U.S. patent application number 10/400416 was filed with the patent office on 2004-04-08 for golf club.
Invention is credited to Kawano, Masayuki.
Application Number | 20040067800 10/400416 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32040337 |
Filed Date | 2004-04-08 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040067800 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kawano, Masayuki |
April 8, 2004 |
Golf club
Abstract
This invention provides a golf club which enables each golf
golfer to finely correct the ball flying tendency from the golf
club in hand, considering the golfer's hitting habit or the like,
to control hitting ball easily and correctly, and to enjoy playing
golf in the most suitable hitting condition. A golf club comprising
a concaveness (3) being provided on an impact area of the face (2a)
of the club head (2), the impact plate (4) as a hitting area being
covered and engaged not tightly with an opening area of the
concaveness (3), the back side of the said impact plate (4) being
supported by a spring material and spring constant adjusting
function to change the spring constant or impact resilience of the
spring material, and a feature as a combination of bolts inserted
into loose connecting holes (5) extending from front to back of the
head (2), connecting holes (12) extending in a slanting or
up-and-down direction for tightening bolts, and screw holes (7)
provided on the impact plate (4) to screw in the tip of the
bolt.
Inventors: |
Kawano, Masayuki;
(Konan-Shi, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
CLARK & BRODY
Suite 600
1750 K Street, NW
Washington
DC
20006
US
|
Family ID: |
32040337 |
Appl. No.: |
10/400416 |
Filed: |
March 28, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
473/340 ;
473/342 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 2053/0495 20130101;
A63B 53/08 20130101; A63B 53/0416 20200801; A63B 53/0487 20130101;
A63B 53/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
473/340 ;
473/342 |
International
Class: |
A63B 053/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 2, 2002 |
JP |
2002-006236U |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A golf club comprising a concaveness being provided on an impact
area of the head face of the golf club, an impact plate as a
hitting area being covered and engaged not tightly with an opening
area of the said concaveness, the backside of the said impact plate
being supported with a spring material therein a spring constant
adjusting function to change the spring constant or impact
resilience of the spring material, and a feature as a combination
of bolts inserted into loose connecting holes extending from front
to back of the head, connecting holes extending in a slanting or
up-and-down direction for tightening bolts, and screw holes
provided on the impact plate to screw in the tip of the bolt.
2. A golf club as described in the aforementioned claim 1,
comprising a feature wherein compressing degree can be accordingly
adjusted by rotating the bolt in a connecting hole from a slant or
up-and-down direction.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to a golf club that makes it easier
to control an impact resilience and hitting direction of a golf
ball according to a golfer's hitting habit, and also control an
accurate direction and carry of a golf ball.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Golf is one of sports to play with a tool. There might be a
certain restriction on a tool to be used. When officially playing
golf in a tournament on the authorized golf courses, the golf club
to be used should comprise a structure that conforms to the
standards prescribed by PGA (Professional Golfers'
Association).
[0003] As for a putter mainly used on the green, the
above-mentioned standards are not so strictly observed.
[0004] A golf score is affected by the quality of a golf tool.
Therefore, some golfers try to find their suitable golf clubs or
adjust the weight of the golf club by adding lead onto it.
[0005] Also, some golfers with a good experience modify their golf
clubs with a file or the like as well as the method of adjusting
the weight by adding lead (Pb) onto it as indicated above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] This invention has an aim to provide a golfer with a golf
club that makes it easier to correct the golfer's hitting habit and
to control an accurate direction and carry of a golf ball, and
enables the golfer to enjoy exercising ingenuity, Especially
beginners can enjoy their holidays and even experienced golfers can
participate in golf games with their best conditioned golf
clubs.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 shows the No. 1 embodiment of the golf club in this
invention and an oblique perspective view of the putter head.
[0008] FIG. 2 shows the No. 1 embodiment of the golf club in this
invention and a cross-sectional flat view of the head portion
[0009] FIG. 3 shows the No. 1 embodiment of the golf club in this
invention and a front view of the head portion without impact
plate.
