Golf Club Head

Abstract

A golf club head includes a club head body having a striking face and at least one float weight housed in a chamber defined by the club head body. The chamber has an impact wall portion, and the at least one float weight is freely movable within the chamber. The at least one float weight moves between a first position, spaced from the impact wall portion, and a second position in contact with the impact wall portion while the striking face is impacting a golf ball.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] This disclosure relates to golf club heads.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Golf clubs are used in the sport of golf to hit a golf ball. Each club includes a shaft with a lance (grip) and an attached club head. Golf clubs generally fall into one of three categories: woods, used for long-distance fairway shots; irons, for a variety of shots, and putters, used mainly on the green to roll the ball into a cup. Club loft, or the angle between the club's face and a vertical plane, is important variation between different clubs. Club loft makes a struck golf ball leave the ground on an ascending trajectory. The impact of the club compresses the ball, while grooves on a striking face of the club give the ball backspin (a clockwise spin when viewed from a parallel standpoint to the left of the ball). Together, the compression and backspin create lift on the ball.

[0003] The Rules of Golf, established and interpreted by the United States Golf Association ("USGA") and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews, set forth certain requirements for a golf club head. The requirements for a golf club head are found in Rule 4 and Appendix II. A complete description of the Rules of Golf is available on the USGA web page at www.usga.org. Although the Rules of Golf do not expressly state specific parameters for a golf club face, Rule 4-1e prohibits the face from having the effect at impact of a spring with a golf ball. In 1998, the USGA adopted a test procedure pursuant to Rule 4-Ie which measures club face coefficient of restitution (COR). This USGA test procedure, as well as procedures like it, may be used to measure club face COR.

SUMMARY

[0004] In one aspect, a golf club head includes a club head body having a striking face and at least one float weight housed in a chamber defined by the club head body. The chamber has an impact wall portion, and the at least one float weight is freely movable within the chamber. The at least one float weight moves between a first position, spaced from the impact wall portion, and a second position in contact with the impact wall portion while the striking face is impacting a golf ball.

[0005] In another aspect, a golf club head includes a club head body having a striking face and defines a chamber having an impact wall portion common with the striking face. At least one float weight is housed in the chamber and is freely movable within the chamber. The chamber is configured such that the at least one float weight moves between a first position, spaced from the impact wall, and a second position in contact with the impact wall while the striking face is impacting a golf ball.

[0006] Implementations of the disclosure may include one or more of the following features. In some implementations, the club head body defines multiple chambers, and at least one float weight is housed in at least one of the chambers. In some examples, the chamber is substantially hexahedron shaped. The chamber has a side wall aligned at an angle of less than 90.degree. with respect to the striking face of the club head body. In other examples, the chamber is ellipsoid shaped. In this configuration, a major axis of the ellipsoid chamber is oriented at an angle of less than 90.degree. with respect to the striking face of the club head body.

[0007] In some implementations, the at least one float weight moves between the first position and the second position within 24 microseconds. The chamber has a coefficient of friction of less than 0.3, and the surfaces of the chamber may be treated with a fluoropolymer. Preferably, the float weight(s) comprise mercury and/or steel pellets.

[0008] The details of one or more implementations of the disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0009] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf club head.

[0010] FIG. 2 is a cross-section view of the golf club head in FIG. 1, along line 2-2.

[0011] FIG. 3 is a cross-section view of a golf club head.

[0012] Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] The present disclosure provides a golf club head that imparts two or more successive impacts to a golf ball while striking the golf ball. The disclosure may apply to drivers, irons, hybrid clubs, etc. As will be described in more detail below, the golf club head imparts multiple impacts to a golf ball through the use of one or more free floating weights housed in a hollow chamber of the golf club head. Upon an initial contact of the golf club head and the golf ball, the floating weight(s) move to impact the back of a face plate of the golf club head, which translates or imparts this impact to the ball, prior to the ball leaving the golf club head.

[0014] Referring to FIGS. 1-2, in some implementations, a golf club head 100 includes a club head body 110 having a toe end 112, a heel end 114 and a striking face 116 extending therebetween. The club head body 110 defines at least one chamber 120 having an impact wall portion 122. In the example shown, the impact wall portion 122 is common with the striking face 116 (e.g. a face plate). The chamber(s) 120 house at least one float weight 130, which is freely movable within its chamber 120. When the golf club head 100 is swung (e.g. as part of a golf club) to strike a golf ball, the at least one float weight 130 moves between a first position, spaced from the impact wall portion 122, and a second position in contact with the impact wall portion 122 while the striking face 116 is impacting the golf ball. Preferably, the float weight(s) 130 are mercury or steel pellets or balls.

