Games using tangible projectile – Golf – Club or club support
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-06
2001-10-02
Passaniti, Sebastiano (Department: 3711)
Games using tangible projectile
Golf
Club or club support
C473S333000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296576
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the field of golf clubs. More specifically, it relates to an improved club head with a swing-weight housing and variable swing-weights for metal wood and wood wood clubs.
2. Description of Prior Art
Many improvements have been made over the years in the design of golf clubs with the desire to improve one's game and to increase a players competitive advantage. A recent development is that of the metal wood and oversized metal wood, Metal woods began an equipment revolution in the late 1970's embracing a simple concept of perimeter weighting designed, simply put, to make the game easier. Traditionally, woods (clubs usually used for tee shots and longer fairway shots) have had heads made of hard woods such as persimmon or laminated maple. Wood is softer than metal and therefore provides a softer feel at impact. Better players appreciate this because it gives than a feeling that they can work with the ball—deliberately curving the ball to the left or right—because the ball stays on the club face a split second longer. However, the tendency of wood to warp or split, coupled with the increasing cost of material and labor, has led to the development of metal heads for woods. Such metal woods typically comprise a hollow cast metal shell filled with a synthetic plastic foam material.
The metal wood has achieved a large measure of success in terms of acceptance in use by skilled golfers. nevertheless, many golfers still prefer traditional “wooden” woods, because of what they consider to be a non-optimal weight distribution in metal wood heads. Specifically, a very important element of the club head design is the concentration of as much mass of the head as possible into the face of the club in the portion of the head behind the face. (This process is called foreweighting, done to bring the center of gravity forward in the club head, promoting a lower shot trajectory.—Reference,“Clubsmarts”, buying golf clubs that work, Author Jonathan Abrahams.) This puts the mass of the head where it effectively contributes to energy imparted to the ball, rather than being merely “dead weight” that limits the velocity of the club head when it is swung. In other words, such a distribution of the mass in the club head increases the total mass. Maximizing the effective mass results in a little or no loss in the achievable club head velocity. The result is a greater shot distance, since the energy imparted to the ball by the club is proportional to the effective mass of the club head times the square of the club head velocity.—Generally this is true, unless the face construction is so rigid and inflexible that some energy is lost because the face deflects less and the ball deforms. (Reference, Golf Magazine, August 1998, page 70).
Preferably the mass in the club head is distributed around the perimeter of the club face. Perimeter weighting gives the club a larger sweet spot. Thus, the perimeter weighted club is more forgiving. That is, a golfer need not strike the ball in the center of the club face to project the ball in a straight path. The enlarged sweet spot of a perimeter weighted club face allows the golfer a larger margin of error when striking the ball. A hit off center still achieves a straight shot.
Recently, metal woods have become larger and oversized metal woods are not very popular. It is desirable to maximize the size of the oversize club head without increasing the weight of the club head to achieve maximum distance and velocity. In producing a larger oversized metal club head, therefore, the walls of the club head are thinner than a normal size club to avoid increasing the weight of the larger club and reducing the swing velocity. With their thinner walls, the oversized metal woods are more susceptible to failure by cracking or crushing, due to the lack of an internal supporting structure. The present invention corrects this.
Normal size and fairway metal woods have a thicker wall section than the oversized metal woods. A thicker wall section increases the club head weight, reducing club head speed, or, swing velocity. Conversely, a thinner wall or lighter weighted club head would increase the club head speed, or swing velocity. The best of both worlds is a desirable feature. Having a much heavier club head while maintaining or increasing club head speed or swing velocity translates into a greater shot distance over the norm, since the energy imparted to the ball by the club is proportional to the effective mass of the club head times the square of the club head velocity.—A feature not available in the present day golf clubs, for the oversized, normal or fairway clubs The present invention corrects this problem.
Counterbalancing is the process of reducing the club's swingweight by adding weight to the grip end. Total weight increases and swingweight decreases. In producing today's golf clubs, no thought has been given to an automatic counterbalancing effect. This problem has been corrected by this invention.
Swingweight refers to the distribution of weight in a golf club. Weight is deposited in the head end and in the grip end of the golf club and the relationship of those weights is the club's swingweight. It has nothing to do with the overall weight. Two clubs may have the same overall weight, but if one of them has a greater ratio of weight in the head, it will feel heavier, and thus have a heavier swingweight. Beginning golfers, women, juniors and seniors prefer swingweights with very little weight in the head (more in the grip) so they feel lightest and it makes it easier to create club head speed. No thought has been given to the present day golf clubs to have a variable swingweight. This problem has been solved and corrected by this invention.
The top of the metal club head in some oversized club heads is so thin that a golfer may crush or crack the metal club head by stepping on the crown. It is also subject to failure by allowing the crown to strike the sole of another club when inserting it into the golf bag. The present invention corrects this problem.
Another disadvantage of the conventional metal wood club heads is that they are molded or cast with an opening in the bottom or sole portion of the club head. A sole plate is welded over the opening to seal the club head. The sole plate weld seam creates a structural discontinuity at the juncture of the front edge of the sole plate and bottom edge of the face plate. This structural discontinuity or weld seam may be subject to failure as the face strikes the ball or the sole strikes the ground. The present invention corrects this problem.
On a practical level, wooden clubheads provide playability that, generally, woods of other materials can't match. However, a disadvantage of the wood wood clubs is that they have the majority of the weight behind the sweet spot with the added lead weights.
This means a mis-hit shot doesn't have that weight to help it along, as it does with the peripherally weighted metal wood golf clubs. The result is a substantial drop-off in performance for shots hit off the sweet spot. For that reason, standard-sized wooden heads will do little for the golfer who fights inconsistency. The present invention corrects this problem.
Golf clubs are designed with varying degrees of loft, which range from a minimum of about 8 degrees for a number 1 wood to a maximum of a bout 29 degrees. The different degrees of loft help to control the trajectory and distance a golf ball is hit. The lower lofted clubs are used for hitting a ball long distances, with the least amount of trajectory. The higher lofted clubs are preferred for hitting the ball shorter distances with a higher trajectory. The problem with the existing clubs is that it is often difficult to obtain adequate lift in the lower lofted clubs, while in the higher lofted clubs, offshoot is a problem. These problems are corrected by this invention.
Invention, U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,055, an oversized metal wood, violates all the principles of perimeter weighti
Passaniti Sebastiano
Varma Sneh
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