[0010] FIG. 4 shows the No. 2 embodiment of the golf club in this
invention and a cross-sectional flat view of the putter head.
[0011] FIG. 5 shows the No. 2 embodiment of the golf club in this
invention and a front view of the head without the impact
plate.
[0012] FIG. 6 shows the No. 2 embodiment of the golf club in this
invention and a cross-sectional side view of the putter head.
[0013] FIG. 7 shows the No. 3 embodiment of the golf club in this
invention and a cross-sectional flat view of the putter head.
[0014] FIG. 8 shows the No. 3 embodiment of the golf club in this
invention and a cross-sectional side view of the head portion.
[0015] FIG. 9 shows the No. 4 embodiment of the golf club in this
invention and a cross-sectional side view of the putter head.
[0016] FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the special bolt and
special screwdriver in use.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE
INVENTION
[0017] In order to achieve the above-identified objectives, the
golf club disclosed in this invention is characterized in that a
concaveness (3) is provided on an impact area of face (2a) of the
club head (2), an impact plate (4) as a hitting area is engaged not
tightly with the entire opening area of the concaveness (3) with a
certain reserve, therein the backside of the said impact plate (4)
is supported by a spring with a constant adjusting function to
change the spring constant or impact resilience. The aforementioned
spring constant adjusting function works with the head (2) in
combination of a bolt inserted in an engaging hole (5) extending in
a cross direction, connecting hole (12) for tightening the bolt in
a slant or up-and-down direction, and screw hole (7) provided on
the impact plate (4) to be engaged with the top edge of the bolt,
and preferably comprises a function to adjust accordingly the
compression degree of the spring material inserted between the
impact plate (4) and the concaveness (3) by rotating the bolt (6)
in the connecting hole (12) in a slant or up-and-down
direction.
[0018] The connecting hole (12) is set in a slant or up-and-down
direction to increase flexibility for adjusting the gravity point
of the golf club.
[0019] In this invention, the bolt may not be able to be tightened
by an ordinary screwdriver since the connecting hole (12) is
provided in a slant or up-and-down direction. Therefore, special
bolt (1a), a worm gear bolt A (9), a worm gear bolt B (9a) as well
as the ordinary bolt (6) or the like can be used.
[0020] Embodiments in this invention are described below in
accordance with FIGS. 1 to 10. The most suitable golf club for this
invention is a putter used on the green. The function required for
the putter is to control an accurate direction and carry of a golf
ball.
[0021] As a major part of the golf club (Al) in the embodiment
shown in an oblique perspective view FIG. 1, an impact area of the
head face (2a) mounted on one edge of the shaft (1) comprises a
concaveness (3) as shown in FIG. 2, and the impact plate (4)
covering an opening area is flatly engaged but not too tightly with
the face (2a). This impact plate (4) is one of materials for
forming a hitting face of the head (2).
[0022] The concaveness (3) in this embodiment is nearly a cubic
shape. To receive the rim of the impact plate (4) as shown in FIG.
3, a step (3a) is provided around the wall of this concaveness (3).
Depth of the step (3a) is comparatively larger than the thickness
of the impact plate (4). An outer rim of the impact plate (4) is
tapered toward the step (3a).
[0023] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, two loose engaging holes (5, 5)
are provided on the bottom area of the concaveness (3) at an even
interval so as to reach the bottom of the head (2). Ordinary bolts
(6, 6) are inserted from the loose engaging hole located on the
edge of the connecting hole (12) on the lower backside of the head
(2) toward the inside of the concaveness (3). A strike plate (5a)
for receiving the bolt head is provided between the connecting hole
(12) and the loose engaging hole (5).
[0024] As shown in FIG. 2, on the other hand, the impact plate (4)
engaged with the opening face of the concaveness (3) comprises
screw holes (7, 7) to receive the tips of the bolts (6, 6) which
come out of the engaging holes (5, 5), so that the said bolts (6,
6) should not reach the front side of the impact plate (4).
