US 12,109,462 B2
Golf club heads having a localized heat affected zone
Matthew W. Simone, Phoenix, AZ (US); Eric J. Morales, Laveen, AZ (US); and Ryan M. Stokke, Anthem, AZ (US)
Assigned to Karsten Manufacturing Corporation, Phoenix, AZ (US)
Filed by Karsten Manufacturing Corporation, Phoenix, AZ (US)
Filed on Dec. 21, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/086,223.
Application 18/086,223 is a continuation of application No. 17/020,651, filed on Sep. 14, 2020, granted, now 11,554,298.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/900,378, filed on Sep. 13, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2023/0131046 A1, Apr. 27, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A63B 53/04 (2015.01)
CPC A63B 53/0445 (2020.08) [A63B 53/0408 (2020.08); A63B 53/0466 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A golf club head comprising:
a faceplate and a body, the body comprising a sole, a crown, a heel end, and a toe end; wherein:
the sole is in a ground plane at address;
the crown is opposite the sole;
the heel end is opposite the toe end and perpendicular to the sole and the crown;
the faceplate comprises a geometric center that is equidistant from the crown and the sole, and equidistant from the heel end and the toe end; and
the faceplate defines a loft plane, wherein the loft plane intersects the ground plane and is tangent to the geometric center;
the faceplate further comprises a region defined by a reference shape having a height and a width; wherein:
the reference shape extends toward the crown and the toe end from the geometric center;
a reference shape height is approximately 25% of a total height of the faceplate, measured within the loft plane, in a crown-to-sole direction;
a reference shape width is approximately 25% of a total width of the faceplate, measured perpendicularly to the loft plane, in a heel end-to-toe end direction;
the reference shape further comprises a threshold characteristic time value, and within the reference shape, one or more locations comprise a characteristic time value; and
the faceplate further comprises a first heat affected zone at or near the one or more locations, each heat affected zone location comprising a characteristic time value, wherein;
the first heat affected zone comprises a spot weld comprising a diameter less than approximately 0.75 inch, and the first heat affected zone comprises a diameter less than approximately 50% of the diameter of the spot weld; and
a physical grain structure of the first heat affected zone is a dendrite microstructure.