Appeal No. 2005-0806 Page 7
Application No. 10/179,812
resinous material such as type 1855 Surlyn® which is a comparatively soft, low flexural
modulus resinous material.
Horiuchi's invention relates to a golf ball having excellent impact resilience and
flying performance, of which the cover is formed from an ionomer resin which contains
an alpha, beta-ethylenic unsaturated carboxylic acid in a larger amount than
conventional ionomer resins. In the background of the invention, Horiuchi provides that
it is known to compose a golf ball of a core and a cover covering the core wherein the
ionomer resin which is used as the cover of the golf balls contain alpha, beta-ethylenic
unsaturated carboxylic acid in an amount of less than 15% by weight. In the summary
of the invention, Horiuchi states that
It has been surprisingly found that a carboxyl-rich ionomer resin which
contains 16 to 30% by weight of an alpha, beta-ethylenic unsaturated carboxylic
acid significantly improves the properties of the golf balls, such as impact
resilience and flying performance. Thus, the present invention provides a golf ball
which comprises a core and a cover covering the core, wherein the cover
contains at least 20% by weight of a carboxyl-rich ionomer resin prepared by
neutralizing 15 to 80 mol % of carboxylic acid groups of an olefinic copolymer
containing 16 to 30% by weight of an alpha, beta-ethylenic unsaturated
carboxylic acid with monovalent or divalent metal ions.
Horiuchi then provides (column 1, lines 50-59) that
an amount of the alpha, beta-ethylenic unsaturated carboxylic acid is limited to
16 to 30% by weight, preferably 20 to 30% by weight, based on the total
monomer weight. Thus, the balance of the monomer is the alpha-olefin. If the
amount of the alpha, beta-ethylenic unsaturated carboxylic acid is less than 16%
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