Abstract:
An entraining device in the nature of a paint gun receives pressurized air, which entrains a hair treatment formulation into the stream of pressurized air. This mixture is fed to an applicator such as a brush. Once the mixture is fed onto the bristles of the brush, an operator can apply it to color, highlight, or tint hair. The hair treatment formulation may be supplied by a storage chamber which is part of or connected to the entraining device. The system could also be used for applying various treatments to the skin or to other mammals.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application is the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/US02/24239 filed Jul. 30, 2002 which claims the benefit Under 35 USC 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/308,917 filed Jul. 31, 2001. 
     
    
     
       STATEMENTS REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT  
         [0002]    Not applicable.  
         REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX  
         [0003]    Not applicable.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    Hair treatments such as coloring, tinting, or highlighting are normally applied by mixing a composition of a hair treatment formulation and an activator in a bowl. Next, a technician dips a brush into a bowl. Then, the composition is brushed onto a customer&#39;s hair. After the composition on the brush is spent, the technician must repeat the steps of dipping the brush and applying the composition.  
           [0005]    In the typical situation, a technician will book about a one hour block of time for a customer. About thirty minutes is needed for completing the steps mentioned in the preceding paragraph, and about thirty minutes is needed for processing the customer after the treatment is applied.  
           [0006]    The technician is compensated for performing a service. Therefore, their income is largely determined by the service performed, the amount they can charge for the service and the volume of services they can perform in a given frame of time. For example, if a technician planned to book only hair coloring appointments on a certain day, they would probably be able to book and treat six to eight customers during normal business hours.  
         BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    An entraining device in the nature of a paint gun receives pressurized air, which entrains a hair treatment formulation into the stream of pressurized air. This mixture is fed to an applicator such as a brush. Once the mixture is fed onto the bristles of the brush, an operator can apply it to color, highlight, or tint hair. The hair treatment formulation may be supplied by a storage chamber which is part of or connected to the entraining device. The system could also be used for applying various treatments to the skin or to other mammals.  
           [0008]    Certain embodiments of this invention are not limited to any particular individual features disclosed, but include combinations of features distinguished from the prior art in their structures and functions. Features of the invention have been described so that the detailed descriptions that follow may be better understood, and in order that the contributions of this invention to the arts may be better appreciated. These may be included in the subject matter of the claims to this invention. Those skilled in the art who have the benefit of this invention, its teachings, and suggestions will appreciate that the conceptions of this disclosure may be used as a creative basis for designing other structures, methods and systems for carrying out and practicing the present invention. This invention is to be read to include any legally equivalent devices or methods which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.  
           [0009]    The present invention recognizes, addresses and meets its preferences or objectives in its various possible embodiments and equivalents thereof. To one of skill in this art that has the benefit of this invention&#39;s realizations, teachings, disclosures, and suggestions, other purposes and advantages will be appreciated from the following description and the accompanying drawings. The detail in the description is not intended to thwart this patent&#39;s object to claim this invention no matter how others may later disguise it by variations in form or additions of further improvements. These descriptions illustrate certain preferred embodiments and are not to be used to improperly limit the scope of the invention, which may have other equally effective or legally equivalent embodiments. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 2 is an elevational view of an entraining device with a storage chamber mounted thereon.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a package of treatment formulation.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an applicator in the form of a brush.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 5 is a pneumatic diagram for one embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0015]    Referring to FIG. 1, generally, in one embodiment of the invention, an entraining device  10  has a storage chamber  30  connected on top of the entraining device  10 . Both are shown mounted on a rack  52  which is attached to an enclosure  50 . The enclosure  50  houses a compressor  54 . Tube  70  supplies pressurized air from the compressor  54  to the storage chamber  30 . Tube  72  supplies pressurized air from the compressor  54  to the entraining device  10 . Tube  76  runs from the entraining device  10  to an applicator  80 .  
         [0016]    The enclosure  50 , as mentioned, contains a device for supplying pressurized air  53  such as a compressor  54 . The compressor  54  may be powered by a motor  56 . Air from the compressor  54  may be fed through a tube  57  to filters  58 ,  59 , such as coal filters for removing moisture, etc. from the air. From the filters  58 ,  59 , a tube  60  conducts pressurized air to typical splitter(s) (not shown) for feed to respective outlet ports (three of four shown)  61   a, b  &amp; c from the enclosure  50 . The door  62  allows access to a storage compartment in the enclosure  50 . Door  63  allows access to the compressor  54 , motor  56 , filters  58 ,  59 , etc. Swivel type wheels  64  may be connected below the enclosure for mobility. Regulators with controllers  65  are connected to each supply line  66 . Pressure gauges  67  are connected to same. Vents  68   a  &amp; b are mounted on the enclosure  50  for moving and filtering the air in the immediate vicinity. This is useful for removing enamels and ammonia, for example, which are created by chemicals used in the hair treatments. Each vent  68   a,b  may include a fan/blower, filter (such as carbon impregnated filter)  69 , motor and a computer controller.  
         [0017]    The enclosure  50 , in one embodiment, feeds air to the entraining device  10  at about twenty-five psi, and feeds air to the storage chamber  30  at about thirty psi. The enclosure  50  provides a noise reducing structure to surround the compressor  54  and motor  56  and may include additional lining for such purpose.  
