Co-forged golf club head and method of manufacture

• US 10,398,951 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2016
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Golden, Charles E., Hebreo, Jonathan, Stokes, Joshua C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Eugene L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stanczak, Matthew B
• Application Number:
  US15/188,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20160296809A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,169 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 53/0416 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: 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 material having a face cavity and at least one weight cavity;

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

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

a striking face insert made out of said first material adapted to cover said face cavity,

wherein said lightweight weight adjustment portion further comprises a plurality of two or more cutouts,

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

wherein said lightweight weight adjustment portion that is encased within said face cavity is completely contained by said striking face insert, and

wherein a rear surface of said striking face insert and a frontal surface of said body portion within said face cavity deform into said plurality of two or more cutouts after a co-forging process.

2. The forged golf club head of claim 1, wherein said plurality of two or more cutouts are substantially evenly distributed across an entirety of said lightweight weight adjustment portion.

3. The forged golf club head of claim 1, 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.

4. The forged golf club head of claim 3, wherein said at least one weight adjustment portion is located near a sole of said golf club head.

5. The forged golf club head of claim 4, wherein said at least one weight adjustment portion is located near a heel portion of said sole of said golf club head.

6. The forged golf club head of claim 4, wherein said at least one weight adjustment portion is located near a toe portion of said sold of said golf club head.

7. The forged golf club head of claim 1, wherein said deformation of said striking face into said plurality of two or more cutouts is more dramatic towards a topline portion of said golf club head.

8. The forged golf club head of claim 1, wherein said deformation of said body portion of said face cavity into said plurality of two or more cutouts is more dramatic towards a topline of said forged golf club head.

9. 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 said face cavity,

wherein said lightweight weight adjustment portion that is encased within said face cavity is completely contained by said striking face insert,

wherein said lightweight weight adjustment portion further comprises a plurality of two or more cutouts that are through holes,

wherein said plurality of two or more cutouts are of a circular shape, said circular shapes have a diameter of between about 1.0 mm to about 3.0 mm, and

wherein a rear surface of said striking face insert and a frontal surface of said body portion within said face cavity deform into said plurality of two or more cutouts after a co-forging process.

10. The forged golf club head of claim 9, wherein said diameter of said circular shaped plurality of two or more cutouts is between about 1.5 mm and about 2.5 mm.

11. The forged golf club head of claim 10, wherein said diameter of said circular shaped plurality of two or more cutouts is about 2.0 mm.

12. The forged golf club head of claim 11, wherein said plurality of two or more cutouts removes between about 15% and about 30% of a total frontal surface area of said lightweight weight adjustment portion.

13. The forged golf club head of claim 12, wherein said plurality of two or more cutouts removes between about 17.5% and about 27.5% of a total frontal surface area of said lightweight weight adjustment portion.

14. The forged golf club head of claim 13, wherein said plurality of two or more cutouts removes between about 20% and about 25% of a total frontal surface area of said lightweight weight adjustment portion.