Hair braider

An assembly for braiding selected clusters of similar length filaments such as hair, while the filaments are held at one end thereof and the braid formed thereby is progressively extended toward a free end of the filaments transiently held by the assembly, said assembly comprising in combination:

• at least three open-top tubes each adapted to yieldingly retain a cluster of said filaments extending thereinto from said one end, a housing having a group of individually slidable holders disposed therein, each adapted for holding one of said tubes, slide track and guide means for said holders located within the housing and defining a composite path formed by a pair of oppositely directed, closed loops having a common stretch, each loop extending in a different direction from an exit position of the stretch back to an entry position at the opposite end thereof, said stretch having space for holding in single file one holder more than the total number of said group of holders,
• said slide track and guide means including a central, upwardly bifurcate, fixed post having a pair of upstanding, outwardly arcuate arms, laterally spaced apart to form a slide channel for said holders therebetween, which channel forms an intermediate portion of said common stretch of the composite path, said composite path having a laterally extending guide shoulder and a corresponding slideway for engaging the same, one carried by individual holders and the other disposed along said composite path, said holders being individually pivotal along an upstanding axis so as to accommodate twisting and untwisting of a filament cluster held therein,
• and a pair of transverse guide disks spaced apart within the housing lengthwise to the post and connected together for joint reciprocable movement, selectively clockwise and counterclockwise about the post, each of said disks being formed with a similar cut-out pattern coextensive with the length of said common stretch and laterally bulged intermediate its ends conforming to the outer curvature of said arms,
• means responsive to movement of a holder to the entry position of said stretch from either of said loops, when the remaining holders of said group are in single file along the stretch immediate ahead thereof, for moving the whole group of holders along the stretch, thereby locating a forward holder of the group at the exit position and vacating the entry position of the stretch,
• and shift means for selectively moving successive holders from said exit position along alternate loops of said path to the entry position by reciprocable movement of said guide disks within the cut-out patterns of which said group of holders are retained, thereby braiding together the several clusters of filaments extending from the tubes which are carried by the holders.