The present invention disclosure describes a flexible golf club grip formed with an underlist or inner core layer of elastomeric material and an outer layer of elastomeric having a softer “feel” or lesser durometer hardness. Heretofore, this softer feel has been achieved by wrapping a layer of lower durometer elastomer over the underlist either in a spiral strip after molding and adhesively securing the strip or by molding with the underlist or by over molding a separate layer. Both of these techniques have resulted in increased complexity of molding and increased cost for the grip.
It has thus been desired to find a way or means for providing the flexible golf club grip with a softer feel to the user on the outer gripping surface has yet to provide sufficient structural stability and retention of the grip on the golf club shaft. Where the outer layer of the flexible golf club grip has been formed by wrapping a spiral layer, it has been necessary to form the wrap of the same material as the underlist in order that the outer layer will be properly cured and bonded with the underlist during molding which results in the outer surface having an undesirable hardness and resulting in poor gripability.
If the outer wrapped layer such as a spiral wrap and the underlist are made of the same elastomeric material having the desired softness for the outer layer than the result is the underlist is too soft to function properly as the grip for the golf club.
It is also desired to provide decorative features and designs as visible from the exterior of the grip to provide for identification, design appeal, and thus improved marketability.
Furthermore, where a spiral wrap appearance is desired on the grip, it has been necessary to paint the spiral edges of the outer layer wrap after molding in order to achieve the desired appearance which has resulted in additional complexity and cost for the grip.
The present disclosure describes a flexible golf club grip molded of elastomeric material having an underlist or inner layer of material of a desired stiffness or durometer and an outer layer or cover formed of molded elastomeric material of a significantly lesser durometer to provide softness for the desired feel and gripability to user of the golf club grip. The outer layer may be provided with voids formed in it to give a design or pattern rendering the surface of the underlist readily visible through the voids because of the relative thinness of the outer layer. If the underlist is formed of a different color than the material of outer layer a desirable design effect can easily be created without the need for any after molding operations. In another version of flexible golf club grip of the present disclosure, the underlist is molded to have portions extending outwardly through the voids provided in the outer layer to give the surface of the outer layer a design or pattern which is flush with the outer surface and thus no voids are apparent from the exterior of the grip. The underlist and outer layer may be formed of different combinations of colors thus giving the wide variety of visual effects which may be achieved without additional complexity of costs to the molding operation. In the present practice of the flexible golf club grip described therein, the underlist has the hardness in the range of about 50-80 on the Shore A scale and the outer layer has a durometer in the range of about 25-45 on the Shore A scale. In another version of the flexible grip of the present disclosure, the underlist is covered with a relatively thin over layer of colored softer elastomer; and, upon spiral wrap of an outer layer having the space between the edges and the spiral wrap forming a void resulting in the over layer being visible to give the appearance of a spiral stripe on the grip. The flexible grip of the present disclosure thus provides for an elastomeric outer surface forming the softer material than the other underlist giving the desired gripability yet enabling the formation of decorative designs and patterns visible or extending through voids in the outer layer which are formed during molding without any post molding operations.
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If desired, letters or other characters denoted by reference numeral 48 may be molded in the outer surface of the outer layer 42 and subsequently painted to provide identification or manufacturers unique indicia of origin.
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If desired, version 50 of
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If desired, characters or letters such as those denoted by reference characters 68 may be molded in the outer surface of the outer layer 62 and subsequently painted and may provide indicia of origin such as a trademark.
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The present disclosure describes a flexible elastomeric golf club grip molded with an underlist and a softer outer layer having a decorative design provided by voids formed in the outer layer to expose portions of the underlist which may be brightly colored. In one version, the voids are left open and in another version the voids are filled during molding with material from the underlist extending outwardly to the outer surface of the outer layer. In another version a spirally wrapped configuration is provided by a cover layer of brightly colored elastomer molded over the underlist; and, the outer layer formed of a softer spirally wrapped elastomer with the edges of the spiral wrap spaced to expose the cover layer giving a brightly colored spiral wrapped design to the grip. The golf club grip of the present disclosure thus provides multicolored designs and increased gripability having portions of the design formed of softer elastomer and yet requires no post-molding operations to provide the colored design.
Obviously, modifications and alterations will occur to others upon reading and understanding the preceding detailed description. It is intended that the exemplary described versions be construed as including all such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.
This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/246,100, which was filed on Sep. 27, 2011, by Gill et al., is entitled “FLEXIBLE GOLF CLUB GRIP” and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20130231200 A1 | Sep 2013 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13246100 | Sep 2011 | US |
Child | 13862636 | US |