Abstract: Golf balls having an inner core made of a foamed composition are provided. The core assembly preferably includes a foam inner core (center) and surrounding outer core layer. A cross-linked thermoplastic, preferably an ethylene acid copolymer ionomer, is used to form the foam composition. The core layers have different hardness gradients and specific gravity values. The ethylene acid copolymer is reacted with a metallic acrylate salt and peroxide free-radical initiator to form the cross-linked polymer. The foamed, cross-linked composition helps provide the inner core with good resiliency, thermal stability, and durability. Non-foamed thermoplastics or thermosets such as polybutadiene rubber may be used to form the outer core layer. The ball further includes a cover that may be multi-layered.

Abstract: A video slot machine has M reels, each displaying N symbols when stopped. Above the display of the reels is a set of generally valuable replacement symbols that have been independently selected at random independent from the reel display. Each reel is associated with a particular replacement symbol in the set. If a special symbol is displayed on a reel, the replacement symbol associated with that reel substitutes for the special symbol when determining the award. Examples of the replacement symbols include wild symbols, bonus symbols, and multiplier symbols. After each game, the replacement symbols are shifted, and used replacement symbols are randomly replaced to vary the possibilities for each game. The player is incentivized to play longer due to the possibility of using valuable replacement symbols in the symbol array and the possibility of very high awards being granted by multiple special symbols being displayed.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to golf balls consisting of a multi-layer core and a cover. The multi-layer core includes at least one layer formed from a relatively soft or low modulus HNP composition and at least one layer formed from a relatively hard or high modulus HNP composition.

Abstract: Golf balls having a multi-layered core made of a foamed composition are provided. The core preferably has a foam inner core (center) and surrounding thermoset or thermoplastic outer core layer. Preferably, a polyurethane foam composition is used to form the foam center. The foam inner core preferably includes a fully-foamed center region and a partially or completely-collapsed foam outer region. The hardness of the fully-foamed region is different than the hardness of the collapsed foam region. Non-foamed thermoset or thermoplastic materials such as polybutadiene rubbers or ethylene acid copolymer ionomer may be used to form the outer core layer. The ball further includes a cover that may be multi-layered. The foam cores have good resiliency.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the use of a fatty acid (meth)acrylic acid salt in a golf ball layer. The fatty acid (meth)acrylic acid salt may be added to one or more portions of a golf ball including a core, intermediate, or cover layer. For example, in one embodiment, the fatty acid (meth)acrylic acid salt may be blended with a polybutadiene rubber material. In another embodiment, the fatty acid (meth)acrylic acid salt of the present invention may be blended with an ionomer. In some embodiments, the fatty acid (meth)acrylic acid salt may be blended with a formulation including both a polybutadiene rubber component and an ionomer.

Abstract: A golf ball including a core; an inner cover layer formed from a thermoplastic composition and having a thickness of about 0.005 inches to 0.40 inches and a surface hardness of about 60 Shore D or greater; and an outer cover layer formed from a thermoset material and having a thickness of about 0.01 inches to 0.05 inches and a surface hardness of about 60 Shore D or less. The thermoplastic composition has a first melt flow index at 280° C. under a 10-kg load of less than about 35 g/10 min and a second melt flow index at 265° C. under a 5-kg load of less than about 10 g/10 min.

Abstract: Golf balls having a very high positive gradient multilayer core are provided. The multilayer core includes an outer core layer and a very soft, low compression inner core layer. The inner core layer is formed from an unfoamed composition and has a center hardness that is at least 40 Shore C points less than the outer surface hardness of the outer core layer.

Abstract: Multi-layered golf balls containing a three-layered core assembly are provided. Preferably, at least one of the core layers is formed from a thermoplastic composition that comprises: a) thermoplastic non-acid polymer, and b) plasticizer. In one preferred embodiment, the inner core is made of a first thermoset composition, for example, polybutadiene rubber; and the intermediate core layer is made of a thermoplastic composition; and the outer core is made of a second thermoset composition. A fatty acid ester such as ethyl oleate is preferably used as the plasticizer. Suitable non-acid polymers include, for example, polyesters, polyamides, polyolefins, and polyurethanes. The core assembly has a relatively high resiliency at given compressions.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are heterogeneous golf ball compositions comprising a matrix formed from a thermosetting polymer composition and discrete particles of crosslinked rubber dispersed within the matrix.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to an improved multi-layered core golf ball wherein each core layer comprises its own specific hardness gradient (positive, negative or a combination) in addition to an overall specific hardness gradient from one core layer to the next.

Abstract: Golf balls having at least one layer comprising a polymer composition comprising a reaction mixture of a base polymer and at least one regenerating-type multi-functional antioxidant. A regenerating-type multi-functional antioxidant has at least two differing moieties selected for example from the group consisting of phenols, phosphites, amines or combinations thereof, and is macromolecular, having a molecular weight of at least 2,000 g/mol. and up to 2,000,000. The at least one layer may comprise at least one regenerating-type multi-functional antioxidant in an amount of from 0.10 to about 2.5 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the base polymer, or of less than 0.50 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the base polymer, or of less than 0.095 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the base polymer. The base polymer can comprise ionomer resin composition(s), polyurethane composition(s) and/or rubber composition(s).

