Golf Club And Ball Warmer

Abstract

Heated tubes receive balls and the handles of clubs. The tubes may be incorporated in a golf cart or bag and a separate ball warmer is disclosed. In different modifications the tubes are heated by a gas flame, electric heating elements, a chemical heater or charcoal-type fuel sticks. The heat dries and warms the club handles when wet or cold and increases the elasticity of the balls so that longer drives may be made in cold weather.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to devices for warming golf balls and the handles of golf clubs.

Golf is played throughout the year in regions where the winter climate is cold and damp but the ground is not frozen or covered with snow. Nevertheless, the enjoyment of winter playing is much diminished when the club handles are wet and cold and the player's hands stiffen from the cold. Also, in cold weather the resilience of a golf ball is considerably reduced, making the drives from tee and fairway noticeably shorter than in warm weather. Thus, to the human discomfort must be added the discouragement of consistently higher scores in winter.

Participation in the game and enjoyment of the sport could be greatly improved by relieving the discomfort of the players and restoring the elasticity of the ball to its summertime condition. If these two factors could be improved, more players would cheerfully endure the chill of the air and sogginess underfoot to continue winter practice in preparation for spring play and also to substantially eliminate the traditional seasonal nature of the game.

Objects of the invention are, therefore, to provide devices for warming and drying the handles of clubs and for warming the balls, to provide a golf bag or cart having a club and ball heater, to provide a separate ball warmer, and to provide devices of the type described for operation with different heating media, such as butane or propane gas burners, electric heating elements, chemical heaters and charcoal-type fuel sticks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various modifications of the invention are disclosed. A golf cart is equipped with tubes to receive the club handles and a tube to receive golf balls. The tubes are heated by a butane gas burner which also supplies heat to a hand muff around the pull handle grip of the cart.

Electrically heated tubes for clubs and balls are incorporated in a golf bag for energization from an electrical source in a motor-driven golf buggy. In a similar form of construction, a chemical heater is employed.

Various modifications of separate golf ball warmers are also disclosed. These are arranged to hang on a hand-pulled golf cart or on a motor-driven golf buggy and are heated by charcoal-type fuel sticks which burn slowly for a a sufficient time to play eighteen holes of golf. Heating the golf balls increases their resilience to such an extent that the distance of tee and long fairway shots is very noticeably increased whereby the scores are comparable with those made in the summertime.

The invention will be better understood and additional objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description of the various embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Various changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement of parts and certain features may be used without others. All such modifications within the scope of the appended claims are included in the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf cart having a bag with a butane gas heater embodying the invention, with parts broken away;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a golf bag having an electric heater embodying the invention, with parts broken away;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view of the ball heater tube in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing a detail of one of the golf club tubes; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view, with parts broken away, showing a golf bag similar to that in FIG. 2 equipped with a chemical-type heater.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In FIG. 1 the golf cart 10 is equipped with a tubular pull handle 11 having a hand grip 12. Surrounding the grip 12 is a hand muff 13. A golf bag 15 is mounted on the cart by means of suitable brackets 16.

Golf bag 15 contains a plurality of tubes 20 to receive the handles of golf clubs 21 and a tube 22 to receive a removable ball cage 23 containing balls B. The upper ends of tubes 20 and 22 are mounted in holes in a plate 24 in the upper end of the golf bag and the lower portions of these tubes are mounted in holes in an insulated partition plate 25 near the lower end of the golf bag. Tubes 20 and 22 are closed at their lower ends and abut a metal heating plate 26 spaced a short distance above the lower end of the bag. Below the plate 26 is a combustion chamber 27 and between the plates 25 and 26 is a heating chamber 28. Bag 15 is lined with a suitable heat insulating material.

Combustion chamber 27 contains a burner 30 supplied by a fuel cartridge 31. The fuel is preferably butane or propane gas or a liquefied petroleum gas. Combustion chamber 27 has suitable draft openings in order to operate the burner 30. Burner 30 heats the metal heat transfer plate 26 which in turn conducts heat to the abutting lower ends of tubes 20 and 22. Plate 26 also heats the air in heating chamber 28 to supply additional heat to the side walls of the tubes contained within the chamber. These lower portions of the tubes 20 contain the hand grips of clubs 21 whereby the hand grips are warmed and dried if wet. Preferably, the lower end portions 35 of the tubes 20 and 22, which are within the chamber 28, are made of good heat conducting metal such as aluminum while the upper portions 36 of the tubes are made of plastic as shown in FIG. 4.

