The present device relates to hair care. More particularly, the device herein relates to a toothed applicator for hair care products such as a dye or hair conditioner which provides an arched central body having a plurality of fluid dispensing teeth which are adapted for combing through the hair of a user and concurrently dispensing hair care products into the hair through dispensing apertures at the distal end of the teeth extending from the arched central body.
In the field of hair care, employing applied products to the hair on the scalp has expanded greatly in recent years. To that end, users of hair care products have an ever expanding choice of hair products for application to the hair on their scalp. Such products are generally provided in liquid form with a liquid viscosity that varies depending on the product employed.
Hair coloring or dye is a liquid product which has become a significant business in the United States and most industrialized countries. While many women and men choose to have professionals apply hair dye products to their hair in a salon or the like, in recent years, a large number of individuals have chosen to self-apply liquid hair coloring products to their hair. Additionally, some users place nontraditional colors into their hair such as red, blue and purple and so on, for a colorized effect.
Additionally, hair care products are also available to nurture and enhance the appearance of hair strands. Such hair care products are conventionally in liquid form and may contain shampoos, vitamins, conditioners, or other liquid products which are applied to the hair strands and absorbed over a time duration to improve overall appearance.
The application of liquid hair care and coloring products conventionally requires the user to dispense the liquid onto the hair on their scalp. Thereafter, the liquid disburses throughout the strands of hair using gloved hands or utensils adapted to attempt an even distribution of the liquid throughout the hair of the scalp. In the case of placing individual colors such as red or blue or other single colors into the hair, such is required to be replenished after every shampoo.
As can be discerned, users trying to dispense a liquid from a tube or beaker or the like into the hair are challenged by the need to dispense the liquid while concurrently evenly disbursing it through the hair strands on their scalp. Such required multitasking becomes an especially challenging problem where the action of the dispensed liquid is time-sensitive for its result. For example, hair coloring and dye in many instances, once mixed, must be applied evenly and throughout the hair of the scalp within a few minutes or the outcome can result in uneven and discolored hair.
Further, even where a user is adept and experienced at evenly dispensing hair products into their hair, the task is still messy at best. Further, it can be uncomfortable for gloved users to continuously massage different parts of their scalps and through hair strands over a duration of time, especially since such requires their arms to be raised for that duration.
The device herein disclosed and described provides a liquid hair care dispensing device which allows for the easy combing and concurrent dispensing of liquid hair care products in the hair of the user. Through the provision of a handled-housing with an arched section, having dispensing teeth projecting therefrom, a user holding a handle of the device, can dispense liquid from a reservoir in one or two handles onto the scalp while concurrently combing. This results in the timely and even distribution of the liquid product throughout the scalp, eliminating the need for gloved fingers to attempt such.
The forgoing examples of the dispensing of liquid hair products such as dye, shampoo and conditioners onto the hair of the scalp are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein. Various other limitations of the related art are known or will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.
The device herein provides a solution to the shortcomings of devices and methods conventionally employed to dispense liquid coloring, conditioner, or individual colors, into the strands of hair on the scalp. Through the provision of a handle engaged fluid dispenser having a body with a central portion formed in an arch and having a handle on one or both ends of the body of the device, the user is afforded an easy manner to concurrently comb and to evenly dispense fluid from one or a plurality of onboard reservoirs of dye or shampoo or conditioner or the like, into hair on all portions of the scalp.
The device is configured to provide concurrent fluid disbursement to communicate with individual rows of hair on the top and both sides of the scalp in a single action. Such a dispensing action is especially helpful where the fluid being dispensed, such as hair dye, has a time constraint to such application for proper use. Additionally useful is the concurrent dispensing through all portions of the hair at once thereby insuring an even communication of the liquid to all parts of the hair extending from the scalp of the user.
Through the provision of a user actuable pumping component such as compressible handles or portions thereof, the user, while combing fluid dispensing bristles through the hair on all sides of the head simultaneously, can concurrently evenly dispense the fluid from individual projections or teeth which is communicated through conduits from reservoirs in the handles. When configured with replaceable user-pumped fluid reservoirs, which are removably engageable within the handles, the user is afforded an easy means to place the fluid of choice, from a kit of available fluids such as dye, colorings, or conditioners, into the device and resupply it as needed.
With respect to the above description, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the herein disclosed liquid hair product applicator invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The liquid hair product applicator invention herein described and shown is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways which will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other toothed liquid hair product applicator devices and for carrying out the several purposes of the present disclosed device. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction and methodology insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. As used in the claims to describe the various inventive aspects and embodiments, “comprising” means including, but not limited to, whatever follows the word “comprising”. Thus, use of the term “comprising” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present. By “consisting of” is meant including, and limited to, whatever follows the phrase “consisting of”. Thus, the phrase “consisting of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, and that no other elements may be present. By “consisting essentially of” is meant including any elements listed after the phrase, and limited to other elements that do not interfere with or contribute to the activity or action specified in the disclosure for the listed elements. Thus, the phrase “consisting essentially of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present depending upon whether or not they affect the activity or action of the listed elements. The term “substantially” when employed herein, means plus or minus twenty-percent unless otherwise specifically designated in a different range.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for the easy and even distribution of liquid hair products onto and throughout the hair follicles of the scalp of a user by simply pulling a toothed housing therethrough.
It is an object of this invention to provide such a liquid hair product dispensing device which allows for combing through the hair in an easy action while concurrently dispensing hair care liquid products from the teeth extending from the body of the device in a single action
It is an additional object of this invention to provide such a liquid hair product dispensing device which has a housing configured with an arch adapted to surround the top and sides of the head of the user while teeth, extending from the arch, are combed through the hair of the user.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present liquid hair product dispenser herein, as well as the advantages thereof over existing prior art, which will become apparent from the description to follow, are accomplished by the improvements described in this specification and hereinafter described in the following detailed description which fully discloses the invention, but should not be considered as placing limitations thereon.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate some, but not the only or exclusive examples of embodiments and/or features of the disclosed liquid hair product applicator. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative of the invention herein, rather than limiting in any fashion.
In the drawings:
In this description, the directional prepositions of up, upwardly, down, downwardly, front, back, top, upper, bottom, lower, left, right and other such terms refer to the device as it is oriented and appears in the drawings and are used for convenience only and such are not intended to be limiting or to imply that the device has to be used or positioned in any particular orientation.
Now referring to drawings in
In disposable one-use versions of the device 10, the reservoirs 16 containing the liquid of choice such as dye, conditioner, or coloring would be pre-positioned in the handle 12 for dispensing by the user. In a mode of the device 10 which is for ongoing use, the fluid reservoirs 16 may be chosen by the user from a plurality of different types of fluid reservoirs 16 from a kit such as in
Such operative engagement is preferable in a removable sealed connection of the internal cavity within the flexible sidewall 33 of the fluid reservoir 16 holding the fluid of choice, with the conduit 24 or conduits communicating with the axial passages 26 in the teeth 30 of the device 10. One such removable sealed connection is shown in
The body 14 of the device 10, as noted, has one or plurality of handles 12 extending therefrom. One or both handles 12, depending on the number, may be user-actuated to pressurize and dispense fluid held within the fluid reservoir 16 from the individual teeth 30 projecting from a facing 36 of an arch shaped central portion 32 of the body 14 of the device 10. One mode of such user actuation is shown by forming the handle 12 to be compressible or having compressible portions 18 of a sidewall forming the handle 12. A squeezing grip by the user on the compressible portions 18 of the handle 12 will deflect the cavity sidewall 29 (
To prevent back flow of the fluid into the fluid reservoir 16, the valve 17 engaged in the sidewall of the fluid reservoir 16 may be a one-way valve which prevents back flow of fluid into the fluid reservoir 16 once deflection of the cavity sidewalls 29 cease deflection. Such one-way valves are well known and need not be depicted, for example a deflecting flap on the valve 17 which opens during outgoing fluid movement during deflection of the cavity sidewalls 29 and moves back to seal the valve 17 upon cessation of such fluid movement. Such prevention of back flow will also prevent air from moving into the fluid reservoirs 16 and maintain them easy to compress for subsequent liquid dispensing.
