JP2012245269A - Golf club head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To more easily form an impact sound-adjusting rib.SOLUTION: This hollow golf club head includes a face part, a crown part, and a sole part, and is formed by joining a plurality of shell members. The golf club head includes the impact sound-adjusting rib provided in the sole part. The plurality of shell members are divided at at least the rib. The plurality of shell members include a rib-forming shell member having: a sole part formation part forming a part of the sole part; and a rib formation part rising from an end part of the sole part formation part and forming the rib.

Description

  The present invention relates to a hollow golf club head.

  In hollow golf club heads typified by driver heads, the volume of the head has been increasing year by year, and the crown and sole portions have become thinner and the area has also increased. For this reason, techniques for reducing the weight of the golf club head have been proposed (for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  On the other hand, when the head volume increases, the hitting sound when hitting a golf ball tends to be low, and a golf club head that emits a high hitting sound is desired from golfers who prefer high hitting sound. As a measure for increasing the hitting sound, there is a method for increasing the natural frequency of the head by providing a rib on the sole portion (for example, Patent Document 3).

JP-A-9-99121 JP-A-9-248353 JP 2011-62255 A

  As a method of forming the rib for adjusting the sound hitting as described above, it is conceivable to prepare the head and the rib separately and weld the rib to the sole portion of the head. However, since the rib is usually a small part, it takes time to align and hold the sole portion and the rib as preparation for welding, and the workability is poor.

  An object of the present invention is to more easily form a rib for adjusting a hitting sound.

  According to the present invention, in a hollow golf club head that includes a face portion, a crown portion, and a sole portion, and is formed by joining a plurality of shell members, the sound-adjusting sound provided in the sole portion is provided. The plurality of shell members are divided at least with the rib as a boundary, and the plurality of shell members are formed from a sole portion forming portion forming a part of the sole portion, and an end portion of the sole portion forming portion. There is provided a golf club head characterized by including a rib forming shell member that has a rib forming portion that stands and forms the rib.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to more easily form a rib for adjusting the hitting sound.

1 is an exploded perspective view of a golf club head 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view and a partially enlarged view of the golf club head 10. (A) And (B) is sectional drawing of the other example of the golf club head 10, and the elements on larger scale. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view and a partially enlarged view of another example of the golf club head 10. (A) is an example of a development view of a shell member, and (B) is a configuration example of a rib when a sole portion is curved. The figure which shows the example of a division | segmentation of a shell member. The figure which shows the example of a division | segmentation of a shell member. (A) And (B) is a figure which shows the example of joining of the shell member from which thickness differs.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a golf club head 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view and a partially enlarged view of the golf club head 10. FIG. In the figure, the arrow d1 indicates the face-back direction, and the arrow d2 indicates the toe heel direction.

  Note that the face-back direction means a horizontal direction that becomes a flying ball direction when grounded so as to have a specified lie angle defined for the golf club head 10, and is usually a central portion of the face portion 11. Is the plane direction of the plane orthogonal to The toe-heel direction is a horizontal direction orthogonal to the face-back direction when the golf club head 10 is grounded according to a specified lie angle.

  The golf club head 10 forms a hollow body formed by joining a plurality of shell members 1 to 5, and a peripheral portion of the golf club head 10 forms a face portion (hitting surface), an upper portion of the golf club head 10, The crown part 12, the sole part 13, and the side part 14 which respectively form a bottom part and a side part are constituted. The side portion 14 has respective portions on the toe side, the back side, and the heel side. The golf club head 10 includes a hosel portion 15 to which a shaft is attached.

  A rib 16 for adjusting the hitting sound is formed on the inner upper surface of the sole portion 13. In the case of this embodiment, the rib 16 is formed in a belt shape and extends from the toe side to the heel side, and crosses the sole portion 13 from the toe side to the heel side.

  In general, when the head volume is increased, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the peripheral wall of the head while ensuring the necessary strength. For example, the thickness T (FIG. 2) of the sole portion 13 is preferably 0.5 mm or greater and 1.0 mm or less. In addition, when making thickness T comparatively thick, 1.2 mm or more and 2.5 mm or less are preferable.

  When the head volume is increased, the area of each part increases, so that the natural value of the entire head decreases, and the natural value (natural frequency) of the primary vibration mode of the sole part 13 also decreases. For this reason, the hitting sound at the time of hitting the golf ball tends to be low. In this embodiment, the sole part 13 is restrained by providing the rib 16, and the eigenvalue of the primary vibration mode increases. As a result, the hitting sound can be increased.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the position of the antinode of the primary vibration mode is located at the point P in the face-back direction as shown in FIG. It is located closer to the antinode position P in the primary vibration mode than the portion 13a and the back-side end portion 13b.

