Patent Publication Number: US-7216785-B1

Title: Sand and divot replacer with quick release top

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/664,672 filed Mar. 23, 2005 and continuation-in-part application Ser. No. 10/789,886 filed Feb. 27, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,156,269, of a utility application Ser. No. 09/943,074 filed Aug. 29, 2001 (now abandoned) which claimed the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/230,393 filed Sep. 6, 2000. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a sand and seed divot replacer for use by golfers. 
     When golfing, golfers often form divots in the fairways when making golf shots. Many golf courses request golfers to replace the divots with a sand and seed mixture allowing new grass to form. 
     Known sand and seed divot replacers include a bottle with spout. The bottle is provided with a threadably removable bottom wall for closing the bottom of the bottle. In order to fill these bottles, the bottle and spout are inverted and the threaded bottom wall removed. The seed and sand mixture is then poured into the inverted bottle. With these devices, however, the spout needs to be closed when filling the bottle with the sand and seed mixture. This can be inconvenient and may cause loss of seed and sand mixture during the filling process. Further, the known sand and divot bottle kits include holders for holding the bottle. But with the known holders, the bottle is held loosely in the holder causing the bottle to rattle when a golf cart, to which the holder is mounted, is driven around the golf course. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     With the present invention, many of the problems of the known sand bottle kits are resolved. The spout forms a portion of a cap for the bottle. The cap includes a quick release mechanism for securing the cap to the bottle. When it is desired to fill the bottle, the cap is removed with the quick release mechanism and the bottle filled. There is no loss of sand and seed, and there is no need to close the spout when filling the bottle. Further, a holder is provided which seats the bottle in the holder to prevent rattling. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, a preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying photographs and drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a front elevational view of a sand and divot replacer according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a rear elevational view of the invention shown in  FIG. 13 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a front elevational view of a bottle used with the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a bottom perspective view of the bottle shown in  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a front elevational view of a bottle holder used with the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a rear elevational view of the bottle holder shown in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a bottom view of the bottle holder shown in  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a top view of the bottle holder shown in  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 9  is an elevational perspective view of a cap used with the present invention; 
         FIG. 10  is a bottom perspective view of the cap shown in  FIG. 9 ; and 
         FIG. 11  is a cross sectional view taken along the line  11 — 11  in  FIG. 9 . 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     A sand and seed divot replacer  10  is shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The and seed divot replacer  10  includes a bottle holder  12  for holding an open top bottle  14  as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The bottle  14  is provided with a cap  16  for covering the open top of the bottle  14 . The cap  16  includes a pouring spout  18 . 
     The bottle holder  12  is shown in  FIGS. 5–8 . The bottle holder  12  includes a cylindrical shell  20  having an open top  22  and a bottom wall  24 . The bottle holder  12  is further provided with a slot  26  extending from the open top  22  to a position adjacent the bottom wall  24  as shown in  FIG. 5 . A mounting bracket  28  is formed on the shell  20  as shown in  FIGS. 6–8 . Screw holes  29  are provided in bracket  28  which, if desired, can be used to mount the holder  12  to an appropriate surface of a golf cart, for example. 
     The bottom wall  24  of the bottle holder  12  includes a hemispherical indented portion  30  extending toward the interior of the bottle holder  12 . An axial hole  32  is provided in indented portion  30 . The bottom wall  24  is further provided with three cut outs  34 ,  36  and  38  as shown in  FIG. 7 . 
     The bottle  14  is shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4  and includes a hollow cylindrically shaped main body portion  40  with an open top  42  and a closed bottom end wall  44 . The end wall  44  includes a concave hemispherical indented portion  46  extending toward the interior of the bottle  14 . The indented portion  46  is sized to receive the indented portion  30  of the bottle holder  12  when the bottle  14  is placed in the bottle holder  12 . A handle  48  is mounted to the body  40  of the bottle  14  as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4  and is used to lift the bottle  14  from the bottle holder  12 . The body  40  further includes an enlarged portion  50  which extends as a band around the body  40  adjacent the open top  42  as shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . 
     The cap  16  is shown in  FIGS. 9–11 . In a preferred embodiment the cap  16  is constructed of a resilient plastic material. The spout  18  includes a main spout portion  52  and a bent pour spout  54  integrally formed with the main spout portion  52  and extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the main spout portion  52 . At the end of the main spout portion  52 , an enlarged portion  56  is provided adjacent an open end  58  of the cap  16 . The enlarged portion  56  is sized to fit over the enlarged band  50  provided at the top of the bottle  14 . 
     The enlarged portion  56  is also provided with a pair of interiorly extending lips  60  and  62 . When the cap  16  is fitted over the enlarged portion  50  of the bottle  14  the lips  60  and  62  engage the bottom edge of the band  50  thereby securing the cap  16  to the bottle  14 . 
     In order to release the cap  16  from the bottle  14  so that the bottle may be filled with sand and seed, a tab  64  is mounted to the enlarged portion  56 . This tab  64  is integrally connected with the lip  60 . On either side of the lip  60  a pair of notches  66  and  68  are formed in the enlarged portion  56  so that when the tab  64  is bent upwardly toward the bent spout  54  the lip  60  is disengaged from the band  50  of the bottle  14 . In this manner, the cap  16  can be removed from the bottle  14 . 
     In operation, the bottle  14  is filled with seed and sand after first removing the cap  16  from the bottle  14  by bending the tab  64  upwardly and lifting the cap  16  off the bottle  14 . After the bottle  14  is filled, the cap  16  is positioned over the bottle  14  and pushed downwardly whereby the lips  60  and  62  snap onto the band  50  of the bottle  14 . The bottle  14  with the spout  18  is then placed in bottle holder  12  for storage. 
     With the indented portion  30  of the holder nesting in the indented portion of  46  of the bottle, the bottle  14  is prevented from rattling when the golf cart is driven around the golf course. 
     When it is desired to use bottle  14  to fill a divot, the bottle  14  with the spout  18  is removed from holder  12  with the handle  48  and sand and seed poured through bent spout  54  into the divot to be repaired. When this is accomplished, the bottle  14  may again be placed in the bottle holder  12  for storage. 
     While the fundamental novel features of the invention have been shown and described, it should be understood that various substitutions, modifications and variations may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Accordingly, all such modifications or variations are included in the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims: