Golf Club Having Adjustable Head Means

Abstract

A collapsible and adjustable golf club characterized by the presence of a selector means that includes first and second interlocking systems having different spaces between their respective points of mechanical interlock whereby uniform increments of adjustment may be made to vary the loft of the club to a preselected angle and with the shaft of the club being collapsible for storage purposes.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the game of golf, the player normally employs a given number of irons, woods and a putter, with the woods generally being used to achieve maximum distance, while the irons are used for approaching the green, with the putter being used for the purpose of putting the ball into the hole on the green.

Normally, a plurality of woods and irons are used because of the varying distances that will be desired to hit the ball during the course of any given round of golf. Thus, for achieving maximum distance, the face of the club will be close to vertical so as to propel the ball the maximum amount of distance. On the other hand, a rather sharp angle will be used when it is desired to only move the ball a relatively short distance such as during the final approach to the green.

Transporting of a set of clubs with a bag therefor frequently dictates the use of either a caddy or a cart for movement about the golf course. It is one object of this invention to provide a single all-purpose club that has an adjusted head so as to permit use of a single club for making of substantially all of the shots that are required during the normal round of golf.

It is a further object to make the shaft of such club collapsible so as to permit easier transportation and/or storage of the club during periods of non-use.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Adjustable clubs per se have been known before, but generally the same have been characterized by a lack of stability due to the severe strain that is put on the same during the time of impact by the golf head and golf ball.

Also, adjustable clubs have not been capable of being accurately adjusted in uniformly equal increments so that the adjusted loft angle of the club would correspond exactly to the loft angle of the regular iron that it is replacing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The principal object of this invention is to produce an adjustable golf club that is capable of being adjusted accurately and securely into positions that exactly simulate the club being replaced.

This is accomplished by the use of first and second interlocking means that have approximately a 4.degree. differential between their respective positions of adjustment. Thus, with one interlocking member, there will be 10 lugs disposed in a circular course which means that every lug will be disposed 36.degree. from the adjacent lug. With the second interlocking system, however, only having nine lugs, each lug will be disposed 40.degree. from each other. Thus, when the lugs of the first and second interlocking systems are advanced 1.degree., then that result in an incremental adjustment of the club head face the exact amount of 4.degree..

It is a further object of the invention to provide a collapsible shaft, and in this regard, provision is made to have several of the "steps" of the conventional stepped shaft overlap when pulled to an extended position with the frictional engagement between the surfaces being sufficient to prevent movement of the club head during impact with the golf ball.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a golf club head that is generally triangular in cross sectional profile so as to permit the same to be used as either a right of left-handed club.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a golf club that has provision for adjusting the swing weight of the same to suit the needs of the individual user.

These and other objects of this invention will become more apparent upon a reading of the following brief specification, considered and interpreted in view of the accompanying drawings.

OF THE DRAWINGS:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the improved golf club shown in the extended position.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the shank and club head portion of the same.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken on the lines 3--3 and 4--4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a rear elevational view taken on the line 5--5 of FIG. 4.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are end elevations taken on the lines 6--6 and 7--7 of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 8 and 9 are sectional views taken on the lines 8--8 and 9--9 of FIGS. 6 and 7 respectively.

FIG. 10 is an elevational view taken on the line 10--10 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 11 is a partial cross section showing the telescoping relationship of the club shaft.

FIG. 12 is a partial perspective view of the club shaft.

FIG. 13 is a front elevational view of a modified club head.

FIG. 14 is a rear view of the club head per se.

FIG. 15 is an end elevation of the modified club head of FIG. 13.

FIG. 16 is a top plan view of the modified club head.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings and in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, the improved golf club, generally designated by the numeral 10, includes a collapsible shaft portion 11 and an adjustable club head portion 12 secured by a shank 13 in adjustable relationship to the shaft portion 11, with the conventional gripping handle 14 being provided for gripping of the club.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the shank 13 includes an angular boss 13a that has one face thereof provided with a first interlocking system 15 that consists of lugs 17 and grooves 16. Projecting co-extensively from the first interlocking means 15 is a reduced diameter boss 18 terminating in a reduced diameter threaded segment 19 which is adapted to be threaded within the threaded bore 20a (see FIG. 3) of a T-nut 20. Spacers 21, 22 having appropriate bores 21a and 22a are also provided and can be slipped over threaded segment 19 for the purpose of permitting adjustment of the swing weight of the club to suit the needs of the user.

