US3692034A

US3692034A - Multiple nesting hair curler

Info

Publication number: US3692034A
Application number: US159622A
Authority: US
Inventors: Alice B Stone
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-07-06
Filing date: 1971-07-06
Publication date: 1972-09-19
Anticipated expiration: 1989-09-19

Abstract

A multiple hair curling assembly and method of drying and curling hair utilizes an inner open ended, thin walled roller adapted to have the end portion of a strand of hair wound thereon and at least one larger outer open ended, thin walled roller equipped with a narrow longitudinal slot having one end open, said outer roller being adapted to receive and secure the inner roller in a nesting relation with the hair strand passing through the slot and with a continuing portion being would upon the surface of the outer roller, thereby dramatically hastening the drying process and imparting curls of different curvature to the strand of hair.

Description

United States Patent I 51 3,692,034 Stone [4 1 Sept. 19, 1972 [5 MULTIPLE NESTING HAIR CURLER Primary Examiner-Louis G. Mancene 72] Inventor: Alice B. Stone, 404 Severin St., 45mm g 'g ff Eskw'tz Chapel nan, NC. 27514 we [22] Filed: July 6, 1971 [57] ABSTRACT PP 159,622 A multiple hair curling assembly and method of drying and curling hair utilizes an inner open ended, thin walled roller adapted to have the end portion of a (SI. Strand of hair wound thereon and at least one larger [58] Field A 33 B outer open ended, thin walled roller equipped with a 135/41 narrow longitudinal slot having one end open, said outer roller being adapted to receive and secure the inner roller in a nesting relation with the hair strand [56] References Cited passing through the slot and with a continuing portion UNITED STATES PATENTS bleingbwguld uPOll'll tfie surfacehofdthe outer rolleri,

t ere y ramatica y astemngt e rymg process an 3,040,753 6/1962 Russell ..132/40 imparting curls of different curvature to the Strand of 3,400,724 9/1968 Scott ..l32/39 hail. 3,050,069 8/1962 Brown ..l32/39 6 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures 21 mi\\\\\\\\\\\l\\\l\\\\l\ O illlllllllllll iiiiiiriiil v 2 6 6 E l t ll \.J Q ,Q Q Q PATENTEDSEPW I912 3.692.034

INVENTOR. Al ice E5. Stone ATTORNEY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to the structures and methods associated with the drying and curling of hair and particularly with hair curling assemblies. More specifically, the invention relates to ahair curling assembly consisting of a plurality of slotted hair curlers of increasing diameter which nest within each other and further relates to a method of hair curling utilizing such an assembly.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the art of curling and drying hair the most common method is to wind a strand of hair around a single tubular roller until the entire strand is wound upon the roller and the roller can be secured adjacent to the scalp. All portions of the strand necessarily adapt the curvature of the single roller and roller size is selected according to the length of strand. This process is continued until all of the hair is divided into strands and is wound on individual single rollers. The rollers may be of the same or different diameters but any single strand is wound only on a single roller and consequently the strand takes the samecurvature throughout its length.

When the described prior art method and rolling structure are used, the drying time is extremely long, the hair frequently is not curled at the tips and the curls between the tips and the scalp often are unsatisfactory in size and shape. Some prior art devices, such as US. Pat. No. 3,050,069 attempt to solve those problems by using two rollers to differentiate the curling ratio. However, because the designs of such rollers are inherently restricted to the use of only two rollers, neither the roller structure or the associated method is able to effectively cope with the very long hair which is now in style. Also, the disclosure of Brown US. Pat. No. 3,050,069 inherently requires a large slot in the outer roller at least slightly greater in width and length than the diameter and length of the inner roller and such slot inherently removes a substantial portion of what would otherwise be curl supporting area. Because the inner roller with its turns of hair protrudes through the outer roller a portion of the hair strand is humped in this large slot and must inherently be set" with such hump. Any attempt to follow such a construction and method with more than two rollers amplifies the hump problem requires increasing slot sizes. Multiple concentric rollers are shown in US. Russell US. Pat. Nos. 2,190,989 and 3,040,753. The construction and method involved in the Russell patents are based on pulling the hair end through four aligned slots, then axially and then circumferentially around an inner spindle by rotating the inner spindle while holding an outer cover sleeve. Unlike the present invention the inner spindle and outer sleeve must be able to have respective slots aligned and to be able to rotate relative to each other without being secured together in successive pairs as with the present invention. It can also be seen that where multiple rollers have been employed in the prior art they have inherently required substantial non-uniformity in the various rollers making up an associated set of rollers whereas it would be desirable as with the present invention to vary only the diameter and to otherwise employ the same construction in each roller.

