Hair rollers with enhanced hair rolling and setting features

A hair roller includes an elongated body, a hair clip, and an elastic anchoring element. The body has an annular shape around which hair can be wound for styling person's hair. The hair clip has a hair-engagable blade portion and a lever portion. The blade portion is disposed along an exterior side portion of the body and has an arcuate shape conforming to the shape of the body. The lever portion is attached to and extends from the blade portion for actuation by a finger of a user. The roller also has structure mounting the hair clip to the body to undergo pivotal movement along an arcuate path between a closed position adjacent to the body and an opened position angularly displaced from the body such that a portion of the hair is retained between the blade portion of the hair clip and exterior side portion of the body when the hair clip is moved to the closed position in response to a bias imposed on the hair clip and is released from between the blade portion and exterior side portion of the body when the hair clip is pivotally moved toward the opened position in response to the user actuating the lever portion of the hair clip. The elastic element is made of a stretchible material which is extendable longitudinally along the body so as to extend over and thereby anchor thereon the hair wound about the body. The roller also may have a heat retaining member disposed in an interior chamber of the roller body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention generally relates to hair styling and, more 
particularly, is concerned with hair rollers for use in hair styling which 
have enhanced hair rolling and setting features. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
A long-established practice of hair dressers and others is to use hair 
setting rollers to form waves and/or curls in a person's hair in order to 
achieve the hair style desired by the person. Various designs of hair 
setting rollers have been used for this purpose. 
Representative examples of prior art designs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,916,919 to Giordano, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,526,184, 4,603,706 and 4,627,452 
to Caruso, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,613 to Ho. A common feature of these 
prior art hair roller designs is an elongated main body, such as a 
cylinder or tube, about which hair is rolled and then secured in order to 
remain wrapped thereon for a desired period of time to allow the hair to 
set in its wrapped or curled condition. These prior art hair rollers 
additionally provide a variety of other features which are intended to 
function in conjunction with the main body to attain optimum hair styling 
results. 
For example, the hair roller of U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,919 combines with its 
main body a hair holding clip in the form of a pair of resilient fingers 
or a bent rod, a first rubber band extending through the body and attached 
to the clip, and a second rubber band extendable longitudinally around the 
body to retain various parts of the hair roller assembled together and to 
serve as a preliminary holder of hair against the body. After hair is 
rolled about the body the first rubber band attached to the clip can be 
stretched to permit placement and retention of the clip over an edge of 
the body so as to hold the rolled hair about the body. The second rubber 
band is retained about the body by passing across recesses formed by a 
crenelled edge on one end of the body. 
The hair rollers of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,526,184, 4,603,706 and 4,627,452 
combine with their main bodies either external projections formed between 
longitudinal slots in the body to make intimate contact with the hair, 
arcuate fingers or teeth formed along side edges of the longitudinal slots 
in the body to catch and comb hair wrapped around the body, or a sleeve of 
a porous foam material surrounding the body. The hair roller also can have 
either a separate semi-cylindrical shield with which to handle the roller 
and to partially surround and retain the wrapped hair on the main body, or 
a separate or attached hair clip applied over the edge of the main body to 
embrace a portion of the wrapped hair and retain it thereon. 
The hair roller of U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,613 combines with its main body a 
number of molded-in helically contoured grooves for facilitating winding 
of hair around the body by providing ridges that grip the hair. The hair 
roller also has a U-shaped hair clipping device pivotally attached to one 
end of the body and having a spherical tip which snaps into a groove 
molded in the opposite end of the body for securing the hair wound around 
the helical contours on the body. 
However, some of the aforementioned features of these prior art hair 
rollers would appear in practice to create drawback in terms of decreasing 
the ease with which the hair rollers can be used and of increasing the 
complexity and thus the cost of the hair rollers. As a result, these prior 
art hair rollers fail to provide an optimum combination of features which 
would greatly enhance and facilitate the ability of hair dressers and 
others to easily and quickly manipulate the hair rollers so as to wrap and 
set a person's hair in a manner which would minimize the amount of 
handling of and contact with the hair and thereby maximize the likelihood 
of achievement of the desired hair styling results. 
