US3390690A

US3390690A - Two-piece closely settable and lockable hair roller device

Info

Publication number: US3390690A
Application number: US476411A
Authority: US
Inventors: Trabish Robert
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1965-08-02
Filing date: 1965-08-02
Publication date: 1968-07-02
Anticipated expiration: 1985-07-02

Description

July 2, 1968 R. TRABISH' 3,390,690

TWO-PIECE CLOSELY SETTABLE AND LOCKABLE. HAIR ROLLER DEVICE Filed Aug. 2, 1965 Ivvz-wrae.

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United States Patent 3,390,690 TWO-PIECE CLOSELY SET'IABLE AND LOCKABLE HAIR ROLLER DEVICE Robert Trabish, Van Nuys, Calif., assignor to Robert Rome, San Francisco, Calif. Filed Aug. 2, 1965, Ser. No. 476,411 1 Claim. (Cl. 132-40) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSURE An interlocked, two-piece hair roller device having one roller provided with outwardly extending comb elements and a second roller telescopically related to the first roller, the second roller when extended being adapted for use as a handle and, when telescopically received within the one roller, having external tines integral therewith cooperable with the comb elements and roller to hold strands of hair.

This invention relates to a hair roller device and, more particularly, to an interlocked, two-piece, closely settable and lockable hair roller device adapted to facilitate styling and setting of hair.

Prior proposed hair roller devices have included stilt, generally rigid, cylindrical members upon which strands of hair were rolled. Such stifi rollers were difiicult and uncomfortable to rest the head upon when sleeping. With such prior proposed rollers, the strands of hair rolled thereon were usually secured by pins or clips. Usually, securement of the pin or clip on the roller was difficult to perform when the roller was snug and tightly turned against the scalp. Some prior roller devices were inadequately vented so that drying of the hair rolled upon the device required a relatively long period of time.

The present invention contemplates a hair roller device which not only obviates disadvantages of prior proposed roller devices but, also, includes new advantages which greatly facilitate the setting and styling of hair. Generally speaking, the present invention contemplates a pair of telescopically related inner and outer tubular members made of a soft, flexible plastic material. The outer member includes a reticulated structure provided with a plurality of rows of comb elements for styling and combing the hair as it is prepared for rolling. The inner member includes a longitudinally slotted construction cooperable with the reticulations for providing adequate venting of the roller device. The inner member also includes integral pins or tine members extending from one end thereof, externally of the outer member so as to gently lock and hold the hair in place without loosening or slipping. Interlock means are provided on the inner and outer members so that when the members are in longitudinally extended relation, the inner member may serve as a handle for the outer member for facilitating rolling of the hair on the outer member, the interlocking means restricting relative rotation of the pair of members. After the hair is wound on the outer member, the inner member with the external tine members may be longitudinally displaced into closed telescopic relation with the outer member so that the tine members lock and hold the hair in place on the outer member.

The primary object of this invention therefore is to disclose and provide a novel, two-piece hair roller device for facilitating the setting and styling of hair and which may be handled and manipulated as a unit.

An object of the invention is to disclose and provide a hair roller device in which the roller members are made of soft, flexible, lightweight plastic material.

A further object of the invention is to disclose and 3,390,690 Patented July 2, 1968 ice provide a hair roller device including a pair of telescopically related inner and outer members in which the outer member is provided with comb elements so arranged as to eliminate or reduce to a minimum tangling or knotting of the hair and to facilitate maintaining strands of hair in combed relation while being rolled upon the outer roller.

Another object of the invention is to disclose and provide a pair of hair roller members which are maintained in assembly by interlock means and which are well vented even when in closed telescopic relation.

Still another object of the invention is to disclose and provide a pair of telescopically related inner and outer hair roller members wherein interlock means on said members permit use of one member as a handle for facilitating setting or rolling of the hair while permitting relative longitudinal displacement of said members for locking hair in place on the outer roller.

Various other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the drawings which illustrate one embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a hair roller device embodying this invention, and shown in extended telescopic relation;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken in the plane indicated by line IIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken in the plane indicated by line IIIIII of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken in the plane indicated by line IVIV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the device in FIG. 1 shown in closed telescopic relation;

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken in the plane indicated by line VI-VI of FIG. 5.

A hair roller device embodying this invention is generally indicated at 10 and generally comprises an outer cylindrical member 11 telescopically receiving therewithin an inner tubular member 12 provided with hair locking tine members 14 extending from one end thereof and integral therewith. Locking means for holding the inner and outer members in assembled longitudinally displaceable relation and restricting relative rotation thereof are provided on the outer and inner members 11 and 12 as described hereafter.

