Golf club head washing apparatus

Abstract

A golf club head washer having motor-driven cylindrical cleaning brushes with opposed intermeshing nylon bristles rotatably mounted in spaced relation on horizontal axes in a water-sealed tank which is partially filled with water and which has an open access area in the top thereof for the insertion of golf iron club heads for the cleaning therein, and having flat cleaning brushes with opposed nylon bristles fixedly mounted in spaced relation on and extending from the vertical sides of a separate compartment in the same water-sealed tank for the insertion of wood club heads for the cleaning thereof by manual agitation therein. Open access areas in the top of the iron club head cleaning compartment are sealed against the escape of water and spray thrown from thereout by flat sealing brushes with nylon bristles fixedly mounted in opposed staggered interlocking relation extending inwardly from the vertical sides of the compartment.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In pro shops at golf clubs around the nation, the job of cleaning the heads of irons and woods has been most primitive involving at best a bucket or sink of water and a hand brush for scrubbing the clubs extended down therein. This is both messy and time-consuming and a definite anachronism in an age when mechanization and automation are an economic necessary way of life of all types of businesses which hope to and must make a profit. Then, too, the atmosphere of the pro shop needs improvement in line with that of the clubhouse and locker rooms in general where members demand the best and most modern in convenience for their enjoyment of and improvement in the playing of the game of golf.

There has thus been an established need for a semiautomated golf club head washer which would speed up the pro shop club cleaning chore and reduce labor costs while improving the aspect of the shop in general.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The gist of this invention lies in an iron and wood head golf club washer in which the iron head cleaning part has two motor driven, cylindrical brushes with intermeshing nylon bristles, which bristles are rotatably mounted on spaced, parallel, horizontal axes in a first compartment in a sealed tank which is partially filled with water sufficient to cover the brushes and assuring positive cleaning action with no damage to the club head face. An open access area is located in the top of the tank above the first compartment for the introduction of the head of the club iron when the shaft thereof is grasped by the hand and injected therein for the power cleaning of the same. Flat, horizontally disposed and opposed nylon brushes having staggered interlocking bristles are mounted in the top of the container above the first compartment with the free ends of the bristles touching and overlapping to close off and prevent the escape of spray and splash of the agitated cleaning water from within. Short flat brushes line the vertical side walls of a second compartment for cleaning the heads of wood clubs. Contoured brushes on the end and bottom walls of the same compartment clean the sole plate, toe and heel of the club in one simple operation. These brushes have nylon bristles mounted on and extending from the walls of the second compartment in opposed spaced relation such that the clean water therein is sufficient to cover at least part of the brushes and the bristles therein envelop the head of the club. An open access area is located in the top of the tank above the second compartment for the introduction of the head of a wood club when the shaft thereof is hand grasped and injected therein and manual agitation of the club cleans the same therein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the golf club washer;

FIG. 2 is a fragmented vertical cross-sectional view of the iron golf club cleaning compartment of the washer;

FIG. 3 is a fragmented cross-sectional view along line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along line 4--4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a fragmented cross-sectional view along line 5--5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a fragmented cross-sectional view along line 6--6 of FIG. 2 and showing an iron golf club being cleaned;

FIG. 7 is a perspective of a fragmented expanded view of the wood club head cleaning compartment of the washer; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmented plan view of the interlocking and staggered bristles closing the access area to the iron cleaning compartment of the washer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a baked enamel cabinet 10 requiring only about 1-1/2 square feet of floor space and having a tank 11 which holds about 2-1/2 gallons of water complete with drain outlet 12. A 110-volt electrical outlet supplies power to the washer. Four legs 14 hold the tank 11 in stable position off the floor for easy access to the cleaning compartments. Club head access openings 16 and 18 for the introduction of the heads of golf club irons and woods, respectively, into the head cleaning compartments 20 and 22 of the washer are shown in the top of the cabinet 10. The golf clubs will hereinafter be referred to as irons and/or woods for brevity.

Reference to FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5 shows tank 11 mounted on and having common side walls 19 of the structure of the cabinet 10 and one end wall 17. Compartment 20 for cleaning irons and compartment 22 for cleaning woods are below the access openings 16 and 18 in tank 11 and have a dividing wall 13 providing fluid communication therebetween and an end wall 15 which, along with the bottom wall 17 thereof, is integrally sealed to and supported by the side walls of the cabinet 10. Electric motor 24 mounts outside of and to the bottom of tank 11 having output shaft 26 extending toward the end vertical wall 27 of the cabinet 10. Two pulleys 28 and 30 fixedly mount to the outstanding end of the shaft 26 adjacent to the outside of the end wall 27 and within cabinet 10, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

Dual belt drive trains 32 and 34 extend in an upward direction and engage the pulleys 28 and 30 at their lower ends. Two sheaves 36 and 38 engage belt drives 32 and 34 at their upper ends and are driven by pulleys 28 and 30 for rotation in the same direction therewith, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. Laterally spaced rotating shafts 40 and 42 extending outward from the end wall 15 of tank 11 and through the same in parallel relation with motor shaft 24 mount the centers of sheaves 36 and 38. Laterally spaced fore bearings 44 and 46 which are fixedly mounted to the outside of wall 15 of tank 11 within cabinet 10 up from the bottom therein in side-by-side horizontal relation thereto, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, rotatably carry the fore ends of shafts 40 and 42 therein. Spring loaded face seals 48 and 50 mounted on shafts 40 and 42 in bearing against the inside face of the vertical fore wall of tank 11 seal the shafts 40 and 42 from leakage of water from the inside thereof.