Consequently, a need still exists for improvements in the design of hair 
rollers so as to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art 
hair rollers without introducing new drawbacks in their place. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention provides hair rollers which satisfy the 
aforementioned needs by incorporating enhanced hair rolling and setting 
features. The hair rollers of the present invention are user-friendly in 
terms of ease of manipulation for quickly winding or rolling and thus 
setting a person's hair to achieved the desired hair styling results. 
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a hair roller which 
comprises: (a) an elongated body having an annular cross-sectional shape 
around which hair can be wound between a pair of opposite ends of the body 
for styling a person's hair; (b) a hair clip having a hair-engagable blade 
portion disposed longitudinally along and overlying an exterior side 
portion of the body and of curved cross-sectional shape conforming to the 
annular cross-sectional shape of the body; and (c) means for mounting hair 
clip to the body for undergoing pivotal movement relative to the body 
along an arcuate path between a closed position adjacent to the exterior 
side portion of the body and an opened position angularly displaced from 
the exterior side portion of the body such that a portion of the hair is 
retained between the blade portion of the hair clip and the exterior side 
portion of the body when the hair clip is at the closed position and is 
released from between the blade portion of the hair clip and the exterior 
side portion of the body when the hair clip is pivotally moved toward the 
opened position. The hair clip further has a lever portion attached to and 
extending away from at least one of a pair of opposite ends of the blade 
portion for engagement by a finger of a user to cause pivotal movement of 
the hair clip from the closed position to the opened position. Preferably, 
the annular cross-sectional shape of the body is that of a cylinder 
whereas the curved cross-sectional shape of the blade portion is that of 
segment of a cylinder. Also, the blade portion of the hair clip has an 
interior surface facing toward the exterior side portion of the body with 
a plurality of teeth disposed on and extending outwardly from the interior 
surface. Alternatively, the body can have an hourglass shape wherein the 
diameter of the body decreases from the outer ends to the middle thereof. 
The blade portion of the hair clip would have a curved shape both 
cross-sectionally and longitudinally that conforms to that of the exterior 
of the body of the hair roller. Additionally, the exterior side portion of 
the body of the hair roller which underlies the blade portion of the hair 
clip can be inwardly offset from the remainder of the body which permits 
the blade portion to overlie and be seated on the inwardly offset exterior 
side portion substantially within an exterior annular profile of the body. 
More particularly, the mounting means includes a pair of spaced apart tabs 
disposed adjacent to one of the opposite ends of the body and a pin 
extending between the tabs and pivotally mounted through an end of the 
hair clip and a spring mounted to the pin and biasing the hair clip to 
pivotally move from the opened position to the closed position relative to 
the body. The body defines an interior chamber and has a plurality of 
spaced apart openings, such as holes or slots, defined through the body 
for providing communication from the interior chamber to the hair wound 
around the body. The mounting means also can include a female socket 
defined in one of the opposite ends of the body and a base pivotally 
mounted to one of the opposite ends of the hair clip and having a male 
plug attached to and projecting outwardly from the base and being of a 
size relative to the female socket to permit insertion into and a mateable 
fit with the female socket and thereby mount the base to the one end of 
the body. The mounting means also can include a latch receptacle defined 
in the one end of the body adjacent to the female socket and a latch 
member connected to the base adjacent to the male plug. The latch member 
is insertable into the latch receptacle upon insertion of the male plug 
into the female socket. Furthermore, the latch member is movable between a 
latched position wherein the male plug is retained in the female socket 
and prevented from being removed therefrom and an unlatched position 
wherein the male plug is removable from the female socket. 
