Golf bag

Application

To dll whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Bert Kennedy, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Gloversville, in the county of Fulton and 5 State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Golf Bags, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates particularly to what are commonly known as caddy bags 10 for holding golf sticks, ordinarily constructed of cylindrical form with closed bottoms and of course requiring that the sticks be inserted endwise therein and similarly removscl therefrom. This gives rise to many 15 disadvantages in. practice, among which is the necessity of disposing the sticks with the heads thereof turned outwardly to permit of proper selection among a number thereof. As a consequence of so placing the ²⁰ sticks the heads of the iron clubs are continually jostled against the sticks, especially those of the longer wood clubs and the sticks become dented, marred and materially weakened.

²⁶ Another disadvantage of the ordinary bag is the ready loss of clubs with the bag in careless hands, and the difficulty of securing the clubs against unwarranted removal as well as accidental loss in transport30 ing the bag containing the clubs, from place to place.

Other disadvantages of the ordinary construction will appear in. the course of the following description where the manner of 35 overcoming the same and the foregoing objections will also be made plain.

In the drawings which illustrate my invention and form a part of this specification, <0 Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved caddy ba.g complete and closed.

Figure 2 is a similar view of the same open.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the ⁴⁵ metal frame or skeleton.

Figure 4 is a horizontal section, slightly enlarged and taken on line 4—4 of Figure 1, ana

Figure 5 is an enlarged perspective view 5® of the lower end of one section, looking at • the inside thereof.

Referring now to these figures and especially to Figure 1, it is to be noted that my improved bag generally indicated at 10 does

Serial No. 25,680.

not depart to any radical extent in ajjpeur· 55 ance from the ordinary bag, bring cylindrical in shape and having a side handle .1. Immediately· above this handle, a ring 12 is anchored and substantially below the ha idle 11 a second ring 13 is anchored. More- 60 over at diametrically opposite points are rings 14 and 15, spaced equal distances from the upper ring 12 and about even therewith. Straps 16 ana 17 are permanently attached at their lower ends to the ring 13 and have 65 snap hooks 'and the like 18 at their upper ends for engagement with either the rings 14 and; 15 to form double shoulder straps or with the ring 12 to form a single shoulder strap. When double straps are formed the 70 bag may be easily carried in a steady vertical position midway of the back and this is particularly desirable with my improved bag as will presently appear.

My improved bag is formed in two semi- I® cylindrical sections 19 and 20, each having a covering of canvas, leather or other material suitable for the purpose, with or with- . out top and bottom finishing bands 21 and 22, usually of stiff heavy leather. Each ⁸⁰section also has its metal skeleton or frame including spaced uprights 23 as seen in Figure 3 with a half-round bottom plate 24 and upper and lower semi-circularly bent strips 25 and 26, the bottom plate 24 having a ⁸⁵flange 27 which like the strips 25 and 26, is securely riveted or otherwise fastened to the spaced uprights 23. Each frame ot skeleton also includes semi-circularly bent strips 28 and 29 spaced respectively from the up- ⁹⁰per and lower frame strips 25 and 26 and serving as supports for series of U-shaped clips 30 adapted to receive and clasp the shafts of the golf clubs placed within the bag. ^M

When placed together and covered to form the bag, the two skeletons or frames have certain of their uprights 23 in parallel contiguous relation at diametrically opposite points, and at one of these points the ¹⁰⁰covering of the bag or a hinge forming strip 31 as seen in Figure 4 spans the upright so that a flexible joint or hinge is thus formed upon which the opposite points or free edges of the sections are movable toward and away from one another in closing and opening the bag. Along the uprights 23 adjacent to the bag hinge are secured a series

1,570,500

Ω of inwardly projecting ball clasping fingers 32 whereby balls may be safely carried within the bag and external unsightly bail pockets, such as usually employed, may be 5 done away with.

Along the frame uprights 23 at the free edges of the bag sections are secured latch forming strips 33 having curved coacting extensions 34 which, when the bag is closed, 10 aline to form a tube for the reception of a latch rod 35 lengthwise therethrough. This . rod securely holds the sections against accidental opening and is itself unlikely to become displaced in view of its upper bent end ¹⁵ or head 36 which precludes its downward movement. One of the sections of the bag may have an eye 37 upstanding above its free edge opposite the head 36 of the latch rod 35 when the_latter is in effective posi²⁰ tion so that by passing the shackle of a suitable padlock through the head 36 and the rigid eye 37, the latch rod may be locked against removal in transporting the bag from place to place.

²⁵ Above the before mentioned ring 12, the bag has an external hook 38 placed for engagement by the head 36 of the rod 35 when the latter is removed and utilized as an inclined brace to hold the open bag up³⁰ right upon the ground as seen m Figure 2.

It is obvious from the foregoing that with the bag open it is an easy matter to place the clubs laterally within the sections there’, _r of and within the clasps 30 so that they will ³⁰ be held against destructive jostling. It is also obvious that by thus placing the clubs in the bag they may be turned with their heads down and adjacent to the bottom of the bag, each section of which has at a point ⁴⁰ above its bottom plate a semi-circularly curved guard wire 39 rigidly fixed thereto so as to extend into the other section when the bag is closed, the two guard wires overlapping below the lower clasps 30 and thus above the club heads so that the latter cannot be drawn out lengthwise through the open end of the bag.

Thus with the bag closed and the latch rod 35 locked as previously described in its effective position shown in Figure 1, the golf clubs cannot be withdrawn and cannot be thrown against one another, while with the bag open and suspended on the back ₅₅ of a caddy in use, each and every club is ^oa fully exposed ready for easy removal and selection.

Obviously my improved bag lends itself to various ornamentation and embellish_ao ment as readily as the ordinary bag, and the frames or skeletons may be covered either by means of the general covering of the bag or ornamental or reenforcing strips externally or internally or both. Various means ₀₅ in addition to those shown may be employed for the formation of the hinge and the latch and it is to be understood that I reserve all such variations and, modifications of the details as fall within the terms of the appended claims.'