Golf bag cover and method of use

The present invention relates to a golf bag cover device which is mounted over and about a rim surrounding the opening leading into a golf bag to protect the clubs from inclement weather and the like. The cover device comprises three ribs connected to a base mounted about to the rim. The ribs support a canvas or plastic cover. One of the ribs extends in a generally horizontal orientation beyond the perimeter of the rim. That way, a golfer can reach up and into the open end, causing the one rib to pivot toward a second rib which in turn pivots toward a third rib to provide access to the clubs. This construction enables a golfer to grab a club without having to touch the palm of his hand to the cover, thereby providing a dry and secure grip on the club.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
 1. Field of the Invention
 The present invention relates to a device for use in playing the game of
 golf, and more particularly, a cover device mounted on and about the open
 end of a golf bag to protect the clubs from inclement weather and the
 like.
 2. Prior Art
 The prior art describes various devices for mounting on a golf bag to
 protect the clubs stored in the bag. However, for a cover device to be
 useful to a golfer, the cover must protect the clubs regardless of the
 weather while enabling the golfer to readily access the clubs many times
 during a game. The cover must be easy to mount on and remove from the golf
 bag, and must provide ready access to the clubs for making a shot and then
 allow the golfer to replace the club back in the bag.
 Representative golf bag covers that serve this purpose are described in
 U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,648 to Sessler, U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,259 to Treadway
 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,642 to Tuntland, which show various flexible
 covers that are secured about the opening leading into a golf bag to
 protect the clubs. The flexible covers have an open flap portion which is
 not secured to the golf bag and provides for access to the clubs. U.S.
 Pat. No. 4,200,133 to Whitlow, U.S. Pat. No. 4,699,164 to Pilney et al.,
 U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,548 to Howard, III et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,623
 to Webster, Jr. all relate to golf bag covers having a tubular sleeve
 secured to the perimeter of the open end of a golf bag. The sleeve is
 allowed to drape over the side of the golf bag with the opposite open end
 providing access to the clubs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,442 to Bevier relates
 to a golf bag cover of flexible material having a flap edge spaced from
 the open end of the golf bag. In use, the edge is raised to remove a club
 from the bag. U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,937 to Delauder and U.S. Pat. No.
 5,050,730 to Suberbielle relate to rigid golf bag covers pivotally secured
 to the golf bag. The covers are pivoted from a closed position into an
 open position to access the clubs.
 The drawback with the various prior art golf bag covers is that none of
 them enable a golfer to reach into the golf bag without touching the palm
 of his hand to the cover device. During rainy weather this can cause a
 golfer to get water on his hand which is detrimental to a firm grip on the
 golf club. In that respect, the present cover device is an improvement
 over the prior art. With the present cover device, the golfer reaches
 under an open edge of the cover, up and into the bag to grab a club
 without touching the cover device with the palm of the golf glove. This
 prevents the palm of the golf glove from getting wet during inclement
 weather. A cover that does not provide access to the clubs without getting
 the golfer's palm wet defeats the purpose of the cover to begin with,
 which is to keep club grips dry. A dry palm gripping a dry club grip
 insures that the club will not slip in the golfer's hand during a shot.
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
 The present invention relates to a golf bag cover device which is secured
 over and about the upper opening leading into a golf bag. The cover device
 comprises three ribs that support a canvas or plastic cover. One of the
 ribs is pivotably connected to a base mounted on a rim of the bag
 surrounding the upper opening and extends beyond the perimeter of the
 upper opening. To access the clubs, the golfer reaches under this rib,
 which pivots upwardly as the golfer continues to extend his hand into the
 bag to grab a club. As the golfer reaches into the bag, only the back of
 his hand contacts the pivoting rib which moves up toward a second rib that
 in turn pivots up toward a stationary third rib. The golfer is now able to
 easily grab a club and remove the club from the golf bag to make a shot.
 When it is raining, the present golf bag cover device enables the golfer
 to reach and select a golf club without getting the palm of his hand wet.
