US3460207A - Golf club cover fastener - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 12, 1969 A. c. STEWART 3,460,207

I cow cum COVER msmmn Filed July 3, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ANDY C. STEWA T ATTORNEY Aug. 12, 1969 A. c. STEWART 3,460,

cow CLUB covsn msmusn Filed July 5. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ANDY c. STEWART ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,460,207 GOLF CLUB COVER FASTENER Andy C. Stewart, 4124 Maxwell Drive, Columbus, Ga. 31904 Filed July 3, 1967, Ser. No. 651,013 Int. Cl. A63b 57/00; A441) 21/00 US. CI. 24-73 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates generally to fasteners for golf club covers and more particularly to a fastener comprised of a plurality of flexible straps having a common base.

In the game of golf, two different types of clubs are generally employed, namely woods and irons. As their names indicate, woods have wooden club heads, while irons have metal club heads. The clubs are generally carried in a sectioned bag, whereby the irons are located in one section and the woods in the other section. The woods have polished heads having a tendency to become scratched and marred in response to contact with each other while in the bag. To avoid damage to the wood heads, it has been the practice in the art to provide each wood head with a cover, generally fabricated from a flexible material, such as plastic, leather or knitted material.

While the wood covers perform their function satisfactorily, they are subject to being misplaced and lost. To maintain all of the covers together, and thereby prevent one of them from being misplaced from the others, it has been the general practice to provide a cord for receiving all of the covers. The cord extends through eyelets on the covers, whereby one of the covers can be withdrawn from its associated head while remaining on the cord.

A problem incident with the use of cords for maintaining the several covers together is that the covers have a tendency to become twisted and intertwined with each other and the cord. Twisting of the covers is annoying, time consuming and detracts from the pleasure of a golfing participant.

While several devices have been proposed in the prior art for avoiding the disadvantages attendent with the use of cords for connecting golf clubs together, none has been generally adopted or received wide acceptance. In general, the prior art attempts to solve the problems associated with connecting club covers together by a cord appear to be expensive and difiicult to use, as devices having relatively complex mechanisms or mechanical structures are involved.

According to the present invention, an inexpensive and easily utilized fastener for covers of golf club Woods comprises a plurality of leather straps, having a common base. The straps are of sufiicient length to reach eyelets located at the upper portion of almost all golf club covers. The common base for the straps is secured to a ring, provided on all golf club bags. The covers are removed, without twisting, from the woods in a facile manner, and after removed the straps are positioned to fall by gravity to the outer side of the bag. The possibility 3,460,207 Patented Aug. 12, 1969 "ice of losing covers is obviated as the straps have a common base. The straps and covers do not become intertwined and twisted on each other since the straps have sulfcient transverse stiffness to remain in the same vertical plane when the cover has been removed from the wood club head.

A further feature of the invention concerns the ability of the present fastener to always direct the heads of the woods toward the edge of the golf bag 180 away from the irons. With all prior art golf bags and golf club cover fasteners with which I am familiar, the woods have a tendency to rotate and cover the irons. Thereby, a golf ing participant frequently has trouble locating the iron he desires to utilize, causing annoyances, such as a delay in play and selection of an improper iron. By directing the heads of the woods invariably towards the opposite edge of the bag, the present invention enables the irons to be reached in a facile manner and avoid the problem of the wood heads covering the iron heads.

It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved fastener for covers of golf club woods.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved fastener for the covers of golf club woods, wherein the covers are not susceptible to being misplaced and the various covers and fasteners do not become intertwined and twisted on each other.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fastener for the covers of golf club woods, wherein the heads of the woods are directed in a direction opposite from the irons, in a golf bag.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a fastener for covers of golf club woods, wherein the covers are not susceptible to being misplaced, the covers and fasteners do not become intertwined, and the irons are easily reached because the heads of the woods are pointed in a direction away from the irons.

The above and still further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of one specific embodiment thereof, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the fastener of FIGURE 1, taken through the lines 2-2;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view illustrating the manner of utilizing the fastener of the present invention in conjunction with a golf bag;

FIGURE 4 is a further perspective view illustrating how a golf club cover is selectively removed from a club with the present invention; and

FIGURE 5 is a side view of a golf bag and golf clubs, in combination with the golf club cover fastener of the present invention.

Reference is now made to FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, wherein there are illustrated plan and side views, respectively, of the detailed construction of the fastener of the present invention. The fastener comprises a leather base 11, having four leather straps 1215 eX- tending from one side thereof. Each of straps 12-15 is approximately A" in width, Ms" in thickness, whereby it is relatively flexible along its longitudinal axis and stiff in the direction of the transverse axis.

