GB2309438A - Motorised golf trolley - Google Patents

Abstract

A motorised golf trolley 10 comprises an elongate part 12 and a motor carrying part 14, said elongate part comprising a mounting section 16 for a golf bag, a wheel 22 and a handle 42 movable between in use and storage positions, and said motor carrying part comprising two wheels 69 and a motor 68. A T-shaped connecting part 52 with a projecting part 58 may be provided to connect the elongate part and a female element 62 of the motor carrying part with at least one over centre clamp 66 to secure the two parts. The projecting part may have a low friction nylon sleeve (60 figure 3) on its outer surface. The over centre clamps may be lockable. The handle may pivot to a storage position adjacent the mounting section, or it may telescope. The elongate part may be aluminium. A motor control 50 may be provided on the handle and a pull-off electrical connection 76 may be provided between the elongate part and the motor carrying part.

Description

A MOTORISED GOLF TROLLEY The invention relates to a motorised golf trolley.

A known three-wheeled motorised golf trolley comprises a steel frame in three parts. The erected frame mounts a smaller front wheel and two larger rear wheels, the rear wheels being connected by an axle which is driven by an electric motor adjacent one of the wheels. A battery for the electric motor is mounted between the two larger wheels and a control unit for the motor is mounted adjacent the motor and connected by wires to a rotary speed control knob on the handle at the top end of the frame. The rear wheels, axle, battery, motor and control unit are all mounted on one part of the frame. The handle is a separate part which is long, being almost the height of the trolley. The handle carries an upper cradle to receive the top of the bag which can be strapped to the cradle. The front wheel is also mounted on a separate part which also carries a lower cradle and seating plate.The base of the bag sits on the seating plate and the lower part of the bag is received in the cradle and may be strapped to it. In order to disassemble the trolley after a game of golf to transport your equipment home, you must unstrap and remove the bag, disconnect the trolley into its three parts and lift these four items into your car boot.

According to the invention there is provided a motorised golf trolley comprising an elongate part and a motor carrying part and means for connecting the elongate part and motor carrying part together, the elongate part comprising a mounting section including upper and lower means for mounting a golf bag thereon, a ground engageable wheel, and a handle, the handle being arranged to be manipulated with respect to the mounting section between a use position and a storage position such that in the storage position the overall length of the elongate part is smaller then in the use position, said manipulation being possible with a bag mounted on the mounting section, the motor carrying part comprising two ground engageable wheels and a motor to drive at least one of the wheels.

In this way, the erected trolley with a golf bag attached can be disassembled into two parts which can be readily carried in a normal car. The motor carrying part is relatively small in any case, while the manipulation of the handle reduces the length of the elongate part, and the elongate part, with the golf bag still attached, can be again readily carried in a normal car. As the bag can be left still attached to the elongate part, the number of disassembly steps is reduced. As the trolley is disassembled into only two compact parts, the number of disassembly steps is further reduced. Preferably the trolley frame can only be disassembled into two parts.

The handle is preferably arranged to lie adjacent the mounting section in the storage position. This makes the elongate part in the storage position particularly compact. The handle may be arranged to be manipulable in any suitable way and may be for example telescopic, but preferably is pivotable. The mounting section may include a straight element which mounts the upper and lower mounting means for mounting a golf bag. The handle may be substantially straight and is then preferably arranged to lie substantially parallel to the straight element of the mounting section in the storage position. The elongate part is preferably principally made from relatively light material and may be made principally from aluminium. In this way the weight of the elongate part will not significantly add to the weight of an attached golf bag.

The parts may be connected together in any suitable way and preferably are connected together by at least one over-centre clamp. The or each over-centre clamp may be lockable. In a preferred embodiment, the parts are matingly connected. One part may thus include a straight projection which is arranged to be received in a female element on the other part. The male projection preferably extends substantially perpendicular to the axis of the elongate part. The male projection may conveniently comprise or include an outer surface of a low friction material. The said outer surface may conveniently be provided on a sleeve of a low friction material. The low friction material may be of any suitable type and may be nylon.

A motor control unit may be provided and may be mounted on the motor carrying part. The user's controls are preferably provided on the handle and the electrical connection between the two parts may take any suitable form but preferably is a pull-off connection. In this way, if a user releases the mechanical connection between the two parts but forgets to undo the electrical connection, the electrical connection will pull apart without damage.

