US3426815A - Golf club cover - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 11, 1969 D. L. ASHLIN ET AL 3,426,815

GOLF CLUB coi /ER Filed March 13, 1967 V INVENTORS 041/4: A. 467/401 y ALLA/v 0. PEA/Al ATTO/Q/VEV I United States Patent 3,426,815 GOLF CLUB COVER David L. Ashlin, Brooklyn Park, Minn. (8617 Mattson Brooklane, Minneapolis, Minn. 55430), and Allan J. Fehn, Fridley, Minn. (7829 Alden Way, Minneapolis, Minn. 55432) Filed Mar. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 622,621 US. Cl. 150-52 Int. Cl. A63]: 57/00; B65d 65/02 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention It is desirable to provide the heads of golf clubs with covers to prevent injury to the golf club heads as the heads are bumped against each other in the golf bag. The golf club cover also provides a ready means of identification of the particular club since the covers may be of different colors and may have numerals aflixed thereto. Such covers are particularly desirable in connection with irons both because of the large number of such clubs which have to be separately identified and because of the fact that they are more likely to cause injury to each other.

While it has been proposed in the past to provide covers for golf clubs, these have usually involved either a zipper or drawstring fastening means so that substantial effort is involved in removing and reapplying the cover. Furthermore, many of these prior covers have been relatively bulky so that they cannot be conveniently carried in the golfers pocket while he is using the club. In addition, in order to support the zipper or drawstring fastening means, some of the prior art covers have been made of relatively heavy material which not only adds to the bulk of the material but renders it more difiicult to conveniently apply identifying numerals to the cover.

Summary 0 invlention An object of the present invention is to provide a very simple head cover for a golf club which can be quickly applied and quickly removed and which is suificiently compact that the covers may be applied to all of the irons in the golf bag without undue crowding. It is also an object of our invention to provide a golf club cover in which identifying numerals can be readily applied as by stitching.

In accomplishing the above objects, we provide a casing of flexible material having an opening therein for insertion of the head of a golf club, this casing having secured to the inner surfaces thereof adjacent the opening a plurality of flexible strips of fastening material, these strips being of the type having mating interlocking portions so that when the walls of the casing are pressed together with the golf club head in the casing, the opening is sufliciently closed to prevent removal of the head until the flexible strips are disengaged. By using fastening material of this type, which may be of the type commercially sold under the trade name Velcro, it is possible to readily close the opening in the bag without aligning any fastening members together. The cover may be removed by simply pulling on one end of the cover, causing disengagement of the fastening elements. In its specific form, the casing is formed of two layers of flexible material secured together, the outer layer being relatively soft and the inner layer being relatively wear resistant. This casing may be formed of two sections of the same configuration, which are fastened together along their edges except along one edge so as to provide the opening along this one edge. The fastening means preferably extends over only a portion of the opening so as to leave an opening for the shaft of the club. Furthermore, because the material of the casing is not unduly bulky, it is possible to stitch through the wall of the casing to form a numeral corresponding to the number of a particular golf club.

Brief description of the drawing FIGURE 1 is a plan view of our improved golf club cover with the portions of the cover adjacent the opening therein turned outwardly to show the fastening means;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view on a somewhat smaller scale of the same covering, showing the outline of the fastening means in dotted lines;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a golf club with one of our golf club covers applied thereto;

FIGURE 4 is a view on the same scale as FIGURE 1 showing the golf club cover applied to the head of a golf club; and

FIGURE 5 is a view taken from the right-hand side of FIGURE 4 showing the manner in which the fastening members are interengaged to retain the club cover about the head of the club.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring first to FIGURE 1, our improved golf club cover comprises two portions 10 and 11 of identical configuration. Each of these portions comprises an outer layer 12 of a relatively soft material such as woven nylon, this outer layer being designated by the reference numeral 12, and an inner layer 13 of a water-resistant, wearresistant material such as expanded vinyl. The outer layer 12 and the inner layer 13 are preferably bonded together as by the use of heat. The two portions 10 and 11 of the cover are curved at their left-hand end and have a relatively straight right-hand edge as best shown in FIG- URE 2. This right-hand edge preferably is inclined outwardly proceeding from the bottom to the top, again as best shown in FIGURE 2. The two portions 10 and 11 are fastened together along their outer edges, except at the right-hand end by any suitable means such as stitching 15 which extends over the outer edges of the two pieces 10 and 11. The right-hand inclined edges are not stitched together but are separable as shown in FIGURE 1 to provide an opening for the insertion of the head of the golf club. Stitching 16 is provided in connection with these right-hand edges to reinforce the edges and guard against abrasion thereof upon the insertion of a golf club.

In order to readily fasten the cover about a golf club head, we provide two strips 20' and 21 which are designed to interlock with each other when pressed together, These strips 20' and 21 are securely fastened to the opposite interior walls of the casing portions 10 and 11. The strip 20 is a hooked pile strip while the strip 21 is a pile fabric or a looped pile fabric. Such a hooked pile strip and cooperating pile fabric of the type employed are commercially available under the trademark Velcro. As best shown in FIGURES 1 and 5, the hooked pile fabric 20 has a plurality of minute hooks which when pressed into engagement with the pile fabric 21 retain the two strips 20 and 21 in interlocked relationship. As best shown in FIGURE 2, the strips 20 and 21 which are of substantially identical configuration are located adjacent the opening on the right-hand side of the casing 3 and extend slightly over one-half of the extent of the opening.

