Patent Publication Number: US-2005127262-A1

Title: Article holder

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention relates to an article holder. In particular, this invention relates to an article holder that holds an article, such as a towel or jacket.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Article holders are convenience accessories. For example, during a round of golf players traverse a course of 9 or 18 holes with a set of golf clubs carried in a golf bag. The golf bag holds not only the golf clubs, but also accessories used during the game of golf, such as golf balls, golf tees, and a towel for cleaning the golf balls and club heads. The towel is usually slung through a towel ring or buckle affixed to the outside of the golf bag, for easy access during play, and the player may carry a light jacket tied around their waist or shoulders.  
      The towel is usually securely affixed to the bag and very difficult to remove easily and quickly, even though it must be removed from its holder and replaced many times over the course of a round of golf. Being subjected to considerable jostling as the golf bag is transported across the grounds, the towel is subject to inadvertent dislodgement from its holder, and therefore the towel is securely affixed to the golf bag.  
      Also, the towel is most conveniently carried on the most accessible position on the golf bag, but the most accessible position for the towel is also the most exposed position and therefore ideal for mounting the identification tag. However, many private golf courses provide identification tags for their members, which typically displays the name of the golf course, the name of the member, and a membership number. The tag is securely affixed to the outside of the member&#39;s golf bag and is large enough to allow golf course personnel to readily identify the member&#39;s golf from storage and the members on the course, for security reasons. Storing the towel near the identification tag can conceal the tag and therefore reduce its effectiveness as a security feature. Members may tend to hang the identification tag on the towel ring  4  of the golf bag  2 , and thus obscure the identification tag when there is a towel in the towel ring, which reduces the efficacy of security at the golf course.  
      It would accordingly be advantageous to provide an article holder that can hold articles such as towels and jackets, and that can be secured to the golf bag to hold the towel and/or to the player to hold a jacket, to preclude the player from concealing the tag indicia or even as a substrate for the tag indicia.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention overcomes these disadvantages by providing an article holder serving as well as an identification tag. The article holder in the preferred embodiment displays all of the information required by the golf course, but in addition provides space for advertising and promotional messages that can be placed by the golf course or any authorized sponsor. The article holder is suitable for holding many types of articles, especially flexible articles such as those made of fabric, and thus can also be used to hold a jacket, or even a water bottle.  
      The article holder is provided with a resilient membrane having at least one opposed flap cooperating with a compression member between which the article is passed when stowed. This securely holds the article against dislodgement, for example during a round of golf, but effectively allows the golfer to access the towel during play by easily and quickly removing the article from the holder of the invention.  
      In the context of a game of golf the article holder of the present invention thus provides all of the benefits of an identification tag and allows the tag and a towel to be affixed to the most accessible part of the golf bag, while ensuring that the member&#39;s identifying information is not obscured by the towel. At the same time, the article holder holds the towel (or a jacket or other article) securely against dislodgement through whatever jostling motion the golf bag may be subjected to over the course of a round of golf, but also allows it to be conveniently available to the golfer for easy removal.  
      The additional space on the frame surrounding the holding portion provides an opportunity for the golf course to earn revenues through hosting tournaments and corporate events by providing a golf product that ensures that members see the advertising indicia every time they reach for their towel, resulting in successive “impressions” which increase the members&#39;awareness of and familiarity with the advertised product or service.  
      The present invention thus provides an article holder, comprising a frame and at least one resilient flap supported within the frame in opposition to a compression member, the flap being disposed substantially within the same plane as the compression point and there being a first spacing therebetween in a rest position, whereby when an article is inserted between the resilient flap and the compression member the flap flexes in the direction of insertion of the article and compresses the article against the compression member to trap the article in the holder.  
      The present invention further provides a towel holder, comprising a frame and at least one resilient flap supported within the frame in opposition to a compression member, the flap being disposed substantially within the same plane as the compression point and providing a first spacing therebetween in a rest position, whereby when a towel is inserted between the resilient flap and the compression member the flap flexes in the direction of insertion of the towel and compresses the towel against the compression member to trap the towel in the towel holder. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      In drawings which illustrate by way of example only a preferred embodiment of the invention,  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the article holder of the invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a front elevation of the article holder of  FIG. 1   
       FIG. 3  is a side elevation of the article holder of  FIG. 1 .  
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the article holder.  
       FIG. 5  is a front elevation of the article holder of  FIG. 4 .  
       FIG. 6  is a side elevation of the article holder of  FIG. 4 .  
