US1957047A - Permanent waving method - Google Patents

Description

May 1, 1934, D. LAKENBACH 1,957,047

PERMANENT WAVI NG METHOD Filed Jan. 4, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l ATTORNEY y 1934- D. LAKENBACH 1,957,047

PERMANENT WAVING METHOD Filed Jan. 4, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 1, i934 gi'ATES PATENT GFFECE PEBIHANENT HAVING li/IETHGD York Application January 4, 1933, Serial No. 650,084-

7 Claims.

in which method the hair is divided into tresses or strands, each of such strands being secured adjacent to the scalp within a clamping device, said strand being then wound from its end adjacent to the scalp toward its free end, upon a rod, partly in 16 the form of a helicoidal curl and partly in the form of a concentric curl as hereinafter more particularly defined.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a method of permanent waving which combines all or the desi able features and advantageous results of the two methods of permanent waving now known to the art without the disadvantages of either of such methods. One of such methods known to the prior art is desighated as the Croquignole method, and the other of such methods is known as the spiral method, of permanent waving. These two known methods will be described hereinafter in detail with particular reference to the advantages and disadvantages of each and the manner in which the present invention retains the former and eliminates the latter.

Other objects or the invention are to provide a method of permanently waving human hair which is designed to effect the particular type of waving of the hair at certain portions thereof by the method required by the characteristics of the hair, and providing by another method for waving other portions of the hair the characteristics of which portions require such second method. Still further objects of the invention will be obvious to those skflled in the art from the following detailed descriptions or" the method and apparatus.

In order to make clear the distinction between the method of the present invention and the methods of the prior art, it may be here stated that no method of the prior art has combined the curling of the hair and the waving thereof, as hereinafter more fully defined, in a succession of steps performed as part of a unitary operation, upon a single tress of hair. In other words, no method as yet devised has been capable of imparting curls and waves to a single strand of hair by winding the hair on one spindle so as to impart a curl to that portion of the tress which, by reason of the characteristics of the hair, requires the imparting of a curl thereto, and imparting a wave in the same continuous operation to that portion of the tress of hair which requires a so-called wave.

In the method of the prior art, more particularly designated as the Croquignole method of permanent Waving, a so-called curl has been imparted to the tress of hair by winding the strand, from its free end toward the end adjacent to the scalp, upon a rod, whereupon such strand is treated with a solution, while enclosed in a substantially moisture tight envelope, the envelope being covered with a sectional heater by which heat is applied to the strand. In this conventional method, the hair is wound on the spindle or curling rod in a continuous series of concentric overlapping circles so that the hair, after it has been given its heat treatment, has imparted thereto a circular or substantially concentric configuration which, for the lack of a more precise descriptive term, is defined as a curl.

In the second well known method of permanent waving, the tress of hair to be waved is wound upon a tapered rod, the smaller diameter end of which is placed near the scalp, the tress of hair being wound from its end adjacent to the scalp toward its free end upon such tapered rod in the form of a spiral so that the hair after heat treatment has imparted thereto a helicoidal configuration described in the art as a spiral wave.

The disadvantages of the first mentioned, or Croquignole method of waving hair, whereby a curl is obtained after heat treatment of the hair, arise from the fact that with such method certain portions of the tress of hair, i. e., the portion directly adjacent to the scalp, as well as that near the free end of the same tress, is treated so as to produce a curl. As it is a well known fact that newly grown hair, growing at the rate of approximately one-half inch per month, is more resistant to waving than old hair, since the scales of newly formed hair have not yet been worn, with the Croquignole method the hair near the free end of the tress is properly waved, i. e., given a curl, but the hair near the scalp, which is more resistant to waving, is also given a curl. This method, therefore, is not satisfactory. In the Croquignole method, the hair near the end of the tress is wound upon the curling rod in concentric circles of small diameter While the hair near the scalp, by the time the curling rod reaches such inner end of the tress, is wound upon the rod in concentric circles of large diameter. This condition is just the opposite of that desirable, as the concentric circles of small diameter should be imparted to the portion of the tress adjacent to the scalp, since the hair in such portion of the tress is more resistant to waving, and the hair at the free end of the tress should be wound on the rod in concentric circles of large diameter, as the desired curl is more easily imparted to the less resistant hair near the free end of such tress.

