Early Acushnet Co. Golf Balls

In 1932 Philip Young created the Titleist division of the Acushnet Company and three years later in 1935 began making the wound Titleist Acushnet Golf Ball.¹ He used John Gammeter’s 1900 US patent² to wind vulcanized-rubber chord around the golf ball core. The Acushnet Titleist Golf Ball had a seam pattern with a dot within a circle (solar dot) and a solid dot above a hand scripted Acushnet logo, and a solid dot and a solar dot below. In 1941, there were four different models including the “Titleist“, the “Bedford”, the “Green Ray”, and the “Pinnacle”.

In this post I will discuss several different early Acushnet Company golf balls that I have in my collection.

The “Acushnet Titleist” Golf Ball (#97)-earliest date 1935

 Golf ball #97 in my collection is shown below. Photo 1 has the original “Acushnet” logo with only one solar dot above and one solar dot below on one pole. Photo 2 has the original “Titleist” logo with only one solar dot above and one solar dot below on the other pole. It is possible that the solid dots above and below the logo were originally present but now the paint³ has been rubbed off. You can see the Photos that there is still some white paint in all the golf ball dimples except in the positions where the solid dot would have been.

Photo 3 has Cadwell Geer Cover on one seam which indicates that this golf ball was made after the Cadwell and Geer patents were both issued in 1935. Photo 4 has FOR EXPERTS ONLY on the other seam.

The “Acushnet Finalist” Golf Ball (#47)-earliest date 1948

Golf ball #47 is shown below. Photo 5 has the “Acushnet” logo with one solar dot above and one solar dot below on one pole. Photo 6 has the “Finalist” logo with one solar dot above and one solar dot below. There is no evidence of paint residue on golf ball #47 compared to golf ball #97.

Photo 7 has Cadwell Geer DT on one seam. The DT stands for “Dynamite Thread”. In 1948 Titleist invented the “Dynamite Thread” natural latex rubber winding material which created a more consistent balanced ball and core winding using a tougher more tightly stretched thread and automated winding machine.⁴

There is a 1947 US patent⁵ that describes this technology. The patent discloses a method of controlling the tension of a thread during a winding operation so that the tension on the thread, not the pull on the thread stays constant as the thread is wound on the golf ball. If the thread was not uniform in size and was stretched at constant pull, any undersized threads would be stretched to a greater degree. When the thread runs large it would be stretched to a lesser degree. This would produce variations in the density and flight of the golf ball.

The Acushnet Finalist Golf Ball was made to suit the slower swing speeds of the average golfer. This was done by using looser winding around the core of the golf ball. The Acushnet Finalist golf ball had a lower compression⁶ of about 80. The golf ball compression for the swing speed of an average player was generally about 90.          

Geer Golf Ball Covers

In 1925 William C. Geer obtained his first US patent⁷ for a golf ball cover and a method of making it. The cover materials were blended and milled together to form a sheet which was cut into circles the size needed to form half a golf ball cover. Two half cover blanks were then pressed onto opposite sides of the golf ball core with a mold and heated (3-6 minutes at 210-220^o F) in a press to cure the cover and attach it to the surface of the wound golf ball core. The molds were then cooled and the balls taken out of the press and the overflow rands or fins at the equator of the balls were removed by buffing. The balls were then air cured at room temperature for four to seven days. An accelerator provided the rapid vulcanization which attached the cover to the ball hopefully without damaging the wound center of the ball. Also, the rands or fins removed at the equator of the ball needed to be discarded because they had already been polymerized and could not be reused.

These covers were called Geer Patent Covers. Additional US patents were obtained for improvements to this process^8-10 but the chances of accidentally damaging the wound golf ball center by overheating, and the extra cost from removing the unused cover material from the golf ball equator were still problematic.