The present invention also is directed to a hair roller which comprises: 
(a) an elongated body around which hair can be wound between a pair of 
opposite ends of the body for styling a person's hair; (b) a hair clip 
extending longitudinally along and overlying an exterior side portion of 
the body, the hair clip being pivotally connected at one end to one of the 
opposite ends of the body for undergoing pivotal movement relative to the 
body along an arcuate path between a closed position adjacent to the 
exterior side portion of the body and an opened position angularly 
displaced from the exterior side portion of the body such that a portion 
of the hair is retained between the hair clip and the exterior side 
portion of the body when the hair clip is at the closed position and is 
released from between the hair clip and the exterior side portion of the 
body when the hair clip is pivotally moved toward the opened position; and 
(c) an elastic anchoring element made of a stretchible material and being 
longitudinally extendable along the body between the opposite ends thereof 
so as to extend over and thereby anchor thereon the hair wound about the 
body. The elastic anchoring element can be an endless band attached to the 
body adjacent to one of the opposite ends thereof and extendable about the 
other of the opposite ends of the body or an elongated strip attached to 
the body adjacent to the one opposite end and extendable to the other of 
the opposite ends of the body. The elastic anchoring element can be 
attached directly to the end of the body or to a looped element fixed on 
the end of the body. The roller further comprises at least one retention 
element defined on the other of the opposite ends of the body for securing 
a portion of the elastic element to the other end of the body. The roller 
also comprises an end wall mounted to one of the opposite ends of the body 
with the elastic element being attached to and extending outwardly from 
the end wall. The end wall may be rotatably mounted to the body. 
The present invention further is directed to a hair roller which comprises: 
(a) an elongated hollow body around which hair can be wound between a pair 
of opposite ends of said body for styling a person's hair, the elongated 
body having an interior chamber and a plurality of spaced apart openings 
defined through the body for providing communication from the interior 
chamber to the hair wound around the body, the interior chamber of the 
body being accessible through at least at one end of the body; (b) a hair 
clip longitudinally extending along and overlying an exterior side portion 
of the body, the hair clip being connected at one end to the body for 
undergoing movement relative to the body between a closed position 
adjacent to the exterior side portion of the body and an opened position 
displaced from the exterior side portion of the body such that a portion 
of the hair is retained between the hair clip and the exterior side 
portion of the body when the hair clip is at the closed position and is 
released from between the hair clip and the exterior side portion of the 
body when the hair clip is moved toward the opened position; and (c) a 
heat retaining member disposed in the interior chamber of the body and 
being adapted to receive heating producing energy from an external source 
through the one open end of the body and to retain the heat so produced by 
the energy for later release to the hair wound around the body during a 
period of use of the roller. 
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will 
become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the 
following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings 
wherein there is shown and described an illustrative embodiment of the 
invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to the drawings, and particularly to FIGS. 1, 3A, 5A and 6A, 
there is illustrated a hair roller of the present invention, generally 
designated 10, for use in hair styling. The hair roller 10 has enhanced 
hair rolling and setting features, as described hereinafter, which are 
user-friendly in terms of ease of manipulation for quickly winding or 
rolling and thus setting a person's hair to achieved the desired hair 
styling results. The hair roller 10 is adapted to be employed with and 
heated by the heating apparatus of the above cross-referenced copending 
application. 
Basically, the hair roller 10 includes an elongated body 12, a hair clip 14 
pivotally mounted at one end of the body 12, and an elastic anchoring 
element 16 which preferably, although not necessarily, is attached at the 
other end of the body 12. Also, the hair roller 10 preferably, although 
not necessarily, has a porous outer sleeve 18 preferably made of a 
flexible spongy foam-like material. The outer sleeve 18 surrounds the body 
12 and extends between the opposite ends thereof. 
