Many people wish to treat the hair on their head to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance, or to enhance the health of their hair. While this can be done professionally in a hair salon many women and men desire to treat their hair themselves. Many different hair treatment applicators for professional or non-professional use have been developed over the years, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,830,030, 5,325,878, 6,250,312, and 7,156,885, and in published U.S. Patent Applications 2008/0083418, 2008/0083419, 2008/0087293, and 2008/0087294, and commercial products marketed under the trade names “Color Bug” and “Instant Highlights.”
The hair treatment applicator according to the invention functions in a manner similar to those in the above-identified prior art applicators but has a different construction that lends itself to a number of advantages. The applicator according to the invention is simple, is easy to use and to positively control both by professionals and by individuals treating their own hair, is versatile, applies hair treatment uniformly, and is relatively inexpensive to make.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a hair treatment material applicator comprising: a lid; a base; a hinge operatively connecting the lid and base to allow pivotal movement of the lid and base with respect to each other from an open position to a closed position; a bail pivotally mounted to the lid for pivotal movement from a use position above the lid to a latch position below the base to hold the lid and base in the closed position; and a hair treatment material mounted in at least one of the lid and base. In the use position the bail is spaced from a top surface of the lid a distance sufficient to allow a user to position the tip of her or his index finger between the bail and lid to facilitate positive control of the applicator, and a slope to the top front end of the lid facilitates that even more.
Preferably the lid and base are plastic and the hinge comprises an over-molded rubber hinge biasing the lid and base toward the open position. That is the hinge acts like a spring and the biasing action thereof makes the applicator easier to hold in use since both the lid and base are pressed toward different parts of the user's hand (e.g. index finger and thumb).
The applicator also desirably further comprises a compressible material such as dense foam positioned in one of the lid and base, and the hair treatment material positioned in the other of the lid and base. The foam and material are operatively positioned so as to allow strands of human hair to pass between them and for material to be substantially uniformly applied to the strands. The foam is preferably presents a substantially sloped shape, tapering from a highest position most remote from the hinge to a lowest position closest to the hinge, and desirably the foam is also arched as well as presenting a sloped shape. The sloped shape may be provided by the shape of the foam itself, or by the shape of a recess in a tray in which the foam is mounted in the base or lid.
The material is preferably recessed within the lid or base. While almost any hair treatment material can be used preferably the material is selected from the group consisting essentially of solid, semi-solid, gel, and high viscosity liquid impregnated pad, materials; in turn selected from the group consisting essentially of hair dye, highlighter, bleach, protein treatments, detangler, conditioner, oil adder or remover, or grease removing materials.
Normally the foam is mounted in the base and the hair treatment material is mounted in the lid. The foam is mounted in a tray preferably held by flexible latching hooks to the base, and the hair treatment material is mounted in part by structures including flexible latching hooks engaging the lid.
According to another aspect of the invention, a hair treatment material applicator is provided comprising: a lid; a base; a hinge operatively connecting the lid and base to allow pivotal movement of the lid and base with respect to each other from an open position to a closed position; a dense foam positioned in one of the lid and base; and a hair treatment material positioned in the other of the lid and base. The foam and material are operatively positioned so as to allow strands of human hair to pass between them and for material to be substantially uniformly applied to the strands. The details of the components may be as described above.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a hair treatment material applicator comprising: a plastic lid; a plastic base; a hinge operatively connecting the lid and base tallow pivotal movement of the lid and base with respect to each other from an open position to a closed position, the hinge comprising an over-molded rubber hinge biasing the lid and base toward the open position; a compressible material positioned in one of the lid and base; and a hair treatment material positioned in the other of the lid and base for cooperation with the compressible material during use to treat hair. Again the details of the components may be as described above.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a simple, easy to use and to positively control both by professionals and by individuals treating their own hair, versatile, and/or relatively inexpensive hair treatment applicator for substantially uniformly applying treatment material to human hair. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from the detailed description of the drawings and from the appended claims.
An applicator according to the present invention is shown generally by reference numeral 10 in the drawings. It has two main body components, a lid 12 and a base 14, connected together by a hinge 16. The lid 12 and base 14 can be made of any suitable relatively inert material but are preferably molded of plastic, such as ABS, and preferably have a generally quadrate configuration in plan, as illustrated in the drawings, although as shown the edges are preferably rounded. The hinge 16 may have any conventional construction but, as illustrated, preferably comprises a rubber living hinge over-molded (using conventional techniques) onto the lid 12 and base 14. The rubber hinge inherently provides a spring bias biasing the applicator to the fully open position illustrated in
Pivotally connected to the lid 12 near the sloped end 17 thereof opposite the hinge 16 is a bail 18. The spacing 19 (see
Since the bail 18 is outside the applicator 10, the lid 12 and base 14 are free and clear of any restriction so that during use strands of human hair H (see
The functional hair-treating components of the applicator 10 are the hair treatment material component 22 provided in lid 12 and preferably slightly recessed therein, as clear from both
The component 24 is a compressible material, and preferably comprises a dense foam or sponge. Desirably the foam is ethylene-vinyl acetates (EVA) foam, such as shown in U.S. Patent Publication 2006/0089241, and has a density of between about 40-100 kg/m3(e. g. about 60 kg/m3), or equivalent other closed cell foams of comparable density. The foam 24 is preferably arched (or barrel-shaped, see
The gradual taper of the foam 24 allows for less stress on the over-molded rubber hinge 16 and less pinching of hair strands H (see
The foam/sponge 24 is glued, taped, or otherwise provided in a plastic (e.g. ABS) insert tray 28 (see
The treatment material component 22 comprises a treatment material 30 positioned in a tray 31 (see
The material 30 may be any solid, semi-solid, gel, or pad impregnated with high viscosity liquid, material capable of treating hair. Exemplary materials include highlighter, dye, bleach, detangler, protein treatments, oil adder or remover, conditioner, grease remover, etc. The details of the material 30 are not part of the invention; rather any conventional (such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,030, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein) or hereinafter developed suitable material 30 may be used, as long as it is in a form that will not leak out of the applicator 10 and that is capable of being substantially uniformly transferred to hair strands H (see
As seen most clearly in
In the
In the
The material 130 may be provided within a pan 36 which in turn is inserted into a separate plastic (e. g. ABS) make-up tray 37. The tray 37 may be releasably latched, sonically welded, or otherwise attached to the “bottom” of lid 112 as seen in
In an exemplary use of the applicator unit 10, 110 to highlight hair, where the material 30, 130 is a hair highlighting material (such as the “hair chalk” described above), which will be described only with respect to the
While the terms “above,” “top,” “bottom,” and the like are used herein for convenience, it is to be understood that the applicator of the invention is not restricted to the orientation of the component parts with respect to earth.
While the invention has been herein shown and described in what is presently conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment thereof many modifications may be made thereof within the scope of the invention, which scope is to be restricted only by the prior art. For example the invention includes all specific intermediate ranges within a broad range; e. g. “about 40-100 kg/m3” means 39-61, 59-75, 80-101, and all other narrower ranges within the broad range. The invention is to be accorded the broadest interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all equivalents.