This invention relates to golf bags.

Golf, as a popular outdoor sport, is played without too much general regard for the adversities of weather. Often it is played during cold and/or damp or wet conditions that can affect the player's performance, and whereas steps are taken to protect the player and his golf clubs from exposure to such conditions, those steps, in the normal course of events, deal inadequately with the problem. Although the clubs are to some extent protected while carried in the golfer's bag, use of them during play exposes them to rain or other dampness, so that they are returned to the bag wet. Even if the clubs are wiped before being returned, they cannot normally be dried sufficiently during play to remove all moisture. Any water remaining on the head or shaft of the club as it is returned head up to the bag, tends to run down into the bag, and so the handle-grips of the clubs, at the bottom of the bag, usually become increasingly damp throughout play.

Even in dry weather conditions the handle-grips may become damp through perspiration of the player's hands, and dampness, whether from this cause or otherwise, of the handle-grip of a club withdrawn from the bag, can be disconcerting for the player.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a form of golf bag that may be used to overcome, or at least reduce, the problem of handle-grip dampness.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a golf bag that includes means for heating

at least part of the interior of the bag for warming the handle-grips of clubs entered therein.

The means for heating the interior of the bag may be located at, or towards, the bottom of the bag, and may conveniently be electric heater means. Other forms of heater means (for example, gas) may, however, be utilised.

Where electric heater means is involved, this may be powered by an electric battery carried with the bag; the battery may be carried at the base of the bag and may be rechargeable. Provision may also be made, as an alternative or in addition, for energising the heater means from a power source external to the bag. The electric heater means may be in the form of a printed- circuit heater element, or a wire-wound heater element, and a thermostat may be included in the circuitry to regulate current supply to the heater means.

The golf bag may include thermally-conductive means defining open-top cavities for receiving at least the handle-grips of individual clubs entered head up into the bag. This latter means may comprise a thermally- conductive member having the cavities therein, or may comprise thermally-conductive tubes that are open to define said cavities. Means, for example in the form of resilient flaps, may be provided for closing the cavities against loss of heat therefrom.

A golf bag in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows the golf bag as containing a selection of golf clubs, part of the bag being shown broken away to reveal a heater assembly of the bag;

Figure 2 is a cross-section of the heater assembly within the golf bag, the section being taken on the line II-II of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a representative longitudinal section of the golf bag of Figure 1;

Figure 4 illustrates a modification of the heater assembly of the golf bag of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 illustrates the golf bag as installed with an alternative form of heater assembly to that of Figures 1 to 3.

Referring to Figure 1, the golf bag 1 is of a conventional generally-cylindrical construction having a leather or plastics body 2 with an open mouth 3 to receive golf clubs 4 inserted head-upwards into the bag 1. The shafts 5 of the inserted clubs 4 extend down into the bag 1 through the mouth 3, to stand spaced from one another with their handle-grips located within a heater assembly 6 at the bottom of the bag 1. The assembly 6 incorporates an electric heater (not shown in Figure 1) that warms the interior of the bag 1, and in particular the handle-grips of the inserted clubs 4, so as to ensure that they and the bottom of the bag 1, remain dry.

A weather-resistant electrical switch 7 for control of the heater is located on the base 8 of the bag 1. The switch 7, which may incorporate an indicator lamp, may be a simple on-off switch or may be of a form having settings for regulating current supply to the heater as well as a setting for interrupting the supply. Electric supply to the heater is made in a fuse- protected circuit from a re-chargeable battery mounted within the base 8, beneath the assembly 6. The circuit also includes provision for alternative supply to the

heater directly from an external power source (for example, a golf buggy or a motor vehicle) via a supply connection point 9 on the base 8. Provision is also made for the battery to be re-charged from an external power source via an electrical power connector 10; the connector 10, the switch 7 and the connection point 9, instead of being mounted exposed on the outside of the bag 1 as shown, may be mounted together within a recess that is covered by a flap.

