US3071379A - Device for checking golf swing - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 1, 1963 E. w. RAMSEY DEVICE FOR CHECKING GOLF SWING Filed July 20. 1959 INVENTOR iPamqy Z'rwest (d. w

ATTORNEY Wash.

Filed July 20, 1959, Ser. No. 828,316 7 Claims. (Cl. 273-186) This invention relates to a device for checking a golf swing, and especially pertains to a device adapted to be applied to the head of a golf club, a wood in particular, for indicating to a golfer after a ball has been hit the exact point on the face of the club at which the ball was struck. The knowledge thus gained guides a golfer in determining changes necessary to perfect his swing.

For its principal object the invention aims to provide an inexpensive device which may be removably applied to the head of a golf club to visually indicate the point on the face of such head at which the golf ball is struck.

As a further particular object the invention aims to provide a device of the character described which may be easily and quickly attached to and removed from the club head and which will in no way mar or otherwise injure the head.

The invention has the still further object of providing a device of the character described which, when applied to the club head, will not discernibly change the balance or the weight of the club.

A yet additional object is to provide a device of the character described in which recorded impact spots may be erased at will so that a golfer taking a number of successive swings with practice balls may on each occasion accurately determine the exact point at which the club face met the ball.

The foregoing and still additional objects and advantages of the invention will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view illustrating one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing said embodiment as it appears when applied to the head of a golf club.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view drawn to an enlarged scale on line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view drawn to a yet larger scale portraying another embodiment of the invention.

First describing the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 3, inclusive, it will be seen that there is provided a cup-like body 5 molded from an elastic material, preferably gum rubber, so as to admit of being stretched, and being formed to such a shape and size that, upon stretching, the same can be pulled onto the head 6 of a golf club. When so applied the elastic body suggests a sock completely investing the bottom and the sides of the club head. The open top of the sock is or may be bordered by a thickened marginal bead 7 arranged, when applied to the club head, to establish a shouldering grip upon the top of the club head, and a strap 8 is also desirably provided, this strap being made an integral part of the sock and being adapted in use to be caught over the root portion of the club shank 9. The sock carries a button 10 arranged to be engaged by an eye 11 formed in the free end of the strap. The purpose of the strap is to properly position the sock upon the club head. The tensioned bead 7 precludes the sock from becoming accidentally dislodged.

Said sock is or may be composed of a single ply of rubber excepting along a generally rectangular portion 3,071,379 Patented Jan. 1, 1963 ana thereof overlying the striking face of the club. Here the sock has two plies of rubber. The two plies are unattached excepting along the margins which border the bottom and the two side edges of said rectangular portion. Here the same are vulcanized or otherwise suitably united. The rubber composing the inner ply 12 has a color con trasting with that of the translucent outer ply 13, with the former being desirably black and the latter natural. A tab 14 arranged to be grasped between the thumb and forefinger of the users hand is presented by the outer ply 13 at a point central to the length of its unattached 1 upper edge.

In the use of the described sock a golfer drives a ball with his customary swing. .As the stroked club head meets the ball the two plies of rubber adhere to one another at the point of impact, producing a mark M readily visible to the eye and thus indicating whether the club head is being swung in the proper groove. It is a characteristic of gum rubber that two sheets of such material when placed one upon the other and subjected to spot compressive pressure will be caused to adhere one to the other and exhibit a visible mark at the spot of impact. The use of a translucent outer ply or skin and a colored inner skin makes this mark very pronounced. The mark disappears upon pulling the sheets apart. In the present instance the mark is instantly erased by lifting the tab, as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 3, to stretch the outer ply and thus cause the same to be pulled away from the inner ply so as to again produce a clean face. While I have indicated the sock as having a closed bottom the same could, if desired, be open both at the top and the bottom, in which case a counterpart of the bead 7 should be provided about the perimeter of the open bottom.

