DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0028] It is to be understood that the detailed description which follows is of the preferred embodiment only, and that a number of modifications and variations of the principles of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art once these principles have been fully understood.

[0029] The present invention will allow a customer to travel to a custom-fitting shop or other properly equipped establishment, be custom fitted to each and every club of a desired set, and receive his finished clubs—the exact same clubs to which he was fitted—the very same day, i.e., at the conclusion of the fitting session. When installed in a completed club or set, the present invention can not be seen; the finished clubs will have an appearance identical to standard clubs without the invention; and the weight of the clubs will be almost identical.

[0030] FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of separate, standard components of a conventional golf club—in this instance, one of the type having a hollow shaft. The primary components of a golf club are, of course, the club head 1 with hosel 2 and shaft 3. Many conventional clubs are manufactured to such close tolerances that it is often difficult to insert the shaft into the hosel. If a given brand's shaft does not easily slip into its intended hosel, it is preferred to slightly enlarge the receiving hole in the hosel, as with a reaming tool, for example. It is then expedient to prepare the hosel for receiving first interconnectable means 4, which may be best seen in FIG. 5. If such first interconnectable means is of the type having one or more mechanical upsets 5, it is convenient to prepare a complementary receiving area 6 in the hosel to receive the mechanical upset(s). This may take any desired form, e.g., a rectangular slot across most or a portion of the interior diameter of the hosel, but it has been found particularly convenient to prepare the receiving area as a pair of cylindrical holes 7 separated approximately 180° from each other about an imaginary center of the hosel receiving area. Such an arrangement is particularly convenient to prepare; an elegantly simple little device, comprised of four small cylinders, with an opposing pair being hollow and serving as drill guides, will permit the quick and precise placement of, in this embodiment, the preferred pair of cylindrical holes.

[0031] A first interior interconnectable means, as more clearly may be seen in FIG. 5, having in this embodiment a pair of complementary mechanical upsets, may then be placed into the receiving areas of the hosel. As explained before, for convenience in handling multiple such prepared club heads and hosels, such first interconnectable means may optionally be permanently attached, as by adhesive bonding.

[0032] It is also to be understood that the order of preparing hosel and shaft is inconsequential to this invention. Referring to FIG. 5, one form of second interconnectable means 8 is depicted, having a deformed area 9. It is convenient to prevent rotational movement between the shaft and such second interconnectable means by a mechanical fit also. An inward protrusion or dimple 10 may be formed interiorly of the shaft, to interact with the aforementioned deformed area of said second interconnectable means. Alternatively, and preferably, said interconnectable means may have a plurality of deformed surfaces to receive and interact with a plurality of interior protrusions or dimples on the shaft. For still greater security, such area or areas may alternatively be formed as a concave groove or grooves, as depicted by element 11. In either embodiment, it may be found preferable to insert the second interconnectable means into the hollow shaft before creating such dimple or dimples. For additional security against falling out prior to final assembly, such interconnectable means may be adhesively bonded, but ordinarily the dimple(s) in the shaft will be of sufficient depth that the friction between dimple and groove (or other deformed area) will be sufficient to prevent an unintended longitudinal displacement of the interconnectable means during handling.

[0033] Thus having a prepared club head and hosel and a prepared shaft—i.e., with first and second interconnectable means interior thereto and secured at least against rotational movement—the club is ready for assembly and trial. All the user need do is to insert into the space between the first and second interconnectable means, some form of device for translating the compressive longitudinal forces generated by connecting the interconnectable means and rotating the shaft about the head, into a transverse force between the shaft and the hosel portion of the club head. Such a device may take many different forms. A preferred form is a plurality of wedge means 12; it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that as the distance between the first and second interconnectable means decreases after such means engage the wedge means, the wedge means will be forced radially outward toward the interior wall of the shaft. As additional force is applied—which may be done simply by continuing to rotate the shaft with respect to the head—still greater force will be exerted upon the shaft, which in turn will exert a radially-outward force upon the interior surface of the club head hosel. Shortly, the components will be secured, and the assembled club may then be tried by the customer. Should a different head or shaft be desired, the assembled club may be quickly disassembled, simply by rotating the components in the opposite direction, and a different head or shaft quickly assembled into the next “try” club. When the golfer and fitter have agreed on a particular combination of components, that particular club—be it iron or driver—may be immediately delivered to the customer, and the process repeated for the next club.

[0034] Some users may prefer to loosely assemble the overall interconnectable means in each shaft, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

[0035] Alternatively, for additional security against separation, the assembled club with the final selection of chosen components may be quickly disassembled, epoxy adhesive applied to the interacting surfaces of shaft and hosel, and the club reassembled and delivered to the customer. In almost all geographical locations, the epoxy will cure overnight and the customer may utilize his doubly-secure club the next day.