In this regard, if it is desired to have what is known as a "D-1" swing weight, neither of the spacers 21 or 22 will be employed. However, if it is desired to have a "D-2" swing weight, one of the spacers 21 will be employed and similarly, if a "D-3" swing weight is desired, both the spacers 21 and 22 can be used. In each instance and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a spring 23 seats between shoulder 18a and the spacers and will serve to place the proper degree of tension on the spacers so as to avoid any looseness or wobbling in the club head during use.

The club head 12 is, as will be noted from FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 10, of generally triangular profile in cross section and includes a club face 30 with which the ball is struck and rear faces 31 and 32, with the club head being adjustable about the axis of the threaded segment 19 between the full and broken line positions shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings.

As will be best noted from FIGS. 2 and 3, the rear portion of the club head is provided with a circular bore 34 within which the T-nut 20 may be received as will be noted in FIG. 3 of the drawings, with a further bore 35 and counterbore 36 being provided for reception of the threaded segment 19 and the boss 18 as is evident from FIG. 3 of the drawings.

For indicating purposes as will subsequently be described, the rear face of the club head has an indicating line 37 provided thereon, while similar indicating lines 38 and 39 are provided on the shank 13 for purposes that will subsequently be described.

Additionally and as will be noted from FIG. 10 of the drawings, the inward face of the club head is further provided with a counterbore 36a that includes elevated lugs 36b and grooves 36c.

The remaining component of the head of the improved golf club is a selector ring 40 that is best shown in FIGS. 2, 5 and 9 of the drawings.

As illustrated above, the selector ring 40 is of generally tubular configuration and has its outer surface provided with a series of indicia 41, 41 that are indicative of various club loft angles with these indicia being intended to cooperate with the indicia 37, 38 and 39 for club adjustment purposes as will be described. Additionally, the opposed faces of the selector ring 40 are provided with interlocking means 42 and 43, with the interlocking means being intended to mesh with the second interlocking means 33 of the club head, while the interlocking means 43 are intended to mesh with the first interlocking means 15 provided on the shank member.

In this regard, and as will be noted from FIG. 6, the interlocking means 42 include lugs 42a and grooves 42b with nine such lugs being provided so that each lug is spaced exactly 40.degree. from the other about the axis of rotation which is the axis of the boss 18 and the threaded segment 19.

Similarly, nine such lugs 33a will be provided on the interlocking means 33, while 10 lugs 17, 17 are provided on first interlocking means 15 and 10 lugs 43a, 43a are provided on the interlocking means 43.

By the arrangement just described, it will be noted that for each advancement of a lug one notch, there will occur a change in club face arrangement of exactly 4.degree., with this being true because while the means 15 and 43 will achieve a net movement of 40.degree. for one advancement, this will be compensated by a net movement of 36.degree. between the interlocking means 42 and 33, with the net adjustment of 4.degree. thus occurring.

In use of operation of the improved club head, it will first be assumed that the component parts have been assembled to the condition shown in FIG. 1, with the swing weights 21 or 22 having been positioned over the threaded segment 19 or eliminated depending upon the desires of the user.

At this time, it will be assumed that the club has been adjusted to the position shown in FIG. 5, at which time the club will be functioning as a putter, with this fact being indicated by the fact that the lines 37 and 39 are in alignment on opposite sides of the indicia P as shown in FIG. 5.

When it is desired to adjust the club, it is merely necessary that the T-nut 21 be backed off by inserting a coin within the slot 20b thereof and then moving the same by virtue of the narrow surface provided thereon. When this has been accomplished the club head can be moved axially outboard so as to disengage the lugs 42a from the valleys 33b and vice versa, with this permitting movement of the club head around its axis of rotation.

Thus and for example, if a five iron was desired to be used, the club head could be rotated clockwise until the indicia 37 was lined up with the indicia 5 on the periphery of the selector ring. When this was accomplished, the selector ring and the club head as a unit could be rotated until the numeral 5 was lined up with the indicia 38 and at this point, the club head would have a loft angle equal to that of the conventional five iron.

It is to be noted that two indicia 38 and 39 are employed so as to permit this indicia P to be used for indicating a putter as shown in FIG. 5, with the indicia I being used to indicate iron positions as just described.

Referring next then to FIGS. 11 and 12 for a description of the collapsible shank 11, it will be noted that the shank is, in essence, a two-piece shank having an outer portion 50 and an inner portion 51 of reduced diameter. The inner portion 51 telescopes within the outer portion 50 and when it is desired to collapse the shank, it is merely necessary to apply pressure in the direction of the arrows 60 and 61. This will cause the inner member 51 to be moved relatively of the outer member 50, thereby reducing the overall length of the shank 11 and rendering the club into a very compact condition for transportation and storage.