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view showing the manner of mounting an article holder of the invention to a towel ring on a golf bag.  
       FIG. 8  is a cross sectional side elevation of the article holder of  FIG. 7 .  
       FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a golf bag showing the article holder of  FIG. 1  mounted thereto.  FIG. 10  is a perspective view showing the manner of insertion of an article into the article holder.  FIG. 11  is a cross sectional side elevation showing a towel lodged in the article holder of  FIG. 19 .  FIG. 12  is a front elevation of a further embodiment of the article holder of the invention, for holding thicker or larger articles.  FIG. 13  is a perspective view of a golf bag showing the article holder of  FIG. 12  mounted thereto.  FIG. 14  is a cross sectional side elevation showing a towel lodged in the article holder of  FIG. 13 .  FIG. 15  is a partially cutaway front elevation of the article holder of  FIG. 12 . FIGS.  1   6 A,  16 B and  1   6 C are cross-sectional side elevations of the article holder of  FIG. 12  showing the motion of the resilient members.  FIG. 17  is a perspective view of a golf bag showing the article holder of  FIG. 12  mounted thereto. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      The article holder  10  of the invention comprises a resilient holder portion  34  for holding an article  6  such as a towel or jacket, as described in greater detail below, and a rigidified portion forming a frame for holding the resilient portion and, in the preferred embodiment, providing one or more surfaces upon which indicia can be displayed. The article holder  10  of the invention will be described, by way of example only, in the context of a towel or jacket holder for use as a golf accessory. The indicia would accordingly typically include the information that would be applied to an identifying tag, including the name of the golf course, a member identification number assigned to the member by the golf course, and optionally the name of the member. The indicia can also include advertising or promotional indicia, which may be represented in the form of a golf tournament or corporate event. However, it will be appreciated that the article holder  10  of the invention has many other uses and can hold many different types of articles.  
      In the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIGS.  1  to  3 , the rigidified portion of the holder  10  comprises a rigid frame  20 , preferably comprising mating frame halves  22  and  24 . The frame halves  22 ,  24  may be manufactured in any suitable fashion and out of any suitable material, for example molded from plastic. The frame  20  does not need to be completely rigid, as long as it is more rigid than the resilient membrane  32 , and thus can be manufactured from a flexible material as long as it is designed for greater rigidity than the resilient membrane  32 , described below. The frame  20  comprises various surfaces of the frame halves  22  and  24  upon which indicia may be displayed, including advertising panel  26 , and also a strap bight or slot  28  and article opening  30 .  
      Sandwiched between the frame halves  22 ,  24  is a resilient membrane  32 . The frame halves  22 ,  24  are bonded together over the resilient membrane  32  to thus retain the resilient membrane  32  securely in place, as illustrated in  FIG. 8 . A holder portion  34  formed by a portion of the resilient membrane  32  is thus exposed through the opening  30  in the frame halves  22 ,  24 . The holder portion  34  comprises at least two resilient flaps  36  disposed in opposition to one another. The flaps  36  lie substantially within the same plane and are spaced apart by a first spacing, which spacing increases when an article  6  is disposed through the holder portion  34 . In the preferred embodiment this is accomplished by providing at least one slit or opening  36   a , preferably a pair of orthogonal slits  36   a  and  36   b  which form four resilient flaps  36  for securely holding the article  6 .  
      In use, as shown in  FIGS. 7 and 9  a strap  8  or other tying member may be fed through the strap slot  28  to secure the frame  20  to the towel ring  4  (or other convenient part) of the golf bag  2 . The towel holder  10  is thus suspended from the towel ring  4 , as illustrated in  FIG. 11 . In an alternative embodiment it is also possible to affix the article holder  10  directly to the golf bag, either by inserting the towel ring  4  through the strap slot  28  before mounting it to the golf bag  2 , or in any other suitable fashion. However, it is beneficial to be able to remove the article holder  10  from the golf bag  2 , since golf memberships change over time, membership systems change over time, and the golf course may wish to change sponsors or advertising from time to time. The article holder  10  of the invention could be affixed to a golf bag  2  at the time of manufacture, or could alternatively be affixed to or manufactured as part of a golf power cart or golf pull cart (not shown).  
      The user inserts a towel in to the slits in the holder portion  34  of the membrane  32 , as shown in  FIG. 10 . The resilient flaps  36  created by the slits  36   a ,  36   b  grasp the towel  6  as shown in  FIG. 11 , and prevent its dislodgement, because when flexed by the towel  6  the tips of the flaps  36  create a pair of opposed compression points that cooperate to grasp and hold the towel  6  securely in position. When jostled during movement of the golf bag  2  the weight of the towel  6  tends to pull against the direction of the flaps  36 , and the frictional force of the towel  6  against the flaps  36  causes the flaps  36  to compress even harder against the towel  6 , thereby increasing the resistance of the membrane  32  to dislodgement of the towel  6 .  
