Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CA 02397338 2002-08-09
Title: Auxiliary wheel arrangement for attachment to a golf
cart
Background of the Invention.
l.Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hand-propelled golf
carts, and especially to the most popular type of golf cart
having two side wheels and a foldable frame, the bottom of the
frame terminating in a lower bag support . The present invention
provides an auxiliary front wheel for attachment to such a
lower bag support.
2.Prior Art
Many types of hand-propelled golf carts are known. Most
have two relatively widely spaced, large diameter side wheels,
and some have an additional, smaller, front wheel. The most
popular carts are those which have only the two side wheels,
and have a folding frame; folding of the frame moves the side
wheels close to the sides of the golf bag and allows the cart
and bag to be stored in a car trunk. This type of cart has a
fixed lower bag support.
The presence of a front wheel makes the cart easier to
handle, but tends to make folding and storage more difficult.
For folding, it is usual for the bottom part of the cart to be
held against the ground while the cart is folded, but a front
wheel makes this more awkward since the cart tends to run
around while the user tries to fold it. A front wheel also
makes the folded cart larger.
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The prior art contains two examples of foldable carts with
removable front wheels, i.e.
U.S. Pat.No.5,582,419, which issued Dec. 10, 1996 to Lucia
et al., and
U.S.Pat.No.5,839,528, which issued Nov. 24, 1998 to Lee.
In both these patents the cart is not of the generally
popular type with a fixed lower bag support, but is of a
special construction in which the lower bag support is removed
along with the front wheel.
Two prior patents show auxiliary front wheel attachments
for the popular type of cart with a fixed bag support, notably:
U.S.Pat.No.6,059,300, issued May 9, 2000 to Wu, and
U.S.Pat.No.6,296,260, issued Oct. 2, 2001 to Schiavone.
In the Wu patent, a pair of front wheels is provided which
can be attached by means of bolts to the main rod member of the
cart. In Schiavone, a block holding the front wheel is
connected, seemingly by screws, to the lower bag support. In
both cases the front wheels are not readily removable; removal
would require use of tools to remove the bolts or screws, and
therefore the front wheels in these cases may make the storage,
and possibly the folding, of the cart more difficult. Also, in
Wu, the front wheels cannot swivel, so steering the cart will
be more difficult.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention provides an auxiliary front wheel
assembly for golf carts which is suitable for the most popular
carts, i . a . those having a lower bag support f fixed to the lower
end of the frame, and in which the front wheel is easily
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removed, preferably without the need for any tools, when the
cart is to be stored.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, an
auxiliary wheel arrangement for attachment to a golf cart, of
the type having a fixed lower bag support, comprises:
a base or mounting part adapted to be fixed in essentially
permanent manner to the lower bag support, and
a wheel assembly having bracket means engage able with said
base part and capable of holding the wheel assembly in position
during normal use of the cart, and being adapted to be readily
removable from the base part for storage of the cart.
The bracket means preferably includes an elongated member,
and the base or mounting part, hereinafter the "base part" , has
an elongated cavity for receiving this member and for retaining
the member in rigid and non-rotatable manner. The elongated
member may be in the form of a flat-sided strip, and the
elongated cavity is preferably provided between parallel upper
and lower plates secured to the lower bag support and separated
from each other by spacer means.
To facilitate steering, the wheel assembly includes a
caster-type wheel mounted on a fork which can swivel about an
axis which is generally vertical when the parts are assembled.
The wheel assembly may include a brake comprising a flexible
element having an inner end attached to the bracket means, this
element having an outer end provided with a brake pad
dimensioned so as to be capable of being frictionally held
between the fork and the wheel to prevent rotation of the wheel
at least in one direction.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the
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lower bag support may have the base part of an auxiliary wheel
arrangement not only fixed to but integrally formed with the
bag support, the base part including a parallel sided cavity
open at a front end, and the wheel assembly may have a bracket,
as described above, which includes a flat sided strip
dimensioned to be inserted, as a close fit, into the cavity.
Brief Description of the drawincrs.
A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be
described by way of example with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which;
Fig.l shows perspective view of a cart to which the base
part of the wheel arrangement has been attached;
Fig.2 shows a side view of the lower part of the same cart
in the operative condition with the bracket and wheel assembly
part fitted onto the base part, and with a brake in operative
position;
Fig.3 shows the same parts as Fig.2 but with the golf bag
in place and with the brake inoperative;
Fig.4 shows a top plan view of the base part of the
assembly;
Fig.5 shows a sectional view on lines 5-5 of Fig.4;
Fig.6 shows a detailed side view of the wheel assembly
part of the invention, and
Fig.7, which appears of the same drawing sheet as Fig.3,
shows a view similar to Fig.4 of an alternative construction.
Detailed Description.
Fig.l shows a golf cart 10 having a lower bag support 12
to which is attached the base part 14 of the auxiliary wheel
arrangement of this invention. Apart from this base part, the
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cart is conventional, having a main frame member 16 extending
from an upper bag support 18 down to the lower bag support 12,
and this frame member is pivoted at 19 to an upper frame member
20 having handle 22. The cart has side wheels 24 connected by
support arms 26 to the main frame member 16, and these arms 26
are braced by links 28 connected to upper frame member 20. When
the cart is folded by moving frame member 20 down about pivot
19, the links 28 cause the support arms 26 to fold forwards,
bringing the wheels 24 close to the sides of a golf bag carried
between supports 12 and 18. This general form of golf cart is
well known, and is similar to the carts shown in the Wu and
Schiavone patents.
