GOLF CLUB HEAD HAVING MULTI-LAYERED STRIKING FACE
A golf club head having a multi-layered striking face is disclosed herein. More specifically, the golf club head in accordance with the present invention has an external frontal face layer, an internal rear face layer, and an intermediary sandwiched face layer juxtaposed between the external frontal face layer and the internal rear face layer. The intermediary sandwiched face layer may generally be made out of a polymeric material. The internal rear face layer may generally have a substantially non-uniform thickness formed via a substantially planar rear surface and a substantially non-planar frontal surface.
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The present application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/876,432, filed on Jul. 19, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates generally to a golf club head having a multi-layered striking face. More specifically, the striking face of the golf club head in accordance with the present invention is further comprised of an external frontal face layer, an internal rear face layer, and an intermediary sandwiched face layer juxtaposed between the external frontal face layer and the internal rear face layer.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONModern day golf club design has evolved since the early days of golf. The good news of all the technological advancements in golf club technology is that it makes the game of golf easier for golfers of all skill levels. However, all these advancements come with tremendous challenges for the golf club engineer.
One of the latest trends in golf club design is the utilization of multiple different materials in the same golf club head to take advantage of the individual performance characteristics the base material, and combining them to create a better performing golf club head. U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,382 to Deshmukh et al. shows another example of utilizing multiple different materials in a golf club head. More specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 6,406,382 to Deshmukh et al. contemplates using high density components such as tungsten, copper, and/or chromium in a golf club head to help improve the weighting of a golf club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,008 to Murphy et al. even goes as far as contemplating using light density composite materials having a material thickness in the range of 0.010 to 0.250 inches to form the body portion, to help save mass from portions of the golf club head not subjected to high stresses, allowing one to take advantage of the inherent properties of each of the fundamental material.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,527,650 to Reyes et al. contemplates using both heavy density tungsten material as well as lightweight composite material all within the same golf club head to take advantage of the inherent properties of both materials to improve the performance of a golf club head.
It should be noted that although the utilization of multi-material golf club head has been around, the industry has always been perplexed by the utilization of multi-material around the striking face portion of the golf clubhead due to the high amount of stress when impacting a golf ball. The present invention focuses on a golf club head having a multi-layered multi-material striking face of a golf club head to further improve the performance of a golf club head.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONOne aspect of the present invention is a golf club head comprising of a striking face portion located at a frontal portion of the golf club head and an aft rear portion attached to the rear of the striking face portion. The striking face portion further comprises of an external frontal face layer located at an external frontal portion of the striking face portion, an internal rear face layer located at an internal rear portion of the striking face portion, and an intermediary sandwiched face layer, juxtaposed between the external frontal face layer and the internal rear face layer; wherein the internal rear face layer has a non-uniform thickness created by a substantially planar rear surface and a substantially non-planar front surface.
In another aspect of the present invention is a golf club head comprising of a striking face portion located at a frontal portion of the golf club head and an aft rear portion attached to the rear of the striking face portion. The striking face portion further comprises of an external frontal face layer located at an external frontal portion of the striking face portion, an internal rear face layer located at an internal rear portion of the striking face portion, and an intermediary sandwiched face layer, juxtaposed between the external frontal face layer and the internal rear face layer; wherein the intermediary sandwiched face layer is made out of a polymeric material having a Shore D hardness of between about 55 to 75, wherein the intermediary sandwiched face layer has a non-uniform thickness, and wherein the intermediary sandwiched face layer has a rear surface that is substantially non-planar and a frontal surface that is substantially planar.
In another aspect of the present invention is a golf club head comprising of a striking face portion located at a frontal portion of the golf club head and an aft rear portion attached to the rear of the striking face portion. The striking face portion further comprises of an external frontal face layer located at an external frontal portion of the striking face portion, an internal rear face layer located at an internal rear portion of the striking face portion, and an intermediary sandwiched face layer, juxtaposed between the external frontal face layer and the internal rear face layer; wherein the internal rear face layer has a non-uniform thickness created by a substantially planar rear surface and a substantially non-planar front surface, wherein the internal rear face layer further comprises a thickened central region and a thinned perimeter region, wherein the thickened central region of the internal rear face layer has a thickness of between about 2.0 mm to about 4.0 mm, and the thinned perimeter region has a thickness of between about 1.5 mm to about 2.5 mm, wherein the intermediary sandwiched face layer is made out of a polymeric material having a Shore D hardness of between about 55 to 75, and wherein the intermediary sandwiched face layer has a non-uniform thickness, and wherein the intermediary sandwiched face layer has a rear surface that is substantially non-planar and a frontal surface that is substantially planar, wherein the intermediary sandwiched face layer further comprises a thinned central region and a thickened perimeter region, wherein the thinned central region of the intermediary sandwiched face layer has a thickness of between about 0.4 mm to about 1.0 mm, and the thickened perimeter region has a thickness of between about 1.3 mm to about 2.1 mm, and wherein the external frontal face layer has a uniform thickness.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, further serve to explain the principles of the invention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the invention.
The following detailed description describes the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.
