WIG CLIP ASSEMBLY

Abstract

A wig base is provided with one or more wig clip assemblies, each comprising two or more wig clips. Each of the wig clips comprises a set of comb teeth movable by a toggle action alternatively toward and away from a connecting part for gripping a lock of a wearer's natural hair. The wig clips of each wig clip assembly are connected by a connecting member and preferably rotatable relative to the connecting member. The connecting of the two wig clips to each other helps to ensure that the a given wig clip remains in place even if it becomes fully or partially disengaged from the wearer's natural hair. Rotation of the wig clips relative to the connecting member ensures that the connection does not interfere with the wearer's comfort.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to wig clips, and particularly to improvements in wig clips used to secure a wig base to a wearer's natural hair.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A typical toggle-action wig clip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,631,804, granted on January 21, 2014, and the disclosure of that patent is incorporated by reference. The wig clip is composed of a U-shaped frame member having legs extending from opposite ends of an intermediate portion of the frame, a set of comb teeth disposed between the legs and also extending from the intermediate portion, and a connecting portion connected by rivets from one leg to the other, and overlapped by the comb teeth.

The frame is made from metal, a synthetic resin, or another material having spring properties, and the distance between the rivet holes in the legs of the U-shaped frame member is different from the distance between the rivet holes in the connecting portion when the frame member and connecting portion are apart from each other and in a relaxed condition. Consequently, when the connecting portion is riveted to the frame, the wig clip tends to bend out of a planar configuration, and can be manually shifted from one stable condition to another by a toggle action. In a first stable condition, the comb teeth are spaced by a short distance from the connecting portion, and in a second stable condition, the comb teeth are in contact with the connecting portion.

Usually, several of these wig clips are attached to a wig base. The wig base is a flexible net-like structure to which wig hair is attached by a process known as “weaving.” The wig clips can be sewn to the wig base by passing yarns through holes formed in the U-shaped frame. Alternatively, the wig clips can be secured to the net material of the wig base by the use of barbs formed on the frame or on extensions of the frame structure, or by various other means.

The wig clips are used to attach the wig base to a wearer's natural hair. When the wig clip is in its first stable condition, i.e., with the comb teeth spaced from the connecting portion, the comb teeth can be engaged with a lock of the wearer's natural hair close to the scalp. Then by manual bending, the wig clip can be toggled to its second stable condition, and the wearer's natural hair is clamped between the comb teeth and the connecting portion so that the wig base is secured in place.

The connecting portion can include a compressible covering that yields when contacted by the comb teeth, while the wig clip is in its second stable condition, to enhance friction between the wig clip and the natural hair. The comb teeth are also usually formed with bulbous ends to avoid discomfort to the wearer that would otherwise be caused by sharp comb teeth.

Other wig clips, such as the wig clip described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,689,807, granted on Apr. 8, 2014, utilize a spring-urged, pivoted comb to secure the wearer's natural hair to a frame. The comb teeth are formed with an array of projections to ensure that the wig clip is securely attached to the wearer's natural hair.

In some of the embodiments of the wig clip in U.S. Pat. No. 8,631,804, converging comb teeth assist in binding the clip to the wearer's natural hair.

A typical wig base, provided with six to eight wig clips, ordinarily provides adequate support for the wig. However, if wide and heavy hair extension wefts are woven to the wig base, the ability of the wig clips to grip the wearer's natural hair diminishes, and loosening of one or more of them can cause discomfort. More secure attachment has been achieved by various measures. However, these measures often make the structure of the wig clip overly complex, and make manufacture of the wig clips difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The wig clip assembly according to the invention essentially comprises first and second wig clips connected to each other by a connecting member. The wig clips can be conventional, toggle-type, wig clips comprising frames and having comb teeth that can be brought into a first stable state in which the comb teeth are resiliently urged against an elongated part of the frame and a second stable state in which the comb teeth are maintained out of engagement with the elongated part of the frame.

Each frame comprises first and second elongated parts each having first and second opposite ends, a first connecting part connecting the first end of the first elongated part to a first end of the second elongated part, and a second connecting part connecting the second end of the first elongated part to a second end of the second elongated part. A set of comb teeth extends from the first elongated part, and past the second elongated part, of each frame. The comb teeth of each frame are disposed between the connecting parts. A connecting member is secured to each of the first and second frames, and extends from the first frame to the second frame.

