Abstract:
A device for retrieving a golf ball or tee, which comprises a tubular shaft having a pair of trigger arms disposed in said shaft, and movable therein, each of which is connected to a respective opposed openable jaw. The jaws overlie a hemispherical recessed cup sized to receive a golf ball, such that when the jaws are in a closed position, the captured ball is totally within the confines of the jaws and said cup. The jaws are spring loaded such that a release of the trigger arms causes the springs to relax, thereby causing the jaws to return to a closed position retaining the ball. A tee is captured similarly, but within a pair of semicircular cutouts within the base of each jaw upon the application of a gentle tug upwardly by the user. A second pull of the trigger arms release the captured ball or tee.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    This application pertains to a device for retrieving golf balls and tees from either a standing position or a sitting position within a golf cart.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Golf is sport enjoyed by young and old in many lands. It is a game played from Scotland to Pebble Beach, U.S.A., to Australia. Many people as they age find that either due to an increase in body fat, or due to joint and muscle aches that they are not able to bend down to retrieve their tee after they hit the ball. Nor are they able to bend over to retrieve the ball from the cup or a sand trap as may be required.  
           [0003]    For these men and women, there is indeed a need for a device that would permit them to quickly and easily retrieve their tee and the ball respectively.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES  
       [0004]    [0004]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of this invention.  
         [0005]    [0005]FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of the lower portion of this invention.  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the lower portion of this invention. The rear view is a mirror image thereof.  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 4 is a left perspective view of the lower portion of this invention. The right side view is a mirror image thereof.  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 5 is a top perspective view of the lower portion of this invention.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 6 is a bottom perspective view of this invention with the jaws in the closed position.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 7 is a bottom perspective view of this invention with the jaws in the open position.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 8 is a side perspective view of the upper portion of this invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 9 is a front perspective view of the top portion of this invention.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 7 but with a golf ball disposed in the jaws of this invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the operating mechanism of this invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 12 is an exploded view of an accessory to be mounted on the device of this invention.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0016]    This invention provides a tool or device that permits persons to retrieve either a golf tee or a golf ball from either a standing or seated position. The device features a retractable trigger mechanism disposed in a tubular shaft , which trigger opens and closes a pair of jaws which serve to secure the tee or ball for retention. For the ball, retention is within a cup dispensed above the pair of jaws. For the tee, if standing it is retained in a hemispherical opening between the two jaws; and if lying down prone on the grass, the tee is also retained within the cup disposed above the jaws of the device.  
         [0017]    It is a first object to provide a device that quickly and easily retrieves a golf ball and retains it for the operator.  
         [0018]    It is a second object to provide a device that can retrieve a golf tee from either a vertical or supine position.  
         [0019]    It is a third object to provide a device to pick up a golf ball from a golf hole, a water hazard or sand trap as may be desired.  
         [0020]    It is a fourth object to provide a device that can be easily operated with one hand and which requires no batteries.  
         [0021]    It is a fifth object to provide a retriever device that retains the captured tee or ball once retrieved.  
         [0022]    It is a sixth object to provide a low-cost ball retriever that is low in cost of manufacture.  
         [0023]    These objects and others recited will appear hereinafter or also be obvious from the drawings and the figures provided herein.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0024]    The device of this invention is seen to comprise an upper portion consisting of a trigger mechanism, a lower grabbing portion comprising of a cup covered over by a pair of side opening jaws with a shaft in between and which shaft connects the upper and lower portions, and carries the trigger mechanism.  
         [0025]    First we turn to FIGS. 1, 8 and  9  where the upper portion of device  10  is seen. The device  10  comprises an elongated tubular member  17 , of plastic such as polyvinyl chloride, chlorinated PVC, or ABS (Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) of about 1 inch in diameter. Schedule  40  is a suitable product and is preferred to schedule A which has a smaller wall thickness. Tubular member  17  may be of an elongation between two and three feet or even longer for extremely tall persons. A plastic or rubber cap  11  may be threaded on or glued to one end, the upper end  45  of the device. An elongated slot is cut through the wall thickness at 180 degree spacing to provide a resting place for the arms  15 A of trigger  15 .  
         [0026]    One slot is designated  13 A, and the other  13 B. Together they form the aligned slot  13 . See FIG. 8 for the aligned slot  13 , and FIG. 9 for each individual slot.  
