GOLF CLUB HEADCOVER

Abstract

A putter headcover with a noise generating component is disclosed herein. More specifically, the golf club headcover in accordance with the present invention will have a noise generating component installed in a sandwiched middle layer at a location that corresponds with an externally exposed area of interest.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a headcover for a golf club head containing a noise generating component. More specifically, the present invention seamlessly conceals a noise generating component within an internal portion of the golf club headcover, all while strategically locating it at a location that corresponds to an area of interest visible from the external graphics of the golf club headcover.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Golfers typically carry a set of clubs in a golf bag with the club handles inserted into the bag. This causes the heads to extend out of the open end of the bag, and when the bags are moved from place to place, the heads repeatedly strike and batter each other. This undesirable striking and battering may also occur when the clubs are being removed and reinserted into the golf bag repeatedly in a round of golf. In order to prevent this undesirable damage to the golf club heads, especially for woods and putters, these types of golf clubs are generally protected with a headcover.

Because of the simplicity and effectiveness of these headcovers in preventing damage to golf clubs head themselves, it has been widely adapted by the entire industry, and nearly every golfer's bag has at least one headcover, with most golfers having multiple headcovers. With this widespread adaption, there exists an opportunity to take advantage of these types of headcovers to incorporate numerous useful features into these headcovers.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,971 to Kinsey does exactly this by combining another commonly found golf accessory of a golf towel into the headcover itself. U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,981 to Cameron also combines another useful golf accessory of a divot repair tool to be incorporated into the headcover itself.

Despite all the advancements above, none of the headcovers recognize the desire of a golfer to incorporate accessories outside of golf into the game of golf itself via headcovers. One of these types of accessories is the utilization of a squeaky toy as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 9,119,377 to Gratza into a pet toy. Although pet toys on its surface has nothing to do with golf, but the ability to generate a noise on command could be desired in the game of golf purely for entertainment purposes.

Hence, it can be seen that the current industry lacks an ability to incorporate a noise generating component into a headcover of a golf club head for entertainment purposes. Moreover, there is a further opportunity to locate the noise generating component proximate a location of interest as identified by the external graphics to create more entertainment.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the present invention is a golf club headcover comprising of an inner layer, located at an internal portion of the golf club headcover, an outer layer, located at an external portion of the golf club headcover, and a sandwiched middle layer, sandwiched between the inner layer and the outer layer. The sandwiched middle layer further comprises a noise generating component.

In another aspect of the present invention is a golf club head comprising of an inner layer, located at an internal portion of the golf club headcover, an outer layer, located at an external portion of the golf club headcover, wherein the outer layer further comprises a decorative external graphic, and a sandwiched middle layer being sandwiched between the inner layer and the outer layer. The sandwiched middle layer further comprises of a noise generating component, wherein the decorative external graphic further identifies an area of interest, and the location of the noise generating component is proximate to a location of the area of interest.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, further serve to explain the principles of the invention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a top view of a golf club headcover in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 shows a side view of a golf club headcover in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the golf club headcover showing the noise generating apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following detailed description describes the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Various inventive features are described below and each can be used independently of one another or in combination with other features. However, any single inventive feature may not address any or all of the problems discussed above or may only address one of the problems discussed above. Further, one or more of the problems discussed above may not be fully addressed by any of the features described below.

FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a top view of a golf club headcover 100 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the present invention, the golf club headcover 100 may have a decorative external graphic 102 that is conducive the incorporation of a noise generating component 104. In this embodiment of the present invention, the noise generating component 104 is generally proximate to the location of interest 106, more specifically located beneath and corresponds with the location of an area of interest 106. In this current exemplar embodiment of the present invention, the decorative external graphic 102 is in the shape of a buddha, and the area of interest 106 is located on the belly of the buddha wherein the noise generating component 104 is placed.

The golf club headcover 100 shown in this embodiment of the preset invention may be a small blade putter type headcover 100, however, numerous other types of headcovers 100 such as a mallet type putter headcover, driver type headcover, fairway type headcover, hybrid type headcover, iron type headcover, or any other types of headcover that can be used on a golf club head without departing from the scope and content of the present invention.

The decorative external graphic 102, although shown in this embodiment to be a buddha, could be of other graphical shapes such as a mouse, a dolphin, a car, a cat, a scotty dog, a bone, or any other graphic where a user may associate with an auditory noise all without departing from the scope and content of the present invention.

The area of interest 106 shown in this embodiment of the present invention may be the belly of the buddha, but in alternative embodiments, could be the mouth of an animal, the engine of a car, or any other location where a user may expect a sound to be generated all without departing from the scope and content of the present invention.

The noise generating component 104 shown in this embodiment may be a generic squeaky toy that generates a squeak sound when compressed, however, in alternative embodiments of the present invention, the noise generating component 104 may be a speaker, a balloon, a whoppee cushion type apparatus, a cliker, or any other type of apparatus that may generate a noise based on a direct user stimulus all without departing from the scope and content of the present invention. In an even further alternative embodiment of the present invention, the engagement and activation of the noise generating component 104 could be accomplished non-directly and wirelessly via a remote controller (not shown) also without departing from the scope and content of the present invention.

