JP5746867B2 - Golf club head - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a hollow wood type golf club head made of metal.

  As a wood type golf club head such as a driver or a fairway wood, a metal member having a hollow shell structure is widely used. In general, a hollow golf club head has a face portion for hitting a ball, a crown portion constituting the upper surface portion of the golf club head, a sole portion constituting the bottom surface portion of the golf club head, and a toe of the golf club head. The side part which comprises the side part of a side, a rear side, and a heel side, and a hosel part are provided. A shaft is inserted into the hosel part and fixed with an adhesive or the like. Recently, many golf clubs called hybrids are commercially available, and the golf club head called hybrid also has a face part, a sole part, a side part, a crown part, and a hosel part. As a metal constituting the hollow golf club head, an aluminum alloy, stainless steel, or titanium alloy is used, but in recent years, a titanium alloy is particularly widely used, and one having tungsten attached to a sole portion is also known.

  Generally, the sweet spot can be enlarged by increasing the volume of the hollow golf club head. Increasing the volume tends to increase the weight of the golf club head accordingly. Therefore, in order to prevent this increase in weight, it is considered to employ a fiber reinforced resin having a specific gravity smaller than that of the metal as a component of the golf club head.

  As a conventional example in which the sweet spot is expanded and the center of gravity is lowered, the golf club head has a hollow shell structure, and the front edge portion connected to the face portion and the face portion is made of an integral titanium metal material. In the golf club head constituted by the front body, the head volume V (cc) and the center of gravity height H (mm) have a relationship of H ≦ 0.05 V + 7.5, and the sole body includes the front body. A golf club head has been developed in which a metal sole plate extending in the front-rear direction is disposed separately, and the front body and the shell portion other than the sole plate are made of fiber reinforced resin (FRP). (See Patent Document 1). The front body is formed of titanium alloy, the sole plate is formed of any of stainless steel, aluminum, copper alloy, and titanium alloy, and weight materials are inserted into holes provided in the rear portion of the sole plate.

JP 2005-6836 A

  In the golf club head described in Patent Document 1, a prepreg sheet is mounted on a mold and is fixed to a metal member (front body). At this time, the mold is heated and gas pressure is introduced into the hollow shell in the mold. Since the coefficient of thermal expansion is different between the metal and the resin, in order to sufficiently fix both materials, the metal sole plate has a thickness of about 4 to 12 mm between the front side of the metal sole plate and the metal sole portion (a part of the front body). There is an interval, and the resin material is fixed to both metal materials across the interval. Further, the front edge of the crown portion made of the prepreg sheet is superposed on the lower surface of the metal crown portion (a part of the front body) and hardened to secure both.

  In a golf club head manufactured by a conventional method in which a resin material and a metal material are heated and fixed in a mold, a front body (metal) and a resin material constituting a crown portion, a side portion, and a sole portion are combined. There were problems with the seams, and there were frequent cases of damage at the seams.

  In the conventional golf club, even if the volume is increased, the increase in weight is suppressed, the sweet spot is increased, and the center of gravity is reduced. However, the resin (prepreg) and metal are heated in the mold. By fixing them to each other, the strength of the fixed parts of each other is weak and easy to break, so this is improved and the strength of the fixed part of the resin and metal is improved, and damage at the fixed parts is prevented. An object of the present invention is to provide a golf club head in which the sweet spot is enlarged and the center of gravity is lowered.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention forms a face part and a cup-like front body that extends rearward from the entire periphery of the face part and constitutes a part of the sole part, the side part, and the crown part from a metal material. The bottom body constituting most of the sole portion and the side portion is formed on the front body with a metal material having a specific gravity greater than that of the front body. A crown portion fixed to the front body and the bottom body is formed separately and independently of a fiber reinforced resin material, and a hosel on which a shaft is inserted and fixed is provided on the top heel side of the front body, or provided separately. A flange having a step difference in the crown portion of the front body and a bent flange of the side portion of the bottom body are brought into contact with each other and fixed by adhesion, and the sole portion of the bottom body in front of the sole portion of the front body is fixed. The flange with the bent edge is brought into contact and fixed by adhesion.

  According to the present invention, a flange having a level difference of the crown portion of the front body and a bent flange of the side portion of the bottom body are brought into contact with and fixed to each other by adhesion and the sole portion of the front body. Since the bent flange of the front edge of the sole part of the bottom body is brought into contact with the upper surface and fixed by adhesion, and when the prepreg sheet is thermally cured, the cured resin material is not fixed to the metal material. Adhesion improves the strength of the fixed part and reduces the risk of breakage. Moreover, the sweet spot can be expanded and the center of gravity can be lowered by using the crown portion as a resin material and the bottom body as a metal material having the largest specific gravity. Furthermore, since the bottom body, the front body, and the crown are manufactured separately, each part is suitable for precision and mass production, and cost can be reduced. If the hosel is manufactured separately from the front body and formed of a metal material (aluminum alloy or the like) having the smallest specific gravity, the center of gravity can be further lowered.