      The towel  6  will remain lodged between the flaps  36  until sufficient force is applied to the towel  6  to overcome the resistance of the flaps  36 , referred to herein as the “inversion threshold,” and thus effectively invert the flaps  36  so that they extend in the direction of the hanging portion of the towel  6 . After the flaps  36  have been so inverted, only frictional forces hold the towel  6  between the flaps  36  and the towel  6  can be readily removed from the holder portion  34  with little additional force.  
      The towel  6  is thus securely held by the resilient flaps  36 , and at the same time because the position of the holder portion  34  of the membrane  32  is fixed within the frame  20 , indicia (including identifying indicia and any advertising or promotional indicia) always remains unobscured by the towel  6 .  
      In a further embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS.  4  to  6 , the rigidified portion surrounding the article holder  10  comprises a unitary rigid plastic frame  40  having a strap slot  42  and a holder portion  44  comprising a resilient membrane  32 . In this embodiment the resilient membrane  32  is cut to the shape of the holder portion  44  and bonded directly to the frame  40  using any suitable adhesive or other method. The holder portion  44  in this embodiment has slits  36   a ,  36   b  as in the previous embodiment, to produce resilient flaps  36 , and operates in the same fashion as the previous embodiment. In the embodiment illustrated a thickened peripheral side edge  52  is provided, which further rigidifies the frame  40  (the frame  40  may be composed of a flexible material, as long as it is more rigid than the resilient membrane  32 ), and also provides a side face upon which indicia can be printed. As in the previous embodiment, the tips of the resilient flaps  36  provide opposed compression points which trap the towel  6 , the resistance to dislodgement of the towel  6  thus increasing as the pulling force on the towel increases (for example as the golf bag is jostled during movement), up to the inversion threshold.  
      To remove the towel  6  the user simply needs to pull the towel  6  hard enough to reach the inversion threshold, and thereby overcome the resistance of the resilient flaps  36  against removal of the towel  6 , which will then invert and allow the towel  6  to slip easily out of the holder portion  34 . The resilient flaps  36  return to their rest position, which is substantially coplanar with one another, when the towel  6  is removed.  
      It is possible to provide spaces between the resilient flaps  36  that are larger than the slits  36   a ,  36   b . An example is the towel holder  50  illustrated in  FIG. 12  to  17 . This embodiment is constructed similarly to the embodiment of  FIG. 4 , however in this embodiment the edge of the frame  20  surrounding the resilient membrane  52  is provided with tabs or projections  21  to assist in holding the membrane  52  in an internal channel  23 , as can be seen in  FIG. 15 . The larger slits  36   a ,  36   b  accommodate a larger or thicker article  6 , such as a large towel as shown in  FIGS. 13 and 14  attached to the golf bag  2 , or the jacket held by the article holder  50  clipped to the golfer&#39;s waist by strap  8  as shown in  FIG. 17 . The membrane  52  itself is thicker in this embodiment, and thus will tend to settle into the rest position shown in  FIG. 16B  once an article  6  has been drawn through the holder portion  34  in the direction shown in  FIG. 16A . The article is then removed by drawing it in the direction shown in  FIG. 16C .  
      It is also possible to provide only two opposed resilient flaps  36  in order to accomplish the function of providing cooperating compression points which trap an article  6  inserted there between. It is also possible to provide a single resilient flap  36  in opposition to a rigid (i.e. substantially inflexible) member (not shown), which will serve the same function of providing a set of opposed compression points for holding article  6 . However, it has been found that providing four flaps  36  defined by orthogonal slits  36   a ,  36   b , which may be die stamped or otherwise cut into the resilient membrane  32 , is advantageous for both ease of manufacturing and maximum resistance to dislodgement.  
      In the embodiments shown in FIGS.  1  to  6  the advertising panel  26  is flush with the portion of the frame  20  surrounding the towel holder  34 . It is also possible to the advertising panel  26 , as in the embodiment shown in FIGS.  7  to  9 , or to raise the surface of the frame  20  (not shown) to draw attention to the advertising.  
      Various embodiments of the present invention having been thus described in detail by way of example, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variations all modifications may be made without departing from the invention. The invention includes all such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.