WO1993002586A1

WO1993002586A1 - A carry-pack assembly

Info

Publication number: WO1993002586A1
Application number: PCT/AU1992/000403
Authority: WO
Inventors: Derek Anthony Taylor
Original assignee: Swagworks Pty. Ltd.
Priority date: 1991-08-02
Filing date: 1992-08-03
Publication date: 1993-02-18

Abstract

The carry-pack assembly (10) of this invention may be used for carrying golf accesssories such as balls, tees and a golf towel. Suitably it has a rear panel assembly (44) which supports the balls in separate pockets (42) and a front panel assembly (46) which supports the tees and other accessories such as personal items and a score card and the like. The golf towel (45) is suitably stowed in folded attitude between the panel assemblies and secured at one corner to one of the panel assemblies. One panel assembly includes an extension flap (57) which passes across and connects releasably to the outer face of the other panel assembly.

Description

"A CARRY-PACK ASSEMBLY" This invention relates to a carry-pack assembly which is particularly suitable for carrying golfing accessories and for illustrative purposes reference will be made hereinafter to such application. Of course this invention is not limited to such application and may be used for example for carrying other sporting or personal accessories.

Sporting or recreation accessories are typically carried remote from the person or scattered through their apparel. In either instance locating desired items may be inconvenient and ensuring that all accessories required for an occasion are present and/or in order may be difficult or time consuming.

In one aspect the present invention aims to alleviate at least one of the above disadvantages and to provide a carry- pack assembly which will be reliable and efficient in use. Other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter become apparent.

In a further aspect this invention aims to provide a carry-pack assembly for golfers which may conveniently store a golf towel, golf balls, tees and other accessories such as score card and pencil in such manner that the condition or quality of the items may be readily observed and protected when not in use. With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention in one aspect resides broadly in a carry-pack assembly including:- opposing panel assemblies; support means for supporting said opposing panel assemblies from adjacent edges; article retaining means on at least one said panel assembly whereby an article retained thereby may be covered by the other said panel assembly, and releasable attachment means for releasably attaching said panel assemblies together whereby articles may be retained captively therebetween. Suitably the opposing panel assemblies extend to opposite sides of a fold or hinge line adapted to be extend substantially horizontally in operative disposition to define front and rear panel assemblies and the releasable attachment means is disposed on the panel assemblies remote from said support means. However if desired the panel assemblies could be hingedly connected together along common side or bottom edges and separable along opposite sides including their top edges. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the lower edges of the panel assemblies are releasably attachable to one another by forming one panel assembly with a wrap around extension portion which may pass below and to the outer face of the other panel assembly to provide a releasable connection remote from the inner face of the other panel assembly whereby clear space is not required along the lower inner face of the other panel assembly to provide access to the releasable connection. This arrangement permits a bulky article such as a golf towel to be secured to and stowed at said lower inner face without unduly impeding access to the releasable attachment means.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention the article retaining means includes separable retaining means adjacent a lower inner edge of the back panel assembly for a golf towel and ball retaining means on the back panel assembly intermediate the separable retaining means for the towel and the upper edge of the back panel assembly. The golf ball retaining means may be in the form of a pocket or pockets which may be formed of stretch fabric to locate the balls in a substantially fixed position but preferably the ball retaining means are so formed that golf balls may be separately retained in a manner in which the condition and type of the retained ball may be observed without removing the balls. The support means may be a cord or strap means to facilitate manual carrying of the carry pack or for securing the carry-pack about a user's waist or to a golf bag. Alternatively, the support means may be a cord or strap means or the like for suspending the carry-pack from a user's shoulder. The strap means may extend outwardly from each of the ends of the fold line between the front and rear panel assemblies, while further strap means may be provided as a loop at one end of the fold line to form a hand grip.

Suitably the front panel assembly includes a pocket having its top opening adjacent the fold line and a closure flap is provided for closing the pocket. The front panel assembly may also include a rack for tees and pencils and a pouch for a score card.

