METHOD OF MAKING A TITANIUM-CONTAINING GOLF CLUB HEAD AND SUCH HEAD

Abstract

A method of making a golf club head and the head itself which club head has two or more portions. Each portion comprises metals of differing characteristics. One portion may be made of ductile metal to facilitate bending.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] Golf club iron heads including hosels have been made of high strength titanium alloys. Such heads have for reasons of “feel” and scratch resistance been favored. However, such head hosel portions have lacked ductility to be readily adjusted by bending for loft and lie angle adjustment without an unacceptable failure rate. Lower strength titanium, such as unalloyed titanium, irons have less favorable “feel” and scratch resistance but have improved ductility for hosel bending for loft and lie angle adjustment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Broadly, the present invention is a method of creating a golf club head in which two or more head portions of differing material are fabricated and thereafter joined to form the complete club head. The hosel and the adjacent head portion subject to strain when the club head is adjusted is composed of a ductile material while the remaining head portion is comprised of strong abrasion-resistant material.

[0003] Preferably both portions are titanium or titanium alloys. In particular, commercially pure titanium is useful for the club head portion which will be stressed and distorted to achieve adjustment and a titanium-aluminum-vanadium high strength alloy for the remainder of the head.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a golf club head with a partial view of the shaft attached;

[0005] FIG. 2 is an exploded elevational view of a club head composed of two portions;

[0006] FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the two head portions of FIG. 2 joined together;

[0007] FIG. 4 is an elevational view of a club head composed of three portions;

[0008] FIG. 5a is a front elevational view of the head including the hosel; and

[0009] FIG. 5b is a front elevational view of the head and hosel after bending to increase loft.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] The method of the present invention involves fabrication of two or more portions of a club head followed by joining the portions together to form a complete head including a hosel. An iron head includes three portions which are the (1) ball-striking body portion (2) the hosel which receives the shaft and (3) the transition or neck portion between portions (1) and (2). In particular, the method permits casting the hosel-transition portion and ball-striking body of a golf iron head of differing materials and, in particular, differing titanium-containing materials.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the club head portion comprising the hosel-transition portion is formed of a titanium-base alloy material which is low strength and ductile such as commercially pure titanium which has minor amounts of trace elements i.e. 1% or less. The remaining head portion, herein also referred to as the “body”, is cast of a high strength alloy of titanium. Titanium having aluminum and vanadium as alloying elements is preferred. High strength alloys have aluminum in the range of 2.5%-6.75% by wt. and vanadium in the 2% to 4.5% by wt. range. In particular, such alloys include titanium —6Al—4V in which aluminum is 5.5 to 6.75% by wt. and vanadium is 3.5 to 4.5% by wt. with the remainder being titanium with minor amounts of trace elements of 1% or less. Another high strength alloy is Ti-3-2.5 in which aluminum is 2.5 to 3.5% by wt. and vanadium 2.0 to 3.0% by wt. with remaining material being titanium with minor amounts of trace elements i.e. 1% or less.

[0012] The hosel, including transition portion, and the body are separately produced using investment casting techniques and the two (2) parts are thereafter joined by electron beam welding or other suitable welding or other joining technique. The head may also be made of three or more portions. For example, (1) the ball-striking body portion and (2) the hosel, including transition portion. Since the hosel transition or neck portion is where bending takes place it should be made of a ductile titanium material. Additionally, (3) a third portion comprised of a high density material may be located so as to adjust center of gravity and moment of inertia of the golf clubs as an insert 25 in the sole of the club head (see dotted lines in FIG. 3).