The disadvantages of the conventional spiral method of permanent waving arise from the fact that by using a tapered rod, in the manner characteristic of such method, the hair of the tress near the scalp is wound in concentric circles of small diameter, thereby obtaining a very good wave near the scalp, but the portions of the hair near the free end of the tress are not so perfect as if a Croquignole wave were given to that portion of the hair. While these disadvantages have been heretofore recognized by those skilled in the art, no solution to the problem has as yet been devised, by reason of the fact that by using the tapered rod as required by the spiral method no suitable combination of the two methods could be obtained, as no means for anchoring the hair on the rod at various points along the tapered rod have been found. In order to appreciate this difficulty, the fact should be borne in mind that in carrying out the spiral method the hair is anchored at the small diameter end of the rod by means of a piece of string, the string being wound about the hair after such hair has been wound about the rod. Moreover, in order to secure the free end of the tress upon the rod after the hair has been wound upon such rod it has been necessary to use a second piece of string to secure that end of the tress to the rod.

As the necessity of imparting a curl to that portion of the hair which requires a curl, and of imparting a wave to that portion of the hair which requires a wave, has been recognized, it is not uncommon to use both of the two methods hereinabove referred to in imparting permanent waves to a single head of hair. Such practice, however, requires both the equipment for carrying out the Croquignole method and that for carrying out the spiral method, with attendant duplication of expense, labor, materials and the necessity of subjecting the person to whose hair the perma nent wave is to be imparted to the prolonged discomfort of submitting to two disassocia-ted operations for carrying out the two methods performed independently with the two sets of apparatus.

The novel method of the present invention is designed to combine the advantages of each of the two known methods of permanent waving above described, and to eliminate the disadvantages of each of said methods. The present method may be described as a combination of the Croquignole and spiral methods, producing a permanent wave comprising both a Curl and a wave. Thus, by my novel method, such portion of the hair as requires a wave is given a wave, and that portion of the hair which requires a curl is given a curl, the characteristics of the hair being taken into consideration in determining which of the two types is to be imparted to the hair, or to any given portion thereof. My novel method results, therefore, in an extremely attractive appearance of the waved hair when treated according to the combined method, and

. yet is capable of imparting an all-wave permanent or an all-curl permanent if the characteristics of the hair should so require.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, I have shown a particular embodiment of my invention by way of illustration rather than by way of limitation. In such drawings,

Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of my novel appliance by means of which my novel method is preferably carried out;

Fig. 2 is a side view of such appliance;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1, showing one of the clamping members in its open position in dotted lines and the lever and cam mechanism for bringing the clamping members to their closed position, also in dotted lines;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a view in rear elevation, partly in section, of the appliance;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the pad constituting the moisture retaining envelope to be applied to the device;

Fig. 7 is a view in elevation of the appliance, showing the strand of hair to be waved, secured within the clamping device at the beginning of the operation of winding the hair on the rod;

Fig. 8 is a similar view and shows the device in the course of its use at the stage when the second spiral winding of the hair upon the rod has been completed;

Fig. 9 shows the device and strand of hair when the third spiral winding of the hair on the rod has been completed;

Fig. 10 shows the device with the winding of the hair on the rod completed;

Fig. 11 shows the manner in which the pad is wound over the hair after the latter has been wound upon the rod;

Fig. 12 shows the device in the condition in which the winding guide is tilted so as to make possible the removal of the hair from the rod after the heat treatment thereof has been completed;

Fig. 13 shows the general configuration of the strand of hair removed from the device after the permanent wave has been imparted thereto by means of my novel method and apparatus; and

