Golf Club Head

Abstract

A conventional wooden golf club head, contains a pair of parallel air passages beginning at the ball striking area and terminating at the rear of the club. The passages are located substantially midway between the top and bottom surfaces of the head and are spaced from each other, with one passage being located near the toe of the head and one near the heel. A perforated insert occupies each passage and is coplanar with the ball striking surface. The inserts are threadedly engaged with hollow brass tubes which fill the portion of the passageways extending away from the striking surface.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to improved golf club heads and more particularly relates to perforated inserts for insertion in passages provided in wooden golf club heads to reduce the air friction during the swing and thereby increase the speed and force of the swing, thus producing improved driving performance.

2. The Prior Art

A number of prior art patents disclose the concept of golf club heads having openings therein. This feature is generally shown in U.S. Pat. No. 780,776 to Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 1,336,671 to Backus, U.S. Pat. No. 1,414,124 to Griffin, U.S. Pat. No. 1,697,846 to Anderson and U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,544 to Antonious. However, the unique structure of the present invention represents an improvement over the prior art which results in ease of assembly, structural stability and improved air flow characteristics.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventive feature of the present invention resides in the use of perforated inserts which are placed in two parallel passages located substantially midway between the top and bottom surfaces of the head. The perforations, arranged in a symmetrical pattern, run from the striking surface of the club a short distance toward the rear of the club. The air exit portion of the passageway is filled with a hollow brass tube which threadedly engages the perforated insert.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a golf club containing the inserts of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational view of the same golf club containing the inserts of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3--3 in FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4--4 in FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the perforated insert of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A wooden golf club head 10 of conventional design is provided with two parallel passageways 16 extending from the front ball striking surface 15 to the rear surface 14 of the club. Extending from the rear surface and filling passageway 16 are hollow brass tubes 11 which threadedly engage perforated inserts 20, the outer surfaces of which are coplanar with front surface 15 of club head 10.

As can be seen in FIG. 5, insert 20 is cylindrical in configuration and comprises a first solid portion 17 having perforations 12 therein arranged in a symmetrical pattern, and a second hollow, internally threaded portion or sleeve 18 for threadedly engaging tubes 11.

In a preferred embodiment, inserts 20 are formed of aluminum rods, three-quarters of an inch in length, and 1/2 inch in diameter. The inner diameter of portion 18 is three-eighths of an inch while perforations 12 are one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter with a depth of one-quarter of an inch. Brass tubes 11 are three-eighths of an inch in diameter. Passages 16 are 1/2 inch in diameter from the front surface 15 to a depth of 1/2 inch and then reduced at shoulders 22 to a diameter of three-eighths of an inch to accommodate brass tubes 11.

In assembling the improved golf club head of the present invention, perforated inserts 20 are first inserted from the front surface 15 of the club and then brass tubes 11 are screwed, from the rear, into internally threaded portions 18 of the inserts. Shoulders 22 provide abutments to prevent the inserts 20 from being driven inside the passageways 16 by the impact of a golf ball, thereby insuring that the outer surface of the inserts remains coplanar with the ball striking surface 15. Perforations 12 are arranged so that the passage of air therethrough communicates with the interior of tubes 11, as shown in FIG. 4. The perforations may be drilled in inserts 20 prior to insertion in the club head, or this operation may be performed after insertion. After tubes 11 and perforated inserts 20 are in place, they may be epoxied or otherwise cemented to insure their retention in passages 16.

There has thus been described a new and improved structure for permitting the passage of air from the front to back of a golf club head during the swing, materially reducing the air friction during the swing, thereby increasing the speed and force of the swing and producing a better driving performance.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been described, it will be realized by those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made therein and it is, therefore, intended that the scope of the invention be defined only by the claims appended hereto.

Claims

I claim:

1. An improved golf club wood head having a heel and toe, a striking face and a rear face, comprising:

a. a first substantially cylindrical passage adjacent said toe and passing completely through said head from the ball striking area of said striking face to said rear face;

b. a second substantially cylindrical passage substantially parallel to said first passage adjacent said heel and passing completely through said head from said striking face to said rear face; and

c. a weighted substantially cylindrical insert means having a substantially greater density than said wood head, fixedly mounted in each of said passages for communicating said striking face with said rear face, each of said insert means comprising:

i. a first cylindrical member having a plurality of spaced, parallel perforations therein extending from the ball striking area of the striking face of said head and terminating short of the rear face of said head; and

ii. A second hollow cylindrical member commencing at the termination of said first member and terminating at the rear face of said head.

2. The wood head set forth in claim 1 wherein said first cylindrical member is threadedly engaged with said second cylindrical member.

3. The wood head set forth in claim 2, wherein said first cylindrical member comprises a first substantially solid portion containing said perforations and an internally threaded, substantially hollow second portion for receiving said second hollow cylindrical member.

4. The wood head set forth in claim 3, wherein an annular shoulder is located in each of said passages for abutting said hollow portion of said first cylindrical member.

5. The wood head set forth in claim 1, wherein said passages are located substantially midway between the upper and lower surfaces of said head.

6. The wood head set forth in claim 1, wherein each of said passages includes an abutment for engagement with said inserts.

7. The wood head set forth in claim 6, wherein each of said abutments comprises an annular shoulder extending into its respective passage.