Patents Examined by Alvin Hunter
  • Patent number: 10434379
    Abstract: A golf club head according to one or more aspects of the present invention may include a face portion or strike-face wall comprising a top inner boundary, an intermediate inner boundary, and a bottom inner boundary having a bottom-inner-boundary toe portion and a bottom-inner-boundary heel portion. The strike-face wall may further include a first uniform-thickness region, adjoining the top inner boundary, and a variable-thickness region adjoining the uniform-thickness region and a majority of the bottom inner boundary. In another example, the variable-thickness may adjoin a majority of the top inner boundary and the uniform-thickness region may adjoin a majority of the bottom inner boundary.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: SRI SPORTS LIMITED
    Inventors: Jeff D. Brunski, Samuel G. Lacey, Dan S. Nivanh, Nathaniel J. Radcliffe, John J. Rae, Mark Blumenkrantz, Rory C. Stewart, Michael J. Wallans
  • Patent number: 10286330
    Abstract: Methods, devices and attachments for game-playing (sports) that involves manipulating objects in X, Y and Z planes (3-D space) using remote controlled aerial craft such as a drone that has hovering capability. Particularly characterized by the use of at least one human player controlled craft plus a passive aerial playing object like a game ball that players can only indirectly control by physically manipulating it with the player craft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Inventor: Joseph S. Yatsko
  • Patent number: 10279277
    Abstract: A balloon holder includes a cup portion having a stem with a barb extending therefrom, and a conical cup defined by a sidewall extending from the stem to define a top edge of the conical cup. The balloon holder further includes a stick portion including an elongate stick body extending from a first end to a second end, a stem receptacle at the first end, and a barb receptacle provided in the stem receptacle, wherein a portion of the stem is received in the stem receptacle such that the barb locks into the barb receptacle to join the cup portion and the stick portion together to form a complete balloon holder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: PREMIUM BALLOON ACCESSORIES, INC.
    Inventors: David C. Nelson, Wesley A. Schroeder, Chase E. Nelson
  • Patent number: 10279278
    Abstract: A fusible toy bead scraper set includes: a main body; a spatula portion formed on a front side of the main body; and guide portions. The guide portions extend from left and right end surface of the main body to define a space between left and right end portions of the main body, have lower surfaces, and are disposed on left and right sides of the main body, for guiding forward and rearward movement of the spatula portion. The set also includes fusible toy beads and a rectangular holding tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: EPOCH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Ryo Sakai
  • Patent number: 10258834
    Abstract: Multi-piece golf balls containing a dual-core structure are provided. The core structure includes an inner core (center) comprising a foam composition, preferably foamed polyurethane. The outer core layer is preferably formed from a non-foamed thermoplastic composition such as ethylene acid copolymer ionomer. Preferably, the specific gravity (density) of the foam inner core is less than the density of the outer core layer. The ball further includes a cover of at least one layer and may include at least one casing layer. The core structure and resulting ball have relatively good resiliency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: Acushnet Company
    Inventors: Michael J Sullivan, Derek A. Ladd, Mark L. Binette, Brian Comeau, Michael Michalewich, Shawn Ricci
  • Patent number: 10258849
    Abstract: A golf club head has a body having a ball striking face, a rear opposite the ball striking face, a crown, a sole, a heel, and a toe, the body having a void defined by a peripheral edge on the sole. The body further defines a cover that extends over the void and forms at least a portion of the crown. At least a portion of the peripheral edge of the void includes a lip extending from the peripheral edge inwardly into the void. The golf club head may additionally or alternately include one or more weight receptacles connected to the sole and having an opening in the sole, such that each weight receptacle is configured to receive insertion of a weight through the opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
