Golf-club.

Application filed September 22,1902. Serial No. 124,291. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Frederick W. Taylor, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, 5 in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Golf-Clubs, of which the following is a true and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a io part thereof.

My invention relates to golf-clubs, and is in its principal features applicable to those varieties of clubs which are generally comprehended under the name of “ baffy,” “ mashie,” 15 and “niblick’’—that is to say, clubs the faces of which slant backward to the ground or sole of the club at an angle of fifty-five degrees or less.

The primary object of my invention is to so provide a club adapted to strike a golf-ball below its horizontal central section as it lies upon the ground and to impart to it in the act of giving it an upward blow a sharp backward rotation which will counteract its tend25 ency to roll forward when it pitches upon the green, causing the ball to “fall dead.”

Clubs of the class to which my invention relates have heretofore in some cases been provided with roughened faces, with a view 30 of imparting a backward spinor rotation to the ball; but, so far as I am aware, the roughness imparted to the face qf such clubs has been in the nature of score-marks, formed with the design of providing recesses in which the pro35 jections usually formed on the surface of the ball could engage, and while this device operates with some efficiency when the club is brought in contact with the ball with very considerable force I have found that it is 40 practically inefficient when the blow is light, as is usually the case in short approach shots in which the ball is pitched onto the green. On the other hand I have discovered that a very pronounced and efficient backward rota45 tion can be imparted to the pitched ball even with a very light stroke if the face of the club is formed or provided with outwardlyprojecting teeth adapted to embed themselves in the face of the golf-ball; and a leading fea50 ture of my invention consists in providing the face of a club of the kinds indicated with such outwardly-projecting teeth, which by preference I make of the kind usually formed upon the file-cut portion of rasps, having found satisfaction in a construction in which such 55 a section of a rasp is inserted in so as to form a part of the face of the club.

While my said invention is applicable to any club coming within the general classification already noted, I have found that it 60 gives most satisfaction and is most efficient when the club is used so as to cut slightly into the turf behind the ball; but it is of course important that the club should not cut so deeply into the ground as to materially 65 check its motion, and therefore I prefer to construct my club with a broad flat sole or ground, which will prevent the club from passing down into the ground.

Another object of my invention is to pro- 70 vide a club which will cut into the turf slightly in the rear of the ball with great readiness and freedom and will at the same time be prevented by its construction from passing downward into the ground beyond a 75 short determined distance, and this I accomplish by continuing a portion of the sloping face of the club forward beyond and below the edge formed by the meeting of the sole and face, thus providing a cutting edge which 80 need not be any broader than that portion of the face of the club with which the ball is struck under normal conditions, which cutting edge will pass into the ground with the utmost freedom until the sole of the club 85 proper comes in contact with the surface of the ground, checking the further downward motion of the club, so that all the force of the blow is exerted in the direction of the ball, and while this special construction is of great- 90 est and most pronounced value when used in connection with the face having the projecting teeth or pins, as already described, it is also.useful in clubs of ordinary construction having the face - angles which characterize 95 the clubs known as “mid-irons,” “baffles,” “ mashies,” and “niblics.” The projecting cutting edge of the club need not be, and for the best results should not be, of greater breadth than that portion of the central face 10c of the club with which the ball is struck, and I have found it advantageous in order to

732,136 counteract the tendency of the front edge of the club other than the prolonged central portion to cut into the ground to round said lateral portions of the front edge upwardly, so 5 that they will coact with the sole of the club in preventing further penetration than is provided for by the projecting cutting edge.

Reference being now had to the drawings, in which my invention is illustrated in what io I believe to be its best form, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the head of a club which might be calleda“ mashie” or “baffy.” _ Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a cross-section on the line 3 3 of Fig.

1; Fig. 4, a cross-sectional view of a similar club having a more inclined face and of a kind which would be generally described as a “niblie;” and Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a club of the same general character as that shown in Fig. 4, but illustrating a modification in the construction.

A, Fig. 1, indicates the lower portion of the shaft; B, the head of the club, having a face C, in which, as shown, is formed a recess (in25 dicated at C²) for the insertion of a toothed plate, forming the striking-face of the club.

D indicates the sole of the club, which by preference is rounded upward, as indicated at E E, where it meets the face C of the club.

F is a metal plate, preferably of iron or steel, which in the construction illustrated is inserted in the recessed portion C³ of the face and which is provided with outwardlyprojecting teeth (indicated at F') of such a 35 character as will insure their embedding themselves in the face of the stricken golfball. By preference and as illustrated in the drawings the toothed plate is continued below the sole of the club, as indicated at F², 40 forming a cutting edge which will freely enter the ground until the sole D of the club comes in contact with it.

The modified form of club indicated in Fig.

is identical with that shown in Figs. 1, 2, 45 and 3, except that the face of the club indicated at C'is more inclined than that indicated at C, and the modified construction indicated in Fig. 5 is identical with that shown in Fig. 4, except that the toothed and pro50 jecting plate F F²is continued under the sole of the club, as indicated at F³, forming a downwardly-projecting “false sole,” so to speak, which has some merit in that while it to some extent checks the farther entry of the 55 cutting edge into the ground it also tends to counteract any tendency to pass too far down below the surface.

The general operation of my club has already been quite fully described, and it is 60 therefore unnecessary to further specify its merit and mode of operation.