Fig. 14 shows a modified form of guide-plate provided with a combing member, and also shows the electrical heating unit applied to the device.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, in which similar reference characters identify similar parts in the several views, 15 designates one of the clamping elements of my clamping device, and 15 the other of said clamping elements, the latter being pivotally connected to the member 15 at 17 by a link 18, the elements being held together in closed position by a lever or bail 19 pivoted to the member 15 at 20, this bail being of a length sufiicient to straddle the end of the member 16 when the clamping device is closed. The end of each clamping member is slotted, as at 21, to receive the bail, and an eccentrically mounted cam 22 pivotally connected to the bail 19 at 23, said cam having a handle 24 so that, after the members 15 and 16 have been brought together, the handle 24 may be swung around to substantially the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3 so as to cause the clamping device to firmly grip the strands of hair making up the tress which is secured between such clamping members.

Each of the clamping members 15 and 16 is preferably provided with a pad of felt 25 on the surfaces thereof facing the scalp. One of the clamping members 15 in the particular embodlment illustrated) is provided with a wedgeshaped clamping surface 26 adapted to co-operate, when the clamping members are brought together, with a grooved surface 27 of the other clamping member (16 in the embodiment illustrated). The body of the clamping device is made of a material which is highly heat resistant, for instance, of hard rubber or a condensation product such as a phenolic resin. One of the clamping members is provided with a recess 28 in the surface thereof adapted to cooperate with the meeting edge of the other clamping member, while said other clamping member is provided with a projecting body of a resilient material, for instance, rubber 29 of an outer configuration corresponding to that of the recess 28.

In applying the portion of the tress of hair to be waved to the clamping device, the portion thereof immediately adjacent to the scalp is inserted into the recess 28 in the side of the clamp ing member 16, the other clamping member being then brought into position so that the tress of hair is clamped between the members and held securely in position by the body 29 of the resilient material entering the recess 28. When the link 19 has been brought to the position where its cam 22 straddles the end of the clamping member 16' and the handle 24 is swung to the position where lit effects a tight closure of the two members of the clamping device, the latter will firmly grip the strand of hair by means of the wedged surface 26 of one of the members engaging the cooperating groove 2'7 in the other clamping j member.

Each of the clamping members 15 and 16 have secured thereto, as by means of rivets 30, a strip of metal 31 having its free end in proximity to the meeting edges of the clamping members 15 and 16. Secured within one of the clamping members (member 15 in the embodiment illustrated) a metallic spring 32 is provided, the free end of which is in close proximity to the free ends of plates 31 so that by depressing the free end of the spring 32 a curling rod or spindle 33 may be secured at right angles to the clamping device and held in such clamping device by the entrance of the free ends of the plates 31 into slots 34 provided in the head portion 35 of the spindle.

This curling rod or winding spindle of my novel apparatus comprises a rod, the central portion 36 of which is of reduced diameter, one end of said rod being provided with the head 35 so constructed as to be rotatable in only one direction as will be described more in detail hereinafter, and having the slots 34 therein by means of which such head and therefore the spindle may be secured upon the clamping device. The other end of said spindle is provided with a reduced diameter head 3'7 having a peripheral groove 38 into which the end of a set screw 39 is adapted to fit so as to secure upon said spindle the guide carrying block 40 from which extends a finger grip 41. The block 40 has running therethrough a bore 42 (see Fig. 4) into which fits the head 37 of the spindle. To the block 40 is secured by screws 43 a plate 44 having a projection 45 which projection acts as a pivoting point for the heel portion 46 of a winding guide element 4'7 to be hereinafter more fully described, a reinforcing plate 48 being applied to the heel portion 45 against which a spring 49, housed within a recess of the block 40. is adapted to press.

