US20060135289A1

US20060135289A1 - Mending device for golf grass fields

Info

Publication number: US20060135289A1
Application number: US11/013,480
Authority: US
Inventors: Yu-Chih Tsai
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-12-17
Filing date: 2004-12-17
Publication date: 2006-06-22

Abstract

A mending device for golf grass fields includes a flexible housing and a mending rack. The flexible housing has a holding section and an extension. The holding section has a holding trough and a holding bore. The mending rack is for mending operation, and may be held in the holding trough. The extension may be bent with a tail end inserting into the holding bore to be hung on user's body or a golf bag to facilitate carrying and storing.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a mending device for golf grass fields and particularly to a golf grass field mending device that is easy to carry and use and may be held snuggly in a user's pocket.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Golf is a popular outdoor sport and leisure activity loved by many people. Besides the golf clubs, grass field mending device also is a widely used accessory. When the golf ball drops onto the putting green, the grass field is hit and forms a shallow dimple. To avoid affecting putting accuracy, users often try to mend the earth beneath the indented grass field before putting.
Refer to FIG. 1 for a conventional grass field mending device. It includes a mending rack 110 made of steel. The mending rack 110 has a mending end 112 and a handgrip 114 which allows users to grasp during use. The mending end 112 has two mending arms 112 a which may be pierced into the earth under the grass field to do the mending task required. When not in use, users generally hold the mending rack 110 in the golf bag or pocket. As the mending rack 110 is made of steel and has sharp ends, it tends to scratch human body and cause uncomfortable feeling when the golfer swings the golf club. Moreover, during mending operation, the mending end 112 often is smeared by soils. The soils are carried into the golf bag or pocket and result in contamination. To facilitate carrying, some mending rack 110 has a clipping blade (not shown in the drawing) formed by stamping on the handgrip 114 to couple with user's belt. But even this coupling method still causes scratching to user's body during swinging in the golf club or walking. The uncomfortable contact remains unresolved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore the primary object of the present invention is to provide a mending device for golf grass fields that is easy to carry and use and may be held neatly and snuggly in user's pocket.
To achieve the aforesaid object, the grass field mending device according to the invention includes a flexible housing and a mending rack. The flexible housing has a holding section and an extension. The holding section has a holding trough and a holding bore. The mending rack has a mending end and a handgrip. The mending end has a plurality of mending arms for use in mending operation. The mending end and the handgrip may be selectively held in the holding trough. The extension may be bent and has a tail end able to be inserted into the holding bore to be hung on the human body or the golf bag.
By means of the design of the invention, the flexible housing can hold the mending rack, and the tail end of the housing may be bent and inserted into the holding bore to be hung on the human body or the golf bag. Carrying and use are easier. Moreover, the mending device can be stored in the flexible housing which may be snuggly held in user's pocket because of the material nature. The soils attached to the mending device also may be cleared to keep the pocket clean and neat.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional mending device for golf grass fields.
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of an embodiment of the mending device for golf grass fields.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention in an assembled condition.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the invention in another holding condition.
FIG. 5 is a cross section taken on line A-A in FIG. 3.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the grass field mending device of the invention formed to be coupled with user's body or a golf bag.