In a preferred embodiment, the connecting member is secured to the first and second frames by a pair of fasteners, such as rivets, that allow relative rotation of each of the frames relative to the connecting member.

Each of the fasteners is preferably located at one of the first and second opposite ends of the first elongated part of each of the frames.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a wig clip assembly in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, showing the side thereof that faces the inside of a wig base;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a wig clip assembly in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention, also showing the side thereof that faces the inside of a wig base;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the relationship of the wig clip assembly of the first embodiment and a wig base;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of wig base having three wig clip assemblies in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 5 is an elevational view showing how a conventional wig clip is sewn to a wig base.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The wig clip assembly 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises two wig clips of the kind shown in FIG. 5. The wig clip 12 in FIG. 5 comprises a first elongated part 14 and a second elongated part 16. A first connecting part 18, which is unitary with parts 14 and 16, connects a first end 20 of the first elongated part 14 to a first end 22 of the second elongated part 16. A second connecting part 24 connects the second end 26 of the first elongated part 14 to a second end 28 of the second elongated part.

In the wig clip shown in FIG. 5, connecting part 24 is shorter than connecting part 18 and is composed of overlapping extensions of elongated parts 14 and 16, riveted together at an intermediate location between ends of the respective elongated parts.

A comb 30 is secured by rivets 32 to the first elongated part 14, and its comb teeth, e.g. teeth 34, are disposed between the connecting parts 18 and 24. The teeth of comb 30 extend past the second elongated part 16 and are movable, by a toggle action, into and out of contact with an elastomeric sleeve 36 which fits onto part 16. The toggle action, which can be achieved by fastening the two parts of connecting part 24 together by a rivet 37 extending through holes in the respective parts of connecting part 24, the holed being positioned so that elongated part 14 is under longitudinal tension, thereby maintaining elongated part 16 in longitudinal compression. Bent one way, part 16 has a first stable condition in which its sleeve 36 is out of contact with the comb teeth, and a second stable condition in which its sleeve 36 is urged toward the comb teeth.

The wig clip is secured to a wig base by stitches 38, which extend through holes formed in the wig clip and through hollow parts of the several rivets of that secure parts of the wig clip together.

Returning to FIG. 1, the frames of two wig clips, 40 and 42, each of which is structurally similar to the wig clip 12 in FIG. 5, are connected together by a connecting member 44. The connecting member 44 is in the form of an elongated strip of metal having parallel upper and lower edges as shown in FIG. 1 and rounded ends. The strip is sufficiently thin, in the direction perpendicular to the plane in which FIG. 1 is rendered, that it can be bent to conform to the curvature of the wig base to which it is attached. The metal strip is preferably non-resilient so that, when bent, it remains bent.

Connecting member 44 is secured at one of its ends by rivet 46 to wig clip 40 and, at its opposite end, by rivet 48 to wig clip 42. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, rivet 46 is positioned at the location at which the shorter connecting part 52 of wig clip 40 (which corresponds to connecting part 24 in FIG. 5) meets the first elongated part 50 (which corresponds to the first elongated part 14 in FIG. 5). Rivet 48 is positioned at the location at which the longer connecting part 54 of wig clip 42 meets the first elongated part 56 of wig clip 42.

Rivets 46 and 48 preferably allow rotation of the wig clip frames relative to the connecting member 44 about the rivet axes. The connecting member 44, however, keeps the wig clip frames at a fixed distance from each other along the direction of the connecting member, and also affords some resistance to twisting of the assembly about an axis extending along the direction of the connecting member.

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of a wig clip assembly comprising wig clips 58 and 60, connected by a connecting member 62. This wig clip assembly is substantially the same as the wig clip assembly of FIG. 1, except that the connecting parts of each of the frames are of the same length, the comb teeth of each wig clip are unitary with one of the elongated parts, the other elongated part is riveted at both ends to connecting parts, and the connecting member 62 is secured to connecting parts 64 and 66 of the frames at intermediate locations between the elongated parts 68 and 70 of wig clip 58 and between the elongated parts 72 and 74 of wig clip 60.