In FIG. 4 I have shown a modified arrangement in which the device is applied much in the manner of a face patch, relying upon a pressure sensitive adhesive 15 to removably hold an inner ply 16 on the striking face of the club head. In this modified device an outer ply 17 is permanently attached to the inner ply 16 along the bottom margin and each of the side edges 18.

The invention and the manner of its usage is believed to be clear from the foregoing detailed description of the illustrated embodiments. Changes in the details of construction can be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is accordingly my intention that the hereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

What I claim is:

1. In a device for checking a golf swing, a member providing a marking section composed of two contiguous plies of a flexible sheet material characterized in that the act of pressing said sheets together in consequence of being struck by a resistant object produces a visible mark upon a surface of one of the two plies exposed to view, and means for removably attaching said member to the head of a golf club overlying the striking face thereof so as to occupy an intervening position between said face and a golf ball struck by the club, said sheet material being composed of pure elastic gum rubber so that the produced mark results from one ply adhering to the other in response to said application of pressure, and admits of being separated at will by the act of pulling upon the outer ply on a force line which is longitudinal to and generally in the plane of the ply, causing the impressed mark to be wholly erased by responsively separating the two plies in consequence of the stretch action to which the outer ply is subjected in consequence of said pull.

2. Structure according to claim 1 wherein a hand-engaged tab is provided for facilitating said separation of the two plies.

3. A device for checking a golf swing comprising two contiguous generally rectangular plies each wholly comprised of pure rubber and gum elastic arranged and adapted to be removably applied to the head of a golf club in a position overlying the striking face of the club, said plies being permanently united against separation along the bottom edge and both side edges and being otherwise unattached to one another, the elasticity of the material composing said plies permitting the ply which lies at the outside to be stretched by the act of exerting an upward pull force upon the unattached edge thereof on a force line which is in a direction longitudinal to and generally in the plane of the ply.

4. The device of claim 3 in which the two plies constitute one wall section of an elastic sock of a size and shape which admits of being stretched to tightly invest the club head.

5. The device of claim 4 in which said sock is composed of only a single ply of said gum rubber excepting for said portion thereof arranged to overlie the striking face of the club head.

4 6. The device of claim 4 having an integral strap adapted to be caught around the shank of the golf club for positioning the device relative to the head.

7. Structure according to claim 1 characterized in that the outer of said two plies is translucent while the inner ply is colored.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,068,691 Moomy July 29, 1913 1,455,579 Evans May 15, 1923 2,116,655 Berrittella May 10, 1938 2,495,679 Abrecht et al. Jan. 31, 1950 2,620,186 Beeafi Dec. 2, 1952 2,660,436 Grossman Nov. 24, 1953 2,714,562 Hechtman Aug. 2, 1955 2,912,245 Gardner et a1. Nov. 10, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 27,518 Great Britain 1896

Claims (1)

1. IN A DEVICE FOR CHECKING A GOLF SWING, A MEMBER PROVIDING A MARKING SECTION COMPOSED OF TWO CONTIGUOUS PLIES OF A FLEXIBLE SHEET MATERIAL CHARACTERIZED IN THAT THE ACT OF PRESSING SAID SHEETS TOGETHER IN CONSEQUENCE OF BEING STRUCK BY A RESISTANT OBJECT PRODUCES A VISIBLE MARK UPON A SURFACE OF ONE OF THE TWO PLIES EXPOSED TO VIEW, AND MEANS FOR REMOVABLY ATTACHING SAID MEMBER TO THE HEAD OF A GOLF CLUB OVERLYING THE STRIKING FACE THEREOF SO AS TO OCCUPY AN INTERVENING POSITION BETWEEN SAID FACE AND A GOLF BALL STRUCK BY THE CLUB, SAID SHEET MATERIAL BEING COMPOSED OF PURE ELASTIC GUM RUBBER SO THAT THE PRODUCED MARK RESULTS FROM ONE PLY ADHERING TO THE OTHER IN RESPONSE TO SAID APPLICATION OF PRESSURE, AND ADMITS

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