Golf balls with a fused wound layer and a method for forming such balls

Abstract

The present invention is directed towards a golf ball and a method of making the golf ball, which comprises a center and at least one fused, wound layer. The fused wound layer can be a cover layer or an intermediate layer. In one embodiment, the fused wound layer surrounds the center to form a wound core and a cover surrounds the core. In another embodiment the fused wound layer forms the outer surface of the ball. The method of the present invention allows the characteristics of the wound layer to be altered and controlled after the wound layer has been formed. In the method, fusing occurs by applying heat alone or with pressure to the wound core. In one embodiment, fusing can occur during formation of the cover layer. In one embodiment, single, double, multi-ply or multi-strand thread is used. The cross-sectional shape and area of the thread can be, for example, rectangular or circular.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.