AU2021201742B1

AU2021201742B1 - An Adjustable Golf Club

Info

Publication number: AU2021201742B1
Application number: AU2021201742A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Simon Garry Moore
Original assignee: Q Golf Ltd
Current assignee: Q Golf Ltd
Priority date: 2021-03-19
Filing date: 2021-03-19
Publication date: 2022-03-24
Anticipated expiration: 2041-03-19

Abstract

The invention is a golf club or part thereof. It may comprise a ball-strike head 1, a hosel 2 having a shank 5 that extends along at least part of, and that engages with, the head, biasing means (eg a spring 9) that provides a locking force that seeks to move the head 1 and hosel apart 2 and, in doing so, causes the head to remain locked in one or other of a selection of loft settings 4. The club or part thereof being such that hand force can be applied to move the head 1 inwards to overcome the locking force to free the head to be turned into another of the loft settings 4. The arrangement is such that subsequent reverse movement of the head will cause it to be locked in that other setting.

Description

TITLE

An Adjustable Golf Club.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to a golf club that has adjustable loft settings.

BACKGROUND

It is known for golf clubs to have facility to adjust the angle of the ball-striking head so as to change the loft of the club overall. As is known, all things being equal, a head set at a steep angle (eg 60) causes a golf ball to fly through a steeper and shorter trajectory than a club where the head is at a lessor angle (eg 10°). The adjustability means that one club can be used to give the same loft range as several clubs. However a problem with at least some known clubs of this type is that the adjustment mechanism is inconvenient to produce and/or use.

OBJECT

It is an object of preferred embodiments of the invention to go at least some way towards addressing the above problem. While this applies to preferred embodiments, the object of the invention per se is simply to provide a useful choice. Therefore, any objects or advantages applicable to preferred embodiments should not be taken as a limitation on claims expressed more broadly.

DEFINITIONS

The term "comprises" or "has", if and when used in this document in relation to one or more features, should not be seen as excluding the option of there being additional unmentioned features. The same applies to derivative terms such as "comprising" and "having".

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is golf club or part thereof comprising: • a ball-strike head; * a hosel having a shank that extends along at least part of, and that engages with, the head; and biasing means (eg a spring) that provides a locking force that seeks to move the head and hosel apart and, in doing so, causes the head to remain locked in one or other of a selection of loft settings; the club or part thereof being such that hand force can be applied to move the head inwards to overcome the locking force to free the head to be turned into another of the loft settings, and such that subsequent reverse movement of the head (eg due to relaxing the hand force) will cause it to be locked in that other setting.

Optionally the golf club or part thereof is such that the biasing force drives the head outwards to cause the head to be locked in said other setting.

Optionally the locking force is provided by a spring.

Optionally the spring is arranged around the shank.

Optionally the head has a series of locking teeth and the hosel has a series of locking teeth, these being arranged such that they intermesh to lock the head in any of the loft settings and subsequently disengage when the head has been moved by hand to overcome the locking force and thereby enabling the head to be turned to another of the loft settings.

Optionally the locking teeth of the head and the hosel each comprise a set of radially longitudinally extending teeth (e.g. each tooth may be in the form of a fin or spline).

Optionally the hosel's set of teeth sleeve-fit into, and mesh with, the head's set of teeth when the head is locked in any one of the loft settings.

Optionally the teeth are in a male-female engagement wherein the teeth of the head are female and the teeth of the hosel are male, and wherein each set of teeth is substantially conical and tapers outwards in the direction of the toe end of the club or part thereof.

Optionally a nut is fitted to a toe end of the shank, a retainer is secured to the shank by the nut, the retainer being in butting relationship with the head when the head is locked in one of the loft settings so that the head cannot be pulled free of the shank.

Optionally the butting relationship is between the retainer and a liner forming part of the head.

Optionally the liner is releasably screw-fitted to another part of the head.

