Golf club head

• US 20060068936A1
• Filed: 10/07/2005
• Published: 03/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dewhurst Solution, LLC, Revlon Consumer Products Corporation (Ronald Owen Perelman, MBA)
• Original Assignee: Revlon Consumer Products Corporation (Ronald Owen Perelman, MBA)
• Inventors: Apostal, Michael C., Dewhurst, Peter
• Granted Patent: US 7,854,665 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 473/342
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2053/0491 with added weights, e.g. changeable, replaceable
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2053/0495 moving on impact, slidable, spring or otherwise elastically biased
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/04 Heads
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0433 with special sole configurations
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/045 Strengthening ribs
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0454 Strengthening ribs on the rear surface of the impact face plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/00 Details or accessories of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like

Abstract

A golf club head designed to act under impact load as a bridge comprising a face; an inertial support system; a rear structure; and a force transfer system, under impact load the force transfer system, in cooperation with the inertial support system, elongating the rear structure and controlling the bending of the face, the pattern of bending of the face being a substantially bridge-like pattern of bending or a substantially modified bridge-like pattern of bending.

Claims

1. A golf club head comprising:

a face;

a face-supporting structure, during impact with a golf ball the face-supporting structure deforming in a controlled manner, the deformation reducing the stress developed in the face; and

the combination of the deformation of the face and the deformation of the face-supporting structure resulting in a compliant club head with the compliance occurring over a substantial portion of the face.

2. The golf club head according to claim 1 in which the compliance is sufficient to reduce the impact force between the face and the ball.

3. The golf club head according to claim 1 in which the compliance for an on-center impact is substantially the same as the compliance for an off-center impact.

4. The golf club head according to claim 1 in which a substantial portion of the face comprises at least approximately 25% of the face.

5. The golf club head according to claim 1 in which the impact is an on-center impact, the compliance resulting from the amount of the deformation of the face being greater than the amount of the deformation of the face-supporting structure.

6. The golf club head according to claim 1 in which the impact is an off-center impact, the compliance resulting from the amount of the deformation of the face-supporting structure being greater than the amount of the deformation of the face.

7. The golf club head according to claim 1 in which the face-supporting structure is F, wherein F is a force transfer system, a rear structure, an inertial support system, or a combination of a force transfer system, a rear structure or an inertial support system.

8. The golf club head according to claim 7 in which the mass of the inertial support system is at least approximately equal to the combined mass of the face, the force transfer system, and the rear structure.

9. The golf club head according to claim 1 in which a portion of the face-supporting structure is separated into a top portion and a bottom portion.

10. The golf club head according to claim 1 further comprising:

a torsion control system, during off-center impact the torsion control system controlling the internal rotation of at least a portion of the face-supporting structure.

11. The golf club head according to claim 10 in which the torsion control system is C, wherein C is a cross-brace, an insert, a combination of a cross-brace and an insert, or a combination of a cross-brace and a portion of an insert.

12. The golf club head according to claim 11 in which the insert comprises D, wherein D is constant wall thickness, a multiple wall thickness, a varying wall thickness, or a profiled wall thickness.

13. The golf club head according to claim 10 in which the torsion control system is re-configurable or replaceable.

14. The golf club head according to claim 10 in which the mass of the inertial support system is at least approximately 30% of the combined mass of the face, the face-supporting structure, and the torsion control system.

15. A method for designing a golf club head, comprising:

configuring a face-supporting structure and tuning the stiffness of the face-supporting structure to obtain, during impact with a golf ball, a desired deformation of the structure, the deformation reducing the stress developed in the face; and

the combination of the deformation of the face and the deformation of the face-supporting structure resulting in a compliant club head with the compliance occurring over a substantial portion of the face.

16. The method according to claim 15 in which the compliance is sufficient to reduce the impact force between the face and the ball.

17. The method according to claim 15 in which the compliance for an on-center impact is substantially the same as the compliance for an off-center impact.

18. The method according to claim 15 in which a substantial portion of the face comprises at least approximately 25% of the face.

19. The method according to claim 15 in which the face-supporting structure includes an inertial support system, further comprising:

distributing the discretionary mass of the inertial support system to obtain a desired moment of inertia and a desired center of mass location.

20. The method according to claim 15 further comprising:

separating a portion of the face-supporting structure into a top portion and a bottom portion.

21. The method according to claim 15 further comprising:

adding a torsion control system to obtain, during off-center impact, a desired reduction of internal rotation of at least a portion of the face-supporting structure.

22. The method according to claim 21, further comprising at least one of the following:

replacing the torsion control system;

or re-configuring the torsion control system.