  Thus, the rib 16 is preferably provided in the vicinity of the antinode position P of the primary vibration mode of the sole portion 13 or on the position P. As a result, the amplitude of the primary vibration of the sole portion 13 can be suppressed, and the reduction in the hitting sound can be suppressed. The position of the antinode of the primary vibration mode of the sole portion 13 can be obtained by performing modal analysis by a computer or eigenvalue analysis by FEM.

  If the height H of the rib 16 from the sole portion 13 (FIG. 2) is higher to some extent, the restraining effect of the sole portion 13 is enhanced. On the other hand, the height H of the rib 16 may be uniform over the entire rib 16 or may be different. In any case, the maximum height is preferably 2.0 mm or more. For example, when the sole portion 13 is curved in the toe heel direction, the height is low on the toe side and the heel side, and the height is the maximum height at the center portion. In this case, the center portion is 2.0 mm or more. It is preferable that

  Next, although the golf club head 10 is a golf club head for a driver, the present invention is a wood type golf club head including a fairway wood other than the driver, a utility type (hybrid type) golf club head, and the like. It can be applied to a hollow golf club head. The golf club head 10 can be made of a metal material. Examples of such a metal material include titanium-based metals (for example, 6Al-4V-Ti titanium alloy), stainless steel, and copper alloys such as beryllium copper. It is done.

  As a method for joining the shell members 1 to 5, welding, adhesion, and the like can be mentioned. In the case of this embodiment, the shell member 1 forms the face portion 11, the shell member 2 forms the crown portion 12, and the shell member 3 forms a part of the peripheral portion of the crown portion 12, the side portion 14, and the hosel portion 15. It is a member.

  The sole portion 13 is formed by shell members 4 and 5 divided with the rib 16 as a boundary. The shell member 5 includes a sole portion forming portion 5a that forms a back side portion of the sole portion 13, and a rib forming portion 5b that rises from an end portion on the face portion 11 side of the sole portion forming portion 5a and forms a rib 16. It is the shell member for rib formation which has. The entire shell member 4 is a sole portion forming shell member that is a sole portion forming portion that forms the remaining portion of the sole portion 13 (the portion on the face portion 11 side).

  The shell member 4 and the shell member 5 are joined to each other by joining the back side end portion of the shell member 4 to the end portion of the sole portion forming portion 5a of the shell member 5 as shown in the partially enlarged view of FIG. Is done. The end portions on the toe side and the heel side of the rib forming portion 5b may or may not be joined to the side portion 14, but when joined to the side portion 14, the restraining force of the sole portion 13 by the rib 16 can be further increased. it can.

  As a method for forming the rib 16, in the method in which the sole portion 13 and the rib 16 are joined together as separate members, the separate members must be aligned and held, which is troublesome. In the present embodiment, the shell member 5 is integrally provided with the sole portion forming portion 5a and the rib forming portion 5b, so that such trouble is eliminated and the rib 16 for adjusting the hammering sound is formed more easily. be able to.

  In the present embodiment, not only the sole portion forming portion 5a and the rib forming portion 5b are integrated, but also the rib forming portion 5b is erected from the end portion of the sole portion forming portion 5a. Therefore, the shell member 5 can be formed by bending the plate material, that is, the shell member 5 can be formed by forging. This has a great merit in that the shell member 5 can be easily made thin.

  As described above, when the head volume is increased, it is necessary to reduce the thickness of the peripheral wall of the head. When trying to reduce the thickness of the sole portion 13 and the rib 16, if casting is adopted as a manufacturing method, it is often difficult in terms of molten metal flow and occurrence of a cast hole. Even when forging is adopted, the method of joining the sole portion 13 and the rib 16 separately to each other takes time as described above. In the present embodiment, not only the sole portion forming portion 5a and the rib forming portion 5b are integrated, but also the forging is adopted by raising the rib forming portion 5b from the end portion of the sole portion forming portion 5a. The shell member 5 can be formed thinner.

  In this way, the shell members 1 to 5 are all preferably forged products, but may be combined with a cast product. Even in the case of a combination with a cast product, the shell member that forms the sole portion 13 (in the case of the present embodiment, the shell members 4 and 5) and the face portion 11 are formed because the accuracy of the molded product is required. The shell member (shell member 1 in this embodiment) is preferably at least a forged product.

  In the present embodiment, the golf club head 10 is composed of the five shell members 1 to 5, but the number of divisions is not limited to this, and it is sufficient that the golf club head 10 is divided at least with the rib 16 as a boundary. Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment, for example, it is possible to configure at least two shell members.

