Patent Application
20170071310
The herein example embodiments relates to the field of personal hair accessories intended to curl human hair.
Hair curling technologies have long strived to pioneer easy to install, comfortable and reliable hair rollers. Current hair rollers do not adequately secure the hair to the roller, are uncomfortable during overnight wear, do not produce spiral curves with relatively consistent radius, and do not facilitate hair drying if damp hair is wound around them. Furthermore, current hair rollers have finite dimensions that limit the amount of hair that can be wound around them. As a consequence, large tresses of hair may not curl as expected because excess of hair may be placed on the roller.
Elongated cylindrical foam rollers that are readily available in the marketplace claim to create spiral curls or waves. They secure the hair by bending the roller's ends on top of the hair after it is wound. A hair roller known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,759 has a similar elongated body as the commonly used foam rollers, however, instead of bending ends it employs the use of a non-elastic ribbon-type fastener which is secured through spiral slits at the end of the body. This hair roller is also designed to create spiral curls. A major shortcoming of both types of rollers is that the wound up hair unravels easily during physical activity or overnight wear. Another drawback is that it may not be possible for a long tress of hair to be wound around the cylindrical body in a spiral fashion because of the roller's finite length. As a result, long tresses have a higher likelihood to be placed on top of previously rolled hair, thus foregoing the spiral curl effect. What is more, if a long tress of hair is wound up damp, the hair from the outer sections prevents moisture escape from the inner sections of hair.
A hair curler known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,163 consists of a supporting body with cross-section that diminishes from one end to the other and a pin-like fixing device. This type of curler is designed to prevent hair from slipping and to produce spiral curls with diminishing bending radius. Nevertheless, the roller is uncomfortable for overnight wear due to its rigid supporting body.
A hair roller known from U.S. Pat. document No. D469924S consists of a rigid cylindrical supporting body made of plastic and covered in hook, fabric-gripping fabric material. Problems associated with curling hair with this device include discomfort during overnight wear, difficulty removing hair that gets tangled into the hair retention surface of the roller, and static electricity build-up caused by removing the hair from the gripping surface of the roller. Furthermore, all short cylindrical hair rollers by design lead to the winding of one section of hair on top of another. As a consequence, if damp hair is wound up around the roller, it is difficult for moisture to leave the inner sections of the hair.
Example embodiments introduce a dual member hair accessory which facilitates the curling of hair and surmounts the issues associated with currently known hair rollers. Example embodiments create a hair roller which allows for uncomplicated and secure winding of wet or dry hair, is comfortable, and produces relatively spiral curls.
The first member of the present hair roller assembly is a light-weight, flexible, elongated supporting roller body with a lateral surface that has a plurality of projections with hooked shaped ends capable of gripping fabric. The second member of example embodiments is a stretchable, permeable fabric sleeve. A tress of hair is passed through the sleeve, which in turn is repeatedly wrapped around the supporting roller body in a downward spiral fashion. The sleeve securely attaches to the hooked, fabric-gripping surface of the roller and prevents the hair from unwinding.
A major benefit of example embodiments is that it is more comfortable to wear while sleeping because the flexible nature of the supporting roller can be easily pressed or bent when weight is applied to it. Once the weight is removed, the roller body reverts to its original shape.
The elongated body of the supporting roller encourages the winding of hair in a downward spiral fashion. As a result, after removal from the hair the present roller produces spiral curves. In addition, multiple supporting roller members can be attached to one another via their fabric-gripping exteriors in order to create new, longer or wider roller bodies that allow for customization of the wave radius and ensure that the spiral curl effect is present in long tresses of hair.
Another major benefit of example embodiments is the incorporation of an elastic fabric sleeve member which envelops the tresses of hair that are being curled. The sleeve acts as a fastening mechanism owing to its secure attachment to the roller member by clenching to the roller's gripping outer surface. Furthermore, due to its fabric nature, the sleeve does not leave indentations in the hair after it has been unwound unlike other hair curlers that employ the use of rigid securing mechanisms such as pins, brackets, or clips. Another benefit of the elastic sleeve is that it shields the hair from the roller, thus reducing static electricity build-up which may result from the friction between the hair and roller's gripping surface.
