DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 6, 9, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Whitlam (US 6422950 B1) in view of Solheim et al. (US 2004/0058744 A1) and SU (US 2016/0008871 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Whitlam discloses manufacturing a golf club head (30; Fig. 10) by providing a head body (HB) made of a metallic material, wherein the head body includes a hitting face portion (40), a base portion (42) located behind a lower part of the hitting face portion (40), and a hosel portion (34) located at an end of the hitting face portion (40); the base portion (42, 44) includes a sole surface (42), a back surface (44), and at least one mounting cavity (MC) formed in a sole (42) of the base portion (42, 44) and having a two-way opening extending from the sole surface (42) to the back surface (44); providing at least one weight insert (54) made of a high-specific-gravity metallic material (i.e., tungsten; col. 3, lines 16-18), wherein each of the at least one weight insert (54) corresponds to a respective one of the at least one mounting cavity (MC) of the head body (HB) in shape and position; forming engagement features (52, 52; 56, 56) at either the head body (40) or the weight insert (54), wherein the engagement features (52, 52) are inherently machined at inner faces of each of the at least one mounting cavity (MC), facing distinct directions, or the engagement features (56, 56) are inherently machined at exterior faces of each of the at least one weight insert (54), facing distinct directions of the respective one of the at least one mounting cavity (MC); and assembling (col. 3, lines 26-27) wherein the at least one weight insert (54) is placed into the at least one mounting cavity (MC) of the head body (HB) to form a blank; the blank is formed to a club head (30) in a specific shape by any suitable manner (col. 3, lines 26-27), wherein the engagement features (52, 52; 56, 56) at the head body or at the at least one weight insert (54) are closely and tightly engaged with joining features formed at the at least one weight insert (54) or the head body (HB) by forging without gaps between the engagement features and the joining features and for tightly joining (i.e., swaging; col. 3, lines 11-12) the at least one weight insert (54) into the at least one mounting cavity (MC) without gaps; each of the at least one weight insert (54) has an external surface exposed from the two-way opening of the respective one of the at least one mounting cavity (MC).
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Whitlam, however, does not disclose the following: wherein a specific gravity of said high-specific-gravity metallic material is larger than 7.83 g/cc; assembling and forging, wherein the at least one weight insert is placed into the at least one mounting cavity of the head body to form a blank; the blank is formed to a club head in a specific shape by forging, wherein said engagement features at the head body or at the at least one weight insert are closely and tightly engaged with joining features formed at the at least one weight insert or the head body by forging without gaps between the engagement features and the joining features and for tightly joining the at least one weight insert into the at least one mounting cavity without gaps; wherein the specific gravity of said high-specific-gravity metallic material ranges from 8.0 g/cc to 18.2 g/cc; wherein in the act of providing a head body made of a metallic material, the head body is forged by a single-pass forging process or a multi-pass forging process; or wherein the method comprises an act of forming multiple grooves in a front surface of the hitting face portion of the head body by machining after the act of assembling and forging.
Solheim discloses a golf club head (100) having a weight insert (202, 204; Fig. 2) wherein a specific gravity (pg. 2, [0032], lines 10-14) of a high-specific-gravity metallic material of the weight insert is at least 15.0 g/cm3 which is larger than 7.83 g/cc, and with the specific gravity range of 8.0 g/cc to 18.2 g/cc.
Su discloses assembling and forging (Fig. 1) an iron golf club head (i.e., iron golf club head; pg. 1, [0020]), wherein the at least one weight insert (40) is placed into the at least one mounting cavity (31) of the head body to form a blank; the blank is formed to a club head (30) in a specific shape by forging (pg. 2, [0030]; Figs. 1 and 5), wherein an engagement feature at the head body (30) or at the at least one weight insert (40) are closely and tightly engaged with joining features formed at the at least one weight insert (40) or the head body (30) by forging without gaps between the engagement features and the joining features and for tightly joining (Fig. 4) the at least one weight insert (403) into the at least one mounting cavity (31) without gaps. Su also discloses wherein in the act of providing a head body (40) made of a metallic material (i.e., iron golf club head; pg. 1, [0020]), the head body is forged (pg. 1, [0025], lines 1-3) by a single-pass forging process or a multi-pass forging process.
It is conventional and well known to provide a golf club head (i.e., putter) with grooves on its front surface by machining after the head has been formed. The formation of grooves on the face of the head of a golf club provides an improved face that will increase the amount of spin to a golf ball when the ball is hit by the head.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the weight insert of Whitlam having a specific gravity of the high-specific-gravity metallic material larger than 7.83 g/cc, and wherein the specific gravity of the high-specific-gravity metallic material ranges from 8.0 g/cc to 18.2 g/cc, to assemble and forge Whitlam, wherein the at least one weight insert is placed into the at least one mounting cavity of the head body of Whitlam to form a blank, the blank being formed to a club head in a specific shape by forging, wherein the engagement features at the head body or at the at least one weight insert are closely and tightly engaged with joining features formed at the at least one weight insert or the head body by forging without gaps between the engagement features and the joining features and for tightly joining the at least one weight insert into the at least one mounting cavity without gaps, and to provide the metallic material of Whitlam as iron and to forge the head body of Whitlam by a single-pass forging process or a multi-pass forging process, in light of the respective teachings of Solheim and Su, in order “to provide a high moment of inertia while at the same providing a desirable dynamic response at impact (Solheim, pg. 1, [0008], lines 3-6),” and in order to make the material of the club head cover the weight inserts completely without any gaps (Su, pg. 1, [0013], lines 12-15).
It would also have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to form multiple grooves in a front surface of the hitting face portion of the head body of Whitlam in the combination of Whitlam/Solheim/Su by machining after the act of assembling and forging, in order to provide a golf club head with an improved hitting face.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 13 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The references listed on the attached PTO-892 are cited to show the construction of golf clubs.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERMIE E COZART whose telephone number is (571)272-4528. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30am - 7:00pm.
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/JERMIE E COZART/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3799
November 13, 2025