 These and other aspects of the present invention will become more apparent
 to those skilled in the art by reference to the following description and
 to the appended drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
 Turning now to the drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2 show a golf bag cover device 10
 according to the present invention secured to a rim 12 surrounding the
 open end of a golf bag 14. The golf bag cover device 10 includes a base
 member 16 and two pivotably mounted ribs 18 and 20 and a third stationary
 rib 22. The ribs 18, 20 and 22 are mounted to the base 16 and support a
 cover 24 of a thermoplastic or cloth material such as water-repellent
 canvas. The cover device 10 further includes a pair of forward clips 26
 and 28 mounted to the base 16 and adjustable in a vertical direction, and
 a pair of rearward clips 30 and 32 pivotably mounted to respective ones of
 the forward clips. The forward pair of clips and the rearward pair of
 clips provide for removably securing the cover device 10 to the rim 12
 (shown in dashed lines in FIG. 2) surrounding the opening leading into the
 golf bag 14. As particularly shown in FIG. 3 to 5 with respect to forward
 clip 26, each of the forward mounting clips 26 and 28 and the rearward
 mounting clips 30 and 32 has a downwardly facing U-shaped portion 34
 having an inwardly facing protuberance 36 at the lower end of an outer leg
 38 thereof and an inner gripping surface 40 for firmly securing the cover
 device 10 to the rim 12 of the golf bag.
 For the sake of clarity, the vertically adjustable structure of the forward
 clips 26 and 28 will be described with respect to clip 28 (FIG. 6). Clip
 28 includes a tower 42 extending vertically upwardly from the base 16. The
 vertical tower 42 has a serrated surface 44 and an opening (not shown) for
 receiving a bolt 46. The clip 28 has an extension portion 48 extending
 upwardly from the trough of the downwardly facing U-shaped portion 34. The
 extension portion 48 has a serrated surface 50 (FIG. 2) that mates with
 the serrated surface 44 of the vertical tower 42 and an oval-shaped slot
 52 extending the majority of the length of the extension portion 48. A
 wing nut 54 threads onto the bolt 46 extending through the opening with
 vertical tower 42 and the slot 52 to mate the serrated surfaces 44 and 50.
 The vertical height of the clip 28 is adjusted by loosening the nut 54
 from the bolt 46 and moving the slot 52 of the extension portion 48 along
 the shaft of the bolt 46. When the clip 28 is at the proper vertical
 elevation, the nut 54 is tightened on the bolt 46 to mate the serrated
 surfaces 44 and 50 in a non-slip engagement. The vertical adjustment of
 clip 26 is identical to clip 28.
 As shown in FIG. 6, the vertical tower 42 further supports a
 cylindrically-shaped member 56 having a through bore (not shown). The
 rearward clip 30 is provided with an arm 58 having a pair of spaced apart
 fingers 60 and 62 with respective bores extending therethrough. The
 fingers 60 and 62 are vertically spaced apart a distance sufficient to
 receive the cylindrical member 56 with the respective through bores
 aligned to receive a pivot pin 64 secured in place by a snap clip 66. The
 pivot pin 64 provides for pivoting movement of the rearward clip 30 with
 respect to the forward clip 28. The pivotable structure of the rearward
 clip 32 with respect to its associated forward clip 28 is identical. Thus,
 the pair of forward clips 26 and 28 are vertically adjustable and their
 associated rearward clips 30 and 32 are pivotably adjustable to provide
 for mounting the cover device 10 on golf bags having rims 12 of various
 sizes.
 The base member 16 has a channel shape in cross-section (FIG. 2) and
 includes a forward portion 68 extending to and meeting with spaced apart
 rearwardly extending legs 70 and 72 to provide the base having a U-shape
 in plan view. The channel is closed at the end of each of the rearwardly
 extending legs 70 and 72 by respective end walls 74 (only one shown in the
 figures).