In general it can be said of the prior art that single rollers and single roller methods have dominated. To the extent that slotted and nesting rollers have been employed in roller systems and methods none have substantially reduced drying time nor have they allowed curls of different curvature or of reverse curvature to be formed on a large number of nested rollers, say four to five, nor have they adapted to substantially long hair strands SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention the hair is normally pretreated byshampoo and rinse, a strand of hair is blocked off anda substantially short portion of the strand of hair is then wound upon an inner open ended, thin walled, cylindrical rollerrBoth the wound hair and inner roller are next inserted into an outer open ended, cylindrical roller. The immediate continuing portion of the hair passes through a narrow longitudinal slot which is open at one end and extends for substantially the full length of the roller. The inner roller and hair wound thereon are secured to and nested in the outer roller in such a manner that the respective longitudinal axes are parallel and laterally offset. The rollers are secured together in a tangential non-rotatable relation with the line of securement being adjacent the slot. The continuing strand of hair is then wound upon the surface of the outer roller until the curling assembly is adjacent the scalp or until a predetermined length of hair has been wound and the assembly is, in the latter case, nested in a second outer slotted roller of greater diam eter. The procedure of use for the second outer roller is the same as for the first and when the assembly is ad'- jacent the scalp and has the full length of strand wound thereon, it is secured by hair pins adjacent to the scalp. Similar procedures and roller structures are employed for the remaining strands. When the hair has become dry, the entire procedure is reversed and the rollers are removed. In the preferred embodiment the longitudinal slot contains a prong or clip member which acts as a guide and also as a means for securing pairs of rollers together in the desired tangential relation. Other socalled nesting notches are provided which engage the base of the prong and enables the rollers to nest with their ends flush. Another aspect of the invention as previously mentioned is that the rollers may be of substantially uniform construction except for the diameter dimension which facilitates both manufacture and use of the rollers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side view of a typical inner roller.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the inner roller taken in the direction of line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a typical outer roller.

FIG. 4 is an end view of the outer roller taken in the direction of line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an end view of the outer roller taken in the direction of line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is an elevation section view taken in the direction of line 6-6 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the inner and outer rol' lers partially nested and a strand of hair on the inner roller.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the inner and outer rollers fully nested, no hair being shown for simplification.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a three curler assembly which is partially nested, no hair being shown for simplification.

FIG. 10 is an end view of a fully nested three curler assembly with hair wound on each roller.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, a substantially smooth and rigid, open ended, thin walled, cylindrical inner roller 11 is equipped with perforations 13 and four substantially small and quadrentially positioned nesting notches 12. In use, roller 11 is wound in a predetermined direction with a predetermined length of a strand of hair 40. Roller 11 with the hair wound thereon is then nested completely inside a cylindrical, thin walled, open ended, perforated, outer roller which has a smooth, rigid outer surface like roller 11 and is of a greater diameter than the combined diameter of roller 1 1 and the hair wound thereon. Roller 20 is also provided with three nesting notches 21 which are positioned in a quadrential relation to a relatively narrow slot 23 having one end closed and one end open. Notches 21 are located on the end of roller 20 opposite to the roller end having the open end of slot 23. Roller 20 can also be seen to have a slightly resilient prong or guide clip 24 mounted in slot 23, and spaced inwardly by the distance D-4 (FIG. 6).

