Patent Application
20060079348
1. Field of Invention
This invention is directed to the field of golf clubs. In particular, the present invention discloses metalwoods utilizing a dissimilar metal that is attached to the interior surface of the striking plate through brazing, welding or bonding in order to achieve or alter a preset coefficient of restitution.
2. Prior Art
The Coefficient of Restitution, or “COR,” relates to the energy transfer that occurs when one object collides with another. In terms of golf clubs, COR is directly related to the speed of a golf ball as it rebounds from a clubface. Generally, a club with a higher COR will generate greater ball velocity, equaling more distance.
COR is expressed as a percentage. To measure a club's COR, balls are fired at a clubface at a fixed speed, known as initial speed. The speed at which the balls rebound is known as rebound speed. The COR is generally equal to the rebound speed divided by the initial speed. For example, if the initial speed is 100 mph, and the rebound speed is 81 mph, the COR would be approximately 0.810. The Rules of Golf maintained by the USGA limits the COR on driving clubs to 0.830.
In terms of distance, a player with a swing speed from 100 to 120 mph should gain about two yards for every one point increase in COR. Players with slower swing speeds will generally gain less yardage.
Maximizing the area of 0.830 COR and remaining within the constraints set forth by the USGA has long been the principal goal of golf club manufacturers. Golf head manufacturers and developers have long since had to contend with the appropriate mix of materials and constructions to maximize the 0.830 COR zone. Golf club heads have been constructed from a wide variety of materials over the years. A number of patents have issued in the area of golf clubs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,008, to Murphy et al., has an issue date of Aug. 27, 2002. The patent is directed towards a golf club having a club head with a striking plate composed of a composite material and having a thickness in the range of 0.010 to 0.250 inches is disclosed herein. The golf club head also has a coefficient of restitution greater than 0.8 under test conditions such as the USGA test conditions specified pursuant to Rule 4-1e, Appendix II, of the Rules of Golf for 1998-1999. The golf club head body is also composed of a composite material, and a weight strip is placed within a ribbon of the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,605,007 to Bissonnette dated Aug. 12, 2003 discloses a golf club head provided with a face and a body. The face has a central zone and a intermediate zone adjacent and surrounding the central zone. The central zone has a first flexural stiffness and the intermediate zone has a second flexural stiffness. The club head face is configured and dimensioned such that the first flexural stiffness is significantly greater than the second flexural stiffness such that upon ball impact with the face, the intermediate zone exhibits substantial deformation so that the central zone moves into the club head. At the same time, the central zone exhibits minimal deformation so that it moves into and out of the club head as a unit. Furthermore, the face exhibits a high coefficient of restitution.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,010 to Shira dated Feb. 22, 2000 discloses a method of making a golf club head by brazing certain ceramic materials to certain metals utilizes certain brazing alloys so as to provide upon cooling a compressively loaded component on the golf club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,674 to Galy dated Feb. 24, 1998 discloses a golf club head (1) whose volume is delimited by a crown (3), a sole-plate (11), a belt (4), and a hitting surface (2), junctions between the belt (4) and the hitting surface (2) delimiting a heel (9) and a toe (10). The belt (4) comprises at least one arcuate portion (8, 32, 33, 34, 35) which forms a visible layer of the belt (4), while extending along the belt (4) between the heel (9) and the tip (10), the arcuate portion (8, 32, 33, 34, 35) being a peripheral weight made of a high-density material.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,976 to Murphy, et al, dated Jun. 12, 2001 discloses a golf club head having a sole plate and hosel integral piece is disclosed herein.