One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the trolley of the embodiment in the assembled condition; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the trolley of Fig.

1 disassembled; and Fig. 3 is a detailed side elevation of the connecting parts of the trolley of Fig. 1.

The trolley 10 of the embodiment comprises an elongate part 12 and a motor carrying part 14. The elongate part 12 comprises a straight aluminium tube 16 constituting the aforesaid "mounting section".

Adjacent the lower end of the mounting section 16 is provided a bracket 20 which extends rearwardly and mounts a wide ground engageable wheel 22. At the lower end of the mounting section 16 is provided a moulded plastic mounting 18. The mounting 18 also includes two forwardly projecting arms 24 which define a part circular recess to receive the lower end of a golf bag 26 shown in phantom. The ends of the arms 24 include apertures to receive a retaining strap 25 to strap around the golf bag 26. From the lower end of the mounting section 16 extends a flat plate 28 forwardly and perpendicular to the axis of the mounting section 16. The base of the golf bag 26 rests on the plate 28. Adjacent the top of the mounting section 16 a further moulded plastics mounting 30 is provided.The mounting 30 also includes two forwardly extending arms 32 which define a part circular recess between them to receive the golf bag 26. The arms 32, like the arms 24, also include apertures adjacent their ends to receive a strap 34 to strap around the golf bag 26. Immediately below the mounting 30 is provided a bracket 36 which includes two rearwardly extending arms 38. A pin 40 is received between the arms 38 and mounts a straight tubular aluminium handle 42 in a pivotable fashion. A socket part 44 is slidable on the handle 42 and defines a socket facing in the direction of the pivot pin 40. The handle 42 can be pivoted so that its axis is parallel to the axis of the mounting section 16 with the handle 42 extending upwardly from the pivot pin 40. The handle 42 us then received between two locating cheeks which extend rearwardly from the mounting 30. In this position, which is the aforesaid "use position", the socket part 44 can be slid down the handle 42 to receive the top end 46 of the mounting section 16 and hold the handle 42 and mounting section 16 rigid in the use position. At the top of the handle 42 is provided an L-shaped grip element 48. A rotary control knob 50 is provided on the grip section by rotation of which the motor can be started and its speed controlled.

A T-shaped part 52 is mounted by two brackets 54 to the mounting section 16. The brackets 54 connect to the crossbar 56 of the T-shaped part 52 such that the crossbar 56 lies parallel to the mounting section 16 and the leg 58 of the T-shaped part 52 extends rearwardly and perpendicularly to the mounting section 16. The leg 58, as shown in Fig. 3, includes a nylon sleeve 60 covering the first part of its length from the crossbar 56 and being chamfered towards the end of the leg 58. The T-shaped part 52 is made of square section steel. The leg 58 of the T-shaped part 52 is received in a square section tube 62 of the motor carrying part 14. The sides of the square section tube 62 each carry an overcentre clamp 66 which is arranged to clamp over a respective L-shaped projection 64 on the crossbar 56 of the T-shaped part 52, the L-shaped part extending outwardly and forwardly.The overcentre clamps 66 are shown as nonlocking, but could be of a locking type.

The square section tube 62 is L-shaped and extends upwardly at its rear end to connect to an axle 67 mounting a wheel 69 at each end. Each wheel 69 is slightly wider than the wheel 22 and of larger diameter. Adjacent one wheel 69 is provided an electric motor 68 to drive the wheel. The electric motor 68 is connected by a wire to a control box 70 which is mounted to the underside of a U-shaped bracket 72 on the top of the square section 62. The U-shaped bracket 72 is arranged to mount a battery (not shown) to supply the motor 68, the battery being mounted by the U-shaped bracket 72, the upper surface of the tube 62 and the axle 64. When the trolley 10 is assembled, an electrical connection is made between the control box 70 and the rotary control knob 50.A cable 74 extends from the rotary control knob 50 through the hollow tube of the handle 42, past the pivot pin 40 and into the hollow mounting section 16 exiting the mounting section 16 through an aperture just below the centre of the crossbar 56 of the Tshaped part 52. The cable 74 terminates in the pulloff connection 76 which is pushed onto a connection on the control box 70.

