Hollow, metallic golf club head with relieved sole and dendritic structure

• US 5,480,152 A
• Filed: 01/06/1994
• Issued: 01/02/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
• Original Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
• Inventors: Helmstetter, Richard C., Schmidt, Glenn H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wong, Steven B.
• Application Number:
  US08/173,389
• Time in Patent Office: 726 Days
• Field of Search: 273/167 A-167 E, 273/167 G, 273/167 H, 273/167 K, 273/172, 273/174, 273/167 F
• US Class Current: 473/291
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2225/01 Special aerodynamic features, e.g. airfoil shapes, wings or air passages
• 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 53/0458 with non-uniform thickness of the impact face plate
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0462 characterised by tapering thickness 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 set of golf club heads, each head comprising a shell having toe and heel portions, and a front wall defining a ball striking face, and top or bottom walls, the ball striking faces of the heads having varying angularities with respect to vertical, the bottom wall of each head having a medial ridge, and forming two dished, similar shallow recesses, one recess between the ridge and heel portion and the other recess between the ridge and toe portion, the recesses located rearwardly of said front wall, one recess having an arcuate peripheral edge generally convex toward the heel portion and the other recess having an arcuate peripheral edge generally convex toward the toe portion.

Claims

1. A set of golf club heads, each head comprising a shell having toe and heel portions, and a front wall defining a ball striking face, and top and bottom walls, the ball striking faces of the heads having varying angularities with respect to vertical, the bottom wall of each head having a medial ridge, and forming two dished, similar shallow recesses, one recess between the ridge and heel portion and the other recess between the ridge and toe portion, said recesses located rearwardly of said front wall, one recess having an arcuate peripheral edge portion generally convex toward said heel portion and the other recess having an arcuate peripheral edge portion generally convex toward said toe portion, said ridge being forwardly elongated and having a forwardmost extent with forwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging toward and in proximity to said front wall, rearwardmost extent with rearwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging away from and distal from said head front wall, and a curved rearward edge convex toward and distal from said front wall.

2. The set of golf club heads as defined in claim 1, and wherein each recess of each head has a downward facing surface and is further characterized in that, for each head:

i) a vertical plane bisecting the recess in a toe to heel direction intersects the recess surface along a downwardly concave line, and

ii) a vertical plane bisecting the recess in a front to rear direction relative to the head intersects the recess surface along a downwardly concave line.

3. The set of golf club heads as defined in claim 1 wherein said two recesses of each head have similar configuration with respect to a vertical plane that bisects said ridge in a front to rear direction relative to the head.

4. The set of golf club heads as defined in claim 1 wherein each recess of each head has a downward facing surface, and is further characterized in that, for each head:

i) the rearwardmost extent of said downwardly facing surface is inclined forwardly and upwardly relative to the head forward swing path as the head bottom wall engages the turf,

ii) whereby lift force is created in response to engagement of said rearwardmost extent of said surface with the turf as the head is swung forwardly along said path, said lift force acting to urge said head bottom wall and the head in an upward direction.

5. The set of heads as defined in claim 1, wherein, for each head, said bottom wall thereof has a rearwardly divergent surface that extends at a rearwardly and upwardly extending angle, beyond rearward extent of said ridge, and between rearward extents of said recesses, said surface merging with rearwardmost extents of said recesses at cusps, said cusps spaced substantially equidistantly from the head front wall.

6. The set of heads as defined in claim 1, wherein, for each head, said bottom wall thereof is in part defined by a sole plate having a peripheral edge rigidly connected to the bounding edge of an opening defined by said bottom wall, whereby the sole plate closes said opening, said ridge and recesses being in part defined by the sole plate.

7. The set of heads as defined in claim 1, wherein, for each head, said front wall thereof has lowermost U-shaped configuration, forwardly of said ridge and recesses.

8. The set of heads as defined in claim 1 wherein, for each head, there is a substantially continuous, hollow, metallic tube extending within the shell of the heel portion and from proximate the shell top wall to proximate the shell bottom wall, said tube having a bore to receive a club shaft, said bore aligned with said one shallow recess.

9. The set of heads as defined in claim 1 wherein, for each head, each recess has a downwardly facing surface, and said surface is downwardly concave in a front to rear direction.

10. The set of heads as defined in claim 9, wherein, for each head:

each recess downwardly facing surface is also downwardly concave in a toe to heel direction.

11. The set of heads as defined in claim 1 wherein, for each head:

said bottom wall includes a sole plate peripherally connected to a shell rim defining a bottom opening, said sole plate defining major extents of said shallow recesses.

12. The set of heads as defined in claim 5 wherein said rearwardly divergent surface and said recesses have edges which, when viewed from the rear of the head, are upwardly convex.

13. The set of heads as defined in claim 12 wherein said upwardly convex edges extend in an arcuate row, as viewed from the rear of the head.

