Hair accessory holder

Abstract

A hair accessory holder for removably storing at least one hair accessory comprising: a mounting plate; an arm hingedly connected to the mounting plate, the arm having a stop opposing the hinged connection, the stop adapted to allow the at least one hair accessory to be removably stored on the arm, the arm having a first position and a second position, the arm substantially parallel to the mounting plate and the stop adjacent the mounting plate, when the arm is in the first position, the arm substantially perpendicular to the mounting plate, when the arm is in the second position; means for releasably holding the arm in the first position, when the stop is adjacent the mounting plate. The hair accessory holder facilitates storage, display, access, and retrieval of hair accessories, hair bands, elastic hair ties, barrettes, spring loaded accessories, and the like in a quick, convenient, and efficient manner.

Description

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/550,288, filed Mar. 5, 2004.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to accessory holders and more particularly to hair accessory holders.

2. Background Art

Devices for holding hair accessories, personal grooming aids, clothing, and the like have been known. These devices are typically directed to storing and displaying such articles. In particular, devices for storing and displaying elastic hair ties, hair bands, or elastic hair accessories, nicknamed “scrunchies”, “twisters”, “bunchies”, and the like, may aid storage and display of such hair accessories, but do not allow for storage and display of a number of such items, without tangling, and typically do not facilitate quick mounting and/or removal of the elastic hair ties, hair bands, and/or elastic hair accessories to and/or from the device. These devices may also be used to store and display barrettes and other accessories.

These elastic hair accessories, elastic hair ties, and hair bands are generally placed one on top of the other, resulting in certain items being hidden from view and requiring searching and/or digging to obtain the desired items of interest. Upon finding the elastic hair ties, hair bands, and/or elastic hair accessories, the items may be tangled one with the other, making it difficult to remove from the device once found. As such, it is often difficult to find and retrieve the desired items of interest quickly, making search and retrieval of the elastic hair ties, hair bands, and/or elastic hair accessories often a time consuming and frustrating task. If barrettes and/or spring loaded hair accessories are stored on the device along with the elastic hair accessories, hair bands, and/or elastic hair ties, the problem is further compounded.

There is thus a need for a hair accessory holder that facilitates storage, display, access, and retrieval of hair accessories, and the like, in a quick, convenient, and efficient manner. The hair accessories should be capable of being stored, displayed and distinguished one from the other and being accessed, removed, and stored quickly, and easily. The hair accessories should include, but not be limited to, elastic hair accessories, hair bands, elastic hair ties, barrettes, spring loaded accessories. The hair accessory holder should be durable, light weight, inexpensive, safe to use, attractive, sturdy, and of simple construction.