More particularly, the elongated body 12 of the hair roller 10 is 
preferably hollow and includes an elongated tubular sidewall 20, 
preferably cylindrical in shape, and a pair of annular rims 22, 24 
attached to respective opposite ends of the tubular sidewall 20. The 
annular rims 22, 24 have outside diameters greater than the outside 
diameter of the tubular sidewall 20 such that an exterior cylindrical 
surface 20A of the tubular sidewall 20 is recessed inwardly from exterior 
annular surfaces 22A, 24A of the annular rims 22, 24. As seen in FIGS. 2 
and 2A, the porous outer sleeve 18 is confined in the annular space 
extending between the annular rims 22, 24 and is seated about the exterior 
cylindrical surface 20A of the tubular sidewall 20 and extends between the 
annular rims 22, 24. The tubular sidewall 20 is thus adapted for having 
hair wound or rolled around it (and thus around the outer sleeve 18 
surrounding and overlying the sidewall 20) for setting and thus styling a 
person's hair. 
The elongated body 12 of the hair roller 10 also preferably includes 
respective opposite end walls 26, 28 connected to the opposite annular 
rims 22, 24 at the opposite ends of the body 12. Further, the tubular 
sidewall 20 and opposite end walls 26, 28 of the elongated body 12 define 
an interior chamber 30 while the tubular sidewall 20 has a plurality of 
spaced apart openings 32 defined therethrough which provide flow 
communication of a heated medium, such as air or steam, and liquids and 
the like from the interior chamber 30 to the porous outer sleeve 18 and 
thereby to hair wound around the outer sleeve 18 and tubular sidewall 20. 
At least one of the opposite end walls 26, 28 of the body 12 has an 
aperture 34 formed therein through which can be inserted a suitable 
element (not shown) into the interior chamber 30, such as provided by the 
heating apparatus of the cross-referenced application, in order to supply 
the heated medium into the interior chamber. The other opposite end wall 
26, 28 can be closed. 
Referring to FIGS. 3A to 3E, there are illustrate different configurations 
of the openings 32. FIG. 3A (and also FIGS. 1 and 5A-5D) depict a 
plurality of circumferentially spaced and longitudinal extending 
substantially full-length slots 36 formed through the sidewall 20 which 
have generally rectangular shapes. FIG. 3B depicts a plurality of helical 
slots 38 formed through the sidewall 20 and spaced from one another along 
a longitudinal axis of the elongated body 12. FIG. 3C depicts a plurality 
of partial-length slots 40 formed through the sidewall 20 and being of 
generally rectangular shape and aligned and spaced apart in axial columns 
and circumferential rows and being much shorter in length than, and thus 
of partial-length compared to, the full-length slots 36. FIG. 3D depicts a 
plurality of slots 42 similar to those of FIG. 3C except that the slots 42 
in every other axial row are aligned with one another and axially offset 
relative to the slots 42 in adjacent axial rows. FIG. 3E depicts a 
plurality of round holes 44 formed through the sidewall 20 and being 
aligned and spaced apart in axial columns and circumferential rows. Other 
configurations of the openings 32 are possible within the purview of the 
present invention. Also, as seen in FIGS. 10-12, the round holes 44 
through the sidewall 20 can be overlaid with a variety of raised symbols, 
such as in the form of stars 41, formed on the exterior surface 20A of the 
sidewall 20. The tubular sidewall 20 of the body 12 also can have a 
plurality of elongated raised rib or ridge elements 43 formed on the 
exterior surface 20A of the sidewall 20 and protruding outwardly therefrom 
and extending in a helical direction thereabout and being spaced apart 
from one another in an axial direction along the sidewall 20. The helical 
ridge elements 43 are interrupted and absent from the exterior side 
portion of the sidewall 20 underlying the blade portion 50 of the hair 
clip 14. 
Furthermore, as seen in FIG. 9, the hair roller 10 can have a metallic 
sleeve 45 installed within the tubular sidewall 20 for improving 
conduction of heat to the hair wound around the tubular sidewall 20. The 
sleeve 45 preferably has a cylindrical shape and is of a size adapted to 
insert and snugly fit within the interior chamber 30 of the body 12. 
Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2, 3A, 5A-5D, 6A, 6B, 7, 10 and 11, there is 
illustrated the hair clip 14 of the hair roller 10 being mounted to one 
end of the elongated body 12 by a mounting means 46 for undergoing pivotal 
movement along an arcuate path P (see FIGS. 5A-5D and 9) between closed 
and opened positions relative to the body 12, and also being biased to 
move from the opened position to the closed position by biasing means 48. 