The integral piece may be composed of a metal material for with a golf club head having a composite body. The integral piece also improves the consistency of the loft and lie parameters of a golf club head. The hosel may be formed with the sole plate, or the hosel may be connected to the sole plate. The integral piece may also have a polymer sleeve thereabout to assist in reducing the stress at the tip end of a shaft inserted into the hosel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,605,007, to Bissonnette et al., has an issue date of Aug. 12, 2003. The patent is directed to a golf club head provided with a face and a body. The face has a central zone and an intermediate zone adjacent and surrounding the central zone. The central zone has a first flexural stiffness and the intermediate zone has a second flexural stiffness. The club head face is configured and dimensioned such that the first flexural stiffness is significantly greater than the second flexural stiffness such that upon ball impact with the face, the intermediate zone exhibits substantial deformation so that the central zone moves into the club head. At the same time, the central zone exhibits minimal deformation so that it moves into and out of the club head as a unit. Furthermore, the face exhibits a high coefficient of restitution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,322, to Kimoto et al., has an issue date of Sep. 29, 1992. The patent is directed to a thermoplastic composite plate material having a quasi isotropy comprises a thermoplastic resin having a melt viscosity of 1,000-15,000 poise and strip pieces each constructed of unidirectionally orientated reinforcing fibers and each having the specific dimensions of the thickness, the width, the length and the ratio of the width and the length thereof. The strip pieces are randomly distributed in plane parallel to a surface of the composite plate material. Since the composite plate material has good quasi-isotropic and high mechanical properties such as flexural strength, flexural modulus and impact strength, a composite product having good quasi-isotropic and high mechanical properties can be obtained by using the composite plate materials. Moreover, since the composite plate material has a good fittability, a composite product having a complicated shape can be easily molded.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,228,473, to Takemura et al., has an issue date of May 8, 2001. The patent is directed to a plate-like carbon fiber-reinforced composite material comprising carbon fibers, wherein that the carbon fibers have a strain at compressive break of 1.7 to 5%, a tensile elastic modulus of 5 to 160 GPa, and a density of 1.5 to 1.9 g/cm3 and further in that the composite comprising said carbon fibers cause no delamination by an impact energy of less than 1.4 J/mm in the test of compression after impact in accordance with JIS K 7089.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,285, to Vykamam et al., has an issue date of Feb. 15, 2000. The patent is directed towards a method and apparatus for aligning discontinuous fibers (F 101, 212). A feeder apparatus (20, 120, 220, 220A) is used to align the fibers in a horizontal plane for feeding to the aligning apparatus (40, 140, 240, 240A) providing an electrical (E) field to orient the fibers in one preselected direction. A support or conveyor (70, 170, 270) receives the aligned fibers. The method and apparatus provides composite products having improved physical properties because of the alignment. The fibers can be of different lengths and a mixture of different types to make composites with controlled microstructure and properties. The composite materials can be in the form of non-woven, discontinuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic stampable sheets with controlled fiber orientation distribution. The composites are useful for a variety of goods.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0048022, to Pratt, has a publication date of Mar. 11, 2004. The invention is directed towards construction and advantages of improved wavy composite structures made from wavy composite, unidirectional composites, and damping materials is revealed. By combining wavy composite laminae in various waveforms, offsets, angular orientations and material combinations, it is possible to provide axial, torsion, or shear properties equivalent to unidirectional materials but without the limitations related to fiber discontinuity, labor costs for fabrication, and weakness at seams where laminates overlap. By combining wavy composite layers with unidirectional crossplies, or by using woven mats with various fill fiber levels where the warp fibers are sinuously arranged, improved strength and damping is possible. Several examples of both wavy crossply laminates and unidirectional crossply laminates are analyzed and compared.
While there have been previous attempts at maximizing the 0.830 COR zone on golf club faces, those solutions have been directed to decreasing the face material thickness around the perimeter and increasing the face material thickness in the higher stress center region of the golf club face, including the use of variable face thickness and cone technologies. Those technologies do not allow the face reflex at impact to be precisely tuned.
There is a long felt need for a golf club head which can maximize a club's 0.830 COR zone at the legal limit.
Several brazing techniques are applicable to titanium. These include induction brazing, resistance brazing and furnace brazing in an argon atmosphere or in vacuum. Torch brazing is not applicable to titanium. Since brazing techniques have the potential for contaminating titanium surfaces, cleanliness is important and consideration should be given to argon or helium gas shielding. Alloys for brazing titanium to itself or other metals are titanium-base (70Ti-15Cu-15Ni), silver-base (various), or aluminum-base (various). The titanium-base alloy requires temperatures in the vicinity of 1700 degrees F., whereas the silver and aluminum-base alloys require 1650 degrees F. and 1100-1250 degrees F. respectively. If corrosion resistance is important, tests should be run on brazed joints in the intended environment prior to use. The titanium-base alloy reportedly offers superior resistance to atmospheric corrosion and saline environments.
Welding titanium to most dissimilar metals is not feasible, because titanium forms brittle compounds with most other metals; however, titanium can be welded to zirconium, tantalum and niobium.
An adhesive bond to titanium is easily achieved using most advanced adhesives.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a metal wood golf club head which incorporates the use of dissimilar metals to control the flex of the golf club face at impact.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a golf club head in which the COR can be varied and tuned.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description as follows.
In accordance with the invention, a hybrid metal wood golf club face comprising: a titanium striking plate with a dissimilar metal directly attached to the interior surface by means of brazing, welding, or bonding.
The present invention is described with reference to the enclosed detailed embodiment, wherein the same numbers are used. In particular, the present invention is directed to improved golf clubs, which incorporate a dissimilar metal attached by means of welding, brazing or bonding to the internal surface of the stiking plate. The dissimilar metal can be of any type and be any shape to achieve the desired performance.
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The dissimilar metal can have a plurality of thicknesses, and the dissimilar metal can have a plurality of physical properties and it can be placed in multiple locations or layers on the stiking plate interior.
