GB2333712A

GB2333712A - Golf bag stand

Info

Publication number: GB2333712A
Application number: GB9809222A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Seop Maeng
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1998-02-16
Filing date: 1998-04-29
Publication date: 1999-08-04
Also published as: KR200336201Y1; GB9809222D0; KR19990036191U

Abstract

A golf bag comprises a stand with an actuating lever 4. The stand consists of two legs 3 which are hinged to a bracket 2 of the bag body at their top ends, while the actuating lever 4, used for selectively opening the two legs 3, is hinged to the two legs 3 at the top end and is kept in contact with the bag body while being operated. A support member 5, positioned at the bottom of the bag body, is provided with a vertical cutout 51 for holding a holding loop 43 of the actuating lever 4, thus allowing the lever 4 to be kept in contact with the bag body during an operation of the lever. In an alternative embodiment the actuating lever 4 is inserted into the bag body through an insert hole (Fig. 7). The above constructions effectively reduce the gap between the bag body and the stand-leg actuating lever thus preventing the introduction of impurities into the gap.

Description

GOLF BAG WITH STAND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates, in general, to a golf bag with a stand and, more particularly, to a golf bag capable of effectively reducing the gap between the bag body and the stand-leg actuating lever, thus reducing the volume of the golf bag, preventing the introduction of impurities into the gap so as to allow the lever to be smoothly operated, easily holding the lever to the stand leg and simplifying the construction of the stand and reducing the production cost.

Description of the Prior Art In typical golf bags with stands, the stand-leg actuating lever is positioned to be spaced apart from the side wall of the bag body, thereby protruding from the stand legs. Due to such an actuating lever, the typical golf bags can not be stably held on a golf cart. The above actuating lever also enlarges the volume of the golf bag, and so it is somewhat difficult for a golfer to carry the golf bag. Another problem of such typical golf bags is that impurities may be easily lodge.d between the actuating lever and the bag body and/or the stand legs, thus preventing the actuating lever from being smoothly operated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a golf bag with a stand, of which the stand effectively reduces the gap between the bag body and the stand-leg actuating lever, thus reducing the volume of the golf bag, preventing a lodging of impurities in the gap so as to allow the lever to be smoothly operated, having a simple construction, reducing the production cost of the golf bag and allowing the golf bag to be stably held on a golf cart on a golf course.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a golf bag comprising: a bag body; a bracket mounted to an upper portion of the bag body; two legs hinged to the bracket at their top ends, the legs individually having a hinge hole; an actuating lever adapted for selectively opening the two legs relative to the bag body, the lever being hinged to the hinge holes of the two legs at a top end and being kept in contact with the bag body while being operated; and a support member provided at a bottom of the bag body, the support member being provided with a vertical cutout for holding a lower end of the actuating lever, thus allowing the lever to be kept in contact with the bag body during an operation of the lever.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will. be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a golf bag provided with a stand in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the stand of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the golf bag of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the golf bag taken along the line I-I of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a detailed perspective view of the portion "B" of the golf bag of Fig. t; Fig. 6 is a detailed sectional view of the portion "C" of the golf bag of Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a golf bag provided with a stand in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the support member of the golf bag of Fig. 7; Fig. 9 is an exploded perspective view of a golf bag stand in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing the operation of the stand of Fig. 9 while controlling the tension of the stand legs; and Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a golf bag stand in accordance with the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figs. 1 to 6 show a golf bag provided with a stand in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawings, the golf bag "A" comprises a bag body 1 with a bracket 2 being mounted to the upper portion of the body 1. A pair of legs 3, individually having a hinge hole 31, are hinged to the bracket 2 at the top ends. An actuating lever 4, which is used for selectively opening the two legs 3 so as to allow the golf bag to stand on the support surface , is mounted to the hinge holes 31 of the legs 3 at the top end and is kept in contact with the bag body while being operated. The golf bag "A" also has a support member 5, which is provided at the bottom of the bag body 1.

The front surface of the support member 5 is provided with a vertical cutout 51 for holding the lower end of the actuating lever 4, thus allowing the lever 4 to be kept in contact with the bag body 1 during an operation of the lever 4.

The actuating lever 4 comprises a longitudinal stem 41, with two diverging arms 42 both being fixed to the top end of the stem 41 and a holding loop 43 being fixed to the lower end of the stem 41. The holding loop 43 is held by the cutout 51 of the support member 5. The two arms 42 are bent inwardly at the top ends and are fitted into the hinge holes 31 of the legs 3 from the outside to the inside, respectively. In order to mount the lever 4 to the hinge holes 31, the two arms 42 of the lever 4 are elastically opened prior to being fitted into the hinge holes 31. Therefore, when the two arms 42 are completely set in the hinge holes 31, the two arms 42 elastically push the legs 3 toward the bag body 1 while reducing the gap between the legs 3.

