WO2003092825A2

WO2003092825A2 - Tee

Info

Publication number: WO2003092825A2
Application number: PCT/GB2003/001844
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lawrence Stuart Toms
Original assignee: Montour Limited
Priority date: 2002-04-30
Filing date: 2003-04-30
Publication date: 2003-11-13
Also published as: GB2374810A; GB0209857D0; WO2003092825A3; GB2374810B; AU2003222612A1; ZA200409663B

Abstract

A frustoconical tee formed from an annular strip (12) of flexible sheet material. The two ends (18, 20) of the strip are superimposed and releasably secured to one another by a coating of contact adhesive applied to one side of the strip or by complementary, cohesive regions of hooks (14) and pile (16) provided on the opposite sides of the strip. The height of the tee may thus be readily adjusted by varying the extent to which the two ends (18, 20) of the strip (12) are overlapped.

Description

Tee

The present invention relates to a tee and more particularly to a tee whose configuration may be readily adjusted to support a ball at different heights.

It is known to form a frustoconical tee by overlapping and securing together the two ends of an annular strip of sheet material .

However, hitherto, the means for securing together the ends of such tees have permitted only discrete adjustments in the height of the tee. For example, a known tee comprises an annular strip whose opposed ends are formed with respective interengaging slots, which extend radially from the inner and outer edges of the strip.

We have now devised an arrangement which overcomes the limitations of existing tees.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a frustoconical tee formed from an annular strip of flexible sheet material, the two ends of the strip being superimposed and releasably secured to one another by a coating of contact adhesive applied to one side of the strip or by complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile provided on the opposite sides of the strip.

The height of the tee may thus be readily adjusted by varying the extent to which the two ends of the strip are overlapped.

The strip may comprise a plurality of arcuate segments whose adjacent ends are overlapped and releasably secured to one another by a coating of contact adhesive applied to one side of each segment or by complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile provided on the opposite sides of each segment. For example, the strip may comprise a pair of substantially semi-circular, arcuate segments.

Preferably at least one side of the annular strip is formed with at least one marking for aligning the overlapped ends of the strip.

A plurality of markings are preferably formed on said one side of the strip for aligning the ends of strip at different respective degrees of overlap, to vary the height of the tee.

The or each marking is preferably located on the strip so as to be obscured from the view of a person addressing a ball supported on the tee.

Preferably the or each marking comprises a line along which the edge of one end of the strip may be positioned.

The or each marking may, for example, be printed onto the surface of the strip or comprise a surface impression formed, for example, by an embossing process and/or by heating selected areas of the strip.

The hook bearing side of the strip or the side opposite to that on which the or each marking is formed is preferably formed with indicia, such as an advertising logo, which may, for example be printed onto the surface of the strip or comprise a surface impression formed, for example, by an embossing process and/or by heating selected areas of the strip .

Where the strip is coated on one side with a contact adhesive, the or each marking is preferably formed on the adhesive coated side of the strip.

The adhesive coating may extend over a portion or over substantially the whole of one side of the strip. Where the adhesive coating extends over only a portion of one side of the strip, the coating preferably extend to at least one end of the strip, which end is preferably formed with said at least one marking for aligning the overlapped ends of the strip.

Where the strip is provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile, the or each marking may be formed on either side of the strip. However, most preferably, the or each marking is formed on the pile bearing side of the strip.

The regions of hooks and pile preferably extend over substantially the whole of their respective sides of the strip. It is therefore convenient to form the strip either by superimposing and bonding together a first strip of material formed on one side with hooks and a second strip of material formed on one side with pile, or from a single-layer sheet material formed on its opposites side with hooks and with pile, such a material having been recently developed and used to form cable ties. The radially inner and/or outer edges of the annular strip may be profiled, for example serrated, to respectively increase or decrease the amount of contact between the tee and a ball supported on the tee and/or between the tee and ground. The annular strip may be perforated, i.e. formed with a plurality of holes or slits, to reduce the degree resistance presented by the tee to side winds and/or to lateral impacts.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a blank from which a frustoconical tee may be formed, the blank comprising an annular strip of flexible sheet material coated on one side with a contact adhesive or provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for forming a frustoconical tee comprising providing an annular strip of flexible sheet material coated on one side with a contact adhesive or provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile and superimposing the two ends of the strip to secure them together. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a blank from which a frustoconical tee may be formed, said method comprising the steps of providing a sheet of flexible material coated on one side with a contact adhesive or provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile and dividing an annular strip from said sheet.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pad of superimposed annular paper or plastics strips, one side of each strip being coated with a contact adhesive to releasably secure the strip to the pad and, when the sheet is released from the pad, to releasably secure the opposite ends of the strip to one another to form a frustoconical tee.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising: a frustoconical tee formed from an annular strip of flexible sheet material, the two ends of the strip being superimposed and releasably secured to one another by complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile provided on the opposite sides of the strip; and a patch provided on one side with a region of hooks or pile and on the opposite side with means, e.g. an adhesive, for fastening the patch to a support surface.