In a further aspect this invention resides in a towel adapted for releasable attachment to a carry-pack as defined above and including releasable attachment means extending adjacent an edge portion thereof. Preferably the towel includes a finger loop adjacent said attachment means.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, and wherein:-

FIGS. 1 and 2 are front and rear perspective views of a golf accessory carry-pack according to one embodiment of the invention; FIG. 3 illustrates the carry-pack in opened relationship with the golf towel extended from the rear panel; FIG. 4 illustrates the carry-pack with the towel separated from the back panel;

FIG. 5 illustrates the closure flap for the front pocket open and raised;

FIGS. 6 to 9 are similar views of a further embodiment of the invention, and

FIG. 10 illustrates a variation for the embodiment of FIG. 6. The carry-pack 10 illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 may be of desired size after the nature of a shoulder bag, this being its typical use by a golf caddy for example who would use it for supplying a tee, or a ball, or the towel as required, but it could be held by hand or secured to a motorised or manually-propelled golf buggy. For this purpose a typical shoulder strap assembly is indicated at 11, while a hand strap is shown at 12. Both are attached to the back panel assembly 14 of the carry pack 10.

As illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 a golf towel 13 is releasably attached to the lower inner edge of the back panel assembly 14 utilising hook and loop connector strips 15 and 16, such as those sold under the trade mark "Velcro". The towel 13 is almost twice as wide as the back panel assembly 14, requiring to be folded about a medial line 17 as shown by arrow 18 and then folded for accommodation within a storage space 19 between the back panel assembly 14 and the front panel assembly 22 which are hingedly connected together along a fold line 20.

The inner face of the rear panel assembly 14 has three compartments 23 formed by stitching elasticised fabric 21 thereto and formed with top openings 24 through which golf balls may be inserted or removed, being held in the positions shown by the circles 25 in Fig. 3. Suitably the back panel assembly is relatively stiff so that it remains substantially planar when the elasticised fabric 21 is stretched about the golf alls therein and it is also preferred that the elasticised fabric 21 is sufficiently transparent that when stretched about the contained balls their condition can be observed. Furthermore when the pockets are empty the elasticised fabric 21 lies taut across the inner face of the back panel assembly 14.

The front panel assembly 22 has a plain inner face 26 which can be brought down to overly the back panel assembly 14 and a pocket 28 at its front face 27. The pocket 28 has expandable sides to accommodate stored items, an open upper end 29 and a closure flap 30, "Velcro" strips 31 and 32 being usable to secure the flap 30 in closed position. The front face 27 of the front panel assembly 22 has a tee- holding strip or rack 33 of known type. In addition a pencil holder 34 is provided adjacent the top or fold line 17 of the carry-pack 10. With the closure flap 30 closed and the towel folded into the storage space 19 between the panel assemblies 14 and 22, the carry-pack may be closed by turning the lower edge 35 of the front panel assembly 22 back under and behind the lower edge 36 of the back panel assembly 14 where releasable securement is achieved by further "Velcro" strips 37 and 38. The manner of use will be clear from the drawings and the preceding descriptions, the carry-pack 10 being usable as a shoulder bag or the like for normal access to articles while retained on a person's shoulder. However, the towel 13 may be simply accessed for cleaning clubs or balls or the like by releasing the "Velcro" strips 37 and 38, opening the lower extremities of the assembly so that the towel may drop down for use. The towel 13 may be easily and temporarily removed if so desired. Stored golf balls in their compartments will not interfere with other uses of the assembly, but they may be removed if and when required with minimum effort. Furthermore it is preferred that the front and rear panels be formed of waterproof material such that the contents of the carry pack in use will be substantially shielded from rain. The carry-pack 40 illustrated in FIGS. 6-9 is similar to the carry-pack illustrated in FIGS. 1-5. However it differs in that golf balls 41 are retained in retaining loops 42 formed of stretch see-through material such as lycra netting to enable two rows of loops 42, each containing four balls, to be supported at the upper portion of the rear panel assembly 44. This retaining means enables each ball to be individually and easily removed without disturbing the other balls and it enables the balls to be visually inspected without removing them from the retaining means. Furthermore, stowage of the golf balls on the upper portion of the rear panel assembly 44 leaves a lower space in which the folded towel 45 may be stowed as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7.

