Patent Application
20080029496
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Referring to
A) preparing a first golf club head component and a second golf club head component:
A golf club head 2 to be made according to this invention can be an iron head, a wood head or a putter head. The golf club head 2 is made from a first golf club head component 21 and a second golf club head component 22. The first golf club head component 21 has a first bonding edge 212 defining an opening 211. The second golf club head component 22 is made of a material different from that of the first golf club head component 21 and has a second bonding edge 221. In the preferred embodiment, the first golf club head component 21 is made of stainless steel, and the second golf club head component 22 is made of a titanium alloy. Other suitable materials, such as carbon steel, alloy steel, a titanium alloy, an aluminum alloy, an aluminum-selenium alloy, an aluminum-scandium alloy, an aluminum-magnesium alloy, a copper alloy, a zirconium alloy, a tungsten alloy, and a metal-containing composite, can be used for making the first golf club head component 21. Moreover, the second golf club head component 22 can also be made of any one of the aforesaid suitable materials as long as the second golf club head component 22 is made of a material different from that of the first golf club head component 21.
As shown in
B) placing the second golf club head component in the opening of the first golf club head component:
The second golf club head component 22 is placed in the opening 211 of the first golf club head component 21 with the first bonding edge 212 surrounding the second bonding edge 221.
C) placing a solder:
A solder 23 is placed between the first and second bonding edges 212, 221. The material suitable for the solder 23 can be an aluminum-based alloy, a copper-based alloy, or a nickel-based alloy. The solder 23 can be provided in a powdery, pasty, strip-like, sheet-like, or rod-like form.
D) placing the first and second golf club head components and the solder in a chamber:
The first and second golf club head components 21, 22 and the solder 23 are placed in a welding device 6, which includes a chamber 61, a gas supplying member 63 for supplying an inert gas into the chamber 61, a positioning member 64 mounted in the chamber 61 for positioning the first and second golf club head components 21, 22 thereon, and a laser light generator 62 mounted outside the chamber 61 for generating a laser light beam 621. The chamber 61 is provided with a glass window 611 that permits transmission of the laser light beam 621 from the laser light generator 62 to the first and second golf club head components 21, 22 and the solder 23 therethrough.
In the preferred embodiment, the laser light generator 62 has a power ranging from 2000 to 5000 watts, and generates a laser light beam having a wavelength ranging from 808 to 940 nm. The traveling path of the laser light beam 621 on the first and second golf club head components 21, 22 and the solder 23 can be controlled precisely through movement of the laser light generator 62 relative to the chamber 61 or movement of the positioning member 64 relative to the chamber 61 in one of linear and rotary directions.
The inert gas is used to discharge air out of the chamber 61 and to prevent oxidation from occurring during the welding process. The inert gas suitable for this invention is nitrogen, helium, or argon.
E) welding:
In the chamber 61 filled with the inert gas, the first bonding edge 212 of the first golf club head component 21 is welded to the second bonding edge 221 of the second golf club head component 22 by irradiating and melting the solder 23 using the laser beam 621 from the laser light generator 62. The irradiating operation is usually performed at an ambient temperature.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
In view of the aforesaid, the method of this invention has the following advantages:
1). Since the first and second golf club head components 21, 22 are welded together at an ambient temperature via precise irradiation with the laser light beam 341 to melt the solder 23, the original physical and mechanical properties of the non-irradiated areas of the first and second golf club head components 21, 22 can be maintained.
2) Since the solder 23 is melted by irradiating with the laser light beam 621, rather than by heating the solder 23 and the first and second golf club head components 21, 22 together, the variety of the suitable material for the solder 23 is relatively flexible, and the operation period for the method of this invention can be reduced.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.
