Patent Application
20180177275
Polyurethane is a common material found in a variety of consumer products owing to its versatile physical and chemical characteristics. Particularly, flexible polyurethane materials are often employed in human-based fields, including ergonomic, clothing, medical, and cosmetic applications, due to their softness and ability to be molded and elastically compress against the body for support and cover. Polyurethanes can be manufactured or cleansed to be generally odorless and nontoxic when fixed in solid forms at body temperatures, furthering their favorability for human interactions.
For example, flexible polyurethane of varying densities is used as packaging, bedding and furniture cushioning, footwear, grips, spandex, bands and wraps, helmets, etc. Because conventional polyurethane is water-resistant, it can also be used for insulation, flotation, and boat pieces, owing to its hydrophobic nature. Several different methods of fabricating polyurethane to desired density and stiffness are known and relatively easily achieved for these purposes. For example, in the instance of a flexible polyurethane foam, polyol and isocyanate streams may be mixed with a blowing agent or agitators that creates a foam that can be shaped by blowing it into a mold or cutting it into a desired shape.
Example embodiments support structures to which natural or artificial fibers can be directly affixed including a base supporting a hydrophilic polyurethane foam that directly contacts the fibers and is elastic/nondestructively moveable and/or compressible. The hydrophilic polyurethane foam has a density to hold over nineteen times its weight in liquids while being flexible and resilient. The liquid may be retained in cellular or polymeric spaces while eluting solutes or exuding the liquid into the fibers in direct contact with the foam over time. For example, if the fibers are organic hair, a conditioner or vitamin-bearing oil like a vitamin-E-infused grapeseed oil, may be retained in and absorbed from the foam by the hair that is affixed to the same. Example embodiment supports may be any shape or size, and may be rigid or flexible. For example, supports may include a rigid but re-shapeable wire or tube that holds the support in any desired shape, as well as the flexible foam and fibers affixed thereto. In the instance of a cylindrical shape, the roller may extend up to a foot or more in length with a diameter of 0.25 or more inches to permit winding, curling, or spiraling of fibers about the support.
Example methods include treating and shaping natural or artificial fibers with a hydrophilic polyurethane foam support. In example methods, the fibers are affixing directly to the foam, which supports the same, such as by winding or tying the fibers to the polyurethane foam support. Additionally, a clasp may be clamped or snapped over the fibers and foam support to compress the two directly together, potentially enhancing the absorption of liquid held in the foam by the fibers. If the support is flexible, the foam may be reshaped without failure, potentially with the fibers, and hold the shape during wearing and/or drying. In the example of human hair, the hair may absorb a conditioner or fragrance in a liquid held by the foam while drying.
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.
This is a patent document, and 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, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It will be understood that when element(s) are referred to in relation to one another, such as being “connected,” “coupled,” “mated,” “attached,” or “fixed” to another element(s), the relationship can be direct or with other intervening elements. 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 “connected” for communications purposes 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” are intended to include both the singular and plural forms, unless the language explicitly indicates otherwise with terms like “only a single element.” It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, values, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not themselves preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, values, 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 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. It should be presumed that any embodiment having features and functionality described below, in any workable combination, falls within the scope of example embodiments.
The Inventor has recognized that existing foams used in fiber treatment, such as fabric, cloth, and/or hair arrangement and shaping, are conventional hydrophobic foams that purposefully resist water and thus easily dry for use in air or heated drying. The Inventor has further recognized that such existing hydrophobic foams do not, or only poorly carry, useful treatments for fiber contacting the same, including carrier liquids for conditioning, fragrancing, medicating, and/or repairing the same. The typical hydrophobic polyurethanes, while typically being inexpensive to manufacture and structurally rigid for support purposes, do not provide resilient shaping and restructuring of supporting rollers bearing the foam into multiple shapes. Example embodiments described below uniquely solve these and other newly-recognized problems by providing flexible and/or resilient rollers to support and shape fiber, like hair, while bearing desired chemical treatment through highly absorbent hydrophilic polyurethane foam.
The present invention is structures bearing hydrophilic polyurethane foam surfaces and methods of using the same. In contrast to the present invention, the few example embodiments and example methods discussed below illustrate just a subset of the variety of different configurations that can be used as and/or in connection with the present invention.
Example embodiment roller 10 is bendable or flexible, in that it can be freely rotated about each of its shortest axes and/or elongated or compressed along its longest axis. For example, roller 10 may be fabricated with internals similar to those in U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,006 issued Sep. 10, 1985 to Collis, incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. As shown in
As seen in
Example embodiment roller 10 may be bent and held in nearly any shape without damaging hydrophilic foam 15 (
Hydrophilic polyurethane foam 15 may be an open-foam or closed-foam flexible material fabricated by methods described in US Patent Publication 2013/03274363 published Oct. 17, 2013 to Horio, incorporated herein in its entirety. Several different cyanates and reactive streams can be used to create hydrophilic polyurethane foam 15, including cyanate streams of toluene diisocyanate (TDI), diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), and/or aliphatic polyisocynates like isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) or hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI). The reactive stream may include not only polyols but other hydroxyl groups, as well as amino groups and carboxylic groups. With proper blowing agents, agitation of the streams, and cross-linking, foam 15 may be formed to an open-cell or closed-cell foam, film, or elastomer material.
For example, hydrophilic polyurethane foam 15 may be formed to approximately 32-120 kilograms per cubic meter to achieve desired weight and strength, while achieving and preserving resiliency under several, potentially hundreds, of cycles of bending and compression while supporting fibers wrapped around or compressed against the same. Hydrophilic polyurethane foam 15 is washable, non-peeling and non-flaking, and soft to the touch. Foam 15 is further odorless and non-toxic, and can be further cleansed and tested before use to ensure no manufacturing residue or other undesired substances are present.
Hydrophilic polyurethane foam 15 is further capable of carrying or absorbing, and conversely exuding, large proportions of liquid carriers or additives. For example, oils, lubricants, moisturizers, alcohols, and water may be carried in amounts up to 95% of total weight of foam 15 carrying the same. Nutrients, pH balancers, abrasives, surfactants, catalysts, aromas, colorants, pharmaceuticals, etc. may be carried in these liquids to achieve a desired effect on fibers wound thereon for extended period of times, as the liquid is exuded or eluted or otherwise absorbed from the holding foam 15.
For example, instead of a skin-conditioning agent as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,616 issued Nov. 2, 1999 to Celia, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, foam 15 may contain, and be saturated with, a sulphate hair conditioner, suspended keratin formulation, and aroma carried in a water base. Such conditioner may contact and condition a fiber 1 (
In this way, example embodiment rollers 10 and 20 may be used to flexibly secure fibers in desired configurations for drying and/or treatment by liquids and carried substances in foam 15. For example, a user may simultaneously, set, dry, and condition his or her hair by wrapping the same around an example embodiment roller 10 or 20 with foam 15 carrying a desired conditioner, affixing or clamping the hair in place, and proceeding to dry the same. Unlike conventional foams used in rollers for as fast, hot drying with as little interaction as possible, example embodiment rollers 10 or 20 may more comfortably adapt and shape to the body for comfortable, long-term wear or even sleep wear while providing liquid absorption into contacting fiber for desired treatment over a longer time.
Some example embodiments and methods being described here and in the incorporated documents, it will 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 example embodiments describe hydrophilic polyurethane foams bearing desired liquids for human hair, it is understood that any fiber, including natural and synthetic fibers, may be shaped and treated by example embodiments. 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.