At the end of each of straps 12-15 remote from leather base 11, approximately 4 /2" from the roots of the straps, a round eye snap 16 is secured in situ by metal wire clips 17. Snaps 16 include a spring 18, extending from one edge of the snap to normally engage end 19 of the snap. Thereby, spring 18 in combination with end portion 19, which defines a circular or round eye snap, selectively enables an eyelet to be secured to each of straps 12-15. Snaps 16 are held in situ on straps 12-15 by folding the extreme ends of the straps over approximately 1" to form a closed loop portion 21 at the end of each of the straps.

At the end of base 11 a soft flexible, leather cord 22 is secured in 'situ. Cord 22 is secured in place by folding base 11 over and providing aligned apertures (not shown) therein, which apertures receive plastic or metal binding screw 23. The folded configuration of base 11 provides a loop 24 through which cord 22 is securely tied.

In fabrication, the fastener of the present invention is initially formed from a strip of leather approximately in length, As" in thickness, and 1" in width. The leather is preferably of the bark, tanned or chrome retanned type, to provide the desired transverse stiffness and longitudinal flexibility. The four straps 12-15 are formed by slitting the leather strip longitudinally at three places, each separated from each other by approximately A". Apertures for receiving screw 23 are formed by punching appropriately sized circular holes through the base 11, at approximately /2" and 3 /2" from the end of the strip remote from the end wherein the slits were formed. After the leather strip has been cut and punched as indicated, snaps 16, binding screw 23 and cord 22 are secured in place.

In use, leather cord 22 is tied to the base of a golf bag 31, FIGURE 3, while snaps 16 are connected to eyelets 32, at the top of golf club covers 33. Bag 31 is generally of the partitioned type, wherein woods 37 are located in a rear section and irons 38 are placed in a front section. Each of golf club covers 33 is placed about the head of a different wood club and includes a sock like configuration for receiving the wood heads, which extend into the foot like portions of the covers, in a well known manner. Eyelets 32 are located ap proximately at the toe of each cover 33, whereby each strap 12-15, in combination with the included length of base 11 between the roots of the straps and cord 22, has sufficient length to extend from ring 35 to the top of each cover 33, at the location of eyelet 32. Cord 22 is secured to bag 31 by tying the strap to housing 34 for ring 35, to which is normally secured strap 36 for carrying bag 31. Strap 22 is not connected directly to the loop of ring 35, but is non-rotatably secured in place, relative to the bag, by tying it to the junction between ring 35 with its housing 34 and bag 31. By connecting strap 22 to the junction between ring 35, housing 34 and bag 31, the fastener of the present invention is maintained rigidly in situ and exerts a substantial, constant tension on eyelets 32. Thereby, golf club covers 33 for wood clubs 37, FIGURE 5, are invariably pulled toward the rear of 7 bag 31, where ring 35 and strap 36 are located. By retracting covers 33 toward the rear of bag 31, iron clubs 38, placed in the front portion of sectioned bag 31, are always easily accessible and can be withdrawn from bag 31 in a facile manner, as indicated by arrow 39.

The leather strip employed for the base 11 and straps 12-15 of the fastener of the present invention has suflicient longitudinal flexibility to enable wood covers 33 to be suspended from the back of bag 31, where ring 35 and strap 36 are located, as indicated by FIGURE 4. From FIGURE 4, it is also noted that straps 12-15 have sufiicient transverse rigidity to prevent them from becoming twisted when a cover 33 is removed from a wood club. Thereby, if several covers 33 are simultaneously removed, the separate straps for the different covers do not become intertwined.

While I have described and illustrated one specific embodiment of my invention, it will be clear that variations in the details of the embodiment specifically illustrated and described may be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the number of straps extending from base 11 can be decreased as desired.

I claim:

1. A fastener for covers of the heads of wood golf clubs carried in golf club bags, each of said covers having a toe carrying an eyelet, comprising a base, a plurality of longitudinal straps extending from said base, means for securing said base to the bag, and a fastener at the end of each of said straps for engaging the eyelet while said base is secured to the bag, each of said straps being sufiiciently flexible along its longitudinal axis to enable a cover removed from a hand to fall by gravity to the exterior of the bag while a cover remaining on a head is directed to the interior of the bag and having sufiicient stiffness transverse to its longitudinal axis to prevent more than 180 rotation thereof about its longitudinal axis, said base and straps being fabricated from a single leather strip, said strip having a thickness on the order of and each of said straps having a width on the order of A".

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,957,577 5/1934 Chapman. 3,015,351 1/1962 Harris 52.6 3,294,138 12/1966 Pawly ISO-52.6

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 150-52 Y

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