In the event of damp hair being wound up around the present hair roller, the liquid and gas permeability of both the supporting body and the fabric sleeve member provide a pathway for moisture to leave the hair, thus enhancing the hair drying capabilities of the roller.
Example embodiments will become more apparent by describing, in detail, the attached drawings, wherein like elements are represented by like reference numerals, which are given by way of illustration only and thus do not limit the example embodiments herein.
Because this is a patent document, general broad rules of construction should be applied when reading it. Everything described and shown in this document is an example of subject matter falling within the scope of the claims, appended below. Any specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are merely for purposes of describing how to make and use example embodiments. Several different embodiments not specifically disclosed herein may fall within the claim scope; as such, the claims may be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only example embodiments set forth herein.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, “and” and “or” are equivalent to the term “and/or,” which includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected,” “coupled,” “mated,” “attached,” or “fixed” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.). Similarly, a term such as “communicatively connected” includes all variations of information exchange routes between two devices, including intermediary devices, networks, etc., connected wirelessly or not.
As used herein, the singular forms “a”, an and the and the plural form “indicia” are intended to include both the singular and plural forms, unless the language explicitly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not themselves preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
It should also be noted that the structures and operations discussed below may occur out of the order described and/or noted in the figures. For example, two operations and/or figures shown in succession may in fact be executed concurrently or may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Similarly, individual operations within example methods described below may be executed repetitively, individually or sequentially, so as to provide looping or other series of operations aside from the single operations described below. It should be presumed that any embodiment having features and functionality described below, in any workable combination, falls within the scope of example embodiments.
An exemplary embodiment is illustrated in greater detail in
A specific example of a preferred embodiment of the hair roller device is depicted in
In terms of greater detail, an embodiment of the supporting roller member 100 of
The embodiment of the supporting roller member 100 is made of light-weight material that has plurality of apertures 13 so that it is porous and allows the movement of air, liquids, and water vapor through it. As illustrated in
In terms of greater detail, an embodiment of the sleeve member 200 of
The dual-member hair roller may be installed to the hair as follows:
First, the sleeve member 200 is taken and the fabric is gathered around the installer's fingers to form a scrunched up fabric ring. Second, a tress of hair 18 is taken and, starting with the tips 17, is passed through the ring described above. Once the entire tress of hair 18 goes through the ring, the fabric is slid upwards towards the scalp 16. Next, the fabric is extended back to its original length, or stretched out along its axial length so that in covers more hair surface. When the tress of hair 18 is fully inserted within the fabric sleeve as viewed in
Some example embodiments being described here, it is understood that one or more examples and components thereof may be used in combination and/or in duplication to provide desired hair curling. It will further be appreciated by one skilled in the art that example embodiments may be varied through routine experimentation and without further inventive activity. For example, although some examples rely on a single support roller to achieve desired shade, it is understood that other examples may use several separate pieces, including separate rollers, as well as multi-part or plural rollers. Variations are not to be regarded as departure from the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
This application is a division of, and claims priority under §120 to, co-pending application Ser. No. 14/696,320 filed Apr. 24, 2015. This parent application is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. This application is a divisional applica The following patent documents are incorporated herein in their entirety: U.S. Pat. No. 3,204,646 issued Sep. 7, 2965; U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,018 issued Dec. 31, 1968; U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,457 issued Nov. 11, 1970; U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,180 issued Jan. 11, 1977; U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,245 issued Jul. 8, 2980; U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,496 issued Mar. 5, 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,596 issued Oct. 27, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,711 issued May 11, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,759 issued Dec. 28, 2999; US D439373 issued Mar. 20, 2001; US D469924 issued Feb. 4, 2003; and FR 2663518 issued Dec. 27, 1991.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14696320 | Apr 2015 | US |
| Child | 15344494 | US |
