US2790640A - Golf practice mat - Google Patents

Description

' GOLF PRACTICE MAT Filed July 19, 1955 5 INVENTOR:

CH QRLES R. HOAG dugpkaw ATT'YS United States Patent 2,790,640 GOLF PRACTICE MAT Charles R. Hoag, Glenview, Ill.', assignor to Flexi-Mat Corporation, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application July 19, 1955, Serial No. 523,044

4 Claims. (Cl. 27333) The main objects of this invention are to provide an improved brush construction; to provide an improvedbrush construction which simulates turf and, therefore, is usable especially for practicing golf iron shots, to provide improved means for securing the bristles in'place on a mounting'base which permits facile assembly of the brush and replacement of sections of bristles that become damaged or excessively worn; to provide an improved form of bristle-mounting base especially adapted for use in conjunction with a standard mat commonly used for teeing up golf balls for practice wood shots; and to provide an improved brush construction of this kind which,

by reason of its simple and practical structure, is extremely Fig. 3 is a further enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

The essential concept of this invention involves a series of bristles clamped between the nearly-parallel parts of U-shaped metal strips, a plurality of which bristle-supporting strips are slidably supported between pairs of rows of opposedly-staggered lugs struck up from a metal mounting base, the brush being adapted especially for setting into a conforming opennig in a golf practice mat.

A brush 4 embodying the foregoing concept comprises, a base 5 from one face of which are struck up pairs of parallel rows of lugs 6 between which are slidably seated U-shaped elements 7 wherein are clamped bristles 8, the brush 4 being operatively positionable on a golf driving-range mat 9.

The base 5 preferably is a sheet-metal plate of rectangular form dimensioned slightly larger than an opening 10 in the mat 9, for reasons that will appear presently.

The lugs 6 are struck up from one face of the base 5 in pairs of parallel rows disposed preferably lengthwise of the base 5. As is most apparent from Fig. 2, alternate lugs 6, in a pair of rows, are so stamped out as to permit being bent up in opposite directions, thus staggering the lugs 6 along each row.

The lugs 6, when bent up, are not quite perpendicular to the face of the base 5. Thus the lugs along opposite sides of each row are inclined toward each other slightly. For this reason, the lugs 6, in their relative angularity, conform to the slightly-out-of-parallel relationship of the parts 11 of the bristle-supporting elements 7 (see Fig. 3).

These rows of lugs terminate inwardly of the perimeter of the base 5 and the elements 7 are of a length less than the length of the base 5, so that the rectangular Patented Apr. '30, 1957 "ice.

Also, it should be noted that in each of the rows of lugs 6, the spacing between the pair of directly-opposed lugs, that is, those which are oppositely struck up from the face of the base 5, generally is greater than the spacing between the lugs of a pair.

The bristle-supporting elements 7 are strips of sheetmetal bent to U-snaped form. The bristles 8 are doubled around rods 12and seated in the base of the elements 7, with theends of the parts 11 pressed toward each other to firmly clamp the bristles 8 in place. As shown at 13, in Fig. 2, when desired, the edges of the parts 11 may be crimped inwardly to further secure the bristles in place on the respective elements 7.

As will be most evident from Fig. 2, the bristle-supporting elements are slid endwise into place between the pairs of rows of staggeredly-opposed lugs 6, which lugs firmly anchor'the elements in place with the ends of the bristles 8 closely disposed to each other in a plane parallel with that of the base 5. Should the bristles 8 of a series,

this form has been designed especially for use with mats 9--'of the type employed on golf-driving-ranges for use in teeing up balls for practicing wood shots.

As already explained, the brush 4 has its base and bristle arrangement so relatively dimensioned that the brush may be set in the mat opening 10. (See Fig. 1.) The perimetrical portions of the mat 9, defining the opening 10, overlay the perimetrical portions of the base 5 outwardly of the bristles 8. The base 5 being comparatively thin, makes no appreciable upward displacing of the mat 9 and the bristles 8 extend above the surface of the mat 9 just about as the grass is disposed above the surface of the ground on a well-kept fairway.

Such a mat and brush combination thus makes it possible for practicing either tee wood shots or iron shots from a simulated turf.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention is herein shown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of the construction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A golf-ball driving device including a mat and a ball-supporting brush, the mat being formed and dimensioned to support a golfer and having a transverse rectangular opening formed therein intermediate one end of the mat and its transverse median, the brush comprising a rectangular-shaped base of greater width and length than the mat opening, a plurality of bristle-retaining elements each of a length substantially equal to the length of the mat opening, the elements being secured to the base with the ends of the elements located inwardly from the opposite ends of the base and with the opposite exterior-most lateral elements spaced apart a distance substantially equal to the width of the mat opening, the brush being set in the mat opening and retained against displacement by the perimetrical portions of the mat which define the mat opening overlapping the four edges of the brush base and abutting the exterior-most bristlesupporting elements.

2. A golf-ball driving device including a mat and a ball-supporting brush, the mat being formed and dimensioned to support a golfer and having a transverse rectangular opening formed therein intermediate one end of the mat and its transverse median, the brush comprising a rectangular-shaped base of greater width and length than the mat opening, a plurality of bristle-retaining elements each of a length substantially equal to the length of the mat opening, the elements being secured to the base with the ends of the elements located inwardly from opposite 1 ends of the base and with the opposite exterionmost. a

lateral elements spaced apart a distance, substantially equal to the width ofthe mat topening thenbrush being. set in the mat opening and retained against displacement by the perimetrical portions of the mat which, define, the mat opening overlapping the four edgessof the brush base and abutting the, exterior-most bristle-supporting elements, the bristles beingv of a. length to dispose the ends thereof closely adjacently above theplane ofmthe mat.

3. A golf-ball driving devicelineludi a mat andaballnently inclined toward each other, and, an equalnumber of U-shaped bristle clamping elements each having the parts thereof extending in the same, general direction and inclined toward each other at substantially the. same angleas that of the lugs of the baseso, thateach V-shaped element with the bristles clamped therein is frictionally retained in longitudinal-sliding relationship with a transverse row of lugs, the brush, being set, in the mat opening and retained against displacement by the perimetrical portions of the mat which define the mat, opening overlapping the four edges of the brush base and abutting the exterior-most parts of the bristle-supporting elements.

4. A golf-ball driving device including a mat and a ball-supporting brush, the mat being formed and dimensioned to support a golfer and having a transverse rectangular opening formed therein intermediate one end of the mat and its transverse median, the brush comprising a rectangular-shaped sheet-metal base having a plurality of transverse rows of opposed lugs struck up from one face of the base of a height not to exceed the thickness of the mat and normally disposed at angles of less than ninety degrees with the lugs of each transverse row permanently inclined toward each other, and an equal number of U-shap'ed bristle-clamping elements each having the parts thereof extending in the same general direction and inclined toward each other at substantially the same angle as that of the lugs of the base so that each V-shaped element with the bristles clamped therein is frictionally retained in longitudinal-sliding relationship with a transverse row of lugs, the brush being set in the mat opening and retained against displacement by the perimetrical portions of the mat which define the mat opening overlapping the four edges of the brush base and abutting the t exterior-most parts of the bristle-supporting elements,

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Meehan May 8, 1928 McLaughlin Feb. 9, 1954

Images