Localized milled golf club face

• US 10,343,034 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2017
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
• Original Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
• Inventors: Henrikson, Erik M., Simone, Matthew W., Huang, Yujen
• Primary Examiner(s): Passaniti, Sebastiano
• Application Number:
  US15/847,812
• Publication Number:
  US 20180169485A1
• Time in Patent Office: 567 Days
• Field of Search: 473324-350, 473287-292
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0408 characterised by specific dimensions, e.g. thickness
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/042 the face insert consisting of a material different from that of the head
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0445 Details of grooves or the like on the impact surface
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: B23C 3/30 Milling straight grooves, e.g. keyways
• CPC Class Codes: B23C 3/34 Milling grooves of other forms, e.g. circumferential
• CPC Class Codes: B23P 15/00 Making specific metal objects by operations not covered by a single other subclass or a group in this subclass

Abstract

A wood-style golf club head includes a strike face and a body that cooperate to define a hollow internal club head volume. The strike face formed from a strike plate having an outer perimeter and a frame surrounding the strike plate. The strike plate is affixed to the frame across the entire outer perimeter. The strike plate and frame define a continuous ball striking surface that has a surface texture characteristic of milling that extends continuously across both the strike plate and the frame.

Claims

1. A wood-style golf club head comprising:

a toe portion, a heel portion, a crown, and a sole;

a strike face and a body that cooperate to define a hollow internal club head volume, the strike face further comprising a ball striking surface having a surface texture characteristic of milling;

the surface texture is uniform across the entire strike face when measured in any direction and comprises a plurality of peaks, a plurality of valleys, and a reference mid-plane extending in between the plurality of peaks and the plurality of valleys, wherein below the reference mid-plane is a negative distance, and above the reference mid-plane is a positive distance, and the plurality of peaks and the plurality of valleys extend an average maximum distance of at least −

200 micro inches (−

5.08 micro meters) to at least 200 micro inches (5.08 micro meters);

the surface texture further comprises an average surface roughness (RA), representing an arithmetic average value of absolute surface deviations relative to a mean center line, a surface void parameter (WVoid), representing an average depth of the plurality of valleys relative to a closed reference surface created using a morphologic closing filter applied to the surface texture, and a surface contact parameter (WVDCL), representing the amount of contact between the closed reference surface and the surface texture;

wherein the surface texture, measured within at least one of a vertical cutting plane or a second cutting plane that is orthogonal to both the vertical cutting plane and the ball striking surface, is characterized by at least one of;

a ratio of RA to WVoid being greater than about 4;

or, a WVDCL parameter being greater than about 24%; and

wherein the strike face is disposed at a loft angle of from 8 degrees to 14 degrees.

2. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the RA is measured using a high-pass filter having a 0.762 mm cutoff, the WVoid parameter is measured using a 0.127 mm radius closing filter, and the WVDCL parameter is measured using a 0.508 mm radius closing filter.

3. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the vertical cutting plane and the second cutting plane extends through a geometric center of the strike face.

4. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the surface texture is further characterized by at least one of:

the ratio of RA to WVoid being greater than about 8;

or, the WVDCL parameter being greater than about 28%.

5. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the plurality of peaks comprises a plurality of smaller valleys;

and wherein the plurality of valleys comprises a plurality of smaller peaks.

6. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the surface texture varies as a function of a distance from a geometric center of the face.

7. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the strike face further includes a center portion surrounded by a peripheral portion;

and

wherein the surface texture is further characterized by at least one of the ratio of R-A to WVoid or the WVDCL parameter being greater within the peripheral portion than within the center portion.

8. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein the strike face comprises a strike plate and a frame that surrounds the strike plate, wherein the strike plate is affixed within an opening provided in the frame such that the strike plate and frame cooperate to define the ball striking surface.

9. A golf club head comprising:

a strike face having a ball striking surface operative to impact a golf ball, the ball striking surface disposed at a loft angle of from 8 degrees to 14 degrees and having a surface texture characteristic of milling that includes a plurality of peaks and valleys each extending in a linear or curvilinear direction and a reference mid-plane extending in between the plurality of peaks and the plurality of valleys, wherein below the reference mid-plane is a negative distance, and above the reference mid-plane is a positive distance, and the plurality of peaks and the plurality of valleys extend an average maximum distance of −

1,000 micro inches (−

25.4 micro meters) to 1,000 micro inches (25.4 micro meters) from the mid-plane;

wherein the surface texture is uniform across the entire strike face when measured in any direction and has an average surface roughness (RA), measured using a high-pass filter with a 0.762 mm cutoff, a surface void parameter (WVoid), measured using a 0.127 mm radius closing filter, and a surface contact parameter (WVDCL), measured using a 0.508 mm radius closing filter;

wherein the surface texture, measured within a vertical cutting plane extending through a geometric center of the face, is characterized by at least one of;

a ratio of RA to WVoid being greater than about 4;

or, the WVDCL parameter being greater than about 24%.

10. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein the surface texture, measured within a vertical cutting plane offset from the geometric center of the face, is characterized by at least one of:

the ratio of RA to WVoid being less than about 4;

or, the WVDCL parameter being less than about 24%.

11. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein the surface texture, measured within a vertical cutting plane offset from the geometric center of the face, is characterized by the ratio of RA to WVoid being greater than the ratio of RA to WVoid measured within the plane that intersects the geometric center;

or, the WVDCL parameter being greater than the WVDCL parameter measured within the plane that intersects the geometric center.

12. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein the surface texture, measured within the vertical cutting plane extending through the geometric center of the face, is further characterized by an RA of between about 140 μ

-in and about 300 μ

-in.

13. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein the loft angle is from about 8 degrees to about 14 degrees.

14. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein the ball striking surface comprises a first region having a first surface texture and a second region having a second surface texture;

and

wherein at least one of;

an average ratio of RA to WVoid measured within a vertical cutting plane is different between the first region and the second region;

or, an average WVDCL parameter measured within a vertical cutting plane is different between the first region and the second region.

15. The golf club head of claim 14, wherein the second region surrounds the first region.

16. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein the surface texture varies as a function of a distance from a geometric center of the face.

17. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein the surface texture is further characterized by at least one of:

a ratio of RA to WVoid being greater than about 8;

or, the WVDCL parameter being greater than about 28%.

18. The golf club head of claim 9, further comprising a body that extends rearward from the ball striking surface, wherein the body and the strike face form a hollow interior volume.

19. The golf club head of claim 9, wherein the strike face includes:

a strike plate having an outer perimeter; and

a frame surrounding the strike plate, wherein the strike plate is welded to the frame across the entire outer perimeter; and

wherein the ball striking surface and the surface texture extend continuously across both the strike plate and the frame.