         [0027]    The trigger  15  of the trigger mechanism  60 —seen in FIG. 11, is formed from a pair of opposed rigid wire members that are disposed in and carried by the shaft in slot  13  as will be discussed supra at the discussion of FIG. 11. The pair of wires are designated trigger arms  15 A.  
         [0028]    Each trigger arm  15 A may be optionally spray coated with rubber or have rubber “spaghetti”  16  disposed thereon. The rubber coating or covering serves to increase the comfort for the user of the trigger  15  and the device  10 .  
         [0029]    The discussion now moves to the lower portion  46  of this device. Reference is made to FIGS.  2 ,  3 , 4 ,  5  and  6 . Seen specifically in FIGS. 3 and 4, emanating from one of the spaced bores  19  near the bottom of tubular shaft  17  are a pair of opposed flexible wires  21 . As seen in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, the wires  21  are disposed at about a 60 degree angle from within shaft  17  and are connected at their lower terminals to their respective wire stud  22 . Each stud  22  is a threaded bolt that is threadedly engaged with a self tapping bore  36 , one of which studs and bore is disposed 180 degrees opposed to the other such stud and bore on the side  39  of a jaw  23 .  
         [0030]    Seen also in FIG. 3 wherein adjacent the stud  22  is a spring stud  29  of similar construction. The stud  29  is disposed through a reinforcement washer  35 . Two of these studs-washer-bore combinations are found spaced apart opposite sides of each of the two jaws  23 , which together with the cup  25  form the grab unit  20 . Note that FIG. 4 constitutes a 90 degree rotation of the device as shown in FIG. 3.  
         [0031]    One end of each coil spring  27 —there being two opposed such springs, is attached to a stud  29  on one jaw side  39 . See FIG. 4. Wherein the two jaws  23  are in open position, but in FIG. 3, the jaws are in closed position.  
         [0032]    The two arcuate jaws  23 , are pivotally mounted by pivot bolts  32  which pass through a reinforcing washer  33  into a self tapping aperture near the bottom of cup  25 . The reader&#39;s attention is turned to the relative disposition of the two jaws  23  to the ball  97  in FIG. 4. Thus it is seen that the jaws  23  when pivoted to an open position, as here, essentially move outwardly to be able to receive either a ball or a tee  98 . FIG. 3 shows a tee  98  in a retained position within a pair of mirror image semicircular cutouts,  38  on the base  37  of each jaw wherein the jaws  23  are in a juxtaposed closed position.  
         [0033]    In FIG. 5, a top perspective view, much of what has been discussed infra can be seen. Thus the two wires  21  are seen to diverge outwardly, from their bores  19  per FIG. 2, and then downwardly to a point of connection at their respective studs  22 .  
         [0034]    Each jaw is a complex shaped element, each of which can be seen in FIG. 5 to be semicircular in shape, and abutting the other when in a closed position, when viewed from the top, that is in the horizontal plane. While in FIG. 6, each jaw also includes a jaw base  37 , which is semicircular in shape and which is disposed at a generally 90 degree angle to the respective jaw side  39 . The edge  40  of each jaw  23 &#39;s base  37  has a centrally disposed mirror image semicircular cutout  38 . The total circular opening formed from both openings  38 , i.e. the two semicircles define a circular opening which is sized large enough to surround the shaft of a golf tee when closed, beneath the cup portion of the tee. Refer back to FIG. 2 where a tee  98  is shown in retention in the closed position of the two jaws  23  abutting one another on their bottom surface.  
         [0035]    The mounting of the two coil springs  27  is also demonstrated in FIG. 6. The two springs lie in opposed mirror image arc segments an equal amount inward along the respective side  39  of its jaw  23 . The pair of springs are mounted such that one end is one jaw and the other end is on the respective same side of the opposite jaw. When in the closed position an interface is formed between the two jaws. In this FIGURE the two coil springs are in their relaxed state.  
         [0036]    The reader should now turn to FIG. 7, the bottom view showing the jaws  23  in open position. Contrast this view with FIG. 6 which shows the entire grab unit  20 , to fully understand the movement of the jaws. Here the springs have been moved from a first relaxed position to a second tensed position, as the jaws are opened from their interface, by a tugging upwardly on the two wires connected to the trigger  15 . When the trigger is moved upwardly, thus tugging on the wires, the two jaws pivot each on the pair of pivot bolts aforementioned, to open as shown in FIG. 7 to thus reveal the hemispherically shaped cup having a bottom facing opening and which is recessed within the jaws. The pair of coil springs  27  are moved from an at rest position to a stretched position. When the trigger arms are released, they return downwardly within the slot, and the coil springs  27  relax, such that the jaws re-close.  
