GB2463272A

GB2463272A - An open ended tubular shower cap

Info

Publication number: GB2463272A
Application number: GB0816245A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Nicholas Finan; Lorraine Finan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2008-09-08
Filing date: 2008-09-08
Publication date: 2010-03-10
Anticipated expiration: 2028-09-08
Also published as: GB0816245D0; GB2463272B

Abstract

A shower cap intended for use by those with mid-length and longer hair, hair extensions or styled/ treated hair. The shower cap is a water resistant head garment with a headband that has a tubular form open at each end to enable it to be fitted over the wearer's head and moved down to below the wearer's hair and then furled back up to gather and envelope the hair en masse, thus saving the wearer from having to piecemeal tuck-in the hair, avoiding such inconvenience, discomfort, damage or derangement to the hair or hairstyle. The end 1a that seals around the wearers forehead is elasticated whilst the other end 2a may be sealed by twisting (b) or folding. The tube may also take the form of a cone being substantially wider at open end 2a.

Description

Shower CaD

Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns improvements in and relating to shower caps, generally being headwear to shield the hair / coiffure of the wearer from water while bathing or taking a shower.

Background to the Invention

The classic shower cap, dating to the early 1900's, is a simple sheet or laminate of a waterproof material, such as nylon or polyethylene, that is gathered at it's perimeter by a resilient! elasticised band. The band forms an annular rim portion of the cap encircling and resiliently gripping against the crown of the wearer's head in use. The cap is pulled down onto the wearer's head by locally distending the band, pulling the opening defined by the band wider open to fit over the wearer's head and hair, until the band has largely enveloped the hair and constricts against the skin of the wearer's face and nape and sides of the neck.

For wearers with medium or longer length hair the classic shower cap design is troublesome to fit since much of the hair will protrude below the cap and must generally then be gathered and the band distended at a number of points around the head to enable the locks to be stuffed up under the band.

This is laborious, fiddly and can also entail discomfort and be damaging! distorting to the hair or coiffure.

The classic design has changed little over the passed century as exemplified by US 6,330,721. Improvements to the design over that century to ease fitting of the cap have generally entailed modifying the cap to incorporate some form of break in the annular band that is inelastic but adjustable in length. For example, as proposed in US 2,647,264, the break may take the form of a vertical split in the rear crown portion of the cap and with a sliding clasp fastener! zip that is to be closed tightening the cap to give a watertight seal once the cap has been fitted in place. In other caps ties, drawstrings or straps may be used. Such arrangements provide a solution to fitting that suits some users but which is not suitable for all. They generally provide inadequate adjustment leading to excessive looseness or tightness, or lack adequate volume capacity for users with longer hair or voluminous hairstyles or are tricky for less dexterous users to implement.

It is a general objective of the present invention to provide a new form of shower cap that provides an alternative to the many existing shower cap designs and which may also resolve or mitigate against fitting problems of existing shower cap designs.

Summary of the Invention

According to the present invention there is provided a shower cap comprising a layer or laminate of a flexible material that is substantially waterproof or coated with a water-resistant! waterproof coating and having an elasticated annular portion surrounding a first opening to serve as a headband to grip to the head of a wearer in use, characterised in that the layer or laminate has a tubular form with the first opening at one end and a second opening at the far end, whereby the shower cap may be fitted to the wearer by passing the wearer's head through the first opening, through the tube of the tubular form to emerge through the second opening.

For those with mid-length or longer hair the shower cap of the present invention is significantly easier to use than the prior shower caps. Being an open-ended tube, it may be pulled on to the head down beyond the length of the hair in a single motion so that all of the hair may be swept up together and enveloped in the tube when retracted avoiding the need for stuffing individual locks or bundles of hair under the band into the cap. The layer or laminate may then be folded, twisted or furled to close the second opening.

Suitably the cap may first be pulled down over the head and hair to position the whole of it down around the wearer's neck prior to pulling the far end of the tube up to envelope the hair. In a preferred embodiment the tube broadens out substantially toward the far end and preferably the diameter! width of the second opening is at least one and a half times and suitably at least substantially double the diameter! width of the first opening! annular portion. By having a broader far end! second opening to the tube it more easily reaches out radially beyond the longest! most protruding lengths of hair to gather them together.

Preferably the length of the tubular form is at least one and a half times the diameter! width of the annular portion and more preferably of the order of two to three times, which better accommodates lengthy hair. Furthermore, closing of the second opening of the tube, can be simple to perform and intuitive, making use of the length of the flexible tubular form to fold it back and suitably allowing the second end of the tubular form to be tucked under the band into the cap.

Brief Description of the Drawings

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a first schematic side elevation view of the shower cap, showing the shower cap in an initial stage of donning, as pulled down over the head and draping over the shoulders of the user; Figure 2 is a second schematic side elevation view of the shower cap showing a subsequent stage of donning, with the tube involuted and its far opening end then pulled up over the head, the tube enveloping the hair of the user and then being twisted loosely above the crown of the user's head; and Figure 3 is a third schematic side elevation view of the shower cap showing a final stage, with the twisted distal portion of the tube pulled down and tucked under the band of the shower cap.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Referring firstly to Figure 1, the shower cap is a water-resistant! substantially waterproof head garment in the form of a tube that is open at each end. The cap may be of one or more layers of material but at its simplest it may comprise a single tubular sheet! layer of a substantially waterproof or water- resistant material (or material that is coated to be waterproof or water-resistant).

Preferred materials include polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, rayon, polyester alone or mixed, but may embrace many other plastics and other suitable materials. Indeed, the cap may be designed for environmentally-conscious disposability in which case it is suitably of biodegradable material eg of organic plastics composite that will biodegrade over time and! or specifically of a material and construction to facilitate recycling. Suitably the selected material is readily machine-washable, quick drying and sufficiently heat resistant to allow for tumble drying between uses.

The material of the cap or coating of the cap suitably is adapted to allow for colour printing on the outer side of the cap and is fully washable while retaining it's colour and design. The printing on the cap allows for variation in colour and pattern and creates a range of style choice for the consumer.

A first end 1 of the cap defines a first opening la the rim of which is elasticised, functioning as the headband of the cap to grip to the wearer's head encircling the head just below the hairline from forehead to nape.

The second end 2 of the cap defines a second opening 2a that is not elasticised. The tube becomes broader progressively from the first end to the second end whereby the second opening 2a is substantially greater in width! diameter than the first opening la. In Figure 1 it is shown as being approximately two to three times the width. It is wide enough to drape over the shoulders of the wearer and to loosely embrace the wearer's body of hair in use.

In the first step of donning the cap, the user suitably holds it like a crown over the head pulling the elasticised rim wide and lowering the whole of it down over their head to the level of their neck and shoulders so that their head fully emerges from the tube of the cap. At this point the elasticised rim! first opening la encircles the wearer's neck while the tubular body of the cap extends downwardly, draping over the shoulders as shown in Figure 1. Here the cap vaguely resembles a lightweight rain cape, or poncho, but it is necessarily far shorter than any poncho, has a headband and is not usable as a poncho.

In a subsequent step of donning the cap it is elevated up the user's head, suitably by first raising the front part of the first end 1/elasticised rim! headband up to its operational position on the forehead just below the hairline. The second end 2 of the cap is then lifted so that the user's hair is gathered up en masse in the body of the cap and is enveloped wholly by the cap as the second end 2 is raised above the level of the headband! first end 1 (effectively turning the cap inside out compared to how it was in the Figure 1 position).

As can be further seen in Figure 2, at this stage the second end 2 may now be rotated, loosely twisting the cap at location b just above the crown of the wearer's head, thence the second end 2 may be dropped back down at location d to tuck under the headband. The resultant arrangement of the cap, as shown in Figure 3, is substantially as neat and compact as the classic shower cap design and yet gathers and holds the hair comfortably without damage or major derangement. Importantly, the hair has been completely gathered up and enveloped in a simple free sweeping motion. It is not subjected to being locally roughly handled and forced up under the headband.

The process of donning the cap may sound to be onerous but is in fact simple and quick to perform and is for many less irksome than donning a cap of the conventional type since the steps of donning the cap of the present invention are intuitive and can be done in a relatively fluid manner and by those with poor dexterity. The twisting and tucking of the cap second end 2 is, furthermore, for the most part optional since simply folding the cap second end 2 down at location b will effectively close the second opening 2a to stop ingress of water when showering.

The cap design of the present invention suits anyone but especially those with mid length or long hair and those with hair extensions and special styling, colouring, waxing or straightening treatment or other treatments or damaged hair.

Claims

Claims 1. A shower cap comprising a layer or laminate of a flexible material that is substantially waterproof or coated with a water-resistant! waterproof coating and having an elasticated annular portion surrounding a first opening to serve as a headband to grip to the head of a wearer in use, characterised in that the layer or laminate has a tubular form with the first opening at one end and a second opening at the far end, whereby the shower cap may be fitted to the wearer by passing the wearer's head through the first opening, through the tube of the tubular form to emerge through the second opening.
2. A shower cap as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the cap is adapted to be pulled down over the head and hair to position the whole of it down around the wearer's neck prior to pulling the far end of the tube up to envelope the hair.
3. A shower cap as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the tube broadens out substantially toward the far end.
4. A shower cap as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the tube broadens out such that the diameter! width of the second opening is at least double the diameter! width of the first opening! annular portion.
5. A shower cap as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the length of the tubular form is at least one and a half times the diameter! width of the annular portion.
6. A shower cap as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the length of the tubular form is up to of the order of three times the diameter! width of the annular portion.
7. A shower cap as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the second opening of the tube is closed in use by the flexible tubular form being twisted and! or folded.
8. A shower cap as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the cap is of a material that is biodegradable.
9. A shower cap substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.Amendments to the Claims have been filed as follows Claims 1. A shower cap comprising a layer or laminate of a flexible material that is substantially waterproof or coated with a water-resistant! waterproof coating and having an elasticated annular portion surrounding a first opening to serve as a headband to grip to the head of a wearer in use, characterised in that the layer or laminate has a tubular form with the first opening at one end and a second opening at the far end, whereby the shower cap may be fitted to the wearer by passing the wearer's head through the first opening, through the tube of the tubular form to emerge through the second opening, and the second opening is not provided with drawstrings to close it but is instead to be closed simply by folding, twisting or furling the tube to hang down and optionally tucking the far end of the tube under the headband.2. A shower cap as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the tube broadens out substantially toward the far end.3. A shower cap as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the tube broadens out such that the diameter! width of the second opening is at least double the diameter/ width of the first opening! annular portion.4. A shower cap as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the length of the tubular form is at least one and a half times the diameter! width of the annular portion.5. A shower cap as claimed in Claim 4, wherein the length of the tubular form is up to of the order of three times the diameter! width of the annular portion.6. A shower cap as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the second opening of the tube is closed in use by the flexible tubular form being twisted and! or folded. *..* * I I7. A shower cap as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the cap is of a material that is biodegradable.8. A shower cap substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.9. A shower cap in use on the head of a wearer under a shower, the : shower cap serving to keep the wearer's hair dry, the cap comprising a ** 35 layer or laminate of a flexible material that is substantially waterproof or coated with a water-resistant! waterproof coating and having an elasticated annular portion surrounding a first opening that serves as a headband gripping the head of the wearer, characterised in that the layer or laminate has a tubular form with the first opening at one end and a second opening at the far end, whereby the shower cap is fitted to the wearer by having passed the wearer's head through the first opening, through the tube of the tubular form to emerge through the second opening and folding, twisting or furling the tube to hang down and optionally tucking the far end of the tube under the headband.
10. A method of shielding the hair of a person from water while under a shower, the method comprising: providing a shower cap, the cap comprising a layer or laminate of a flexible material that is substantially waterproof or coated with a water-resistant! waterproof coating and having an elasticated annular portion surrounding a first opening that serves as a headband to grip the head of the wearer, characterised in that the layer or laminate has a tubular form with the first opening at one end and a second opening at the far end; and fitting the shower cap to the wearer by passing the wearer's head through the first opening, through the tube of the tubular form to emerge through the second opening and folding, twisting or furling the tube to hang down and optionally tucking the far end of the tube under the headband. * * * * * **** * * **** * * **** * **..S * * **** * I * I. * I* S * S * S S*