During

final nesting rollers

11 and 20 are rotated relative to each other until a nesting notch 12 on roller 11 becomes aligned and is allowed to engage the base portion of guide clip 24 on roller 20. The width and depth of the respective nesting notches 12 are selected for this purpose and which allows the roller ends to be flush when fully nested. As part of the nesting procedure the continuing portion of the hair strand 40 is made to pass through the slot 23. As shown in the drawings it can also be seen that a portion of roller 11 and the hair wound on such portion is slid and guided over guide clip 24 and in slot 23. Looked at endwise, roller 11 and the hair wound thereon appear as being in a tangential relation with the inner surface of outer roller 20 and with the longitudinal line of securement afforded by guide clip 24 being adjacent slot 23. It may also be noted that the respective axes are laterally offset, when looked at endwise and this offset increases with increasing differences in diameter of the rollers. This offset is also controlled by the amount of hair wound on each roller. The dimension D-4 (FIG. 6) also controls this offset.

After roller 11 and the hair wound thereon is properly nested within roller 20, a further length of hair strand 40 is wound in a predetermined direction on the outer surface of roller 20. If, at this point, the entire length of hair strand 40 has been consumed, the entire assembly is secured adjacent to scalp 50 by hair pins or other means well known in the art. If not, roller 20 with the hair wound thereon is nested within a second outer roller such as roller in the same manner that roller 11 was nested in roller 20. A predetermined length of hair strand is in this case next wound in a predetermined direction on the outer surface of roller 30. When the remaining length of hair strand 40 has been consumed by winding on roller 30 or additional outer rollers, the entire assembly is secured adjacent to scalp 50.

Each time one roller is nested within another the guiding and securement is effected by the respective guide clip of the outermost roller and the rollers are rotated until a selected nesting notch is able to engage the outer roller clip base.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the rollers are made of plastic and have a longitudinal length L of about 2% inches. The

slots

23, 33 and guide

clips

24, 34 are approximately Zkinches in length and substantially narrower than the diameter of inner roller 11. The dimension D4 (FIG. 6) is approximately oneeighth inch which allows the respective clip to accommodate both hair thickness and roller wall thickness without substantial bending. The

nesting notches

12, 21, 31, are approximately the same width W" as the width of the guide clips 24, 34 and are of sufficient length to insure flush nesting of the rollers, e.g. ll, 20, 30. The inner roller 11 has a diameter D of about seven-eighths inch and the perforations 13 occupy roughly 2.5 percent of the total surface area. The outer roller 20 has a diameter D of about 1% inches. The total surface area of roller 20 is occupied roughly 5 percent by the perforations 22 and roughly 5 percent by the slot 23. Outer roller 30 has a diameter D of about l% inches. Perforations 32 occupy roughly 10 percent of the total surface area of roller 30. While these dimensions are given as examples it should be understood that the invention is not limited to particular diameter or length rollers. Where large curls are desired both inner and outer rollers may be of relatively large diameter. Alternatively, if small curls are desired all of the rollers may be of relatively small diameter. The amount of axial lateral offset will thus vary both with relative difference in diameters and with the amount of hair wound on each roller.

With respect to the method a typical method of hair curling and drying according to the invention would involve the following steps:

1. Shampoo and rinse hair;

2. Block off a strand of wet hair;

3. Estimate total length of hair and depending on curl style desired select a plurality of curlers of increasing diameter and whose total circumferential length is enough to accommodate the length of strand taking into account the desired number and size of turns desired on each roller;

4. Decide in which direction the tip is desired to curl and wind the tip portion of the wet strand in that direction upon the selected inner roller of smallest diameter and while the inner roller nesting notches are properly oriented for subsequent nesting;

5. Wind as far as desired on the inner roller according to style and length of hair;

6. While holding inner roller and the wound hair in right hand, insert inner roller into the next larger outer roller with the inner roller end having the nesting notches entering first, with the guide clip of the outer roller entering the interior of the inner roller and engaging the inner roller wall and hair wound thereon and with the continuing strand of hair entering the slot in the outer roller;

7. Rotate inner roller while holding both rollers together until one of the inner roller nesting notches engages the base of the guide clip of the outer roller;

8. Slide the rollers together until the roller ends are substantially flush and the hair wound on the inner roller is completely enclosed by the outer roller;

9. Decide in which direction the continuing strand of hair is desired to curl and wind upon the surface of the outer roller accordingly until another larger outer roller is desired or the assembly is adjacent to the scalp;

10. Finally secure the assembly adjacent to the scalp by appropriate means;

11. Block off and curl other strands by the same method until all the hair is on rollers;

12. Dry the hair for a-period substantially less than normally required;

13. Remove the roller sets;

14. Comb out the hair.-

From the foregoing it can be seen that the invention gives rise to botha new roller structure as well as a new method. What is particularly evident is that the nesting approach and use of rollers of different diameter not only results in a sharp decrease in drying time but also allows the beauty operator substantially more variation in hair styling, variation in curl size, reverse direction curling and the like.

