Patent ID: 6526613
Filing Date: 2003-03-04
Classification: A63B

Abstract:
An apparatus for measuring the stiffness of a golf club shaft, the shaft having a first end and a second end, said apparatus comprising:a collet for clamping the first end of the shaft, said collet defining a collet axis and having a plurality of pins, said pins lying substantially in a common plane oriented normal to said collet axis with each said pin being for radial movement with respect to said collet axis; a means for reconfiguring said collet between a release configuration wherein each said pin is distanced from said axis by a first distance and a clamped configuration wherein each said pin is distanced from said axis by a second distance, said second distance being smaller than said first distance; a means for rotating each said pin about said collet axis while said collet is in said clamped configuration to allow the stiffness of the shaft to be measured at a plurality of predetermined angular orientations; a means for deflecting the second end of the shaft away from the collet axis to a holding point located at a predetermined distance from said collet axis; and a means for measuring the load required to deflect the second end of the shaft to said holding point.