DRAWINGS

Some preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which

Figure 1 is an isometric view of a 'loft-adjustable' golf club;

Figure 1a illustrates loft settings of the club when viewed from the club's toe end;

Figure 1b illustrates the same loft settings when viewed from the heel end of the club;

Figure 2 is an exploded isometric view showing some components of the club;

Figure 3 is an alternative exploded isometric view showing the same components;

Figure 4 illustrates the club in side view cross-section when the club's head is locked in one of its loft settings;

Figure 5 illustrates the club in side view cross-section when the club's head is released for adjustment to another of the loft settings;

Figure 6 illustrates a hosel of the club in various isometric detail;

Figure 6a illustrates the hosel of the club in side view;

Figure 7 illustrates slip teeth forming part of the club's head; and

Figure 8 illustrates detail of the slip teeth.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to Figure 1, the golf club has a ball striking head 1 and a hosel 2 for connection to a golf shaft 3. As is normal, the upper end of the shaft 3 serves as a hand grip or handle for swinging the club. In this case the arrangement is such that the head 1 can be moved by hand with respect to the hosel and locked into any of the loft settings 4, being P, F, 6, 8, W or S. This notation stands for putter, fairway driver, 6 iron, 8 iron, pitching wedge and sand wedge. In this example the loft angles for these are 5, 15, 25, 35, 45 and 550 respectively, however in other embodiments they may be in any other useful combination of angles. Figure 1a illustrates the head when in the loft settings F, 8 and S, viewed from the toe 1a end of the head 1, and Figure 1b shows corresponding views from the heel 1b end of the head 1.

Figures 2 & 3 show some components of the club prior to assembly. The hosel 2 has a cylindrical shank 5 arranged to extend into a space inside the head 1 and connect to a nut 6 at the toe end of the head. To enable this, the distal end of the shank has a male screw thread 7 and the nut has a complimentary female thread 8. The arrangement is such that shank 5 passes through a spring 9 inside the head 1, and the nut 6 sits inside a complimentary shaped retainer 10. A spacer 22 may be used to configure the compression tension that the spring is under. A cylindrical weight 11 is arranged to sit snugly but removably in a further space inside the head and is held there by a grub screw 12. The weight 11 is to help 'balance' the club and can be replaced by a heavier or lighter similar weight to suit the person using the club.

Referring to Figure 4, the retainer 10 sits inside a sleeve 1c that may be considered to be part of the head 1 (in this example the sleeve 1c is screw-fitted to the rest of the head 1). The arrangement is such that the spring 9 is under compression to provide a force that seeks to urge the head 1 outwards away from the heel end of the club. However the head 1 and hosel 2 are not able to separate because a contact surface 13 of the liner 1c butts against a complimentary contact surface 14 of the retainer 10. In other words the spring 9 is unable to move the head outwards beyond the shank 6 and retainer 10. Similarly, a further shoulder 15 of the liner 10 butts against a shoulder 16 of the nut 6 to help keep the liner and the nut together. Figure 4a shows the exterior of the head 1 and hosel 2 when in the Figure 4 disposition. An axial retainer or circlip 23 may be used to assist in in securing male teeth 17 (see Figure 2).

Figure 5 illustrates the same components as Figure 4, but when the head 1 has been pushed inwards by hand towards the heel of the club (i.e. to the right in the drawing) to compact and overcome the biasing force of the spring 9. This is done to release the club for adjusting the angle between the head and hosel. What the movement does is cause complimentary male 17 and female 18 conical or otherwise tapered 'fin-like' or'spline' teeth internal to the heel end of the head to disengage (the male teeth 17 are an integral or connected part of the hosel 2 and the female teeth 18 are an integral or connected part of the head 1). The disengagement enables the head to be turned with respect to the hosel by hand. This has the effect of changing from one to another of the loft settings 4 (the settings are shown in Figure 1). When the hand force that overcomes the bias of the spring 9 is released, the spring pushes the head back to the Figure 4 arrangement so that the teeth 17, 18 reengage to lock the head in the new loft setting. The arrangement is generally that of a smaller conical set of teeth 17 fitting into a larger conical set of teeth 18. Figure a shows the exterior of the hosel and club head when in the Figure 5 disposition.

Referring again to Figures 4 and 5, swinging the club in a normal golf swing generates a centripetal force that seeks to urge the head 1 away from the hosel 2. However in this case that force actually serves to press the teeth 17, 18, and therefore the head and hosel, into a tighter locking engagement rather than pull them apart. This occurs because the teeth 18 associated with the head are 'female' to the 'male' teeth 17 of the hosel, and both are tapered towards the toe end of the club. As the narrower (right hand) end of the female teeth 18 try to move outwards (to the left) they run hard into the progressively spreading (left hand end) taper of the male teeth 17. The result is a locking impasse between the head 1 and the hosel 2.

