Golf club head with a face insert having indicia thereon

• US 6,425,831 B1
• Filed: 10/18/2000
• Issued: 07/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Callaway Golf Company (Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Callaway Golf Company (Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp.)
• Inventors: Lawlor, Darren F., Besaw, Maxine J., Nee, Clydene S. C., Byrne, Wayne H., Dewanjee, Pijush K., Reyes, Herbert, Helmstetter, Richard C., Heene, Kevin A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Passaniti, Sebastiano
• Application Number:
  US09/692,744
• Time in Patent Office: 650 Days
• Field of Search: 473/324, 473/329, 473/332, 473/342, 473/349, 473/251, 473/131, 473/249, 473/345, 473/350, 473/340
• US Class Current: 473/332
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2209/00 Characteristics of used materials
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/04 Heads
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0408 characterised by specific dimensions, e.g. thickness
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0416 Heads having an impact surface provided by a face insert
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0441 with visual indicators for aligning the golf club
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0466 wood-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/047 iron-type
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 53/0487 for putters A63B53/065 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 60/00 Details or accessories of golf clubs, bats, rackets or the like
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 273/08 Urethane
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 273/22 Ionomer

Abstract

A golf club head with a polymer insert having indicia printed directly on its surface is disclosed herein. The polymer insert is disposed in a recess of the club head, and is preferably composed of a thermosetting material. Preferably, an UV curable ink is utilized for the indicia. The UV ink is printed on the external surface of the insert through a transfer pad printing process, and then cured with UV energy. Preferably, the golf club head is a putter, and the insert is composed of a thermosetting polyurethane. The insert is preferably white, and the indicia is preferably multi-colored.

Claims

1. A putter-type golf club head comprsing:

a club head body having a sole, a crown and a front face with a recess therein, the insert has a thickness of 0.100 inch to 0.750 inch the front face disposed between the crown and the sole, the club head body composed of a metal material;

an insert for contacting a golf ball, the insert disposed within the recess of the front face, the insert comprising a substrate with an exterior surface and an interior surface, the insert having a thickness ranging from 0.125 inch to 0.500 inch, the exterior surface of the substrate having a protective coating thereon, the protective coating having a thickness of between 0.001 inch and 0.009 inch, the insert composed of a polyurethane material;

indicia printed directly on the protective coating of the exterior surface of the insert, the indicia composed of an ultraviolet curable ink capable of withstanding playing conditions.

2. The putter-type golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the coating is a two component polyurethane coating.

3. The putter-type golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the coating is a UV-curable coating comprising at least one low viscosity polyether acrylate, a functional carbodiimide resin, at least one low viscosity urethane acrylate oligomer, and a photoinitiator.

4. The putter-type golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the coating comprises pentaerythritol tetraacrylate.

5. The putter-type golf club head according to claim 1 wherein the coating comprises a polyester polyol resin component and a polyisocyanate component wherein the polyester polyol resin component contains a neopentyl glycol resin in an amount of 40 to 80 weight percentage of the polyol resin component.

6. The putter type club head according to claim 1 wherein the indicia is a multiple color indicia.

7. The putter-type club head according to claim 1 wherein the insert has a white color.

8. The putter-type golf club head according to claim 1 further comprising an additional indicia, the indicia disposed on a heel end of the insert and the additional indicia disposed on a toe end of the insert.