Hair brush applicator

• US 5,975,089 A
• Filed: 11/19/1998
• Issued: 11/02/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Joseph T. Simon
• Original Assignee: Joseph T. Simon
• Inventors: Simon, Joseph T
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, John J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DOAN, ROBYN KIEU
• Application Number:
  US09/195,951
• Time in Patent Office: 348 Days
• Field of Search: 132/113, 132/112, 132/219, 132/114, 132/116, 401/281, 401/28
• US Class Current: 132/113
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 24/26 with flexible walls of the liquid, paste, or powder storing device
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 11/0041 Flexible or deformable reservoirs, e.g. resilient bulbs, compressible tubes
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 11/0062 Brushes where the reservoir is specifically intended for being refilled when empty

Abstract

A hair brush applicator for applying flowable hair care products such as hair conditioner and styling gel to the hair of a user. The hair brush applicator includes a hair brush with a handle portion and a head portion. The handle portion of the hair brush has a chamber therein. The head portion of the hair brush has a plurality of bristles outwardly extending from the front face of the hair brush. The bristles of the head portion comprise a plurality of narrow bristles and a plurality of wide bristles. Each of the wide bristles is tubular and has an open root coupled to the head portion and terminates at a closed tip. The hair brush has a passage therein fluidly connecting the chamber adjacent the neck portion to the open roots of the wide bristles. Each of the wide bristles has a plurality of lateral apertures positioned between the root and tip of the respective wide bristle. The hair brush has a rotatably mounted disk blocking the passage of the hair brush. The disk has a plurality of bores therethrough. The disk is rotatable to permit selective alignment of each of the bores of the disk with the passage of the hair brush to fluidly connect the chamber to the wide bristles through the aligned bore.

Claims

1. An applicator for applying a flowable hair care product on the hair and scalp of a user, said applicator comprising:

a hair brush having front and back faces, a handle portion, and a head portion;

said handle portion of said hair brush having a chamber therein, said chamber of said handle portion being for holding a volume of a flowable hair care product therein;

said head portion of said hair brush having a plurality of bristles outwardly extending from said front face of said hair brush, said bristles of said head portion comprising a plurality of narrow bristles and a plurality of wide bristles;

each of said wide bristles being tubular and having an open root coupled to said head portion and terminating at a closed tip;

said hair brush having a passage therein fluidly connecting said chamber adjacent said neck portion to said open roots of said wide bristles, said passage being for permitting passage therethrough of flowable hair care product from said chamber into said wide bristles;

each of said wide bristles having a plurality of lateral apertures positioned between said root and tip of the respective wide bristle, said apertures being for permitting passage therethrough of flowable hair care product from inside the respective wide bristle to the exterior of the respective wide bristle;

said hair brush having a rotatably mounted disk blocking said passage of said hair brush to block passage of a flowable hair care product from said chamber to said wide bristles through said passage;

said disk having a plurality of bores therethrough, said disk being rotatable to permit selective alignment of each of said bores of said disk with said passage of said hair brush to fluidly connect said chamber to said wide bristles through the aligned bore; and

wherein said narrow bristles are arranged on said head portion in a grid shaped pattern having a plurality of rows and columns, said rows of said narrow bristles being extended generally parallel to one another, said columns of said narrow bristles being extended generally parallel to one another and generally perpendicular to said rows of narrow bristles.

2. The applicator of claim 1, wherein said hair brush has opposite proximal and distal ends, said handle portion being located adjacent said proximal end of said hair brush, said head portion being located adjacent said distal end of said hair brush.

3. The applicator of claim 2, wherein said proximal end of said hair brush having an opening into said chamber, said opening of said proximal end being for permitting filling of said chamber of said handle portion with flowable hair care product.

4. The applicator of claim 3, further comprising an end cap substantially closing said opening of said proximal end.

5. The applicator of claim 1, wherein said wide bristles are arranged on said head portion in a pair of columns extending generally parallel to said columns of said narrow bristles, a number of said columns of narrow bristles being interposed between said columns of said wide bristles.