[0036] The disclosed preferred wedge means 12 comprises a pair of stiff wedges, each preferably with an inner surface 13 at least roughly comparable to the central portion of one of the interconnectable means. It is also preferred that an outer surface 14 of such preferred wedge means comprises a surface at least roughly comparable to the interior surface of the member upon which it exerts an outward force; so doing will distribute the forces over a larger area than would be the case were the parts to interact over essentially just a line or point of interaction. Thus, if the aforementioned central portion of the interconnectable means is formed as a threaded cylinder, it will be preferable for an inner surface thereof to be concave, and of a radius of curvature roughly comparable to that of the threaded cylinder of said interconnectable means. Similarly, when the surface against which said wedge or collet means exerts a transverse force is likewise cylindrical, it is preferred for an outer surface of said wedge to be similarly formed, i.e., convex and of radius roughly comparable to the radius of the member upon which it exerts an outward force. It is also preferred, but not essential, for at least one end 15 of such preferred wedge means to have a taper 16, again roughly comparable to the surface upon which it acts, in order to eliminate any possibility of binding between such wedge means and its co-acting surface, which might prevent a secure connection.

[0037] It is to be understood that such wedge means may take many different forms, and may be constructed out of many different materials, without departing from the principles of the present invention. As one such example, such wedge means could be formed of a resilient material, such as rubber, and shaped like a doughnut; the compressive longitudinal forces upon assembly would create sufficient outward, transverse forces through such a toroid as to securely hold the parts together. However, as it cannot be determined in advance how many years the wedge will need to hold the club together, and since most resilient materials eventually lose their ability to translate compressive longitudinal force into transverse expansive forces, it is preferred to utilize less yieldable types of material, thereby making the removable connection satisfactory indefinitely.

[0038] Other forms which such wedge means may take are: a plurality of ball bearings; long, tapered roller bearings; a pair of semi-circular wedges; or a single, split ring of nearly circular cross-section, i.e., a split toroid. Many other forms will be equally suitable, the only requirements being that they interact compatibly with the shape of the interconnecting means, and that they be capable of translating compressive longitudinal forces into expansive transverse forces over an indefinitely long period of time.

[0039] An additional benefit of the present invention is its capacity not only to significantly reduce the shock vibrations which are ordinarily transmitted from club head to shaft, but its capacity to virtually eliminate such vibrations. This is thought to be attributable to the wedge means, i.e., the device which, interacting with the interconnectable means, acts to translate the compressive longitudinal forces into expansive transverse forces. Without such devices—i.e., in a standard club—the lower end of a standard shaft is not only free to vibrate like a bell, but the connection between shaft and hosel is such as to transmit the shock-induced vibration from the club head to the shaft very efficiently, and the shaft then very efficiently transmits its induced vibrations to the hands of the user. With a wedge means at the lower end of the shaft, a node is effectively created at the very point (or area) that the shaft is (in effect) being ‘struck’ by the club head. As is appreciated by students of music, striking a vibratory instrument—a hollow chime, or a solid triangle, for example—at a node point will produce only a dull thud rather than the expected, long-lasting vibratory tone; this is because node points are highly inefficient at transmitting the energy received into vibrational energy along the length of the device in question. Although solid shafts may not literally ‘ring like a bell’, it is unquestioned that they too are efficient vibrators, e.g., the musical triangle, with its solid cross-section.

[0040] While any form of wedge means may be efficiently employed to create at least a node point, it is thought that the greater the area of contact between such wedge means and its surrounding surface, the lesser the vibrations that can be imparted to the shaft. Thus vibration-reducing considerations would seem to urge a selection of forms of interconnectable means and wedge means which will maximize the node or null area. Since the preferred embodiment of this invention described herein adds only about five grams of weight to a club with a hollow shaft, a user could maximize the node area by utilizing as many wedge means of the type depicted in FIG. 5 as possible, and still have added a total weight of less than seven grams. Very few golfers, if any, can detect such slight additional weight.

[0041] It is also to be understood that the particular form or shape of the interconnectable means actually selected need not have inclined surfaces at each interacting surface; one will suffice, and the other may be square - or blunt-shouldered, without departing from the principles of this invention.

[0042] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that what has been described heretofore are methods and apparatus suitable for golf clubs of the type having hollow shafts. However, not all golf clubs today utilize such hollow shafts; many employ not only solid shafts, but such shafts of materials that cannot support a small cylinder being hollowed out of the lower end. If such shafts can support the torsion required to assemble clubs of this invention, then only a short cylindrical tube 17 need be added. To prepare club heads and shafts of this type, one would need to enlarge the hole in the hosel to a clearance sufficient to receive the shaft and surrounding mounting tube. The tube may be of a length so as to be completely hidden by the hosel, or it may be long enough to protrude slightly above the top of the hosel. In either event, the mounting tube is to be attached to the shaft, whether by epoxy adhesive or other suitable means, and one of the interconnectable means attached to the interior of the mounting tube instead of the interior of a hollow shaft. When using a mounting tube, it is preferred to use as short an interconnectable means as possible, in order to minimize the length of the mounting tube and to minimize the length of the mounting tube and to minimize the weight being added.

[0043] Should the shaft be of a material that will not withstand the torsional forces generated in the assembly/disassembly process, it is preferred to select a length of mounting tube which will extend above the hosel for a distance sufficient to permit it to be gripped by a tool for tightening and untightening the shaft and head. Alternatively, if esthetic considerations will permit, a many-sided nut may be welded onto one end of the mounting tube, and the club rapidly assembled or disassembled with the aid of a standard wrench.

[0044] Other alternate forms of the present invention will suggest themselves from a consideration of the apparatus and procedures hereinabove disclosed. Accordingly, it should be clearly understood that the systems and techniques described in the foregoing explanations and depicted in the foregoing drawings are intended as exemplary embodiments only of the invention and not as limitations thereto.