Bridgestone Jumps on the Weight Adjustability Bandwagon
There is no doubt that adjustability is a big marketing push and appears to be here to stay. In fact, just last week I posted about the golfing purists at Titleist taking a stab at weight adjustability. This week let’s take a look at what is on the minds of the engineers at Bridgestone.
The Bridgestone Golf design that was recently disclosed in published patent application US Pub. No. 
The application explains:
[0008] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned situation, and has as its first object to provide a golf club head having both a variable center-of-gravity position and a variable weight.
[0009] The present invention also has as its second object to provide a golf club head which can employ both a method of concentrated loading by disposing a weight member at one position, and a method of distributed loading by disposing weight members at a plurality of positions in order to change the center-of-gravity position of the golf club head.
[0010] In order to achieve the above-mentioned first object, according to the present invention, there is provided a golf club head comprising a hollow head body including a projection formed along a periphery of a sole, a recess formed inside the projection, and an opening formed in the projection so as to extend from a toe side to a back side, a cylindrical body which is provided in the recess of the head body, includes one end that engages with an inner wall of the projection on a heel side, and the other end that extends to a vicinity of the opening and can move along the opening, a weight member retractably, detachably inserted in the cylindrical body, and a detachable fixing member which fixes the other end of the cylindrical body onto the projection.
[0011] Also, in order to achieve the above-mentioned first object, according to the present invention, there is provided a golf club head comprising a hollow head body including a projection formed along a periphery of a sole, a recess formed inside the projection, an opening formed in the projection so as to extend from a toe side to a back side, a thread formed on an inner wall of the opening, and at least one groove portion formed in an inner wall of the projection on a heel side, a cylindrical body which is provided in the recess of the head body, includes one end inserted in the groove portion, the other end that extends to a vicinity of the opening and can move along the opening, and a thread formed on an inner wall thereof, a weight member which includes a thread formed on an outer wall thereof and retractably, detachably engages with the thread on the inner wall of the cylindrical body, and a detachable fixing screw which engages with the thread in the opening from outside the projection, and presses the other end of the cylindrical body to push the one end of the cylindrical body against the groove portion, thereby fixing the cylindrical body onto the projection.[0012] Moreover, in order to achieve the above-mentioned second object, according to the present invention, there is provided the golf club head of the present invention described above, wherein a plurality of weight members retractably, detachably engage with a thread on an inner wall of the cylindrical body.
[0013] In the golf club head according to the present invention, the weight member is retractably provided in the cylindrical body, the opening is formed in the projection of the head body, and the position to fix the other end of the cylindrical body onto the projection can be changed along the opening. Hence, the center-of-gravity position and, more specifically, one or both of the center-of-gravity distance and the center-of-gravity angle can be changed by changing the position of the weight member in the cylindrical body or changing the position to fix the other end of the cylindrical body onto the projection. Note that the center-of-gravity distance means the distance from the shaft line to the center of gravity, and the center-of-gravity angle means the angle between the face and a straight line which passes through the center of the distal end of the shaft and the center of gravity.
[0014] Also, in the golf club head according to the present invention, the weight member is detachably provided in the cylindrical body. Hence, the head weight can be changed by exchanging weight members which have different weights and are provided into the cylindrical body.
[0015] Moreover, when a plurality of weight members are provided in the cylindrical body, the above-mentioned concentrated loading can be performed by disposing the plurality of weight members at one position in the cylindrical body, and the above-mentioned distributed loading can be performed by disposing a plurality of weight members with spacings between them in the cylindrical body.
Interesting.
Dave Dawsey – Keeping an Eye on Innovative Golf Products
PS – check out some interesting golf tee inventions here