[0025] A rubber ring packing (8) as a spring material as shown in
FIG. 3, is provided along the bottom periphery of the concaveness
(3). The ring packing (8) can be fixed inside the concaveness (3)
by using glue or the like if necessary. Thickness of the ring
packing (8) is determined such that the head of the ring packing
(8) should come a little over the line of the step (3a) provided in
the concaveness (3).
[0026] As shown in FIG. 2, the ring packing (8) is sandwiched
between the bottom of the concaveness (3) and the impact plate (4)
in condition where the head (2) of the golf club is completely
assembled. Therefore, the impact resilience and spring constant of
the ring packing (8) can be changed according to the tightening
level of the ordinary bolt (6).
[0027] In this invention, a tool to tighten the bolt (6) is
inserted from the lower back of the head (2). An ordinary
screwdriver may not be appropriate to screw the bolt (6) since the
connecting hole (12) is not straight. In this case a special bolt
(10a) with a multiple concaveness head and a special screwdriver
with round head (10) are preferably used.
[0028] A usage of a golf club (A1) manufactured as a putter is
described here. When shipping the golf club (A1), engaging level of
bolts (6, 6) is adjusted such that the surface of the impact plate
(4) becomes flat to the face (2a) of the head (2).
[0029] If a golfer is a beginner, he or she generally cannot fully
control direction or carry of a golf ball because of his/her own
swing pattern. In such a case, it is possible to tilt the surface
of the impact plate (4) slightly on either side to the face (2) by
tightening or loosening one of the two ordinary bolts (6, 6) After
such a series of fine control adjustments, a ball-carry tendency of
the golf club (Al) can be corrected as the golfer expected.
[0030] When the golf club purchased has an excessive repulsion, it
is possible to adjust the impact resilience of the ring packing,
i.e. the impact resilience of the head (2) by loosening or
tightening each of the two ordinary bolts (6, 6), and the material
of the impact plate can be also changed as described later.
[0031] Also, curved lines (not described in drawings) can be
provided on the face (2a) or the impact plate (4) or, a removable
cover (not described in drawing) or a lead (Pb) plate (not
described in drawing) can be engaged to the backside of the head
(2).
[0032] FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of the head (2) of the
No. 2 embodiment in this invention. FIG. 5 shows a front view of
the head (2) without the impact plate (4), and FIG. 6 shows a front
view of the head (2) of the golf club (A3) as the No. 3 embodiment
in this invention. Controllability of three pieces of ordinary
bolts (6) enables the impact plate (4) to be turned from side to
side and up and down, thus the rotation of the ball in a traveling
direction can be easily controlled.
[0033] FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional front view of the head
portion of the golf club (A3) in the No. 3 embodiment and FIG. 8
shows a cross-sectional side view of the head portion of the golf
club (A3) in the No. 3 embodiment. A worm gear bolt A (9) or worm
gear bolt B (9a) is used. The rotation of the worm gear can be
transferred in a right angle.
[0034] FIG. 9 shows a cross-sectional side view of the head (2) of
the golf club (A4) as the No. 4 embodiment in this invention. The
golf club (A4) comprises a conical spring (11) as a spring material
in which a special bolt (10a) is inserted into the center hole.
Spring constant of the conical spring can be changed according to
the engaging level of the special bolt (10a).
[0035] Also, material of the impact plate used in this invention
can be selected from soft iron, stainless steel, ceramics such as
alumina, ABS resin, carbon fiber epoxy resin complex or the
like.
[0036] (Effect of the Invention)
[0037] As clearly described in the above explanation, a golf club
mainly used for the putter in this invention has excellent actual
effects as described below.
[0038] (a) Impact resilience of the impact area on the club head
can be finely or greatly changed according to the hitting pattern
or affinity of the golfer.
[0039] (b) Direction of the fly ball can be controlled by finely
slanting the impact area from side to side or up and down against
the face,
[0040] (c) Besides the direction carry of a golf ball can be also
easily controlled by controlling the rotation of the golf ball when
hitting the ball. Then the golfer can enjoy the best part of the
golf, and
[0041] (d) Repulsion can be freely changed by selecting the impact
plate or/and the spring.
* * * * *