Abstract:
A shaft and club head separation device for a golf club includes a base having padded shaft gripping members and a separation disk having at least two peripheral recesses into which the end of shaft is inserted; the gripping members are arranged to maintain the club shaft parallel to the axis of the separation disk; a plunger in slidably disposed in a bore in the base and an actuation device is provided to engage the plunger and move the plunger and disk away from the base so that, with the hosel of a club engaging a face of the disk, separation of the shaft and club head will occur.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a device for separating a golf club head from its associated shaft to permit repair, adjustment or replacement of the shaft or the head as may be required. More specifically, the apparatus of the present invention will enable more accurate and rapid separation of a club head from its shaft while minimizing or eliminating any damage to the shaft or head itself. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In the field of the golf club design, the practice of aligning the detected spine of a shaft relative to the face of a club is becoming more widespread. To effect such alignment, it is necessary to first remove the club head from its associated shaft to allow the technician to test the shaft and to carry out the realignment relative to the club face in order to improve the club performance or to remove anomalies in the use of the club. In removing a club head, it is important and necessary to avoid any damage to the shaft. This has in the past required a great deal of time on the part of the technician. 
     Several separation devices have been developed and these generally include a gripping device which operates adjacent to the hosel of the club. Such devices have been time consuming to operate and often resulted in scratching of the customer&#39;s shaft. In addition, the prior art devices have not lent themselves to installation in a production facility so as to allow the devices to be used in a high production line. In some cases, the prior art devices have effected the separation in a manner to render the shaft useless for future use thereby requiring replacement. In still other arrangements, the prior art relied upon the manual strength of the technician to effect the separation and this also has led to damage to the club head and/or the shaft. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The separation device of the present invention avoids the foregoing difficulties by providing a device that will accommodate a variety of different shaft diameters in an accurate manner and which will apply a uniform separation force in a uniform direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shaft thereby avoiding a primary source of the damage to the shaft and club head encountered with prior devices. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a base that defines an extended and padded gripping portion for the shaft at a location on the shaft that is spaced from the club head. A separation member is provided in the form of a disk that is rotatably mounted on the base by means of a shaft which is engaged by a pusher member or plunger through a resilient connection. The pusher member may be connected to a hydraulic or pneumatic actuator cylinder to provide the force necessary to effect translation of the shaft and the disk away from the base member to effect separation. The periphery of the disk is slotted with the slots being of different sizes to allow the disk to engage a range of different diameter shafts. 
     With the arrangement of the present invention, much more rapid and safer extraction of the shaft from a club head can be effected than was previously possible. The foregoing and other advantages will become apparent as consideration is given to the following description and drawings, in which: 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG.  1  and is a side view in elevation of the apparatus of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an end view looking to the left of FIG. 1 with the golf club head removed; and 
     FIG. 3A is a sectional view of the lower gripping element while FIG. 3B is a sectional view of the upper, movable gripping element; FIG. 3C is sectional view showing a manner of securing a pad to its insert member; 
     FIG. 4 is a side view in elevation of an alternate form of the invention; and 
     FIG. 5 is a section view of an alternate gripping element. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to the drawings, where like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in FIG. 1 the apparatus  10  of the present invention which includes a platform  22  on which a support block  20  is rigidly mounted. The block  20  rotatably supports a disk  18  on a shaft  19  which is inserted into a bore in block  20 . As described in more detail below, the periphery of the disk  18  is formed with a plurality of slots  26  having differing dimensions to allow the disk to accommodate different diameter shafts  12  of a golf club  14 . 
     As shown in FIG. 1, prior to extraction, the golf club  14  will be disposed to extend generally parallel to the platform  22  with the hosel  16  engaging the outer face of the disk  18 . 
     Referring to the drawings, the upper surface of the block  20  is provided with a groove in which is placed an elongated insert  21 , the upper face of which is V shaped as seen more clearly in FIG.  3 A. Protective pads  27 , preferably of vulcanized rubber or Neoprene, are secured as by an adhesive to the two sides of the upper face of the insert  21  to provide a padded layer against which a portion of the golf shaft will lie when disposed in the device  10 . The upper face  21  of the insert may alternatively be formed with a grid pattern with an undercutting  29   a  as shown in FIG. 3C, so that, when the rubber, in a softened condition, is poured onto the upper face of the insert  21 , a secure attachment will be effected when the rubber cools and stiffens. The movable plate  23  has an opposing face similarly shaped as shown in FIG.  3 B. The face of the plate  23  is provided with a padded layer  29  so as to eliminate or minimize any slippage of the shaft or damage to the surface of the golf shaft  12 . For golf club shafts which are almost all smooth surfaced, the length of the plates  21  and  23  and their respective pads  27  and  29  should be approximately  4  inches. The plate  23  is moved by a threaded rod  25  which extends through a threaded bore  27  in upstanding arm  39  and terminates with a handle  31 . One or more guide pins  38  are mounted in the upstanding arm  39  to extend parallel to the bore  27 . The plate  23  will be formed with a corresponding set of bores to receive the guide pins  38  to assure accurate alignment during movement. 