Second Embodiment
In the first embodiment, when the rib 16 is formed, the rib forming portion 5b is provided in the shell member 5 that forms the back side of the sole portion 13, but the rib forming portion is provided in the shell member 4 that forms the face portion 11 side. May be provided. FIG. 3 (A) shows an example thereof, in which the shell member 4 rises from the sole portion forming portion 4a, the back side end of the sole portion forming portion 4a, and forms a rib 16. It is the shell member for rib formation which has. The entire shell member 5 is a sole portion forming shell member that is a sole portion forming portion that forms the remaining portion (the back side portion) of the sole portion 13. The shell members 4 and 5 are joined to each other by joining the end of the shell member 5 on the face part 11 side to the end of the sole part forming part 4a.

  Moreover, you may provide a rib formation part in both the shell members 4 and 5. FIG. FIG. 3B shows an example thereof, and the shell members 4 and 5 are rib forming shell members having sole portion forming portions 4a and 5a and rib forming portions 4b and 5b, respectively. The shell members 4 and 5 are joined to each other by joining the rib forming portions 4b and 5b in addition to the end portions of the sole forming portions 4a and 5a, and the rib forming portions 4b and 5b are connected to each other. Ribs 16 are formed.

<Third Embodiment>
In the first embodiment, one rib 16 is provided on the sole portion 13, but a plurality of ribs 16 may be provided. In this case, the golf club head 10 may be divided into shell members at least at each rib as a boundary so that there are as many rib forming shell members as the number of ribs.

  FIG. 4 shows an example. In the example of the figure, two ribs 17A and 17B are provided on the sole portion 13. The ribs 17A and 17B are the same as the ribs 16 described above, but are spaced apart from each other in the face-back direction. The sole portion 13 is divided into three shell members 4 to 6 with ribs 17A and 17B as boundaries.

  The entire shell member 4 is a sole portion forming shell member that is a sole portion forming portion that forms a portion of the sole portion 13 on the face portion 11 side. The shell member 5 is a rib forming shell member that includes a sole portion forming portion 5a and a rib forming portion 5b that rises from an end of the sole portion forming portion 5a on the face portion 11 side and forms a rib 17A. . The shell member 6 is a rib forming shell member that includes a sole portion forming portion 6a and a rib forming portion 6b that rises from an end of the sole portion forming portion 6a on the face portion 11 side and forms a rib 17B. .

  The shell members 4 to 6 are connected to the end of the sole part forming part 4 a of the shell member 4, the end part of the shell part 5 on the face part 11 side of the sole part forming part 5 a, and the sole part forming part 5 a of the shell member 5. The end portions on the face portion 11 side of the sole portion forming portion 6a of the shell member 6 are joined to the back side end portions of the shell member 6 by joining to each other.

<Fourth embodiment>
In the said 1st Embodiment, although the case where the sole part 13 was substantially flat was assumed, you may comprise the circular arc or elliptical arc shape curved in the toe-heel direction. In this case, when the shell member 5 is molded from a plate material by forging, the rib forming portion 5b may be distorted so as to meander or hinder processing. Therefore, a slit may be formed in advance in the rib forming portion 5b.

  FIG. 5A is an example of a development view of the shell member 5, and it is assumed that the rib forming portion 5 b is raised from the sole portion forming portion 5 a by being bent along a broken line L. Further, it is assumed that the sole portion forming portion 5a is molded so as to bend in the toe-heel direction. A plurality of wedge-shaped slits SL are formed in the rib forming portion 5b so as to be separated in the toe-heel direction.

  FIG. 5B is a view of the shell member 5 viewed in the face-back direction after processing. The shell member 5 is curved in the toe-heel direction as a whole, and the deformation of the rib forming portion 5b is absorbed by the slit SL. Yes. In this way, the rib forming portion 5b is prevented from being distorted so as to meander or hindering processing. In addition, you may join between the small pieces of the rib formation part 5b so that the slit SL part may be filled.

<Fifth Embodiment>
In the said 1st Embodiment, although the rib 16 has the structure which crossed the sole part 13, the shape and arrangement | positioning of the rib 16 can employ | adopt various aspects.

  FIG. 6 shows an example in which the rib 16 does not cross the sole portion 13. In the example of the figure, the dividing line of the shell member is not on the extended line of the rib. FIG. 6 shows shell members 4 and 5 instead of the shell members 4 and 5 of the first embodiment, which form a sole portion 13. The upper part of the figure shows the shell members 4 and 5 in a divided state, and the lower part shows the state after joining.