Laterally spaced aft bearings 52 and 53 are fixedly mounted to the inside of a vertical wall 49 of tank 11 which is secured to the side walls 19 and to wall 51 of cabinet 10, the lower edge being spaced from the bottom thereof. The bearings 52-53 being in side-by-side horizontal relation thereto, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, rotatably carry the aft ends of shafts 40 and 42 therein.

Rotating cylindrical brushes 54 and 56 are mounted on shafts 40 and 42 for relative rotation in the same direction thereon having intermeshing nylon brush bristles 58 and 60 which contact each other in relative scrubbing motion along a line therebetween each moving in a counterclockwise direction relative to the other.

For the prevention of throw and splash of water during the rotation of cylindrical brushes 54 and 56 while the washer is operating, interlocking straight nylon brushes 62 and 64 are installed in the club access aperture 16 in the top of cabinet 10, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6, having bristles 63 and 65 each in opposed and overlapping contact and mounted in brushes 62 and 64 in side-by-side and opposed parallel relation, as shown in FIG. 8, and having their line of interlock in parallel relation to and above the line of contact between the cylindrical brush bristles 58 and 60 below, as shown in FIG. 6.

The upper four rows 65' of bristles 65 on brush 64 are longer in length than the first four rows of bristles 63' of bristles 63 and the last two rows of bristles 63" of brush 65 are longer than the first four rows 63' while the last two rows of bristles 65" are shorter in length than the first four rows of bristles 65'. Thus, when the bristles of the brushes 62 and 64 abut each other, an interlocking of bristles takes place to form a barrier to prevent splashing water from the compartment 20 being emitted from the tank 11. Yet the head of an iron club may readily be inserted into the compartment 20 through the bristles of the brushes 62-64.

For cleaning of contoured wood club heads, a semi-circular, U-shaped bottom wall 66 is mounted below the club access opening 18 and extends the length of compartment 22, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, and has a contoured, U-shaped nylon brush element 68 projecting inwardly into the cleaning compartment 22 which is hung from angle brackets 70 and 72 formed at the free ends of the wall 66. The respective brackets extend over opposed sides of club access opening 18 and into slots 69-71 cut in the top 51 for insertion therein and in support thereof. Identical flat side nylon brush elements 74 having semi-cylindrical ends, as shown in FIG. 7, project inwardly into the interior of the second compartment 22 in face-to-face opposed relation thereto. The brushes 74 are each mounted on walls 76 respectively and are also provided with angle brackets 78 formed from the wall 76 and which are inserted respectively in slots 80 to support the walls 76 and the brush elements.

The brush elements all have short bristles.

The dirt, grass, etc. that is washed from the clubs in compartments 18 and 20 will sink down to the bottom wall 17 and when the valve 82 is opened, the dirty water and dirt, etc., will be drained out of the same.

It will be understood that details of the construction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A golf club washing apparatus comprising:

a. a cabinet having first and second compartments,

b. motor-driven rotary cleaning brushes rotatably mounted on axes in horizontal spaced parallel relation in the first compartment,

c. first and second access areas above the first and second compartments,

d. water and splash sealing brushes mounted in the first access area in said first compartment,

e. U-shaped, short bristle cleaning brushes mounted in the second compartment, and

f. a pair of flat, short bristle cleaning brushes mounted in the second compartment one on each side of said U-shaped cleaning brushes.

2. A golf club washer as set forth in claim 1 wherein the sealing brushes each comprise a flat back with nylon bristles extending inwardly therefrom in opposed and interlocking staggered relation therewith.

3. A golf club washer as set forth in claim 1 wherein the rotary cleaning brushes each comprise an axis of rotation and each having nylon bristles extending radially outwardly in cylindrical form from each rotation axis and intermeshing at the outer ends thereof one with the other.

4. A golf club washer comprising a compartment with a drain outlet in the bottom thereof and four corner legs supporting the tank off the floor, first and second golf club head access areas in the top of the tank for the introduction of the heads of irons and woods therein, first and second club compartments within the tank below the first and second access areas, an opening in the common dividing wall between the first and second compartments providing fluid communication therebetween, a pair of rotary brushes positioned below the first access opening each rotatable in a counterclockwise direction, power means for rotating said brushes, said brushes lying in a spaced horizontal plane with the free ends of the bristles intermeshing, a pair of interlocking brushes each having elongated flat backs with bristles extending inwardly from said backs positioned above said rotary brushes in said first access areas of said first compartment, and a U-shaped short bristled brush in said second compartment, with the side walls of said second compartment lined with short bristled brushes, whereby when said rotary brushes are in operation an iron golf club is extended inwardly in said first compartment through said interlocked bristles in said first access area and between said rotary brushes in said first compartment both sides of the face of said iron golf club will be cleaned, and whereby when a wood golf club is moved along the U-shaped bristles in said second compartment the said U-shaped short bristled brush will clean the sole of said club and the short bristles on the side walls will clean the face of said club.