Sectional golf bag

[57] ABSTRACT

In a sectional golf bag which can be manually assembled without sewing machines, a top collar unit and a bottom unit with a respective tri-angular grooved cavity communicating integrally with a respective annular groove formed in and along each of the opposed peripheral walls of both units, and a body unit with an upper and lower flange means having a configuration corresponding to each of the triangular grooved cavities, respectively, such that they can be received forcibly into and engaged with each of the triangular grooved cavities for coupling the top collar unit, the bottom unit and the body unit together. The body unit can be held cylindrical by means of a pair of fastener elements along the vertical edges.

Claims, 10 Drawing Figures

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PATENTED JUL 4 1972

3,674,072

SHEET 1 OF 2

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PATENTED JUL 41972

3,674,072

SHEET 2 OF 2

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ATTORNEY

3,674,072

SECTIONAL GOLF BAG

This invention relates to a sectional golf bag characterized in that a top collar unit, a body unit and a bottom unit that are made separately in different processes simultaneously, 5 wherein the top collar unit and the bottom unit are formed of a suitable elastic material, preferably of a synthetic rubber material, and the body unit is made of suitable sheet material such as textile fabrics, synthetic resins and/or leathers; adjacent the upper edge as well as the lower edge of the body 10 unit are disposed an upper marginal mumber and a lower marginal member, respectively, both of which marginal members are formed of a suitable elastic material, preferably of synthetic rubber material, so as to be forced snappingly into the grooves provided within the top collar unit and the bottom 15 unit, respectively, after the body unit having been cylindrically formed by way of not sewing together but using fastener elements arranged along each of the opposite longitudinal side edges of the body unit.

Most of conventional golf bags have been generally 20 completed by way of sewing a top collar portion and a bottom portion onto a body portion by use of plurality of different types special sewing machines which are very expensive or by way of manual stitching works by those skilled in the work, which has caused inevitable increases in manufacturing costs 25 and inefficiency in manufacturing. Furthermore, in transportation of finished golf bags, resulting from well-known cylindrical shape thereof incapable of folding flat, space utility efficiency in transportation means has been extremely low, causing increase in transportation cost. 30

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a novel sectional type golf bag which can be very easily assembled even by unskilled persons or amateur part-timers without using sewing machines.

It is another object of this invention to provide a novel golf 35 bag which will permit manufacture at a very low cost.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel golf bag which will enable easy assembly at any place merely with conventional simple and small hand-operated tools such as screwdrivers. 40

It is the still further object of this invention to reduce a transportation cost of golf bags considerably.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description made with reference to a preferred embodiment of the inven- 45 tion shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings and from the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one preferred embodiment of the golf bag according to the present invention. 50

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the golf bag shown in FIG. 1, with parts enlarged for better disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of a top collar unit of the golf bag illustrated in FIG. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken along line IV—IV of FIG. 3 55 and looking in the direction indicated, showing an annular groove provided within the top collar unit in detail.

FIG. 5 is an expanded front elevation illustrating the body unit to be cylindrically formed, with parts broken away for better disclosure. 60

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the body unit shown in FIGS.

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the bottom unit shown in FIG. 1 and 2.

FIG. 8 is a vertical section as indicated by the arrows Vm— 65 VIII of FIG. 7, showing an annular groove provided within the bottom unit in detail.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view showing the upper marginal member of the body unit engaged with the groove of the top collar unit, with golf club separating means 70 inserted therethrough.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 8, showing the lower marginal member of the body unit partly engaged with the groove of the bottom unit, with a fixing screw inserted therethrough. 75

Referring now to the drawings in detail, a sectional golf bag in accordance with this invention comprises three units; a top collar unit, a body unit, and a bottom unit, generally designated by reference numerals 10,20, and 50, respectively. These three units may be made in different processes simultaneously.

As is illustrated in FIG. 3, an annular ring shaped or oval ring shaped top collar unit 10 which is formed of a suitable elastic material, preferably of synthetic rubber, can be made in conventional forming process, so that it is provided with an annular groove 11 along the underside peripheral wall of the top collar unit. Adjacent the inner depth of the groove 11, there is provided a triangularly grooved cavity 12 which is communicated with the groove 11 and receives a flange portion 31 of which description will be given hereinafter. Preferably, in forming the top collar unit 10, a reinforcing steel ring material 13 shown in section in FIG. 4 and 9 may be filled in.

As shown particularly in FIG. 5 and 6, the body unit 20 is made of a suitable sheet material such as textile fabrics, synthetic resins, leathers and/or the like. Adjacent the upper edge as well as the lower edge of the body unit 20, there are disposed an upper marginal member and a lower marginal member generally designated by reference numerals 30 and 40 respectively, and along the opposite longitudinal edges of same there are arranged a pair of fastener elements 21a and 21b respectively. It will be easily understood that other attachments, that is, for instance, a clothing pocket 22, utility pocket 23, a ball pocket 24, an umbrella sheath (not shown in the drawings), a carrying handle 25, a shoulder strap (not shown in the drawings), and reinforcing members 26, 27α, 27b, 28α, 28b, 29α, and 29b may be provided. In making the body unit 20, upper marginal member 30, lower marginal member 40, and a pair of fastener elements 21α, 21b, as well as other attachments as described above, must be arranged on the body unit 20 by sewing on or in the suitable conventional manner prior to the stage of forming body the unit cylindrically.