The winding guide element 47 comprises an arcuate strip of metal having a plurality of apertures 50 in its surface and being of the general configuration shown in Figs. 1 and 5, the end of such winding guide element being curved as at 51 and bent outwardly from the surface of the guide element. This curved and bent extremity of the winding guide element will be hereinafter referred to as the nose and has a very important function in guiding the hair being wound upon the spindle to its proper position thereon.

The moisture-supplying and retaining envelope illustrated in Fig. 6 comprises a strip of flannel 52 having a substantially rectangular portion 53, and a portion 58 tapering in width, integral with said rectangular portion, and tabs 54, 55 extending from such tapering portion. At the end of the flannel strip opposite the tab-end is attached, for instance by stitching 56, a strip 57 of water-proof and soft pliable metal material, for instance aluminum foil, having a width somewhat greater than the greatest width of the flannel strip 52.

The carrying out of my novel method involves the winding of the strand of hair to be waved upon the spindle 36, which winding is illustrated in Figs. '7 to 11 inclusive. For the pm'poses of clarity, the entire series of operations will now be described with particular reference to such figures.

Before the strand of hair 60 has been secured within the clamping device, as hereinabove described in detail, the flannel strip 52 is secured about the portion of the tress adjacent to the scalp by turning the tabs 54, 55 about the strand so that the ends of such tabs will overlap each other, and the strand, with the tabs lapped thereover, is placed within the recess 28 of the clamping member 16 and the clamping members are brought together so as to secure between them such strand of hair. The cam 22 is then swung around by its lever 19 and brought to its position to straddle the end of the clamping member 16 and the handle 24 is brought to its position alongside the upper edge of the clamping member 16 as illustrated in Fig. 3, the exposed portion of the flannel strip 52 being turned to one side of the clamping device. The spindle 36 is then grasped and its head 33 pressed against the free end of the spring 32 and the head 33 slipped into position within the clamping members by having the free ends of the plates 31 engage the slots 34 of such head. The spindle 3'7 will thus be mounted upon the clamping device, so as to extend at right angles thereto. The operator, grasping the clamping device in one hand may then manipulate the tress of hair with the other hand, giving it a winding motion in a counterclockwise direction so as to bring such tress of hair under the spindle and then around and over the same and thus position such hair immediately next to the curved and bent nose 51 of the guiding plate 47 as clearly illustrated in Fig. 7. The block 40 is then grasped by means of the finger grip 41 and given a rotation so as to wind the hair upon the spindle in the desired spiral form by the action of the guide element 47, pressing against the hair and automatically winding and stretching the hair properly upon the spindle. This stage of the winding operation is illustrated in Fig. 8. By giving the spindle and guiding plate an additional rotation, or

as many as may be necessary, first, however,

turning the hair about the spindle so as to overlie the guiding plate, the hair is wound about the spindle in spiral formation as illustrated in Fig. 9.

When as many spiral windings have thus been imparted to the hair as may be dictated by the nature and characteristics of the hair as previously determined, the hair may be distributed by spreading the same substantially throughout the length of the spindle and the spindle rotated so as to wind the hair upon the spindle in the manner of a Croquignole winding. When this operation has been completed, the winding of the hair is substantially in the condition illustrated in Fig. 10. The flannel strip 52 is then brought forwardly of the clamping device and caught between the surface of the clamping device and the nose of the winding guide element and the flannel strip wound about the spindle upon which the hair has been wound so as to completely surround the spindle and the hair wound thereon, the spindle being rotated so that the winding guide element will be effective to wind the flannel strip about the hair. When this operation has been completed, the device is in the condition shown in Fig. 11. In the course of this operation any excess moisture that may be present in the flannel strip 52 is automatically squeezed therefrom by the pressure of the guide plate upon such flannel strip. In this way the exact quantity of moisture necessary for the hair is retained in the flannel strip.