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 2 through 5 for an embodiment of the mending device for golf grass fields of the invention. It mainly includes a flexible housing 210 and a mending rack 220. The flexible housing 210 is flexible and made from a pliable material such as rubber or silicon. The flexible housing 210 includes a holding section 212 and an extension 214. The holding section 212 has a holding trough 212 a and a holding bore 212 b. The holding trough 212 a is formed in a size proximate to the entire holding section 212. The holding bore 212 b runs through the holding trough 212 a. The extension 214 is connected to one end of the holding section 212. The holding trough 212 a has an opening opposite to the extension 214 in this embodiment. The mending rack 220 has a mending end 222 and a handgrip 224. The mending end 222 has a plurality of mending arms 222 a (two arms are used in this embodiment as an example) to do mending operation. The mending arms 222 a may have a sloped surface on the front end to facilitate mending operation. The mending end 222 and the handgrip 224 may be selectively inserted and held in the holding trough 212 a. In this embodiment, the handgrip 224 has at least one anchor slot 224 a, and the holding trough 212 a has anchor lugs 212 c and 212 d on the inner walls opposing each other so that when the mending end 222 (referring to FIG. 3) or the handgrip 224 (referring to FIG. 4) is inserted into the holding trough 212 a, the anchor lugs 212 c and 212 d can latch the edge of the anchor slot 224 a to confine the mending rack 220 in the holding trough 212 a (referring to FIG. 5). Of course, to those skilled in the art, the anchor lugs 212 c and 212 d for anchoring the mending rack 220 are not the limitation of anchoring means. The anchoring effect may also be achieved through the dimensional relationship between the mending rack 220 and the holding trough 212 a.
Referring to FIG. 6, after the mending rack 220 is coupled with the flexible housing 210, the extension 214 may be bent to pass through a belt hook or a golf bag ring, and has its tail end passing through the holding bore 212 b to hang on user's body or a golf bag. Thus carrying and use are easier. To facilitate coupling, the tail end of the extension 214 may be formed in a tapered and conical manner.
By means of the construction set forth above, with the flexible housing 210, when the mending rack 220 is not in use, the tail end of the extension 214 may be inserted into the holding bore 212 b to form a ring to hang on user's body or golf bag to facilitate carrying. When in use for mending the grass field, the mending rack 220 may be separately removed from the holding trough 212 a. It also may be used in the condition shown in FIG. 4 with the mending end 222 exposed outside the flexible housing 210. In such a situation of removing the extension 214 from the holding bore 212 b and detaching the entire set from user's body or golf bag, the housing section 212 may be held to do grass field mending operation with the mending end 222. As shown in FIG. 4, by coupling the flexible housing 210 with user's body, even with the mending end 222 exposed outside the flexible housing 210, while the user is swinging a golf club, the entire mending rack 220 swings with the flexible housing 210 so that that mending end 222 is less likely to scratch user's body. Hence the user is more comfortable in use.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, when the mending rack 220 is not in use, the mending end 222 may be held in the flexible housing 210. As the flexible housing 210 is made from the pliable material, it may be held in user's pocket with the mending end 222 concealed without scratching user's body and causing uncomfortable feeling to the user during swinging the golf club or walking. Moreover, after having finished mending operation with the mending rack 220, by inserting the mending rack 220 into the holding trough 212 a, the soils attached to the mending end 222 may be scraped and cleared so that the mending rack 220 may be contained in the flexible housing 210 and held in user's pocket without creating smear.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A mending device for golf grass fields, comprising:

a flexible housing having a holding section and an extension, the holding section having a holding trough and a holding bore; and

a mending rack having a mending end and a handgrip, the mending end having a plurality of mending arms, the mending end and the handgrip being selectively held in the holding trough, the extension being bendable and having a tail end able to be inserted into the holding bore to be hung on a user or a golf club bag.

2. The mending device for golf grass fields of claim 1, wherein the handgrip has at least one anchor slot, the holding trough having anchor lugs on inner walls corresponding to each other and engageable with the anchor slot when the mending end or the handgrip is held in the holding trough to couple the mending rack with the flexible housing.

3. The mending device for golf grass fields of claim 1, wherein the tail end of the extension is formed in a tapered and conical manner to facilitate inserting into the holding bore.

4. The mending device for golf grass fields of claim 1, wherein the mending end has a sloped surface on a front end to facilitate mending operation.

5. The mending device for golf grass fields of claim 1, wherein the holding trough has an opening opposite to the extension.

6. The mending device for golf grass fields of claim 1, wherein the flexible housing is made of rubber.

7. The mending device for golf grass fields of claim 1, wherein the flexible housing is made of silicon.