[0015] In some examples, the club head body 110 defines additional chambers 140, as shown in FIG. 2, which may be hollow, honeycomb filled, and/or solid filled to meet the USGA Rules for size and weight of the golf club head 100. The chambers 120, 140 may be vacuum sealed (e.g. removing all gases and fluids) to prevent corrosion and reduce resistance to movement of the float weight(s) 130 in their respective chamber 120. In some examples, the surfaces 122, 124, 126 of the chamber(s) 120 housing the float weight(s) 130 are coated with a fluoropolymer, such as Teflon.RTM. (a trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company or its affiliates) or other material having a coefficient of friction of less than 0.3. Examples of the coating material include polytetrafluoroethylene, perfluoroalkoxy, and fluorinated ethylene propylene.

[0016] Referring to FIGS. 2-3, in some implementations, the chamber(s) 120 is substantially hexahedron shaped, as shown in FIG. 2, ellipsoid shaped, as shown in FIG. 3, or any other suitable shape. In the case of hexahedron shaped (or other polyhedron shaped) chamber(s) 120, as shown in FIG. 2, one or more chambers 120 may have a side wall 124 aligned at an angle .phi. of less than 90.degree. with respect to the striking face 116 of the club head body 110. The angle .phi. of the side wall 124 is chosen such that the side wall 124 directs movement of the float weight(s) 130 toward a sweet spot region 113 of the striking face 116 of the club head body 110. In the case ellipsoid shaped chamber(s) 120, as shown in FIG. 3, one or more chambers 120 are oriented such that a major axis 125 of the ellipsoid chamber 120 has an angle .beta. of less than 90.degree. with respect to the striking face 116 of the club head body 110. The walls of the ellipsoid chamber 120 direct movement of the float weight(s) 130 toward the sweet spot region 113 of the striking face 116 of the club head body 110.

[0017] The club head body 110 is configured for impacting golf balls. The surfaces 126 of the chamber(s) 120 are configured to provide a coefficient of restitution (COR) of the golf club head 100 of less than or equal to 0.822 with a tolerance of 0.008 (the COR allowed by the USGA Rules). The coefficient of restitution (COR) is defined as the total of the ball speed after club head impact minus a club speed after impact, divided by the club speed before impact.

[0018] The chamber(s) 120 is configured such that when swinging the golf club head 100 as part of a golf club (e.g. at a speed of about 90-100 mph) from the top of a swing downward toward a ball, the float weight(s) 130 moves to a first position spaced from the impact wall portion 122 (e.g. to a rearward portion of its respective chamber 120). Upon making contact with the ball, the float weight(s) 130 moves to a second position in contact with the impact wall portion 122, thereby imparting an impact that is translated to the striking face 116, while the striking face 116 is still in contact with the ball. In some implementations, the chamber(s) 120 is configured such that the float weight(s) 130 moves between the first position and the second position within 24 microseconds. The float weight impact on the impact wall portion 122 of the chamber 120 imparts a second impact force on the ball, after the initial impact of the striking face 116 with the ball. The additional ball impact generally provides driving force of the golf club head 100 on the ball and increases the rate of restitution of the striking face 116, while also reducing (e.g. dampening) rebound reaction forces created by the initial impact of the golf club head 100 on the ball.

[0019] The striking face 116 of the club head body 110 defines substantially horizontal grooves 117 and substantially vertical grooves 118. The horizontal grooves 117 add lift to a struck ball, while the vertical grooves 118 help prevent the ball from sliding horizontally across the striking face 116. The vertical grooves 118 may also aid imparting spin on the ball in order to hook or slice the struck ball.

[0020] A number of implementations have been described. Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A golf club head comprising: a club head body having a striking face, the club head body comprising multiple float weight chambers each having an impact wall portion common with the striking face; and at least one float weight housed in each float weight chamber, the at least one float weight being freely movable within its respective float weight chamber; wherein each float weight moves between a first position, spaced from the impact wall portion, and a second position in contact with the impact wall portion while the striking face is impacting a golf ball; and wherein each float weight chamber has a side wall aligned at an angle of less than 90.degree. with respect to the striking face of the club head body.

2. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the club head body defines at least one non-float weight chamber on a side opposite of the striking face with respect to the float weight chambers.

3. (canceled)

4. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein at least one chamber is substantially hexahedron shaped.

5. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the at least one float weight moves between the first position and the second position within 24 microseconds.

6. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the surfaces of each chamber has a coefficient of friction of less than 0.3.

7. The golf club head of claim 6, wherein the surfaces of at least one chamber is treated with a fluoropolymer.

8. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the float weight comprises mercury.

9. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the float weight comprises steel.

10-14. (canceled)

15. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein at least one chamber is ellipsoid shaped.

16-20. (canceled)