Multi-material golf club head

• US 10,245,479 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2016
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Murphy, Stephen S., Golden, Charles E., Myrhum, Mark C., Cleghorn, Richard L., Deshmukh, Uday V., Frame, Nick
• Primary Examiner(s): Legesse, Nini
• Application Number:
  US15/375,877
• Publication Number:
  US 20170136318A1
• Time in Patent Office: 841 Days
• Field of Search: 473324-350
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2209/00 Characteristics of used materials
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2209/02 with reinforcing fibres, e.g. carbon, polyamide fibres
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0408 characterised by specific dimensions, e.g. thickness
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0433 with special sole configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0437 with special crown configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/002 Resonance frequency related characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/50 with through-holes A63B60/18 takes precedence; for stringing purposes A63B49/00
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/52 with slits

Abstract

A golf club head made out of multi-material is disclosed herein. More specifically, the golf club head in accordance with the present invention has at least a portion of the body of the golf club head that is further comprised out of a base layer and a lightweight cover layer. The base layer may have a plurality of cutouts to help reduce unnecessary mass and the lightweight cover layer may be made out of an ultra-lightweight material to further reduce the unnecessary mass. The present invention achieves this without sacrificing the sound performance of the golf club head.

Claims

1. A golf club head comprising:

a striking face portion located at a frontal portion of said golf club head; and

a body portion attached to an aft portion of said striking face portion further comprising a crown portion and a sole portion;

wherein at least one of said crown portion or said sole portion further comprises a base layer and a lightweight cover layer;

said base layer further comprises a plurality of cutouts, and

said lightweight cover layer has an Internal Exposure Percentage of between about 25% to about 45%; and

wherein said golf club head produces a sound that has a Critical Time T_critical of greater than about 0.01 seconds and less than about 0.02 seconds;

said Critical Time T_critical is defined as the amount of time it take said sound to oscillate from a peak amplitude A_peak to a point of 10% of said peak amplitude A_peak.

2. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said Critical Time T_critical is greater than about 0.015 seconds and less than about 0.02 seconds.

3. The golf club head of claim 2, wherein said Critical Time T_critical is greater than about 0.0175 seconds and less than about 0.02 seconds.

4. The golf club head of claim 3, wherein said lightweight cover layer has an Internal Exposure Percentage of between about 20% to about 50%.

5. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said lightweight cover layer is made out of a material with a density of less than about 2.7 g/cm³.

6. The golf club head of claim 5, wherein said lightweight cover layer is made out of a material with a density of less than about 1.75 g/cm³.

7. The golf club head of claim 6, wherein said lightweight cover layer is made out of a material with a density of less than about 1.50 g/cm³.

8. A golf club head comprising:

a striking face portion located at a frontal portion of said golf club head; and

a body portion attached to an aft portion of said striking face portion further comprising a crown portion and a sole portion;

wherein at least one of said crown portion or said sole portion further comprises a base layer

wherein said golf club head produces a sound that has a Critical Time T_critical of greater than about 0.01 seconds and less than about 0.02 seconds;

said Critical Time T_critical is defined as the amount of time it take said sound to oscillate from a peak amplitude A_peak to a point of 10% of said peak amplitude A_peak.

9. The golf club head of claim 8, wherein said Critical Time T_critical is greater than about 0.015 seconds and less than about 0.02 seconds.

10. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein said Critical Time T_critical is greater than about 0.0175 seconds and less than about 0.02 seconds.

11. The golf club head of claim 10, wherein said base layer has a maximum thickness of less than about 0.50 mm, and said lightweight cover layer has a maximum thickness of less than about 0.30 mm.

12. The golf club head of claim 11, wherein said base layer has a maximum thickness of less than about 0.40 mm, and said lightweight cover layer has a maximum thickness of less than about 0.25.

13. The golf club head of claim 12, wherein said base layer has a maximum thickness of less than about 0.35 mm, and said lightweight cover layer has a maximum thickness of less than about 0.20.

14. The golf club head of claim 11, wherein said base layer is made out of a material with a density of between about 4.0 g/cm³ and about 4.7 g/cm³.

15. The golf club head of claim 14, wherein said base layer is made out of a material with a density of between about 4.1 g/cm³ and about 4.6 g/cm³.

16. The golf club head of claim 15, wherein said lightweight cover layer is made out of a material with a density of less than about 2.7 g/cm³.

17. The golf club head of claim 16, wherein said lightweight cover layer is made out of a material with a density of less than about 1.75 g/cm³.

18. The golf club head of claim 17, wherein said lightweight cover layer is made out of a material with a density of less than about 1.50 g/cm³.

19. A golf club head comprising:

a striking face portion located at a frontal portion of said golf club head; and

a body portion attached to an aft portion of said striking face portion further comprising a crown portion and a sole portion;

wherein at least one of said crown portion or said sole portion further comprises a base layer and a lightweight cover layer;

said base layer does not contain any cutouts, and

said lightweight cover layer has an Internal Exposure Percentage of 0%; and

wherein said golf club head produces a sound that has a Critical Time T_critical of greater than about 0.01 seconds and less than about 0.02 seconds;

said Critical Time T_critical is defined as the amount of time it take said sound to oscillate from a peak amplitude A_peak to a point of 10% of said peak amplitude A_peak.