US 5,692,974 · Granted 1997-12-02
The Chemistry Secret That Makes Golf Balls Fly Farther
Golf balls need to be bouncy and fast off the club, but standard rubber covers fall short. This patent adds special charged molecules called cationic ionomers to the ball's cover material, which makes it springier and helps the ball leave the club faster — a sneaky chemical tweak that gives players a real edge.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers golf ball covers made by mixing polyurethane with cationic ionomers — specifically, polyurethane that has been chemically treated with an alkylating agent (like t-butyl chloride) to introduce ionic bonds. What's protected is the combination of these materials and the method of adding that alkylating agent to create the charged polymer structure inside the cover layer.
Why it matters
Golf equipment is fiercely competitive, and even tiny improvements in ball performance — initial velocity, bounce, spin characteristics — give players and manufacturers an advantage. By patenting the specific chemistry of the cover material, Acushnet (which owns the Titleist brand) locked down a way to make balls that outperform competitors' designs. The ionomer modification is a chemist's answer to the physics problem of maximizing energy transfer from club to ball.
Real-world use
Every time a golfer hits a Titleist or similar premium ball, the polyurethane cover with these charged molecules is what's transferring the club's energy into forward motion and spin.
Original USPTO abstract
This invention relates to methods of using cationic ionomers in golf ball cover compositions. Further, this invention relates to golf balls which have covers and cores and which incorporate urethane ionomers. The polyurethane golf ball cover has improved resiliency and initial velocity through the addition of an alkylating agent such as t-butyl chloride to introduce ionic interactions in the polyurethane and thereby produce cationic type ionomers.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,692,974
- Filing date
- 1995-06-07
- Grant date
- 1997-12-02
- Assignee
- Acushnet Company
- Inventor(s)
- WU; SHENSHEN, RAJAGOPALAN; MURALI
- CPC class
- C08G18/0814
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