments the door is simply hinged outwardly thereby exposing all the compartments simultaneously.

As so far described, the transporter can be simply carried by the user and for this purpose a shoulder strap would be provided connected to the transporter. However, in this embodiment the transporter is mounted on a two wheeled trolley which is illustrated in part diagrammatically from below in Figure 5. The trolley comprises two wheels 30 carried by respective struts 32 which are pivotally connected to a metallic strap 34 which extends part way round the circumference of the tubular transporter and is secured thereto by means of bolts (not shown) and by virtue of the fact that its two ends are curved inwardly and secured between two abutting individual tubes 2.

The trolley further has an elongate handle 35 which extends in the longitudinal direction of the tubular transporter and projects beyond its open end and may thus be used to wheel the transporter along on the trolley. The handle 35 is connected to the transporter by means of a first sliding guide 36 which is connected to the transporter by any convenient means and by means of a second sliding guide 38 which is connected to the strap 34 and is provided with a rapid release, constituted in this case by a bolt and a wing nut 40, which is used to clamp the handle in any desired position or to render the handle free for longitudinal sliding movement between a use position in which it may be readily grasped by the user to wheel the trolley along and a storage position in which the handle projects only a small distance beyond the open end of the transporter.

Each strut 32 is pivotally connected about midway along its length to one end of a respective further strut 42 whose other end is pivotally connected to a slider member carried on the handle between the two sliding guides 36 and 38.

This slider member comprises two spaced rings 44 extending around the handle and connected together by a single bar 46 extending parallel to the handle. Connected to the handle between the two rings 44 is an engagement member 48 constituted in this case by a ring firmly bolted to the handle.

When the trolley and transporter are in use, the handle 35 extends some distance beyond the open end of the transporter and is there clamped in position by tightening the wing nut 40 on the sliding guide 38. The struts 32 of the trolley extend substantially perpendicular to the length of the transporter and remain in this position by virtue of the fact that the ring 44 closest to the free end of the handle is in engagement with the ring 48 carried by the handle. In this configuration the transporter and trolley will stand unattended, contacting the ground at the two wheels and the bottom end of the tubular transporter. If it is desired to fold the trolley for storage or transport purposes, the wing nut 40 is loosened and the handle 35 slid downwardly so as to reduce the distance by which it projects beyond the open end of the transporter.This movement of the handle results in the ring 48 moving downwardly parallel to the length of the transporter and then engaging the lower ring 44 of the slider member thereby pivoting the struts 32 and wheels 30 downwardly, that is to say towards the base of the transporter, until the struts 32 extend substantially parallel to the length of the transporter. The trolley may be clamped in this position by re-tightening the nut 40 and will occupy a reduced amount of space for storage purposes. If it is required to use the trolley again the nut 40 is of course released and the handle 35 pulled upwardly which results in the ring 48 on the handle engaging the uppermost ring 44 of the slider member and thus returning the wheels to their operative position. It will be appreciated that together the trolley and the transporter constitute a stable structural unit but that the transporter is essential to impart stability to the trolley.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a modified construction in which the tubular transporter has a similar construction to that described above but the trolley is somewhat simplified. The second sliding guide 38 accommodating the handle 35 is connected to the tubes rather than the strap 34 and the struts 42 are directly pivotally connected to the handle. The releasable wing nut 40 is carried by the upper sliding guide 36. It will be appreciated that in this construction sliding movement of the handle 35 subsequent to releasing the wing nut 40 will result in an immediate corresponding pivotal movement of the wheels 30 between the operative and storage positions.

Claims

1. A transporter for golf clubs comprising a plurality of elongate substantially rigid tubes which are connected together side by side with their axes substantially parallel and compartment means which defines an elongate interior space and together with the tubes forms a substantially rigid unit, at least some of the tubes being adapted to accommodate the shaft of a golf club and the compartment means including a door which may be opened to provide access to the interior space.

2. A transporter for golf clubs comprising a plurality of elongate substantially rigid tubes which are connected together side by side with their axes substantially parallel to form a single tubular unit which defines an elongate interior space, at least some of the tubes being adapted to accommodate the shaft of a golf club, and two or more adjacent tubes constituting a door which is pivotally connected to the remainder of the tubes to provide access to the interior space.

3. A transporter as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 including one or more bulkheads extending transverse to the length of the tubes and dividing the interior space into two or more compartments.

4. A transporter as claimed in Claim 2 and Claim 3 in which the tubes are connected to the or each bulkhead.

5. A transporter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which adjacent tubes are directly connected to one another.

6. A transporter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which one or more tubes are of larger cross section than the remaining tubes and are adapted to house items larger than golf clubs, such as an umbrella.

7. A transporter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the tubes are provided with an end wall at their bottom ends.

8. A transporter as claimed in Claim 3 or any subsequent claim when dependent thereon including at least two bulkheads of which one is substantially flush with the bottom ends of the tubes.

9. A transporter as claimed in Claim 3 or any subsequent claim when dependent thereon in which the upper ends of the tubes project up beyond the bulkhead or the uppermost bulkhead.

10. A transporter as claimed in Claim 2 and Claim 9 in which at least some of the tubes are dimensioned such that their ends are spirally disposed.

1 A transporter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the upper ends of at least some of the tubes are formed with a slot adapted to accommodate the blade of a golf club whose shaft is within that tube.

12. A transporter as claimed in any one of the preceding claims which is connected to a wheeled trolley.

13. A transporter as claimed in Claim 12 in which the trolley includes a handle by means of which it may be wheeled along and in which the trolley is foldable from a use position in which the wheels are spaced from the tubes to a storage position in which the wheels are adjacent the tubes.

14. A transporter as claimed in Claim 13 in which the handle extends substantially parallel to the tubes and is slidably connected to the tubes to be longitudinally movable with respect thereto between a use position and a storage position in which it extends less far beyond the tubes than when in the use position.

1 5. A transporter as claimed in Claims 13 and 14 in which the wheels are carried by one or more struts which are pivotally connected to the tubes and to one or more further struts which are directly or indirectly pivotally connected to the handle, the tolley being constructed and arranged so that movement of the handle between the use and storage positions moves the wheels between the use and storage positions aiso.

16. A transporter as claimed in Claim 1 5 in which the further strut or struts are pivotally connected to a slider member which is carried by, but longitudinally slidable with respect to, the handle, the slider member having two spaced engagement members and the handle having an engagement member connected thereto and arranged to contact one or another of the slider engagement members to move the wheels between the use and folded positions, whereby the handle may move by a distance equal to the spacing of the slider engagement members without causing any movement of the wheels.

1 7. A transporter for golf clubs substantially as specifically herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 5 or Figure 6 of the accompanying drawings.