14. The set of heads as defined in claim 1 which include at least two of the following:

a) a metal wood having a front face inclined at approximately 9°

from vertical,

b) a metal wood having a front face inclined at approximately 11°

from vertical,

c) a metal 2 wood,

d) a metal 4 wood,

e) a metal 5 wood.

15. The set of heads as defined in claim 1 which include all of the following:

a) a metal wood having a front face inclined at approximately 9°

from vertical,

b) a metal wood having a front face inclined at approximately 11°

from vertical,

c) a metal 2 wood,

d) a metal 4 wood,

e) a metal 5 wood.

16. The set of heads as defined in claim 1 characterized by one of the following:

a) at least one head has a center of gravity located at approximately 42 to 50% of the head height as measured upwardly from the lowermost head surface to the uppermost head surface, viewed from the front of the head.

18. The club head of claim 7 wherein there are two dished extents each defining a portion of said inclined surface means whereby upward lift forces are developed at opposite sides of said ridge.

17. A set of golf club heads, each head in the set having top, bottom, front, rear, toe, and heel walls, the front walls of the heads having differently inclined ball striking faces,

a) said bottom wall having upwardly dished wall extent,

b) said upwardly dished wall extent defining downward facing surface means inclined forwardly and upwardly relative to the head swing path as the bottom wall engages the turf, so that the turf moving relatively rearwardly engages said inclined surface means for creating lift force acting to urge the bottom wall and the head in an upward direction,

c) said upwardly dished wall extent defining first and second recesses, and

d) a medial ridge between said first and second recesses, said ridge being forwardly elongated and having a forwardmost extent with forwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging toward and in proximity to said front wall, rearwardmost extent with rearwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging away from and distal from said head front wall, and a curved rearward edge convex toward and distal, from said front wall.

19. A golf club head comprising a shell having toe and heel portions, a front wall defining a ball-striking face, and top and bottom walls, said bottom wall characterized as having a medial ridge, and as forming two dished shallow recesses, one recess between the ridge and the heel portion, and the other recess between the ridge and the toe portion, said recesses everywhere spaced rearwardly from said front wall, the one recess having an arcuate peripheral edge generally convex toward said heel portion, and the other recess having an arcuate peripheral edge generally convex toward the toe portion, said recesses located at opposite sides of a forwardly extending vertical plane bisecting said ridge, the ridge being forwardly elongated and having a forwardmost extent with forwardly diverging wall surfaces located respectively at opposite sides of said plane, said diverging wall surfaces diverging toward and in proximity to said head front wall, the ridge having a rearwardmost extent with rearwardly diverging wall surfaces at opposite sides of said plane, there being a curved rearward edge between said rearwardly diverging wall surfaces, said curved rearward edge being convex toward and distal from said front wall, the ridge having a bottom surface extending forwardly and rearwardly at substantially the same level between said ridge forwardmost extent and said convex rearward edge.

20. The club head of claim 19 wherein said bottom wall has a rearwardly divergent surface that extends at a rearwardly and upwardly extending angle, beyond rearward extent of said ridge, and between rearward extents of said recesses.

21. The club head of claim 20 wherein said recesses have downward facing surfaces with shallow upwardly dished configuration.

22. The club head of claim 19 wherein said bottom wall is in part defined by a sole plate having a peripheral edge rigidly connected to the bounding edge of an opening defined by said bottom wall, whereby the sole plate closes said opening, said ridge and recesses being in part defined by the sole plate.

23. The club head of claim 19 wherein said recesses have surfaces that merge in arcuate relation with opposite sides of said ridge.

24. The club had of claim 19 wherein said front wall has lowermost U-shaped configuration, forwardly of said ridge and recesses.

25. The club head of claim 19 having a substantially continuous, hollow, metallic tube extending within the shell of the heel portion and from proximate the shell top wall to proximate the shell bottom wall, said tube having a bore to receive a club shaft, said bore aligned with said one shallow recess.

26. The club head of claim 21 wherein said downward facing surfaces are concave in front-to-rear directions.

27. The club head of claim 26 wherein said downward facing surfaces are also concave in directions between the heel and toe.

28. The club head of claim 19 wherein said bottom wall includes a sole plate peripherally connected to a shell rim defining a bottom opening, said sole plate defining major extents of said shallow recesses.

29. The club head of claim 20 wherein said bottom wall includes a sole plate peripherally connected to a shell rim defining a bottom opening, said sole plate defining major extents of said shallow recesses, said sole plate also defining said ridge and said rearwardly divergent surface.

30. The club head of claim 25 wherein said bottom wall includes a sole plate peripherally connected to a shell rim defining a bottom opening, said sole plate defining major extents of said shallow recesses, said shell defining a bottom wall corner plate section integral with said tube, said sole plate also connected to said corner plate section, said corner plate section forming a portion of said one shallow recess between said ridge and heel portion.

31. The club head of claim 19 including a first group of narrow, metallic, shock wave distributing dendrites extending from said front wall generally rearwardly adjacent the underside of the shell top wall and integral therewith, said dendrites projecting toward said two shallow recesses.

