Just thought I'd mention:
A patent search on Abstract: golf, Inventor: Melvin turned up patent
#5,190,291. The title is "Golf club which provides sensory information
during a swing", and it is obvious from the abstract that we're talking
about the Whippy Tempomaster. The patent was issued to John Melvin in 1993,
which means it is still very much in effect. So those of us who build, use,
or sell a club like the one we've been describing are in violation of Mr.
Melvin's patent.
BTW, the patent answers some questions Steve Prescott and I had about the
design:
(1) The manual talks about a flex point inside the handle. Seems unlikely,
given a flexible shaft and a rigid handle. The patent talks about a flexible
handle, so that is more likely. But it is certainly not a deliberate feature
of any of the clones we've discussed. Here is the detailed passage:
" Having the handle 26 be flexible is an important
part of this invention. It has been found that an
eleven and one half inch hickory
handle will have a flex point 28 (point of most severe
bending during a hitting motion) approximately one
half inch past the end of
a shaft 22 which extends two and one half inches into
the handle. This places the flex point 28 in the
position where a golfer will
place his or her thumb and index finger of the right
hand in a normal grip position (see positioning of
hands 30 in FIG. 5). If a
golfer applies severe hand effort at the top of the
backswing, the handle 26 will flex at flex point 28
and the flexing will be sensed
by the golfer. "
(2) I was wondering about the very loose torsion in the shaft, when using a
fiberglass driveway marker. According to the patent, that is a design
feature.
Cheers!
DaveT