What is claimed is:

1. A nesting hair curler assembly comprising, in combination:

a. an inner open ended thin walled cylindrical roller of selected length and diameter and providing a substantially smooth rigid external wall surface adapted to have wound thereon and in a given direction a hair strand end portion in turns of relatively small radius and length;

b. at least one outer open ended thin walled cylindrical roller of substantially the same said selected length but of relatively larger diameter than said inner roller diameter and providing a substantially smooth rigid external wall surface adapted to have wound thereon an immediately continuing portion of said strand, said outer roller having a longitudinally extending slot in the wall thereof open at one end of said outer roller and terminating with a closed end proximate the opposite end of said outer roller, the width of said slot being narrow and substantially less than said inner roller diameter; and 0. guide clip means integral with said outer roller and adapted to guide said inner roller during nesting and to releasably secure said inner roller with said end portion turns wound thereon nesting within said outer roller in a non-rotatable relation and to provide a longitudinal line of securement immediately proximate said slot whereby said inner roller is placed with said end portion wound thereon in an approximate tangential relation to said outer roller when looked at endwise and such that the respective axes of said rollers are substantially parallel and the portion. of said strand connecting said end and continuing portions resides in said slot whereby remaining portions of said strand may be wound on said outer roller in turns of larger radius and length than said inner roller turns. 2. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said guide clip means comprises a resilient ron havin a base end cantilevered at the closed e d 8r Sa ld slot and extending for substantially the r311 length thereof and said inner roller has at least one notch adapted to mate with said base end whereby said inner roller in use and with hair wound thereon may be guided over said prong and said inner and outer roller ends brought flush and fully nested.

3. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein each roller includes a plurality of said notches and each outer roller having said guide clip means has said notches positioned on the respective roller end containing the closed end of said slot.

4. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 1 including a plurality of rollers constructed and adapted for assembly in the manner of said outer roller.

5. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said rollers is perforated and the respective axes of said rollers in addition to being parallel are also laterally offset.

6. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein said prong base end is formed in a manner adapted to space said prong laterally inwardly from the roller wall and said prong is formed integral with such wall.

Claims

1. A nesting hair curler assembly comprising, in combination: a. an inner open ended thin walled cylindrical roller of selected length and diameter and providing a substantially smooth rigid external wall surface adapted to have wound thereon and in a given direction a hair strand end portion in turns of relatively small radius and length; b. at least one outer open ended thin walled cylindrical roller of substantially the same said selected length but of relatively larger diameter than said inner roller diameter and providing a substantially smooth rigid external wall surface adapted to have wound thereon an immediately continuing portion of said strand, said outer roller having a longitudinally extending slot in the wall thereof open at one end of said outer roller and terminating with a closed end proximate the opposite end of said outer roller, the width of said slot being narrow and substantially less than said inner roller diameter; and c. guide clip means integral with said outer roller and adapted to guide said inner roller during nesting and to releasably secure said inner roller with said end portion turns wound thereon nesting within said outer roller in a non-rotatable relation and to provide a longitudinal line of securement immediately proximate said slot whereby said inner roller is placed with said end portion wound thereon in an approximate tangential relation to said outer roller when looked at endwise and such that the respective axes of said rollers are substantially parallel and the portion of said strand connecting said end and continuing portions resides in said slot whereby remaining portions of said strand may be wound on said outer roller in turns of larger radius and length than said inner roller turns.

2. A nesting hair curler assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said guide clip means comprises a resilient prong having a base end cantilevered at the closed end of said slot and extending for substantially the full length thereof and said inner roller has at least one notch adapted to mate with said base end whereby said inner roller in use and with hair wound thereon may be guided over said prong and said inner and outer roller ends brought flush and fully nested.