Different accessory holders have heretofore been known. However, none of the accessory holders adequately satisfies these aforementioned needs.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,076,685 (Ramirez) discloses a device for holding hair accessories and other small grooming aids. The device is used for the storage and display of hair accessories, and utilizes pairs of filled long fabric tubes twisted about each other and tied at each twist point to retain the twisted conformation. The pairs of twisted tubes are clamped in a frame that is fitted with a hook so the device can be hung in a closet or on a wall or door. Barrettes and hair clamps can be fastened about the tubes while scarfs, scrunchies and crushable hats can be placed between the tubes in the sections delineated by the ties. A transparent pouch suspended from the hook can hold smaller items such as hair pins and rubber bands and enables the user to view the contents thereof.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,855 (Veale) discloses a hair accessory modular organizer, which includes a hanging support for head bands, barrettes, and the like. The support has a hook in the manner of a coat hanger, and a horizontal rack bar snap fastens thereto. The rack bar has snap fasteners enabling attachment of additional rack bars. The rack bars have any one of three configurations, and may be selectively combined to form a semi-custom hanging support. The three configurations include straight tube, for attaching hair accessories having clips; spiralled, for draping molded plastic head bands thereon; and wire formed in the shape as horns, for encircling retention of closed loop resilient or flexible hair bands. Extension bars are optionally provided to increase spacing between adjacent rack bars. The constituent parts of the hanging support have similar cross sectional configuration, so that any combination of parts gives the impression of unitary appearance.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,988 (Daniels) discloses an accessory holding and displaying device, in which a fashion accessory holding device has a vertically extending base and a support system for the accessory in the form of removable loops so as to display the accessory along the base in a vertical orientation.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,287 (Snyder) discloses a portable holder and organizer for jewelry and accessories. The portable holder-organizer of the includes a top section having hook at its top and a triangular display section and a bottom display section attached thereto having horizontal display strips, display rods and circular side catches attached to vertical supports.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,232 (Johnson) discloses a hair accessory holder for upright attachment, which includes a plurality of flexible and detachable bands in the center of the accessory are used to hold various hair accessories. There is at least one top loop in connection with the pillow that allows for attaching the apparatus to a door knob or the like in order to hang the device from a door. Bottom loops are of dissimilar length so as to allow for holding larger hair bands on the large strand and barrettes and smaller bands on the shorter strand.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,708 (Sacks) discloses a tie and belt holder, comprising a plurality of extended arms projecting from a ring member, and the arms each have a raised end portion to prevent a tie or belt from sliding off the end and a concave-shaped flat top portion to prevent the tie or belt from slipping off from a side, a hanging member having a hanging portion at one end thereof for cooperation with a closet rail; the ring member and the hanging member are readily connectable and disconnectable. The hanging member includes a connector for connection with the ring member and holding the hanging member joined with the ring member and permitting relative rotation between the hanging member and the ring member while preventing axial movement between the hanging member and the ring member and for disassembly of the ring member and the hanging member to allow shipment of the hanging member and the ring member in a non-joined condition.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,263 (Anderson) discloses a sock pair retention apparatus, which includes a resilient membrane which includes a plurality of resilient flap members formed within the membrane. The resilient flap members are oriented in a common plane when in a relaxed mode and are deformed out of the plane when in a sock-retention mode. When one or more socks is pushed between the resilient flap members, the resilient flap members are pushed out of the plane and are in a sock-retention mode. The resiliency of the resilient flap members serves to lock the socks in the sock pair retention apparatus of the invention. The socks can be removed from the sock pair retention apparatus by simply pulling the socks completely through the membrane. The sock pair retention apparatus enables pairs of socks to remain together through washing and drying. When the socks are removed from the membrane, the resilient flap members can return to their relaxed mode. A frame member can be connected to a periphery of the membrane. The frame member defines a frame-enclosed region. The frame member has a frame height, and the resilient flap members have a flap thickness. The frame height is greater than the flap thickness. With another embodiment of the invention, additional frame portions provide a second frame-enclosed region, whereby one sock can be retained in each frame-enclosed region.

U.S. Pat. No. D356,003 (Anderson) discloses an ornamental design for a martial arts belt display.

U.S. Pat. No. 618,887 (Levit) discloses a display case for wearing apparel, such as shirts, collars, cuffs, neckties, and similar articles.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,808 (Rauch) discloses a collapsible knock-down wire display rack, including a base supporting member and a removable T-shaped member, the base member being formed of three U-shaped members pivoted together to be positioned in horizontal supporting position and collapsed position, the T-shaped member being removable slidable on a portion of the base member; the upper horizontal legs of the base member and the base portion of the T-shaped member being adapted to support packages of merchandise.

British Patent 970,648 (Horton) discloses a display apparatus for posters, charts, maps, drawings, pictures, diagrams, or the like.

French Patent 670,675 (Kunstadter) discloses a device for holding playing cards.

For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a hair accessory holder that facilitates storage, display, access, and retrieval of hair accessories, and the like, in a quick, convenient, and efficient manner. The hair accessories should be capable of being stored, displayed and distinguished one from the other and being accessed, removed, and stored quickly, and easily. The hair accessories should include, but not be limited to, elastic hair accessories, elastic hair ties, hair bands, barrettes, spring loaded accessories. The hair accessory holder should be durable, light weight, inexpensive, safe to use, attractive, sturdy, and of simple construction.

SUMMARY

The present invention is directed to a hair accessory holder that facilitates storage, display, access, and retrieval of hair accessories, and the like, in a quick, convenient, and efficient manner. The hair accessories are capable of being stored, displayed and distinguished one from the other and being accessed, removed, and stored quickly, and easily. The hair accessories include, but are not limited to, elastic hair accessories, elastic hair ties, hair bands, barrettes, spring loaded accessories. The hair accessory holder is durable, light weight, inexpensive, safe to use, attractive, sturdy, and of simple construction

A hair accessory holder for removably storing at least one hair accessory having features of the present invention comprises: a mounting plate; an arm hingedly connected to the mounting plate, the arm having a stop opposing the hinged connection, the stop adapted to allow the at least one hair accessory to be removably stored on the arm, the arm having a first position and a second position, the arm substantially parallel to the mounting plate and the stop adjacent the mounting plate, when the arm is in the first position, the arm substantially perpendicular to the mounting plate, when the arm is in the second position; means for releasably holding the arm in the first position, when the stop is adjacent the mounting plate.

DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hair accessory holder, constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the hair accessory holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross section view of a hinge of the hair accessory holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is another perspective view of the hair accessory holder of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is perspective view of the hair accessory holder of FIG. 1, showing elastic hair accessories mounted on the hair accessory holder; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of a hair accessory holder, constructed in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1-6 of the drawings. Identical elements in the various figures are identified with the same reference numbers.

FIGS. 1-5 show an embodiment of the present invention, a hair accessory holder 10, for hair accessories and the like, having mounting plate 12 and arm 14, which is hingedly connected to the mounting plate 12 at hinge 16. FIG. 1 shows the hair accessory holder with the arm 14 in a partially open position. The arm 14 has stop 18, which prevents hair accessories 20 from being accidentally removed from the hair accessory holder 10 or falling off the hair accessory holder 10, when the arm 14 is in an extended position, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The stop 18 and the mounting plate 12 have magnets 22, which maintain the stop 18 adjacent the mounting plate 12 and the arm 14 substantially parallel to the mounting plate 12, when the arm 14 is in a closed position, as shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 shows the hinge 16, which has hinge member 24 connected to the mounting plate 12, and pivot pin 26. The arm 14 has chamfered end 27, which contacts the mounting plate 12, when the arm 14 is extended, and prevents the arm 14 from opening too far. The arm 14 also has knob 28, which facilitates gripping the arm 14.

The hair accessory holder 10 may be mounted against a surface, such as a wall, on a door, in a closet, or other suitable surface, at a substantially vertical angle, a substantially horizontal angle, or another suitable angle. The mounting plate 12 may have adhesive on back 30 of the mounting plate 12 or holes through the mounting plate 12 for suitable fasteners to pass therethrough, the adhesive or the fasteners being used to removably fasten the hair accessory holder 10 to the surface of the wall.

The hair accessory holder 10 may have ornamental designs 32 and 34 at top 36 and bottom 38, respectively, of the mounting plate 12, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4. The ornamental designs 32 and 34 may be removably affixed to the top 36 and the bottom 38, respectively, of the mounting plate 12 with adhesive or other suitable fastening means, or the ornamental designs 32 and 34 may be permanently affixed to the top 36 and the bottom 38, respectively, of the mounting plate 12.

An assortment of the ornamental designs 32 and 34 may be supplied with the hair accessory holder 10, and may be removably affixed to the top 36 and the bottom 38, respectively, of the mounting plate 12, which may be changed at different times by a user. The ornamental designs 32 and 34 may alternatively be painted onto or engraved into the top 36 and the bottom 38, respectively, of the mounting plate 12. Date and day of the week ornamental designs may be provided for a user to change manually.

The stop 18 is partially cylindrical and has substantially planar surface 40, which facilitates mounting the magnet 22 to the stop 18, maximizes contact between the magnets 22, and maintains the stop 18 adjacent the mounting plate 12, when the arm 14 is in a closed position. The partially cylindrical shape of the stop 18 facilitates slipping the hair accessories 20 over the stop 18 and onto the arm 14, and prevents the hair accessories 20 from being accidentally removed from the hair accessory holder 10 or falling off the hair accessory holder 10, when the arm 14 is in the extended position, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The partially cylindrical shape of the stop 18 also facilitates slipping the hair accessories 20 off the arm 14 and over the stop 18 for easy removal of the hair accessories 20 from the hair accessory holder 10.

The arm 14 is substantially parallel to the mounting plate 12, when the arm 14 is in the closed position. The arm 14 is substantially perpendicular to the mounting plate 12, when the arm 14 is in the extended position.

The arm 14 has chamfered end 27, which contacts the mounting plate 12, when the arm 14 is extended, and prevents the arm 14 from opening too far. The hinge member 24, which is connected to the mounting plate 12, has groove 42. End 44 of the arm 14 rests in the groove 42, when the arm 14 is in the extended position, and aids in maintaining the arm 14 in the extended position.

The hair accessory holder 10 may be of wood, metal, such as aluminum, brass, or steel, thermoplastics, thermosetting polymers, rubber, ceramic, or other suitable material or combination thereof. The hair accessory holder 10 may optionally be of transparent thermoplastics or thermosetting polymers.