It should be noted here that the present invention is not only about the addition of a noise generating component 104 into a golf club headcover 100, but it strategically places the location of the noise generating component 104 near an area of interest 106 that is strategically determined based on the decorative external graphics 102 of the golf club headcover 100, which in turn allows the user to seamlessly engage the noise generating component 104.

FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawing shows a side view of a golf club headcover 200 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this side view of the golf club headcover 200, we can see that the golf club headcover 200 has a decorative external graphic 202 that highlights an area of interest 206, which identifies the location of the noise generating component 204. In this side view of the golf club headcover 200 shown in FIG. 2, we can see that the installation of the noise generating component 204 slightly raises the profile of the golf club headcover 200 itself, accentuating the location of the area of interest 206 within the decorative external graphic 202, however, in an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the external contour of the golf club headcover 200 may remain the same, leaving only the external graphic 202 to indicate the location of the area of interest 206 and the corresponding noise generating component 204 without departing from the scope and content of the present invention.

FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings also shows a circular region A, which highlights the area of interest 206 to which a partial cross-sectional view will be provided in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 of the accompanying drawings shows a partial enlarged cross-sectional view of the circular region A shown in FIG. 2. In this enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the area of interest 306, we can see that the golf club headcover has an inner layer 308, an outer layer 312, a sandwiched middle layer 310, and noise generating component 304. The noise generating component 304 is preferably a bladder-type toy that exhibits a noise when compressed, such as a whistle-like sound. In this view shown in FIG. 3 the inner layer 308 forms the inner surface of the golf club headcover while the outer layer 312 forms an outer surface of the golf club headcover. Sandwiched between the inner layer 308 and the outer layer 312 is a layer of sandwiched middle layer 308 made out of a soft material to create the desired tactile feel. It is only within the area of interest 306 does the sandwiched middle layer 310 have a noise generating component 304 that separates the inner layer 308 and the outer layer 312.

The inner layer 308 as shown in this embodiment of the present invention, may generally be made out of a soft material such as a woven or non-woven material so as to prevent damaging the golf club head, as that layer is the layer that is exposed to the golf club head itself. However, in alternative embodiments of the present invention, the inner layer 308 could be made out any other material that is suitable to engage the golf club head itself without departing from the scope and content of the present invention. The sandwiched middle layer 310, in the present embodiment, may generally be made out of a soft cushiony material that separates the inner layer 308 from the outer layer 312 and could be made out of cotton, nylon, or any other type of material capable of providing cushion without departing from the scope and content of the present invention. Finally, the outer layer 312 in accordance with the current embodiment may generally be made out of a woven or non-woven material and, preferably, is formed from a leather or synthetic leather type material because of its aesthetic appeal and its receptiveness to the decorative external graphics 202 (shown in FIG. 2); however, numerous other materials could be used as long as it is capable of creating a protective outer layer for the golf club headcover all without departing from the scope and content of the present invention.

Other than in the operating example, or unless otherwise expressly specified, all of the numerical ranges, amounts, values and percentages such as those for amounts of materials, moment of inertias, center of gravity locations, loft, draft angles, various performance ratios, and others in the aforementioned portions of the specification may be read as if prefaced by the word “about” even though the term “about” may not expressly appear in the value, amount, or range. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the above specification and attached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the present invention. At the very least, and not as an attempt to limit the application of the doctrine of equivalents to the scope of the claims, each numerical parameter should at least be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques.

Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the invention are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical value, however, inherently contains certain errors necessarily resulting from the standard deviation found in their respective testing measurements. Furthermore, when numerical ranges of varying scope are set forth herein, it is contemplated that any combination of these values inclusive of the recited values may be used.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the present invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

1. A golf club headcover comprising:

an inner layer, located at an internal portion of said golf club headcover;

an outer layer, located at an external portion of said golf club headcover; and

a sandwiched middle layer, sandwiched between said inner layer and said outer layer;

wherein said sandwiched middle layer further comprises a noise generating component.

2. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said outer layer further comprises a decorative external graphic,

wherein said decorative external graphic further identifies an area of interest, and

wherein a location of said noise generating component corresponds to a location of said area of interest.

3. The golf club head of claim 2, wherein said noise generating component is a squeaky toy.

4. The golf club head of claim 2, wherein said noise generating component responds to a direct stimulus.

5. The golf club head of claim 2, wherein said noise generating component responds to an indirect wireless stimulus.

6. The golf club head of claim 2, wherein said outer layer is formed out of a leather material.

7. A golf club headcover comprising:

an inner layer, located at an internal portion of said golf club headcover;

an outer layer, located at an external portion of said golf club headcover; wherein said outer layer further comprises a decorative external graphic, and

a sandwiched middle layer, sandwiched between said inner layer and said outer layer; wherein said sandwiched middle layer further comprises a noise generating component,

wherein said decorative external graphic further identifies an area of interest, and

wherein a location of said noise generating component is proximate to a location of said area of interest.

8. The golf club headcover of claim 7, wherein said location of said noise generating component is located beneath said area of interest.

9. The golf club head of claim 8, wherein said noise generating component is a squeaky toy.

10. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein said outer layer is formed out of a leather material.