IMPROVEMENTS IN GOLF CLUBS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Johnston, of No. 6, Nelson Street, Edinburgh,
North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GOLF CLUBS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Johnston at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th June 1876.
THOMAS JOHNSTON, of No. 6, Nelson Street, Edinburgh, North Britain.
PROVEMENTS IN GOLF CLUBS."
" IM-
This Invention relates to improvements in the heads of clubs used in the game
of golf, usually called golf clubs, and consists in the employment of the well known
preparation of india-rubber called vulcanite or ebonite in the construction of such
club heads.
By the employment of this material and by the admixture of any suitable
mineral powder in use by rubber manufactures, such as sulphate of barytes, a club
head of any required weight can be obtained, which will have the advantage of
being homogeneous, or of uniform density, and at the same time having sufficient
strength and durability, rendering it unnecessary to employ lead to load, or horn
to face such club heads, as is generally necessary in the wooden club heads hitherto
in use.
These vulcanite club heads are moulded to shape by the ordinary processes and
means employed by and known to rubber manufacturers. Their shapes correspond
to the club heads made of wood, and they are spliced on to wooden handles in the
ordinary way.
The superior elasticity of the vulcanite renders these golf clubs much more
effective in the game of golf than those bitherto used, and at the same time they
are much more durable.

page_text: preparation of india-rubber called vulcanite or ebonite in the construction of such
club heads.
By the employment of this material and by the admixture of any suitable
mineral powder in use by rubber manufacturers, such as sulphate of barytes, a club
head of any required weight can be obtained, which will have the advantage of
being homogeneous, or of uniform density, and at the same time having sufficient
strength and durability, rendering it unnecessary to employ lead to load, or horn
to face such club heads in the manner generally required and heretofore practised
in the construction of the wooden club heads heretofore in use.
I find that very excellent club heads can be constructed with cores formed or
composed of vulcanite compound in combination with mineral powders or metal
filings, or even with solid metal cores surrounded by vulcanite compound. Club
heads manufactured in this way will not of course be homogeneous, but can on the
other hand have the more dense cores placed internally in the club heads in any
required position which I find sometimes preferable to a homogeneous head. One
advantage is that the more highly compounded and denser cores can be surrounded
with an outside covering of the finest or purest vulcanite which can be made, whereby
a finer polish or finish can be given to such club heads than to those homogeously
loaded.
All such vulcanite club heads are moulded to shape by the ordinary processes
and means employed by and well known to rubber manufacturers. Their shapes
correspond to the club heads made of wood, and they are spliced on or otherwise
attached to wooden or other suitable handles in the ordinary way.
The superior elasticity of the vulcanite and its comparative immunity from all
climatic changes render these golf club heads much more effective in the game of
golf than those hitherto used, and at the same time they are much more durable.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider novel and
original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent is, the manufacture of club heads of the material, in the
manner, and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Johnston, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.