Referring now also to Figure 2, and more particularly to Figure 3, the heater assembly 6 within the bag 1 includes a cluster of fourteen aluminium-alloy tubes 11 (each, for example, of some 30 to 40 cm in length) that are welded or otherwise mounted to stand upright from a metal plate 12. The heater of the assembly 6 is in the form of an electrical element 13 that is bonded to, or otherwise abuts, the underside of the plate 12 to ensure good thermal coupling with the tubes 11. The spaces between the tubes 11 are filled with an aerated or foamed plastics material 14 that serves to provide support for the tubes 11 and conservation of heat in them.

The tubes 11 form the lower sections of some fourteen spaced tubular cavities or passageways 15 that run downwardly from the mouth 3 into the bag 1. The shafts 5 of the clubs 4 entered in the bag 1 are received individually by the passageways 15 to keep them separated from one another. More especially, the clubs 4 when inserted fully into the passageways 15 stand on the plate 12 with their handle-grips 16 accommodated wholly within the respective tubes 11.

The upper sections of the passageways 15 are formed by tubes 17 of plastics or other material having low heat conductivity, that are aligned axially with the tubes 11 respectively of the assembly 6. A resilient flap-

seal 18 is located within each passageway 15 at the junction of the tube 17 with the tube 11 to close off the tube 11 and reduce loss of heat along the passageway 15 into the tube 17.

Each seal 18 is readily deflected upon insertion of a club 4 against it, to allow admission of the handle- grip 16 to the tube 11. The seal 18 closes up resiliently onto the club-shaft 5 above the grip 16 of the inserted club 4 to maintain the barrier to heat loss from the tube 11. The handle-grip 16 can be readily withdrawn through the seal 18, whereupon the seal 18 returns resiliently to its normal, fully closed state.

The base 8 of the bag 1 includes a heat-insulated cavity 19 for housing the re-chargeable battery (not shown) and circuitry 20 for charging the battery and controlling the heater element 13. The battery, which may be a sealed lead-acid battery or in the form of a pack of nickel-cadmium cells, is inserted into the cavity 19 through an opening 21 in the base 8. After the necessary electrical connections have been established to the circuitry 20, the battery is closed in by a lid 22 that is secured (for example, by one or more screws) in the opening 21.

The circuitry 20 is connected to a thermostat 23 (for example, of bi-metal form) that is located within the heater assembly 6 (see Figures 1 and 2). Subject to the setting of the switch 7, current is supplied to the heater element 13 from the circuitry 20 and is regulated in accordance with the temperature of the assembly 6 sensed by the thermostat 23. The temperature of the assembly 6 is accordingly maintained substantially constant, keeping the tubes 11 sufficiently warm to dry out the handle-grips 16 of the clubs 4 inserted in the bag 1.

In the construction of heater assembly 6 described above, a single heater element (13) is used for warming all clubs contained within the bag, but it is possible instead to use individual heater elements for each of the clubs. Such a construction is illustrated in

Figure 4, where rather than using the single heater 13 in the arrangement of Figure 3, individual heater elements 24 are provided for each tube 11. The heater elements 24 in this case are illustrated as being wrapped round their respective tubes 11, but they may instead be mounted within those tubes.

The heater assembly of the bag 1, instead of including a cluster of tubes for receiving the handle-grips 16 to be warmed, may include a metal block having cavities for them. A construction of this form is illustrated in Figure 5 and will now be described.

Referring to Figure 5, the electrical element 25 of the heater assembly 26 in this case, is mounted beneath a block 27 of metal or other thermally-conductive material. The electrical element 25 abuts the bottom of the block 27 to ensure good thermal coupling with it; this coupling may be enhanced by bonding the heater element 25 to the block 27.

The block 27 is formed with cavities 28 for receiving the handle-grips 16 of the up-turned clubs 4 within the bag 1. The heat emitted by the element 25 warms the block 27, and thus the handle-grips 16 within the cavities 28, to dispel moisture and maintain a dry atmosphere within the bottom of the bag 1.

The electrical elements 13 and 25 of the above- described constructions of heater assemblies, may each be in the form of a printed circuit enclosed in polyester film, or may be wire-wound enclosed within glass-reinforced rubber or resin sheet.