Abstract: Multi-layered golf balls having at least one layer made of a polyester composition containing a polyester thermoplastic elastomer and plasticizer are provided. The plasticizers help reduce the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the composition and various plasticizers may be used. For example, the composition may include alkyl oleate plasticizers such as ethyl oleate and octyl oleate. Polyester-ether block copolymers are particularly preferred. The golf ball includes a core having at least one layer and a cover having at least one layer. The polyester composition may be used to form any core, cover, or other layer in the golf ball.

Abstract: A golf ball includes a core having an outer surface, a geometric center, and a soft transition region adjacent to the outer surface. The soft transition region has a thickness of about 4 mm or less and includes about 2 to 10 percent of a trans-polybutadiene isomer. An outer cover layer has a hardness of about 50 Shore M or greater. The core outer surface hardness is greater than the hardness at the geometric center to define a positive hardness gradient of about 10 to 48 Shore C. The core has a secondary gradient quotient, GQ?, of 1.5 to 7.25, GQ? being defined by the equation: G ? + T 10 × COR where G? is the positive hardness gradient in Shore C, T is the percent trans-polybutadiene isomer at the core outer surface, and COR is the coefficient of restitution of the core measured at an incoming velocity of 125 ft/s.

Abstract: A golf ball includes a single core having an outer surface and a geometric center. The core is formed from a substantially homogenous rubber composition. An inner cover layer is disposed about the core, the inner cover including a high-acid ionomer and having a material hardness of about 66 to 75 Shore D. The high-acid ionomer has an acid content of about 16% or greater. An outer cover layer is disposed about the inner cover layer, the outer cover including a polyurethane and having a material hardness of about 38 Shore D to about 56 Shore D. The core surface hardness is from 0 Shore C to 15 Shore C lower than the geometric center hardness to define a hardness gradient.

Abstract: Multi-layered golf balls containing a three-layered cover assembly are provided. For example, a cover assembly having an inner cover, intermediate cover, and outer cover layer may be prepared. At least one of the cover layers is formed from a thermoplastic composition that preferably comprises: a) thermoplastic non-acid polymer, and b) plasticizer. A fatty acid ester such as ethyl oleate is preferably used as the plasticizer. Suitable non-acid polymers include, for example, polyesters, polyamides, polyolefins, and polyurethanes. The cover assembly has good impact durability and helps provide the ball with relatively high resiliency at given compressions.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are polyurethane golf ball compositions. The compositions are prepared by adding a UV absorber to a polyol prior to reacting the polyol with an isocyanate to form a prepolymer, which is then reacted with a curing agent to form the polyurethane.

Abstract: A golf club head having a damping treatment, such as a viscoelastic polymer, is disclosed. The viscoelastic polymer may be in contact with the rear surface of a striking face of the golf club head. The viscoelastic polymer may have a tangent of delta peak temperature between ?70 degrees Celsius and ?20 degrees Celsius at a 1 Hz frequency. An elastic modulus (E), in megapascals (MPa), of the viscoelastic polymer has a relationship to a striking face thickness (t), in millimeters (mm), defined by Ê??14{circumflex over (t)}+305. The elastic modulus (E), in megapascals (MPa), of the viscoelastic polymer has a relationship to an effective stiffness (S) of the striking face, in gigapascals per meter (GPa/m), defined by Ê??1.16?+258.33. The viscoelastic polymer may cover a portion of the rear surface of the striking face or may substantially fill a cavity of the golf club head.

Abstract: Golf balls comprising a multi-layer core and a cover are disclosed. The multi-layer core comprises at least one intermediate core layer formed from a metallic, composite, or inorganic/organic hybrid composition.

Abstract: Methods for making golf balls and golf ball components using three-dimensional (3D) additive manufacturing systems are provided. The golf ball includes at least one three-dimensional piece. Preferably, a continuous liquid interface printing method is used to make the three-dimensional structure. Ultraviolet (UV)-light polymerizable materials are used in the method. The method may be used to make single-piece or multi-piece balls. For example, the ball may include an inner core produced by the liquid interface printing method. An outer core layer may be disposed about the inner core, and a cover comprising inner and outer cover layers may encapsulate the core assembly to form the finished golf ball. The outer core and cover layers may be made using conventional molding technologies or methods of this invention.

Abstract: Multi-layered golf balls containing a two or three-layered cover assembly are provided. In one embodiment, the cover assembly includes a relatively hard inner cover and relatively soft outer cover. Alternatively, the cover assembly may include a relatively soft inner cover with a relatively hard outer cover. Three-layered covers comprising an inner cover, intermediate cover, and outer cover layer also may be prepared. Preferably, at least one of the layers is formed from a thermoplastic composition that preferably comprises: a) ethylene acid copolymer, b) plasticizer, and c) cation source. A fatty acid ester such as ethyl oleate is preferably used as the plasticizer. The cover assembly has good impact durability and helps provide the ball with relatively high resiliency at given compressions.