Weftlock for hair styling and wig assemblies

Abstract

A hairstyling weftlock is provided which consists of a narrow band having opposing ends consisting of a locking mechanism at one end and a threading portion. Upon threading the threading portion through the locking mechanism, the locking mechanism is able to secure the threading portion at a desired length along the threading portion. The weftlock of the current invention may satisfy a connective function in the fabrication of a wig assembly or may be utilized to sheave strands of hair of a hairstyle client by connecting wefts of hair to other hair, including human hair and hair styled in braids, twists or cornrows and wig assembly cornrows, as well as facilitate the installation of braid extensions.

Claims

1. A weftlock comprising: a locking mechanism having a rectangular through opening with a pawl positioned thereon, the locking mechanism having a proximal end opposite a distal end, where the distal end of the locking mechanism defines a distal end of the weftlock; a threading portion integrally extending from the proximal end of the locking mechanism, the threading portion having a rectangular cross-sectional dimensioned slightly smaller than the through opening in the locking mechanism, and a needle end extending from a proximal end of the threading portion, opposite the locking mechanism, where the needle end tapers to a point; wherein the point of the needle end is sharpened and the needle end is made of a metallic composition to facilitate manually threading the weftlock through a cornrow and/or fabric weave, and the threading portion is made of a composite material different than the metallic composition of the needle end; wherein during use, the needle end is threaded through the opening of the locking mechanism and the threaded portion is advanced through the opening of the locking mechanism to form an adjustable loop.

2. The weftlock according to claim 1, the locking mechanism and the threading portion are composed of an elastomeric material.

3. The weftlock according to claim 1, wherein the needle end is asymmetrically sharpened by being transversely offset from a centerline of the threading portion whereby the weftlock is configured to adaptively connect wefts to natural hair.

4. The weftlock according to claim 1, wherein the needle end is doubly asymmetric by being laterally offset form a threading portion centerline and having differing angles from side to side.

5. The weftlock according to claim 1, wherein said weftlock has protrusions taken from a group of axially spaced projections or radial rims, such protrusions or radial rims extending beyond the cross-sectional dimension of the threading portion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of a fabrication of a wig assembly according to the present invention that includes a cap, a hairpiece such as a human or artificial hair weft, and a weftlock;

(2) FIG. 2 is a view from the side rear perspective of the wig assembly shown in FIG. 1;

(3) FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of an alternate preferred embodiment wig assembly according to the present invention having a cap that additionally has cornrows;

(4) FIG. 4 is a side perspective view of an inventive weftlock of the present invention;

(5) FIG. 5 is a partial top elevational view of a threading portion of a weftlock shown in FIG. 4;

(6) FIG. 6 is a side schematic view of a mannequin head utilized in the wig fabrication assembly according to the present invention;

(7) FIG. 7 is a rear schematic view of the mannequin head shown in FIG. 6;

(8) FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a hairstyle client having braid extensions utilizing the weftlock shown in FIG. 4;

(9) FIG. 9 is a rear perspective view of a hairstyle client showing preparation for braid extensions utilizing the weftlock of FIG. 4 on sheave strands of hair;

(10) FIG. 10 is a rear perspective view of the hairstyle client shown in FIG. 9 after braid extensions have been applied to the sheaves of hair strands shown in FIG. 8.

(11) FIG. 11 is a side perspective view similar to that of FIG. 4 of an alternate preferred embodiment elastomeric weftlock of the present invention;

(12) FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a threading portion of the weftlock shown in FIG. 11 prior to a threading operation;

(13) FIG. 13 is partial view of an alternate preferred embodiment elastomeric weftlock shown in FIG. 12; and

(14) FIG. 14 is a view similar to that of FIG. 5 of an alternate preferred embodiment weftlock having a composite threading portion with a needle end with an asymmetrical end tip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(15) The following description of the preferred embodiment(s) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application or uses.

