US3183915A

US3183915A - Hair ornament with a resilient attaching clip

Info

Publication number: US3183915A
Application number: US208762A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bolinger George Noel
Original assignee: STA RITE GINNIE LOU Inc
Current assignee: STA RITE GINNIE LOU Inc
Priority date: 1962-07-10
Filing date: 1962-07-10
Publication date: 1965-05-18
Anticipated expiration: 1982-05-18

Description

May 18, 1965 G. N. BOLINGER 3,133,915

HAIR ORNAMENT WITH A RESILIENT ATTACHING CLIP Filed July 10, 1962 INVENTOR GECFGE NOEL BOLINGER wwywfw ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,183,915 HAIR ORNAMENT WITH A RESILIENT ATTACHING CLIP George Noel Bolinger, Shelbyville, 111., assignor to Sta- Rite Ginnie Lou, 'Inc., Shelbyville, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed July 10, 1962, Ser. No. 208,762 Claims. (Cl. 132-47) This invention relates to a hair ornament and particularly to a device of this character having novel means combined therewith for attaching it to the hair of the wearer.

An important object of the invention is to provide a device which presents a highly ornamental appearance and includes as a part of the ornamentation a body having means attached thereto in a novel manner for securing the device to the hair of the wearer.

A further object is to provide such a device wherein the means for attaching the device to the hair is in the form of a clip quickly attachable to the body of the device and so formed with respect thereto that once it has been attached to the body, it will remain connected thereto.

A further object is to provide such a device wherein the attaching means is wholly hidden from view from the face or top of the device.

A further object is to provide a hair ornament of the type referred to wherein a ribbon or similar element is passed through the body of the device and is maintained in its proper position by the body and by the clip which attaches the ornament to the hair.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following description.

In the drawing I have shown one embodiment of the invention. In this showing FIGURE 1 is a face view of the device;

FIGURE 2 is a back view thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a section on line 33 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a section on line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

Referring to the drawing the numeral designates the body of the device shown in the present instance as being substantially circular in form and surface-beaded as at 11 to render the body of the device ornamental in appearance. The body of the device is preferably made of any suitable molded plastic, but it will be apparent that any material may be used and that the body may be surfaceornamented in a variety of ways. Back of the body and preferably molded integral therewith is a bar 13 arranged with respect to the ring portion of the body as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the top of the bar 13 preferably lying above the plane of the bottom of the ring portion. The bar 13 is relatively rigid, although it may possess a reasonable degree of resiliency so long as it is sufliciently stiff to perform its functions as referred to below.

The ornament is attached to the hair through the medium of a spring clip indicated as a whole by the numeral 15 and comprising upper and

lower arms

16 and 17 pivoted to each other as at 18 and biased by a spring 19 to the closed position shown in FIGURE 3. The arm 17 is relatively flat and has its upper face lying against the bottom of the bar 13.

The arm 16 is provided at one end with a finger piece 20 and the adjacent end of the arm 17 is provided with an extended portion also forming a finger piece 20, the two finger pieces being pressed together manually to open the

arms

16 and 17 for attachment of the device to the hair as will become apparent. The arm 16, from the pivot thereof, slopes downwardly as viewed in FIGURE 3 as at 21 toward the arm 17 and then bends to form a flat section 22 in engagement with the arm 17. The arm 16 is then bent upwardly as at 23 and then horizontally as at 24 "Ice to form a portion engaging the top of the bar 13. Thus normally, the spring 19 acts to resiliently clamp the

arms

16 and 17 against the bar 13. From the intermediate portion 24 the arm 16 slopes downwardly as at 25 toward the arm 1'7 and is provided with a free end 26 normally engaging the arm 17.'

The device carries an ornamental ribbon or similar device 28 which is preferably of a width greater than the internal diameter of the ring of the body, across the bar 13, whereby it is preferably ornamentally gathered at least to some extent across the bar 13 so that the ribbon frictionally engages the ring portion of the body at opposite ends of the bar 13 to introduce some element of friction to tend to prevent the ribbon from sliding 1ongitudinally out of its intended position. It will be noted that the intermediate straight portion 24 of the arm 16 bulges the ribbon upwardly centrally of the body and this not only improves the appearance of the ribbon but also introduces an element of friction against the intermediate portion 24 to further assist in preventing displacement of the ribbon. Moreover, the sloping

portions

21 and 25 of the arm 16 tend to bind the ribbon against the ring portion of the body to further substantially prevent the longitudinal displacement of the ribbon.

Operation The operation of the device will be rather apparent from the foregoing description. The device is attached to the hair by pressing the

finger pieces

20 and 20 toward each other to spread the free ends of the

arms

16 and 17, whereupon the device is inserted into the hair with a strand of the hair arranged above the arm 17 and below the arm 16. Some of the hair will find its way into the spaces on both sides of the bar 13, thus assisting the resiliency of the spring 19 and the

arms

16 and 17 in maintaining the device in the hair against displacement. Some of the hair of course will find its way beneath the

arm portions

22 and 26 to further provide an efficient gripping action.

The bending of the arm 16 to form the

portions

23, 24 and 25 thereof provides means for effectively connecting the clip 15 to the body of the device. In assembling the device, the ribbon will be threaded beneath one side of the ring portion of the body, over the bar 13, and then beneath the opposite side of the bar. Holding the righthand end of the ribbon against displacement, as viewed in FIGURE 3, the free end of the arm 16 is then inserted eneath the right-hand side of the ring, over the bar 13, and then beneath the opposite side of the ring. Thus it will be apparent that the bending of the arm 16 not only facilitates the quick and easy assembling of the device but also provides means, cooperating with the bar 13, to maintain the clip sufliciently firmly attached to the body without the use of any fastening elements of any kind. Moreover, the clip 15 cooperates with the body to frictionally anchor the ribbon against longitudinal displacement, and it has been found that without securing the ribbon in position, for example by sewing it to one of the elements, it remains in position for an indefinite length of time. Moreover, the lack of attaching means for any of the elements permits the user very easily to replace the ribbon with another ribbon of different color or with any other suitable flexible ornamental element.

While a clip of the type having a single upper arm and a single lower arm has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent that the invention is not limited to a clip of this type. It is a common practice to make various types of clips some of which have single prong arms and some of which have two prong arms. Where a plurality of prongs is employed to constitute either of the arms, it will be understood that the expression pair of arms in the claims is meant to include a single upper'arm of a plurality and a single lower arm of a plurality, although it 3 will be apparent that where two-upper prongs are employed, one or both of such prongs may be bent as at 23, 24 and 25 so long as the upper arm structure is bent to retain the device in position. Moreovenwhile a single ribbon has been illustrated, it will be apparent that any type of flexible ornament may be used, regardless of its form and regardless of whether it is constituted by one ribbon or a plurality of ribbons, for example three ribbons one of which extends longitudinally of the clip and the "others of which are crossed.

Where such expressions as circular body and circular portion appear in the claims, it would be obvious that within the scope of the present invention, these elements need not be perfectly circular, but may be in the shape of ovals, squares, ets., so long as the body is continuous therearound and is provided with an opening therethrough. The word circular has been employed to facilitate the definition of the relationship of other elements of the device to the body.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size, and arrangement of the parts may be made as do not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A hair ornament comprising a substantially circular body having .a bar extending thereacross, a spring clip having a pair of arms of relatively resilient material spring urged toward each other, one of said arms extending across said body in contact with the bottom thereof at opposite sides thereof and having an intermediate offset portion extending over and engaging said bar to prevent longitudinal displacement of said arms, and a soft fabriclike strip of ornamental material extending across said body, said strip of material being arranged between and in contact with said one arm and with said body at said opposite sides thereof and extending over and in contact with said ofl'set, said strip of material extending longitudinally of said clip and being of a length at least equal to said clip to conceal the latter from View when the orna- 'ment is attached to the hair of the wearer by said clip.

2. A hair ornament comprising a relatively rigid body having an ornamental circular portion and a cross bar extending diametrically thereacross, and a clip for attaching the ornament to the hair of the wearer, said clip having an arm extending diametrically across and beneath said circular portion in contact with opposite sides thereof, said arm intermediate its ends having an upwardly offset portion extending over said bar to fix said clip against i longitudinal displacement, said arm being formed of resilient material to facilitate its insertion beneath one side of said circular portion, then over said bar, and then under the other side of said circular portion and to maintain resilient engagement of said arm with said bar and with said opposite sides of said circular portion.

3. A hair ornament according to claim 2 wherein said clip comprises a second arm, said arms being pivoted to 'each other adjacent one end and spring pressed toward each other, said first named arm on opposite sides of said bar having portions normally extending downwardly into resilient contact with said second named arm.

4. A hair ornament comprising a relatively rigid body having an ornamental circular portion and a cross bar extending diametrically thereacross, a spring clip having a pair of resilient arms pivotedly connected to each other adjacent one end, one of said arms extending across said circular portion therebeneath and in contact with opposite sides thereof and having an intermediate portion offset to extend over said bar to fix said clip against longitudinal displacement, and fabric-like ornamental strip extending longitudinally of said clip beneath opposite sides of said circular portion and over said bar and engaged by said clip to maintain it in position against said opposite sides of the bottom of said circular body to frictionally hold it against'lon'gitudinal displacement.

5. A hair ornament according to claim 4 wherein said strip, where it passes over said bar, is wider than the length of said bar so as to be ornamental'ly gathered transversely intermediate its length, said strip of material being of a length at least as great as said clip to conceal the latter when the ornament is attached to the hair by said clip, said one arm on opposite sides of said bar extending downwardly into engagement with the other arm whereby said one arm is maintained at least partly by said other arm in engagement with said strip of material where the latter passes beneath said opposite sides of said circular portion of said body.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,357,871 9/44 Bolinger 13247 2,883,993 4/59 Laughton 13248X FOREiGN PATENTS 202,344 8/23 Great Britain.

238,113 8/25 Great Britain. RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner. LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Examiner.

Claims

2. A HAIR ORNAMENT COMPRISING A RELATIVELY RIGID BODY HAVING AN ORNAMENTAL CIRCULAR PORTION AND A CROSS BAR EXTENDING DIAMETRICALLY THEREACROSS, AND A CLIP FOR ATTACHING THE ORNAMENT TO THE HAIR OF THE WEARER, SAID CLIP HAVING AN ARM EXTENDING DIAMETRICALLY ACROSS AND BENEATH SAID CIRCULAR PORTION IN CONTACT WITH OPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF, SAID ARM INTERMEDIATE ITS ENDS HAVING AN UPWARDLY OFFSET PORTION EXTENDING OVER SAID BAR TO FIX SAID CLIP AGAINST LONGITUDINAL DISPLACEMENT, SAID ARM BEING FORMED OF RESILIENT MATERIAL TO FACILITATE ITS INSERTION BENEATH ONE SIDE OF SAID CIRCULAR PORTION, THEN OVER SAID BAR, AND THEN UNDER THE OTHER SIDE OF SAID CIRCULAR PORTION AND TO MAINTAIN RESILIENT ENGAGEMENT OF SAID ARM WITH SAID BAR AND WITH SAID OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID CIRCULAR PORTION.