Tommy Armour Golf Company

James E Karner

Jessica A Laprade

Timothy R Reed

An apparatus and method for first reliably and accurately aligning the shafts of golf clubs in consistent orientation relative to corresponding club heads during assembly thereof, and second for performing inductive curing on the aligned golf club. A golf club is supported in an address position in a combination alignment/inductive cure station. The club shaft is supported by an inclined V-shaped channel, and the club head is supported in a club head support which includes a gel-filled trough for conforming to the sole of the club head. The leading edge of the club head is aligned against two substantially vertical alignment posts extending from the club head support, and reference graphics on the shaft are used in combination with an alignment panel to visually obtain the desired relative orientation of the shaft and club head. The club is then clamped in place, and an inductive heating element heats the joint of the shaft and club head to activate a bonding agent. A separate cold air cooling member returns the golf club joint to an operator handable temperature for speed of production.

Apparatus for assembling and curing golf clubs

An apparatus and method for maintaining proper alignment of an iron-style golf club prior to and during installation of a handle grip includes generally U-shaped shaft supports and a biased, preferably gravity-driven, self-adjusting, leading edge alignment assembly creating a vertical plane defined by at least a pair of parallel horizontal rails positioned one over the other, the horizontal rails being slidable along inclined linear bearings to facilitate adjustment until the leading edge of the strike face of an iron-style club head contacts two of the rails to ensure vertical alignment. A clamp is further provided to lock a properly aligned iron-style golf club in place prior to installing a handle grip on the butt-end of the shaft.

Apparatus and method for aligning a golf club for attaching a handle grip

Method for assembling and curing golf clubs

Golf putter head

An improved golf putter club is disclosed in which the club head, hosel, shaft and grip are so configured that the club's total weight is perfectly centered and balanced about the club's shaft axis, resulting in multi-directional stability, i.e., infinite balancing, against any static forces causing the putter club head to rotate off line about the shaft, grip, and hosel axis. Such rotational stability eliminates any inherent twisting forces of the putter head during use. An extremely high moment of inertia about the club head's center of gravity results from use of a relatively heavyweight material for the ball striking face, the club heel and toe ends, and the adjacent sole portions, while an insert formed of a relatively lightweight material is used to fill in the club head's central area where heavyweight material is absent. This high rotational moment of inertia assures that when a golf ball is hit off-center (i.e., struck on the face at a distance from the club head's center of gravity) only a minimal angular acceleration is produced by the club head on the golf ball being struck. The above advantages are provided in a putter having a slight onset design.

Growing community of inventors

Grayslake, IL, United States of America

James E Karner