    Inventors: Michael G. Taylor, Michael Wallans, John T. Stites, Sherry L. Jones
  • Patent number: 10252124
    Abstract: A putter-type golf club head that, when oriented in a reference position, includes a striking wall extending in the heel to toe direction and defines a substantially planar striking face for hitting a golf ball. A central elongate member is in communication with, and extends rearward from, the striking wall. An upper surface of the central elongate member includes a plurality of separate alignment elements. At least one of the plurality of alignment elements has an edge that extends substantially parallel to the striking face. The length of the parallel edge is substantially equivalent to the diameter of a golf ball.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Nick Trahan, Thomas Carlson, Christopher R. Cooper, Adam Sheldon
  • Patent number: 10245485
    Abstract: A golf club incorporating a stress reducing feature, including an aperture, located at least partially on the sole of the club head. The location and size of the stress reducing feature and aperture, and their relationship to one another, play a significant role in selectively improving the performance of the golf club.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Taylor Made Golf Company Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Scott Burnett, Bryan Seon, Jeffrey T. Halstead, Justin Girard
  • Patent number: 10245480
    Abstract: A ball striking device, such as a golf club, includes a head with a face having an outer surface configured for striking a ball, a body connected to the face, an elongated, inwardly recessed channel located on the body and extending across a portion of the body, and an insert mounted within the channel. The insert includes a resiliently deflectable base member that engages the channel to retain the insert within the channel and a rigid outer member connected to the base member and forming at least a portion of the outer surface of the insert, where the outer member is made from a different material than the base member. Additionally, the insert has an outer surface that is substantially flush with at least one immediately adjacent surface of the body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew G. V. Oldknow, Robert M. Boyd, John T. Stites
  • Patent number: 10245481
    Abstract: A golf club head where at least a first portion of an exterior surface of the golf club head includes depressions is disclosed herein. More specifically, the golf club head has a body with a striking face, a crown portion, a sole portion, and a skirt portion joining the striking face, crown portion and the sole portion and in accordance with the present invention at least a portion of the exterior surface of the body of the golf club head is further comprised of depressions to reduce the aerodynamic drag force on the golf club head. The depressions may be provided on a first portion of the golf club head on one or more of a crown portion, sole portion, skirt portion or striking face.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Acushnet Compnay
    Inventors: Richard L. Cleghorn, Nick Frame
  • Patent number: 10238927
    Abstract: Embodiments of golf club heads with apertures and methods to manufacture golf club heads are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
    Inventors: John A. Solheim, Eric J. Morales, Erik M. Henrikson, Eric V. Cole, Paul D. Wood, Bradley D. Schweigert, Marty R. Jertson, Tyler A. Shaw
  • Patent number: 10238930
    Abstract: A golf club head includes a striking face, a sole portion, a top portion, a hosel, a rear surface, a loft no less than 40°, a virtual vertical plane, and a center of gravity. The striking face has a face center, a leading edge, and a virtual striking face plane. The hosel includes an internal bore configured to receive a golf shaft and includes a peripheral side wall and a shaft abutment surface configured to abut a tip end of the golf shaft. The rear surface is opposite the striking face and has an upper portion and a lower portion, the lower portion including a forward-extending recess. The insert covers the recess forming a hollow portion. The virtual vertical plane is perpendicular to the striking face plane and passes through the face center. The center of gravity is spaced a distance from the virtual vertical plane in the heel-to-toe direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: DUNLOP SPORTS CO. LTD.
