Games using tangible projectile – Golf – Ball
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-05
2004-01-20
Sewell, Paul T. (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Golf
Ball
C156S170000, C156S437000, C156S167000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06679790
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a thread wound golf ball containing a novel Wound Oriented Thermoplastic Elastomer Golf Ball Thread Structure, (hereinafter referred to as WOTEGBTS). In a preferred embodiment the WOTEGBTS consists essentially of threads comprising oriented polyether esters or oriented polyether amides optionally containing minor amounts of modifying polymers and other additives. The WOTEGBTS provides a thread wound golf ball with improved combinations of good spin for ball control on iron or wedge shots while providing for higher hardness and long travel with driver shots.
Golf balls containing WOTEGBTS are more easily manufactured, of high quality and high performance due to specific attributes of the WOTEGBTS. These attributes are: surprisingly high compressive resiliency; high tensile elasticity; superior strength; recycle ability; excellent durability; and high dimensional uniformity and precision compared with prior art golf ball thread rubber structures. In addition, WOTEGBTS can be readily engineered to have controlled mechanical property profiles, across the thread wound layer, as a function of radial distance from the golf ball center. These unprecedented property profiles can produce novel, different ball response characteristics as a function of the type of shot being played (i.e., type of shot meaning driver, iron or wedge or in mechanical terms essentially the force vector delivered by the club, the club impact area and club face angle).
The property profiles originate in one or a combination of design factors used to make the WOTEGBTS composition. The design factors, or design, together make up one aspect of the invention that is novel and useful and leads to surprising results. The factors that are engineered over the length of thread used in the WOTEGBTS, are: constant mechanical properties; controlled varying mechanical properties; a constant winding tension; a controlled varying winding tension; thread cross sectional shapes or profiles; constant cross sectional areas; controlled varying cross sectional areas. These novel property profiles were not possible with prior art thermoset rubber thread wound golf balls.
BACKGROUND ART
A thread wound golf ball is generally produced by winding thread rubber under tension around a center to form a thread wound core and then providing a covering on the thread wound core. The thread rubber requires high strength sufficient for tightly winding it on a center. The threads must also possess high impact rubber resilience in the stretched or wound condition sufficient for enhancing the flight distance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,011 titled “Thread Wound Golf Ball and Process for Producing the Same” gives a good description of thread rubber typically used, its limitations in terms of uniformity and the lengthy and complex process for making the vulcanized thermoset rubber threads.
Thread rubber used for a thread wound golf ball has generally been produced by molding a raw rubber material into a sheet having a predetermined thickness, winding the raw rubber sheet around a drum having a certain size, vulcanizing using a vulcanizer and cutting the vulcanized rubber sheet into a suitable width. The authors cite problems of frequent thread rubber breakage and the process constraints that lead to varying degrees of thread rubber vulcanization that lead directly to scatter in ball compression and scatter in flight distance.
The process whereby prior art rubber threads for golf balls are produced also relies upon cutting vulcanized rubber sheets into threads. The sheets are thin, often about 0.5 mm and it is difficult to produce these sheets with highly uniform thickness. This results in cut threads having significant variability in thickness. The cutting process is also limited in terms of the cross sectional geometry of the resulting thread to either essentially square or (more preferred) rectangular.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,078 “Wound Golf Balls” discloses a two stage winding process for the customary thermoset rubber threads to reduce breaks during thread winding for liquid center golf balls. This winding essentially varies the tensions along the length of thread rubber which changes the winding process to reduce thread breaks. No mention is made of providing an oriented thermoplastic thread wound structure with engineered properties along the length of the thread to adjust the ball performance by use of this method to accommodate both driver and iron/wedge shots.
Japanese Patent Publication JP 5,212,137 A2 discloses a method to fix the thread rubber on the center by adding a hot melt adhesive to the thread rubber to glue it to the center. It is not possible to fix a thermoset rubber thread to the center by melting a portion of the thread because thermoset rubber threads are cured and cannot be remelted and flowed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,854: “Three-piece Solid Golf Ball” discloses an invention whereby a thermoplastic polyester elastomer is molded as a relatively thin, solid intermediate layer between the center and the cover to provide some of the control characteristics or spin response of a rubber thread wound golf ball with the durability of a two-piece ball. As a three-piece solid golf ball, it does not contain a thread wound layer. They make no mention or reference of using a wound oriented thermoplastic polyester elastomer golf ball thread structure as the intermediate layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,669: “Multi-layer golf ball and composition” discloses a three-piece solid golf ball using a molded thermoplastic in the mantle layer where the preferred material is a polyetherester block copolymer with a specific gravity below 1.2. There is no mention of or reference of using a wound oriented thermoplastic polyester elastomer golf ball thread structure as the intermediate mantle layer.
The above-mentioned patents have improved the thermoset rubber thread wound golf balls and the three piece solid golf balls but still leave room to improve the combination of properties of spin receptivity of the wound balls in combination with the durability, uniformity and thermoplastic processing ease of the solid balls. The prior art discloses thermoset rubber thread wound balls and solid balls with molded thermoplastic elastomer layers. Nowhere has it been disclosed to use thermoplastic elastomer threads as a thread wound layer; moreover, nowhere has it been mentioned to use oriented thermoplastic elastomer threads as the wound layer. Specifically there is a need for a WOTEGBTS which: can be readily and consistently produced without the need for complex vulcanization processes; has highly precise dimensions; has high compressive resiliency and tensile elasticity; has precision controlled property profiles as a function of radial distance from the ball center; can be formed from threads of varying cross sectional geometry to tailor ball property response; can be recycled; and has higher strength and durability. The WOTEGBTS provides a thread wound golf ball with improved combinations of good spin for ball control on iron or wedge shots whilst providing for higher hardness and long travel with driver shots.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The Oriented Thermoplastic Elastomer Thread Wound Golf Ball invention includes Oriented Thermoplastic Elastomer thread wound structures with one or more of the following precision controlled, engineered compositional elements: constant mechanical properties; controlled varying mechanical properties; a constant winding tension; a controlled varying winding tension; thread cross sectional shapes or profiles; constant cross sectional areas; controlled varying cross sectional areas; threads wound at constant or varying tension; threads of various cross sectional shapes; threads of constant or varying cross sectional area; threads of constant or varying mechanical property profiles.
The invention also includes an oriented thermoplastic elastomer thread wound golf ball with high compressive resiliency and tensile elasticity. Generally, any thermoplastic elastomer or rubbery thermoplast
Duong Thanh
Schmeiser Olsen & Watts
Sewell Paul T.
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