Outer member 11 includes a hollow, cylindrical outer roller body member 16 having open ends and of generally uniform diameter. Outer member 11 may be made of a suitable, thermoplastic material, such as polyethylene, which is soft, flexible and collapsible under pressure while maintaining dimensional stability when not under pressure. The cylindrical wall of outer member 11 is of reticulated form and provided with a plurality of generally rectangular openings 17 defined by longitudinally or axially extending rib portions 18 and longitudinally spaced continuous ring portions 19 which maintain dimensional stability of the generally circular cross-section of the outer member 11 throughout its length. The internal cylindrical surface of outer member 11 is smooth to facilitate sliding of the inner member 12 therewithin.

Each rib portion 18 is provided with a plurality of closely spaced, outwardly projecting comb elements 21, said comb elements 21 along each rib forming a row of comb elements extending for approximately the entire length of the outer member 11. At one end of outer member 11, comb elements 21 terminate in spaced relation from the proximate end a distance of a reticulated opening 17. In this example, certain of said reticulated spaces are filled with plastic material as at 22 to provide a base or suflicient material for lock means as later described. Comb elements of each row may be slightly offset longitudinally with respect to the adjacent row. It may also be noted from FIG. 6 that the comb elements in diametrically opposite rows 21a extend outwardly along a diameter or at 90 to a plane tangent to the cylindrical member 11 at the base of the comb elements. Comb elements lying in rows, such as 21b, which lie between rows 21a, may be formed at an angle to their tangent planes, the angle of inclination of rows 21b proximate to row 21a being the least while the angle of inclination of the comb row spaced approximately 90 from row 21a is the greatest or approximately 90. Thus, the longitudinal offsetting of comb elements of adjacent rows, together with the varying angular inclination of the comb elements with respect to their tangent planes to the cylindrical surface of outer member 11 provides a comb structure on outer roller member 11 which facilitates setting and styling of strands of hair and which holds the hair in the desired selected positon. it should also be noted that ring portions 19 include a comb element 23 between the comb rows 21b and thus provide additional rows of comb elements which are spaced apart the spacing of the ring portions 19.

Inner member 12 may comprise a hollow, open-ended, cylindrical inner body member 25 having a length approximately the length of outer member 11 and having an outer diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of outer member 11 so as to facilitate close longitudinal sliding relationship of the two members. The inner member 12 may be made from a suitable plastic material such as polypropylene, which, in addition to being soft and flexible, may also be resilient. Inner body member 25 may be of longitudinally slotted construction and may comprise a plurality of circumferentially spaced =bar portions 26 defining

therebetween slots

27 and 28, slots 27 being slightly shorter than slots 28 which extend for substantially the entire length of inner member 12. At one end, inner member 12 is provided with a radially outwardly extending annular flange 29. Integrally formed with flange 29 and extending therefrom in circumferentially spaced relation may be a plurality of pin or tine portions 30. Tine portions 30 extend for a major portion of the length of inner member 12 and are spaced from the outer cylindrical surface of inner body member 25 a sufiicient distance so that the cylindrical body member 16 of outer member 11 may be received between the tine portions 30 and the inner body member 25. Tine portions 30 may be of trapezoidal cross-section to provide a flat edge face 31 for engagement with strands of hair rolled on outer roller member 11. End extremities of tine portions 30 are provided with pointed and upwardly tapered ends 32 to facilitate movement of the tine portions over the strands of hair. Since the inner body member is made of polypropylene and is resilient, the tine portions may be bent slightly outwardly by the hair strands and Will exert a resilient pressure holding force on the hair strands when the two members are in collapsed telescopic relationship.

It should be noted that when the two members are in closed telescopic relation, the time portions 39 fall between rows of comb elements 21. The internal edge face 31 of each comb element normally lies below the outer points of comb elements 21 so that hair rolled on outer roller 11 is securely positioned and held in place for setting.

Locking means for locking the outer and inner members 11 and 12 in assembled, longitudinally displaceable relation and for restricting relative rotation thereof may include a plurality of circumferentially spaced internal lock elements 35 projecting inwardly from a portion of the base material 22 on outer member 11 and adjacent one end thereof. Each lock element 35 includes an inwardly directed abutment face 36 for abutting engagement with end wall 37 of slot 26. Such abutment of lock element 35 with end wall 37 limits relative longitudinal displacement of inner and outer members 11 and 12 in an outward or extended telescopic relation. The width of slot 26 is sulficiently greater than the width of lock element 35 so as to permit smooth, closely guided, sliding relationship of the lock element 35 in slot 26. The two members are thus longitudinally guided in sliding telescopic relation while, at the same time, relative rotation of the two members is restricted. As a result, when the two members are in extended relation, the inner member with the tine portions may be employed as a handle for the outer member for rolling and combing the hair.