Cadwell Golf Ball Covers

In 1934 Sidney M. Cadwell obtained a US patent¹¹ which eliminated the two problems of the Geer Patent technology. This invention consisted of incorporating into the golf ball cover stock a material which would not cause vulcanization during the cover making and molding steps but would cause vulcanization at lower temperatures when an accelerator was added by diffusion into the cover stock. This invention formed a tough cover on the wound core with little or no damage to the windings, and the excess cover material removed from the equator by buffing could be recovered and reused. The covers made using both Cadwell and Geer technologies were called Cadwell Geer Covers.

The “Titleist PROFESSIONAL 3” Golf Ball (#69)-earliest date 1943

Ball #69 is an early Titleist golf ball prepared with only the Geer Patent Cover technology. Photo 8 has Titleist PROFESSIONAL 3 on the pole. This ball has the famous Titleist script that first appeared in 1943.¹² There appears to be some damage that shows on the cover, perhaps, due to overheating the windings around the core during curing. Photo 9 shows the same Titleist PROFESSIONAL 3 on the other pole but without the damage. It is likely the Geer Patent Cover technology overheated the core windings and damaged the golf ball.

Photo 10 shows Acushnet on the seam of the ball. Photo 11 shows Geer Patent Cover on the other seem of the ball. This is the only golf ball in my collection that has the Geer Patent Cover.

The “Titleist ACUSHNET 4” Golf Ball (#39)-earliest date 1943

Ball #39 is an early Titleist ball prepared with the Cadwell Geer Cover technology. Photo 12 has Titleist ACUSHNET 4 on both poles of the ball. Photo 13 shows Cadwell Geer Cover on one seam of the ball. The earliest date of introduction for this ball was 1943. The Sidney Cadwell patent remained valid until 1951.¹³ The Cadwell technology eliminated the problem of overheating the rubber windings of the core and any excess material from the cover was not wasted.

The “Titleist ACUSHNET 4 DT 100” Golf Ball (#145)-earliest date 1948          

Golf ball #145 is the TitleistACUSHNET DT 100 golf ball made with the Dynamite Thread technology. Photo 14 shows the 1943 Titleist script with ACUSHNET 4 on both poles. Photo 15 shows Cadwell Geer DT 100 on the seam. A golf ball with compression of 100 was finally made possible by the use of the Cadwell Geer cover and Dynamite Thread technologies in 1948.

Conclusion

By using all possible tools at my disposal, I have made important progress at understanding the history of Acushnet Co. golf balls in my collection and estimating the dates that they were first introduced. Hopefully this report will aid other golf ball collectors to better understand the histories of their own golf ball collections.

References

1. “The History of Titleist (Acushnet) Golf Balls”, Science Resort LLC and M. Hatcher, copyright @2010, 2013, 2014, p 6.
2. J. R. Gammeter, US 647,256, Apr. 10, 1900, filed Dec. 20, 1899.
3. The first mention of paint on an Acushnet golf ball appeared in W. C. Geer, GB 320,427, Oct. 17, 1929, filed Jul. 18, 1928.
4. “The History of Titleist (Acushnet) Golf Balls”, Science Resort LLC and M. Hatcher, copyright @2010, 2013, 2014, p 10.
5. Kurt E. Wilhelm, US 2,425,909, Aug. 19, 1947, filed Dec. 14, 1945.
6. “The History of Titleist (Acushnet) Golf Balls”, Science Resort LLC and M. Hatcher, copyright @2010, 2013, 2014, p 13.
7. William C. Geer, US 1,524,428, Jan. 27, 1925, filed Apr. 19, 1921.
8. William C. Geer, US 1,948,292, Feb. 20, 1934, filed Jan. 31, 1933.
9. William C. Geer, US 2,035,062, Mar. 24, 1936, filed May 31, 1932.
10. William C. Geer, US 2,016,736, Oct. 8, 1935, filed May 31, 1932.
11. Sidney M. Cadwell, US 1,951,392, Mar. 20, 1934, filed Sep. 2, 1931.
12. “The History of Titleist (Acushnet) Golf Balls”, Science Resort LLC and M. Hatcher, copyright @2010, 2013, 2014, p 7.
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_of_patent_in_the_United_States