Golf clubs and golf club heads
AssigneesNIKE, Inc., Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.
InventorsHiroshi Kawaguchi, Michael Kelly, Hitoshi Kodama, Tsuneo Takano
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A golf club head enables the initial velocity of a ball to be increased and enables the carry to be lengthened. In some example structures, the golf club includes a face plate formed from metal and club head body (e.g., a crown and sole) formed from fiber reinforced plastic. A weighted body is provided inside the rearmost portion of the golf club head and a low rigidity portion whose width becomes gradually narrower as it approaches the rearmost portion is provided in the crown extending from the vicinity of the face plate to the rearmost portion.
Claims39
A golf club head, comprising:
- a face plate formed from metal;
- a crown formed from fiber reinforced plastic attached to the face plate, wherein the crown includes a low rigidity portion extending from a vicinity of the face plate toward a rearmost portion of the golf club head, wherein the low rigidity portion has a width that becomes gradually narrower as it extends toward the rearmost portion;
- a sole formed from fiber reinforced plastic attached to the face plate and the crown;
- and
- a weighted member provided inside a space defined by the crown, sole, and face plate, wherein the weighted member is provided at the rearmost portion of the golf club head.
A golf club head, comprising:
- a face plate;
- a club head body attached to the face plate, wherein the club head body includes a deformation wave transmitting system for transmitting at least a portion of the energy contained in a deformation wave generated when a ball is struck by the golf club head away from and toward the face plate;
- and
- a reflecting member for reflecting at least a portion of the energy of the deformation wave incident thereon back to the face plate via the deformation wave transmitting system.
A method, comprising:
- attaching a sole preform to a face plate using an adhesive;
- attaching a crown preform to the face plate and the sole preform using an adhesive;
- attaching a weighted member preform to at least one of the crown preform or the sole preform;
- and
- forming the crown preform, the sole preform, and the face plate into a golf club head structure, wherein the crown preform is formed so as to include a low rigidity portion extending from a vicinity of the face plate toward a rearmost portion of the golf club head, and wherein the low rigidity portion has a width that becomes gradually narrower as it extends toward the rearmost portion.
A method, comprising:
- attaching a club head body preform to a face plate using an adhesive;
- attaching a deformation wave reflecting member preform to at least a portion of the club head body preform;
- forming a golf club head structure from the club head body preform and the face plate, wherein the club head body is shaped during the forming so as to include a deformation wave transmitting system for transmitting at least a portion of the energy contained in a deformation wave generated when a ball is struck by the golf club head away from and toward the face plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.