GB2129294A - Hair roller clip - Google Patents

Abstract

A clip for mounting on a hair roller includes an imperforate, open- ended split cylindrical sleeve with a longitudinal opening and a circumferential flange at each end. The flanges bear against the roller to form a moisture barrier seal and to provide a gap to accommodate the tress of hair wound about the roller. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Hair roller clip 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to hair treatment devices and more particularly to hair rollers and a clip positionable around the roller for retaining hair moisture therewithin.

2. Description of the Prior Art It is known in the art to employ a clip or casing as part of a hair treatment device to help isolate a tress of hair wound onto a tapered curling member or roller. This is typically done for the purpose of preventing the intrusion of hair treatment material onto the tress of hair within the clip.

In U.S. Patent No. 3,943,946 to Gallegos, the hair is wound up together with a sheet of fluidimpermeable material onto a roller having a concave body with projections for gripping the hair. The concave body of this roller tapers gradually inward from the constant diameter end portions to the lesser diameter of the central section. With proper use, this contour produces a wound hair section having a generally cylindrical outer surface with a diameter approximating that of the curler ends. A clip is press-fitted over the wound hair. This clip appears to rest on the end portions of the roller so as to effect a seal.Under this structural arrangement, the diameter of the concave body with the tress of hair wound upon it should not at any point along the length exceed that of the end portion; otherwise, the sleeve would not properly bear on the roller at or near the ends to seal and prevent moisture intrusion.

In U.S. Patent No. 4,249,549 to Cusenza an apparatus is provided for protecting previously treated hair from retreatment. In this apparatus, the tapered curling rod, upon which the hair is wound, is fully enclosed within a slotted split cylindrical casing sealed by a cap at each of its ends.

Tubular sleeves have also been used for purposes such as a protective cushioning device, e.g. U.S. Patent 3,572,350 to Adams et al.

The prior art does not disclose a clip having the versatility of forming a moisture seal with generally available rollers, including those with or without tapered body portions, end cap assemblies, projections or flocking.

Summary of the Invention It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a clip which achieves a moisture seal with generally available rollers.

The present invention achieves this objective by providing an imperforate, open-ended hollow cylindrical sleeve having a longitudinal slot. The slot permits a tress of hair wound on the roller to extend therethrough. The sleeve includes a circumferential flange extending inwardly from its inner surface at each of its opposing ends. The sleeve is capable of being positioned around the roller so that the inward most surface of the flange bears against a portion of the roller for forming a moisture barrier seal. The length of the clip may be predetermined so that upon use with a suitable roller the outer side surface of the flange laterally abuts a portion of the end cap assembly for preventing longitudinal movement of the sleeve along the roller.The flange maintains the inner surface of the sleeve at a distance from the roller so as to define a gap for accommodating the tress of hair wound around the roller.

The sleeve is preferably composed of a resilient heat-resistant plastic. Two tabs project outwardly from the outer surface so that manual pinching of the tabs towards each other expands the sleeve thereby permitting the positioning of the expanded sleeve about the roller. Subsequent release of the tabs produces a snap fitting of the sleeve about the roller due to its resilience and complementary shape of the circumferential flange. The sleeve preferably extends in excess of 300 degrees around the roller.

The clip is versatile since the inwardmost surface of the flange can be provided with a contour that cooperates with or complements the outer surface of the roller to form a moisture seal, while providing the necessary hairaccommodating gap.

Included within the suitable group of rollers are two of the more popular and commonly available types of hair rollers.

The first type is a roller having a uniform cylindrical body portion with protrusions for gripping or retaining a hair tress wound therearound. The end caps of this roller are typically of greater diameter than, and stepped up from, the body portion.

When the clip is snap-fitted around the roller, the complementing contours of the circumferential flange and roller body permit moisture sealing of the tress of hair within the gap; the gap being defined by the outer surface of the roller and inner surface of the clip. The length of the sleeve may be predetermined so that the lateral outward sides of the sleeve abut the inner sides of each of the end caps. In this manner longitudinal movement of the sleeve along the roller is prevented.

The second type of roller is the flocked roller.

Some of these rollers, as shown in U.S. Patent No. 4,202,360 commonly assigned herewith, have a stepped-down inner portion or shoulder between the end cap and the roller body. The dimensions of the sleeve may be predetermined so that a circumferential flange bears against each of the inner shoulders and abuts the inner side of each end cap. In an alternative arrangement, each circumferential flange bears against the roller and abuts an inner shoulder. Abutting either the inner shoulder or end caps prevents longitudinal movement of the sleeve along the roller.

The present invention also contemplates the roller having the clip secured thereto so as to be pivotable into a position permitting the manual expansion and snap-fitting onto a roller having a tress of hair wound thereabout.

Brief Description of the Drawings These features and object as well as others will become apparent to those skilled in the art by referring to the description which follows, and to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 shows a front perspective view of a clip in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevational view, partly in section, of a roller having the clip of Fig. 1 mounted thereon; Fig. 3 is a rear perspective view of the clip in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a front elevational view, partly in section, of a clip in accordance with the present invention mounted on a flocked roller with multistepped end portions; and Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view along line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment Referring now to the Figs. 1-5 wherein the clip, generally designated by the numeral 10, includes an imperforate, open-ended, hollow, split cylindrical sleeve 12 having an inner surface 14, an outer surface 1 6 and a longitudinal slot 1 8. In addition, a circumferential flange 20 projects inwardly towards the central longitudinal axis of the sleeve 1 2 from each of the end portions. The sleeve 1 2 is preferably made from a heat resistant, flexible and resilient plastic; however, other materials such as metals are also appropriate. The clip 10 is to be mounted around a hair roller. Two conventional types of rollers are shown and designated by the numerals 24 (Fig. 2) and 26 (Fig. 4).

Each of the circumferential flanges 20 has a bearing surface or edge 28 which complements the portions of the outer surface 29, 31 of the rollers 24, 26 respectively, onto which the clip 10 is mounted. As depicted in Fig. 2, the complementary surface 28 of the flanges 20 and the roller 29 are cylindrical; however, other complementary surface contours are possible. The clip 10 is mounted on the roller so that a moisture barrier seal is formed between the complementary surfaces 28 and 29 where the flanges 20 frictionally bear against the roller 24.

A tress of hair is wound on a roller 24, 26 and impregnated with the desired hair-treatment materials. The clip 10 is then mounted on the roller 24, 26 so that the hair is retained on the roller 24, 26 and the hair moisture is retained within the clip 10 so as to retard drying and achieve the desired hair-styiing effect. The preferred manner of mounting the clip 10 is with the use of two tabs 32 (Figs. 3 and 5) projecting outwardly from the outer surface 1 6 of the sleeve 12.By application of a manual compressive force to the tabs 32 in the manner indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3, as occurs during pinching, the longitudinal slot 1 8 is widened and the clip 10 is expanded permitting positioning about the roller 24, 26. After proper positioning, release of the compressive force permits the resilient sleeve 12 to snap-fit about the roller 10 with each of the circumferential flanges 20 bearing against the complementary outer surface 29, 31 of the roller 24, 26, respectively.

Each of the flanges 20 has a cut-away portion or groove 34 to facilitate flexing of the sleeve 12 along a crease indicated by dotted line 36 (Fig. 3) extending between the cut-away portions 34 and between the two tabs 32. Alternative means of obtaining the desired expansion include using a resilient hinge between a two-part sleeve or having a sleeve which is openable and positionable about the sleeve and lockable across the extremities of the longitudinal slot (not shown). Also, use of a suitable plastic permits the desired expansion without the use of grooves.

When mounted on the roller, the circumferential flanges 20 off-set the inner surface 14 of the sleeve from the outer surface 30 of the roller 24, 26 so as to define a gap 38 therebetween. This gap has adequate dimensions to accommodate the hair tress wound around the roller 24, 26 while the longitudinal slot 1 8 permits the portion of the tress nearest to the scalp to extend therethrough.

In Fig. 2 the clip is shown mounted on a roller 24 which includes a body portion having protrusions 42 for gripping the hair and an end cap assembly 44 secured to each end. The end cap assemblies 44 each include a stepped-up portion 46 of greater diameter than the body portion 40 of the roller 24. The bearing surface 28 of each circumferential flange 20 forms a moisture seal with the contacting portion 29 of the roller body 40. In addition, the sleeve 12 is longitudinally dimensioned so that the outer lateral surfaces 48 of the sleeve 12 abut the inner lateral surface 49 of the stepped-up portion 46. In this manner the sleeve 12 is locked against longitudinal movement along the roller 24.

In Figs. 4 and 5, the clip 10 is shown mounted on a roller 26 having a flocked body 52. An end cap assembly 44 which is secured to each end of the roller 26 has an inner shoulder portion 46 stepped down from the end cap 54. The shoulder portion 46 has a greater diameter than the flocked body 52. The clip 10 is mounted on the roller 26 so that the circumferential flanges 20 bear against the outer surface 31 of the inner shoulder portion 46 to form the moisture seal. The length of the clip 10 may be predetermined so as to abut the side wall 58 of the end cap 54 thereby locking the sleeve 12 against longitudinal movement along the roller 26. Alternatively, the circumferential flange 20 bears against the flocked body 52 to form the moisture seal and abuts the side wall 60 of the inner shoulder portion 46 to exert longitudinal movement. The dimensions of the hair-accommodating gap 38 are determined by the distance the circumferential flanges 20 project the inner surface 14 of the sleeve 12 from the outer surface 1 6 of the roller 26.

Various other forms and modifications of the device specifically described herein by way of illustration will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and it is intended that the invention be not limited to these specific examples, but by the scope of the claims.

Claims (12)

1. A clip for mounting on a hair roller comprising: an imperforate open-ended hollow split cylindrical sleeve having a longitudinal opening for permitting a tress of hair to extend therethrough, said sleeve including a circumferential flange extending inwardly from the inner surface of each end, said flange being positionable against the roller intermediate its length for forming a moisture barrier seal and for defining a gap therebetween, said gap accommodating the hair tress wound about the roller.

2. The clip as claimed in claim 1 wherein said longitudinal opening is a slot extending the entire length of said sleeve, said sleeve being resilient and manually expandable for positioning said sleeve in an expanded state about the roller and releasable for mounting on the roller.

3. The clip as claimed in claim 2, wherein said sleeve has an outer surface with a plurality of tabs extending therefrom, at least two of said tabs opposing each other and being manually compressible towards each other for expanding said sleeve, said sleeve mounting about said roller upon proper positioning of said expanded roller and release of said compressive force.

4. The clip as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the roller has an end cap assembly at each of its ends and said sleeve has a predetermined length for laterally abutting each of said assemblies and for preventing longitudinal movement along the roller.

5. The clip as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein said sleeve extends cylindrically in excess of 300 degrees.

6. In combination: a hair roller having a main body portion; and an imperforate open-ended cylindrical split sleeve attached to said roller, said sleeve having a longitudinal opening for permitting a tress of hair to extend therethrough, said sleeve including a circumferential flange extending inwardly from the inner surface of each end and positionable against said body portion for forming a moisture barrier seal and for defining a gap therebetween, said gap accommodating the hair tress wound about said roller.

7. The combination of claim 6 wherein said sleeve is pivotable about said roller.

8. The combination of claim 6 or 7 wherein said body has projections for gripping the hair.

9. The combination of claim 6, 7 or 8 wherein said body is flocked.

10. The combination of claim 6, 7, 8 or 9 wherein said hair roller has an end cap assembly at each end and each of said flanges laterally abuts a portion of an assembly to prevent longitudinal movement of said sleeve along said roller.

11. A clip as claimed in claim 1, substantially as described with reference to any Figure or Figures of the accompanying drawing.

12. A combination as claimed in claim 6, substantially as described with reference to any Figure or Figures of the accompanying drawing.