US2001871A - Massaging device - Google Patents

Description

y 935. cv H. FOSTER 2,001,871

' 'MASSAGING DEVICE Filed June 29. 1931 5' J x I u 6 7 7 7 w. f z

Patented May 21, 1935" 1 Claim.

This invention relates to massaging devices, and more particularly to machines for massaging, rubbing, or manipulating the scalp of the human head, an instance of such machine being shown in the patent to R. H. Hassler, No. 1,710,-

643, dated April 23, 1929 It is the object of the present invention to improve machines of the character shown and described in the said patent by so constructing the massaging pads-or applicators as to enable them to be conveniently and quickly applied to and removed from the arms or handles of the machine to which they are applied; also to reduce the cost of manufacture of such pads or applicators. 7

One of the great advantagesof constructing the massaging devices or applicators in the manner referred to and explained at greater length herein is that it enables different members of a family to use a single massage machine, but with as many sets of massaging pads as there are individual users of the machine; and this facility for enabling the use of separate massaging devices or pads by each individual may be facilitated by making each set of pads or applicators of a color differing from every other set.

I accomplish the foregoing objects in and through the construction and arrangement of parts shown in the drawing, wherein Fig. 1 n is a plan view of a massaging machine of the character shown in the aforesaid patent but having my special massaging pads or applicators applied thereto; and Fig. 2 a sectional elevation of one of my massaging pads, showing the man- 35 ner in which it is mounted for rotary movement upon a stud secured to an arm of the machine shown in Fig. 1.

Describing the various parts by reference characters, I denotes a central housing having there- 40 within mechanism (not shown) connected to and operable by handles 2 for reciprocating opposed pairs of massaging pads 3-3 and 4-4, which are carried by opposed and connected arms 5 each having a sleeve 6 by which the pairs of arms are slidably mounted on guide bars 1 projecting from the housing I.

The connections whereby the movement of the handles 2- 2 toward and from each other causes the massaging pads to operate upon the 50 scalp form no part of the invention herein, such connections being preferably identical with the parts shown in the aforesaid Patent 1,710,643.

Each arm 5 is connected to one of the massaging pads by means of a stud 8 having a tapered portion 8 which is drawn into a tapered seat 5 in the arm by means of a nut 9 which is threaded on the reduced threaded end 8 of the stud which projects through and above the arm 5. The lower end of each stud is formed into a ball 8. This ball enters a socket 3 which is formed in 5 the central portion of the body of the back of the massage pad 3. Each of the massage pads is formed of soft rubber having an outer circumierential rim 3 The bottom of each of these devices is upwardly concave, as shown at 3, and 10 is provided with integral massaging fingers 3' depending from the concave base thereof, the fingers being of substantially the same length to enable them to conform to the human scalp.

It will be noted that the back 3 of each massaging pad is considerably thickened, the thickness increasing from the rim 3 to the center of the back, thus affording ample strength and reinforcement for the socket 3 whereby a ball 8 will be retained in said socket during the operation of the massaging machine. The massaging pads, being made of comparatively soft rubber, the balls 8 may be easily inserted into their respective sockets, but will be retained therein during the movements of the massaging pads toward and from each other as they are operated by the handles 2. When it is desired to remove one set of pads, this operation may be readily and conveniently effected, owing to the resiliency of the material constituting the wall of the socket and the comparative thinness of the upper portion 3 of each socket.

A further advantage of my invention over the massaging pads heretofore in use is that each pad may be made complete, including the socket 85 3 by a single molding operation;

A still further and important advantage which the massaging pads made in accordance with my invention possess over those employing a metal plate as part of the means for securing the ball in place in its socket is that, by making the entire back of the pad of yieldable material, such as soft rubber, all of the fingers may be maintained in contact with the scalp during the movements of the pads; this being due to the flexibility of the back of the pad in which the ball is mounted. It will be noted that the concavity of the lower surface of the pad is comparatively shallow. This enables the ends of all of the fingers to contact with the portion of the scalp having the greatest convexity without the application of any material pressure to the center of the pad. When operating upon a portion of the scalp possessing practically no con-' vexity, the shallowness of the concavity enables 56 the ends of all of the fingers to be brought into contact with such portion of the scalp without the exertion of undue pressure upon the pad, such as would stall the motor.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

A massaging pad consisting of a unitary body of resilient material having a peripheral rim and having a. shallow upwardly concave lower surface within said rim and provided with integral fingers projecting from such lower surface, the back of the said pad being thickened from the rim toward the central portion thereof and provided within the central portion with a spherical socket adapted to receive and to removably retain therein the spherical end portion of a supporting stud, the upper portion of such socket being relatively thin to facilitate the insertion thereinto and removal therefrom of the spherical portion of said stud.

CLAUD H. FOSTER.

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