(16) Referring to FIGS. 1 through 7, a wig assembly production apparatus 7 is provided. The wig production apparatus 7 has a mannequin head 10. The mannequin head 10 has a crown for positioning a cap 16 of a wig assembly 20. The cap 16 of the wig assembly 20 is typically provided by a semi-mesh fabric material and often has a form of elasticity or elastic band 17 adjacent its peripheral edge. When in use, the cap 16 is fitted on the crown of a wearer's head. The cap 16 can optionally be provided with cornrows 8. As used herein, the term cornrow 8 refers to braided hair that is oriented along the scalp rather than braided hair that projects away from the scalp, or braided hair that is oriented along the cap 16 rather than projecting away from the cap 16. The cap 16 provides a base structure for hair positioned on the wig assembly 20. In FIGS. 1 through 3, the cap 16 is shown without top hair for clarity of illustration. The hair attached to the cap 16 may be human hair or may consist of a synthetic material. The hair may be attached to the cap 16 by a plurality of means such as knotting, twisting or braiding the hair, or with the assistance of clips, flexible bands, sewing, an adhesive technique, or as in techniques explained hereinafter.

(17) Connected preferably along a cornrow 8 of the cap 16 of the wig assembly 20 is at least one hairpiece such as a sheave 92 of hair strands, a braid, or a weft 30. The weft 30 is fabricated from strands of hairs that are joined to one another at one extreme end of each of the strands of hairs by a fabric weave 31. The hair of the weft 30 may be human hair or synthetic hair. Typically, a plurality of wefts 30 is used to complete the wig assembly 20. The use of wefts 30 allows a plurality of wig assembly 20 sizes or styles to share a common cap 16. For a wig assembly 20 styled into a short hairstyle, the weft 30 has shorter hair. For a wig assembly 20 styled into a long hairstyle, the weft 30 has longer hair. Additionally, wefts 30 can be changed to provide the wig assembly 20 with different hair textures, curl intensity, color(s) or density while still retaining the common cap 16.

(18) Connecting one or more wefts 30 to the cap 16 requires at least one, and often a plurality of, weftlocks 60. A weftlock 60 is provided by the nature of a cable-lock type connector. A preferred embodiment of the weftlock 60 is fabricated from a molded polymeric material such as polyethylene, platinum silicone, silicone rubber, bioplastics and nylon, as well as bamboo, beeswax-coated fabric, elastomeric material and other suitable materials. While other sizes can be used for functional and decorative purposes, as shown in FIG. 4, the weftlock 60 is a narrow band (preferably 1.3 mm or less) having a block shaped locking mechanism 62. The locking mechanism 62 has a rectangular through opening 66 with a pawl positioned thereon (typically internally).

(19) Integrally extending from, and opposite of, the locking mechanism 62 is a planar threading portion 64. The threading portion 64 has a preferable width of 1.3 mm or less and a length of 60 mm or less. The threading portion 64, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, has a rectangular cross section slightly smaller than the through opening 66 in the locking mechanism 62. Along the threading portion 64 major cross-sectional dimension, the threading portion 64 has a rack segment formed by protrusions, depressions or apertures in the threading portion 64 for engagement with the pawl of the locking mechanism 62.

(20) The threading portion 64 of the weftlock 60 has a needle end 63 formed into a sharpened tip in order to enhance the effectiveness of the weftlock 60. Preferably the sharpened tip of the needle end 63 of the threading portion 64 has a radius of curvature smaller than 0.2 mm. Threading the needle end 63 of the threading potion 64 through the through end 65 of the through opening 66 in the locking mechanism 62 secures the weftlock threading portion 64 at a desired position along the threading portion 64 to form an adjustable length loop 61 captively connecting the weft 30 to the cap 16. A height of the locking mechanism 62 is preferably less than four times a height of the weftlock threading portion 64.

(21) The needle end 63 of the threading portion 64 of the weftlock 60 facilitates threading the threading portion 64 of the weftlock 60 through hair, as well as threading the threading portion 64 of the weftlock 60 through the locking mechanism 62 via the through opening 66. Additionally, the needle end 63 of the threading portion 64 can be utilized to form and penetrate a perforation 72 in the cap 16. Optionally, the needle end 63 can also be utilized to thread the threading portion 64 through the fabric weave 31 of the weft 30. The cap 16 optionally can have a series of preformed slots or perforations to facilitate penetration of the weftlock threading portion 64 through the cap 16 material.