The patch may thus, for example, be fastened to a golf bag, for releasably securing the tee to the bag when not in use, or fastened to the head or handle of a golf club, for retrieving the tee from the ground after use.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of examples only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a blank from which a prior art tee may be formed;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a tee formed from the blank of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of a first embodiment of blank from which a tee may be formed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 4 is a transverse cross-section through the blank of Figure 3;

Figures 5 to 7 are respective side elevations of various configurations of tee formed from the blank of Figures 3 and 4.

Figure 8 is a perspective view showing a preferred manual process by which a tee may be formed in accordance with the present invention; and

Figure 9 is a plan view of a second embodiment of blank from which a tee may be formed in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1 a prior art blank comprising an annular strip 2 of flexible sheet material is shown, from which a frustoconical tee may be formed by overlapping the two ends 4,6 of the strip and interengaging the radial slots 8,10 formed in each of those ends, as shown in Figure 2. A first drawback of the prior art arrangement is that the height of the tee formed from the strip 2 is of fixed height or, if one end of the strip were to be formed with a plurality of radial slots, would be adjustable only by discrete amounts. A second drawback of the prior art arrangement is that, in order to ensure that the upper and lower rims of the tee will have a substantially uniform circular profile when the tee is formed, the slots 8,10 formed in the ends 4,6 of the strip 2 must be interengaged such the both ends of the strip extend along the inner surface of the tee, a formation which, in practice, requires complicated manipulation of the strip.

Furthermore, we have found that even where a tee has been formed in the intended manner, the inherent resilience of the material from which the strip 2 must be formed to resist the compressive force exerted thereon when a ball is supported by the tee, will cause the ends 4,6 of the strip to twist about the abutting ends of their respective, interengaged slots 8,10, thereby distorting the shape of the upper and lower rims of the tee . Figures 3 and 4 show a blank in accordance with the present invention, comprising an annular strip 12 of flexible sheet material, formed on one side with hooks 14 and on the opposite side with pile 16, such that the two ends 18,20 of the strip may be releasably secured to one another, at any chosen degree of overlap over a continuous range, to form a frustoconical tee of a required height, the series of side elevations shown in Figures 5, 6 and 7 showing how the degree of overlap of the ends 18,20 of the strip may be progressively increased to correspondingly increase the height of the tee. To ensure a uniform support for a ball, one end 18 of the strip 12 is printed with a series of radial lines 22, along a selected one of which the leading edge of the opposite end 20 of the strip may be aligned.

To avoid the problem of premature cohesion between the two ends 18,20 of the strip 20 before they are correctly aligned, a user will preferably be encouraged, either by instruction or by further features of the strip, to form the strip into a tee, as shown in Figure 8, with the alignment markings 22 directed inwardly of the tee.

The alternative embodiment of blank shown in Figure 9 comprises a discontinuous annular strip 24, the arcuate 26 gap between the two ends 28,30 of the strip determining the minimum height of tee that may be formed from the strip, for example to ensure that, in use, the tee or at least a marked portion of the tee is not visible to a player addressing a ball supported on the tee. The strip 24 shown in Figure 9 is further serrated along its radially inner and outer edges 32,34, the serrations on the radially inner edge of the strip serving, in use, to reduce the degree of contact between with a ball and the serrations on the radially outer edge of the strip serving, in use to stabilise the tee on rough grass.

The blanks shown in Figures 3 and 9 may optionally be perforated, i.e. formed with a plurality of holes or slits, to reduce the degree of resistance presented by the tees formed therefrom to side winds and/or to lateral impacts. When not in use, either type of blank may be secured to a golf bag via a patch, e.g. a circular patch having substantially the same diameter as the blank, which is fastened to the bag and has an exposed region of hook or loop material.

A blank may be supplied fastened to such a patch, which is preferably coated on its reverse side with a layer of contact adhesive for fastening the patch to a support surface, the adhesive layer being covered by a removable backing sheet.

A patch having an exposed region of hook or loop material may also or otherwise be fastened to the head or to the handle of a golf club, for retrieving a tee formed from either blank from the ground after use. The retrieval patch may conveniently be formed from the portion of material cut from the centre of a blank.

Claims

1) A frustoconical tee formed from an annular strip of flexible sheet material, the two ends of the strip being superimposed and releasably secured to one another by a coating of contact adhesive applied to one side of the strip or by complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile provided on the opposite sides of the strip.

2) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the annular strip comprises a plurality of arcuate segments whose adjacent ends are overlapped and releasably secured to one another by a coating of contact adhesive applied to one side of each segment or by complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile provided on the opposite sides of each segment .

3) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 2, wherein said plurality of arcuate segments comprises a pair of substantially semi-circular, arcuate segments.

4) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein at least one side of the annular strip is formed with at least one marking for aligning the overlapped ends of the strip.

5) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 4, wherein said at least one marking comprises a plurality of markings.

6) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 5, wherein said plurality of markings are formed on said one side of the strip for aligning the ends of strip at different respective degrees of overlap, to vary the height of the tee .

7) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any of Claims 4 to 6, wherein the or each marking is located on the strip so as to be obscured from the view of a person addressing a ball supported on the tee.

8) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any of Claims 4 to

7, wherein the or each marking comprises a line along which the edge of one end of the strip may be positioned.

9) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any of Claims 4 to

8, wherein the or each marking is printed onto the surface of the strip.

10) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any of Claims 4 to 8, wherein the or each marking comprises a surface impression .

11) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any of Claims 4 to 10, wherein the side opposite to said one side is formed with other indicia.

12) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 11, wherein said other indicia is printed onto the surface of the strip

13) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 11, wherein said other indicia comprises a surface impression.

14) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any of Claims 4 to 13, in the alternative in which the strip is coated on one side with a contact adhesive, wherein the or each marking is preferably formed on the adhesive coated side of the strip.

15) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any preceding claim, in the alternative in which the strip is coated on one side with a contact adhesive, wherein the adhesive coating extends over a portion of said one side.

16) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any preceding claim, in the alternative in which the strip is coated on one side with a contact adhesive, wherein the adhesive coating extends over substantially the whole of said one side .

17) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 15, wherein the coating extends to at least one end of the strip.

18) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 15, appended to any of Claims 4 to 14, wherein said one end is preferably formed with said at least one marking for aligning the overlapped ends of the strip.

19) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any of Claims 4 to 13, in the alternative in which the strip is provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile, wherein the or each marking is formed on the pile bearing side of the strip.

20) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 13, in the alternative in which the strip is provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile, wherein the regions of hooks and pile extend over a portion of their respective sides.

21) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 13, in the alternative in which the strip is provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile, wherein the regions of hooks and pile extend over substantially the whole of their respective sides of the strip.

22) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 21, wherein the strip is formed by superimposing and bonding together a first strip of material formed on one side with hooks and a second strip of material formed on one side with pile.

23) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 21, wherein the strip is formed from a single-layer sheet material formed on its opposites side with hooks and with pile.

24) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the radially inner edge of the annular strip is profiled to increase or decrease the amount of contact between the tee and a ball supported on the tee.

25) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 24, wherein said profiling comprises a serration of the radially inner edge of the strip.

26) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the radially outer edge of the annular strip is profiled to increase or decrease the amount of contact between the tee and ground.

27) A frustoconical tee as claimed in Claim 26, wherein said profiling comprises a serration of the radially outer edge of the strip.

28) A frustoconical tee as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said annular strip may be perforated.

29) A blank from which a frustoconical tee may be formed, the blank comprising an annular strip of flexible sheet material coated on one side with a contact adhesive or provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile.

30) A method for forming a frustoconical tee comprising providing an annular strip of flexible sheet material coated on one side with a contact adhesive or provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile and superimposing the two ends of the strip to secure them together. 31) A method for manufacturing a blank from which a frustoconical tee may be formed, said method comprising the steps of providing a sheet of flexible material coated on one side with a contact adhesive or provided on its opposite sides with complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile and dividing an annular strip from said sheet.

32) A pad of superimposed annular paper or plastics strips, one side of each strip being coated with a contact adhesive to releasably secure the strip to the pad and, when the sheet is released from the pad, to releasably secure the opposite ends of the strip to one another to form a frustoconical tee.

33) An apparatus comprising: a frustoconical tee formed from an annular strip of flexible sheet material, the two ends of the strip being superimposed and releasably secured to one another by complementary, cohesive regions of hooks and pile provided on the opposite sides of the strip; and a patch provided on one side with a region of hooks or pile and on the opposite side with means for fastening the patch to a support surface.

34) An apparatus as claimed in Claim 33, wherein said fastening means comprise an adhesive.

35) A frustoconical tee substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 3 to 9 of the accompanying drawings .

36) A blank from which a frustoconical tee may be formed, the blank being substantially as herein described with reference to the Figure 3 to 9 of the accompanying drawings.