Figure 6 & 6a illustrates detail of the hosel 2. An index line 19 enables the correct alignment of various loft settings 4, which can also be seen in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 6, the heel end of the hosel has a series of radial slip teeth 20 extending outwards, behind and spaced from the locking teeth 17. These slip teeth 20 are arranged to engage with complimentary radial slip teeth of the head. While the two sets of slip teeth are meshed/engaged, when the head is turned into or out of one of the loft settings 4 they are able to ride over one another and, as a consequence, the person turning the head hears 'clicks' and feel bumps as they clash. This gives the user a nice audible and 'tactile' impression during loft adjustments. Figure 6a illustrates an example of an anti-rotation feature in the hosel, at the beginning of the shank, arranged so that the male splines 17 cannot rotate relative to the hosel. The slip teeth 21 of the head are shown at Figure 7.

Figure 8 illustrates the female teeth 18 connected to the rest of the head 1. Alternatively, the teeth may be formed as an integral part of the head.

While the preferred embodiments described above involve a combination of a tapered splines at the heel end, and a pair of complimentary contact surfaces at the toe end, in other embodiments of the invention there may be two tapered spline pairs - one at the heel and one at the toe..

While some forms of the invention have been described by way of example, it should be appreciated that modifications and improvements can be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

In terms of disclosure, this document envisages and hereby posits any feature mentioned herein in combination with itself or any other feature or features mentioned herein, even if the combination is not claimed.

Claims

1. A golf club or part thereof, comprising:

• a ball-strike head;

* a hosel having a shank that extends along at least part of, and that engages with, the head; and

* biasing means that provides a locking force that seeks to move the head and hosel apart and, in doing so, causes the head to remain locked in one or other of a selection of loft settings;

the club or part thereof being such that hand force can be applied to move the head inwards to overcome the locking force to free the head to be turned into another of the loft settings, and such that subsequent reverse movement of the head will cause it to be locked in that other setting; wherein the head has a series of locking teeth and the hosel has a series of locking teeth, these being arranged such that they intermesh to lock the head in any of the loft settings and subsequently disengage when the head has been moved by hand to overcome the locking force to enable the head to be turned to another of the loft settings; and the teeth are in a male-female engagement such that the teeth of the head are male and the teeth of the hosel are female, and each set of teeth is substantially conical and tapers outwards in the direction of the toe end of the club or part thereof.

2. A golf club or part thereof according to claim 1, formed such that the biasing force drives the head outwards to cause the head to be locked in said other setting

3. A golf club or part thereof according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the biasing force is provided by a spring.

4. A golf club or part thereof according to claim 3, wherein the spring is arranged around the shank.

5. A golf club or part thereof according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the locking teeth of the head and the hosel each comprise a set of radially longitudinally extending teeth.

6. A golf club or part thereof according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the hosel's set of teeth sleeve-fit into, and mesh with, the head's set of teeth when the head is locked in any one of the loft settings.

7. A golf club or part thereof according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a nut fitted to a toe end of the shank, a retainer secured to the shank by the nut, and the retainer being in butting relationship with the head when the head is locked in one of the loft settings so that the head cannot be pulled free of the shank.

8. A golf club or part thereof according to claim 7, wherein the butting relationship is between the retainer and a liner forming part of the head.

9. A golf club or part thereof according to claim 8, wherein the liner is releasably screw-fitted to another part of the head.

10. A golf club comprising:

• a ball-strike head having a cone shaped series of locking teeth arranged such that each of these teeth extend in a straight line;

* a hosel having a cone shaped series of locking teeth arranged such that each of these teeth extend in a straight line, and a shank that extends along at least part of, and that engages with, the head;

* biasing means that provides a spring locking force that seeks to move the head and hosel apart and, in doing so, causes the head to remain locked in one or other of a selection of loft settings;

the two series of locking teeth being arranged such that the cone shape of one sleeve fits into the cone shape of the other in a meshed male-female relationship to lock them against rotation, but wherein hand force can be applied to move the head inwards to free the head to be turned into another of the loft settings, and such that subsequent reverse movement of the head will cause it to be locked in that other setting.

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