Appeal No. 2005-0765 4
Application No. 09/844,989
MacKeil teaches a constantly changing loft angle that avoids a concavity and is legal
under the rules of the USGA. MacKeil does not disclose a resilient insert.
Viollaz discloses a club head with an insert of carbon fiber or aramid fiber in
resin. The insert face is configured with a convex surface which ensures good ball
trajectory. Werner also shows a club face wherein the club face striking surface is
made thicker at the center where the bending stresses are greatest and which taper in
thickness to the outer edges of the face where the stresses are less. Alternatively,
similar center thickness increases can be attained using honeycombed or ribbed
structures as long as variations in wall thicknesses are maintained according to the
invention. For example, as shown in Figure 9, the individual walls 89A are varied in
length to permit a bulge portion 91 to be formed in the center portion of the club head.
The face skin 87 and the rear skin 88 also can be varied in thickness for changing
strength characteristics. See col. 6, lines 30-34.
From the above cited references we find that the level of skill in the golf clubhead
art is high, and sophisticated shapes and sophisticated materials are commonly used in
this art.
In our view, one of ordinary skill in the golf club art would not have found it
obvious to combine the applied references in the manner proposed by the examiner at
the time the invention was made, for the following reasons. First, Stuff, although
showing a resilient insert, uses a flat club face surface with parallel grooves rather than
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