The aluminum foil 57 is then wound about the aggregate of spindle, hair and guiding plate, and securely fastened thereon by clamping the lower edge thereof against the outer extremity of the spindle. When this operation has been completed, the device is ready for the application thereto of any well known heating device, for instance, a sectional heater such as is shown in the Mayer Reissue Patent No. 17,585. Instead of such sectional heater, I may, of course, use any type of heating unit including the type recently developed comprising an envelope containing a mixture of chemicals which, when moisture is brought into contact therewith, will produce heat of a suflicient degree of temperature and amount to efiect the necessary heat treatment of the hair to be waved.

When the heat treatment has been completed, the aluminum foil 57 may be unwound and the clamping members 15 and 16 separated as shown in Fig. 3, the head 33 of the spindle being thus freed so that after the removal of the clamping device the hair may be unwound from the spindle by depressing the heel portion 46 of the guide plate 47 so as to bring the guide plate into the position shown in Fig. 12 in which position its pressure upon the wound hair is freed so that the hair may be easily unwound from the spindle.

In Fig. 13 I have illustrated the approximate condition of the hair after heat treatment in accordance with my method and by means of my apparatus, from which figure it will be seen that the portion of the tress near the scalp has had a spiral imparted thereto and the portion of the hair at the free end of the tress has had a curl imparted thereto.

In Fig. 14 I have illustrated a modified form of winding guide element which differs from the guide plate hereinabove described only in being provided with a series of serrations forming a combing member 61, the teeth of such combing member being pressed outwardly from the surface of the metal comprising the guide plate, leaving a slot 62 in such guide plate and eliminating the necessity of providing the plate with apertures such as 50 of the preferred embodiment. In such modified form, as illustrated in Fig. 14,

I have also shown an electrical heating unit 63 mounted upon the guide plate and having terminal wires 64.

It is to be noted that the shank 37 of the spindle 36 turns with considerable freedom in 30 the proper direction (counterclockwise) to wind up the strand of hair, but is so mounted on its head 35 that suincient frictional resistance is developed at the joint 33 to prevent uncurling of the strand by its inherent resiliency. This may be provided for by any suitable structure, and for the above purpose I have embodied a one-way friction clutch within the joint 33' which does not require special description.

I claim:

1. The method of waving hair which comprises the steps of winding a plurality of strands individually to form the same partly into a helicoid, progressively along the axis of the helix, and partly into a spiral, with concentric layers extended upon each other around said axis, said steps being performed in the order named as parts of a unitary operation.

2. The method of waving hair which comprises the steps of winding a strand to form the same partly into a helicoid, progressively along the axis of the helix, and partly into a spiral, with concentric layers extended upon each other around said axis, said steps being performed in the order named as parts of a unitary operation.

3. The method of waving hair which comprises the steps of winding a strand or tress of hair to form the same partly into a helicoid and partly into concentric layers superimposed upon said helicoid, and inoistening and heat-treating said strand, to condition the hair and set the wave therein, said steps being performed concurrently as parts of a unitary operation.

4. In the method of waving hair attached to the human head or like support, the steps of winding a portion of a tress or strand of hair near to the region of its attachment into a helicoid, thereafter spreading the unwound free portion of each strand over, and forming the same concentrically around, the first-named wound portion.

5. The method of waving hair which comprises dividing the hair into strands, securing one strand 5 adjacent to the scalp within a clamping device, winding upon a rod said strand from its end adjacent to the scalp to its free end, partly in the form of a helicoid, and partly in the form of extended concentric layers, treating said strand with a solution, and enclosing the strand in a substantially moisture tight envelope, covering said envelope with a heating unit, and then causing said heating unit to apply heat to said strand.

6. The method of waving hair which comprises forming the portion of a tress or strand of hair adjacent to the root end thereof into a relatively large helicoid and progressively forming the portion of said strand more remote from said root end into a relatively close curl with extended concentric layers.

'7. The method of waving hair which comprises the steps of forming a helicoidal curl and a substantially concentric curl, in the order named, in the same tress of hair.

i DANIEL LAKENBACH.

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