US1029861A - Electrical hair and scalp treating instrument. - Google Patents

Description

I H. 0. FOLGBR. ELEGTRIGAL HAIR AND SGALP TREATING INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29, 1910.

Patented June 18, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l'.

t y M COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH :0, WASHINGTON. D. c.

H. 0. FOLGER. ELECTRICAL HAIR AND SGALP TREATING INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29, 1910.

Patented June 18, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Witnesses.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY C. FOLGER, 0F SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO NU-VO IVIFG. 00., A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

ELECTRICAL HAIR AND SOALP TREATING INSTRUMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 18, 1912.

Application filed September 29, 1910. Serial No. 584,482.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY G. FoLeER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Somerville, in the count-y of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Electrical Hair and Scalp Treating Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for treating the hair and scalp, and one object is to provide a simple and convenient device for combing and drying the hair after shampooing or after a person has been in bathing and has gotten the hair wet.

Another object is to provide means for giving the scalp an electrical treatment.

Another object is to provide means whereby the hair may be simply heat treated to dry it while combing or it may be heat treated and the scalp electrically treated simultaneously, the change from one to the other being accomplished instantly at will.

It is a well known fact that the scalp after a shampoo is cold, inert and dormant, and that the pores or pigment cells are open and free from the natural oil, and are then in the best proper condition for electrical treatment. It is also desirable, to produce the most eflicient results, to dry the scalp and hair and at the same time to retain these pig ment cells open and free from the natural oil. To produce these desirable effects the invention contemplates a device wherein the hair and scalp are heated to quickly dry out the natural oil and other moisture from the scalp and to hold these cells or pores open while the electricity is applied to the scalp, thus obtaining the most eflicient result-s in the application of elect-r0-therapeutic devices. Also the application of electricity to the scalp simultaneous with the heat application stirs the glands into immediate activity and effects the thorough drying of the scalp, the drying of the roots of the hair and preventing the contraction of colds usually incident to the slow method of drying the hair. The present method of drying the hair is by a forced draft, by fans, towels, and the like, and is a slow method not considered very healthy. By the simultaneous heating and application of electricity to the scalp, a two-fold desirable result is obtained; namely, first, the hair and scalp are quickly dried by the heating and the stimulating of the pores, and secondly, the electricity is applied to the scalp while the pores are held open by heating, the electrical treatment being thus most efiective.

Still another object is to provide means whereby the user may employ the device in place of the ordinary medical battery by using two handles grasped in the hands or by using one handle in the hand and attaching a wet sponge to the hair combing device and using the sponge on the body.

To these ends, my invention consists in the novel features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a plan of an apparatus embodying my inven tion, the handle being partly broken away. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the apparatus, the handle being also partly broken away in this view. Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the electrical circuits. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 4-t of Fig. 2, looking toward the left. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the resistance used for heating a comb, certain portions of the resistance being partly broken away for the sake of clearly illustrating the construction.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the drawings, 10 is a handle having an enlarged portion 11, to one face of which is secured a heat radiating device 12 which, together with said handle, forms a chamber 13 which may be formed partly in the handle and partly in the heat radiating device. The heat radiating device may be of any suit-able character and is preferably provided with a plurality of teeth l t arranged in one or more series, as may be desired. Preferably, this heat radiating device, which constitutes a comb or the like, is formed of asuitable metal.

Located in the chamber 13 is a suitable resistance designated generally by the numeral 15, this resistance being shown in perspective in Fig. 5 and preferably consisting of a plurality of sheets of suitable insulating and fireproof material such, for example, as mica, having wound thereon a continuous wire 16 forming a resistance coil or coils. This resistance is preferably made up by providing a suitable core 1'? which may be formed of asbestos, this core being embraced by two sheets of mica l8 and 19 whose opposite edges are provided with notches 20, the notches of one sheet registering with those of the other, these notches being for the purpose of receiving the wire 16 and preventing longitudinal displacement thereof. When this section of the resistance is completed, another similar section is formed surrounding the same by placing sheets of mica 21 and 22 upon the inner section and then winding the wire 16 about the second section, and so on, building up as many sec tions as may be desired. In this way, all of the coils of the resistance are insulated from each other by fireproof insulation and yet the construction is such that it occupies a small amount of space and at the same time the heat generated can circulate about between the various layers. The resistance as a whole is fitted snugly into the recess in the radiating device 12 and insulated therefrom by a sheet of mica 23.

Located in that portion of the chamber 13 which is formed in the enlarged portion 11 of the handle 10, I place one or more layers of suitable insulating and heat resisting material such, for example, as asbestos, and, in the present instance, have shown two superposed layers 2% and 25, the ends of the wire 16 being carried through the layer 24 and being secured, respectively, to metallic contact plates 26 and 27. The plate 26 has electrical contact with a conductor 28 passing longitudinally through the handle 10 and preferably provided with a sharpened terminal portion 29. The plate 27 is electrically connected to a contact button 30 with which a switch 31 cooperates, said switch being mounted to swing upon a pivot 32 and electrically connected to a con- 4c.

ductor 33 similar to the conductor 28 and having a similar sharpened terminal portion These terminal portions 29 and 3a of the conductors 28 and 33, respectively, project into a suitable socket 35 into which two line wires 36 and 37 extend, said wires being connected, respectively, to terminals 38 and 39 in said socket, the arrangement being such that the socket may be readily detached from the handle in an obvious manner. The line wires will, in practice, be connected to a suitable source of current such, for example, as an electric hghtmg circuit.

