US1567323A - Golf club - Google Patents

Description

H. l. JoRDAN GOILF CLUB Dec. 29 1925- v Original Filed OC'. 19, 1921 muumn muli llllllllllllll ||||||ll H? www Jorunm by 45'. M wf f CFI Patented 29, 1925.

1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.'

HARRY I. JORDAN, 0F AUBURN, MAINE, ASSIGNOB T0 LAMINO MANUFACTURING I COMPANY, .L CORPORATION O F MASSACHUSETTS. y

ciomal eLUB.

' A'ppneatiqn nl ed octoberA 19, 1921, serial No. soavonaenewea maroni 14, 1925.

To whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HARRY I. donnais, a citizen of the United States, residing at Auburn, in the county of Androscoggin and Statevof Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements iny Golf Clubs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the construction of wooden 'golf club heads for drivers, brasseys, spoons and the like.

The object of the invention is to construct such a head of fabricated or laminated wood so formedl and arranged as to givea very hard and non-elastic playing surface.

The ldriver as commonly made o comf pressed hickory is so cut that the grain of the wood runs parallel with the face of the club and in the `general direction of the shaft.

Thus, as the club is used, pieces of the Wood in the form of splinters tend to form' on the face and become loosened finally 'ruining the playing face.

It has been'found that aiwooden club having a hard non-elastic driving face has a marked effect in increasing the driving distance of the club. It has thus cometo be a practice to insert into the face of the driver sections of hard material like ivory or wooden pins, with their ends flush with the driving face of the club. Such hard filon-elastic faces resist any tendency to yield under the' impact of the ball and the latter thus springs away'l from the club with the .full force ofvits rebound. I have produced such a club head of fabricated or laminated wood commonly called ply-wood, by subjecting the material in process of making to high pressure. This pressure amounting in practice to 1500 lbs. per

A square inch being applied at right angles` to the'hlayers of wood, these latter are very greatly compressed and solidified. In making up my club head, the layers of wood are .arranged with their -lateral edges in the playing face of the club and' preferably so -that the grain in-half will be at right angles to the face and half' parallel to it. Thus, the impact of the ball will come against these compacted edges.

The grain of alternate layers being at right anglesto each other, the playing face is thus made up of alternate strips in which the end of the other strips having the grain parallel with ain is in this surface and -of ig. 1, Fig. 3 is a side elcvationof a modilied the surface.'

Byarranging the plies or Y.

layers as I have describedfhalf of the playv vface impossible to compress by any impact with the ball and a surface which will always 'remai'n integral.

. I hajve illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawing in which:

-F ig. 1 is a side elevation of a wooden club head constructed according to my invention with the pieces arranged in. the preferable form,

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 1-1 form showing another manner the plies,

Fig. 4' is an end view, of a pair of plies showing the mannerin which the grain of 4the wood crosses at right angles,

Fig. 5 is a cross section on Fig.A 6 and,

Fig. 6 is a side View of a onev piece clubl of ,arranging with a connecting joint between the head Y and the shaft. In the drawing,.similar letters indicate similar' parts.

In the drawing, referring to Figs. 1 to 4, 1 Ais the playing `face of the club, 2 is the socket, 3 is the sole and 4 is the weight. The club is Iliade up of the plies 5.

In making up the club head, the plies are madeof veneer strips of ma le or any other strong hard wood suitable or the purpose. They are then formed up in stocks of about three inches thickness, the grain of each ply crossing the grain of the two adjacent plies at right angles.

The surface of each ply isthen coated with a special water-proof glue and the Whole body is then subJected to a very high pressure at right angles to the plies. This pressure valiounts to 1500 to 2000 lbs. per

square inchand the result is a very hardthis material by any Well known process.

This arrangement on the kplaying face pro- I on the .side of the grain and will project vzo farther than the -other strip. Such a corrugated surface tends to get a better holding effect on the ball and hooking.

In cutting out the head, it is so arranged that preferably the pliesl are atsubstantially right angles tothe playing face of the club prevents .slicing and und lie in the general direction of the shaft."

By this Aarrangement the plies exten-d length- Wise of the socket and give it' the greatest possible strength While the exposed edges of the plies. terminate in the playing face of the head giving a hard, iniexible surface, a playing face practically impossibleto chip or splinter and a material which can be cheaply madeof low priced Wood.

IGrood hickory such as heads have hitherto been made of is becoming very scarce and the demand for golf clubs is .increasing rapidly.

Thus, a vcheap fabricated material which Will do the Work as Well or beter than hickory is of considerable value. v

In F ig. 4, I have shown a modified construction in which the plies are'arranged vertically and at right angles to the playing face of the club. This arrangement While giving the same hard playing face does not give quite as much strength at the socket.

In Figs. 5 and 6, I have shown a one piece club inwhich the same plies which constitute the head are continued to form the shaft, the plies being arranged as. I have pointed out, namely, With the plies substantially at right angles to the playing face of l l the head.

Such a one piece clubhas long been desired because the absence of a joint Where the head joinsthe shaft leaves that portion of the shaft with a perfect spring action and quickly follows the rebound of the ball and adding its .resiliency to the rebounding effect of the expanding ball. The spring of the shaft is edgewise of the plies but the composition of the body of the shaft is so homogeneous that the direction of the plies hisflitle or no effect on the resiliency of the s a t.

It is evident that the plies may be ar- .each other or they may be arranged so that the grain in adjacent strips will be substantially parallel. Different characteristics of the head Will result from the various arrangements of the plies with respect to the direction of the grain of the wood.

.If the plies of the veneer are arranged with thegrain of adjacent strips crossing each other at right angles andthe edges of the head terminating in the playing face of the clubv the resulting face willgive alternate strips with the grain terminating in one strip and they grain parallel with the.-

face inthe adjacent strip so that the face will be.A provided with alternate hard `and relatively soft strips.

Thus,iwhen the face of the club begins to Wear a roughened surface with alternate hard and relatively soft strips such a `face will take firmer hold on the ball than a perfectly smooth face Where all the layers were ofthe same degree of hardness.

1. A. golf club head having its playing face on one side, composed of Wood veneer strips cemented and pressed together, a portion of ,said stri s having their edges .terminate in the said playing face of the club and having the grain of the wood also terminate in the said playing face.

2. A golf club head having 'its playing face on one side, composed of Wood veener strips cemented and pressed together, a portionof said strips having their edges termiu 'playing face, the grain of all alternate strips y crossing each other.

- HARRY I. JORDAN.

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