It is common with carts of this type for the lower bag
support 12 to be molded of plastic and to have a concave cradle
portion 12a which receives the side of the bag lower end, and
a forwardly projecting part 12b with a generally flat top which
normally receives the lower end of the golf bag which is
secured by straps 13. In accordance with the invention, this
generally flat top of part 12b, or an equivalent metal part, is
used as the mounting surface for the base part 14 of this
invention, which is shown in side view in Figs. 2 and 3 and in
detail in Figs.4 and 5. As shown in Fig.3, the golf bag B can
rest on the top of the base part 14, which has a low profile,
for example being less than 1/2 inch in thickness.
Referring to the latter Figs.4 and 5, the base part 14
comprises upper and lower identical, parallel flat plates 30,
32 of 1/16 thick steel, separated by two spacer strips 34, 35
of 3/16 thick plastic. The spacer strips are spaced apart to
provide a parallel-sided cavity 36 of 1 1/4 inch width, and the
upper and lower plates are secured to opposite sides of the
spacers by rivets 37.
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The base part 14 is mounted, in essentially fixed manner,
to the upper surface of projecting portion 12b by four bolts 38
which locate in bolt holes 39 in side portions of the base
part, and which are retained by nuts 38a shown in Fig.3. The
exact positioning of these bolt holes will depend on the
particular design of the projecting portion 12b. When molded of
plastic, this latter part generally has underlying support
ribs, such as are shown at 12c in Fig.3, and these are
preferably avoided when placing the bolt holes. Accordingly,
the base part 14 will normally be supplied with the plates and
spacers held by the rivets 37, and the installer, who may be
the customer, will drill bolt holes in the base part 14 and in
the projecting portion 12b to suit the construction of the
latter part; with the requirement that the bolt holes should
not interfere with the cavity 36. The same base part can of
course be used on a cart in which the base support is metal, as
appears to be the case with the cart shown in the Schiavone
patent, provided it is practical to drill into the
corresponding part.
Base part 14 also includes a retaining strap 40 extending
from an attachment point provided by rivet 41 at the rear
center of the plate 30 and protruding about 2 to 3 inches
beyond the front center of this plate, and being provided with
hole 42 near its front end.
Fig.6 shows details of the wheel assembly. It includes a
support bracket 44 formed of a 3/16 thickness, flat and
parallel sided steel strip, which is 1 1/4 inches in width,
having an inner portion 44a and an outer portion 44b, connected
by a short bent portion 44c. As shown in Figs.2 and 3, the
bracket is such that with the inner portion 44a having an angle
to the horizontal corresponding to the slope of support portion
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12b, which is about 45°, the outer portion 44b is roughly
horizontal. An outer end area of portion 44b has a bolt hole
for mounting the bearing 45 of a swivelling fork 46 of the
caster type wheel 47. The wheel and fork combination is
preferably of the type used for invalid walkers, which are
units made to be reliable under reasonably heavy loads. A
suitable type of fork and wheel combination is one with an 8
inch diameter rubber tired wheel sold for walkers.
Fig.6 also shows details of the brake used in this
invention, and which is needed when the golf cart is placed on
a slope. This brake is provided by a flexible strip 50 of
plastic, having an outer end portion 51 forming a brake pad,
and an inner end portion 52 secured to the inner part of the
outer bracket portion 44b by a nut and bolt combination 54 and,
near its inner end, by a bolt 55 and retaining pin 56. In the
operative position of the brake shown in Figs.2 and 6 the strip
50 passes over the bearing 45, and the brake pad 51 is inserted
between the outer rim of wheel 47 and the inside of fork 46 and
prevents rotation of the wheel. However, this brake may be
arranged to be unidirectional, so that while it prevents
reverse movement of the cart, and for example may prevent the
cart rolling down a hill, a push in the forwards direction will
dislodge the pad 51 and allow the cart to move. In the
inoperative condition of the brake as shown in Fig.3, the brake
part is pushed between the strap 13 and the golf bag.
Alternatively, the brake pad may simply extend forwards from
the wheel assembly.
In use, the cart is normally stowed, for example in the
trunk of a car, without the wheel assembly being in place. When
the cart has been unfolded by moving the frame part 20 to the
Fig.l position, the front wheel assembly is attached to the
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cart by sliding the inner end portion 44a of the support
bracket into the cavity 36 in the base, in which it is a snug
fit. During use, the bracket is retained in the cavity 36 by
fitting the hole 42 at the end of the retaining strap 40 onto
the bolt 55 and securing this with the retaining pin 56. With
the parts assembled, as seen in Figs . 2 and 3 , the outer bracket
portion is roughly horizontal so that the wheel fork 46 pivots
about a generally vertical axis. When it is time to store the
cart in a car trunk, the strap 40 is removed from bolt 55 and
the wheel bracket 44 is pulled out of the cavity 36, so that
disassembly does not require any tools.
Fig.7 shows a modified form of the base part 14' in which,
the retaining strap 40 is replaced by a short strap 40' which
is an extension of the lower plate 32. This strap 42' projects
out from the center of this lower plate and is bent down at
about 45° to fit under the bracket portion 44b. It has a hole
42', similar to hole 42, to engage the bolt 55.
It will be apparent that the invention can be sold not
only as a kit of parts for attachment to a golf cart, but
alternatively as a golf cart having the base part as described
attached to the lower bag support . Alternatively, the base part
can be integrated into the construction of the lower bag
support, for example by using the lower bag support to replace
the lower plate 32, or other constructions may be used which
provide a lower bag support with a parallel sided recess
suitable for receiving the bracket portion 44a.
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