The switch 31 may be moved out of contact with the contact button 30 into contact with a second contact button 10, the latter being connected to a primary'winding 41 of a transformer 42 preferably of the stepdown type, this primary winding being also connected to the contact button 30, all of which clearly appears in Fig. 3. The contact button 30 is also connected to the re sistance 15 to which the conductor 28 is connected, as hereinbefore described.

The transformer 42 has a secondary vice and into the scalp.

winding .13 one end of which is grounded at on the radiating device 12 and the other end of which is connected to a socket d5. In this socket a plug 46 is detachably inserted, thus plug having connected thereto a suitable flexible conductor 47 to which a metallic handle 48 constituting an electrode is attached. It will be understood that the transformer 12 may be of any suitable type, but, in the present embodiment of my invention, 1 have chosen to employ an induction coil such as that shown and described in United States Patent No. 717,203, issued to Otto H. Huebel, December 30, 1902, to which reference may be had for details of construction.

The operation of the device of my invention is as follows: hen the user wishes to simply dry the hair while combing the same, she places the switch 31 on the contact 40, or in the position opposite to that shown in Figs. 1 and 3, with the consequence that the current will pass through only the resistance 15 and will heat the same, thus heating the radiating device 12 with its teeth 14. hen grasping the handle 10 in the hand, the user manipulates the device the same as she would a comb and the teeth 1 1 aflixed to the heated plate will separate the hair and draw it across the heated plate while the hair is thus separated and thus all parts of the hair will be thoroughly dried while being combed. If, however, the user wishes to give the scalp an electrical treatment, she moves the switch into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, so that the current will flow not only through the resistance 15, but through the primary winding 41 of the transformer 42, thus inducing a current of lower potential in the secondary winding 13. The user then grasps the handle 10 with one hand and places the teeth of the comb in contact with the scalp and with the other hand grasps the handle 18, thus making the body a part of the secondary circuit so that the scalp may be given an electrical treatment in an obvious manner.

lVhen the circuit is thus closed through the resistance and the transformer, the radiating device is heated, the same effecting the drying of the hair and holding the pores of the scalp open while the electric current passes through the radiating de- As the moisture tending to clog the pores of the scalp is removed by the application of heat, the electricity is more evenly distributed over the scalp, and is not confined by the moisture to any one point of the scalp. As the current passes through the radiating device into the scalp at the same time that the latter is heated, the scalp is stimulated by the electricity and the drying is accomplished more thoroughly and evenly and ina comparatively short time.

In case that it be desired to use the device as a substitute for an ordinary medical battery, I provide a second handle 49 connected by a flexible conductor 50 to a plug 51 inserted in a socket 52 provided in the radiating device 12 so that the user by grasping the handles 48 and 49 in the hands will receive a shock in this manner. The teeth let of the comb may be conveniently employed to attach a sponge to the handle 10 by sticking the teeth into the sponge and .when the sponge is wet it may be passed over the body in the same manner in which the sponge of an ordinary medical battery is employed. Thus it will be seen that the device is capable of a wide range of use both as a hair drying device and as a substitute for a medical battery, the current for the device being supplied from any electric lighting chandelier or wall plug.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire by Letters Patent to secure is:

l. A hair and scalp treating instrument having, in combination, a resistance, a radiating device located adjacent to said resist ance to be heated thereby, and a transformer having a primary winding in electrical connection with said resistance, and a secondary winding in electrical connection with said radiating device.

2. A hair and scalp treating instrument having, in combination, a resistance, a radiating device located adjacent to said resistance to be heated thereby, a transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding, said secondary winding being in electrical connection with said radiating device, and a switch to connect said primary winding in circuit with said resistance.

3. A hair and scalp treating instrument having, in combination, a resistance, a radiating device located adjacent to said resistance to be heated thereby, a transformer having a primary winding in electrical con nection with said resistance, and a secondary winding in electrical connection with said radiating device, and a conducting handle in electrical connection with said secondary winding.

4:. A hair and scalp treating instrument having, in combination, a handle, a radiating device located on one side of and forming together with said handle a chamber, a transformer mounted on the opposite side of said handle and having a primary winding and a secondary winding, a resistance located in said chamber to heat the radiating device, and means to electrically connect said'primary winding in circuit with said resistance.

5. A hair and scalp-treating instrument comprising a heat-radiating device having electric-conducting teeth for engagement with the hair and scalp, and means for clirecting an electric current through the heatradiating device whereby the current passes to the hair and scalp.

6. A hair and scalp-treating instrument comprising a radiating device, a resistance for heating the radiating device, a transformer having a primary winding in electrical connection with the resistance and having a secondary winding in electrical connection with the radiating device, and a conducting handle in electrical connection with the secondary winding.

7. A hair and scalp-treating instrument comprising a conductor for applying an electric current to the scalp and hair, and heating means for the conductor to open the pores of the scalp during the application of the electricity.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY C. FOLGER.

Witnesses LOUIS A. Jones, CHARLES S. GOODING.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington. D. G.

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