The hair accessory holder 10 may be used to removably mount, display, and/or store elastic hair accessories, elastic hair ties, hair bands, barrettes, spring loaded hair accessories, and/or other suitable hair accessories and the like alone or in combination.

FIG. 6 shows an alternate embodiment of a hair accessory holder 50, which is substantially the same as the hair accessory holder 10, except that the hair accessory holder 50 has digital clock 52, which indicates time 54, date 56, and day 58. The time 54 is typically the time of day. The date 56 is typically the calendar date, which may include month, numerical day of the month, and year. The day 58 is typically day of the week. The digital clock 52 may have a receiver that receives time signals from an atomic clock at a remote location.

The hair accessory holder 50 also has digital thermometer 60, which indicates indoor temperature 62 and outdoor temperature 64, when a suitable outdoor temperature sensor is used. The outdoor temperature sensor may have a transmitter, and the digital thermometer 60 may have a receiver that receives temperature signals transmitted by the outdoor temperature sensor. The hair accessory holder 50 may also include a barometer.

The hair accessory holder 10 and the hair accessory holder 50 provides an organized way to store hair accessories to prevent them from tangling, and enables a person to store each hair accessory, which includes, but is not limited to, elastic hair accessories, elastic hair ties, hair bands, barrettes, spring loaded accessories, in an organized and convenient manner, making them easy to access when needed. An elastic hair accessory, hair band, and/or an elastic hair tie may also be nicknamed a “scrunchi”, a “twister”, or a “bunchi”. The hair accessory holder 10 and the hair accessory holder 50 reduces the need to replace hair accessories that have been damaged due to tangling.

Typical ornamental designs that may be incorporated onto the hair accessory holder 10 and the hair accessory holder 50 include as dolphins, flowers, and others related to nature and hobbies are used. The mounting plate 12 is typically approximately 28 and three-fourths inches in length and six and one-fourth inches in width, although other suitable lengths and widths may be used. The arm 14 is typically of dowel material, although other suitable shapes and materials may be used.

A consumer may simply slip different hair bands, elastic hair ties, elastic hair accessories, bunchies, scrunchies, and/or twisters onto the arm 14, when the arm 14 is in the extended position, and move the arm 14 to the closed position for quick, easy, and convenient storage.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred versions thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred versions contained herein.

Claims

1. A hair accessory holder for removably storing at least one hair accessory, comprising:

a mounting plate;

an arm hingedly connected to said mounting plate, said arm having a stop opposing said hinged connection, said stop adapted to allow said at least one hair accessory to be removably stored on said arm, said arm having a first position and a second position, said arm substantially parallel to said mounting plate and said stop adjacent said mounting plate, when said arm is in said first position, said arm substantially perpendicular to said mounting plate, when said arm is in said second position;

means for releasably holding said arm in said first position, when said stop is adjacent said mounting plate.

2. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said means for releasably holding said arm in said first position comprises a magnet affixed to said arm and another magnet affixed to said mounting plate.

3. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said mounting plate is adapted to mount on a surface.

4. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said stop comprises a partial cylinder.

5. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said mounting plate comprises at least one ornamental design.

6. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said at least one ornamental design is removably mounted to said mounting plate.

7. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said mounting plate comprises a calendar.

8. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said mounting plate comprises a clock.

9. The hair accessory holder according to claim 8, wherein said clock indicates time, date, and day.

10. The hair accessory holder according to claim 8, wherein said clock has a receiver that receives time signals from an atomic clock at a remote location.

11. The hair accessory holder according to claim 8, wherein said mounting plate comprises at least one thermometer.

12. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said mounting plate comprises at least one thermometer.

13. The hair accessory holder according to claim 12, wherein said at least one thermometer comprises an outdoor thermometer and an indoor thermometer.

14. The hair accessory holder according to claim 12, wherein said mounting plate comprises a barometer.

15. The hair accessory holder according to claim 12, wherein said at least one thermometer comprises an outdoor temperature sensor having a transmitter that transmits outdoor temperature, and a receiver that receives said outdoor temperature transmitted by said outdoor temperature sensor.

16. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said at least one hair accessory is from the group consisting of an elastic hair accessory, an elastic hair tie, a hair band, a barrette, a spring loaded accessory, and combination thereof.

17. The hair accessory holder according to claim 1, wherein said hair accessory holder is constructed of materials from the group consisting of wood, metals, thermoplastics, thermosetting polymers, rubber, ceramic, and combination thereof.