US3854727A

US3854727A - Combined snow boring tool and ball striking club

Info

Publication number: US3854727A
Application number: US00449190A
Authority: US
Inventors: E Alexander
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1974-03-07
Filing date: 1974-03-07
Publication date: 1974-12-17
Anticipated expiration: 1991-12-17

Abstract

A combined snow-boring tool and club for playing a golf-like ball game in snow and adapted to bore a cup in the snow for receiving of the ball comprises a substantially straight shaft having a weighted club head at one end and a rigid snowcompressing disk adjacent the second end with a rigid drill plate fixed to and extending perpendicularly outwardly from the obverse side of the snow-compressing disk. The obverse side forms a flat snow-compressing surface oriented substantially perpendicularly to the shaft and facing away from the more distant second end of the shaft, and the reverse side of the disk forms a snowcollecting surface. A rigid drill plate is fixed to the disk, being positioned perpendicularly to and diametrically across the obverse side of the disk and having a pair of cutting surfaces which converge to form a piercing tip located substantially on the axis of the shaft. The weighted club head increases the momentum of the shaft, disk and drill plate when the shaft is forced vertically downwardly by an operator to urge the drill plate and disk into the snow to pierce and compress the snow to define a circular cross-section ball cup in the snow. The club head, which includes a ball-striking surface to permit driving of the ball with the club head, has its center of gravity positioned substantially off the axis of the shaft to generate a force moment about the axis, thereby increasing the angular momentum about the shaft axis when the drill plate is urged downwardly into snow and the shaft rotated, thereby assisting the drill plate in cutting through the snow.

Description

United States Patent Alexander Dec. 17, 1974 1 1 COMBINED SNOW BORING TOOL AND BALL STRIKING CLUB lnventor: Ernest 1-1. Alexander, 5136 Woodland Rd., Minnetonka, Minn. 55343 Filed: Mar. 7, 1974 Appl. No.: 449,190

U.S. Cl. 273/162 F, 175/18, 175/315 Int. Cl A63b 53/00 Field of Search 273/77 R, 162 F, 168, 162 R;

Primary Examiner-Richard .1. Apley Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Williamson, Bains 8L Moore [57] ABSTRACT A combined snow-boring tool and club for playing a golf-like ball game in snow and adapted to bore a cup in the snow for receiving of the ball comprises a substantially straight shaft having a weighted club head at one end and a rigid snow-compressing disk adjacent the second end with a rigid drill plate fixed to and extending perpendicularly outwardly from the obverse side of the snow-compressing disk. The obverse side forms a flat snow-compressing surface oriented substantially perpendicularly to the shaft and facing away from the more distant second end of the shaft, and the reverse side of the disk forms a snow-collecting surface. A rigid drill plate is fixed to the disk, being positioned perpendicularly to and diametrically across the obverse side of the disk and having a pair of cutting surfaces which converge to form a piercing tip located substantially on the axis of the shaft. The weighted club head increases the momentum of the shaft, disk and drill plate when the shaft is forced vertically downwardly by an operator to urge the drill plate and disk into the snow to pierce and compress the snow to define a circular cross-section ball cup in the snow. The club head, which includes a ball-striking surface to permit driving of the ball with the club head, has its center of gravity positioned substantially off the axis of the shaft to generate a force moment about the axis, thereby increasing the angular momentum about the shaft axis when the drill plate is urged downwardly into snow and the shaft rotated, thereby assisting the drill plate in cutting through the snow.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures COMBINED SNOW BORING TOOL AND BALL STRIKING CLUB BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to the field of outdoor game equipment and provides a combined snow-boring tool and club useful in the playing of a golf-like ball game by cross-country skiers and other outdoorsmen.

In recent years, with the increasing popularity of cross-country skiing, various outdoor game activities have been devised for such skiers. Among the most promising of these games is a golf-like game played by the skiers as they move from hole to hole on skis. The ball used in the game is typically brightly colored to stand out against the snow and is formed with a diameter of approximately 4 inches so as to avoid being easily buried or lost in the snow. A specially designed club is useful in this game, and additional special equipment is required to permit a skier to effectively and enjoyably play the game.

