Geometrical instruments – Gauge – Circular size
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-30
2001-08-28
Fulton, Christopher W. (Department: 2859)
Geometrical instruments
Gauge
Circular size
C473S180000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06279245
ABSTRACT:
Present invention relates to a ball controller or so-called calibrator in the form of a rigid, annular mat having a central cavity for reception of a golf ball for checking the diameter of a golf ball, where the cavity has a cylindrical inner face having an axial dimension.
The game of golf has been practiced for over 500 years. No other sport is so dependent upon the characteristics of the ball as the sport of golf is. In the game of golf the point of contact between golf club and golf ball is decisive for the general movements or pattern of movement of the golf ball, since the golf ball during rolling on the ground as well as during flight in the air is most often subjected to larger or lesser spin, which affects the pattern of movement of the golf ball. The golfer can by trained skill plan and control the movement or pattern of movement of the ball in an accurate manner relative to the ground and by the flight of the ball over the ground. However in order to achieve the best possible chance for control it is of decisive importance that the golf ball exhibits the correct shape.
It is usual that golf balls are made with different compression characteristics, among them greater or lesser rigidity, various material qualities, etc.
In order to obtain optimal results of each golf stroke it is of decisive importance that the golf ball has at the start the correct spherical shape, that is to say that the golf ball does not have or has not been given an unround shape by preceding blows of the club or impacts against hard ground. It is of decisive importance that the spherical shape is intact in order that the ball shall be able to move in the intended manner both when it is to roll on the ground and when it is to move in flight over the ground.
As is known golf balls are per se relatively elastic, so that they are intermittently deformed at the moment of hitting or by impact against objects in nature from a spherical shape to an egg-like shape. Often during use the golf ball can be permanently deformed to a more or less unround form. Alternatively certain golf balls can already at the time of purchase have an unround form. However it can be difficult for the user, that is to say the golfer, to determine visually how far the golf ball has a greater or smaller deviation from the intended correct spherical shape.
Clear rules and exact specifications exist for the design of golf balls:
Its weight shall be a maximum of 45.93 grams.
Its size shall not be less than 42.67 mm.
It shall have a spherical symmetry.
Its speed of departure shall be a maximum of 76.2 m/second.
The total length of the flight of the ball shall be 256 m+6%.
The outer surface of the golf ball is provided with a so-called dimple design. This design is formed by a large number (300-500 pieces) of tightly coincident, spherically convex surface portions which can be arranged in various detail designs and with more or less deep and shallow depressions. The dimple design has a decisive significance for the flight of the golf ball. In addition the dimple design provides the chance for the intended correct contact between ball and club during different club hits. In addition to the said spin movement in the flight of the golf ball through the air, the intended back spin movement can also be achieved by contact with the ground.
When a golf club strikes a golf ball for example with a speed of about 160 km/hour, this constitutes a significant force of impact (of the order of magnitude of 1 ton) at the moment of the strike. This force of impact involves the ball being compressed and receiving a delivery speed of about 260 km/hour. The force of impact gives the ball so-called “back spin” when it is pressed against the air. As a result of the ball spinning backwards during the flight relative to the direction of movement through the air, the dimple design and the associated surface depressions involve the air passing rapidly on the upper side of the ball. This involves the creation on the upper side of the ball of an air cushion with a pressure reduction, while on the under side of the ball a pressure build up is created. On the under side the air is met which the ball shall pass and the air which the dimple design draws with itself during the back spin. Consequently there is a dilution of the air on the upper side and a damming up of air on the under side, something which involves the ball being lifted.
The importance of the symmetrical depressions on the outer surface of the golf ball is clearly illustrated in that a ball with a dimple design can normally be hit 250 m, while a ball without the dimple design can only be hit about 100 m.
When one knows by experience that the depressions can vary from almost plane field to spherical skullcap field with a height of 0.3-0.4 mm it will be clearly evident from the above that even minor deviations in the spherical shape of a golf ball can have big consequences on the flight of the ball in practice it is found that the ball during flight by an unround ball is easily exposed to unintended or uncontrollable “screw” and thereby change direction in part to a significant degree.
An unroundness will also act negatively on the intended rolling movement of the golf ball along the ground. The golfer thereby has a missing control over the intended, that is to say controlled movements of the golf ball. An unroundness can in addition act negatively on the flight direction of the ball sideways or the direction of movement sideways along the ground, if the head of the club strikes an unround ball portion. That is to say the ball can be involved in an intended screw movement in a horizontal direction.
In many cases the golfer can have a certain impression of the condition of the ball by visual inspection of the surface of the ball, for example how far the spherical surface portions are worn down or are damaged/-deformed in another way, but the spherical convex surface portions of the golf ball can also make it difficult visually to determine sufficiently surely how far the golf ball exhibits the intended accurate spherical shape.
It is clearly indicated that if a golf ball is unround it will have considerable negative effects for the golfer, and therefore it is important to be able to sort out balls which for one or another reason have become more or less unround. Hitherto a golfer has not had a sufficiently accurate tool which has been able to separate the unround balls with sufficient reliability and accuracy.
According to the rules the golf ball shall not be less than 42.67 mm in diameter. Experience shows that manufacturers follow the rule with deviations which only turns on some few hundred parts of a millimetre. A measuring tool which is able to separate unround balls from round must be able to show faults which are larger than 0.15 mm. That is to say that the diameter of the hole which the golf ball is to be tested in ought to be 42.82 mm +/−0.01 mm and be guaranteed absolutely 100% round.
A type of ball controller has been in use which is in the form of a plane metal mat with associated central cavity, which is adapted to receive the golf ball, which is to be inspected with respect to dimensions, unroundness, etc. There is undertaken then a turning of the ball in different peripheral directions, while it is received in the central cavity of the ball controller. In order to ensure that the ball is inspected in a position, which is concentric to the cavity of the ball controller, a ball support member is employed arranged on the under side of the ball controller. This involves extra complications in manufacture and in addition the ball controller becomes unnecessarily demanding of space.
An important requirement for the measuring tool is that it must be readily available during the golf game. At any time during the play the player must be able to inspect and consider whether the ball he is to strike retains its dimensions. The measuring tool must therefore for example be able to be readily fetched up from the pocket of the trousers. The measuring tool must be solid and stable so t
Carella, Byrne, Bain, Cecchi, Stewart & Olstein
Fulton Christopher W.
Hand, Esq. Francis C.
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