32. The club head of claim 31 including a second group of dendrites integral with said top wall and which are spaced apart, and which extend generally rearwardly to merge rearwardly and downwardly with a rear wall defined by the shell to transfer rearward loading from said top wall in response to front wall impact with a golf ball, said second group of dendrites also projecting toward said two shallow recesses.

33. The club head of claim 32 wherein the dendrites of each group are spaced apart in a toe-to-heel direction.

35. A club head of claim 19 wherein the ridge is downwardly convex rearwardly of said front wall and co-acts with said recesses during a club stroke to direct the turf toward and into the recesses, the recesses having surfaces inclined forwardly and upwardly to be engaged by the turf moving relatively rearwardly, for creating lift forces at opposite sides of the ridge, urging the bottom wall and head in an upward direction.

36. The head of claim 19 wherein the head has a center of gravity located at approximately 42 to 50% of the head height as measured upwardly from the lowermost head surface to the uppermost head surface, viewed from the front of the head.

37. The head of claim 20 wherein the head has a center of gravity located at approximately 42 to 50% of the head height as measured upwardly from the lowermost head surface to the uppermost head surface, viewed from the front of the head.

38. The club head of claim 20 wherein said rearwardly divergent surface has edges which project divergently rearwardly.

34. A golf club head having a metal shell defining top, bottom, front, rear, toe, and heel walls, and including

a) dendrites integral with the inner sides of said top and rear walls, and

b) the bottom wall having two upwardly dished wall sections projecting toward the dendrites integral with the top wall, and spaced between the heel and toe, said dished wall sections defining first and second recesses,

c) said dished sections located in substantially mirror imaged relation with respect to a vertical plane bisecting the head mid-way between the recesses,

d) there being a medial ridge formed between the first and second recesses, said ridge being forwardly elongated and having a forwardmost extent with forwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging toward and in proximity to said front wall, rearwardmost extent with rearwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging away from and distal from said head front wall, and a curved rearward edge convex toward and distal from said front wall.

39. In the method of forming golf club heads in a set, each head having top, bottom, front, rear, toe and heel walls, the steps that include:

a) forming the bottom wall of each head to have upwardly dished wall extent,

b) forming said upwardly dished wall extent of each head to have downwardly facing surface means inclined forwardly and upwardly relative to the head swing path as the bottom wall engages the turf,

c) and forming said front walls of the heads of the set to have differently inclined ball striking faces,

d) said surface means formed to define two recesses and an intermediate ridge formed between said first and second recesses, said ridge being forwardly elongated and having a forwardmost extent with forwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging toward and in proximity to said front wall, rearwardmost extent with rearwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging away from and distal from said head front wall, and a curved rearward edge convex toward and distal from said front wall.

40. The method of claim 39 including forming said walls as integrally connected thin metal walls.

41. The method of claim 39 wherein said bottom wall is also formed to have a downward facing medial ridge which extends generally forwardly, said dished wall extent formed to include two dished extents defining portions of said inclined surface means whereby upward lift forces are developed at opposite sides of said ridge.

42. In a golf club head having a shell and defining top, bottom, front, rear, toe and heel walls, and a shell interior, the combination that includes:

a) the bottom wall having upwardly dished wall extent,

b) said upwardly dished wall extent having downwardly facing surface means inclined forwardly and upwardly relative to the head swing path as the bottom wall engages the turf,

c) the head having a club shaft-receiving hosel having an axis that projects to intersect said dished wall extent,

d) said bottom wall also having a downward facing medial ridge which protrudes downwardly and extends generally forwardly, said dished wall extent including two dished extents defining first and second recesses at opposite sides of said ridge,

e) said medial ridge being forwardly elongated and having a forwardmost extent with forwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging toward and in proximity to said front wall, rearwardmost extent with rearwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging away from and distal from said head front wall, and a curved rearward edge convex toward and distal from said front wall.

43. A golf club head comprising a shell having toe and heel portions, a front wall defining a ball-striking face, and top and bottom walls, said bottom wall characterized as having:

a) a first shallow recess proximate said heel portion everywhere spaced rearwardly from said front wall and having an arcuate peripheral edge generally convex toward said heel portion,

b) a second shallow recess proximate said toe portion everywhere spaced rearwardly from said front wall and having an arcuate peripheral edge generally convex toward said toe portion, and

c) a medial ridge between said first and second recesses, said ridge being forwardly elongated and having a forwardmost extent with forwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging toward and in proximity to said front wall, rearwardmost extent with rearwardly diverging opposed surfaces diverging away from and distal from said head front wall, and a curved rearward edge convex toward and distal from said front wall.

44. The golf club head of claim 43 further comprising a trailing surface on said bottom wall rearward of said ridge, said trailing surface extending generally above said ridge rearward.

45. The golf club head of claim 43 wherein said trailing surface is generally planar and extends at an angle upwardly and rearwardly from said ridge rearward.