US 7,062,873 B2Granted

Golf marking flag for attachment to moveable poles for marking hole location in golf course greens

AssigneeMarkers, Inc.

InventorDale J. Hlavin

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Abstract

A golf marking flag for attachment to a supporting upright pole having flag attachment means comprising a linear sleeve adapted to loosely slip over the upright pole to enable unobstructed rotation of the flag in response to wind direction along with a flexible tab secured to the top of the linear sleeve and adapted to rotatably engage an upwardly extending narrow pin located at the top of the upright pole. The flexible tab contains an opening larger than the narrowed upright extension to enable free rotation of the tab around the narrowed extension, while the opening is smaller than the upright pole to enable the larger pole to vertically support the marking flag. The flexible tab supports the marking flag on the upright pole while the sleeve enables rotation of the marking flag about the upright pole. The golf marking flag can be attached directly to an upright pole or adapted to be interconnected to an intervening swivel harness to provide indirect connection to the upright pole. A golf marking flag with direct and indirect connections to the upright pole provides a universal golf marking flag attachable to all types of upright poles and avoids manufacturing and stocking multiple marking flags dependant upon the style of intervening swivel connectors for interconnecting flags to poles.

Claims5

Dependent claims

A self-supporting golf marking flag for direct attachment to an upright movable pole for marking holes on golf course greens, the upright pole having an upwardly extending pin member having a reduced thickness smaller than the thickness of the upright pole forming a peripheral shoulder at the juncture of the extended pin and the upper end of the upright pole, the flag adapted to be self-supporting whole rotatably supported on the upright pole, the golf marking flag comprising:

a flag with an attachment side for direct rotatable attachment to the upright pole, the attachment side having a hemmed linear sleeve adapted to loosely slip over the upright pole, the hemmed sleeve having an upper flexible extension tab with an opening adapted to loosely engage the narrowed extension pin on top of the upright pole, the flexible extension tab rotatably supported by the peripheral shoulder of the upper upright pole, while the linear sleeve is rotatably attached to the upright pole;
the golf marking flag rotatably attached to the upright pole by slipping the flag sleeve over the upright pole, the flexible tab loosely rotatably engaging the extending pin for vertically supporting the flag on the upright pole while the sleeve loosely rotatably engages the upright pole;
where the upright pole and upwardly extending pin are circular, where the tab opening is larger than the diameter of the extending pin but smaller than the diameter of the upright pole to provide rotatable support of the marking flag on the upright pole, and a capping member secured to the top of the upwardly extending pin spaced upwardly from the peripheral shoulder of the upright pole to prevent dislodgment of the flexible tab from the extension pin while permitting loose rotation of the flexible tab about the extension pin;
where the flag sleeve contains a removable tubular insert with an diameter larger than the upright pole diameter to facilitate rotation of the marking flag about the upright pole;
and
where the bottom end of the linear sleeve is partially closed to provide a narrowed opening in the bottom end of the sleeve, the tubular insert having an outside diameter larger than the narrowed opening in the sleeve to prevent the tubular insert from falling our of the linear sleeve.

3 more elements

A golf marking flag for attached to an upright pole to provide a movable flag identifier on golf courses, the upright pole having an upwardly extending pin member attached to the upper end of the upright pole, the upwardly extending pin having a reduced thickness smaller than the thickness of the upright pole forming a peripheral lateral shoulder at the juncture of the upwardly extending pin and the upper terminal end of the upright pole, the marking flag adapted to rotate on the upright pole in response to wind movements, the marking flag comprising:

a self-supporting flag having an attachment side with a linear hemmed sleeve adapted to loosely slip over the upright pole and enable free rotation of the flag about the upright pole, the linear sleeve having an upper flexible extension tab secured to the uppermost part of the linear sleeve, the tab having an opening large enough to rotatably engage the upwardly extending pin but smaller than the thickness of the upright pole to enable the extension tab to rest upon and be rotatably supported on the peripheral lateral shoulder between the upright pin and the terminal end of the upright pole, where the extension tab vertically supports the marking flag on the upright poke while permitting rotational movement of the flag about the upright pole;
where the upright pole and upwardly extending pin are circular, where the tab opening is larger than the diameter of the extending pin but smaller than the diameter of the upright pole to provide rotable support of the marking flag on the upright pole, and a vertical spaced capping member secured to the top of the upwardly extending pin to prevent dislodgment of the flexible tab from the extension pin while permitting loose rotation of the flexible tab rotatably engages the extending pin while maintaining vertical support of the flag on the upright pole.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.