U.S. patent application number 12/337797 was filed with the patent office on 2009-04-16 for golf club head.
Invention is credited to Archer C. C. Chen.
Application Number | 20090098949 12/337797 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40534771 |
Filed Date | 2009-04-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090098949 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chen; Archer C. C. |
April 16, 2009 |
GOLF CLUB HEAD
Abstract
A golf club head includes a front member, a rear member and a
neck connected together to form a housing. The front member, which
is made of a flexible material, such as aluminum alloy, stainless
or Maraging steel, has a face and an annular wall projected from a
back of the face to form a cup-like member, wherein the wall has a
connecting portion at a distal end thereof, and a length of the
wall is identical to or greater than 8 mm and a thickness of the
wall is identical to or less than 2 mm. The rear member, which is
made of a light metal, such as magnesium alloy or aluminum alloy,
has a connecting portion to engage the connecting portion of the
front member. The neck is fixed on the rear member.
Inventors: |
Chen; Archer C. C.;
(Taichung, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BROWDY AND NEIMARK, P.L.L.C.;624 NINTH STREET, NW
SUITE 300
WASHINGTON
DC
20001-5303
US
|
Family ID: |
40534771 |
Appl. No.: |
12/337797 |
Filed: |
December 18, 2008 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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11723643 |
Mar 21, 2007 |
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12337797 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
473/349 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63B 60/54 20151001;
A63B 53/0433 20200801; A63B 53/0466 20130101; A63B 53/0408
20200801; A63B 53/0416 20200801; A63B 2209/00 20130101; A63B
53/0437 20200801 |
Class at
Publication: |
473/349 |
International
Class: |
A63B 53/04 20060101
A63B053/04 |
Claims
1. A golf club head, comprising a front member, a rear member, and
a neck connected together to form a housing; the front member,
which is made of a flexible material, haling a face and an annular
wall projected backward from the face, wherein the wall has a
connecting portion at a distal end thereof and a length of the wall
is in a range between 8 mm and 20 mm, and a thickness of the wall
is in a range between 0.8 mm and 2 mm; the rear member, which is
made of a light metal, having a connecting portion to be engaged
with the connecting portion of the front member; and the neck fixed
on the rear member; wherein the connecting portion of the front
member has a protrusion, and the connecting portion of the rear
member has a recess; wherein a thickness between an exterior side
and the recess is in a range between 0.4 mm and 2 mm.
2. The golf club head as defined in claim 1, wherein the length of
the wall of the front member further is in a range between 12 mm
and 15 mm.
3. The golf club head as defined in claim 1, wherein the thickness
of the rear member between the exterior side and the recess is
further in a range between 1.0 mm and 1.2 mm.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present invention is a continuation-in-part of U.S.
application Ser. No. 11/723,643 filed on Mar. 21, 2007.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates generally to a golf club, and
more particularly to a golf club head made of light alloy, such as
magnesium alloy or aluminum alloy.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] A golf club head, which a housing thereof is made of
magnesium alloy or aluminum alloy, has many advantages, such as
light weight, greater size and lower center of gravity. Especially
for a magnesium alloy golf club head, it has a superior vibration
absorbing capacity. But, magnesium alloy has a weak strength that
is not suitable for the face. To overcome this issue, the face is
usually made of the alloy with superior flexibility, such as
titanium alloy or stainless. However, magnesium alloy or aluminum
alloy has a lower melting temperature than titanium alloy and
stainless, so that the titanium alloy or stainless face can't bond
to the magnesium alloy or aluminum alloy housing by brazing or
other conventional welding. Such golf club head usually has a weal
bonding strength between the housing and the face because that the
housing and the face are made of different materials.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide
a golf club head, which a housing made of magnesium alloy or
aluminum alloy and a face made of titanium alloy or stainless have
a strong bonding strength therebetween without the drawback as
described above.