Fig. 5 is a detailed perspective view of the portion "B" of the golf bag of Fig. 1. As shown in the drawing, the two arms 42 of the lever 2 diagonally pass behind the two legs 3 while covering the legs 3 prior to being elastically fitted into the hinge holes 31 from the outside to the inside. The stem 41 of the lever 4 is thus elastically positioned under the legs 3 and so the lever 4 is elastically kept in contact with the back body 1.

As described above, the actuating lever 4 according to the primary embodiment comprises three parts: one stem 41, two arms 42 and one holding loop 43 which are integrated into a single body. However, the construction of the lever 4 may be alternated without affecting the functioning of this invention. For example, the lever 4 may be formed by bending a wire into a U-shaped configuration, with the opposite ends of the wire forming the two arms 42 and the vent portion forming the holding loop 43 and the intermediate portion between the two arms 42 and the holding loop 43 being bound together with a binding means as will be described later herein.

On the other hand, the support member 5 is mounted to the bottom of the bag body 1 and has the vertical cutout 51 at the front surface. Provided at the cutout 51 is a lever holder 52 which holds the holding loop 43 of the lever 4. In the golf bag of this invention, it is necessary to allow the actuating lever 4 to be kept in contact with the bag body 1 while being operated and this object is accomplished by the cutout 51 of the support member 5. In order to allow the lever 4 to be smoothly operated, the depth "D" of the cutout 51 is preferably less than the height "H" of the cutout 51. When the support member 5 does not have such a cutout 51, the lever 4 can'not be lifted even when the golf bag "A" is leaned to a side on the support surface with the holding loop 43 of the lever 4 being kept in contact with the bag body 1. Therefore, in order to allow the lever 4 to be lifted in such a case, the cutout 51 has to be formed at the support member 5. In the golf bag of this invention, it is preferable to allow the loop holder 52 to be inclined upwardly at an angle of inclination of 45' when the golf bag is leaned to a side on the support surface and this object is accomplished by making the depth "D" of the cutout 51 less than the height "H". The ratio of the height "H" to the depth "D" of the cutout 51 has something to do with the gap H1 between the hinged axis "a" of the legs 3 and the hinged axis "b" of the lever 4. In the present invention, the ratio of the height "H" to the depth "D" is preferably set to about 1 - 1.5.

The operational effect of the above golf bag "A" will be described hereinbelow.

In a normal position, the actuating lever 4 is brought into contact with the bag body 1, while the loop holder 52 is level with the bottom surface of the support member 5. In such a case, the legs 3 can not be opened.

However, when the above golf bag "A" is leaned to a side on the ground at an angle of inclination so as to use the bag, the loop holder 52 is pushed upwardly by its contact with the ground, thus lifting the actuating lever 4 within the height "H" of the cutout 51 and opening the legs 3. During such an ascending inotion of the lever 4 for opening the legs 3, the lever 4 is not spaced apart from the bag body 1 but is kept in contact with the bag body 1 due to the cutout 51 of the support member 5. When the cutout 51 is exceedingly deep with the depth of 1/3 - 1/2 of the major axis "L" of the support member 5, the golf bag "A" can not stably stand on the support surface and may fall flat on its side wall. Such an exceedingly deep cutout also causes the gap between the legs 3 to be unexpectedly widened. In the prior art, a golf bag, with a half tapered bottom, has been proposed and used.

However, in such a golf bag with the half tapered bottom, the depth "D" is two or three times greater than the height tt and so the golf bag can not stably stand on the support surface. Such a tapered bottom also causes golf clubs to lean to one side in the golf bag, thus making the golf clubs get entangled and being inconvenient to a user. In this regard, it is preferable to set the depth "D" of the cutout 51 to about 1/4 - 1/6 of the major axis of the support member 5.

When vertically standing the golf bag "A" on the bottom at the above-mentioned leanlng position, the two arms 42 of the actuating lever 4 elastically bias the legs 3, thus automatically closing the legs 3. In such a case, the lever 4 descends to its original position while being kept in contact with the bag body I.

Figs. 7 and 8 are views of a golf bag provided with a stand in accordance with the second embodiment of this invention. In the second embodiment, the actuating lever 4 is inserted into the bag body 1 through an insert hole 11 and passes through the bag body 1 prior to being projected into the cutout 51 of the support member 5 through a guide hole 53.

Therefore, the most part of the actuating lever 4 is covered with the bag body 1, thus being effectively protected from unexpected impact or impurities.

Another advantage of the golf bag according to the second embodiment resides in that it is free from the loop holder 52.