     Also mounted on platform  22  is a plate  24  to which is attached a jack  30  which may be of the pneumatic or hydraulic type. The jack  30  will include a piston and piston rod  34  as shown in FIG.  3 . The jack  30  may be connected to a source of fluid under pressure and its operation controlled by a manual valve  36  or the jack  30  may be of the type that is manually pumped by a user. 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the rod  34  of the jack  30  is directly connected to one end of a plunger  40  which is slidably mounted in a bore  44  formed in block  20 . The body  42  of the plunger  40  extends through the bore  44  and through opening  46  toward the disk  18 . The opposite end of the plunger  40  that extends through the opening  46  is provided with a bore  48  into which shaft  19  of disk  18  extends an amount to provide a stable positioning of the disk  18  relative to the block  20 . 
     With the foregoing arrangement, in operation, a user will place a shaft  12  as shown in FIG. 1 with the lower end adjacent the head  14  disposed in the appropriate slot of the disk  18  and with the hosel  16  of the club  14  engaged against the face of the disk  18  opposite the block  20 . The plate  23  will be lowered by rotating the handle until the shaft  12  is securely engaged. The longitudinal axis of the shaft  12  will extend substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the plunger  40  and the shaft  19  both of which by virtue of their interengagement will be constrained to move parallel and coaxially. The user may then heat the end of the shaft that is inserted into the hosel  16  to soften the adhesive, usually an epoxy, that holds the shaft and club together. The jack is then operated to extend the piston rod  34  to the left as viewed in FIGS.  1 . This will first result in compression of the spring  50  disposed between the end  52  of shaft  19  and the base  54  of recess  48  which, at the same time, will exert a force on the club head  14  of gradually increasing magnitude as the plunger  40  advances to the left. Often, separation of the club head  14  will be effected before the spring  50  is fully compressed. However, if separation does not occur upon fully compressing the spring  50 , the end of shaft  19  will contact the base  54  of recess  48  and the amount of force imparted to the club head  14  by the face of disk  18  will increase to assure separation as the plunger  40  and shaft  19  and disk  18  advance together leftwardly while the shaft  12  is held between the plates  21  and  23 . Continued heating with an external source of heat may also be employed to assist in separating the club head  14  from the shaft  12 . 
     Once separation has taken place, the handle  31  is rotated to retract the plate  23  to free the shaft  12 . The jack  42  is vented to allow the spring  56  to move the plunger  40  to the right as viewed in FIG.  1 . 
     To facilitate servicing of the apparatus  10 , the block  20 , as shown in FIG. 2, is formed from three component blocks,  20   a ,  20   b  and  20   c  which may be held together by bolts, not shown. With this arrangement, access to the plunger chamber  44  will be facilitated for servicing such as lubrication and cleaning. 
     With reference to FIG. 4, there is shown an alternate form of the invention with corresponding parts bearing the same numerals as the previous embodiment. In FIG. 4, the operation of the gripping member  23   a  differs from that of member  23  in the previous embodiment in that the travel between the retracted position (as shown in FIG. 4) and the gripping position is at an angle to the upper face  21  of the base  20 . Specifically, the plate  23   a  is provided with sides  61  which extend at an acute angle with respect to the bottom face  63  of the plate  23   a  . The side  61  that is remote from the disk  18  is connected to one end of threaded rod  60  which is mounted in a plate  62  carried by the rear wall  64  of the device  10 ′. The rear wall  64  may be secured to the platform  22  as by bolting (not shown). The rear wall is provided with a recess or slot  70  in its face for receiving a pin  68  carried by the side face of the plate  23   a  . Other guiding devices such as a track, rails or the like may be employed. The pin  68  and slot  70  cooperate to allow movement of the plate  23   a  in the direction of arrows  72  when the rod is rotated by its handle. The lower face of the plate  23   a  is provided with a plate  74  while the upper face of the base  20  is provided with a similarly shaped plate  21  as in the previous embodiment. However, as shown in the section view of FIG. 5, the plate  74  and, if desired, the plate  21  are formed with an arcuate face  76  along their respective lengths and support an arcuate pad  78  preferably of the same length as the respective plates. 
     With this arrangement, with a golf club shaft disposed on the pad of plate  21 , a user will move the plate  23   a  toward the plate  21  along the path of the slot  70  to engage the upper portion of the club shaft and grip the club shaft with the pad of the plate  74  and the pad of plate  21 . Some play in the gripping action can be achieved by reducing the diameter of pin  68  and by allowing a degree of rotation in plate  62 . This will assure a close fit with the surface of the club shaft and compensate for the taper common in golf club shafts. 
     Having described the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims.