Patent Application
20160213082
This invention relates to wig clips, and particularly to improvements in wig clips used to secure a wig base to a wearer's natural hair.
A typical toggle-action wig clip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,631,804, granted on Jan. 21, 2014, and the disclosure of that patent is incorporated by reference. The wig clip is composed of a U-shaped frame member having legs extending from opposite ends of an intermediate portion, a set of comb teeth disposed between the legs and extending from the intermediate portion, and a connecting portion connected by rivets from one leg to the other, and overlapped by the comb teeth.
The frame is made from metal, a synthetic resin, or another material having spring properties, and the distance between the rivet holes in the legs of the U-shaped frame member is different from the distance between the rivet holes in the connecting portion when the frame member and connecting portion are apart from each other and in a relaxed condition. Consequently, when the connecting portion is riveted to the frame, the wig clip tends to bend out of a planar configuration, and can be manually shifted from one stable condition to another by a toggle action. In a first stable condition, the comb teeth are spaced by a short distance from the connecting portion, and in a second stable condition, the comb teeth are in contact with the connecting portion.
Usually, several of these wig clips are attached to a wig base, that is, a flexible net-like structure to which wig hair is attached by a weaving process. The wig clips can be sewn to the wig base by passing yarns through holes formed in the U-shaped frame. Alternatively, the wig clips can be secured to the net material of the wig base by the use of barbs formed on the frame or on extensions of the frame structure.
The wig clips are used to attach the wig base to a wearer's natural hair. When the wig clip is in its first stable condition, i.e., with the comb teeth spaced from the connecting portion, the comb teeth can be engaged with a lock of the wearer's natural hair close to the scalp. Then by manual bending, the wig clip can be toggled to its second stable condition, and the wearer's natural hair is trapped between the comb teeth and the connecting portion so that the wig base is secured in place.
The connecting portion can include a compressible covering that yields when contacted by the comb teeth when the wig clip is in its second stable condition to enhance the connection of the wig clip to the natural hair. The comb teeth are also usually formed with bulbous ends to avoid discomfort to the wearer that would otherwise be caused by sharp comb teeth.
Other wig clips, such as the wig clip described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,689,807, granted on Apr. 8, 2014, utilize a spring-urged, pivoted comb to secure the wearer's natural hair to a frame. The comb teeth are formed with an array of projections to ensure that the wig clip is securely attached to the wearer's natural hair.
In some of the embodiments of the wig clip in U.S. Pat. No. 8,631,804, converging comb teeth assist in binding the clip to the wearer's natural hair.
Despite the use of compressible coverings on the connecting portions, many currently available wig clips of the toggle type still fail to secure the wig base to the wearer's natural hair reliably. More secure attachment has been achieved by various other measures. However, these other measures often make the structure of the wig clip overly complex, and make manufacture of the wig clips difficult.
The wig clip in accordance with the invention comprises a frame and a set of comb teeth. The frame is composed of first and second elongated parts, each extending in a longitudinal direction in parallel relation to the other, a first connecting part connecting a first end of the first elongated part to a first end of the second elongated part, and a second connecting part connecting a second end of the first elongated part to a second end of the second elongated part, thereby forming a generally rectangular frame.
The comb teeth are disposed between the connecting parts, and each of the comb teeth comprises a shank connected to the first elongated part of the frame and a bulb-shaped end remote from the first elongated part. The comb teeth extend from the first elongated part past the second elongated part, and the bulb-shaped end of each comb tooth is farther than the second elongated part from the first elongated part.
An elastomeric comb tooth sleeve surrounds the shank of each of said comb teeth and has an internal passage closely fitting the comb tooth shank which it surrounds. The comb teeth are movable relative to the second elongated part, so that the elastomeric comb tooth sleeves can be moved into and out of contact with the second elongated part.
In a preferred embodiment, the first elongated part comprises a material imparting spring properties to the first elongated part. In this preferred embodiment, the other one of the elongated parts is under longitudinal stress, i.e., either in compression or in tension by virtue of its connection to the other elongated part through the connecting parts. Consequently, by manually bending the elongated parts, the frame can be converted by a toggle action from a first stable condition in which the elastomeric comb tooth sleeves are in contact with the second elongated part, to a second stable condition in which the elastomeric comb tooth sleeves are out of contact with the second elongated part, and from the second stable condition to the first stable condition. In an alternative embodiment, the second elongated part can comprise a material imparting spring properties, and the first elongated part can be under longitudinal stress.
The second elongated part can include an elongated strip and an elastomeric strip sleeve surrounding the elongated strip. In this embodiment, the comb tooth sleeves are positioned to contact the elastomeric strip sleeve when the frame is in its first stable condition.
Preferably, the elastomeric comb tooth sleeve has a relaxed inner diameter smaller than the diameter of the bulb-shaped end of the comb tooth to which the sleeve is fitted. The elastomeric comb tooth sleeves can have a constant inner diameter along their lengths when relaxed, and the bulb-shaped ends of the comb teeth should have a uniform diameter larger than the inner diameter of the elastomeric comb tooth sleeves.
As shown in
The second elongated part 14 includes an internal strip 20, which is composed of a metal or synthetic resin, and a tubular cover 22, preferably of natural or synthetic rubber.
As seen in
The rivets, 25, 27 and 34, are hollow, having through holes that, together with additional holes 36, 38, and 40, allow for the passage of yarns used to secure the wig clip to a wig base.
Comb teeth 42, which are unitary with the first elongated part 12, are disposed between said connecting parts 16 and 18, and extend from the first elongated part 12 past the second elongated part 14. Each of the comb teeth comprising a shank, e.g. shank 44, connected to the first elongated part 12 of the frame, and a bulb-shaped end, e.g. end 46, remote from the first elongated part 12. The bulbous ends are farther than the second elongated part 14 from the first elongated part 12. These teeth are preferably in parallel relation to one another and spaced uniformly. The comb teeth are preferably formed with a slight bend, so that first portions of the teeth, that are in proximity to the second elongated part 14, are parallel to an imaginary surface in which parts 12 and 14 lie, while second portions of the teeth, that connect the first portions to the first elongated part 12 are oblique in relation to that imaginary surface.
The shank of each of the comb teeth is surrounded by an elastomeric comb tooth sleeve, e.g., sleeve 48, having an internal passage closely fitting the comb tooth shank. The transverse cross-sectional area of each part of the passage in each of these sleeves, when relaxed, is slightly smaller than the transverse cross-sectional area of the part of the shank that it fits within that part of the passage. As a result, the sleeves fit tightly on the comb teeth. Preferably, the transverse cross section of each sleeve passage is constant along the length of the sleeve, and, preferably, the transverse cross-section of each of the comb tooth shanks is similarly constant along its length.
In the assembly of the wig clip, the sleeves, as illustrated by sleeve 50 in
In the embodiment described above, the elongated first part 12 has a spring property that causes elements 24 and 30, which are unitary with first part 12, to move apart from each other if pulled toward each other, and to move toward each other if pulled apart from each other. The term “spring property,” as used herein, refers to a tendency of a material to return to a predetermined shape after a force tending to distort the shape of the material is released. The length of the second elongated part 14 is such that, when the two frame components are secured together by the rivets 26, 28 and 34, it pulls elements 24 and 30 toward each other, causing the elongated first part 12 to bend. Thus, if the faces of part 12 are flat when part 12 is not connected to part 14 by rivets, the pulling action exerted by part 14 on elements 24 and 18, causes part 12 to bend out of its flat condition.
The bending can take place in a first direction, as shown in
The user can cause the wig clip to shift from the stable condition illustrated in
Although in the embodiment described, the strip 20 of the wig clip frame is under tension, it is possible to achieve a similar effect, i.e., two stable conditions, in other ways. For example, the elongated parts 12 and 14 can be connected in such a way that part 12 is under tension. Although two stable conditions are advantageous, it is also possible to take advantage of the frictional sleeves on the comb teeth in embodiments of a wig clip in which the comb teeth are spring-urged toward a frame member by a mechanism such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,689,807.