That is, since the lever 4 is held by both the insert hole 11 and the guide hole 53, thus being effectively kept in its place without being held by such a loop holder 52.

Figs. 9 and 10 are views of a golf bag stand in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention.

In the third embodiment, the actuating lever comprises a slidable stem 410 suitable for selectively controlling the tension of the two legs 3. That is, the actuating lever of this embodiment is formed by bending a wire into a U-shaped configuration, with the opposite ends of the wire forming two arms 420 and the vent portion forming a holding loop 430. A hollow pipe or the stem 410 is movably fitted over the intermediate portion between the two arms 420 and the holding loop 430, thus being slidable along the intermediate portion in opposite directions so as to selectively control the tension of the legs 3. That is, when the stem 410 is lifted as shown bp arrow "a" of Fig. 10 from the lower position (shown bp the solid line) to the upper position (shown by the phantom line), the two arms 420 of the actuating lever are biased to the inside as shown by arrow "b11, thus tensioning the two legs 3 in a direction as shown by arrow "c".

Therefore, the two legs 3, tensioned and positioned as shown by the phantom line, are elastically opened and closed, thus being convenient to a user. In a brief description, the golf bag stand according to the third embodiment selectively controls the tension of the legs 3 by longitudinally moving the stem 410 in opposite directions relative to both the diverging arms 420 and the holding loop 430.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a golf bag stand in accordance with the fourth embodiment of the present invention. In the fourth embodiment, in order to form the actuating lever '40, a wire is bent into a U-shaped configuration with the opposite ends of the wire forming the two arms 42 and the vent portion forming the holding loop 43 in the same manner as that described for the third embodiment.

However, the intermediate portion between the two arms and the holding loop are bound by a plurality of binding rings 44 with the uppermost ring 44 being movable along the intermediate portion in opposite directions. The golf bag stand of this embodiment thus selectively controls the tension of the legs 3 by longitudinally moving the uppermost ring 44 along the intermediate portion in opposite directions.

As described above, the present invention provides a golf bag with a stand effectively reducing the gap between the bag body and the actuating lever. The stand thus reduces the volume of the golf bag, prevents a lodging of impurities in the gap so as to allow the lever to be smoothly operated, has a simple construction, reduces the production cost of the golf bag and allows the golf bag to be stably held on a golf cart on a golf course.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention.have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A golf bag comprising: a bag body; a bracket mounted to an upper portion of said bag body; two legs hinged to said bracket at their top ends, said legs individually having a hinge hole; an actuating lever adapted for selectively opening the two legs relative to the bag body, said lever being hinged to said hinge holes of the two legs at a top end and being kept in contact with the bag body while being operated; and a support member provided at a bottom of the bag body, said support member being provided with a vertical cutout for holding a lower end of the actuating lever thus allowing the lever to be kept in contact with the bag body during an operation of the lever.

2. The golf bag according to claim 1, wherein said actuating lever is inserted into the bag body through an insert hole and passes through the bag body prior to being projected into the cutout of the support member through a guide hole.

3. The golf bag according to claim 1, wherein said vertical cutout of the support member has a height of larger dimension than its depth, with said depth reaching 1/4 - 1/6 of a major axis of the support member and said height reaching 1.1 - 1.5 times said depth.

4. The golf bag according to claim 1, wherein said actuating lever has two diverging arms at the top end, said diverging arms diagonally passing behind the upper portions of the two legs and being fitted into the hinge holes of the legs from the outside to the inside.

5. The golf bag according to claim 4, wherein the two diverging arms are commonly fixed to a top end of a longitudinal stem, with a holding loop being fixed to a lower end of said stem and being held by the cutout of the support member.

6. The golf bag according to claim 2, wherein said guide hole is formed on the support member, thus maintaining the position of said lever relative to the bag body.

7. The golf bag according to claim 4, wherein said actuating lever is formed by bending a wire into a U-shaped configuration, with opposite ends of said wire forming the two diverging arms and a vent portion forming a holding loop to be held by the cutout of the support member and an intermediate portion between the two arms and the holding loop being covered with a hollow pipe.

8. The golf bag according to claim 7, wherein said hollow pipe is longitudinally movable along the intermediate portion in opposite directions, thus selectively controlling the tension of the two legs.

9. The golf bag according to claim 4, wherein said actuating lever is formed by bending a wire into a U-shaped configuration, with opposite ends of said wire forming the two diverging arms and a vent portion forming a holding loop to be held by the cutout of the support member and an intermediate portion between the two arms and the holding loop being bound by a plurality of binding rings.

10. The golf bag according to claim 9, wherein the uppermost one of said binding rings is longitudinally movable along the intermediate portion in opposite directions, thus selectively controlling the tension of the two legs.