Patents by Inventor Hideo Matsunaga

Hideo Matsunaga has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • GOLF CLUB HEAD
    Publication number: 20100304889
    Abstract: A golf club head having a hollow construction includes a face part having a ball-impacting surface and a first main rib and a second main rib disposed on the inner surface of the face part. The first main rib extends from a crown side to a sole side, and the second main rib extends from a hosel side to a toe-side part of the sole side, the first and second main ribs intersecting each other. The material thickness on a toe side of the face part, with the first main rib being the boundary, is formed so as to be thinner than the material thickness on a heel side of the face part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2009
    Publication date: December 2, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kozue Wada, Hideo Matsunaga
  • Golf Club Head
    Publication number: 20100292023
    Abstract: This invention provides a golf club head including a face member. The face member includes a face portion forming a face, and a crown extending portion extending backward from the upper edge of the face portion. The width of the crown extending portion in a face to back direction at the toe side is larger than that in the face to back direction at the heel side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Publication date: November 18, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hideo Matsunaga, Makoto Kubota, Masaomi Hiruta
  • Golf club head
    Patent number: 7819758
    Abstract: This invention provides a golf club head including a face member. The face member includes a face portion forming a face, and a crown extending portion extending backward from the upper edge of the face portion. The width of the crown extending portion in a face to back direction at the toe side is larger than that in the face to back direction at the heel side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideo Matsunaga, Makoto Kubota, Masaomi Hiruta
  • Golf club head
    Patent number: 7819759
    Abstract: The present invention provides a golf club head capable of increasing carry on average even if being used by an amateur golfer who is prone to hit a ball by varied hit points of clubface. A golf club head 1 has a face part 2, a crown part 3, a sole part 4, a side part 5, and a hosel part 6, which are formed of titanium or a titanium alloy. A thick part 10 is provided near the central portion in the toe-heel direction of the rear portion of the crown part 3. The distance a between a foremost portion 10f the thick part 10 and the foremost portion of the crown part 3 is 20 to 80% of the total length L of the crown part 3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideo Matsunaga, Makoto Kubota, Masaomi Hiruta
  • Golf club head
    Patent number: 7798916
    Abstract: This invention provides a hollow metal golf club head including at least a face portion, sole portion, side portion, and crown portion. This golf club head includes a head main body having an opening in the face portion, and a face plate engaged and welded with the opening. The head main body comprises a protruding portion which forms a part of the face portion and protrudes upward from a central portion, in a toe-and-heel direction, of a corner portion between the face portion and the sole portion in the golf club head. The face plate comprises s a recessed portion which extends upward from the lower edge of the face plate and engages with the protruding portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Hideo Matsunaga, Makoto Kubota, Masaomi Hiruta
  • Hollow golf club head
    Patent number: 7798915
    Abstract: This invention provides a hollow golf club head in which the ratio of the average thickness of a sole portion to that of a crown portion is 1:0.3 to 0.8. At least two regions having thicknesses different from each other are formed on the crown portion, and the area of the thinnest region of the regions having thicknesses different from each other in the crown portion is larger than that of the thickest region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hideo Matsunaga
  • Golf club head
    Publication number: 20100234135
    Abstract: A golf club head includes a portion with different thickness in a face portion. A region having a maximum thickness and a region having a minimum thickness are formed on a back of the face portion. An inclined portion with varying thickness is provided between those regions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2010
    Publication date: September 16, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD
    Inventor: Hideo Matsunaga
  • GOLF CLUB, METHOD FOR CHANGING SHAFT INSERTION DEPTH OF GOLF CLUB, AND METHOD FOR REPLACING SHAFT OF GOLF CLUB
    Publication number: 20100234123
    Abstract: A golf club, includes: a head; a shaft; a shaft case, having a cylindrical shape and fixed to a leading end of the shaft, a hosel, mounted on the head, wherein: the shaft case is inserted into the hosel from an upper end of the hosel; and the shaft case is fixed to the hosel so that an insertion depth of the shaft into the hosel is changed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2009
    Publication date: September 16, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Fumiaki SATO, Hiroshi TAKAHASHI, Hideo MATSUNAGA
  • Golf club head
    Patent number: 7785213
    Abstract: A golf club head includes a metallic head body 1 having a cavity 10 therein and an opening 8 being formed in a face part 2 therethrough to the cavity, and a metallic face plate 9 welded to the opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Hideo Matsunaga, Makoto Kubota
  • Golf club head
    Patent number: 7753808
    Abstract: A golf club head includes a portion with different thickness in a face portion. A region having a maximum thickness and a region having a minimum thickness are formed on a back of the face portion. An inclined portion with varying thickness is provided between those regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hideo Matsunaga
  • Wood-type golf club head
    Patent number: 7749101
    Abstract: A wood-type golf club head includes a metal sole portion, an elastic body and a weight member. At least one recess is defined in the metal sole portion to extend in a front-rear direction over at least half-length of a front-rear length of the sole portion. The elastic body is embedded in the recess. The weight member is fixed to the recess to cover the elastic body. The weight member is flush with the sole portion. A total area of the recess is in a range of 10% to 60% of that of the sole portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasunori Imamoto, Hideo Shimazaki, Hideo Matsunaga
  • METHOD OF ANALYSIS FOR KINETIC PROPERTIES OF GOLF CLUB HEAD AND GOLF CLUB THEREFOR
    Publication number: 20100160072