         [0018]    Referring to FIG. 2, the entraining device  10  may be a paint gun  12 . A paint gun  12  commercially available from HVLP may be used in the embodiment shown. The entraining device  10  includes a handle  14 , a valve  16 , a lever  18  for operating the valve  16  and a mixing chamber  20 . The lower end of the handle  14  has an inlet port  15  for connection to tube  72 . The inside of the handle  14  and the mixing chamber  20  define a primary flow passage through the entraining device  10 . A second flow passage defined by the treatment inlet  22  and the mixing chamber  20  intersects the primary flow passage in the mixing chamber  20 . The lever  18  and valve  16  may be used to selectively open and close both the primary and the secondary flow passages. The mixing chamber  20  feeds to a nozzle  24 . The nozzle  24 , in the present embodiment, delivers a mixture of the air and the hair treatment formulation at about forty-five psi to a brush  81 . However, the nozzle  24  could be an adjustable spray nozzle and function as the applicator  80  in which case a spray pattern having a width varying from about {fraction (1/4)} inch to three inches is preferred. The entraining device  10  can also include air flow or chemical flow adjusters built into the device (devices other than the lever  18 ).  
         [0019]    The storage chamber  30  is connected to the treatment inlet  22  by an elbow fitting  32  and a converter plug  34 . The storage chamber  30  has a cap  36  attached to a cylinder  38 . Together, the cap  36  and cylinder  38  define a hollow interior for holding a supply of the composition/hair treatment formulation. A plunger  40  may be used to compress and/or open a container of treatment formulation contained within the storage chamber  30 . A gas/fluid inlet  46  connects the interior of the storage chamber to tube  70  allowing entry of pressurized air to force the plunger  40  against the treatment formulation to outlet  47  and further to the treatment inlet  22  of the entraining device  10 . The plunger  40  may be retracted via the rod  42  and handle  44 .  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a package  90  of treatment formulation which may for example hold about eight ounces of formulation. A first sealed pouch  92  contains a volume of hair treatment formulation  93 . A second sealed pouch  94  contains a volume of an activator  95  for the hair treatment formulation  93 . The package or third sealed pouch  90  contains both the first sealed pouch  92  and the second sealed pouch  94 . The first sealed pouch  92  and the second sealed pouch  94  are joined by a conduit  96  with septum  98 . The septum  98  may be easily ruptured by any commonly known manner. Thus, when the treatment formulation is needed, the second pouch  94  may be squeezed to break the septum  98 . Next, the package  90  is kneaded to mix the components. Then, the package  90  or the contents of the package  90  may be inserted/emptied into the cylinder  38 . Last, the cylinder  38  is threaded to the cap  36  and the system is ready for use. In prior art treatments, the treatment formulation may become too old for use after thirty minutes, whereas, the present system with the formulation enclosed in the storage compartment  30 , allows the treatment formulation to remain fresh for longer periods of time. The package  90  may be made of baby bottle liner bags which will reduce landfill waste when compared to the chemical containers currently used by hairdressers/technicians.  
         [0021]    Referring to FIG. 4, the applicator  80  may in one embodiment comprise a brush  81  with bristles  82 . The brush  81  has a barb fitting  83 . Tube  76  connects the entraining device  10  to the barb fitting  83 . The brush  81  has an internal passageway from the barb fitting  83  to an outlet  84 . The tube  76  feeds the treatment composition (mix of pressurized air and treatment formulation) into the brush  81  where it exits from outlet  84  and flows onto bristles  82 . The forty-five psi introduction of the composition onto the bristles allows an even and steady flow of a typically thick, viscous hair treatment formulation onto the bristles  82 . The technician can hold the handle  89  of the brush  81  and apply the treatment formulation to the hair of a customer while receiving an automatic, steady flow of the formulation onto the bristles  82 . A valve  86  with a push-button activator  88  may be mounted on the brush  81  and into the passageway for selectively opening, adjusting the amount of the opening or closing the passageway. In this manner, the technician can complete the typical application of a hair treatment composition in about five to twelve minutes, followed by thirty minutes of post application processing of the customer. Clean-up including running saline into the storage compartment  30  may be completed in approximately one minute. This allows the hairdresser/technician to perform more hair treatments daily, and customers save fifteen to twenty minutes of appointment time.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 5 shows a pneumatic diagram for the embodiment of the invention previously described.  
         [0023]    It is to be understood that the entraining device  10  and the storage chamber  30  could be force fed by some other type of device, such as, for example, gravity feed (not shown).  
         [0024]    The invention(s) have been described in embodiments for applying color, tint, highlights, conditioners, relaxers and oils to the hair, but may be used for other purposes, such as, by way of example, for applying tanning agents, spa treatments or for applying various compositions to other mammals.  
         [0025]    In conclusion, therefore, it is seen that the present invention(s) and the embodiment(s) disclosed herein are well adapted to carry out the objectives and obtain the ends set forth. Certain changes can be made in the subject matter without departing from the spirit and the scope of this invention. It is realized that changes are possible within the scope of this invention and it is further intended that each element or step recited is to be understood as referring to all equivalent elements or steps. The description is intended to cover the invention as broadly as legally possible in whatever forms it may be utilized.