Hair rolling device

A foam roller around which hair is tightly wound and clamped in place having a fabric sleeve interposed between the foam and the hair reducing the coefficient of friction to below 1.00 and preferably under 0.900, as compared to foam coefficient of friction substantially above 1.00, in order to reduce hair breakage by facilitating hair slippage to adjust to roller re-expansion pressure. The plastic tube supporting the foam roller made of resilient, flexible material to be more comfortable when subjected to head weight when the user reclines.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
Background and Objectives 
My invention relates to a resilient foam roller around which hair is 
tightly wound and relates to the use of a fabric sleeve enclosing the 
sides of the roller to reduce the coefficient of friction of the surface 
the hair is wound upon to less than 0.900. 
When hair is tightly wound upon a foam roller, dry, particularly for 
overnight treatment, there is an undue amount of breakage and splitting of 
hair because the roller tends to re-expand to its original shape and the 
friction between the hair and the foam roller is so high that the hair 
does not slip on the roller to accommodate roller expansion and the hair 
has a high breakage and splitting rate. This is particularly true of the 
kinky hair of black people that has a higher coefficient of friction that 
much of the straighter hair of people of other races. It is an objective 
of my invention to provide a hair rolling device to reduce hair breakage 
and splitting. 
Further objectives include: to reduce friction of a foam hair roller by the 
use of a fabric sleeve covering the sides of the roller; and to provide a 
solution to the above problem that is economical to manufacture and 
practical to use. 
My invention will be best understood together with additional objectives 
and advantages thereof from the following description, read with reference 
to the drawings, in which:

DESCRIPTION 
My hair rolling device includes a foam roller 10, a central plastic tube 12 
supporting roller 10, and a plastic hair clamp 14 which largely resemble 
those presently being marketed. Roller 10 could be a rubber or a plastic 
foam. Tube 12 and clamp 14 can be made of a suitable plastic. The material 
forming fabric sleeve 16 will be discussed later. 
In the prior clamps presently on the market, tube 12 is rigid. I specify a 
tube 12 which can flex in bending of its longitudinal axis, as shown in 
FIG. 4, and which can resiliently distort in cross-section as shown in 
FIG. 5, both under the weight of a head 20. The purpose of making tube 12 
flexible and resilient is to provide more give so as to be more 
comfortable when the head may rest on rollers in overnight sleeping. The 
bending of tube 12 to conform somewhat to the curvature of a head 20 is 
illustrated in FIG. 4. Tube 12 is normally of circular cross-section and 
FIG. 5 shows a distortion of tube 12 under the weight of a head 20 to an 
elliptical cross-section. Allowance for flexibility and resilience in tube 
12 can involve selection of a more pliable plastic material than in hair 
rollers presently on the market and also can involve thinner walls. 
Other than the forming of tube 12 of a flexible resilient material, tube 12 
and clamp 14 can have largely conventional construction. In the form 
illustrated, tube 12 has annular ribs 22 to keep foam roller 10 from 
shifting especially when fabric sleeve 16 is being installed or removed. 
Roller 10 instead could be bonded in place. The keyhole-shaped slot 24 in 
tube 12 pivotally connects to the end 26 of clamp 14 and the other end of 
tube 12 engages and disengages lug 28 on clamp 14 to clamp or release hair 
relative to roller 10. 
Sleeve 16 is shown as having a generally cylindrical portion enclosing the 
sides of roller 10 and end portions 30 gathered by drawstrings 32 in hems 
(not shown) to secure or removably secure sleeve 16 in place when knotted. 
It will be understood that sleeve 16, including ends 30, is tubular so 
that roller 10 can be inserted therein, whereupon drawstrings 32 can be 
used to gather ends 30. Drawstrings 32 would permit removal and washing of 
sleeve 16. However, sleeve 16 could be bonded in place and not be 
removable, so that either the sleeve could be laundered or the sleeve 
could be laundered with roller 10 in place. Further, there are other ways 
to removably fasten a fabric sleeve to a roller, i.e., clamps for end 
portion 30 rather than drawstrings 32. The purpose of fabric sleeve 16 is 
to reduce friction on hair compared with an uncovered foam roller 10. The 
following discussion will refer to friction in terms of "coefficient of 
friction". When the term "coefficient of friction" is used in the 
specification and claims, the expression means "coefficient of static 
friction" according to the industrial standard in which friction is 
determined by the inclined plane method. A metal block (approx. 547 g, 3.1 
sq. in. surface area) faced with the same fabric is placed on the fabric 
sample. The plane is elevated at a rate of 1.degree. /sec. until sliding 
of the block occurs. The angle at which sliding occurs and the tangent of 
the angle (coefficient of sliding friction) are reported. The angle of 
inclination is measured to the nearest 0.5.degree.. 
The California Division of United States Testing Company, Inc., 5555 
Telegraph Road, Los Angeles, Calif. 90040, was retained to measure the 
coefficient of friction, according to the above method, on samples of 
fabric and on uncovered foam material. That company reported they were 
unable to obtain a coefficient of friction reading on the foam material 
because the foam material would not slide. The foam material instead would 
fall or roll over at 45 or 46 degrees or more, signifying a coefficient of 
friction substantially in excess of 1.00. How much larger could not be 
determined. 
The results of testing reported by the Company of fabric materials was as 
follows: 
______________________________________ 
Coefficient of Static Friction 
Average 
Angle, Coefficient 
Sample Degrees of Friction 
______________________________________ 
Polyester Taffeta 33.5 0.661 
Satin 23.5 0.435 
Polyester Silk 23.0 0.424 
Interlock Polyester 
35.5 0.713 
Polished Cotton 40.0 0.839 
Doubleknit Polyester 
33.0 0.649 
______________________________________ 
The test was performed in the warp direction only. 
Following the results of this testing, I specify that the coefficient of 
friction of the fabric should be below 1.00. From the foregoing it will be 
seen that it would be easy to select a fabric with a coefficient of 
friction below 0.900 and that is my preferred range. 
Other considerations can be involved in selection of a fabric besides 
coefficient of friction. Good results have been obtained with polyester 
taffeta. Some natural silks, for example, may lack durability. I prefer 
polyester taffeta, satin and polyester silk for physical characteristics 
but satin would need dry cleaning and polyester silk is expensive. Next in 
preference would be tricot or interlock polyester. Not preferred are 
polished cotton and regular cotton. Doubleknit polyester and linen are not 
recommended. 
Note that the coefficient of friction is not a linear function, i.e., there 
is more increase of friction from 0.900 to 1.000 than from 0.400 to 0.500, 
etc. 
Experimentation with fabric covered rollers has established a much lower 
rate of hair breakage by use of fabric covered rollers, so the improvement 
is real and not just theoretical. As has been indicated above, the kinky 
hair common to black people has a high friction, i.e., has increased 
resistance to slippage to adjust to foam roller pressure to restore to 
normal condition after the hair has been tightly wound on the roller. Use 
of my fabric covered rollers dramatically reduces breakage and splitting 
of hair of black people according to experimental results. 
As the coefficient of friction of the roller is the important thing in 
reducing hair breakage, any surface treatment of the foam rollers or any 
coating of the rollers or any new foam formulation or foam processing that 
can achieve a surface coefficient of friction below 1.000 or preferably 
0.900 or less, without a fabric sleeve, can be substituted for fabric 
coverage of foam rollers. 
Having thus described my invention, I do not wish to be understood as 
limiting myself for the exact construction shown and described. Instead, I 
wish to cover those modifications of my invention that will occur to those 
skilled in the art upon learning of my invention and which are within the 
proper scope thereof.