  In the example of FIG. 6, the rib 16 does not cross the sole portion 13 in the toe heel direction, and extends from the toe side to the heel side at the center portion. The shell member 4 includes a sole portion forming portion 4a that forms a back side toe and a heel side portion in addition to the face portion 11 side portion of the sole portion 13. The shell member 4 rises from the center back side end of the sole portion forming portion 4a and has a rib forming portion 4b for forming the rib 16 to constitute a rib forming shell member. The entire shell member 5 is a sole portion forming shell member that is a sole portion forming portion that forms the remaining portion of the sole portion 13 (a central portion on the back side).

  The shell members 4 and 5 are joined to each other by joining the end on the face 11 side of the shell member 5 and the end on the toe and heel sides to the shell member 4.

  Next, FIG. 7 shows an example in which the rib 16 is formed in a cross shape. In the example of the figure, the sole portion 13 is formed by four shell members 21 to 24. The upper part of the figure shows the shell members 21 to 24 in a divided state, and the lower part shows a state after joining. Each shell member 21 is a rib forming shell member having sole portion forming portions 21a to 24a and rib forming portions 21b to 24b. And the shell members 21 thru | or 24 are integrated by joining between adjacent edge parts.

<Sixth Embodiment>
In each of the above embodiments, it is assumed that the thickness of the sole portion 13 is substantially uniform throughout, but the thickness of the sole portion forming portion of the shell member is made different so that the thickness varies depending on the part. You can also.

  For example, in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the sole portion 13 is separated from the rib 16 by the face portion 11 side (shell member 4) and the back side (the sole portion forming portion 5a of the shell member 5). Therefore, by changing the thickness of the shell member 4 and the shell member 5, the thickness of the sole portion 13 can be changed between the face portion 11 side and the back side, and the strength and weight can be changed. You can make a difference in balance.

  When the face portion 11 side (shell member 4) is relatively thick and the back side (sole portion forming portion 5a of the shell member 5) is relatively thin, the support rigidity of the lower portion of the face portion 11 can be increased, and It is possible to increase the launch angle.

  Conversely, if the face portion 11 side (shell member 4) is relatively thin and the back side (sole portion forming portion 5a of the shell member 5) is relatively thick, the back side of the sole portion 13 becomes heavy. A center of gravity can be achieved.

  When the thickness is varied, it is preferable to make the shell member having the rib forming portion thinner. For example, the example of FIG. 8A shows an example in which the rib member 5b is provided on the shell member 5 that forms the back side of the sole portion 13 and is thinner than the shell member 4 that forms the face portion 11 side. . 8B shows an example in which the rib member 4b is provided on the shell member 4 that forms the face portion 11 side of the sole portion 13 and is thinner than the shell member 5 that forms the back side. .

  By thinning the shell member having the rib forming portion, for example, when the shell member is formed by press molding, there is an advantage that the rib forming portion can be easily formed (easily bent). Moreover, when joining between shell members is performed by welding, better welding can be performed.

Claims (12)

In a hollow golf club head formed by joining a plurality of shell members, including a face portion, a crown portion, and a sole portion,
It is provided with a rib for adjusting the hitting sound provided in the sole part,
The plurality of shell members are divided with at least the rib as a boundary,
The plurality of shell members are
It comprises a rib forming shell member having a sole part forming part that forms part of the sole part, and a rib forming part that stands up from an end of the sole part forming part and forms the rib. Golf club head.   The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the rib forming shell member is a forged product. The plurality of shell members are
2. The golf club head according to claim 1, further comprising a sole portion forming shell member that has a sole portion forming portion that forms the remaining portion of the sole portion and is joined to the rib forming shell member. .   2. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the sole portion forming portion of the rib forming shell member and the sole portion forming portion of the sole portion forming shell member have different thicknesses. A first rib-forming shell member; and a second rib-forming shell member.
The rib forming portion of the first rib forming shell member and the rib forming portion of the second rib forming shell member are joined together to form one rib. Item 4. The golf club head according to Item 1.   The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the sole portion is 0.5 mm or greater and 1.0 mm or less.   The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the rib has a maximum height of 2.0 mm or more from the sole portion.   The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the rib extends from a toe side to a heel side.   2. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the rib is closer to an antinode of primary vibration of the sole portion than an end portion on the face side and an end portion on the back side of the sole portion.   The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the joining of the plurality of shell members is joining by welding. A plurality of the ribs are provided on the sole portion,
The plurality of shell members are divided with at least each of the ribs as a boundary,
The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of shell members are provided with the number of rib forming shell members equal to the number of the ribs.   The shell member including a portion forming the sole portion and the shell member including a portion forming the face portion among the plurality of shell members are at least forged products. Golf club head.

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