The upper marginal member 30 and lower marginal member 40 have a flange portion 31 or 41, respectively. The marginal member 30 is formed so that it can be partly received in the annular groove 11 of top collar unit 10 and have its flange portion 31 engaged within the triangularly grooved cavity 12 of same as particularly shown in FIG. 9, whereby the top collar unit 10 and the body unit 20 can be kept coupled together with each other. More preferably, the top collar unit 10 and the body unit 20 may be engaged with each other more fixedly in the manner shown in FIG. 2 and 9 by use of golf club separating means consisting of threaded plugs 14, socket tubes 15α, 15b, hollow tubes 16α, 16b and washers 17. The socket tubes 15α and 15b may be served as fixing members as well as axle members about which the hollow tubes 16a and 16b are allowed to rotate freely and will thereby facilitate inserting and removing golf clubs more smoothly.

The lower marginal member 40, which is formed in similar manner to that of forming the above described upper marginal member 30, is provided with similar flange portion 41 which can be received into the annular groove 51 of the bottom unit 50 and forced snappingly into the similar triangularly groovy cavity 52 of same as is particularly shown in FIG. 10, whereby the body unit 20 and the bottom unit 50 can be kept coupled with each other.

In the illustrated embodiment, a plurality of screw bolts 53 and stationary nuts 54 are provided for the purpose of keeping the coupling position of the body unit 20 and the bottom unit 50 more fixedly.

In this connection, it should be desirable that the screw nuts 54 are arranged in or embedded in the inner peripheral wall of the bottom unit in the manner as shown in FIG. 10 in the forming process of the latter so that the screwing work can be accomplished easily and accessively from outside merely by use of a screwdriver.

However, it has been proved by experience that provision of screws 53 and nuts 54 as fixing members are not always

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4 required, because the body unit 20 and the bottom unit 50 can be kept coupled with each other to the sufficient extent without the fixing members 53 and 54.

The bottom unit 50 may be formed of the same material as the top collar unit 10, as well as the marginal members 30 and 40, and is provided with the annular groove 51 and the triangular grooved cavity 52 which are formed similar to those of the top collar unit 10. It may of course be provided with integral stud members 56 and suitably shaped partition walls 55, for instance cross-shaped ones as shown in FIG. 7, as well as drain holes 57 as shown in FIG. 8.

It will be easily understood that the top collar unit and the bottom unit may be provided with flange portions, respectively, in place of each annular groove and triangular grooved cavity and that the body unit, with grooves and triangularly grooved cavities for receiving the flange portions, at the upper edge as well as at the lower one.

Furthermore, the flange portion as well as the triangularly grooved cavity for receiving same may be formed so as to face inwardly, though facing outwardly in the illustrated embodiment.

As apparent from the aforementioned description, sewing work for providing the body unit with desired attachments such as 25,26,27α, 276,28α and 286 can be done by means of only one kind of sewing machine, since all the sewing work are effected on flat sheet material. It is of course that cauling works can be effected easily and efficiently for the same reason.

In the operation of assembling the three units 10,20 and 50 into a finished golf bag, as a first step, a golf bag carrying handle 25 is screwed onto the body unit 20 and then the latter is formed cylindrically by means Of a pair of fastener elements 21α, 216 which are disposed along the opposite longitudinal edges thereof. As a second step, the top collar unit 10 and bottom unit 50 are coupled with the body unit 20 by forcing the flange portions 31 and 41 of the body unit snappingly into the triangularly grooved cavities 12 and 52 respectively. As a third step, golf club separating means 14,15α, 156,16α, 166 and 17 may be mounted, and if desired, fixing members 53 and 54 may be employed.

The sectional golf bag in accordance with this invention, thus, can be assembled without any sewing machine at all but with at most two kinds of screwdrivers only. Consequently, efficiency in assembling golf bags can be extremely promoted by almost 400 percent increase even by those unskilled in the art with less-equipped facilities, eliminating the bottle neck of producing golf bags with high efficiency at a very low cost.

If desired, said golf club separating means may be integrally built-in at the stage of forming the top collar unit, for the purpose of simplifying the assembling operation. However, in this case, the fixing function of the golf club separating means cannot, of course, be attended.

In transportation, as being capable of easy assembly, the golf bag in accordance with this invention may be transported or exported in parts and be assembled at the destination by local part-timers, permitting so-called knock-down system in other phrases, whereby labor cost as well as transportation cost can be reduced remarkably.

It will be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the exact construction and manners shown and described, but that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.