 The second rib 20 is a U-shaped member having the ends of each of its legs
 76 and 78 received inside the respective legs 70 and 72 of the base 16 and
 pivotably connected thereto by pivot pins 80 (only one shown). The
 pivotable connection is located so that the second leg 76 and 78 rests
 against the end walls 74 with rib 20 in a forwardly most position, as
 shown in FIG. 2.
 The legs 76 and 78 of the second rib 20 are each provided with respective
 ears 82 and 84. The ears 82 and 84 in turn support the respective distal
 ends of brackets 86 and 88 of the first rib 18 pivotably connected to the
 ears by pins 90. For sake of clarity, only one bracket 86 will be
 described with respect to FIGS. 3 to 5, it being understood that the other
 bracket 88 is identical in structure. The bracket 86 comprises a
 horizontal portion 92 and a leg 94 joined to the horizontal portion 92 at
 an acute angle and extending to the distal end of the leg 94 connected to
 the ear 82 by the pivot pin 90. The bracket 86 includes an abutment
 surface 98 where the leg 94 joins to the horizontal portion 92. As shown
 in FIG. 3, with the cover device 10 in the closed position, the abutment
 surface 98 rests against the end wall 74, opposite where leg 76 of the
 second rib 20 contacts the end wall 74.
 The first rib 18 further includes a U-shaped member 100 having an
 intermediate section 102 extending to and meeting with opposed legs 104
 and 106. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the horizontal portion 92 of the
 bracket 18 support the leg 104 of the first rib 18 secured thereto by a
 pair of fasteners 108, such as rivets and the like. In the forward or
 closed position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the first rib 18 is disposed in a
 generally horizontal orientation with the intermediate section 102 spaced
 from the rim 12 (FIG. 2) surrounding the opening leading into the bag 14.
 As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the third rib 22 is a U-shaped member having an
 intermediate section 110 extending to and meeting with opposed legs 112
 and 114. Each of the legs 112 and 114 is fixedly secured to the base 16 by
 a fastener 116. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the third rib 22 is disposed in
 an orientation slightly tilted away from the vertical and away from the
 first and second ribs 18 and 20.
 In Use
 In use, the golf bag cover device 10 is mounted on the rim 12 of the golf
 bag 14 by the pair of forward clips 26 and 28 and the pair of rearward
 clips 30 and 32. In the fully covered position shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the
 legs 104 and 106 of the first rib 18 have a length sufficient to position
 the intermediate section 102 beyond the perimeter of the rim 12 of the
 golf bag 14. The distance between the intermediate section 102 of the
 first rib 18 and the rim 12 is sufficient to enable a golfer to reach
 under the intermediate section 102 and up toward the rim 12 while only
 touching the intermediate section 102 with the back of his hand H.
 As the golfer continues to move his hand H toward the golf bag 14 to grab a
 club (not shown), the first rib 18 moves in an upwardly direction with the
 brackets 86 and 88 pivoting about the pins 90 connected to the ears 82 and
 84 of the second rib 20. This range of movement is sufficient to enable
 the intermediate section 102 of the first rib 18 to contact the second rib
 20 (FIG. 4).
 As shown in FIG. 5, the second rib 20 is simultaneously pivotable about the
 pins 80 toward the third rib 22 to allow complete and unhindered access to
 the golf clubs carried by the golf bag 14. That way, access is provided
 without the golfer having to touch the palm of his hand H to any portion
 of the golf bag cover device 10. This precludes any chance of the golfer's
 palm getting wet if the golfer is playing during rainy weather and the
 like.
 Once the golfer has selected a club and removed it from the golf bag, the
 weight of the first rib 18 causes that rib to rotate in a downwardly
 direction about the pivot pins 90 toward the golf bag 14. This movement
 pulls the second rib 20 away from the third rib 22 until the legs 76 and
 78 of the second rib 20 rest against the end walls 74 of the legs 70 and
 72 of the base 16, and the abutment surface 98 of the bracket 86 abuts the
 end walls 74 opposite the second rib 20.
 It is appreciated that various modifications to the inventive concepts
 described herein may be apparent to those skilled in the art without
 departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by
 the hereinafter appended claims.