Games using tangible projectile – Golf – Club or club support
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-23
2001-08-07
Passaniti, Sebastiano (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Golf
Club or club support
C473S308000, C473S313000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270425
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of golf clubs and more specifically, to golf clubs wherein an insert is received in the golf club head and mates with the golf club shaft and wherein the insert may be removed and replaced to provide different relative angles between the head and the shaft.
2. BACKGROUND ART
An important factor in the performance of a golfer on the course is the geometry of the clubs used by the golfer. Depending upon the golfer's swing mechanics and his or her stance and body dimensions, the angle between a golf club shaft and the ball hitting head to which it is attached can have a significant degree of variation and such variation can drastically affect the accuracy of ball impact and thus significantly impact a golfer's score. Perhaps no golf club has more impact on overall score than the putter. In a typical round of golf of eighteen holes, about half the score is attributable to putting strokes. Thus it would not be unusual for a golfer who scores an 80 on a par 72 course to have 40 or more putting strokes as part of the total. Thus, the selection of the most appropriate angle between shaft and head is probably most important in the putter. Yet the vast majority of conventional golf club putters do not provide any easy way of adjusting the angle between shaft and head without bending the hosel or neck of the putter. Once a golfer purchases a conventional putter, he or she cannot alter the lie angle to optimize putting performance. Even though some golf club manufacturers provide some form of customizing to each golfer, once the clubs are in the golfer's bag, there can be no further changes.
It would be highly advantageous if there were a putter designed to permit changes to be made to its lie angle as the golfer uses it and determines which angle is best for his or her particular putting technique. In this manner, a golfer could readily alter the angle between head and shaft between rounds until he or she discovered which such angle produced the most accurate putting stroke. Moreover, as the golfer changes his or her putting technique due to minor aches and pains, more serious medical conditions, or just simply by virtue of choice, the putter can be then modified to produce a more suitable lie angle for the new putting technique. Unfortunately, the Applicants know of no existing golf club putter which provides for easy and convenient modification of lie angle by simple mechanical adjustment at any time the golfer wishes to alter his or her putting stroke or simply to experiment for achieving greater accuracy in the most significant part of the game.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a simple and convenient device for altering the angle between the shaft and the head of a golf club embodied here as a putter. The preferred embodiment of the invention utilizes a plurality of inserts which are configured to be inserted into a tapered hole in the golf club head for receiving a shaft or a hosel for mating with the shaft. Each such insert is designed to provide a different angle between head and shaft so that the golfer merely selects one of the plurality of inserts which will be best for his or her putting accuracy.
There are specific mechanical principles involved in positioning the inserts into a club head that make it unique and unlike other golf club patents that alter relationships of the shaft length axis with the club head face geometry. The inserts are positioned in the club head in such a way as to create a swaging of the insert into the club head and the insert onto the shaft tip. Swaging is the interference fit of two components with two or more surfaces that are forced together in a locking condition, for instance a tapered pin into a tapered hole. A swaging screw is utilized to drive the insert into a tapered swage condition with the club head and thus squeeze onto the shaft to ensure a strong bond without utilizing an adhesive. In addition, the shaft tip has a designed polarizing area that engages with the insert so as to create a specific relationship between the shaft and the insert making it a subassembly ready to fit into the club head. In turn, the insert has a specific polarizing feature that engages the insert and shaft subassembly into the club head to form a specific shaft to club head relationship and is force locked into position by the swage screw to provide a specific face angle and lie angle of the golf club.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a golf club having an insert mechanism designed to provide alternative angles between the golf club shaft and the golf club head by simple removal and replacement of the insert mechanism.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a golf club putter having a head configured for receiving any one of a plurality of inserts, each said insert providing a different angular relation between the golf club shaft and the golf club head.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a putter having selectable lie angles in accordance with the geometry of a swagable insert device received in the putter head.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2018897 (1935-10-01), Reach
patent: 2067556 (1937-01-01), Wettlaufer
patent: 2146321 (1939-02-01), Wettlaufer
patent: 2219670 (1940-10-01), Wettlaufer
patent: 2425808 (1947-08-01), Jakosky
patent: 4073492 (1978-02-01), Taylor
patent: 4948132 (1990-08-01), Wharton
patent: 5540435 (1996-07-01), Kawasaki
patent: 5851155 (1998-12-01), Wood
patent: 5951411 (1999-09-01), Wood
Passaniti Sebastiano
Tachner Leonard
The Nirvana Group, L.L.C.
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