In playing the game, a plurality of cups or holes is formed in the snow to receive the ball. Often the course on which the game is played may be crusted with ice or have multiple layers of crusted snow, requiring a special snow-boring tool to form a cup meeting the size requirements established for the game. A club is required for driving the ball, and the skier-player requires a ski pole for propelling himself across the course. To obtain maximum enjoyment from the game, the equipment used should be light in weight and occupy minimum space. The present invention combines a snow-boring tool with the required club and is so constructed as to also be usable as a ski pole, thereby greatly reducing the items of equipment otherwise carried by the skier and making the game more enjoyable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprises an easily carried, combined snow-boring tool and club which may also be used as a ski pole, the invention being used in a golf-like ball game played on snow by skiers.

The combined snow-boring tool and club has a straight, longitudinal shaft with a rigid snowcompressing disk adjacent afirst end of the shaft. The disk has a snow-compressing surface on its obverse side oriented generally perpendicularly to the axis of the shaft, with the disk and shaft axes coinciding A rigid drill plate is fixed to the snow-compressing surface and positioned diametrically across it and perpendicular thereto. The drill plate has a pair of cutting surfaces which converge to form a piercing tip substantially on the axis of the shaft. By urging the drill plate downwardly into the snow while simultaneously rotating the shaft, an operator can cut through crusted ice and snow to define a carefully formed, neat, regulation-size cup appropriate for receiving the ball.

A weighted club head is fixed to the second end of the shaft and extends outwardly therefrom. This weighted head substantially increases the momentum of the combined tool and club when the snow compressing disk and drill plate are forced downwardly into the snow to compress the snow and define the cup. In addition, by having the club head extending outwardly from the shaft, the center of gravity of the club head is displaced from the club axis, and this placement increases the angular momentum ofthe combined tool and club when it is rotated about the axis of the shaft.

By urging the drill plate downwardly and rotating the shaft axis, the drill plate cuts into the crusted layers of snow and ice, the increased angular momentum obtained by displacement of the club heads center of gravity assisting in the drilling action by inertially aiding the continued rotation of the shaft and drill plate. The outwardly extending club head also provides a convenient handle for the operator to grasp when rotating the shaft.

Still other advantages of the combined snow-boring tool and club are that it is durable, streamlined, compact, resilient to shock and rough handling. easy and inexpensive to manufacture, and simple to assemble.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the appended drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective drawing of an embodiment of the combined snow-boring tool and club showing the use of the embodiment in boring a cup in crusted snow and ice.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of one end of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 taken in the direction of arrows 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the embodiment of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a perspective drawing showing a use of the combined snow-boring tool and club in playing the golflike ball game.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1, the shown embodiment 10 of the combined snow-boring tool and club has an elongated, substantially rigid, straight shaft 12 formed of wood, metal, or other suitable material known to the art, the length of the shaft 12 being suited to the operators or players physical stature. The shaft 12 has a central, longitudinal axis 14 and is wrapped with commercially available tape 16 or its equivalent adjacent first end 18 and second end 20 to define first and second spaced apart hand grip members. The first end 18 is bifurcated, defining

bifurcations

22 and 24.

Adjacent the first end l8'of the shaft 12 is a rigid snow-compressing disk 26 whose central axis 28 is oriented to coincide with the shaft axis 14. The disk 26 is rigidly fixed to the shaft 12 in any known manner and is circular in cross-section, having a diameter slightly larger than the chosen diameter of the ball with which the golf-like game is to be played. The obverse side of the snow-compressing disk 26 forms a flat, snowcompressing surface 30 oriented substantially perpendicularly to the shaft 12 and facing away from the second end 20 of the shaft 12. Accordingly, when the shaft 12 and attached disk 26 is urged downwardly into the snow in the direction 32 the surface 30 is forced against the snow 34, compressing the snow and defining a cylindrical cup 35 in which the ball 36 may be received.

The disk 26 has a snow-collecting surface 38 on the side of the disk opposite the obverse side and facing the second end 20 of the shaft. When the disk 26 is forced downwardly into the snow 34, snow particles are dis lodged from the side of the cup 35 and land on the surface 38 to form a snow accumulation 40 as the disk 26 moves downwardly into the snow. This permits easy removal of the accumulated snow on the surface 38 by simply withdrawing the disk and shaft from the snow and shaking the accumulation 40 off. Accordingly,

forcing the disk 26 downwardly into the snow serves to compress the snow below the disk and in contact with snow-compressing surface 30 while snow particles dislodged by the passing disk are collected on the surface 38 and easily withdrawn from the cup and disposed of. The disk 26 may be formed of wood, metal, or other equivalent material which is sturdy and rigid.