    Abstract: The accuracy or computation speed of analysis of a club head using the finite element method is improved. In a method of analysis of a golf club head, a model of the golf club head represented by a set of elements including tetrahedral solid elements 30 is prepared on a computer, nodes 32 are provided at the vertexes and on at least one side of the tetrahedral solid element, and the kinetic properties of the golf club head are computed by the finite element method in which the elements and nodes of the model are used and the nodes are made output points of computation. At this time, in at least some of the tetrahedral solid elements, the number of nodes provided per one element is made not fewer than ten.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2008
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hideo Matsunaga, Kozue Wada
  • GOLF CLUB HEAD
    Publication number: 20100160074
    Abstract: A golf club head having a hollow construction produces a characteristic low ball hitting sound to accommodate the diversity of golfers' preferences for ball hitting sounds even if the volume of the golf club head is increased to 430 to 500 cc and the weight thereof is decreased to 160 to 220 g. In a golf club head having a hollow construction and including a face part, a sole part, a crown part, and a side part, in which the head volume is 430 to 500 cc, and the head weight is 160 to 220 g, the area of the sole part is increased so that the primary natural frequency of the sole part is 2400 Hz or less, and a weight is formed at a position of the center of vibration in the sole part on the inner surface on the hollow construction side of the sole part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2009
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kozue WADA, Wataru Ban, Hideo Matsunaga
  • METHOD OF ANALYSIS FOR KINETIC PROPERTIES OF GOLF CLUB HEAD AND GOLF CLUB THEREFOR
    Publication number: 20100161294
    Abstract: The accuracy or computation speed of analysis of a club head using the finite element method is increased. In a method of analysis of a golf club head, a model of a golf club head represented by the collection of elements including polygonal shell elements 30 each having three or four vertexes is prepared on a computer, six or more nodes 32 are provided at the vertexes and on at least one side of the element, and the kinetic properties of the golf club head are computed by the finite element method in which the elements and nodes of the model are used and the nodes are made output points of computation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2008
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hideo Matsunaga, Kozue Wada
  • GOLF CLUB AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING PROPERTIES THEREOF
    Publication number: 20100144459
    Abstract: According to one aspect of the invention, a golf club includes: a head having a hosel having a hosel hole; a shaft; a shaft case having a shaft insertion hole to which one end of the shaft is inserted and configured to be inserted to the hosel hole; and a ring-shaped screw member configured to be screwed into one end of the hosel to fix the shaft case in the hosel hole, and to be fitted with an outer face of an one end of the shaft case so as not to contact with the shaft directly, wherein an axis of the shaft insertion hole is nonparallel to an axis of the hosel hole, and an inner face of the hosel hole and an outer face of the shaft case includes a triangular or more polygonal cross-sectional face that is perpendicular to the axis of the hosel hole.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2009
    Publication date: June 10, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Fumiaki SATO, Hiroshi TAKAHASHI, Hideo MATSUNAGA
  • GOLF CLUB HEAD
    Publication number: 20100105501
    Abstract: A golf club head maintains a low weight of a face part, keeps the resilience property of the face part in the rule conformity range, and prevents the resilience performance from decreasing even when a ball is hit by a face part deviating from the sweet spot. The golf club head has a sole, a crown, a toe, and a heel and comprises a face part formed of a metallic material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2009
    Publication date: April 29, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kozue Wada, Hideo Matsunaga
  • Golf club head
    Patent number: 7686707
    Abstract: This invention provides a hollow golf club head having a first viscoelastic body made of a first viscoelastic material and a second viscoelastic body made of a second viscoelastic material with a loss coefficient the temperature dependence of which is different from that of a loss coefficient of the first viscoelastic material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideo Matsunaga, Wataru Ban, Hideo Shimazaki
  • Golf club head
    Patent number: 7686706
    Abstract: This invention provides a golf club head including a head main body, a face plate and a hollow portion. The head main body includes an opening in a face portion, and the opening is provided with a plurality of pawls to receive the face plate which is to fit in the opening. The pawls include a large pawl and a small pawl. The large pawl is arranged in each of a heel-side upper portion and a toe-side lower portion and the small pawl is arranged in at least either one of a heel-side lower portion and a toe-side upper portion when the opening is divided into four vertically and horizontally about a face center as the center. The face plate is fitted in the opening and fixed by welding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideo Matsunaga, Makoto Kubota, Masaomi Hiruta
  • GOLF CLUB AND SHAFT REPLACING METHOD
    Publication number: 20100056292
    Abstract: According to an aspect of the invention, a golf club includes: a head having a hosel; a shaft; a shaft case fixed to one end of the shaft, and configured to be inserted into the hosel, the shaft case being formed in a substantially cylindrical shape; and a ring-shaped screw member configured to be screwed into one end of the hosel to fix the shaft case in the hosel, and to be fitted with an outer face of an one end of the shaft case, the ring-shaped screw member being noncontact with the shaft.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2008
    Publication date: March 4, 2010
    Applicant: BRIDGESTONE SPORTS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Fumiaki SATO, Hiroshi TAKAHASHI, Hideo MATSUNAGA
  • Golf club head
    Patent number: 7637823
    Abstract: This invention provides a hollow golf club head including a fixing member which includes a shaft body formed with a threaded portion at one end, and a head portion at the other end of the shaft body, a viscoelastic body having an opening through which the shaft body extends, a recess portion formed in a circumferential wall of the golf club head and in which the viscoelastic body is disposed, and a screw hole formed in a bottom portion of the recess portion and threadably engages with the threaded portion. The viscoelastic body is fixed between the head portion and the bottom portion by threadably engaging the threaded portion with the screw hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: Bridgestone Sports Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Hideo Shimazaki, Hideo Matsunaga, Wataru Ban