Various inventive features are described below and each can be used independently of one another or in combination with other features. However, any single inventive feature may not address any or all of the problems discussed above or may only address one of the problems discussed above. Further, one or more of the problems discussed above may not be fully addressed by any of the features described below.
In order to show some of these various other factors that combine together to achieve the performance of the current inventive golf club head 100, various other figures are provided below illustrating some of these characteristics.
In this embodiment, we can see that the external frontal face layer 212 is generally a thin layer of metallic material such as titanium, as that is generally the preferred material used for the striking face portion of a golf club head 200. The external frontal face layer 212 may generally have a density of between about 4 grams/cc and about 5 grams/cc, more preferably between about 4.25 grams/cc and about 4.75 grams/cc, and most preferably about 4.5 grams/cc. However, it should be noted that the external frontal face layer 212 may also be made out of other metallic materials that is different from titanium such as steel, aluminum, or even composite type material all without departing from the scope and content of the present invention; so long as it is capable of withstanding the impact forces with a golf ball without cracking. This thin external frontal face layer 212 may generally fit inside an equally thin pocket 222 located at a frontal portion of the intermediary sandwiched face layer 214. The intermediary sandwiched face layer 214, as shown in this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, is generally made out of a polymeric material capable of absorbing the impact and vibration that the external frontal face layer 212 experiences when it impacts a golf ball. More information regarding the polymeric material can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 10,099,103 to Golden et al., as it relates to the discussion on polymeric filler material; the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. However, it should be noted that the intermediary sandwiched face layer 214 can be made out of alternate materials that fall within and outside of the polymeric material category without departing from the scope and content of the present invention so long as it has a material hardness it is between about Shore D of 55 to about Shore D of 75, more preferably between about Shore D of 60 to about Shore D of 70, more preferably shore D of 65. Finally, in this embodiment of the present invention shown in
It should be noted here that having this three layered construction for the frontal face layers 210 is critical to the proper functionality of the present invention. More specifically, the intermediary sandwiched face layer 214 is the critical component in this embodiment, as it provides the stability to absorb the impact forces experienced by the external frontal face layer 212. Moreover, the softer and more elastic material used for the intermediary sandwiched face layer 214 further helps improve performance of the golf club head by balancing the ball speed across the face.
It should be noted here that in this embodiment of the present invention, wherein the intermediate sandwiched face layer 714 is completely shielded from any external exposure, the polymeric material used to create the intermediate sandwiched face layer 714 could be made from a softer material than what is previously mentioned. More specifically, in this alternative embodiment of the present invention, the polymeric material for the intermediate sandwiched face layer 714 may have a Shore A hardness of between about 65 to about 90, more preferably a Shore A hardness of between about 70 to about 85, and most preferably a Shore A hardness of about 77.
Despite all of the benefits of improved performance and mass savings described above, utilizing this three layered striking face offers additional advantages as it relates to the Characteristic Time (CT) of a golf club head. CT, as currently known in the golfing industry, may generally relate to the amount of time a pendulum contacts the striking face of a golf club head after being dropped from various height that simulates different velocities. The velocity and time values, captured by an accelerometer attached to the pendulum, are then generally plotted against a function of the velocity. A linear trend line having a specific slope may be formed by the various data points, and the ultimate y-intercept may yield the CT value of the golf club head. More details regarding the exact apparatus and procedure used to acquire the CT value of a golf club head may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,094 to Pringle et al ('094 Patent), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
T=A+BV−k Eq. (1)
Wherein T equals the time for the velocity of the pendulum to rise from 5% to 95% of the maximum velocity recorded, B is the slope of the trend-line 1464 formed by the various data points 1462, V is the velocity of the pendulum test at the various data points 1462, and k is the exponential adjustment factor to minimize the error in the intercept value of the golf club head. The intercept between the trend-line 1464 and the y-axis, identified here as A, can be determined from the T, B, and V values above and may generally be the ultimate CT values used by the USGA which correlates to the ability of the golf club head to flex during impact with a golf ball.
It is worth noting here that, because the CT value here is determined based on the intercept A, the slope B of the trend-line 1464 formed by the various CT results of each individual data point 1462 from the pendulum test is an important factor that greatly affects the CT value. Because the current invention utilizes a three layered face construction having an intermediary sandwiched face layer that is made out of a polymeric material having a softer durometer, the slope B of the trend-line 1464 created by the various data points may generally be steeper than the slope of a traditional prior art golf club head. More specifically, the slope formed from the trend-line 1464 of the various data points 1462 may be known here at the “characteristic time slope”. The “characteristic time slope”, as defined in the current invention above, may generally be greater than about 5 and less than about 50, more preferably greater than about 10 and less than about 45, even more preferably greater than about 12.5 and less than about 30, and most preferably greater than about 15 and less than about 20 as shown in
Other than in the operating example, or unless otherwise expressly specified, all of the numerical ranges, amounts, values and percentages such as those for amounts of materials, moment of inertias, center of gravity locations, loft, draft angles, various performance ratios, and others in the aforementioned portions of the specification may be read as if prefaced by the word “about” even though the term “about” may not expressly appear in the value, amount, or range. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the above specification and attached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the present invention. At the very least, and not as an attempt to limit the application of the doctrine of equivalents to the scope of the claims, each numerical parameter should at least be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques.
Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the invention are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical value, however, inherently contains certain errors necessarily resulting from the standard deviation found in their respective testing measurements. Furthermore, when numerical ranges of varying scope are set forth herein, it is contemplated that any combination of these values inclusive of the recited values may be used.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the present invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.
Claims
1. A golf club head comprising:
- a striking face portion located at a frontal portion of said golf club head; said striking face portion further comprises; an external frontal face layer located at an external frontal portion of said striking face portion; an internal rear face layer located at an internal rear portion of said striking face portion; and an intermediary sandwiched face layer, juxtaposed between said external frontal face layer and said internal rear face layer,
- an aft rear portion attached to the rear of said striking face portion;
- wherein said internal rear face layer has a non-uniform thickness created by a substantially planar rear surface and a substantially non-planar front surface
- wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer further comprises a thinned central region and a thickened perimeter region, and
- wherein said thinned central region of said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a thickness of between about 0.4 mm to about 1.0 mm, and said thickened perimeter region has a thickness of about 1.7 mm.
2. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer completely separates said external front face layer from said internal rear face layer.
3. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said intermediary sandwich face layer is made out of a polymeric material.
4. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer is made out of a polymeric material having a Shore D hardness of between about 55 to about 75.
5. The golf club head of claim 4, wherein said polymeric material of said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a Shore D hardness of between about 60 to about 70.
6. The golf club head of claim 5, wherein said polymeric material of said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a Shore D hardness of about 65.
7. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a non-uniform thickness.
8. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a rear surface that is substantially non-planar.
9. The golf club head of claim 8, wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a frontal surface that is a substantially planar.
10. The golf club head of claim 8, wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a frontal surface that is substantially non-planar, forming a pocket.
11. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said external frontal face layer has a substantially uniform thickness.
12-14. (canceled)
15. The golf club head of claim 1, wherein said thinned central region of said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a thickness of between about 0.4 mm to about 0.6 mm, and said thickened perimeter region has a thickness of about 1.7 mm.
16. A golf club head comprising:
- a striking face portion located at a frontal portion of said golf club head; said striking face portion further comprises; an external frontal face layer located at an external frontal portion of said striking face portion; an internal rear face layer located at an internal rear portion of said striking face portion; and an intermediary sandwiched face layer, juxtaposed between said external frontal face layer and said internal rear face layer,
- an aft rear portion attached to the rear of said striking face portion;
- wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer is made out of a polymeric material having a Shore D hardness of between about 55 to 75,
- wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a non-uniform thickness,
- wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a rear surface that is substantially non-planar and a frontal surface that is substantially planar,
- wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer further comprises a thinned central region and a thickened perimeter region, and
- wherein said thinned central region of said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a thickness of between about 0.4 mm to about 1.0 mm, and said thickened perimeter region has a thickness of between about 1.5 mm to about 1.9 mm.
17. The golf club head of claim 16, wherein said polymeric material of said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a Shore D hardness of between about 60 to about 70.
18. The golf club head of claim 17, wherein said polymeric material of said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a Shore D hardness of about 65.
19. The golf club head of claim 17, wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer further comprises a thinned central region and a thickened perimeter region, and wherein said internal rear face layer has a non-uniform thickness created by a substantially planar rear surface and a substantially non-planar front surface.
20. A golf club head comprising:
- a striking face portion located at a frontal portion of said golf club head; said striking face portion further comprises; an external frontal face layer located at an external frontal portion of said striking face portion; an internal rear face layer located at an internal rear portion of said striking face portion; and an intermediary sandwiched face layer, juxtaposed between said external frontal face layer and said internal rear face layer,
- an aft rear portion attached to the rear of said striking face portion;
- wherein said internal rear face layer has a non-uniform thickness created by a substantially planar rear surface and a substantially non-planar front surface,
- wherein said internal rear face layer further comprises a thickened central region and a thinned perimeter region,
- wherein said thickened central region of said internal rear face layer has a thickness of between about 2.0 mm to about 4.0 mm, and said thinned perimeter region has a thickness of between about 1.5 mm to about 2.5 mm,
- wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer is made out of a polymeric material having a Shore D hardness of between about 55 to 75, and
- wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a non-uniform thickness,
- wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a rear surface that is substantially non-planar and a frontal surface that is substantially planar,
- wherein said intermediary sandwiched face layer further comprises a thinned central region and a thickened perimeter region, wherein said thinned central region of said intermediary sandwiched face layer has a thickness of between about 0.4 mm to about 1.0 mm, and said thickened perimeter region has a thickness of between about 1.3 mm to about 2.1 mm, and
- wherein said external frontal face layer has a uniform thickness.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 13, 2019
Publication Date: Jan 21, 2021
Applicant: Acushnet Company (Fairhaven, MA)
Inventors: Richard L. Cleghorn (Oceanside, CA), Nick Frame (Vista, CA)
Application Number: 16/714,295