Side sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention A perspective view showing the back side of the front body integrated with the hosel Perspective view of the completed head An exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a separate hosel

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the face portion 1 extends rearward from the entire periphery of the face portion 1 (5 to 15 mm in the case of a driver), and constitutes a part of the sole portion 2, the side portion 3, and the crown portion 4. The cup-shaped front body 10 is formed of a metal material, preferably a forging or casting of a titanium alloy. In FIG. 1, the side part 3 is not displayed. The crown 4 of the front body 10 is provided with a flange 4A that is provided with a step and extends rearward. Further, the bottom surface body 20 constituting most of the sole portion 5 and the side portion 6 is formed of a metal material having a specific gravity larger than that of the front surface body 10, for example, stainless steel. A bent flange 6 </ b> A is formed on the side portion 6 of the bottom body 20. A bent flange 5A is also formed at the front edge of the sole portion 5 of the bottom surface body 20, and the flange 5A abuts against the upper surface of the sole portion 2 of the front body 10. Further, the crown portion 30 is formed of a fiber reinforced resin material, for example, CFRP, and the lower surface of the periphery thereof is brought into contact with the flange 4A of the front body 10 and the flange 6A of the bottom body 20.

  In this embodiment, the hosel 7 is integrally formed of the same material as the front body 10 (see FIG. 2). The flanges 4 </ b> A and 6 </ b> A are brought into contact with the lower surface of the peripheral edge of the crown portion 30, and the contact portions are bonded and fixed. Further, the contact portion between the flange 5A and the sole portion 2 of the front body 10 is also adhered and fixed. Note that the thickness of the central portion of the face portion 1 is formed to be thicker than the surrounding thickness so as to sufficiently withstand the impact caused by the collision with the ball. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the completed head, and a normal score line is engraved on the face portion 1. The specific gravity of the titanium alloy forming the front body 10 is about 4.5 to 5.0, the specific gravity of stainless steel forming the bottom body 20 is about 7.8, and the specific gravity of CFRP forming the crown portion 30 is 1.4 to 1.5.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the hosel 7 is manufactured separately from the front body 10 and is formed of an aluminum alloy having a specific gravity of about 2.7 or duralumin having a specific gravity of about 2.8. The separate hosel 7 and front body 10 are bonded and fixed. The bottom body 20 and the crown portion 30 are formed in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment. When the metal material forming the hosel 7 is A, the metal material forming the front body 10 is B, and the metal material forming the bottom body 20 is C, the specific gravity of each material is as follows.
A <B <C

  In FIG. 4, a weight member 8 is appropriately provided on the inner surface of the sole portion 5 of the bottom surface body 20. By providing the weight member 8, the center of gravity can be further lowered. As the weight member 8, a member having a specific gravity of 10 or more such as tungsten alloy or lead (specific gravity 11.34) is preferably used. The weight of the weight member 8 is 5 to 15 g.

  In any of the above-described embodiments, an example of manufacturing a driver is shown, but a head of a fairway wood or a hybrid club may be used.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4, when manufacturing a head having a volume of 460 cm ³ , the weight of the front body 10 (titanium alloy) is 50 to 70 g, the weight of the bottom body 20 (stainless steel) is 80 to 120 g, and the crown portion 30 (CFRP). 15 to 35 g, and the hosel 7 (aluminum alloy) has a weight of 3 to 10 g.

  As an adhesive suitable for bonding in the present invention, an epoxy-based adhesive, particularly an epoxy / modified silicone resin-based elastic adhesive obtained by blending a modified silicon and an epoxy resin that are resistant to shearing is preferable.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Face part 2 Sole part of a front body 3 Side part of a front body 4 Crown part of a front body 5 Sole part of a bottom body 6 Side part of a bottom body 7 Hosel 10 Front body 20 Bottom body 30 Crown part

Claims (3)

A cup-shaped front body that extends backward from the entire periphery of the face portion and the face portion and forms part of the sole portion, the side portion, and the crown portion is formed of a metal material,
A bottom body constituting most of the sole part and the side part is formed on this front body with a metal material having a larger specific gravity than the front body,
A crown portion fixed to the front body and the bottom body is independently formed of a fiber reinforced resin material,
A hosel to which the shaft is inserted and fixed is provided on the top heel side of the front body as a single body or separately
The outer surface of the flange having a step difference of the crown portion of the front body and the outer surface of the bent flange of the side portion of the bottom body are brought into contact with and adhered to the inner peripheral surface of the crown portion, and the sole portion of the front body is fixed. A golf club head characterized in that an outer surface of a bent flange of a bottom edge of a sole portion of a bottom body is brought into contact with an inner surface and fixed by adhesion.   The hosel is manufactured separately from the front body, is formed of a metal material having a specific gravity smaller than that of the metal material forming the front body, and the hosel is adhered and fixed to the front body. The described golf club head.   The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein a rear end portion of the crown portion holds a flange of a side portion of the bottom body from below.

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