A rigid drill plate 42 is fixed to and extends outwardly from the snow-compressing surface 30 of the disk 26, is oriented perpendicularly to thesurface 30, and extends diametrically across the surface 30. The plate 42 has cutting

surfaces

44 and 46 converging toward one another to define a piercing tip 48 positioned substantially on the axes 14 and 28. The plate 42 is positioned between the

bifurcations

22 and 24 of the shaft 12 and fixed to them so as to receive lateral support from the bifurcations. When thedisk 26 and drill plate 42 are forced downwardly into the snow, the

cutting surfaces

44 and 46 cut into the snow and when the drill plate 42 is rotated about the axis 14 as the shaft 12 is rotated in directions 50, the

cutting surfaces

44 and 46 cooperate to bore a hole through crusted snow or ice and thereby aid in defining a cylindrical golf cup as the disk 26 is forced downwardly in direction 32 and rotated in directions 50, the snow ground up by the rotational action of the drill plate being subsequently compressed by the snow-compressing surface 30.

At the second end 20 of the shaft 12 is a weighted club head 54 having a pair of ball-striking surfaces 56 and 57 on opposed lateral sides of the club 54. The shaft 12 is rigidly imbedded in a bore 58 passing partially through the club 54. The head 54 is formed of sturdy,'rigid, relatively solid material such as wood to provide a substantial weight at the second end 20 of the shaft 12 for a purpose to be described hereafter. The head 54 extends outwardly from the shaft 12 at an obtuse angle thereto 'so that the edge 59 will be approximately parallel to the snow surface when the club is used to propel the ball 36 as shown in FIG. 5. Because the head 54 extends outwardly from the shaft 12, the center of gravity 60 of the head 54 is positioned substantially off the axis 14 of the shaft, and accordingly when the shaft and head are rotated about the axis 14 at some given velocity, the mass of head 54 generates substantial angular momentum about the axis 14, tending to keep the shaft 12 rotating when once set in motion. Rotation of the shaft 12 causes the drill plate 42 to readily bore or cut through the crusted snow or ice encountered as the drill moves downwardly into the snow 34. The substantial mass of the club head 54 also acts directly downwardly on the shaft 12 to substantially increase the momentum of the structure as it is rammed downwardly into the snow by an operator, increasing the ease with which the cup 35 is formed.

In operation, when the operator or player desires to form a cup in the snow, he positions the apex 48 of the plate 42 over the location where the cup is to be tion and assures additional penetration into the snow 34. When resistance is encountered due to crusted snow or ice, such as snow crusts 62 and 64, the operator applies a downwardly directed force in the direction of arrow 32 to the shaft 12 and grasping the club head 54 and the shaft 12 begins rotating the shaft about its axis 14, causing the cutting surfaces 44 and 46 of drill plate 42 to cut through the crusts 62 and 64. As the drill plate and disk move downwardly through the snow, the snow-compressing surface 30 compresses the snow downwardly while the circular cross-section of the disk 26 carefully defines the cylindrical shape of the cup. Any snow which is dislodged from the edges of the cup 35 as the disk moves downwardly is collected on the snow-collecting surface 38 and may be subsequently withdrawn as the tool 10 is raised from the cup 35, after which the collected snow 40 is disposed of in any convenient manner.

To use the combined tool and club 10 as a golf club, the operator grasps the first end 18 of the club and swings the striking surface 56 or 57 toward the ball, hitting and propelling it as is well known to the golf art.

When the operator desires to ski to the next hole, he inverts the combined snow-bering tool and club 10, grasping the tape 16 at the second end 20 and using the disk 26 and drill plate 42 to dig into the snow and propel himself on his skis, the embodiment 10 thus providing a substitute for a conventional ski pole.

