US 4,884,814 · Granted 1989-12-05
The Ionomer Blend That Gave Golf Balls a Softer Touch
For years, golf balls had hard plastic covers that lasted forever but felt clunky. This patent mixes two types of ionomer plastics—one hard, one soft—to create a cover that's both durable AND lets skilled golfers put backspin on the ball, giving them better control.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a golf ball cover made from a specific blend of ionic resins: a combination of harder and softer ionomers mixed together. What's protected here is the composition itself—the particular proportions and combination of these two ionomer types that creates a cover material with improved softness while maintaining durability. Anyone manufacturing a golf ball with this exact ionomer blend mixture would be infringing.
Why it matters
Before this patent, golf ball covers were made from single-type ionomers that were extremely tough but played too hard for skilled golfers who needed spin control. This invention solved a real performance problem by blending materials—showing that sometimes the answer isn't a brand-new material, but a smarter combination of existing ones. For manufacturers like Spalding, this created a competitive advantage in the premium golf ball market where performance directly affects selling price.
Real-world use
Every time a golfer takes a shot and watches the ball curve or grip the green with backspin, they're likely feeling the result of this softer ionomer cover working as designed.
Original USPTO abstract
The subject invention relates to golf ball technology, and more particularly, golf ball cover technology. The invention is concerned with a particular mixture of ionic resins as a golf ball cover composition. Ionomers have been widely used as golf ball cover materials for the past 15 years. While these ionomers are very durable, they have a deficiency as a golf ball cover material in that they tend to be hard. This invention is concerned with a mixture of a hard ionomer with a soft ionomer in order to produce a golf ball cover composition wherein the cover is softer than the prior art ionomer covers. A golf ball covered in accordance with this invention is durable and a skilled golfer can impart back spin to the ball in play.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 4,884,814
- Filing date
- 1988-01-15
- Grant date
- 1989-12-05
- Assignee
- Spalding & Evenflo Companies, Inc.
- Inventor(s)
- SULLIVAN; MICHAEL J.
- CPC class
- C08L33/02
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