Using such compressible cavities 21, the fluid reservoir 16 can be a compressible sealed package that is inserted within a cavity 21 within each handle 12 with portions thereof which project from side openings 20 in the handle 12. These side openings 20 when present serve two purposes. First, they allow the user to view which type of fluid reservoir 16 is housed in the cavity 21. Second, they provide the user an opening through the sidewall 29 of the cavity 21 to push on the sidewall of the fluid reservoir 16 to prime the system or to expel remaining liquid contents when the reservoir is almost empty.
Replacement of the fluid reservoir 16 with a new fluid reservoir 16 filled with the fluid of choice for deposit to the hair, as shown in the exploded view in
Of course, the handles 12 may simply be formed to be compressible, and the interior cavity 22 within them simply filled with the fluid of choice for disbursement to the hair strands. As noted, such a configuration may be formed with a one-use version of the device 10. However, the use of fluid reservoirs 16 formed with polymeric or flexible sidewalls 33 surrounding the internal cavity of the fluid reservoirs 16, which may be simply inserted into the cavities 21, and easily replaced, allows for easy replenishment and changing of pre-mixed liquids such as hair color, dye, or conditioner or the like.
As noted above, when employed, the fluid reservoirs 16 formed with flexible sidewalls 33, would slide into the cavity 21 with the cap 22 removed, and placed in the sealed connection with the interior conduit 24 leading from the reservoir 16 in a handle 12 to axial passages 26 which terminate at openings 28 at the distal end of hollow elongated members forming teeth 30 on the comb device 10. Each such fluid reservoir 16 may be from a kit 40 of fluid reservoirs 16 holding different fluids for dispensing to the hair of the user such as shown in
As can be seen in
Extending in a substantially radial configuration toward an imaginary center point of the arch 34, from the facing surface 36 of the arch 34, are a plurality of hollow members forming radially disposed teeth 30 of the device 10 for combing hair strands therebetween. As noted, some or all of the teeth 30 extend from a first end engaged to the facing surface 36 defining the arch 34, to fluid dispensing openings 28 located at distal ends of the teeth 30. Axial passages 26, shown in the enlarged portion of
In this fashion, fluid forced from each fluid reservoir 16 travels through the internal conduit 24 and through each of the axial passages 26 to be dispensed evenly from the openings 28 at the distal ends of the teeth 30. This allows the user to comb the teeth 30 through their hair on both the top portion and side portions of their head and concurrently dispense fluid into the hair on the sides and top portion of their head, while holding one or two handles 12 of the device 10 during combing of it through the hair.
In this fashion, fluid such as dye or conditioner or the like is evenly disbursed in the pathways in the hair formed by the moving teeth 30 from which it flows, as the user compresses the fluid reservoirs 16 within the cavities 21 within the handles 12 being used for combing. This concurrent combing and fluid dispensing action within the arched body 14 allows for hair on all sides of the head to receive the fluid of choice evenly and quickly with little or no need for the user to employ massaging fingers or other messy options normally used to evenly dispense fluid to the hair of the scalp.
As noted, there is shown in
Additionally noted above,
Also shown is the fluid reservoir 16 which may be individual or chosen from the kit of differing fluid reservoirs of
In all modes of the device 10, as noted, the fluid reservoirs 16 may be provided individually, or prepositioned within the cavity 21, or in a mode of the device 10 with additional utility they may be provided from a kit of fluid reservoirs 16. Such is shown in
It should be noted that any of the different depicted and described configurations and components of the liquid hair product dispensing device herein, can be employed with any other configuration or component shown and described as part of the device herein. Additionally, while the present invention has been described herein with reference to particular embodiments thereof and/or steps in the method of production or use, a latitude of modifications, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosure, and it will be appreciated that in some instance some features, or configurations, of the invention could be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. All such changes, alternations and modifications as would occur to those skilled in the art are considered to be within the scope of this invention as broadly defined in the appended claims.
Further, the purpose of any abstract of this specification is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. Any such abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting, as to the scope of the invention in any way.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional patent Application Ser. No. 62/788,663 filed on Jan. 4, 2018, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference thereto.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2020/012429 | 1/6/2020 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62788663 | Jan 2019 | US |