Golf club including composite material with color coated fibers and methods of making the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12569728-B2
Application number	US-202318456313-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 25, 2023
Priority date	Jul 20, 2017
Publication date	Mar 10, 2026
Grant date	Mar 10, 2026

Abstract

A golf club including at least one component with a construction that includes a composite material with color/metallic coated fibers. In some embodiments, at least a portion of an outer surface of the golf club head is defined by a layered structure including color/metallic coated fibers. The layered structure may include a non-woven composite layer comprising a plurality of unidirectional fiber composite plies and woven composite layer disposed over the non-woven fiber composite layer and including color/metallic coated fibers. In some embodiments, an optically transparent coating may be disposed over the woven composite layer. In some embodiments, the color/metallic coated fibers may be electroplated fibers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A golf club, comprising:
a grip; a golf club shaft; and a golf club head,
wherein at least a portion of an outer surface of the golf club head is defined by a layered structure comprising:
an inner composite layer;
a woven outer composite layer disposed over the inner composite layer and comprising woven fibers; and
a color dyed transparent polymeric layer disposed over the woven outer composite layer,

wherein the color dyed transparent polymeric layer comprises a first portion colored with a colored dye and a second portion devoid of colored dye.

2 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the color dyed transparent polymeric layer comprises a color selected from the group consisting of: red, crimson, maroon, magenta, pink, orange, yellow, gold, chartreuse, green, blue, navy, aqua, teal, cerulean, indigo, violet, purple, brown, black, grey, white, beige, silver, taupe, metallic red, metallic pink, metallic orange, metallic yellow, metallic gold, metallic green, metallic blue, metallic teal, metallic purple, metallic brown, metallic black, metallic grey, metallic white, or metallic silver.

3 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the color dyed transparent polymeric layer comprises reflective pigment comprising metallic flakes.

4 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the color dyed transparent polymeric layer comprises a third portion colored with an additional colored dye different from the colored dye.

5 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the color dyed transparent polymer layer comprises a thickness in a range of 0.01 mm to 0.10 mm.

6 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the golf club head comprises a sole insert comprising the layered structure.

7 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the golf club head comprises a crown insert comprising the layered structure.

8 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of an aft section of the golf club head comprises the layered structure.

9 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the woven fibers are arranged in fiber tows, and wherein the fiber tows are present at a weight percent in a range of 5 wt % to 95 wt % based on a total weight of fibers in the woven outer composite layer.

10 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the inner composite layer comprises a plurality of unidirectional fiber composite plies.

11 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the woven outer composite layer comprises a fiber areal weight in a range of 50 grams per meter squared to 650 grams per meter squared.

12 . The golf club of claim 1 , further comprising a moveable weight configured to be moved from a first position to a second position in the golf club head.

13 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the golf club head comprises a hosel portion configured to receive a sleeve attached to the golf club shaft, the sleeve being capable of being positioned to adjust the loft, lie, or face angle of the golf club head.

14 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the woven fibers of the woven outer composite layer are embedded in a thermoplastic matrix material.

15 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the layered structure further comprises an optically transparent coating disposed over the color dyed transparent polymeric layer.

16 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the woven fibers of the woven outer composite layer comprise color coated fibers or color dyed fibers.

17 . The golf club of claim 1 , wherein the woven fibers of the woven outer composite layer comprise:
a core fiber; and a colored metallic coating layer coated on an outer surface of the core fiber.

18 . A golf club, comprising:
a grip; a golf club shaft; and a golf club head,
wherein at least a portion of an outer surface of the golf club head is defined by a layered structure comprising:
a woven composite layer comprising woven fibers; and
a color dyed transparent polymeric layer disposed over the woven composite layer,

wherein the color dyed transparent polymeric layer comprises a first portion and a second portion, and
wherein:
the first portion is colored with a colored dye and the second portion is devoid of colored dye; or
the first portion is colored with a first colored dye and the second portion is colored with a second colored dye different from the first colored dye.

19 . The golf club of claim 18 , wherein the first portion is colored with a colored dye and the second portion is devoid of colored dye.

20 . The golf club of claim 18 , wherein the first portion is colored with a first colored dye and the second portion is colored with a second colored dye different from the first colored dye.

Assignees

• Taylor Made Golf Co

Inventors

• Greaney Mark
• Bovee Mattieu
• O'Connell-Long Colin
• Beach Todd

Classifications

• A63B53/0458

  with non-uniform thickness of the impact face plate · CPC title

• A63B53/0437

  with special crown configurations · CPC title

• A63B53/0433

  with special sole configurations · CPC title

• A63B53/0429

  the face insert comprising two or more layers of material · CPC title

• A63B53/0416

  Heads having an impact surface provided by a face insert · CPC title