Inner and outer members 12 and 11 are held in assembly when they are longitudinally displaced into telescopic closed relationship by the abutment of end face 38 of outer member 11 with the opposed face 39 of annular flange 29. Thus, the inner and outer members may be moved longitudinally relative to each other without becoming disassembled and are held against relative rotation with respect to each other by the lock means described above.

Inner and outer members 12 and 11 are readily made by well known plastic molding processes. The two members are readily assembled with each other by first aligning the longer slots 26 with the lock elements 35 and then inserting the inner member 12 into the outer member 11 and then forcing the one end of the inner member 12 over the lock elements 35 so that they may be slidably received Within the slots 26. Since the abutment faces 36 lie in a radial plane and since the outer diameter and inner diameter of members 12 and 11 afford only close sliding tolerance, it will be apparent that the two members may be quickly readily assembled although disassembly becomes relatively difficult because of the interengagement of lock elements 35 with end wall 37.

When the hair roller device 10 is used, the two members are moved relative to each other so that they are in extended interlocked, longitudinally displaced relation. Inner member 12 may be used as a handle for outer member 11 for stroking and combing a lock of hair which is to be rolled upon outer member 11. After the lock of hair has been stroked and combed and is then rolled upon outer member 11, the inner member 12 is again used as a handle to roll the lock of hair upon outer member 11. After the lock of hair is rolled into the desired position, it may be readily secured on outer member 11 by simply telescoping the inner member 12 into the outer member 11 so that the tine portions 30 overlie the lock of hair and secure the hair in place. Since manipulation of the two-piece hair roller device is quite convenient and simple, the outer member 11 may be locked in position in close relationship to the scalp if desired. When the hair device 10 is used, it will be apparent that the inner member 12, which serves as a handle, may be disposed either forwardly or rearwardly with respect to the head in accordance with the desire of the user.

It will be apparent that the soft plastic material of the tine portions will readily slide over the lock of hair rolled upon the outer member 11 and will not tangle or knot the lock of hair nor will it present a hard, metallic surface which might break or split hair ends. Since the members 11 and 12 are made of soft, flexible plastic material, they are comfortable to use and are sleepable. The plurality of tine portions 30 prevent slippage or loosening of the hair roller device once the inner member 12 has been longitudinally moved into closed telescopic position with respect to the outer member 11. Since the inner member 12 may be used as a handle, the outer member 11 may be rolled into close, settable relation to the scalp and may then be locked in such position conveniently by a single longitudinal motion of the inner memebr 12 with respect to the outer member 11.

The unitary hair roller device of this invention provided with the rows of comb elements 211) inclined on opposite semi-cylindrical faces of outer roller 11 as described above, permits rolling a lock of hair over or under the roller member and either right or left. In other words, the presence of generally oppositely directed inclined comb elements in the rows 21!) adjacent a row 21a facilitates the acceptance and positioning of a lock of hair on the roller for turning the roller in either direction and for rolling the lock of hair either over or under the roller.

It should be noted that the integral plastic members 11 and 12 are so interlocked and held in assembly that the device is essentially unitary and readily handled and used as a unit.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications in the unitary hair roller device may be made within the spirit of this invention and all such changes and modifications coming within the scope of the appended claims are embraced thereby.

I claim:

1. A relatively soft, flexible, dimensionally stable twopiece hair roller device comprising in combination:

a hollow cylindrical outer roller body member having an outer surface and open ends provided with a plurality of spaced reticulated openings defined by longitudinally extending rib portions and longitudinally spaced continuous circular ring portions presenting smooth internal surfaces and providing circular dimensional stability to the cylindrical body member throughout its length,

said rib portions having outwardly projecting comb elements forming longitudinally extending rows,

a hollow cylindrical inner member slidably received within said outer body member in telescopic relation and having external resilient tine members integral with one end of said inner member and radial- 1y outwardly spaced from said inn-er member,

said tine members being biased inwardly and slidable longitudinally over said outer body member,

each of said tine members being in juxtaposition to a comb row to cooperate therewith for holding said inner and outer members in hair setting position;

and means inwardly of the outer surface of the outer body member for locking said inner and outer members in assembled longitudinally displaceable relation and restricting relative rotation thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1959 Weldon 132-33 9/1963 Trabish 13233