Hair style pillow

Abstract

A pillow for supporting the head of a person and to maintain that head supported above the sleeping surface on which the person is lying. The pillow has lateral side surfaces, a flat bottom surface and an arcuate upper surface, concave inwardly, that cradles the neck of the user. The pillow can have a removable cover and is preferably comprised of a foam material such as polyester foam. The pillow is dimensioned so that the pillow can contact the person beginning just above the shoulders and extending up to just below the lower ear so that the hair of the person is held elevated off of the sleeping surface and the hairstyle is not messed up during sleeping.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present patent application is based upon Provisional Patent application Serial No. 60/302,293 filed Jul. 2, 2001 and entitled “HAIR STYLE PILLOW”.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to a neck support for a person while reclining, and more particularly, to a curved pillow that supports the neck without interfering with the particular hairstyle of the person.

[0003] There are, of course, a considerable number of differing pillows that are used to support or cushion the person's head while reclining, such as while sleeping. A typical problem with many pillows, however, is that the pillow is adapted to be located underneath the head of the person and extends above the person's ears where it interferes with the hair style of the person, that is, the pillow directly contacts the hair of the person and thereby can have a messing up effect on the hair style. Accordingly, upon arising in the morning, the particular hair style has generally been messed up and has to be re-touched or restyled.

[0004] With the cost of hairstyling today, the continual and constant messing up of a hair style at night or whenever sleeping is not only a nuisance to redo the hair but, in addition, it can be expensive to have to restyle the hair. As a further difficulty, in the event the person has specially styled the hair for a special event, it is a bother to have to redo the hair the next day or even for that special occasion if the hair was styled a day in advance. As an example, there are may special occasions that takes place on a Sunday so the hair must be styled prior to that day and it is therefore a considerable bother to have the hair style messed up by sleeping on the hair during the night and have to re touch up the hair style for that Sunday event.

[0005] The problem with the normal, conventional pillow is that the consistency is generally soft, cushiony and the head sinks down into the pillow so that the pillow contacts and sometimes surrounds the hair of the person. As such, as the person normally moves the head during sleep, the normal movement of head during sleep causes the hair to rub against the pillow, or the mattress supporting the pillow, such that the hair becomes disheveled during the normal night's sleep and the person has the annoyance of redoing the hair the next day.

[0006] There are, however, certain devices that try to specifically protect the hairdo of a person and one such example is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,437 of Gritsch where there is a head rest device that allows the person's hair to be located beyond a head support that extends upwardly from a base board. A difficulty with such arrangement, however, is that there is a need for a base board, said to be constructed of plywood or the like, and which is not particularly comfortable and is also somewhat difficult to transport or to use on a bed. Additionally, the head rest of the Gritsch patent is not readily suitable to be used with standard pillow cover and no such pillow cover is apparently contemplated by that patent. The device is described to be more like a head rest than a pillow.

[0007] In U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,295, there is disclosed an apparatus for restoring spinal cervical curvature by a head support, however, the support is comprised of a substantially non-deformable material and therefore would appear to be uncomfortable for a person to lie on the apparatus for any length of time. As indicated in that patent, it is designed for short term treatment, such as for several minutes at a time and would not be suitable for a person to sleep on for a night.

[0008] Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a pillow for supporting person's head that is specially designed to support the person's neck but without contacting the hair of the person so as to avoid messing up the hair style during sleep.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention provides an improved pillow that overcomes the aforedescribed deficiencies of the present, conventional pillows and head rests. With the present invention, there is provided a pillow that is contoured so as to support the neck of the person while maintain the hair of the person basically elevated with respect to the sleeping surface on which the person is lying.

[0010] With the present pillow, the person's neck is cradled within the concave shaped upper surface that extends from the shoulders of the person to just below the lower ear so that the hair of the person extends outwardly, cantilever fashion, from the pillow so as to avoid contact with the sleeping surface. Preferably, the lower surface of the pillow is a flat surface and rests on the sleeping surface while the lateral sides can be sloped inwardly in the upper direction toward the upper surface.

[0011] In the preferred embodiment, the pillow is filled with a foam material, such as a polyester form so as to provide sufficient support to hold the person's head off of the sleeping surface. Also preferably, there is a removable cover made of cotton or polyester, and which can be a standard sized cover so as to be readily available at an economical cost and which can be a washable fabric. Alternatively the pillow cover can be of a silky fabric, such as satin, that can be slipped on and, in any case, the cover can have some securing means such as a button, snap or zipper.

[0012] Other features of the present pillow will become apparent in light of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] FIG. 1 is a front view of a pillow constructed in accordance with the present invention; and

[0014] FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the pillow of the present invention; and

[0015] FIG. 3 is a side view of the present pillow showing its orientation in supporting a person.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a front view of a pillow 10 constructed in accordance with the present invention. As can be seen, the pillow 10 has a relatively flat bottom surface 12 and which is adapted to sit atop of the sleeping surface on which the person lays for sleeping. Extending upwardly from the bottom surface 12 are a pair of lateral side surfaces 14, 16, both of which may preferably be angled inwardly as they approach the upper surface 18.