In use, the trolley 10 is operated in known manner by holding the grip 48 and rotating the knob 50 to start the trolley moving and control its speed, the signal from the rotary control 50 passing through the cable 74 to the control box 70 controlling the electric motor 68 which drives the rear wheels 69. When it is desired to disassemble the trolley to put it in a car for example the pull-off connector 76 is pulled off the control box 70 and the overcentre clamps 66 are undone. The motor carrying part 14 can then be pulled away from the elongate part 12 and the square section tube 62 will slide off the leg 58 of the T-shaped part 52. The nylon sleeve 60 provides a low friction surface.In fact, once the overcentre clamps 66 have been undone and the push-on connector 76 disconnected, the elongate parts 12 can be simply pivoted upright and the weight of the motor carrying part 14 and low friction at the connection due to the nylon sleeve 60 will mean that the leg 58 of the T-shaped part 52 will slide out of the square section tube 62. If a user neglects to disconnect the cable 74 from the control box 70, the fact that a pull-off connection 76 has been used means that the connector 76 will pull off the control box 70 without damage to the cable 74, connector 76 or control box 70. The motor carrying part 14 now forms a compact unit which can be placed in a car boot. The socket part 44 of the elongate part 12 is now slid along the handle 42 to disengage it from the end 46 of the mounting section tube 16.

The handle 42 can then be pivoted about the pivot pin 40 to lie adjacent and substantially parallel to the mounting section 16. Due to slack tolerances at the pivot pin 40, the handle 42 can be moved alongside the leg 58 of the T-shaped part 52 so that it is more compact. (In an alternative embodiment, the pivot pin may be angled and have closer tolerances to achieve this effect.) The storage position of the handle fully folded is shown in phantom in Fig. 2. It should be noted that the bag has not been removed from the elongate part 12 and indeed it does not have to be removed as the elongate part 12 together with the bag now form a compact unit which can be put into the boot of a car. The elongate part 12, with the handle 42 and mounting section 16 being made from aluminium, is very light and does not add significantly to the weight of a bag of golf clubs 26. The parts 12,14 are so compact that they will fit into the boot of small

cars such as a FordXFiesta/or even a Mini. In order to assemble the trolley, the operations are carried out in reverse order. The chamfer on the sleeve 60 assists in sliding the square section tube 62 onto the leg 58 of the T-shaped part 52.

Claims (20)

1. A motorised golf trolley comprising an elongate part and a motor carrying part and means for connecting the elongate part and motor carrying part together, the elongate part comprising a mounting section including upper and lower means for mounting a golf bag thereon, a ground engageable wheel, and a handle, the handle being arranged to be manipulated with respect to the mounting section between a use position and a storage position such that in the storage position the overall length of the elongate part is smaller than in the use position, said manipulation being possible with a bag mounted on the mounting section, the motor carrying part comprising two ground engageable wheels and a motor to drive at least one of the wheels.

2. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 1, in which the handle is arranged to lie adjacent the mounting section in the storage position.

3. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 1 or 2, in which the handle is telescopic.

4. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 1 or 2, in which the handle is pivotable.

5. A motorised golf trolley according to any preceding claim, in which the mounting section includes a straight element which mounts the upper and lower mounting means for mounting a golf bag.

6. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 5, in which the handle is substantially straight and is then arranged to lie substantially parallel to the straight element of the mounting section in the storage position.

7. A motorised golf trolley according to any preceding claim, in which the elongate part is principally made from aluminium.

8. A motorised golf trolley according to any preceding claim, in which the trolley frame can only be disassembled into two parts.

9. A motorised golf trolley according to any preceding claim, in which the parts are connected together by at least one over-centre clamp.

10. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 9, in which the or each over-centre clamp is lockable.

11. A motorised golf trolley according to any preceding claim, in which the parts are matingly connected.

12. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 11, in which one part includes a straight male projection which is arranged to be received in a female element on the other part.

13. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 12, in which the male projection extends substantially perpendicular to the axis of the elongate part.

14. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 12 or 13, in which the male projection comprises an outer surface of a low friction material.

15. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 14, in which the said outer surface is provided on a sleeve of low friction material.

16. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 14 or 15, in which the low friction material is nylon.

17. A motorised golf trolley according to any preceding claim, in which a motor control unit is provided and is mounted on the motor carrying part.

18. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 17, in which user controls are provided on the handle and an electrical connection is provided between the two said parts.

19. A motorised golf trolley according to claim 17, in which the electrical connection is a pull-off connection.

20. A motorised golf trolley constructed and arranged substantially as described herein and with reference to the accompanying drawings.