Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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HAIR REMOVAL MEMBRANE FOR HAIRBRUSH
TECHNICAL FIELD
foooil The present invention relates to a hair-cleaning
screen for the removal of hair from a hairbrush of the type
having bristles projecting from a bristle-holding surface of
a head of the brush.
BACKGROUND ART
fooo2l U.S. Patent No. 5,600,865 describes a hairbrush
having a cleaning feature to remove hair from the bristles
of a hairbrush. In that device, there is described the use
of a rigid cleaning plate having holes through which the
bristles can extend whereby to position the plate over the
bristle-holding surface of the brush. A disadvantage of
such device is that it is necessary to precisely align all
the bristles with all the holes in the plate in order to
position the plate over the bristle-holding surface. This
particular device is specifically adapted to a specific type
of brush where there are few bristles and wherein the
bristles are rigid so that the plate can be positioned over
the bristle-holding surface. If the bristles become bent,
then it is very difficult, if not impossible to position the
plate over the bristles. The plate can also not be adapted
to brushes having differently oriented bristles or a great
many bristles. Accordingly, this hair-cleaning device is
not practical.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
fooo3~ It is a feature of the present invention to
provide a hair-cleaning screen for the removal of hair from
a hairbrush and wherein the cleaning screen is adaptable to
all types of brushes regardless of the number or orientation
of the bristles, and wherein the screen is easy to use,
inexpensive to fabricate, and which is effective in the
removal of hair from the bristles of a hairbrush.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
fooo4l A preferred embodiment of the present invention
will now be described with reference to the accompanying
drawings in which:
fooo5) FIGURE 1A is a plan view of the hair-cleaning
screen of the present invention;
fooos) FIGURE 1B is an enlarged view showing the
loosely woven fibers which are retained across the opening
of the membrane;
Iooo~) FIGURE 2 is a section view showing a preferred
embodiment of the construction of the hair-cleaning screen
of the present invention;
(0008) FIGURE 3 is a plan view showing the hair-
cleaning screen positioned over the head of a hairbrush;
(0009) FIGURE 4 is a rear view of the hairbrush shown
an embodiment of the attachment means to retain the screen
about the brush head;
tooio) FIGURE 5 is a view similar to Figure 3, but
showing a different configuration of the hair-cleaning
screen, wherein the screen is provided with tabs for ease of
placement and removal over the bristles of a hairbrush; and
f0o11) FIGURE 6 is an end view showing a rigid type of
membrane removably positioned about the head of a hairbrush.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
tool2) Referring now to the drawings, and more
particularly to Figures 1A and 1B, there is shown generally
at 10 the hair-cleaning screen of the present invention for
the removal of hair from the bristles of a hairbrush, as
will be described later on. The hair-cleaning screen 10 has
a membrane 11 provided with an opening 12, which is
dimensioned to receive bristles of a hairbrush therethrough.
A plurality of loosely woven fibers 13 are retained by the
membrane and extend entirely across the opening 12.
tooi3l As herein shown, the membrane is provided with
opposed wings 14 and 14', dimensioned to encircle the head
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17 of a hairbrush. Attachment means in the form of a tacky
adhesive coating 15 is provided along an edge of the wing 14
and is protected by a silicone liner 16, which is discarded
to expose the adhesive. When the wings 14 and 14' are
folded about the head 17 of a hairbrush 18, as illustrated
in Figure 4, the edge containing the adhesive is folded over
the other wing 14' to secure to the edge of the opposed
wing 14'.
Iooi41 With additional reference now to Figures 2 to 6,
it can be seen that, in this particular embodiment, the
membrane 11 consists of a top fabric layer 19, a middle
layer 20, which consists of a screen of loosely woven
fibers, as shown in Figure 1B, and a back fabric layer 21.
The top and back fabric layers are provided with aligned
openings 12 and are glued together so that the center
loosely woven fabric layer 20 extends across the
openings 12.
fool5~ As shown in Figure 3, when in use, the membrane
11 is pushed over the bristles 22 of the head 17 of the
hairbrush 18 and down to the bristle-holding surface 25 of
the brush head 17'. When doing so, all of the bristles find
their way through the sheet of loosely woven fibers for the
reason that the fibers are freely displaceable, and
therefore all of the bristles extend through the opening 12.
The wings 14 and 14' are then wrapped around the head and
secured on the back side, as shown in Figure 4. The brush
can now be used and, when excessive hair 23 collects about
the bristles and it is time to clean the hair therefrom, it
is simply necessary to detach the wings from the rear of the
brush and to remove the hair-cleaning screen 10 from the
brush head. When doing so, the hair 23 is removed from
between the bristles by the loosely woven fibers pushing the
hair away from the bristles. The wings also permit the
screen to be grasped between the fingers and folded with the
hair trapped between the wings and then discarded.
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fools It is pointed out that an important feature of
the hair-cleaning screen is the fact that the plurality of
woven fibers are loosely woven, permitting the fibers to
move and find their way about the bristles as they are
pushed through the screen. These fibers may be cotton,
polyester, nylon or any other blend or other type of fiber
suitable for use with the present invention. The hairbrush
can be any type of brush for brushing human hair or animal
hair, or for any other use. With the loosely woven fibers,
it is pointed out that every fiber is independent and can
move up and down, left and right. It can fit easily over
the individual bristles of a hairbrush and penetrate to the
holding surface 25 without damage to the bristles or to the
loosely woven fiber screen. The top and bottom layers of
the membrane, as shown in Figure 2, may be layers made from
ViscoseTM (interlining) and thermally bonded together with
waterproof glue . A screen could also be glued on a single
support layer.
fool) Figure 5 shows another embodiment wherein the
wings 30 and 30' are not provided with any attachment means
and are merely left loose over the brush, and these project
sufficiently to provide finger-engaging means to remove the
hair-cleaning screen 10' from the head of the brush 18'.
foo~sl Figure 6 is a cross-section view illustrating a
still further embodiment of the present invention and
wherein the membrane is herein shown as a rigid membrane 11'
made of plastic material and provided with opposed wings 40
and 40' capable of flexing about the head 17' of the
hairbrush 18" . The loosely woven fiber material is simply
glued to the back side of the plastic membrane and extends
over the opening 12' thereof. This type of support would
have limited application to certain types of hairbrush
heads.
fooi9l It is within the ambit of the present invention
to cover any obvious modifications of the preferred
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embodiment described herein, provided such modifications
fall within the scope of the appended claims.
