Co-forged golf club head and method of manufacture

• US 10,391,370 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2016
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Tassistro, Kevin, Hettinger, Ronald K., Wu, Michael, Hebreo, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Eugene L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stanczak, Matthew B
• Application Number:
  US15/332,864
• Publication Number:
  US 20170065858A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,037 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2053/0491 with added weights, e.g. changeable, replaceable
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2209/00 Characteristics of used materials
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/005 Club sets
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0408 characterised by specific dimensions, e.g. thickness
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0416 Heads having an impact surface provided by a face insert
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/042 the face insert consisting of a material different from that of the head
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0425 the face insert comprising two or more different materials
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0433 with special sole configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/047 iron-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0475 with one or more enclosed cavities
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/06 adjustable
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/02 Ballast means for adjusting the centre of mass A63B60/24, A63B60/54 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B21K 17/00 Making sport articles, e.g. skates

Abstract

A co-forged iron type golf club is disclosed. More specifically, the present invention discloses a co-forged iron type golf club with the body portion made out of a first material and at least one weight adjustment portion monolithically encased within the body portion of the co-forged iron type golf club head without the need for secondary attachment or machining operations. The present invention creates of an iron type golf club head from a pre-form billet that already contains two or more materials before the actual forging process resulting in a multi-material golf club head that doesn'"'"'t require any post manufacturing operations such as machining, welding, swaging, gluing, and the like.

Claims

1. A forged golf club head comprising:

a body portion made out of a first metallic material having a face cavity and at least one weight cavity;

at least one high density weight adjustment portion made out of a second metallic material encased within said weight cavity;

a lightweight weight adjustment portion made out of a third metallic material encased within said face cavity; and

a striking face insert made out of said first material adapted to cover a frontal portion of said body portion,

wherein said striking face insert at least partially forms a portion of a topline and a portion of a sole portion of said forged golf club head,

wherein said lightweight weight adjustment portion substantially covers an entire frontal surface of said face cavity, wherein said lightweight adjustment portion further comprises a plurality of two or more cutouts, wherein said plurality of two or more cutouts form a draft angle to create a countersink, and

wherein both said face cavity and said at least one weight cavity have an opening towards a frontal portion of said golf club head such that said striking face insert completely covers both said face cavity and said at least one weight cavity.

2. The forged golf club head of claim 1, wherein either a rear surface of said striking face insert or a frontal surface of said face cavity further comprises a plurality of posts;

said plurality of posts adapted to engage said plurality of two or more cutouts.

3. The forged golf club head of claim 2, wherein only said rear surface of said striking face insert comprises a plurality of posts.

4. The forged golf club head of claim 2, wherein only said frontal surface of said face cavity comprises a plurality of posts.

5. The forged golf club head of claim 2, wherein both said rear surface of said striking face insert and said frontal surface of said face cavity comprises a plurality of posts.

6. The forged golf club head of claim 2, wherein said plurality of two or more cutouts are substantially evenly distributed across an entirety of said lightweight weight adjustment portion.

7. The forged golf club head of claim 2, wherein a density of said second material is greater than a density of said first material, and wherein said density of said first material is greater than a density of said third material.

8. The forged golf club head of claim 1, wherein said draft angle of said plurality of two or more cutouts is between about 5°

to about 25°

.

9. The forged golf club head of claim 8, wherein said draft angle of said plurality of two or more cutouts is between about 10°

to about 20°

.

10. The forged golf club head of claim 9, wherein said draft angle of said plurality of two or more cutouts is about 15°

.

11. A forged golf club head comprising:

a body portion made out of a first metallic material having a face cavity and at least one weight cavity;

at least one high density weight adjustment portion made out of a second metallic material encased within said weight cavity;

a lightweight weight adjustment portion made out of a third metallic material encased within said face cavity; and

a striking face insert made out of said first material adapted to cover a frontal portion of said body portion,

wherein said striking face insert at least partially forms a portion of a topline and a portion of a sole portion of said forged golf club head,

wherein said lightweight weight adjustment portion substantially covers an entire frontal surface of said face cavity,

wherein said lightweight weight adjustment portion further comprises a plurality of two or more cutouts, said plurality of cutouts form a draft angle to create a countersink, and

wherein said high density weight adjustment portion is encased monolithically within said weight cavity.

12. The forged golf club head of claim 11, wherein said draft angle of said plurality of two or more cutouts is between about 5°

to about 25°

.

13. The forged golf club head of claim 12, wherein said draft angle of said plurality of two or more cutouts is between about 10°

to about 20°

.

14. The forged golf club head of claim 13, wherein said draft angle of said plurality of two or more cutouts is about 15°

.

15. The forged golf club head of claim 12, wherein said lightweight weight adjustment portion further comprises a plurality of two or more cutouts;

and either a rear surface of said striking face insert or a frontal surface of said face cavity further comprises a plurality of posts;

said plurality of posts adapted engage said plurality of two or more cutouts.