CO-FORGED GOLF CLUB HEAD AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE

• US 20130137532A1
• Filed: 11/28/2011
• Published: 05/30/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Acushnet Company (FILA Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Deshmukh, Uday V., Hettinger, Ronald K., Hebreo, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 8,926,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 473/349
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2053/0491 with added weights, e.g. changeable, replaceable
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/047 iron-type
• 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 having a striking surface made out of a first material; and

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

wherein said at least one weight adjustment portion is encased monolithically within said body portion without any secondary attachment operations.

2. The forged golf club head of claim 1, wherein an interface between said body portion and said at least one weight adjustment portion creates an irregular interface.

3. The forged golf club head of claim 2, wherein said at least one weight adjustment portion is located near a sole of said golf club head.

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

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

6. The forged golf club head of claim 1, wherein said first material has a first flow stress at a first forging temperature, and the said second material has a second flow stress at a second forging temperature;

wherein said first flow stress and said second flow stress are substantially similar to one another, and

wherein said first forging temperature and said second forging temperature being substantially similar to one another.

7. The forged golf club head of claim 6, wherein said first flow stress and said second flow stress are different from one another.

8. The forged golf club head of claim 6, wherein said first flow stress is about 10 ksi and said first forging temperature is about 1,200°

C.; and

said second flow stress is about 10 ksi and said second forging temperature is about 1,100°

C.

9. The forged golf club head of claim 1, wherein said first material has a first thermal expansion coefficient, and the second material has a second thermal expansion coefficient;

wherein said first expansion coefficient is greater than or equal to said second thermal expansion coefficient.

10. The forged golf club head of claim 9, wherein said first thermal expansion coefficient is about 8.0 μ

in/in °

F., and said second thermal expansion coefficient is about 6.1 μ

in/in °

F.

11. A method of forging a golf club head comprising:

creating a cylindrical billet made out of a first material;

machining one or more cavities within said cylindrical billet;

partially filling in said one or more cavities with a second material to create a weight adjustment portion;

filling in the remaining volume of said one or more cavities with said first material to encase said weight adjustment portion; and

forging said cylindrical billet to create a body portion of said golf club head,

wherein said body portion monolithically encases said weight adjustment portion within a body of said golf club head without any secondary attachment operations.

12. The method of forging a golf club head of claim 11, wherein an interface between said body portion and said at least one weight adjustment portion creates an irregular interface.

13. The method of forging a golf club head of claim 11, wherein said first material has a first flow stress at a first forging temperature, and the said second material has a second flow stress at a second forging temperature;

wherein said first flow stress and said second flow stress are substantially similar to one another, and

wherein said first forging temperature and said second forging temperature being substantially similar to one another.

14. The method of forging a golf club head of claim 13, wherein said first flow stress and said second flow stress are different from one another.

15. The method of forging a golf club head of claim 13, wherein said first flow stress is about 10 ksi and said first forging temperature is about 1,200°

C.; and

said second flow stress is about 10 ksi and said second forging temperature is about 1,100°

C.

16. The method of forging a golf club head of claim 11, wherein said first material has a first thermal expansion coefficient, and the second material has a second thermal expansion coefficient;

wherein said first expansion coefficient is greater than or equal to said second thermal expansion coefficient.

17. The method of forging a golf club head of claim 16, wherein said first thermal expansion coefficient is about 8.0 μ

in/in °

F., and said second thermal expansion coefficient is about 6.1 μ

in/in °

F.

18. A forged golf club head comprising:

a body portion having a striking surface made out of a first material; and

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

wherein said at least one weight adjustment portion is encased monolithically within said body portion without any secondary attachment operations;

wherein said first material has a first flow stress at a first forging temperature, and the said second material has a second flow stress at a second forging temperature;

said first flow stress and said second flow stress are substantially similar to one another, and

said first forging temperature and said second forging temperature being substantially similar to one another; and

wherein said first material has a first thermal expansion coefficient, and the second material has a second thermal expansion coefficient;

said first expansion coefficient is greater than or equal to said second thermal expansion coefficient.

19. The forged golf club head of claim 18, wherein an interface between said body portion and said at least one weight adjustment portion creates an irregular interface.