Radius Engineering, Inc.

Other

Trek Bicycle Corporation

Ronald Harry Nelson

Dimitrije Milovich

Paul Nordstrom Clark

Gregory Joseph Loughry

Weston M Wilcox

Robert F Read

Jonathan Garhart

A hollow tubulous composite structure and method for prosthetic limbs is described.

Carbon fiber prosthetic foot

Carbon fiber prosthetic foot with hollow cross sections

A method for manufacture of a hollow complex three-dimensional fiber golf club head having at least one hole. A fluid-removable core is shaped in the general form of the golf club head, placed in a flexible pressurizable bladder around the core, at least one ply of fiber impregnated with a curable resin is wrapped over the core and bladder, and a cured part is formed by pressurizing the bladder while the core, bladder, and impregnated fiber is in a female mold to force the plies against the inner surfaces of the mold. After heating to cure the resin, the bladder and the fluid-removable core is removed from the interior of the cured part by disintegrating core with a fluid sufficient to allow removal of the bladder.

Method of manufacturing a composite golf club head

Method for manufacturing composite bicycle frame

A pressurizable bladder for the manufacture of a composite shaft manufactured from a flexible elastomeric material and adapted for supporting at least one layer of fiber impregnated with resin has an opening for pressurization of the bladder to compress the impregnated fiber against female tooling while the tooling is heated to cure the resin. The bladder has a wall of variable thickness to permit outer contours of the bladder to conform to inner contours of the female tooling.

Injection molded, rigidized bladder with varying wall thickness for manufacturing composite shafts

Composite bicycle frame and method of construction thereof

A process for forming an aircraft control surface in the form of a spoiler from a fiber/resin composite is disclosed. The trailing edge is compression molded by applying pressure on the mold. The leading edge is thick walled in the form of a torsion box and is molded by an internal pressurizable bladder.

Method for manufacture of composite aircraft control surfaces

The bicycle frame of the invention is formed by selecting and adhesively joining previously formed and precured composite tubes to previously formed and precured composite lug components. The precured lug components are separately shaped from preforms comprising a plurality of resin impregnated fibrous layers formed into a stack in which the fibers of adjacent layers cross one another, with such preforms of each such lug component being in the nature of a set of similarly shaped overlapping halves of the frame lug component to be formed therefrom, with such overlapping halves being brought together in a hollow nature and placed around an inflatable bladder to form an assemblage that is applied between a set of female mold halves of molding tools that are closed for forming the lug component itself, and the resulting assemblage is subjected to a curing heat, with such bladder of each two hundred (200) set of preforms being arranged to first be pressurized to a pressure greater than or equal to two hundred (200) pounds per square inch, for urging the respective preforms against the mold shaping surfaces opposing same, thereby providing a high laminate compaction pressure during cure that produces a uniform, thin walled, strong, tubular, lug component. The said lug components are also each formed with one or more male members or plugs for closely fitting into adjacent open ends of the aforementioned all-composite tubes. Such composite tubes are formed by wrapping a preform, that is similar to the lug component preform, around a mandrel and cured, with the wrap being subject to a compaction pressure therearound during cure, thereby providing a thin walled high strength tube, for forming of the bicycle frame as above indicated.

Composite bicycle frame and methods for its construction

A composite golf-club head is disclosed with at least one complex three-dimensional molded composite part. The part has multiple interleaved plies of reinforcing fiber, and has a wall with an interleave ratio greater than about 30, preferably greater than about 100.

Composite golf club head

A method for manufacturing a composite shaft comprising providing an impregnated fibrous material comprising a fiber impregnated with a hardenable polymeric material, forming an impregnated fiber preform by wrapping the impregnated fiber material around a shaped pressurizable bladder, the bladder having outer dimensions to form a preform dimensioned closely to the final dimensions of the shaft and dimensioned to allow placement of the assembly of the bladder and the impregnated fiber preform into female tooling, placing the assembly of the bladder and the impregnated fiber preform into the female tooling, pressurizing the bladder to press the impregnated fiber against the tooling, and heating the tooling to form a hardened composite of the polymeric material and the fiber while maintaining pressure in the bladder, releasing the pressure in the bladder, and removing the bladder from the interior of the shaft.

Method for manufacturing composite shafts with injection molded,

A process for manufacturing a golf-club head is disclosed comprising; shaping a fluid-removable core in the general form of the club head, placing a flexible inflatable bladder around the core, wrapping over the assembly of core and bladder at least one ply of fiber impregnated with a curable resin, placing the assembly of core, bladder, and impregnated fiber into a female mold, forming a cured part in the form of a golf-club head by inflating the bladder to force the plies against the inner surfaces of the mold and heating the mold to cure the resin, removing the cured part from the mold, disintegrating the fluid-removable core with a fluid sufficient to allow removal of the bladder from the interior of the cured part through a hole in the cured part, removing the bladder through the hole with any residues of the core within the bladder to form a hollow molded club head with a hollow interior essentially free from non-functional materials.

A substantially tubular rigid golf club shaft made of a composite of structural fiber laminate in a resin matrix, the shaft comprising a grip portion, a medial portion and a head attachment portion,

Composite golf club shaft

The bicycle frame of the invention is formed by selecting and adhesively joining previously formed and precured composite tubes to previously formed and precured composite lugs. The precured lugs are shaped from preforms comprising a plurality of resin impregnated fiber reinforced layers formed into a stacks having the fibers of adjacent layers cross one another, with preforms of each lug component being a set of shaped overlapping segments of the lug to be formed. The overlapping segments are then brought together and placed around an inflatable bladder to form an assemblage that is placed in a female mold, preferably of two halves, that are closed for forming the lug. The resulting assemblage is cured, with the bladder pressurized for urging the respective preforms to the mold shaping surfaces, providing a high laminate compaction during cure for a uniform, thin walled, strong, tubular, lug. The lugs are preferably formed with one or more plugs for closely fitting into adjacent open ends of the tubes. The composite tubes may be formed by a method similar to the lug forming method described, or by wrapping a preform up of a number of reinforced fiber layers, around a mandrel, and subjecting the preforms to an inward compaction pressure during cure. These methods provide a thin walled high strength tube.

Method making a composite bicycle frame using composite lugs

A composite ski pole is formed of fiber reinforced plastic laminates laid up around an inflatable bladder, and placed in a female mold. The bladder inflates to compact the laminates to substantially eliminate voids and form a smooth, hollow ski pole with a structurally strong and stiff skin. The molds may use compound shapes such as differing cross sections or longitudinal bends.

Growing community of inventors

Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America

Ronald Harry Nelson