When it is desired to extend the club for use, it is merely necessary to grasp the club head 12 and the handle 14 and pull. This will cause the member 51 to move internally along its axis. It will be noted that a series of steps 50a, 50a and 51a, 51a are provided on the inner and outer members. In this fashion, the outer surface, for example, 51b of the inner member 51 will abut the inner surface 50b of the shoulder of the outer member. Three such steps are shown but a greater or lesser number could be used. In this fashion, relative axial movement between the members 50 and 51 is limited and therefore, the length of the club can be controlled and maintained in its extended position. It will also be noted that on the surface of shoulder 51a of the inner member 51, a corrugated or ribbed effect is achieved as at 51c. A complemental serration or corrugation is also present on the inner surface of shoulder 50a of the outer member and it is contemplated that there will be an engagement between the serrations to avoid relative rotational movement between the inner and outer members 50 and 51, thereby stabilizing the club during use.

Alternatively, the surface in this area of the serrations could be made smooth with the force of friction holding the club shaft against relative rotation. Also the same effect could be achieved by sandblasting the shaft in this region.

A modified form of club head is illustrated in FIGS. 13 through 16. It will be noted that the club head 70 illustrated therein differs slightly from the earlier illustrated and described club head in that the triangular cross sectional configuration is somewhat modified.

This club head has a striking face 71 and a rear surface 72. However, projecting from the rear surface is an enlarged member 73 having a bore structure internally thereof as indicated at 74 and 75. This bore structure is intended to receive the threaded segment 19 and boss 18 as illustrated earlier as well as the spring 23, the spacers 21 and 22 and the T-nut 20. Operation of this configuration club head is similar to that described above. This type of club head can be made either in right-hand or left-hand configurations if desired in contrast to the earlier described club head which being generally triangular in cross section permits it to be used either by a right-handed or left-handed golfer.

While a full and complete description of the invention has been set forth in accordance with the dictates of the patent statutes, it is to be understood that this invention is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiments herein shown.

Accordingly, modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit hereof or the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable golf club of the character described, comprising;

A. an angular shaped shank member receiving a golf shaft at one end thereof and having

1. an angular boss and a shaft projecting therefrom at the other end thereof, with said shaft having a threaded reduced diameter projecting end

2. a first series of lugs provided about the entire periphery on one face of said boss about the axis of said shaft;

B. a club head member having

1. a ball engaging surface, a rear face, a heel portion, and a toe portion;

2. a through bore located rearwardly of said ball engaging surface and interconnecting said heel and toe portion of said club head and receiving said shaft therein whereby the angle of inclination of said ball engaging surface may be varied by rotating said club head around said shaft;

3. a counterbore concentric with respect to said bore and opening into said rear face at said heel portion thereof; and

4. a second series of lugs arranged around the axis of said bore on one face of said counterbore;

C. a selector ring

1. rotatably received in said counterbore and having a through bore received over said shaft in concentricity therewith; and

2. having third and fourth series of lugs provided on the opposed faces thereof around the axis of said ring, with said first series of lugs on said boss being identical in number to and meshing with said third series of lugs of said selector ring while said second series of lugs on said counterbore is identical in number to and meshes with said fourth series of lug members on said selector ring, said first, second, third, and fourth series of lugs being concentric with respect to each other and the axis of said bore;

D. means for permitting said first, second, third and fourth series of lug members to move into and out of meshed condition with each other whereby the loft angle of said club head member can be adjusted by rotation of said club head relatively of said shank member and said selector ring; and

E. indicia means provided on said base, said selector ring, and said rear face of said club adjacent said counterbore whereby the loft angle of said club can be determined.

2. The adjustable golf club of claim 1 further characterized by the fact that said golf club shaft is collapsible between extended and collapsed positions.

3. The adjustable golf club of claim 1 further characterized by the fact that said golf club shaft comprises,

A. a first hollow shaft component;

B. a second hollow shaft component concentrically telescoped within said first hollow shaft component and being axially shiftable relatively thereof between collapsed and extended positions;

C. said first and second hollow shaft components having a plurality of complemental stepped down wall sections that engage each other when said components are moved to said extended position, whereby

1. separation of said components is prevented and

2. said components are frictionally locked against relative rotation about their common axis of rotation when positioned in said extended position.

4. The adjustable golf club of claim 3 further characterized by the fact that at least one of said stepped shaft portions has a roughened surface that engages its complemental counterpart when said components are moved to said extended position.