Golf club head

Abstract

A golf club head includes a face frame defining a frame space, a supporting wall extending from the face frame, a fiber wall extending from and cooperating with a rear peripheral edge of the face frame and a peripheral edge of the supporting wall to confine an inner space thereamong, and a face panel received in the frame space and integrally connected to an inner face of the face frame which confines the frame space.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/844,319, filed by the applicant on Apr. 27, 2001, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] This invention relates to a golf club head of a golf club, more particularly to a golf club head with a composite head body.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] The golf club head disclosed in the aforesaid co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/844,319 includes an open head body that is integrally connected to a fiber reinforced body. The open head body is a molded single piece of titanium alloy, and has a face panel portion and a rear wall portion extending from the face panel portion. Although the golf club head is light weight by virtue of the fiber reinforced body, the golf club head is costly, since the open head body of the golf club head is made from titanium alloy to maintain the strength thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a golf club head of a golf club that is capable of overcoming the aforesaid drawback as encountered in the aforesaid co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/844,319.

[0007] Accordingly, a golf club head of a golf club of this invention comprises: a face frame having opposite front and rear sides, defining a frame space, and further having a looped rear peripheral edge and a looped inner face that confines the frame space, the face frame being made from a first metal; a supporting wall extending rearwardly from the face frame in a transverse direction relative to the face frame, and having a peripheral edge, the supporting wall being made from a second metal; a fiber wall integrally connected to and extending between the peripheral edge of the supporting wall and the rear peripheral edge of the face frame, and cooperating with the supporting wall and the face frame to confine an inner space thereamong, the inner space being in spatial communication with the frame space, the fiber wall being made from a resin-impregnated fiber material; and a face panel received in the frame space and integrally connected to the inner face to cover the frame space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention,

[0009] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golf club head embodying this invention;

[0010] FIGS. 2 and 3 are perspective views to illustrate how a supporting wall is integrally connected to a face frame of the golf club head of FIG. 1 according to a method for making the golf club head of FIG. 1;

[0011] FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic sectional views to illustrate how a fiber wall of the golf club head of FIG. 1 is formed;

[0012] FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view to illustrate how the fiber wall is integrally connected to the assembly of the face frame and the supporting wall via a mold;

[0013] FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view to illustrate how the face panel is integrally connected to the assembly of the fiber wall, the face frame, and the supporting wall;

[0014] FIGS. 8 to 10 are schematic sectional views to illustrate an alternative method of forming and integrally connecting the fiber wall to the assembly of the face frame and the supporting wall;

[0015] FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the golf club head;

[0016] FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view to illustrate how a face panel is integrally connected to an assembly of a single piece of a supporting wall and a face frame and a fiber wall of the second embodiment; and

[0017] FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view of the single piece and the face panel of the second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0018] FIGS. 1, 7, and 8 illustrate a preferred embodiment of a golf club head according to this invention.

[0019] The golf club head includes: a face frame 32 having opposite front and rear sides, defining a frame space 320, and further having a looped rear peripheral edge 321 and a looped inner face 322 that confines the frame space 320, the face frame 32 being made from a first metal; a supporting wall 31 extending rearwardly from the face frame 32 in a transverse direction relative to the face frame 32, and having a peripheral edge 315, the supporting wall 31 being made from a second metal; a fiber wall 35 integrally connected to and extending between the peripheral edge 315 of the supporting wall 31 and the rear peripheral edge 321 of the face frame 32, and cooperating with the supporting wall 31 and the face frame 32 to confine an inner space 30 thereamong, the inner space 30 being in spatial communication with the frame space 320, the fiber wall 35 being made from a resin-impregnated fiber sheet material 34; and a face panel 33 received in the frame space 320 and integrally connected to the inner face 322 to cover the frame space 320.

[0020] Referring further to FIG. 2, the face frame 32 has opposite top and bottom walls 324, 325. The supporting wall 31 extends rearwardly from the bottom wall 325 of the face frame 32. The top wall 324 of the face frame 32 has a flanged end 3241 which is formed with a rod-receiving hole 3242. The golf club head further includes a shaft-connecting rod 311 that projects upwardly from an upper surface 312 of the supporting wall 31 through the rod-receiving hole 3242 so as to serve as a neck of the golf club head which is to be connected to a shaft of the golf club (not shown).

[0021] The top wall 324 of the face frame 32 is formed with two opposing first engaging grooves 323. The supporting wall 31 has a distal end 313 that is distal from the face frame 32 and that is formed with a second engaging groove 3131. The fiber wall 35 is formed with a plurality of engaging tongues 351 that extend into and that engage the first and second engaging grooves 323, 3131, respectively.

[0022] Preferably, the first metal is titanium alloy, the second metal is steel, and the bottom wall 325 of the face frame 32 is integrally connected to the supporting wall 31 via known welding techniques. The face panel 33 is preferably made from a resilient metal, such as titanium alloy.

[0023] Referring to FIGS. 11 to 13, a second embodiment of the golf club head of this invention is shown to have a structure similar to that of the previous embodiment, except that the face frame 32′, the supporting wall 31′, and the shaft-connecting rod 311′ are formed as a single piece that is made from steel via known molding techniques.

[0024] FIGS. 3 to 7 illustrate consecutive steps for forming the first embodiment of the golf club head according to a method of this invention.

