US1787415A - Golf club - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 30, 193%. s. \NASHINGTON GOLF CLUB Filed July 13, 1927 IN V EN TOR.

Patented Dec. 30, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOWDEN WASHINGTON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T UNION HARDWARE COH- PANY, OF TORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT comaonus Application filed July 18,

My invention relates to improvements in golf clubs and has for its main object the provision of a shaft which is practically in- .destructible and has substantially the same feel as a first class wooden shaft.

Another object is to rovide a light but strong and resilient shaft which will withstand rough usage without permanent distortion.

0 .Another object is to provide a shaft having the foregoing characteristics which at the same time will produce a minimum air resistance without eing too whippy'.

In carr in out the invention I provide a 5 shaft pre era ly of metal and of flattened or stream line cross section and secure the shaft in the head of the club at such an angle as to provide a minimum air resistance to movement throughout that part of the swing where 0 the velocity and acceleration should be the greatest and at the same time provide a maximum rigidity at the moment of impact consistent with that feel which distinguishes the high grade wooden shaft from the rigid 5 steel shaft.

Fig. 1 is a side view of a golf club embodying the improvements of my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional View showing method of securing a shaft in 0 the head.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the plane of the line 33 of Fig. l but on a larger scale.

Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are transverse sections on 5 the planes of the lines 44,' 5-5 and 6-6 of Flg. 1 but on larger scales.

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view of a modified partially formed tube.

Fig. 8 is a cross sectional view of a solid 0 shaft.

Fig. 9 is a section of a laminated shaft.

Fig. 10 is a toe view of a stream line head.

I have illustrated the invention as applied to iron headed clubs for certain features of 5 which it is particularly adapted, but it should 1927. Serial No. 205,404.

be understood that the improved form and arrangement of shaft are especially applicable to the faster moving wooden headed clubs.

The shaft is preferably rolled, or otherwise formed to the desired cross section. The handle portion 10 is preferably circular in cross section and may be either straight or tapered and provided with any suitable form of grip and with any suitable extension if desired. The tip 11 is shaped to fit the socket in the hozel 12 of the head. The main ortion 13 of the shaft is preferably tapere from the largerhandle end to the smaller tip. In cross section the main ortion 13 is flattened somewhat gradually rom the handle toward the head, that is, it is flatter near the head than it is near the handle. The changes in cross section will be apparent from the comparison of Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively.

The hozel 12 may be provided with a somewhat flattened socket and the tip 11 of the shaft may be flattened to fit it. n this way not only is the stream line effect continued into the hozel of the head, but additional security against relative rotation of the shaft in the hozel is provided. A pin or rivet 14 of the usual character may also be employed to hold the shaft in the head.

To additionally reinforce the shaft at the upper end of the hozel where the strain is particularly great, I may enlarge or bulge the shaft as shown at 15. also prefer to make the entrance to the hozel tapered or funnellike, as shown at 16, so as to afford a curved bearing wall for the shaft and avoid the sharp edge commonly found in the sockets of iron heads and which tends to break a shaft at this point.

A wood pin with a tapered tip 17 may be driven into the tip of the shaft to reinforce it against collapse and also give greater security for the pin 14.

The shaft is preferably set into the head so that the long axis ww of its cross section is at an inclination to the longitudinal axls of the driving face, that is, preferably not at right angles. The angle a between the axes a2'm and g 3 is preferably an obtuse angle of something over 100 degrees so that the front edge 18 will be leading as the head reaches its maximum velocity just before the final twist of the wrists immediately preceding impact.

At the beginning of the swing of course the heel of the shaft leads but the air resist- 'ance of the flattened shaft is then unimportant since the velocity is then low. As the club head and shaft accelerate the air resistance becomes more and more serious as it increases according to the square of the velocity. The velocity of the head gets to be something like 150 feet per second or more at the instant of impact. The head and shaft turn about the longitudinal axis of the shaft as the club is swung 'so that the nose or edge 18 of the shaft is gradually turned and leads in the direction of the swing thus reducing the resistance as the velocity increases.

I prefer to form the shaft of metal tubing which may either be seamless or provided with a brazed or welded seam. When formed of a seamless tube it will ordinarily be drawn, tapered, flattened, and then heat treated and tempered. When formed of strip metal it may be formed with an open seam 19 as shown in Fig. 7 and this seam may then be brazed or welded or otherwise closed. Such a joint can be quite easily made at the fin-like edges of the shaft without requiring any special filler.

The flattened shaft has a less resistance to torsion than an ordinary conically tapered shaft of the same cross sectional area. It is tion before hardening in order to lighten the shaft and bring the balance point lower down or nearer the head. In fact the entire shaft may be of such an aluminum alloy in tubular form. Such a shaft is light and resilient and yet is of attractive a pearance and will not rust or corrode. If ormed of steel or steel alloy it will, of course be heat treated, hardened and tempered to give the necessary resiliency.

If formed of tempered steel tubing, the

shaft may be of say .016" 'ga e and say 0.7

outside diameter at the ban e end andfapered to an approximate ovoid outline Just above the hozel with a major axis of say 0.4" and a minor axis of say 0.2

An aluminum alloy tube may be somewhat larger and have a thicker wall, say A solid alloy shaft may be somewhat smaller.

A wooden shaft also may be given the special stream-line section above described. It may be made up of a single rod or laminated and may be reinforced by a flat steel stripas shown at 21 in Fig. 2.

An iron headed club such as cleeks, driving irons, niblicks, mashies, etc. can bevprovided wit-h a stream-line tail 22, Fig. 10, formed of some material of low specific grav ity e. g. aluminum or aluminum alloy and secured in place in any desired manner so as to reduce the air resistance to a minimum. Of course a wooden head can be readily shaped in any desired manner tovaflord a minimum resistance bearing in mind that the heel of the club leads at the beginning of the driving stroke and that the striking face must be suitable for the purpose of the cl}tg1bviza driver, brassie, spoon or the li e.

The special shaft may be used on any club, although of course the air resistance is of less consequence in slow moving clubs such as putters. y The shafts may be made of various lengths and degrees of whippiness to suit various individuals.

I claim: I

1. A golf club having a head and a resilient tapered tubular metal shaft of elongated cross-section, the major cross sectional axis being at an obtuse angle to the horizontal center line of the striking face of the head on the impact side of said axis.

2. A golf club having a tubular tapered metal shaft socketed in a hozel and reinforced above and adjacent the hozel by having a diameter of said shaft enlarged for a short distance with respect to the inside diameter of the hozel, the walls of said enlargement being more steeply tapered than the shaft or its socketed portion on each side of said enlargement and the shaft being spaced from the top inner edge of the hozel.

3. A golf club having a tubular metal shaft along the sloping inner wall of the hozel as the shaft flexes.

4. A golf club having a shaft socketed in a hozel, the upper inner edge of said hozel c bevel on said hozel me'mio being beveled and said shaft being tapered adjacent said bevel to rock thereon under flexure.

5. A golf club having a shaft socketed in a hozel, the upper inner ed e of said hozel being beveled and said she being tapered adjacent said bevel to rock thereon under flexure, the bevel in said hozel and the cooperating shaft taer being rounded and the lleing rounded on a smaller radius of curvature than the cooperating shaft taper.

BOEN WASHINGTQN.

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