[0017] As also can be seen, the upper surface 18 is concave downwardly so that the person can lay upon the upper surface 18 to rest comfortably thereupon. The pillow 10 can be constructed of a foam material for the comfort of the user, but which has sufficient sturdiness to support the person.

[0018] The dimensions of the pillow 10 are fairly critical in the construction since the pillow 10 must fit under the user and nestle between the shoulder and the lower ear of the user. Thus, the width of the pillow 10 is preferably about 12 to 15 inches and that width is identified in FIG. 1 as the dimension W.

[0019] In addition, the height is also of importance in the pillow 10 and that dimension is preferably about 4 to about 6 inches and is identified by the dimension H in FIG. 1. Thus, the pillow 10 is dimensioned to fit between the shoulders and the lower ear of the user to support the neck and head of that user and, as will be seen, the head remains elevated above the sleeping surface on which the person is lying and thus, preserving the hair style of the user.

[0020] Turning now to FIG. 2, there is shown a bottom view of the pillow 10 and showing a zipper 20 that is used to hold a cover 22 onto the pillow 10. That cover can be a standard dimensioned cover so that the cover 22 can be readily available to the user and may be cotton or other normal material currently used for such covers. Alternatively, the cover 22 can be comprised of a silky material, such as satin, to make the pillow more comfortable to the user.

[0021] As can also be seen in FIG. 2, the depth of the pillow is identified by the dimension D and is, preferably, about 8 to about 10 inches. That dimension is important in the present pillow 10 to allow the pillow to comfortably fit under the user and be situated between the shoulder and the lower ear of the user and also so as to allow the hair style of the user to extend beyond the pillow 10, in a cantilever manner, to retain the head and the hair elevated with respect to the sleeping surface on which the person is positioned.

[0022] Turning now to FIG. 3, there is shown a side view showing the pillow 10 of the present invention underlying a person 24. In FIG. 3, therefore, the use of the pillow 10 is exemplified and the pillow 10 is located under the person 24 situated between the shoulder 26 of the person 24 and the lower ear 28 of the person. Thus, the head 30 of the person 24 extends outwardly from the pillow 10 and is supported such that the head 30 is elevated above the sleeping surface 32 on which the person 24 is lying. As such, the hair 34 of the person 24 remains untouched and, therefore, not messed, by means of contact with the pillow 10 or the sleeping surface 32 since the hair does not touch the pillow 10 or the sleeping surface 32.

[0023] Accordingly, the hair 34 can retain whatever style has been used on the hair 34 and that style will not be messed up overnight by the person sleeping on the sleeping surface 32 such that the hair will be appealing the next day.

[0024] It will be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the particular embodiment disclosed herein, by way of example, but only by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A pillow for supporting the head of a person in a position above a sleeping surface, said pillow comprising a main body having lateral sides, a top surface for receiving a neck of a person and a bottom surface supported by said sleeping surface, said top surface being concave inwardly between said lateral sides, said lateral sides extending from the shoulders of a person to just below the ear of a person to support a head of a person to maintain a person's head above a sleeping surface.

2. A pillow as defined in claim 1 wherein said pillow further includes a removable cover.

3. A pillow as defined in claim 2 wherein said removable cover is satin.

4. A pillow as defined in claim 2 wherein said cover includes a securing means to retain the cover to the pillow.

5. A pillow as defined in claim 2 wherein said securing means is a zipper.

6. A pillow as defined in claim 1 wherein pillow is comprised of a foam material.

7. A pillow as defined in claim 6 wherein foam material is a polyester foam.

8. A pillow as defined in claim 1 wherein said pillow has a height of between about 4 and about 6 inches.

9. A pillow as defined in claim 8 wherein pillow has a width of between about 12 and about 15 inches.

10. A method of supporting the head of a person while sleeping, said method comprising the steps of:

providing a sleeping surface for support of a person while sleeping,

providing a pillow having a upper surface that is configured concave inwardly for supporting the neck of a person,

positioning the pillow underneath a person to be located generally between a shoulder of a person and a lower ear of a person so s to support a head of a person in an elevated position above a sleeping surface.

11. A method of supporting the head of a person as defined in claim 10 wherein said step of providing a pillow comprises providing a pillow having a width of between about 12 and about 15 inches and a height of between about 10 and 12 inches.

12. A method of supporting the head of a person as defined in claim 10 wherein said step of providing a pillow comprises providing a pillow having a standard pillow case covering the pillow.

13. A method of supporting the head of a person as defined in claim 10 wherein said step of providing a pillow comprises providing a pillow adapted to underlie the person from the shoulder to the lower port of the ear.

14. A method of supporting the head of a person as defined in claim 10 wherein said step of providing a pillow comprises providing a pillow filed with a foam material.

15. A method of supporting the head of a person as defined in claim 14 wherein said step of providing a pillow comprises providing a pillow filed with a polyester foam material.