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US 4,784,713 AGranted
Apparatus and method for forming hairpieces
OwnerGilbert F. Van Nieulandeinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Appartus and method for forming hairpieces including a plurality of tubes through which hair strands are passed and curl is applied to the strands. The lower ends of the strands are brought into contact with an alignment plate and, when all of the hair strands contact the plate, the plate is removed out of the path of the strands and the strands are moved into bonding contact with a membrane, the upper ends of the hair strands being cut to a predetermined length.
Claims18
Apparatus for forming a hairpiece comprising:
- a plurality of space elongated hollow tubes mounted on a support, each of said tubes having an upper coiled end and a lower straight end;
- heating means associated with the upper half of said coiled ends for applying heat thereto;
- cooling means associated with the lower half of said coiled ends for applying cooling air thereto;
- strand feed means on said support disposed above the upper ends of said hollow tubes associated with each of said tubes for feeding an elongated strand of a synthetic hair material down through each of said tubes;
- cutting means disposed at the lower ends of said tubes having apertures therein coaxially aligned with the longitudinal axis of said tubes thereby allowing strands passing through said tubes to pass through said apertures and past said cutting means, said cutting means including cutting blades thereon adapted to cut said strands when said strands have moved therepast;
- and
- mold means disposed below said cutting means in the path of the lower ends of said tubes for retaining thereon a substrate conforming to the contour of the scalp of a hairpiece wearer whereby an adhesive surface may be applied to said substrate and strands of said material may be brought into contact with said substrate and molecularly bond thereto.
4 more elements
In a method for forming a hairpiece comprising the steps of:
- determining the degree of curl, length, color and density of the normal hair of the recipient of the hairpiece;
- determining the pattern and dimensions of the portion of the scalp of the recipient of the hairpiece that it is desired to cover;
- placing a flexible ultra-thin membrane substantially conforming to the predetermined dimension having an adhesive surface on one side thereof normally covered by a removable nonadhesive material between a mold and a pair of overlapping apertured plates having cutting edges surrounding said apertures with the apertures in one of said plates being normally coaxially aligned with the apertures in the other of said plates;
- passing a plurality of elongated strands of synthetic fiber conforming to said predetermined color and density through a plurality of elongated tubes having coiled upper ends, said tubes having openings therethrough coaxially aligned with overlapping ones of said aligned apertures in said plates;
- applying an amount of heat related to said predetermined degree of curl to the coiled upper ends of said tubes while passing said strands therethrough;
- applying an amount of cooling related to said predetermined degree of curl to the lower portions of said coiled upper ends thereby curling the same and effecting immediate molecular bonding to said membrane when said strands contact said membrane;
- moving said mold in a plurality of directions while bringing said strands into contact with said membrane thereon for bonding said strands to said membrane in accordance with a first portion of said predetermined pattern;
- varying the distance between the mold and the overlapping plates in accordance with the predetermined length of said hair;
- and
- moving at least one of said overlapping plates laterally to cut said strands when the distance between adjacent surfaces of said overlapping plates and the surface of said membrane having said strands bonded thereto reaches said predetermined length.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.