Golf Club Heads Or Other Ball Striking Devices Having Distributed Impact Response
First Claim
1. A golf club head comprising:
- a face having a ball striking surface, the face being defined by a plurality of face edges, the face comprising a face plate forming at least a portion of the ball striking surface and a cellular stiffening structure engaged with a rear surface of the face plate, the cellular stiffening structure providing increased stiffness to the face;
a body connected to the face and extending rearward from the face edges to define an enclosed volume, the body having a heel side, a toe side, a crown, and a sole;
a crown channel portion extending at least partially across the crown, the crown channel portion being defined by boundary edges, with the crown channel portion being recessed from the crown between the boundary edges of the crown channel portion; and
a sole channel portion extending at least partially across the sole, the sole channel portion being defined by boundary edges, with the sole channel portion being recessed from the sole between the boundary edges of the sole channel portion,wherein the crown channel portion and the sole channel portion are spaced rearwardly from the face edges by a spacing portion,wherein the crown channel portion and the sole channel portion are configured such that at least some energy from an impact on the ball striking surface is transferred through the spacing portion and absorbed by at least one of the crown channel portion and the sole channel portion, causing the at least one of the crown channel portion and the sole channel portion to deform and to exert a response force on the face.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A ball striking device, such as a golf club head, includes a face having a ball striking surface configured for striking a ball and a body connected to the face and extending rearwardly from the face. The body has an impact-influencing structure in the form of a channel positioned on at least one surface of the body. A majority of a force generated by impact with a ball is absorbed by the impact-influencing structure, and a majority of a response force generated by the head upon impact with the ball is generated by the impact-influencing structure. The face may have increased stiffness as compared to existing faces, and may include a stiffening structure to create the increased stiffness, such as a porous or cellular stiffening structure.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A golf club head comprising:
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a face having a ball striking surface, the face being defined by a plurality of face edges, the face comprising a face plate forming at least a portion of the ball striking surface and a cellular stiffening structure engaged with a rear surface of the face plate, the cellular stiffening structure providing increased stiffness to the face; a body connected to the face and extending rearward from the face edges to define an enclosed volume, the body having a heel side, a toe side, a crown, and a sole; a crown channel portion extending at least partially across the crown, the crown channel portion being defined by boundary edges, with the crown channel portion being recessed from the crown between the boundary edges of the crown channel portion; and a sole channel portion extending at least partially across the sole, the sole channel portion being defined by boundary edges, with the sole channel portion being recessed from the sole between the boundary edges of the sole channel portion, wherein the crown channel portion and the sole channel portion are spaced rearwardly from the face edges by a spacing portion, wherein the crown channel portion and the sole channel portion are configured such that at least some energy from an impact on the ball striking surface is transferred through the spacing portion and absorbed by at least one of the crown channel portion and the sole channel portion, causing the at least one of the crown channel portion and the sole channel portion to deform and to exert a response force on the face. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A ball striking device comprising:
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a face having a ball striking surface, the face being defined by a plurality of face edges, the face comprising a face plate forming at least a portion of the ball striking surface and a porous stiffening structure engaged with a rear surface of the face plate, the porous stiffening structure providing increased stiffness to the face; a body connected to the face and extending rearward from the face edges to define an enclosed volume, the body having a heel side, a toe side, a crown, and a sole; and a crown channel portion extending laterally at least partially across the crown, from a first end more proximate the heel side to a second end more proximate the toe side, the crown channel portion being defined by boundary edges, with the crown channel portion being recessed from the crown between the boundary edges of the crown channel portion; wherein the crown channel portion is configured such that at least some energy from an impact on the ball striking surface is transferred from the face to the crown channel portion and is absorbed by the crown channel portion, causing the crown channel portion to deform and to exert a response force on the face. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A ball striking device comprising:
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a face having a ball striking surface, the face being defined by a plurality of face edges, the face comprising a face plate forming at least a portion of the ball striking surface and a porous stiffening structure engaged with a rear surface of the face plate, the porous stiffening structure providing increased stiffness to the face; a body connected to the face and extending rearward from the face edges to define an enclosed volume, the body having a heel side, a toe side, a crown, and a sole; and a sole channel portion extending laterally at least partially across the sole, from a first end more proximate the heel side to a second end more proximate the toe side, the sole channel portion being defined by boundary edges, with the sole channel portion being recessed from the sole between the boundary edges of the sole channel portion; wherein the sole channel portion is configured such that at least some energy from an impact on the ball striking surface is transferred from the face to the sole channel portion and is absorbed by the sole channel portion, causing the sole channel portion to deform and to exert a response force on the face. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A golf club head comprising:
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a face having a ball striking surface, the face being defined by a plurality of face edges, the face comprising a face plate forming at least a portion of the ball striking surface, a rear plate located behind the face plate, and a honeycomb stiffening structure sandwiched between the face plate and the rear plate, the honeycomb stiffening structure providing increased stiffness to the face and having a greater thickness than the face plate and the rear plate; a body having an opening receiving the face therein, the body being connected to the face by welding the face to a periphery of the opening around the face edges, wherein the body extends rearward from the face edges to define an enclosed volume, and wherein the body has a heel side, a toe side, a crown, and a sole; a channel defined by first and second boundary edges extending annularly around at least a majority of a circumference of the body and generally equidistant from the face edges, the channel being recessed from outer surfaces of the body between the first and second boundary edges, the channel including a crown channel portion extending at least partially across the crown, a sole channel portion extending at least partially across the sole, and at least one additional channel portion extending around at least one of the heel and the toe to interconnect the crown channel portion and the sole channel portion to form the channel in a continuous shape, wherein the channel is spaced rearwardly from the face edges by a spacing portion, and wherein the channel is configured such that at least some energy from an impact on the ball striking surface is transferred through the spacing portion and absorbed by the channel, causing the channel to deform and to exert a response force on the face. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
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Specification