8. The applicator of claim 1, wherein said hair brush has a constriction between said handle and head portions of said hair brush defining a neck portion of said hair brush, said disk being positioned in said neck portion of said hair brush.

9. The applicator of claim 1, wherein each of said bores has a diameter, said diameter of a first bore being greater than said diameters of a second bore and a third bore, said diameter of said second bore being greater than said diameter of third bore.

11. The applicator of claim 1, wherein said narrow and wide bristles each have a generally circular transverse cross section, each of said circular transverse cross sections of said bristles defining an outer diameter, wherein said outer diameters of said narrow bristles are about equal to one another, wherein said outer diameters of said wide bristles are about equal to one another, wherein said outer diameter of said wide bristle is greater than said outer diameter of said narrow bristle.

15. The applicator of claim 5, wherein said wide bristles are arranged on said head portion in a pair of columns extending generally parallel to said columns of said narrow bristles, a number of said columns of narrow bristles being interposed between said columns of said wide bristles.

6. The applicator of 5, wherein said narrow bristles are arranged on said head portion in a grid shaped pattern having a plurality of rows and columns, said rows of said narrow bristles being extended generally parallel to one another, said columns of said narrow bristles being extended generally parallel to one another and generally perpendicular to said rows of narrow bristles.

7. An applicator, comprising:

a hair brush having front and back faces, a handle portion, and a head portion;

said handle portion of said hair brush having a chamber therein, said chamber of said handle portion being for holding a volume of a flowable hair care product therein;

said head portion of said hair brush having a plurality of bristles outwardly extending from said front face of said hair brush, said bristles of said head portion comprising a plurality of narrow bristles and a plurality of wide bristles;

each of said wide bristles being tubular and having an open root coupled to said head portion and terminating at a closed tip;

said hair brush having a passage therein fluidly connecting said chamber adjacent said neck portion to said open roots of said wide bristles, said passage being for permitting passage therethrough of flowable hair care product from said chamber into said wide bristles;

each of said wide bristles having a plurality of lateral apertures positioned between said root and tip of the respective wide bristle, said apertures being for permitting passage therethrough of flowable hair care product from inside the respective wide bristle to the exterior of the respective wide bristle;

said hair brush having a rotatably mounted disk blocking said passage of said hair brush to block passage of a flowable hair care product from said chamber to said wide bristles through said passage;

said disk having a plurality of bores therethrough, said disk being rotatable to permit selective alignment of each of said bores of said disk with said passage of said hair brush to fluidly connect said chamber to said wide bristles through the aligned bore; and

wherein said narrow and wide bristles each have a generally circular transverse cross section, each of said circular transverse cross sections of said bristles defining an outer diameter, wherein said outer diameters of said narrow bristles are about equal to one another, wherein said outer diameters of said wide bristles are about equal to one another, wherein said outer diameter of said wide bristle is greater than said outer diameter of said narrow bristle.

12. The applicator of claim 7, wherein said hair brush has opposite proximal and distal ends, said handle portion being located adjacent said proximal end of said hair brush, said head portion being located adjacent said distal end of said hair brush.

13. The applicator of claim 12, wherein said proximal end of said hair brush having an opening into said chamber, said opening of said proximal end being for permitting filling of said chamber of said handle portion with flowable hair care product.

14. The applicator of claim 13, further comprising an end cap substantially closing said opening of said proximal end.

16. The applicator of claim 7, wherein said hair brush has a constriction between said handle and head portions of said hair brush defining a neck portion of said hair brush, said disk being positioned in said neck portion of said hair brush.

17. The applicator of claim 7, wherein each of said bores has a diameter, said diameter of a first bore being greater than said diameters of a second bore and a third bore, said diameter of said second bore being greater than said diameter of third bore.

10. An applicator for applying a flowable hair care product on the hair and scalp of a user, said applicator comprising:

a hair brush having opposite proximal and distal ends, front and back faces, a handle portion located adjacent said proximal end of said hair brush, and a head portion located adjacent said distal end of said hair brush, said hair brush having a longitudinal axis extending between said proximal and distal ends of said hair brush;

said hair brush having a constriction between said handle and head portions of said hair brush defining a neck portion of said hair brush;

said handle portion of said hair brush having a chamber therein, said chamber of said handle portion being for holding a volume of a flowable hair care product therein;

said proximal end of said hair brush having an opening into said chamber, said opening of said proximal end being for permitting filling of said chamber of said handle portion with flowable hair care product;

an end cap substantially closing said opening of said proximal end;

said hair brush having an exterior threaded region around said opening of said proximal end, said end cap having an interior threaded region being threaded onto said exterior threaded region of said hair brush to threadably couple said end cap to said proximal end of said hair brush;

said end cap having a grooved exterior surface for proving a frictionally enhanced surface with respect to a substantially smooth surface for aiding turning of said end cap on said proximal end of said hair brush to tighten and loosen said end cap from said exterior threaded region of said hair brush;

said head portion of said hair brush having a plurality of bristles outwardly extending from said front face of said hair brush, said bristles of said head portion comprising a plurality of narrow bristles and a plurality of wide bristles;

each of said narrow bristles having a root coupled to said head portion and terminating at a tip;

each of said narrow bristles having a longitudinal axis extending between said root and tip of the respective narrow bristle, said longitudinal axes of said narrow bristles being extended generally parallel to one another and generally perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of said hair brush;

said narrow bristles being arranged on said head portion in a grid shaped pattern having a plurality of rows and columns;

said rows of said narrow bristles being extended generally parallel to one another and generally perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of said hair brush;

said columns of said narrow bristles being extended generally parallel to one another and generally perpendicular to said rows of narrow bristles;

said narrow bristles being spaced apart at generally equal intervals in said columns of narrow bristles;

each of said wide bristles being tubular and having an open root coupled to said head portion and terminating at a closed tip;

each of said wide bristles having a longitudinal axis extending between said root and tip of the respective wide bristle, said longitudinal axes of said wide bristles being extended generally parallel to one another and generally perpendicular to said longitudinal axis of said hair brush;

said narrow and wide bristles each having a generally circular transverse cross section generally perpendicular to longitudinal axis of the respective bristle, each of said circular transverse cross sections of said bristles defining an outer diameter, wherein said outer diameters of said narrow bristles are about equal to one another, wherein said outer diameters of said wide bristles are about equal to one another, wherein said outer diameter of said wide bristle is greater than said outer diameter of said narrow bristle;

said wide bristles being arranged on said head portion in a pair of columns extending generally parallel to said columns of said narrow bristles, a number of said columns of narrow bristles being interposed between said columns of said wide bristles, wherein said number of said columns of narrow bristles comprises three columns of narrow bristles;

said wide bristles being spaced apart at generally equal intervals in said columns of wide bristles;

said hair brush having a passage therein fluidly connecting said chamber adjacent said neck portion to said open roots of said wide bristles, said passage being for permitting passage therethrough of flowable hair care product from said chamber into said wide bristles;

each of said wide bristles having a plurality of lateral apertures positioned between said root and tip of the respective wide bristle, said apertures being for permitting passage therethrough of flowable hair care product from inside the respective wide bristle to the exterior of the respective wide bristle;

said hair brush having a rotatably mounted disk blocking said passage of said hair brush to block passage of a flowable hair care product from said chamber to said wide bristles through said passage;

said disk being positioned in said neck portion of said hair brush;

said disk having a plurality of bores therethrough, said disk being rotatable to permit selective alignment of each of said bores of said disk with said passage of said hair brush to fluidly connect said chamber to said wide bristles through the aligned bore;

each of said bores having a diameter, said diameter of a first bore being greater than said diameters of a second bore and a third bore, said diameter of said second bore being greater than said diameter of third bore; and

said handle portion having a flexible bellows region outwardly extending from said front face of said hair brush, said flexible bellows portion forming a portion of said chamber of said handle portion, said flexible bellows region permitting squeezing of said handle portion between said front and back faces of said hair brush to compress the size of said chamber to force a flowable hair care product in said chamber through said passage of said hair brush.