March 25, 1952 FARRELL 2,590,166
DEVICE FOR MAKING FLAT CURLS Filed Feb. 6, 1950 INVENTOR.
AN/VAEPARRELL Lf/w jW ATTORNEYa Patented Mar. 25, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.
This invention relates to devices for making loose flat curls of hair for foundations for waves on heads.
In modern styles of hair dressing it is desirable to provide a multiplicity of soft waves thereof commencing adjacent the scalp and hanging in dependently over the head. Various devices and attempts have been made for winding curls of hair tightly and retaining the same in such tight condition until the curls have been set, as indicated by Patents 2,102,687, and 2,178,748, granted to meon December 21, 1937, and November '7, 1939, respectively.
It has been found that waves of greater beauty and permanency-can be produced from curls of loose construction and set in loosely coiled tresses free from internal frames which tend to break and misshape the hair. It is therefore among the objects of this invention to provide improvements over my said Letters Patents and over other known structures whereby loosely coiled fiat curls may be provided for foundations for permanent hair waves.
Another object is to provide devices formed integral of relatively thin flexible material such as plastic or metal wire, which may be disposed adjacent to the scalp and tresses of hair wound thereover, and thereupon allowed to expand slightly for looseness and the tresses then sustained in fiat positions until set in rosette shapes, to be later combed out into waves.
A particular object is to provide such devices of simple and economical construction so that a multiplicity thereof may be simultaneously applied to heads of hair at relatively slight expense, and with a high degree of efficiency. Such devices include a shoulder member having a pair of arms extended from the ends thereof for a rack on which hair may be wound, and shaped, together with a neck extended from the shoulder centrally between the arms, having a head beyond the arms for winding tips of the hair and means for sustaining the coils of hair in flattened shapes until set into waves.
With these and other objects to be hereinafter stated, I have illustrated an example of my invention by the accompanying drawings of which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a preferred form of the device from relatively thin plastic material. Figure 2 is a similar view of the device with a tress of hair partially wound around the arms, while held by a finger and thumb. Figure 3 is a similar view of the device with a tress of hair completely wound over the arms and head and the arms drawn inward conically for different sizes of coils of the hair. Figure 4 is a similar view of the device being withdrawn from the coils of hair by thumb and finger of one hand and a section of the curl retained in position by thumb of the other hand. Figure 5 is a view of the device overturned with the arms over one side of the curl and the neck under the same, for retaining the coils of hair in loose curls to be set. Figures 6 and '7 are views of a similar device formed from wire.
Like characters on the different figures represent like parts. Numeral It refers to a base or shoulder for operation, having arms II and I2 extended forwardly from the ends thereof, at substantially right angles to the shoulder but sloping normally inward toward each other to provide a rack on which the hair may be wound, preferably in selected tresses beginning adjacent to the scalp indicated at A, the first fold indicated as B below the arms and continued as overlapping folds C. A neck member I3 is extended from the center of the shoulder forwardly between the arms, and beyond the same a relatively short distance being enlarged into a head l4 around which the tip ends D of the tresses or coils of hair may be wound into relatively small curls to provide the central coils in finished fiat curls.
The outer ends of the arms are provided with inwardly inclined detents l5 and i6 respectively, which have a backward slope H on the front for guiding coils of hair backward from the head upon the neck, and also have an internalforward slope 18 for retaining the coils of hair in position around the neck. Normally the points of the detents lie adjacent to edges of the neck, but when the tresses are drawn tightly around the arms they bend inward to provide a cone shown in Fig. 3 to form rings of hair or varying width decreasing from the base to the head to form a fiat curl, meantime the detents slide over or under the relatively thin neck to permit the inclination of the arms.
In operation, the respective tresses or locks of hair are selected and when completely wound around the device as shown in Fig. 3, the operator with thumb and finger E and F grasps the base and withdraws the arms from the coils, and the surrounding coils assume a flat position H which is maintained by the thumb E of the other hand, while the head remains centrally in the coils which latter are also retarded from sliding therefrom by indents Ma adjacent the point of the head, The operator thereupon upsets the device or reverses the direction of the arms and neck and slides the head and neck under one portion of the coils H and slides the arms over the same portions as shown in Fig. 5. When the detents have expanded or withdrawn from interlocking with the neck as the coils were removed therefrom, the normal position of the detents and slopes l8 thereon resumes and prevent the flat coils of hair from sliding from the flattened position between the neck and arms. Said neck and arms then serve as clamps sufficiently to maintain the coils therebetween in loose flat curls or rosette shapes until the hair sets in such shapes. This setting is generally aided by liquid solutions applied thereto, and the looseness of the coils facilitates rapid drying after which the curls are preferably combed out and form soft waves. The neck being narrower than the head permits the end or tip curls to loosen up when pressed back on the neck to form the central coils of the rosette, and the coils automatically expand around the tips to complete the rosette on a different plane than when first formed on the arms.
Illustrated in Figures 6 and 7 are devices similar to those of preceding figures, except that the material of the Figures 6 and '7 is metal wire bent into like shapes, and in some instances preferred for rapid drying of heavy tresses because of the spaces between the wires. Like parts as in other figures are given like numerals followed by distinguishing prime marks, except that the indents in the head are designated by M. The wire head provides separated rails i 9 under which the points of the detents may be slipped and slightly retained in such positions by grooves indicated as '20 across the sloping ends of the detents. This feature is sometimes useful in retaining the devices over the finished curls while being dried out or in sleeping hours in contact with pillows.
I have thus explained the special uses and benefits of my device to show relative importance of the relatively few parts, and
Having described my invention I claim as new for Letters Patent is:
A device for shaping and setting curls of hair on heads, including, a shoulder member, a neck member extended centrally from the shoulder at right angles thereto for a spindle for winding hair and for sustaining hair thereon and having an indent around the same adjacent to the extremity thereof for temporarily preventing coils of hair from escaping from the same in operation and having side rails in spaced relation behind the indent, a pair of arms extended from the ends of the shoulder and conically disposed toward the side rails to provide a frame for Winding locks of hair thereover for shaping flat curls and for retaining the curls within the arms for setting the curls, the extremities of the arms having detents normally and flexibly disposed adjacent to the rails of the neck and having grooves along the detents in alinement to the rails for latching beneath the rails for securing the curls of hair within the arms for setting the curls in desired shapes as formed.
ANNA E, FARRELL.
REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:
UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 538,830 Hasenauer May 7, 1895 1,337,039 Bruder Apr. 13, 1920 2,272,409 Johnson Feb. 10, 1942 2,337,786 Wasserman Dec. 28, 1943 2,352,419 Van Housen June 27, 1944