[0007] According to the objectives of the present invention, a golf
club head includes a front member, a rear member and a neck
connected together to form a housing. The front member, which is
made of a flexible material, such as aluminum alloy, stainless or
Maraging steel, has a face and an annular wall projected from a
back of the face to form a cup-like member, wherein the wall has a
connecting portion at a distal end thereof, and a length of the
wall is identical to or greater than 8 mm and a thickness of the
wall is identical to or less than 2 mm. The rear member, which is
made of a light metal, such as magnesium alloy or aluminum alloy,
has a connecting portion to engage the connecting portion of the
front member. The neck is fixed on the rear member.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment
of the present invention;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a sectional view along 2-2 line of FIG. 1;
[0010] FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the circle in FIG. 1;
[0011] FIG. 4 is a bottom view of FIG. 1; and
[0012] FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a second preferred embodiment
of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0013] As shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, a golf club head 10 of a first
preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a front
member 20 and a rear member 30.
[0014] The front member 20 is made of a flexible material, such as
aluminum alloy, stainless or Maraging steel. The front member 20
has a face 21 and an annular wall 22 projected from a back of the
face 21. The front member 20 is a cup-like member. The annular wall
22 has a connecting portion at a distal end. As shown in FIG. 37 a
length W of the wall 22 is identical to or greater than 8 mm, and a
thickness D thereof identical to or less than 2 mm. In the present
embodiment, the length is 10 mm, and the thickness D is 1.5 mm.
[0015] The present inventor recommends that the length W of the
wall 22 is preferred in a range between 8 mm and 20 mm, and more
preferred in a range between 12 mm and 15 mm. The thickness D of
the wall is preferred in a range between 0.8 mm and 2 mm.
[0016] The rear member 30 is made of a light material, such as
magnesium alloy or aluminum alloy. The rear member 30 is a cup-like
member also with a greater depth. The rear member 30 has a
connecting portion 31 at an open end to be engaged with the
connecting portion 23 of the front member 20. As shown in FIG. 3,
the connecting portion 23 of the front member 20 has a protrusion
and the connecting portion 31 of the rear member 30 has a recess. A
thickness S of the rear member 30 between an exterior side and the
recess 31 is less than 3 mm. In the present embodiment, the
thickness S is 1.5 mm.
[0017] The present inventor recommends that the thickness S of the
rear member 30 between an exterior side and the recess 31 is
preferred in a range between 0.4 mm and 2 mm, and more preferred in
a range between 1.0 mm and 1.2 mm.
[0018] As shown in FIG. 4, at a bottom of the golf club head 10,
the front member 20 has a bottom portion 24 projecting rearwards
from a middle thereof, and the rear member 30 has a gap or slot to
engage the bottom portion 24. As a result, the bottom portion 24
forms a protective portion at the bottom of the golf club head 10.
The bottom portion 24 may be wider to form the whole bottom of the
golf club head 10 also. It also may provides the rear member 30 has
an indentation at an exterior side (not shown) and the bottom
portion 24 of the front member 20 is complementary to the
indentation, in other words, the front member 20 and the rear
member 30 are overlapped at the bottom portion 24.
[0019] The golf club head 10 further includes a neck 11 formed on
the rear member 30 to provide vibration absorbing capacity.
[0020] Adhesive, such as epoxy resin, is added between the
connecting portions 23 and 31 to fix the front and rear members 20
and 30.
[0021] The present invention provides the front member 20 made of
flexible metal, such as titanium alloy or stainless with the length
W of the wall 22 greater than 8 mm, more preferable is 10 mm and
the thickness D is less than 2 mm, more preferable is between 1.2
mm and 1.5 mm, such that the wall 22 has a superior flexibility to
sustain an impact of swing. The wall 22 has a strain to absorb most
of the impact that the connecting portions 23 and 31 sustain less
impact. As a result, the thickness S of the rear member 30 may be
thinner to reduce the thickness and weight at a crown 13 of the
golf club head 10.
[0022] As shown in FIG. 5, a golf club head 40 of the second
preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a rear
member 50 consisting of an upper member and a bottom member 70. The
upper member 60 is made of a light metal with a specific weight
less than 3 and vibration absorbing capacity, such as industrial
plastic, fiber reinforced resin, magnesium alloy or aluminum alloy,
and the bottom member 70 is made of a heavy metal with a specific
weight greater than 4 and wear-proof capacity, such as stainless,
titanium, iron, wolfram made by powder metallurgy or wolfram-copper
alloy, which provides the wear-proof and weight distribution
effects.
[0023] The description above is a few preferred embodiments of the
present invention and the equivalence of the present invention is
still in the scope of the claim of the present invention.
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