The construction of ball cage 23 is shown in FIG. 3. The ball cage comprises a metal tube 40 having a longitudinal slot 41 with one or more wide portions 42 providing openings for the insertion and removal of golf balls B. Preferably, there is a wide portion 42 at the lower end for removing warmed balls and a wide portion 42 at the upper end for inserting cold balls. Slot 41 enables the player to see how may balls are in the tube. The lower end of the tube 40 is closed and the upper end is closed by a cap 43 having a handle 44 for withdrawing the cage tube 40 from heater tube 22.

The upper end of bag 15 is closed by a transparent cover 32 which is hinged to the forward side of the bag at 33. This cover is arranged to keep out rain water and prevent undue loss of heat from the golf bag.

The structure of golf bag 15 thus far described is not limited to use with a golf cart but may be carried by the player or his caddy by means of the usual shoulder strap if desired. However, when the golf bag is to be used with the cart 10, an additional heater tube 45 is provided. This tube has a bend in its upper portion causing it to extend through the side of the golf bag with the upper end of the tube connected with hand muff 13. The lower end of tube 45 is left open and communicates through an opening in plate 28 with combustion chamber 27. Thus, hot air from the combustion chamber is conveyed directly into the hand muff 13 to warm the handle grip 12 and supply heat to the player's hand when pulling the cart. Tube 45 may serve as a draft tube or chimney for combustion chamber 27. Alternatively, heater tube 45 may be arranged to discharge hot air into hollow handle 11, if desired.

The golf bag 50 in FIG. 2 is generally similar to the golf bag in FIG. 1 except that it is electrically heated. Insulated resistance wires 51 are wound around the metal lower portions 35 of the tubes 20 and another insulated resistance wire 52 is wound around the lower portion of ball tube 22. These resistance wires are energized through an extension cord 53 from an electrical outlet on a motorized golf buggy or cart having a battery. The heating circuits are controlled to provide different degrees of heat through the operation of switches 54, the condition of the circuits being observed by indicator lights 55.

The tubes 20 and 22 in FIG. 2 are mounted in openings in plates 24, 56 and 57. Plate 56 includes a layer of insulation to define a heating chamber between this plate and the bottom of the bag, which chamber contains the resistance wires 51 and 52. Plate 57 is in an intermediate position in this heating chamber. Bag 50 is equipped with a snap fastener 58 to secure it in position on the golf buggy.

The golf bag 60 in FIG. 5 is generally similar to the golf bags in FIGS. 1 and 2 except that a chemical-type heater is employed. In this case the lower end of the bag contains a liquid chamber 61 in which the lower ends of tubes 20 and 22 are immersed as shown. These tubes are sealed in openings in a plate 62 and the lower ends of all the tubes are closed. Chamber 61 contains a quantity of water into which pellets are dropped through a tube 63. The pellets are of a conventional chemical composition to produce an exothermic reaction on contact with water which raises the temperature of the water and heats the lower ends of the tubes 20 and 22. This type of heater requires no external power supply so the bag 60 may be carried on the shoulder, on a pull cart as shown in FIG. 1 or on a motorized golf buggy if desired.

Claims

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may be used, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A golf bag comprising a plurality of vertical tubes in said bag to receive the handles of clubs, a tube to receive balls, a heating chamber in the lower portion of said bag, the lower ends of said tubes extending into said heating chamber, and means for supplying heat to said heating chamber.

2. A golf bag as defined in claim 1 including upper and lower partition plates in said bag, said tubes being mounted in holes in said plates, and said lower partition plate forming an upper wall for said heating chamber.

3. A golf bag as defined in claim 1 including a ball cage slidably received in said ball tube.

4. A golf bag as defined in claim 3, said ball cage comprising a tube having a longitudinal slot in one side thereof, and said slot having a wide portion for inserting and removing said balls.

5. A golf bag as defined in claim 1 including a tube arranged in said plurality of tubes to heat the hand grip of the golf cart carrying said bag.

6. A golf bag as defined in claim 5, including a muff surrounding said hand grip, said last tube communicating with said muff.