Supports – Stand – Plural leg
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-27
2001-01-30
Braun, Leslie A. (Department: 3632)
Supports
Stand
Plural leg
C248S170000, C248S171000, C248S432000, C248S424000, C248S150000, C248S436000, C211S070200, C211S198000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179256
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to a gravitationally-collapsible stand that may be expanded automatically by pressing an actuator member at its lower end into contact with a supporting surface on which the stand is to become free standing. One intended use is for hand-carrying of golf clubs on legs of the stand, and merely temporarily propping the stand upright on the ground whenever a specific club is removed from the stand and used for taking a golf shot.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Most non-bag golf club carriers on the market typically have a single pointed barb at the bottom which sticks into the ground to hold the carrier upright while using a club. Particularly in a dry summer, however, such carriers become somewhat useless when the ground can become so hard that it is nearly impossible to pierce it to prop the carrier. The easiest time to use such a barbed carrier is when the ground is soft enough to be easily pierced to the depth necessary to stand the carrier upright.
Several carriers are also known to have four legs, which enables them to stand freely without having to pierce the ground. These are useful regardless of ground hardness condition. Examples of such carriers are U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,038 issued to Minneman and U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,416 issued to Lowe. The former shows a molded plastic carrier with two sides that are hinged together at the top, and the sides are spread apart to form a stand when about to use a club. One side is longer than the other so that its bottom feet may be made to contact the ground and the handle then manipulated to move the other side laterally away from the first side. It then becomes tent-like and free standing on its feet. Lowe '416 has a two-sided inverted V carrier with a pivotal and lockable shelf interconnecting the two sides. Apparently the carrier is intended to remain in the spread condition while in use, otherwise, wing nuts would have to be fastened and loosened each time the carrier was set onto and removed from the ground at each time a club is swung. Obviously, to carry the unit in spread-legged fashion while on the golf course would require the user to hold it out away from his body while walking, possibly tiring his arms. Otherwise, one side of the unit would come into contact with the person's legs on occasion while walking. This would not only be a nuisance, but can dirty one's trousers and possibly has a potential to trip the individual.
Many styles of hand-carried golf bags include a pair of legs that prop the bag at an angle when resting the bag bottom on the ground. These legs are forced into a spread condition whenever an actuator adjacent the bottom of the bag releases a capturing element by being pressed against the ground. After making a shot, the player lifts the bag to remove the actuator from ground-contacting position, and the legs automatically fold back against the bag. To my knowledge, the approach of spreading legs outwardly and automatically returning then to a retracted position has only been employed with golf bags, and not with the type of golf club carrier where clubs are carried horizontally on the sides of the carrier.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A golf club carrier having opposing sides supporting clubs horizontally on clips has a first condition resting on the ground with its legs spread and only feet of the unit contacting the ground, and a second horizontally-collapsed condition which is assumed as soon as the carrier is lifted from the ground. The golfer can carry the unit with an arm hanging freely at his or her side with little or no concern of the carrier contacting his or her legs or trousers while walking. An actuator extending below the remainder of the unit comes into contact with the ground when next stopping to take a golf shot, and this actuator automatically spreads the legs to open the unit as its legs come into contact with and are supported on the ground.
A principal object of the invention is to provide a horizontally-collapsible stand which can be hand carried from one location to another, placed onto a supporting surface, and have legs thereof automatically spread into a free-standing supporting position of the stand.
An ancillary object is to have the stand automatically return to its horizontally-collapsed condition upon lifting the stand from the supporting surface.
A further object is to provide such a stand for use in carrying golf clubs on opposite sides thereof when playing a round of golf or practicing at a golf driving range.
Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2990865 (1961-07-01), Steele
patent: 3215181 (1965-11-01), Reed
patent: 3232503 (1966-02-01), Thonen
patent: 3483996 (1969-12-01), Scammon
patent: 4036416 (1977-07-01), Lowe
patent: 4666038 (1987-05-01), Minneman
patent: 5209539 (1993-05-01), Atalay
patent: 5492384 (1996-02-01), Tarko et al.
patent: 6032999 (2000-03-01), York et al.
Utterback Clifford M.
Weller Mary Jane
Braun Leslie A.
Weigl William
Weller Mary Jane
Wujciak A. Joseph
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