Patent ID: 8343406

Claim:
A process for manufacturing a golf ball, comprising: a first step of forming first and second substantially hemispherical half shells comprising a thermoplastic composition, each half shell having a uniform thickness X, a non-uniformly contoured outer surface comprising a plurality of dimples, each comprising a maximum depth D max , and a non-uniformly contoured inner surface which forms an hemispherical inner cavity, a second step of securing the first half shell in a golf ball mold; a third step of securing a core subassembly in a subassembly holder; a fourth step of dispensing an uncured liquid thermoset composition into the hemispherical cavity of the first half shell; a fifth step of inserting a first half of the core subassembly into the hemispherical cavity of the first half shell and displacing an amount of the uncured liquid thermoset composition such that the uncured liquid thermoset composition forms a non-uniformly contoured inner cover layer having a maximum thickness Y and a minimum thickness Z such that D max =Y−Z, a sixth step of disengaging the core assembly from the subassembly holder when the thermoset composition has gelled to a point of rigidity; a seventh step of securing the second half shell in a golf ball mold; an eighth step of dispensing the uncured liquid thermoset composition into the hemispherical cavity of the second half shell; a ninth step of inserting a second half of the core subassembly into the hemispherical cavity of the second half shell and displacing an amount of the uncured liquid thermoset composition such that the uncured liquid thermoset composition forms a non-uniformly contoured inner cover layer having a maximum thickness Y and a minimum thickness Z such that D max =Y−Z, thereby mating the first and second half shells; a tenth step of curing the thermoset inner cover layer to complete the golf ball and then removing the resulting golf ball from the golf ball mold.