Golf club heads with energy storage characteristics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11413508-B2
Application number	US-202017119859-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 11, 2020
Priority date	Oct 24, 2014
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

Embodiments of golf club heads with energy storage characteristics are presented herein. In some embodiments, a golf club head comprises a hollow body comprising a strikeface, a heel region, a toe region opposite the heel region, a sole, a top rail and an inflection point. The inflection point provides increase bending of the strikeface thereby providing performance enhancement over clubs without an inflection point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hollow golf club head having a closed internal volume, the hollow golf club head comprising:
a strikeface;
a rear wall on an opposite side of the closed internal volume from the strikeface;
a sole coupling the strikeface with the rear wall;
a top rail coupling the strikeface with the rear wall on an opposite side of the closed internal volume from the sole;
a plurality of ribs protruding from the rear wall and each oriented along a respective longitudinal axis that extends in a direction from the top rail to the sole, and wherein each rib of the plurality of ribs includes a respective first end in contact with the sole and an opposite second end in contact with the top rail such the rib extends from the sole to the top rail;
wherein the strikeface, rear wall, sole, and top rail each have a respective internal surface and a respective external surface, and wherein the internal surface of each of the strikeface, rear wall, sole, and top rail define the closed internal volume;
wherein the rear wall comprises an upper rear wall and a lower rear wall;
wherein the upper rear wall directly abuts the top rail, and the lower rear wall directly abuts the sole;
wherein a maximum upper distance, measured as a maximum perpendicular distance from the external surface of the strikeface to the external surface of the upper rear wall, is between 0.20 inch and 0.59 inch; and
wherein the top rail comprises a thickness, measured between the internal surface and the external surface of the top rail, of between 0.04 inch and 0.08 inch.

2. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the lower rear wall comprises a bottom incline extending from the upper rear wall and a lower exterior wall extending from the bottom incline to the sole;
the hollow golf club head further comprises:
a first inflection point defining a junction between the upper rear wall and the bottom incline;
a second inflection point defining a junction between the bottom incline and the lower exterior wall;
a lower angle measured at the second inflection point between the bottom incline and the lower exterior wall, the lower angle is less than 180 degrees; and
an inflection angle measured at the first inflection point from the upper rear wall to the bottom incline, the inflection angle between 95 degrees and 150 degrees.

3. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the lower rear wall comprises a bottom incline extending from the upper rear wall and a lower exterior wall extending from the bottom incline to the sole;
the hollow golf club head further comprises:
a first inflection point defining a junction between the upper rear wall and the bottom incline, the first inflection point being located at a vertex of an angle formed between the upper rear wall and the bottom incline; and
a second inflection point defining a junction between the bottom incline and the lower exterior wall, the second inflection point being located at a vertex of an angle formed between the bottom incline and the lower exterior wall;
the upper rear wall comprises a thickness, measured between the internal surface and the external surface of the upper rear wall, of between 0.04 inch and 0.08 inch;
the rear wall at the first inflection point comprises a thickness, measured between the internal surface and the external surface of the rear wall, of between 0.04 inch to 0.08 inch; and
the thickness of the rear wall at the first inflection point is less than a thickness of the bottom incline, measured between the internal surface and the external surface of the bottom incline.

4. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the rear wall, measured between the internal surface and the external surface of the rear wall, equals the thickness of the top rail.

5. The hollow golf club head of claim 2 , wherein the bottom incline comprises a length measured from the first inflection point to the second inflection point, the length of the bottom incline between 0 inch to 0.55 inch.

6. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the upper rear wall is parallel to the strikeface.

7. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the hollow golf club head further comprises a first inflection point defining a junction between the upper rear wall and the lower rear wall, the first inflection point being located at a vertex of an angle formed between the upper rear wall and the lower rear wall;
the upper rear wall comprises a height measured from the first inflection point to an apex of the top rail and parallel to the strikeface, and wherein the height of the upper rear wall is between 0.6 inch and 1.2 inch.

8. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the hollow golf club head further comprises a first inflection point defining a junction between the upper rear wall and the lower rear wall, the first inflection point being located at a vertex of an angle formed between the upper rear wall and the lower rear wall;
the hollow golf club head comprises a height, measured parallel to the strikeface from the sole to the top rail; and
the upper rear wall comprises a height measured from the first inflection point to an apex of the top rail, the height of the upper rear wall between 40% to 75% of the height of the hollow golf club head.

9. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ribs comprises between one and eight ribs.

10. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ribs comprises at least three ribs.

11. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ribs are spaced equidistant from each other.

12. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of ribs are positioned on an interior surface of the rear wall.

13. The hollow golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the hollow golf club head further comprises a polymer material that at least partially fills the closed internal volume.

14. The hollow golf club head of claim 13 , wherein the polymer material comprises a weight between 2 grams and 7 grams.

15. The hollow golf club head of claim 13 , wherein the polymer material comprises a specific gravity between 0.05 and 4.00.

Assignees

• Karsten Mfg Corp

Inventors

• Jertson Martin R
• Morales Eric J
• Bacon Cory S
• Wang Calvin
• Chen Xiaojian
• Milleman Travis D

Classifications

• A63B60/52 Primary

  with slits · CPC title

• A63B53/045

  Strengthening ribs · CPC title

• A63B60/002

  Resonance frequency related characteristics · CPC title

• A63B2209/00

  Characteristics of used materials · CPC title

• A63B60/54

  with means for damping vibrations · CPC title