         [0037]    The cup  25  has a central bore  26  therein at its closed end, to which is cemented or otherwise attached, hollow tubular shaft  17 . See FIG. 7.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIGS. 8 and 9 depict the upper area of the shaft  17  in two different orientations used to show the relative placement of the trigger  15 . Trigger  15  has two arms,  15 A, one of which is disposed through a slot  13 A and other through a slot  13 B in the side wall of the tubular shaft. These two aligned slots  13 A,  13 B, communicate with each other in combination with the interior of the tubular shaft  17 . For comfort of the user the trigger  15  may be preferably slightly arcuate as shown in FIG. 9, but such is not required. The trigger members  15  may be rubber covered by a sleeve  16  or spaghetti, to enhance user comfort. A cap  11  closes off the end of the tubular shaft distant from the grab unit  20 . Such cap  11  may be threaded on, adhered, or integrally molded in place with the formation of the shaft.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 10 is a view from the same vantage point as FIG. 7. From this view it is easy to see that cup  25  is sized to readily receive golf ball  97 . It is also seen that the two jaws  23  separate adequately upon opening to permit the ball  97  to be fully enveloped by the grab unit  20  such that when the jaws  23  close, the ball  97  is totally within the grab unit  20 .  
         [0040]    In FIG. 11, the internal operating mechanism of this device is seen. The trigger arms  15 A of trigger  15  are each seen to be a slightly arcuate wire segment connected by a U-shaped center section  15 U. Each of the two control wires  21  are knotted through the base or crook of the U-shaped center section  15 U and are retained by cleat  62  from becoming unknotted.  
         [0041]    While not illustrated, a single wire may be used to serve as both control wires  21 , by being tied at the midpoint into the U-shaped section  15 U, while also being crimped into position to prevent disengagement in a manner similar to that done in a two-wire system.  
         [0042]    In FIG. 12, a small accessory is seen the mountable to the shaft  17 . A Velcro® pad  52  is adhered to the shaft  17 , and a matingly engageable complimentary pad  53  also of Velcro® is attached to a pencil or pen  54 . The writing instrument can be removed for use as needed to keep score, yet is always present when needed, disposed along the shaft away from the trigger  15 .  
       METHOD OF USE  
       [0043]    When a player is desirous of retrieving a ball, from the hole or from on the grass, he/she lifts the trigger arms  15  upwardly within the slots  13 A, 13 B [FIG. 8]. Such effort tugs on the two wires  21  [FIG. 11]. The two wires, when raised by the triggers  15 , pull the binding posts  22  upwardly, causing the jaws  23  to pivot open. The jaws which partially overlie the cup, move in an arc upwardly to reveal the cup  25 . The cup is placed in contact with ball  97  and such “impact” can be perceived by the user. He/she then releases the trigger arms  15 , which then move downwardly and the jaws are brought back to a closed position by the two springs  27 , which want to relax, the jaws close underneath the ball  97  and cause it to be retained totally within the confines of the grab unit  20 . A second actuation of the trigger when the device is raised off the ground, causes the jaws to open again and the ball to fall by gravitational pull.  
         [0044]    The effort to retrieve a tee requires the same motion. Actuation once to retrieve, actuation a second time of the trigger to drop the tee. If the tee  98  is vertically disposed in the ground, the semicircular cutouts  38  fit around the shaft of the tee when closed around the vertical tee. A tug on the device upwardly removes the tee from the ground.  
         [0045]    If the tee is lying down, a push motion of one jaw upon the tee  98 , not unlike a dust pan and brush is used to capture the tee within the confines of the two jaws  23  and cup  25 .  
         [0046]    It is seen that I have developed a tool useful for golfers like Casey Martin who must ride in a cart, as well as for other aged and infirm players who have difficulty bending over to retrieve the ball and/or tee. The device of this invention is light weight, and the body of which can be made of plastic such as PVC or ABS, in white or in colors. It is within the skill of the art to determine the exact resistance needed in the coil springs  27 , which may be approximately ¼ inch in diameter.  
         [0047]    Since certain changes may be made in the above described apparatus without departing from the scope of the invention herein involved, it is intended that matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.