[0025] The method includes the steps of: forming an open head body 100 (see FIG. 3) that includes the face frame 32 and the supporting wall 31 which is integrally connected to the face frame 32 by known welding techniques; forming the fiber wall 35 of resin-impregnated fiber sheet material (see FIG. 7) that is integrally connected to the rear peripheral edge 321 of the face frame 32 and the peripheral edge 315 of the supporting wall 31 of the open head body 100 (see FIGS. 7 and 12); placing the face panel 33 in the frame space 320, and integrally connecting the face panel 33 to the inner face 322 of the face frame 32 via known welding techniques (see FIG. 7); and surface finishing the assembly of the face panel 33, the face frame 32, the supporting wall 31, and the fiber wall 35.

[0026] The fiber wall 35 is formed by thermal molding stacked resin-impregnated fiber sheets in a first mold 4 before connecting the fiber wall 35 to the supporting wall 31 and the face frame 32 (see FIGS. 4 and 5). The mold 4 includes a male mold half 41 that defines a convex surface 43, and a female mold half 42 that defines a concave surface 44 which complements the convex surface 43 of the male mold half 41. The resin-impregnated fiber sheets are stacked on the molding surface of the male mold half 41, and are thermally pressed against the convex and concave surfaces 43, 44 during the molding process. The fiber sheets are preferably carbon fibers. Molding is carried out at a temperature of about 130° C. for 30 minutes in order to form the fiber wall 35.

[0027] The fiber wall 35 is subsequently integrally connected to the face frame 32 and the supporting wall 31 by applying an adhesive, such as epoxy resin, to the engaging tongues 351 of the fiber wall 35, the engaging groove 3131 in the supporting wall 31, and the engaging grooves 323 in the face frame 32, and thermally molding the assembly of the fiber wall 35, the supporting wall 31, the face frame 32 and the adhesive in a second mold 5 (see FIG. 6). The molding is carried out at a temperature of about 130° C. for 60 minutes in order to connect the fiber wall 35 securely to the open head body 100.

[0028] FIGS. 8 to 10 illustrate consecutive steps for forming the first embodiment of the golf club head according to another method of this invention.

[0029] The method is similar to the previous method shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, except that the fiber wall 35 is formed and is integrally connected to the face frame 32 and the supporting wall 31 by connecting the resin-impregnated fiber sheet material 34 to the peripheral edge 315 of the supporting wall 31 and the rear peripheral edge 321 of the face frame 32 (see FIG. 8) to confine the inner space 30, placing an air bag 38 in the inner space 30, placing the assembly of the resin-impregnated fiber sheet material 34, the supporting wall 31, the face frame 32 and the air bag 38 in a mold 7 (see FIG. 9), and heating the mold 7 and blowing air into the air bag 38 with the use of a blower device 382 so as to thermally mold and press the fiber sheet material 34 against an inner wall of the mold 7 (see FIG. 10) in order to form the fiber wall 35. After formation of the fiber wall 35, the air bag 38 can be easily accessed and removed from the frame space 320. The air blown into the air bag 38 is pressurized to a range of about 3 to 7 Kg/cm2. Molding is carried out at a temperature of about 130° C.

[0030] Preferably, the sheet material 34 of the fiber wall 35 includes 4 to 10 resin-impregnated fiber sheets.

[0031] With the inclusion of the face frame 32 in the golf club head of this invention, the manufacturing cost of the golf club head can be reduced, and the drawback as encountered in the aforesaid co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/844,319 can be eliminated.

[0032] With the invention thus explained, it is apparent that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It is therefore intended that the invention be limited only as recited in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A golf club head comprising:

a face frame having opposite front and rear sides, defining a frame space, and further having a looped rear peripheral edge, and a looped inner face that confines said frame space, said face frame being made from a first metal;

a supporting wall extending rearwardly from said face frame in a transverse direction relative to said face frame, and having a peripheral edge, said supporting wall being made from a second metal;

a fiber wall integrally connected to and extending between said peripheral edge of said supporting wall and said rear peripheral edge of said face frame, and cooperating with said supporting wall and said face frame to confine an inner space thereamong, said inner space being in spatial communication with said frame space, said fiber wall being made from a resin-impregnated fiber sheet material; and

a face panel received in said frame space and integrally connected to said inner face to cover said frame space.

2. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said face frame has a bottom wall, said supporting wall extending rearwardly from said bottom wall of said face frame, said face frame further having a top wall that is opposite to said bottom wall and that has a flanged end which is formed with a rod-receiving hole, said golf club head further comprising a shaft-connecting rod that projects upwardly from said supporting wall through said rod-receiving hole.

3. The golf club head of claim 2, wherein said top wall of said face frame is formed with two opposing first engaging grooves, said supporting wall having a distal end that is distal from said face frame and that is formed with a second engaging groove, said fiber wall being formed with a plurality of engaging tongues that extend into and that engage said first and second engaging grooves, respectively.

4. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said face frame is integrally formed with said supporting wall as a single piece, said first and second metals are steel, and said face panel is made from titanium alloy.

5. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said face frame is integrally connected to said supporting wall, said first metal is titanium alloy, said second metal is steel, and said face panel is made from titanium alloy.