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Home | Alpha Telephone | Domain Names | Web Hosting | Get Traffic | xrEvidence | xrSoccer United States Patent
Head rest A chin and cheek engaging head rest and holder is provided, intended primarily for use by beauty shop patrons while sitting under a fixed hair dryer. The chin and cheek engaging portion of the rest is desirably mounted on a chair arm with capacity for vertical, angular, lateral and tilting adjustments as a unit, and with provision for angular broadening and narrowing of the chin and cheek engaging portion of the rest, itself, to any desired extent within practical limits.
Assistant Examiner: Staab; Lawrence J. Attorney, Agent or Firm: I claim: 1. A head supporting device adapted for use in conjunction with an overhead hair dryer, for enabling any user of the dryer, regardless of her facial contour, comfortably, conveniently, effortlessly and safely to rest her head removably in a chosen, substantially fixed relation to the dryer, said head supporting device comprising, in combination, a. a chin and cheek engaging and conforming head supporting rest consisting of opposed, continuously upwardly divergent padded members for engaging opposite sides of the face, b. means pivotally connecting the lower ends of said padded members to one another together with means for relatively adjusting said members to increase or diminish the angle of upward divergence formed between them for adaptation to different facial contours, said padded members having surface portions generated by a straight line segment moving parallel to the axis of rotation of said pivotal connecting means, and c. adjustable supporting means for the head rest constructed and arranged to determine and control the height, the horizontal location and disposition, and the fore-an-aft tilt of the head rest. 2. A head supporting device as set forth in claim 1 in which the opposed, angularly related members of the face rest are connected to one another from below through a hinge pin relative to which each of said members is rotatable. 3. A head supporting device as set forth in claim 2 in which the hinge pin has rigidly attached to it a bracket having a downwardly extending threaded stem, a fixed, hollow, horizontally extending supporting arm member through which said threaded stem extends downward, and in which a horizontal slot is provided, a manually operable nut of larger diameter than the width of said arm threaded on said stem, located in the slot and confined by the narrowness of the slot against vertical movement, the construction and arrangement being such that rotation of the nut necessarily changes the height of the hinge pin, and cooperative abutment members on the respective angularly related members of the face rest and on the horizontal arm for compelling the face rest members to rock toward one another as the threaded stem is lowered by turning of the nut in one direction and permitting said face rest members to rock away from one another as the threaded stem is thrust upward by turning of the nut in the opposite direction. 4. A head supporting device as set forth in claim 3 in which the means for controlling the height, the horizontal location and disposition and the fore-and-aft tilt of the face rest includes a primary supporting means in the form of a bracket and clamping means cooperative therewith for clamping the bracket to a chair arm, a first upwardly extending shaft fixedly connected to said bracket, a second upwardly extending shaft telescopically related to the first with freedom both for longitudinal bodily adjustment and for rotary adjustment relative thereto, together with means settable to fix the longitudinal and rotary relationship of said shafts to one another, a third shaft which extends horizontally through the upper end of the second shaft with freedom for rotary and longitudinal adjustment therein, means operable to fix the adjusted relationship of the third shaft to the second, the horizontal arm upon which the face rest is mounted being telescopically supported by said third shaft, and means for fixing the telescopic relationship of said horizontal arm to the third shaft. This invention has to do with a head rest and mounting means therefor, designed primarily for use by beauty shop patrons while sitting under a fixed hair dryer. Sitting under a dryer requires the head to be held in a substantially fixed attitude for an extended period, with the hair exposed as fully and effectively as possible to the heat radiated by the dryer. The head must, however, be maintained out of contact with hot metallic parts of the dryer. The user of the dryer can read, converse or just sit while under the dryer, but there is frequently a tendency to let the head shift into contact with the dryer. This is particularly true if the user has nothing to read and no one with whom to converse, because the dryer, in combination with the want of interest of the user, has a soporific effect. It is the primary purpose of the present invention to provide a head and cheek rest which can be bodily adjusted to the physical characteristics of the user, to fix her head in a comfortable, relaxed, operatively effective relation to the dryer. It is a further feature to provide a head holder, of the kind referred to, in which the user can comfortably place her chin and in which the sides of the holder can be spread or narrowed to conform to the facial characteristics of each individual, thereby to distribute the pressure over a considerable area and at the same time to fix the position of the head. With my head holder the user can comfortably and safely fall asleep with assurance that her head will remain in a safe, comfortable and functionally advantageous position and attitude. Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear. In the drawing forming part of this specification, FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view in front elevation of a preferred embodiment of the invention applied to a chair arm, the face rest being adjusted substantially to its narrowest setting; FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view in elevation showing the face rest adjusted to a very wide angular setting; FIG. 3 is a view in end elevation of the complete structure of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the face rest, generally like FIG. 1 but on a larger scale than FIG. 1; and FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view in end elevation of the face rest and its mounting on the scale of FIG. 4. The dryer will generally be used by a woman, whose hair has just been washed and partially towel-dried, while sitting in a straight chair of which an arm 10 is illustrated in FIG. 1. A head rest 12 comprises a three-sided bracket 14 whose upper side rests upon the chair arm 10. The lower side of the bracket 14 extends across the chair arm and has thumb screws 16 adjustably threaded upward through it for acting in conjunction with the upper side of the bracket, to clamp the bracket 14 firmly and securely in place on the chair arm. The bracket 14 includes an upstanding arm or stem 18. A collar 20 is adjustably secured in any selected position on the stem 18 by a set screw 22. A tubular member 24 fits telescopically onto the upper end of stem 18 and rests upon the collar 20. The tubular member 24 forms a direct continuation of the stem 18, the combined effective length of 18 and 24 being determined by the setting of the collar 20. The sleeve 24 is angularly adjustable about the common axis of 18 and 24, the angular position being fixed by tightening of a set screw 26. Because the collar 20 is provided, readjustment of the angular setting of 24 does not disturb the heightwise setting of 24. A cylindrical rod 28 is fitted through the upper end of sleeve 24 with freedom for angular and/or longitudinal adjustment, the rod being fixed angularly and lengthwise by a thumb screw 30. A sleeve 32 fits telescopically onto the rod 28 and forms an extension of it. The sleeve is free to be adjusted lengthwise and/or angularly relative to the rod 28, and is fixed in any available, selected position relative to the rod by a set screw 34. The sleeve 32 carries a face rest 36. The face rest 36 comprises curved metallic side pieces 38 and 40 which are hingedly connected to one another through a hinge pin 42. A threaded stem 44, connected to the hinge pin 42 through a U-shaped bracket 45 (see FIG. 5), extends freely downward through a base plate 46 (desirably circular) which rests on, and is desirably affixed to, the sleeve 32, and through the sleeve 32 itself. The shank of stem 44 desirably engages circumferentially the plate 46 and the sleeve 32, but is not screwed through these members. The stem 44 is formed with a screw thread at its lower end, being threaded through a knurled nut or finger wheel 48. The finger wheel 48 fits through slots formed in opposite sides of the sleeve 32, being manually rotatable in the slots but restrained against movement axially of the threaded stem 44. Rotation of the wheel 48 therefore moves the stem 44 up or down, depending on the direction of rotation. Fingers 50, rigidly affixed to the respective side pieces 38 and 40, as by welding, and constituting integral parts thereof, bear at their lower ends upon the circular plate 46. As the stem 44 is driven downward, therefore, the pieces 38 and 40 are forced to turn toward one another, narrowing the angle which is formed between them. As the stem is driven upward the pieces 38 and 40 are permitted progressively to rock away from one another, thereby to widen the angle formed between them, as illustrated in FIG. 2. The pieces 38 and 40 are free to turn in unison about the axis of the screw 44. They can be tilted by rotation of the sleeve 32 about its axis, and they can be bodily shifted by longitudinal adjustment of the sleeve 32 or by rotary adjustment of the sleeve 24. When the desired position of the face of the user is attained, every loose set screw will have been tightened to fix the position of the face rest. Because of the low pitch of the threads on screw 44, the finger wheel 48 will automatically retain any position to which it is adjusted. The face rest is desirably lined with sponge rubber 52 or other suitably soft material, having a thickness of the order of one-half inch. For sanitary reasons, the face rest may, of course, be lined for each user with a disposable paper towel or napkin or a launderable fabric towel or napkin. I have described what I believe to be the best embodiment of my invention. What I desire to cover by letters patent, however, is set forth in the appended claims. For U.S. patent law, rules, and procedures see MPEP. Disclaimer. Information presented on this page while believed to be reliable, is provided "as is" with no warranties of its accuracy or timeliness. For legal advice seek help of a licensed professional. |