[0013] Turning to FIGS. 1, 4, 5a and 5b, golf club 10 includes head 11 and shaft 12. Shaft 12 is inserted into and secured to hosel 14. Head 11 also includes body 16 having ball striking face 17, toe 18 and sole 20. Further shown is hosel-adjacent portion 15 which portion is between hosel 14 and face 17. With respect to FIGS. 2 and 3, body portion 22 is shown fabricated as a separate part and positioned in exploded view for attachment to the hosel-transition part 23 which hosel-transition part 23 includes hosel 24 and transition portion 26. In FIG. 3 the two parts are shown joined along joint line 28. In FIG. 4, another embodiment is shown in which body 22′, transition portion 26′ and hosel 24 are each fabricated as separate parts and thereafter joined as two weldments. Bending normally takes place in the location of the club head at or on either side of plane BA (see FIG. 2).

[0014] When a golf club is bent, both the body of the club head and the hosel are torqued one relative to the other. The transition or neck portion of the club is most stressed and deformed to allow the body and hosel to move relative to one another to accomplish the adjustment such as changing the loft angle The stressed volume of material comprising the transition or neck 15, 26 which is distorted extends from the front of the club head to the back of the club head. Distortion is caused to take place at the specific portion of the club's head neck area including hosel-adjacent portion 15 or transition portion 26 as the body and upper area of the hosel are restrained from distortion.

EXAMPLE 1

[0015] Body portion 22 was formed by investment casting of an alloy of titanium-aluminum-vanadium in which the titanium was nominally 90% and a second portion 23 consisting of hosel 24 and hosel-transition portion 26 was also formed by investment casting of commercially pure titanium metal (see FIG. 2). Portions 22 and 23 were joined along weld line 28 (see FIG. 3) to form club head 30.

[0016] In order to increase the loft of club head 30 body portion 22 and hosel weld 24 were subjected to a torque which caused bending. The loft was increased 1% as shown by angle A (see FIGS. 5a and 5b). No cracking or failure was observed.

EXAMPLE 2

[0017] The fabrication of a club head was repeated as described in Example 1 above.

[0018] Head 11 has a lie angle (the angle between the shaft and the ground (G) which may be decreased or increased by bending: The lie angle after bending is angle B on FIG. 1.

[0019] No cracking or failure was observed.

Claims

1. A method of forming a golf club head comprising

forming a first portion of the head including a hosel by casting such portion from a ductile metal, said first portion having a first connection surface;

forming a second portion of the head by casting such portion from a strong alloy, which second portion has a ball-striking surface and, a back surface and a second connecting surface between the ball-striking and back surfaces and thereafter

joining the two connecting surfaces of the two portions together to form such club head.

2. The method of

claim 1 in which the first portion includes that portion of the head that is stressed when the head is torqued relative to the hosel to adjust the club head loft or lie angles.

3. The method of

claim 1 in which the ductile metal is titanium with trace elements.

4. The method of

claim 1 in which the strong alloy is a titanium alloy.

5. The method of

claim 4 in which the titanium alloy includes aluminum and vanadium.

6. A method of forming a golf club head which head includes a hosel portion and a body portion comprising

casting the hosel portion of material including titanium which material is ductile after casting,

casting the body portion of material including material which is strong after casting, and

positioning the two portions in abutting positions, and therefore joining such portions together.

7. The method of

claim 6 in which the hosel material is commercially pure titanium and the body material is a titanium, aluminum and vanadium alloy.

8. The method of

claim 6 in which the body material has 2.5 to 6.75% by wt. aluminum and 2 to 4.5% by wt. vanadium and the remainder titanium and trace elements.

9. The method of

claim 6 in which the body material has 6% aluminum, 4% vanadium and the remainder titanium trace elements.

10. A golf club head made by the practice of the method of

claim 1.

11. A golf club head made by the practice of the method of

claim 2.

12. A golf club head made by the practice of the method of

claim 3.

13. A golf club head made by the practice of the method of

claim 4.

14. A golf club head made by the practice of the method of

claim 5.

15. A golf club head made by the practice of the method of

claim 6.

16. A golf club head made by the practice of the method of

claim 7.

17. A golf club head made by the practice of the method of

claim 8.

18. A golf club head made by the practice of the method of

claim 9.