FIG. 3 illustrates the wig clip assembly 10 secured to the inside of a dome-shaped wig base 76 composed of a flexible fabric net. Each of the wig clips 40 and 42 of the wig clip assembly 10 can be sewn or secured by other suitable means to the wig base. Preferably the wig clip assembly is fastened to the interior of the wig base at a location adjacent to the edge 78. The elastomeric sleeves, corresponding to sleeve 36 in FIG. 5, are in contact with the fabric of the wig base, and the comb teeth, which can be toggled into and out of contact with the elastomeric sleeve, are situated on the side of the elastomeric sleeve that faces toward the central part of the interior of the wig base. The comb teeth in the embodiment illustrated protrude from the inside of the wig base toward the opening of the wig base. However, in alternative embodiments, the wig clip assembly can be secured to the wig base in such a way that the comb teeth protrude toward the peak of the wig base.

FIG. 4 illustrates the inside of a wig base 80, having three identical wig clip assemblies 82, 84, and 86, each corresponding to the wig clip assembly in FIG. 1. The wig clips assemblies can be disposed at uniform intervals about the perimeter of the wig base, or in any desired pattern. Preferably the wig clip assemblies are positioned to ensure that the wig base can be properly secured to the wearer's natural hair.

When the wig base is in place on the wearer's head, with its wig clip assemblies secured to the wearer's natural hair, even if one of the wig clips of a given wig clip assembly becomes detached from the wearer's natural hair, the connecting member, e.g., connecting member 44 in FIG. 1 or 62 in FIG. 2 maintains a connection between the detached wig clip and the other wig clip of the same wig clip assembly, and limits movement of the detached wig clip and the adjacent portion of the wig base. Thus, in the case where wide or heavy hair extension wefts are woven to the wig base, even if an adjacent wig clip becomes partially or fully detached from the wearer's natural hair, the connecting member limits movement of the hair extension weft, ensuring that the wig does not become noticeably displaced. However, the rivets that connect the wig clips to the connecting member allow a degree of rotation of the wig clips relative to the connecting member, thereby preventing discomfort to the wearer. The connecting member also serves to distribute stress, which also contributes to the wearer's comfort.

Modifications can be made to the embodiments described. As mentioned, the wig clip assemblies can be inverted so that the comb teeth protrude toward the peak of the wig base. The number of wig clip assemblies secured to a particular wig base can be varied. For example, a given wig base can be provided with two or four wig clip assemblies, each composed of two wig clips connected by a connecting member. Alternatively, a given wig base can be provided with one or more wig clip assemblies and also with one or more individual wig clips.

Claims

1. A wig clip assembly comprising first and second wig clips each wig clip having an elongated part and a set of comb teeth movable toward and away from said elongated part, said wig clips being connected to each other by an elongated connecting strip.

2. A wig clip assembly comprising:

first and second frames, each frame comprising first and second elongated parts each having first and second opposite ends, a first connecting part connecting the first end of the first elongated part to a first end of the second elongated part, and a second connecting part connecting the second end of the first elongated part to a second end of the second elongated part;

a set of comb teeth extending from the first elongated part, and past the second elongated part, of each frame, said set of comb teeth disposed between the connecting parts of each of said first and second frames, part from said first elongated part; and

a connecting member secured to each of said first and second frames, and extending from the first of said frames to the second of said frames.

3. A wig clip assembly according to claim 2, in which said connecting member is secured to said first and second frames by a pair of fasteners, said fasteners allowing relative rotation of each of said frames relative to said connecting member.

4. A wig clip assembly according to claim 2, in which said connecting member is secured to said first and second frames by a pair of rivets, said rivets allowing relative rotation of each of said frames relative to said connecting member.

5. A wig clip assembly according to claim 2, in which said connecting member is secured to said first and second frames by a pair of fasteners, each of said fasteners being located at one of said first and second opposite ends of the first elongated part of each of said frames.

6. A wig clip assembly according to claim 2, in which said connecting member is secured to said first and second frames by a pair of rivets, each of said rivets being located at one of said first and second opposite ends of the first elongated part of each of said frames.

7. A wig clip assembly according to claim 2, in which said connecting member is secured to said first and second frames by a pair of fasteners, each of said fasteners being located at one of said first and second opposite ends of the first elongated part of each of said frames, said fasteners allowing relative rotation of each of said frames relative to said connecting member.

8. A wig clip assembly according to claim 2, in which said connecting member is secured to said first and second frames by a pair of rivets, each of said rivets being located at one of said first and second opposite ends of the first elongated part of each of said frames said rivets allowing relative rotation of each of said frames relative to said connecting member. It is also possible to produce a wig clip assembly composed of more than two wig clips connected to one another by connecting members. for example a wig clip assembly in accordance with the invention can be composed of three wig clips and two connecting members.