(22) In the embodiment shown in FIG. 14, a weftlock 60 with a composite threading portion 64 has a needle end 63 made of a differing cellulosic, polymeric or metallic material to that of the remainder of the threading portion 64. The needle end 63 forms a sharpened tip 177 in order to enhance the effectiveness of the weftlock 160. Optionally the tip 177 can be formed asymmetrically by being transversely offset from a centerline of the threading portion 64. The asymmetric nature of the tip 177 can also be supplied by the angle of the tip 177 differing from side to side. For instance, a side angle can be 45 degrees while the other tip 177 angle can be 30 degrees or even zero degree. The tip 177 may be doubly asymmetric by being laterally offset from a threading portion 64 centerline and having differing angles from side to side.

(23) FIGS. 11-13 illustrate an alternative embodiment weftlock 260 wherein the weftlock 260 is fabricated from an elastomeric material and the threading portion 264 has protrusions taken from a group of axially spaced projections 267 (FIG. 13) or radial rims 265 (FIG. 12). Upon inserting the threading portion 264 of the weftlock 260 into the locking mechanism 262 of the weftlock 260, the needle end 264 adheres to the locking mechanism 262.

(24) The mannequin head 10 can have symbolic, color, surface, protrusions, or depression markings 12 to aid the wig assembly 20 assembler to properly position the cap 16 of a predetermined style or size on the mannequin head 10. In similar manner, the cap 16 may have symbolic or color marking to coordinate with the markings of the mannequin head 10. Further, the mannequin head 10 can have symbolic, color, surface, protrusions, or depression markings 13 to aid the wig assembly 20 assembler to properly position the weft 30 in relationship to the cap 16, and to also designate proper locations wherein weftlocks 60 should be utilized to connect the weft 30 to the cap 16. Furthermore, the mannequin head 10 can have depressions 14 that redirect the needle end 63 of the weftlock threading portion 64 outward to encircle the fabric portion of the weft 30 to the cap 16.

(25) In operation, the wig assembler places the cap 16 on a wig wearer's head or on a mannequin head 10. The wig assembler will inspect the alignment of the wig assembly 20 on the mannequin head 10 or the wearer's head. The wig assembler will then align the weft 30 in a manner consistent with the cap 16. Then, the wig assembler will utilize the weftlocks 60 (of the desired color, and decorative or ornamental design) to connect the wefts 30 to the cap 16. Thereafter, generally, the wig fabricator or beautician will utilize some type of cutting tool to remove any length of the threading portion 64 of the weftlock 60 considered access. The process is repeated until the desired hairstyle is achieved.

(26) Referring to FIG. 3, the weftlock 60 can be utilized to attach a weft 30 to a cornrow 8 of a hairstyle client or to a cornrow 8 of the wig cap 16. The needle end 64 of the weftlock 60 can be used to penetrate the cornrow 8 or to go under the cornrow 8 to secure the weft 30 to a hairstyle client's cornrow 8 or to a cornrow 8 of a wig cap 16. The needle end 63 of the weftlock threading portion 64 can also penetrate the fabric weave 31 of the weft 30 or can encircle the fabric weave 31 when securing the weft 30 to the cornrow 8.

(27) In still another application employing the inventive weftlock 60 of the present invention shown in FIGS. 7-9, hair strands (hair shafts) are separated into sections such as squares or blocks. Weftlocks 60 are utilized to collect hair strands into sheaves 92 (best shown in FIGS. 9 and 10). The sheaves 92 are then interwoven with hair extensions such as a braid extension 94 of the Fulani type. (See FIGS. 8 and 10 for two examples). An advantage of the use of the weftlocks 60 in forming the sheaves 92 is that the weftlocks 60 do not have the degree of expansion as the prior art of rubber bands. The firmness of the weftlock 60 reduces the frequency the hairstyle client must return to the hair salon for a hairstyle touch-up. By way of example, use of the weftlock 60 reduces the need to retighten braid extensions.

(28) The description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention.