US976267A - Golf-club. - Google Patents

Description

A. FJKNIGHT:

GOLF CLUB.

APPLIOATION FILED a. 27, 1909.

9 176,267. I Patented Nov. 22, 1910:

- Inventor:

oqrthurF'. Kn ight,

ARTHUR F. KNIGHT, OF SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK.

GOLF-CLUB.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 27,

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

1909. Serial No. 486,083.

To all whom it may concern:

30 it known that I, 'ARTI-Iiii l. KNIGHT, a citizen of the United States, residingat Schenectady, county of Schenectady, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Golf- Clubs, of which the following is a specification.

,The object of my invention is to produce a golf cllll) in which the line of flight of the ball may more truly conform to the di rection of the blow delivered by the player.

In golf clubs as usually constructed the head of the club is secured to a wooden shaft usually of a highly elastic wood such as selected seasoned hickory tapering to a- .com-

paratively small section iieartlie head and much stouter at the handle end. Hickory has uniformly been preferred on account of its hardness, toughness and suppleness, the latter quality being very important in controlling the rebound of the head after the powerful impact with the ball and adding to the distance of the drive. I have discovered, however, that with a hickory shaft there is an inherentobjection, namely, the Wood being fibrous in nature offers but small resistance to torsional strain and it therefore results that when the blow is delivered to the ball, the head of the club yields in a line circumferential to the axis, that is to say, the blow being delivered at a point several inches eccentric to the axis of the shaft produces a strong torsional strain which twists the hickory and this effect is accentuated by the nature of the wood, which being in effeet a burdle of parallel fibers is easily twisted on its axis. Therefore, when the blow is delivered the head takes a resultant line of motion, one component tending to twist the shaft on the axis and the other to flex it backward. The latter only is the one desired, since a' rebound in the direction of the blow would serve only to raise-the trajectory of the balls flight and increase the length of the drive. The torsional element, however, is highly objectionable since an angular rebound causes the ball to deviate from the direction of impact and therefore the direction of aim and the flight will be at an angle to that intended, so that unless the player by long training and practice unconsciously through experience has acquired a standing position to offset this inherent fault of the club, his play will be uncertain and irregular. I have therefore dispensed with a fibrous shaft and provided a practically torsionless construction with which the player may make his game far more uniform and with which even a beginner may easily learn to play fair golf. In driving, the torsion difficulty to which, from my own experience as an expert player, I at tribute mostly a lack of uniform quality in my playing, I have found that as I make the shaft stiffer I improve the fidelity of stroke, but that another difficulty then arises, namely, that lack of suppleness prevents long driving, besides spoiling the balance of the club. After much study and experimentation, I have finally been able to produce a club in which the necessary suppleness of shaft for a long drive and a true flight of the ball are both assured. I accomplish this by making the shaft of steel tubing preferably hardened and tempered to give as great suppleness as desired. Such a shaft is at once so light and so rigid that it is not twisted by the hardest blow, and yet offers any desired amount of suppleness to suit the taste of the player and may be arranged to afford this suppleness at any point in the shaft length. Some players prefer the suppleness to be at or near the head, others prefer to feel the yielding at or near the middle of the shaft. There is a characteristic feel in the club which dominates these preferences for each skilled player and this feel is one which invariably determines his choice. With my hollow steel shaft the metal may be so distributed and the suppleness placed at such a point that a wide range of selection may easily be afforded. With the cylindrical tube the yield is put midway of the shaft length. \Vith thestepped tube in which the tube diameter decreases at a number of determinate points, the point of greatest yielding or flexibility may be shifted by vary1ng the position of the final step. In the stralght tapered tube which is the form I personally prefer, the suppleness is near the head, as in the ordinary tapered hickory shaft, but the torsion in all is eliminated by reason of the great rigidit to torsional strain of the steel tubing an the accuracy of 'play is thereby greatly enhanced. I prefer to employ high carbon steel and temper thetube so as to increase the resistance to torsional strain. The tube, may, however, even be case-hardened with improved results, or a quality of steel be employed of known high torsional resistance, such for example, .as

nickel-steel. It will be seen therefore that. my invention consists of a golf club whether a driver' sire to have it understood that my inventionis only limited by thescope of my claims here- I inafter set forth and that the essential feature of my invention is the non-torsional tubular characteristic of the shaft and in carrying out. this object any suitable metal, alloy or material might be employed which has a great freedom from torsional yield.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a part sectional elevation of a driver made according to my invention; Fig. 2 is a modification with a smooth taper tubular shaft; Fig. 3 is another modification with a cylindrical tubular shaft; and Fig. 4 is a modification with 'a cylindricaltubularshaft in which the section of'metal is reduced at the lower part of the shaft near the head;

The head 1 of the implement is secured to the end of the tapered steel tube 2. Thetube may be swaged to a graded or stepped ta er, as in Fig. 1, or a smooth taper as at 3 in ig.

2. One of these two forms is usually preferred, but some players exhibit a preference for a plain c lindrical tube as at 4 in Fig. 3. If desire the point of flexibility in this latter type may be controlled and varied by a taper bore as indicated at 5 in Fig. 4. The shaft may be secured to the handle and to the head in the usual way or in any. approved way. One way is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, in which theshaft is cemented to the head and riveted as at 6. The handle 7 may be cemented to the steel tube and wrapped with shee skin or calf skin, in the usual way. ig. 4 I have shown another mode of securing the shaft.

The head is here bored to admit the shaft;

the latter is pushed through; and the sole plate 8 soldered, brazed or electrically welded to it. The sole plate is then pushed back and secured by lag screws 9, 9, etc. and a rivet 10 applied at the upper art. While I have shown only two types 0 club, namely a driver or brassy and midiron, my invention is, as will be readil understood, equally applicable to any clu in which distance driving is desired and may be used with advantage even on clubs in which moderately hard blows are delivered to the ball when great distances are not required, and particularly on account of the accuracy of flight of the ball in accordance with the aim of the player.

The weight of metal in the shaft is not always exactly the same as some players desire a lighter club than others, in the shaft invention; Int e taper form or stepped form, approximately the same proportions may be followed except that the up r portion of the tube may have a larger iameter and that the thickness of wall may vary somewhat according to the extent of reduction of the tube diameter. 1

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is

1. A golf club provided with a tubular elastic non-fibrous shaft.

-2. A golf club provided with a shaft of steel tubmg.

3. A golf club rovided with a tubular metallic shaft in w ich volumeof metal decreases toward the head.

4. A golf club provided with a shaft of tapered and tempered steel tubing.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of March, 1909.

ARTHUR F. ,KNIGHT.

Witnesses:

BENJAMIN B. HULL,

MARGARET E. WOOLLEY.

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