Since the two portions 10 and 11 of the casing are relatively thin, it is possible to readily apply indicia to the casing prior to fastening the two portions 1 and 12 together by stitching the desired indicia onto the easing portion. We find it desirable to employ an embroidery stitch. The indicia preferably takes the form of a numeral corresponding to the number of the particular iron over which the cover is to be placed, such a numeral being indicated in the drawing by the reference numeral 25. As shown in the drawing, the numeral is the numeral 9 indicating that this cover is adapted to cover a 9 iron.

FIGURE 3 shows a typical golf club with our improved cover applied thereto. The golf club comprises a shaft 26 having a handle grip 27 and a head shown within the golf club cover. It will be noted that the cover is securely retained to the head. As best indicated in FIG- URES 4 and 5, the upper right-hand portions of cover portions and 11 are squeezed together and are held in this condition about the golf club head. Since the fastening strips 20 and 21 interlock regardless of the relative lateral positions in which they engage, due to the large number of hooks on member 20 and the large number of loops on member 21, it is unnecessary to be concerned about the relative lateral positions of portions 10 and 11 when they are pressed together, such as would be necessary with a fastening means such as snaps. Thus, even though the material of the cover is shifted as the club is inserted into he relatively fiat cover, it is still possible to readily close the cover. Furthermore, because of the fact that the type of fastening means we employ need not be engaged over its entire extent, it is possible to have the fastening strips 20 and 21 of such a size that they can be engaged closely adjacent to the shank 26 of the golf club to effectively close the opening in the golf club cover.

In use, the head 29 of the golf club shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 4 is inserted into the cover. Prior to insertion of club, the cover is relatively flat as is apparent from FIGURES 1 and 2. After insertion of the club, cover is then pulled up until the lower inner edge of the cover engages the lower edge of the golf club. The upper right-hand portions are then squeezed together as previously explained to firmly lock the cover about the golf club head. When it is desired to remove the golf club cover, all that it is necessary to do is to grasp the left-hand edge of the cover and pull it to the left. The camming action of the golf club head will force the two fastening members 20 and 21 apart to cause them to disengage, permitting the cover to be readily removed merely by pulling the same from the left-hand edge. The cover thus can be applied and removed with a minimum of effort upon the part of the golfer, thus encouraging the use of such covers.

It will thus be seen that we have provided a golf club cover which is compact and simple to apply and remove from the golf club head. Because of the outer layer of relatively soft material, the heads are protected from damage by bumping into each other. At the same time, the inner wear-resistant layer guards against the material being worn unduly by insertion and removal of the golf club. Furthermore, the inner layer, being water resistant, tends to retard the entrance of moisture into the interior of the cover. It will also be noted that because of the relatively compact nature of the layers used to form the golf club cover, it is possible to readily apply identifying indicia such as numerals by a stitching process.

While we have shown a specific embodiment of our invention for purposes of illustration, it is to be understood that the scope of our invention is limited solely by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A head cover for a golf club of the iron type having a shaft and a head secured thereto, said cover being in the form of a relatively flat, thin, elongated casing of flexible material of a size somewhat larger than the golf club head to be covered and having an open end of a width substantially equal to the maximum width of said cover, the opening in said open end extending entirely across said end for insertion of the golf club head, said casing having secured to the inner surfaces thereof adjacent the opening therein a plurality of flexible strips of fastening material extending from one edge of said opening partly thereacross, said strips of fastening material having mating interlocking portions so that when the walls of said casing are pressed together with a golf club head in said casing, said opening is sufiiciently closed to prevent removal of said head until said flexible strips are disengaged, the interlocking portions of said strips of fastening material being sufficiently numerous that the strips may be secured together in any of numerous laterally spaced relative positions.

2. The cover of claim 1 in which said casing is formed of two flat sections of the same configuration which are fastened together along their edges except along one end edge so as to provide said opening along said one end edge.

3. The cover of claim 1 in which one of said strips of fastening material has a plurality of hooks projecting therefrom and the other of said strips has a plurality of loops adapted to coact with said hooks.

4. The cover of claim 1 in which said strips of fastening material extend only over a suflicient extent of said opening so as to enable said opening to be closed sufficiently to grip the shaft of the club.

5. The cover of claim 1 in which one wall of said casing has stitching therethrough in an outline forming a numeral corresponding to the number of a particular golf club so as to aid in identifying the golf club when the cover is applied to the head thereof.

6. The cover of claim 1 in which the open end of the cover is straight to facilitate insertion of a club head and in which the opposite end is curved to better conform with the contour of the outer end of the club head.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,479,136 1/1924 Guinzburg 52 3,055,409 9/1962 Latina 150 -52 3,143,154 8/1964 Best 15052 3,145,749 8/1964 Rosenow 15052 3,292,748 12/1966 Rifkin -41 XR 3,303,865 2/1967 Ouimet 15052 DONALD F. NORTON, Primary Examiner.

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