Golf club head or other ball striking device with weighted body member

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9630072-B2
Application number	US-201514621762-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2015
Priority date	May 31, 2012
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

A ball striking device, such as a golf club, includes a head that includes a face having a ball striking surface configured for striking a ball and a body connected to the face and extending rearward from the face. A face member formed primarily of a metallic material forms the face, and a body member is connected to the face member and extends rearward from the face member to form at least a portion of the body. The body member is formed at least partially of a polymer material, and has a doped portion containing a doping material dispersed within the polymer material. The doping material may have a different density than the polymer material, such that the doped portion has a different density than the portions of the body member not containing the doping material. A co-molding method may be used to form the ball striking device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An iron-type golf club head comprising:
a face member comprising a hosel, an iron-type face defined by a plurality of peripheral edges and having a ball striking surface configured for striking a ball, the face member having a peripheral wall extending rearwardly from the peripheral edges of the face, wherein the face member is formed primarily of a metallic material, and wherein the face has a loft angle of about 20° to about 65°; and
a body member connected to at least a portion of the peripheral wall of the face member to form at least a portion of an iron-type body extending rearwardly from the peripheral edges of the face, wherein the body member is formed at least partially of a polymer material;
wherein the body member has a fiber reinforced portion containing a fiber reinforcing material within the polymer material; and
wherein the face member and the body member define an enclosed interior cavity within the club head.

2. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the peripheral wall of the face member extends rearwardly around all of the peripheral edges of the face.

3. The iron-type golf club head of claim 2 , wherein the body member is connected around the entire peripheral wall.

4. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the entire body member contains the fiber reinforcing material.

5. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the polymer material includes at least one material selected from a group consisting of: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyamide alloys, high density polyethylene (HDPE), styrene ethylene butylene styrene block copolymer, thermoplastic polyurethane, other polyurethanes, silicones, rubber materials, and combinations thereof, and the fiber reinforcing material includes at least one material selected from a group consisting of: carbon/graphite fibers, glass fibers, basalt fibers, boron fibers, liquid crystal polymer fibers, and combinations thereof.

6. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the body member extends rearward from the face member.

7. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the face member and the body member are connected by forming the body member in connection to the face member in a co-molding process.

8. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the face member is connected to the body member using a lap joint.

9. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the face member is joined to the body member by a bonding material.

10. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1 , wherein the face member and the body member have complementary mating structures connecting the face member to the body member.

11. The iron-type golf club head of claim 10 , wherein one of the face member and the body member has a projection and another of the face member and the body member has a receiver that receives the projection to connect the face member to the body member.

12. The iron-type golf club head of claim 11 , wherein the projection comprises a ridge extending around at least a portion of a periphery of the face member.

13. The iron type golf club head of claim 10 , wherein the complementary mating structures comprise several structures spaced apart from each other.

14. The iron-type golf club head of claim 10 , wherein the face member has a dovetail mating structure and the body member has a complementary dovetail mating structure.

15. The iron-type golf club head of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the golf club head is coated with a particulate metallic nano-coating material.

16. An iron-type golf club comprising the iron-type golf club head of claim 2 , and a shaft connected to the head.

17. A set of iron-type golf clubs comprising:
six iron-type golf clubs, each having an iron-type golf club head comprising:
a hosel, a face member forming an iron-type face defined by a plurality of peripheral edges and having a ball striking surface configured for striking a ball, the face member having a peripheral wall extending rearwardly from the peripheral edges of the face, wherein the face member is formed primarily of a metallic material, and wherein the face member has a loft angle of about 20° to about 65°; and
a body member connected to at least a portion of the peripheral wall, the body member forming at least a portion of an iron-type body extending rearward from the peripheral edges of the face, wherein the body member is formed at least partially of a polymer material;
wherein the body member has a fiber reinforced portion containing a fiber reinforcing material dispersed within the polymer material; and
wherein the face member and the body member define an enclosed interior cavity within the club head.

18. The set of claim 17 , wherein the entire body member of each golf club head contains the fiber reinforcing material.

19. The set of claim 17 , wherein the six golf clubs have different loft angles that increase in a sequence, such that the loft angle of each of the golf clubs is about 5° greater than the loft angle of a previous golf club in the sequence.

20. An iron-type golf club head comprising:
a face member comprising a hosel, a face having a ball striking surface configured for striking a ball, and a portion of a sole formed of a metallic material, wherein the face member is formed primarily of a metallic material, and wherein the face has a loft angle of about 20° to about 65°; and
a body member connected to the face member and forming at least a portion of an iron-type body extending rearward from the face, wherein the body member is formed at least partially of a polymer material;
wherein the body member has a fiber reinforced portion comprising the polymer material and containing a fiber reinforcing material within the polymer material, and
wherein the fiber reinforced material portion is connected to the face member by forming the polymer material of the fiber reinforced material portion in connection with the face member using a co-molding process.

21. The iron-type golf club head of claim 20 , wherein the polymer material includes at least one material selected from a group consisting of: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, thermoplastic polyurethane, other polyurethanes, rubber materials, silicones, polyamide alloys, high density polyethylene (HDPE), styrene ethylene butylene styrene block copolymer, and combinations thereof, and the fiber materials includes at least one material selected from a group consisting of: carbon/graphite fibers, glass fibers, basalt fibers, boron fibers, liquid crystal polymer fibers, and combinations thereof.

22. The iron-type golf club head of claim 20 , wherein the entire body member has the fiber reinforcing material engaged with the polymer material and reinforcing the polymer material.

23. The iron-type golf club head of claim 20 , wherein the face member and the body member have complementary mating structures connecting the face member to the body member.

24. The iron-type golf club head of claim 23 , wherein one of the face member and the body member has a projection and another of the face member and the body member has a receiver that receives the projection to connect the face member to the body member.

25. The iron-type golf club head of claim 23 , wherein the face member has a dovetail mating structure and the body member has a complementary dovetail mating structure.

26. The iron-type golf club head of claim 2

Assignees

• Nike Inc
• Karsten Mfg Corp

Inventors

• Finn Michael E
• Franklin David N
• Sander Raymond J
• Snyder Jeremy N
• Boyd Robert M

Classifications

• A63B53/0475

  with one or more enclosed cavities · CPC title

• A63B53/0466

  wood-type · CPC title

• A63B53/04

  Heads · CPC title

• B29C45/14336

  Coating a portion of the article, e.g. the edge of the article (B29C45/14573 and B29C45/14598 take precedence) · CPC title

• A63B2209/02

  with reinforcing fibres, e.g. carbon, polyamide fibres · CPC title