Patents by Inventor Richard C. Helmstetter

Richard C. Helmstetter 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).

  • Patent number: 5240252
    Abstract: A golf club head comprising toe and heel portions, a front wall defining a ball-striking face, and top and bottom walls, the bottom wall characterized as having a medial ridge, and as forming two shallow recesses, one recess between the ridge and the heel portion, and the other recess between the ridge and the toe portion, the recesses everywhere spaced rearwardly from the front wall, the one recess having an arcuate peripheral edge generally convex toward the heel portion, and the other recess having an arcuate peripheral edge generally convex toward the toe portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 1992
    Date of Patent: August 31, 1993
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Glenn H. Schmidt, Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: 5222734
    Abstract: An improvement in iron golf clubs in which an unusually short, hollow hosel is provided thereby reducing weight of hosel and bridge that can be redistributed to the blade to increase the momentum that can be imparted to a golf ball. The hosel is disposed at the heel end of the blade lapping the heel end from the upper edge of the heel end downwardly, there being no bridge between the blade and the hosel below the hosel, the hosel extending from a level above the top of the blade down to the sole, the hosel having a through bore of constant diameter extending from the top of the hosel down through the sole. The lower end of the hosel, in developmental view of the sole taken from below, extending at an obtuse angle forwardly from the heel end of the blade in the manner of a dog-leg. A shaft fixedly secured in the bore and extending completely to the sole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 1991
    Date of Patent: June 29, 1993
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Richard E. Parente, Richard De La Cruz, Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: 5180166
    Abstract: A metal wood golf club head has an elongated, forwardly facing front wall to strike a golf ball, and a hollow body rearwardly of the face plate, the front wall elongated in a first transverse direction toward a zone of connection to a club shaft, the body having a thin, metallic top wall merging with upper transverse extent of the front wall. The head also includes a first group of narrow, metallic, shock wave distributing dendrites extending from the front wall generally rearwardly adjacent the underside of the top wall and integral therewith; the dendrites spaced apart in a transverse direction, the maximum height dimensions of the dendrites below the underside of the top wall being between 0.050 and 0.100 inches and the dendrites being downwardly convex in cross-section. A second group of such shock wave distributing dendrites is also typically provided rearwardly of the first dendrite group, and which extend rearwardly to merge with the head rear wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1991
    Date of Patent: January 19, 1993
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Glenn H. Schmidt, John P. Sheehan, Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: 5165688
    Abstract: A golf club having a head and a shaft, an improved connection of the shaft to the head comprising a socket associated with the head, the socket having an inner wall tapering in an endwise direction generally toward the bottom of the head; the shaft having a lower end portion with circularly spaced cantilevered sections, and endwise extending slots formed between the sections; the cantilevered sections forcibly received endwise into the socket causing the sections to be deflected by the socket inner wall to reduce the width of the slots proximate lower ends of the sections closest to the bottom of the head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1991
    Date of Patent: November 24, 1992
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Glenn H. Schmidt, Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: 5163682
    Abstract: A metallic, golf club head having a hollow interior, comprising a ball-striking front wall and the head having walls at the top, bottom, rear, heel and toe of the head; the front wall having variable thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 1991
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1992
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Glenn H. Schmidt, Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: 5067715
    Abstract: A metal wood golf club head has an elongated, forwardly facing front wall to strike a golf ball, and a hollow body rearwardly of the face plate, the front wall elongated in a first transverse direction toward connection to a club shaft, the body having a thin, metallic top wall merging with upper transverse extent of the front wall. The head also includes a first group of narrow, metallic, shock wave distributing dendrites extending from the front wall generally rearwardly adjacent the underside of the top wall and integral therewith; the dendrites spaced apart in a transverse direction, the maximum height dimensions of the dendrites below the underside of the top wall being between 0.050 and 0.100 inches and the dendrites being downwardly convex in cross-section. A second group of such shock wave distributing dendrites is also typically provided rearwardly of the first dendrite group, and which extend rearwardly to merge with the head rear wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1990
    Date of Patent: November 26, 1991
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Glenn H. Schmidt, John P. Sheehan, Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: 5067711
    Abstract: An improvement in iron golf clubs in which an unusually short, hollow hosel is provided thereby reducing weight of hosel and bridge that can be redistributed to the blade to increase the momentum that can be imparted to a golf ball. The hosel is disposed at the heel end of the blade lapping the heel end from the upper edge of the heel end downwardly, there being no bridge between the blade and the hosel below the hosel, the hosel extending from a level above the top of the blade down to the sole, the hosel having a through bore of constant diameter extending from the top of the hosel down through the sole. The lower end of the hosel, in developmental view of the sole taken from below, extending at an obtuse angle forwardly from the heel end of the blade in the manner of a dog-leg. A shaft fixedly secured in the bore and extending completely to the sole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1990
    Date of Patent: November 26, 1991
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Richard E. Parente, Richard De La Cruz, Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: 5042806
    Abstract: A golf club, of the "metal wood" type, includes a shaft attached to a head that is formed from a foam-filled metal shell. The shell has a heel portion that includes a substantially continuous hollow internal tube extending from the top surface of the shell to the bottom surface that forms the sole of the club head. The shaft extends through the entire length of the tube, with the end of the shaft lying flush with the sole, thereby eliminating the need for a hosel to connect the shaft to the head. The elimination of the hosel allows substantially all of the mass of the club head to be "effective mass", which contributes to the transfer of energy from the player to the ball, for greater shot distance. The extension of the shaft to the sole provides dramatically increased "head feel" for greater shot control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1989
    Date of Patent: August 27, 1991
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventor: Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: 4995609
    Abstract: An improvement in iron golf clubs in which an unusually short, hollow hosel is provided thereby reducing weight of hosel and bridge that can be redistributed to the blade to increase the momentum that can be imparted to a golf ball. The hosel is disposed at the heel end of the blade lapping the heel end from the upper edge of the heel end downwardly, there being no bridge between the blade and the hosel below the hosel, the hosel extending from a level above the top of the blade down to the sole, the hosel having a through bore of constant diameter extending from the top of the hosel down through the sole. The lower end of the hosel, in development view of the sole taken from below, extending at an obtuse angle forwardly from the heel end of the blade in the manner of a dog-leg. A shaft fixedly secured in the bore and extending completely to the sole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 1989
    Date of Patent: February 26, 1991
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Richard E. Parente, Richard De La Cruz, Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: D318087
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 1989
    Date of Patent: July 9, 1991
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventor: Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: D321920
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 1989
    Date of Patent: November 26, 1991
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Richard E. Parente, Richard De La Cruz, Richard C. Helmstetter
  • Patent number: D322651
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 1988
    Date of Patent: December 24, 1991
    Assignee: Callaway Golf Company
    Inventors: Richard E. Parente, Richard De La Cruz, Richard C. Helmstetter