Accordingly, the invention provides a single structure which the skier-player may carry with him to meet all his golf playing and skiing requirements in the described golf-like game, thus eliminating multiple implements such as club, ski pole, and hole-preparation equipment.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described, it should be understood that various changes, adaptations and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A combined snow-boring tool and club for playing a golf-like ball game in snow and adapted to bore a cup in the snow for receiving of the ball, comprising:

an elongated, substantially straight shaft having first and second ends and a central longitudinal axis, first and second spaced apart hand grip members located on said shaft adjacent said first and second ends respectively; rigid snow-compressing disk having a central axis and fixed to said shaft adjacent said first end, the axes of said disk and shaft substantially coinciding, the obverse side of said disk forming a flat snowcompessing surface oriented substantially perpendicularly to said shaft and facing away from said second end of said shaft for compressing snow when said disk and first end of said shaft are forced axially downwardly into the snow to form a cup in the snow; rigid drill plate fixed to and extending outwardly from said snow-compressing surface of said disk, said drill plate being oriented perpendicularly to the said snow-compressing surface and positioned diametrically across said snow-compressing surface of said disk to cut through snow in response to rotation of said drill plate, disk and shaft about the axes of said shaft and disk; and a weighted club head rigidly fixed to said second end of said shaft to increase the momentum of said shaft, disk and drill plate when said shaft is forced vertically downwardly by an operator to urge said drill plate and disk into the snow to pierce and compress the snow to define a circular crosssection ball cup in the snow, said club head including at least one ball-striking surface to permit driving of the ball with the club head when said club head and said shaft are swung through an arc. 2. The combined snow-boring tool and club of claim 1 wherein saqd drill plate has a pair of cutting surfaces, said cutting surfaces converging to define a piercing tip located substantially on the axis of said shaft and spaced along the axis from said snow-compressing surface.

3. The combined snow-boring tool and club of claim 1 wherein said first end of said shaft is bifurcated, a bifurcation being positioned on each lateral side of said drill plate and fixed thereto to provide lateral support to said drill plate for boring of a cup in the snow.

4. The combined snow-boring tool and club of claim 1 wherein said club head extends outwardly from said shaft and has its center of gravity positioned substantially off the axis of said shaft to generate a moment about the axis of said shaft and thereby increase the angular momentum about said shaft axis when said drill plate is urged downwardly into snow and said shaft and head rotated about the axis of said shaft to rotate said drill plate and cut through the snow, said outwardly extending club head further providing a handle for an operator to grasp during rotation.

5. The combined snow-boring tool and club of claim 1 wherein said disk further includes a substantially flat snow-collecting surface positioned on the side of said disk opposite said obverse snow-compressing surface side to receive dislodged snow when said disk is forced downwardly into the snow.

Claims

1. A combined snow-boring tool and club for playing a golf-like ball game in snow and adapted to bore a cup in the snow for receiving of the ball, comprising: an elongated, substantially straight shaft having first and second ends and a central longitudinal axis, first and second spaced apart hand grip members located on said shaft adjacent said first and second ends respectively; a rigid snow-compressing disk having a central axis and fixed to said shaft adjacent said first end, the axes of said disk and shaft substantially coinciding, the obverse side of said disk forming a flat snow-compessing surface oriented substantially perpendicularly to said shaft and facing away from said second end of said shaft for compressing snow when said disk and first end of said shaft are forced axially downwardly into the snow to form a cup in the snow; a rigid drill plate fixed to and extending outwardly from said snow-compressing surface of said disk, said drill plate being oriented perpendicularly to the said snow-compressing surface and positioned diametrically across said snow-compressing surface of said disk to cut through snow in response to rotation of said drill plate, disk and shaft about the axes of said shaft and disk; and a weighted club head rigidly fixed to said second end of said shaft to increase the momentum of said shaft, disk and drill plate when said shaft is forced vertically downwardly by an operator to urge said drill plate and disk into the snow to pierce and compress the snow to define a circular cross-section ball cup in the snow, said club head including at least one ball-striking surface to permit driving of the ball with the club head when said club head and sAid shaft are swung through an arc.

2. The combined snow-boring tool and club of claim 1 wherein saqd drill plate has a pair of cutting surfaces, said cutting surfaces converging to define a piercing tip located substantially on the axis of said shaft and spaced along the axis from said snow-compressing surface.