Golf club heads with ribs and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9242152-B2
Application number	US-201314044447-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2013
Priority date	Jul 31, 2006
Publication date	Jan 26, 2016
Grant date	Jan 26, 2016

Abstract

Golf club heads with ribs that protrude from a rib surface of a body, the ribs having rib axes that intersect each other and are tangent to a locus defined by a conic section perimeter are described herein. Other embodiments and related methods are also disclosed herein.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A golf club head comprising:
a body comprising:
a heel end, a toe end, a crown, a sole, a front wall comprising a strikeface, and a rear side;
an interior surface defined by the heel end, the toe end, the crown, the sole, the front wall, and the rear side; and
an interior cavity bounded by the interior surface;

and
ribs protruded from a rib surface of the body;
wherein:
the ribs comprise:
a first rib comprising:
a first first-rib endpoint;
a second first-rib endpoint; and
a first rib axis intersecting the first and second first-rib endpoints;

a second rib comprising:
a first second-rib endpoint;
a second second-rib endpoint; and
a second rib axis intersecting the first and second second-rib endpoints;

and
a third rib comprising:
a first third-rib endpoint;
a second third-rib endpoint; and
a third rib axis intersecting the first and second third-rib endpoints;

and
with respect to a top view of the golf club head:
the first, second, and third rib axes intersect each other and are tangent to a locus defined by a conic section perimeter;

the conic section perimeter comprises one of:
a circular perimeter; or
an elliptical perimeter.

2. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
none of the ribs are intersected by any other ones of the ribs;
with respect to the top view of the golf club head, the first, second, and third rib axes intersect each other forward of the front wall of the body; and
a maximum diameter of the conic section perimeter is approximately 10 mm or less.

3. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
with respect to the top view of the golf club head, the first, second, and third rib axes intersect each other outside the locus and forward of the front wall of the body; and
a maximum diameter of the conic section perimeter is approximately 5 mm or less.

4. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
with respect to the top view of the golf club head:
the first, second, and third ribs are located at a heelside of the body, and
the first, second, and third rib axes intersect each other at a heelward segment of the conic section perimeter;
or
the first, second, and third ribs are located at a toeside of the body, and
the first, second, and third rib axes-intersect each other at a toeward segment of the conic section perimeter.

5. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
with respect to the top view of the golf club head:
the first, second, and third ribs are located at a heelside of the body, and
the first, second, and third rib axes intersect each other at a toeward segment of the conic section perimeter;
or
the first, second, and third ribs are located at a toeside of the body, and
the first, second, and third rib axes intersect each other at a heelward segment of the conic section perimeter.

6. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the strikeface comprises:
a strikeface centerpoint; a strikeface heel end; a strikeface toe end;
a strikeface midheel point between the strikeface centerpoint and the strikeface heel end; and
a strikeface midtoe point between the strikeface centerpoint and the strikeface toe end;

when the golf club head is at address over a ground plane:
a center plane of the golf club head is orthogonal to the ground plane and comprises the strikeface centerpoint;
a midheel plane of the golf club head comprises the strikeface midheel point and is parallel to the center plane;
a midtoe plane of the golf club head comprises the strikeface midtoe point and is parallel to the center plane;
the conic section perimeter is centered at one of the center plane, the midheel plane, or the midtoe plane; and
with respect to the top view of the golf club head:
the conic section perimeter comprises a size of a golf ball perimeter forward of the strikeface; and
the first and second rib axes intersect each other at the conic section perimeter.

7. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
with respect to the top view of the golf club head:
the first second, and third rib axes intersect each other at the conic section perimeter.

8. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the first rib axis is tangent to the conic section perimeter at a first tangency point located towards a heelside end of the conic section perimeter;
the second rib axis is tangent to the conic section perimeter at a second tangency point located towards a toeside end of the conic section perimeter; and
the third rib axis is tangent to the conic section perimeter at one of:
a third tangency point located between the first tangency point and a rearward end of the conic section perimeter; or
a fourth tangency point located between the second tangency point and the rearward end of the conic section perimeter.

9. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the strikeface comprises:
a strikeface centerpoint; a strikeface heel end; a strikeface toe end;
a strikeface midheel point between the strikeface centerpoint and the strikeface heel end; and
a strikeface midtoe point between the strikeface centerpoint and the strikeface toe end;

when the golf club head is at address over a ground plane:
a center plane of the golf club head is orthogonal to the ground plane and comprises the strikeface centerpoint;
a midheel plane of the golf club head comprises the strikeface midheel point and is parallel to the center plane;
a midtoe plane of the golf club head comprises the strikeface midtoe point and is parallel to the center plane; and
the conic section perimeter is centered at one of the center plane, the midheel plane, or the midtoe plane.

10. The golf club head of claim 9 , wherein:
the conic section perimeter comprises one of:
a size of a golf ball perimeter; or
a maximum diameter of at most approximately 5 mm.

11. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the ribs comprise:
a fourth rib comprising:
a first fourth-rib endpoint;
a second fourth-rib endpoint; and
a fourth rib axis intersecting the first and second fourth-rib endpoints;

and
with respect to the top view of the golf club head:
the first, second, third, and fourth rib axes are tangent to the locus; and
a maximum diameter of the conic section perimeter is approximately 3 mm to approximately 10 mm.

12. The golf club head of claim 1 , wherein:
the ribs comprise:
a fourth rib comprising:
a first fourth-rib endpoint;
a second fourth-rib endpoint; and
a fourth rib axis intersecting the first and second fourth-rib endpoints;

and
with respect to the top view of the golf club head:
the first and second rib axes intersect each other forward of the conic section perimeter; and
the third and fourth rib axes intersect each other rearward of the conic section perimeter.

13. The golf club head of claim 12 , wherein:
the ribs comprise:
the third and fourth ribs as outermost ribs, such that:
the third rib is located closest to the toe end than any of the first, second, or fourth ribs; and
the fourth rib is located closest to the heel end than any of the first, second, or third ribs;

and
the first and second ribs as inner ribs, such that:
the first and second ribs are located between the third and fourth ribs.

14. The golf club head of claim 12 , wherein:
the ribs comprise:
the first and second ribs as outermost ribs, such that:
the first rib is located closest to the toe end than any of the second, third or fourth ribs; and
the second rib is located closest to the heel end than any of the first, third, or fourth ribs;

and
the third and fourth ribs as inner ribs, such that:
the first and second

Assignees

• Karsten Mfg Corp

Inventors

• Cole Eric V
• Jertson Martin R

Classifications

• A63B2053/0433

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A63B53/0487

  for putters (A63B53/065 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A63B53/0466 Primary

  wood-type · CPC title

• A63B2053/0441

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• A63B2053/045

  Human Necessities · mapped topic