As in the previous embodiment, the front panel assembly 46 includes an open topped pocket 47 provided with a closure flap 48. It will also be seen that the golf tee racks 50 are formed on the outer face of a shallow pouch 51 which is so dimensioned as to enable a score card to be inserted therein through the open top 52. Pencil holders 53 are provided at each side of the pouch 51.

As in the previous embodiment the towel 45 is releasably attached to the back panel assembly 44. VELCRO type loop connectors are utilised at 60 for the front closure flap 48 and at 61 for securing the extension flap 57 of the front panel assembly 46 to the lower rear face of the back panel assembly 44. The carry pack 40 is also provided with a velcro tie 62 adjacent the fold line 63 and adapted to retain the carry strap 64 when the latter is retained beneath the front closure flap 56 such that it may be readily carried as a compact assembly by the loop 65. The velcro tie 62 is clearly illustrated in expanded form in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 10.

In this embodiment the rear panel assembly 70 is adapted to support three rows of golf balls in the rows of loop connectors 72. The rows extend from adjacent the fold line 73, between the rear panel assembly 70 and the front panel assembly 75, to a position adjacent the VELCRO type loop connector strip 76 along the lower edge of the rear panel assembly 70. Thus in this embodiment the towel can be stowed if folded so as to overlie the three rows of loop connectors 72. The bottom edge of the front panel assembly 46 is reinforced at 49 as illustrated.

The velcro tie 62 which is common with the carry-pack 40 is in the form of a flexible tab which is sewed to the front panel 75 and which has split pairs of velcro type loop connectors 80 which may be connected to one another after encircling the folded shoulder strap 77 so as to retain the strap within the enclosure of the carry pack. If desired the ball pockets 42 could be opaque and formed so as to leave sufficient ball visible above the pocket for in-situ inspection. While carry-packs as described will be found very effective in achieving the objects for which the invention has been devised, it will be clear that they can be used in many applications other than for golf and they may be subject to many modifications of constructional detail and design. For example, the storage space for the towel could be designed to open other than at the bottom extremity of the assembly, and one or more pockets of desired types could be provided in the body portion. All such variations will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the art and are deemed to reside within the scope and ambit of this invention, the broad nature of which is defined in the appended claims.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THIS INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS;-

1. A carry-pack assembly including:- opposing panel assemblies; support means for supporting said opposing panel assemblies from adjacent edges; article retaining means on at least one said panel assembly whereby an article retained thereby may be covered by the other said panel assembly, and releasable attachment means for releasably attaching said panel assemblies together whereby articles may be retained captively therebetween.

2- A carry-pack assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said releasable attachment means includes a extension flap of one said panel assembly which may pass across and to the outer face of the other panel assembly and connector means on the inner face of said extension portion and complementary connector means on the outer face of the other panel assembly.

3. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein towel attachment means are provided on the inner face of said other panel assembly adjacent the edge thereof overlapped by said extension flap.

4. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the inner face of said other panel assembly is provided with ball support means.

5. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the said ball support means enable balls supported thereby to be visually inspected.

6. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in claim 4 or claim 5, wherein said ball support means is formed from stretch material which is operatively transparent when stretched about a supported ball.

7. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein said opposing panels extend to opposite sides of a substantially horizontally fold line or hinge and define front and rear panel assemblies and said towel attachment means is disposed adjacent the lower edge of the rear panel.

8. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in claim 7 , wherein said support means is strap means extending from adjacent said fold line or hinge.

9. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8, wherein said front panel assembly includes a pocket having an external top opening adjacent said fold line and a closure flap covering said top opening.

10. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein said front panel assembly supports a rack for tees and pencils and a pouch for a score card.

11. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said retaining means includes towel attachment means disposed on the inner face of one said panel assembly and emote from said adjacent edges.

12. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in claim 11, and including a golf towel releasably attached to said towel attachment means.

13. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in claim 12, wherein said towel has releasable attachment means extending partway along one edge thereof.

14. A carry-pack assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said attachment means is formed of VELCRO type loop connector material.

15. A towel adapted for releasable attachment to a carry-pack as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and including releasable attachment means extending adjacent an edge portion thereof.

16. A towel as claimed in claim 15 and including a finger loop adjacent said attachment means.