US2004167A - Golf ball - Google Patents

Description

June 11,"1935 ..1f N. G. MADGE I GOLF BALL Filed/July 19, 1950 INVENTQR I jl or'man @-%@6 BY ATTORNEY Patented June 11, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GOLF BALL New Jersey Application July 19, 1930, Serial No. 469,076 a 3 Claims. '(01. 273-62) My present invention relates to balls, and more particularly to an improved golf ball.

Heretofore, golf balls have been wound with thread which has of necessity been cut from reg- 5 ular rubber sheeting. In making such thread, the rubber is cured between liners which gives a. cloth impression on two faces of the rubber sheet, and such rubber sheet is then cut into threads. No matter how careful the cutting operation is performed or what care is employed in having the, cutting knives sharp, the resulting edge on the thread is uneven and jagged. The resulting thread therefore is extremely liable to breakage and also, because of the rough edges, as well as the rough faces, the thread showed a marked tendency to chafe in the process of winding. The result has been that it is impossible to place sufficient tension on the thread to insure a resultant ball which will have a low percentage of compression. In other words, the resultant ball with the material and method heretofore employed is relatively soft. Heretofore, the hardest ball it was possible to manufacture showed a compression value of between 12 and 13 percent. in an empirical test made under a load of 437 pounds. In my development in this art, I have discovered that by utilizing threads made from latex, I am able to produce a ball which is harder than balls heretofore made, and has a compression value of approximately 9 percent under the same test as the balls heretofore made. The thread made from latex is perfectly smooth on its faces and has rounded edges. There is, therefore, no tendency to chafe in the winding operation, and I am enabled to place the same under a greater tension than has heretofore been possible. It is not that the latex has a greater tensile strength, but by being more homogeneous and with smooth faces and round edges, the thread is more uniform in character and may be subjected to a greater and more uniform tension. Rubber formed by calendaring or extruding from ordinary plasticlzed or milled rubber has a decided "grain, so that it will tear quite readily in one direction. On the other hand, rubber which is laid down directly from latex is grainless and has not only a uniform tear in all directions but also its resistance to tearing is greater. Vulcanized thread which has been laid down directly from rubber latex therefore is not only free from sharp edges and irregularities at which points tears will start readily, but by reason of its grainless character, it also offers a much greater resistance to tearing than ordinary cut thread which is made from a calendered vulcanized sheet rubber.

The object of my invention, therefore, is an improved golf ball.

In the accompanying drawing, illustrating a preferred embodiment of my invention and several modifications of the thread which maybe employed in the manufacture thereof;

Figure 1 is a sectional view, part in elevation of a golf ball embodying my invention;

Figs. 2 to 8, inclusive, show perspective views of latex threads which may be employed in manufacturing a golf ball according to my invention.

Referring to the drawing, I0 designates the usual weighted center pill about which is wound a multiplicity of layers H formed from latex threads l2, such layers being wound under any desired tension. Enclosing the pill l0 and plurality of layers I l is the usual balata covering #3.

The threads l2 are preferably made from creamed latex by extrusion into a coagulant and drying and vulcanizing in any convenient manher. A specific gravity of approximately .95 is most desirable. Such latex thread l2 may be oval in cross section, as indicated at It in Fig. 2, or rectangular in cross section as indicated at I5 in Fig. 3 or substantially rectangular with the faces and ends concave as indicated at it in Fig.

4, or double convex faces or substantially rectangular, as indicated at H in Fig. 5 or substantlally rectangular with rounded ends as indicated at IS in Fig. 6 or double convex as indicated at 19 in Fig. 7 or with concave faces and rounded ends as indicated at 2b in Fig. 8. Regardless of the form employed, it is essential that such. threads be homogeneous and with smooth faces and rounded corners, free from any cracks or ragged edges through which or along which tension is liable to rupture the thread.

The thread H of whatever form employed may be wound under tension over the center pill it, suflicient to eliminate substantially all voids 4o otherwise than on the outer layers thereof and the resulting ball is harder and has been found on test to have a longer flight than balls heretofore made out of cut thread.

It is preferred to make a thread from the rub as her latex. It is obvious that some of the advantages of the invention will be realized by employing a rubber latex, which has been. concentrated and/or freed from solid constituents by centrifuging or creaming with chemical agents. And instead of rubber latex from a natural source, the latex may be made artificially as for instance by plasticizing with an organic hydrophilic colloid and then from time to time adding water to the plasticized mass in a closed mixing machine. at

These and other equivalents of rubber late'ic may be employed to make the thread with uncut edges so that all faces of the thread have the same character of finish. In the claims, the term latex is, therefore, to be understood, as to include natural or artificial dispersions of rubber or analogous substances.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is: l

2. As an improved article of manufacture, a

golf ball having an extruded latex thread with smooth faces and rounded edges wound thereon under suflicient tension to result in a ball having a compression value lower than that possible with the use of regular cut thread.

3. As an improved article of manufacture, a golf ball having a thread winding of vulcanized .-rubber deposited directly from latex, said thread being wound under a tension suflicient to give the ball a relative deformation under pressure lower than that of a ball made of cut thread from masticated rubber.

NORMAN dreson moon.

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