    Inventors: Patrick Ripp, Phill Seagram, Mika Becktor, Keith Dolezel
  • Patent number: 10238921
    Abstract: Multi-piece golf balls containing a dual-layered core and dual-layered cover are provided. The core structure includes a small, heavy inner core (center) having a relatively high specific gravity, and a surrounding outer core layer. The core layers may have different hardness gradients. The center of the core comprises a metal material such as copper, steel, brass, tungsten, titanium, aluminum, and combinations and alloys thereof preferably dispersed in a thermoplastic polymeric matrix. The outer core layer is preferably formed from a thermoset composition such as polybutadiene. The multi-layered cores and covers have selective specific gravity relationships between the different layers. This helps provide the ball with good flight distance and spin control. The resulting balls have good resiliency and other playing performance properties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Acushnet Company
    Inventors: Michael J. Sullivan, Mark L. Binette, Derek A. Ladd
  • Patent number: 10220268
    Abstract: A golf club head having a replaceable striking face is disclosed herein. More specifically, the present invention discloses a golf club head where at least a portion of the frontal striking surface of the face is detachable and replaceable to improve performance. The replaceable striking face may be connected to the body of the golf club head using at least one screw engaging at least one screw well and said at least one screw receptacle. A golf club in accordance with the present invention may generally have a thinned striking face with a thickness of less than about 3.0 mm yielding a golf club head with a larger sweet spot that's greater than 6% of the frontal striking surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: Acushnet Company
    Inventors: Charles E. Golden, John Morin, Helene Hipp
  • Patent number: 10220278
    Abstract: A golf club 2 includes a head 4, a shaft 6, and a grip 8. The club 2 has a forward club flex of greater than or equal to 170 mm. The forward club flex is measured for a golf club in the completed state. The weight of the head is denoted by Wh, and the weight of the club is denoted by Wc. Wh/Wc is greater than or equal to 0.72. With the golf club 2, a force acting on the player's body during a swing can be reduced. The golf club 2 can stabilize swing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Naruhiro Mizutani, Seiji Hayase, Kenji Takasu, Takashi Nakano, Daisuke Kohno
  • Patent number: 10220271
    Abstract: A golf club head has a body defining a ball striking face. The body further has a first leg extending away from the ball striking face and a second leg extending away from the ball striking face wherein a void is defined between the first leg and the second leg. The body further defines a crown that extends over the void.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
    Inventors: Eric A. Larson, Robert Boyd, Kenneth W. Brown, Sherry L. Jones, John T. Stites
  • Patent number: 10220270
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are various embodiments of a golf club head having improved mass distribution characteristics. The golf club head includes a body and a face positioned at a forward portion of the body. The golf club head also includes one or more mass elements positioned at predetermined locations about the head. The mass elements assist in achieving a desired relationship between the moment of inertia about a center of gravity x-axis and the moment of inertia about a center of gravity z-axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: Taylor Made Golf Company, Inc.
    Inventors: Todd P. Beach, Peter L. Larsen, Joseph Henry Hoffman
  • Patent number: 10213656
    Abstract: Multi-piece golf balls containing a multi-layered core structure are provided. The core structure includes a small, heavy inner core (center) having a relatively high specific gravity, an intermediate core layer, and a surrounding outer core layer. The layers of the core structure may have different hardness gradients. In one preferred embodiment, each core layer has a positive hardness gradient. The center of the core comprises a metal material such as copper, steel, brass, tungsten, titanium, aluminum, and alloys thereof. The intermediate core layer is preferably formed from a thermoset composition such as polybutadiene rubber, and the outer core layer is preferably formed from a thermoplastic composition such as an ethylene acid copolymer. The resulting ball has high resiliency and good spin control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Acushnet Company
    Inventors: Michael J. Sullivan, Mark L. Binette
  • Patent number: 10207162
    Abstract: A forged golf club face has a continuous outer layer of a first material encasing at least one inner layer made of second material. The materials may have differing properties, such as Young's Modulus, density, and strength properties, among others. By incorporating the different materials into the outer layer and the inner layer, the coefficient of restitution (COR) of the golf club face is improved without sacrificing durability. The club face is forged from a pre-formed billet having at least one monolithically encased inner layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: Acushnet Company
    Inventor: Uday V. Deshmukh
  • Patent number: 10207161
    Abstract: Described herein are embodiments of golf club heads having a balance of the following parameters: a low and back club head center of gravity position, a high moment of inertia, and low aerodynamic drag. Methods of manufacturing the embodiments of golf club heads having a balance of club head center of gravity position, moment of inertia, and aerodynamic drag are also described herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: Karsten Manufacturing Corporation
    Inventors: Ryan M. Stokke, Sina Ghods