US20020137574A1

US20020137574A1 - Damping connector shaft for a golf club

Info

Publication number: US20020137574A1
Application number: US09/817,658
Authority: US
Inventors: Hsi-Hsien Wu
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-03-26
Filing date: 2001-03-26
Publication date: 2002-09-26

Abstract

A damping connector for golf club, which has a bridge abutted the first and second halves of the golf club, a first protrusion inserted into the first half of the golf club and a second protrusion inserted into the second half of the golf club. With such an arrangement, the golf club has excellent, yet stable flexibility to deflect so as to have consistent shot.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a damping connector, and more particularly to a damping connector for a golf club. The damping connector is inserted between halves of a golf club to increase the stability while striking a ball and flexibility while swinging.

2. Description of Related Art

A conventional golf shaft ( 50) as shown in FIG. 7 is a one-pieced forged shaft that is constantly seen in the golf market. Disadvantage has existed for a long time with this conventional shaft (50), such as:

The shaft ( 50) is made of a certain material and once the material is selected, the rigidness and flexibility of the shaft (50) is fixed. Under such a circumference, a rookie golfer or even a professional golfer has to take a lot of time adjusting himself to the characteristics of the shaft (50).

The shaft ( 50) has some unstable characteristics such as bending and twisting during swinging, therefore the shaft (50) does not perform consistently and regularly because of different swing energies and speeds.

The unstable characteristics also adversely influence the trajectory of struck balls and accuracy of the sweet spot.

The shaft ( 50) buckles and deflects during impact, which causes a twist to the club head and thus alters an angle of a clubface to cause inconsistent shots.

Vibration and recoil travelling up the golf club and through the arms of the golfer often causes injuries such as tennis elbow, etc. Therefore, to overcome those shortcomings of the conventional shaft, the present invention tends to provide a damping connector for a golf club to mitigate and obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the invention is to provide a damping connector for a golf club. The damping connector is made of a hard and light weight alloy and inserted between halves of the golf club. With the insertion of the damping connector, the flexibility and rigidness of the golf club are changeable such that the golfer is able to adjust the characteristic of the purchased golf club to the golfer, instead of adjusting himself to the characteristics of the golf club.

Another objective of the invention is to provide a damping connector for a golf club to reduce the vibration and recoil of the golf club when striking to avoid injury to users. Additionally, having less vibration and recoil also make users feel comfortable and fluent when striking.

Further objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the damping connector inserted into a golf club; [0013]
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the damping connector together with halves of the golf club; [0014]
FIG. 3 is a partial cross-section view of a middle portion involving the damping connector and a section of the golf club; [0015]
FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-section view of a joint place between the damping connector and halves of the golf club; [0016]
FIG. 5 is an operational side view of the golf club when provided with the damping connector; [0017]
FIG. 6 is an operational side view of a conventional golf club; and [0018]
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the conventional golf club.[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1, 2, [0020] 3, and 4, a damping connector (30) constructed in accordance with the present invention is inserted into a first and second halves (10, 20) of the golf club (40). The damping connector (30) is made of a hard and light weight alloy and has a bridge (31), a first protrusion (32) and a second protrusion (33) both integrally formed with the bridge (31). Both the first and second protrusions (32, 33) are tapered outwardly to facilitate the insertion into the first half (10) and the second half (20) of the golf club (40) respectively.
It is to be noted that free ends of the first and second protrusions ([0021] 32, 33) are provided with threads (321, 331), so that when the first and second protrusions (32, 33) are inserted into the first half (10) and second half (20) of the golf club (40), the threads (321, 331) can facilitate the engagement therebetween. Further, the threads (321, 331) are only partly provided on the free ends of the first and second protrusions (32, 33) so that after the first and second protrusions (32, 33) are inserted into the first and second halves (10, 20) respectively, a non-thread areas (322, 332) exist respectively between the joint of the bridge (31) and the first protrusion (32) and the joint between the bridge (31) and the second protrusion (33), which is able to increase the durability of the golf club and protect the golf club from breakage. To eliminate stress fracture occurring at the junction between the bridge (31) and the first protrusion (32) and the junction between the bridge (31) and the second protrusion (33), a web (323, 333) is respectively formed at the junction between the bridge (31) and the first protrusion (32) and the junction between the bridge (31) and the second protrusion (33).
After the damping connector ([0022] 30) is inserted between halves (10, 20), the flexibility and stability of the golf club (40) change. It is noted from FIGS. 5 and 6 that before the addition of the damping connector (30) to the golf club, the entire golf club vibrates seriously and after the damping connector (30) is inserted into the first and second halves (10, 20) of the golf club (40), the golf club (40) only vibrates a little, such that vibration and the recoil force after impact to the golf ball reduce dramatically, which protects the golfer from injuries.
The damping connector ([0023] 30) introduces a breakthrough in current shaft technology because there is no similar shaft available in the market and this invention has several excellent properties to obviate or mitigate all the disadvantages of the conventional shaft:
The user is able to choose the desired location of the addition of the damping connector to adjust the flexibility and rigidness of the golf club to the perfect matching to personal preference. [0024]
The conventional shaft buckles and deflects during impact to alter angles of a corresponding club face thereby resulting in inconsistent shots. When the damping connector ([0025] 30) is located in the golf club, the golf club minimizes deflection during impact of the ball and the club face. Therefore, the damping connector (30) provides accuracy and consistency when a player strikes balls.
The damping connector ([0026] 30) significantly prevents deflecting, unstable bending, and inconsistent vibration which cause energy loss due to the large deflection of the club, so the second half (20) will directly transfer energy to provide the fastest head speed which maximizes efficiency of the striking to the ball.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. [0027]

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A damping connector for a golf club, the damping connector comprising:

a bridge adapted to securely abut a first and a second halves of the golf club;

a first protrusion integrally formed with the bridge, wherein the first protrusion is protruded to facilitate the insertion into the first half of the golf club; and

a second protrusion integrally formed with the bridge, wherein the second protrusion is protuded to facilitate the insertion into the second half of the golf club.

2. The damping connector as claimed in claim 1, wherein a web is formed at a junction between the bridge and the first protrusion and a junction between the bridge and the second protrusion.

3. The damping connector as claimed in claim 1 further comprising threads partly formed on free ends of the first protrusion and the second protrusion.

4. The damping connector as claimed in claim 2 further comprising threads partly formed on free ends of the first protrusion and the second protrusion.

5. The damping connector as claimed in claim 3 further comprising a non-thread area formed at a junction between the bridge and the thread of the first protrusion and a junction between the bridge and the thread of the second protrusion.

6. The damping connector as claimed in claim 4 further comprising a non-thread area formed at a junction between the bridge and the thread of the first protrusion and a junction between the bridge and the thread of the second protrusion.