The closed and opened positions of the hair clip 14 are shown respectively 
in solid and dashed line forms in both FIGS. 5 and 9. 
Preferably, the hair clip 14 includes a hair-engagable blade portion 50 and 
at least one lever portion 52. The blade portion 50 of the hair clip 14 is 
disposed along and overlying an exterior side portion of the tubular 
sidewall 20 of the body 12. As seen in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the blade portion 
50 has an arcuate or curved cross-sectional shape conforming to the 
annular cross-sectional shape of the tubular sidewall 20 of the body 12. 
Preferably, the annular cross-sectional shape of the tubular sidewall 20 
is that of a cylinder. The arcuate or curved shape of the blade portion 50 
is that of an arc falling within a range of from 60.degree. to 
120.degree., and preferably has an approximately 90.degree. or a quarter 
cylindrical shape, substantially conforming to the 360.degree. cylindrical 
shape of the tubular sidewall 20 of the body 12. In the closed position of 
the hair clip 14, the blade portion 50 extends closely along and adjacent 
to the tubular sidewall 20 of the body 12 substantially the entire 
distance between the annular rims 22, 24 at the opposite ends of the body 
12 such that a portion of the hair is retained between the blade portion 
50 and the tubular sidewall 20 of the body 12. In the opened position of 
the hair clip 14, the blade portion 50 is angularly displaced from the 
tubular sidewall 20 of the body 12 such that the hair portion is released 
from between the blade portion 50 of the hair clip 14 and the tubular 
sidewall 20 of the body 12. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 9, the blade 
portion 50 of the hair clip 14 can be provided to extend along the 
exterior side portion of the tubular sidewall 20 of the body 12 only about 
half of the distance between opposite annular rims 22, 24 at the opposite 
ends of the body 12. Also, alternatively, as shown in FIG. 17 the 
elongated body 12 can have an hourglass shape wherein the diameter of the 
body 12 decreases from the outer ends to the middle thereof. The blade 
portion of the hair clip (not shown) would have a curved shape both 
longitudinally and cross-sectionally that conforms to that of the exterior 
contour of the body 12 of the hair roller 10. 
Also, referring to FIG. 7, the blade portion 50 of the hair clip 14 has an 
interior surface 50A facing toward the exterior side portion of the 
tubular sidewall 20 of the hair roller body 12 and means thereon in the 
form of a plurality of teeth 54 formed on and extending outwardly from the 
interior surface 50A of the blade portion 50. When the hair clip 14 is in 
its closed position, the teeth 54 interengage the portion of the hair 
being retained between the blade portion 50 and the tubular sidewall 20 of 
the body 12 so as to enhance the ability of the hair clip 14 to grip and 
retain that portion of the hair as the body 12 is then rolled relative to 
the hair to wind the hair about the tubular sidewall 50. As can readily 
seen in FIG. 7, the teeth 54 are spaced apart from one another in the 
longitudinal direction of the blade portion 50 of the hair clip 14 
extending between opposite ends of the blade portion. The blade portion 50 
of the hair clip also has at least one and preferably a pair of slots 55 
defined through the blade portion extending longitudinally between the 
opposite ends of the blade portion 50. The slots 55 permit passage of 
liquids and heated medium through the blade portion 50 of the hair clip 
14. 
The lever portion 52 of the hair clip 14 is provided to extend outwardly 
beyond and away from the hair clip mounting means 46 and the adjacent one 
of the rims 22, 24 at the opposite ends of the body to make it convenient 
for a user to grip the hair clip 14 with his or her fingers and actuate 
the hair clip by applying sufficient force thereto to cause hair clip 14 
to pivot from its closed to opened position against the force of the 
biasing means 48 which biases the hair clip 14 to move toward its closed 
position. It will be readily observed in FIG. 5A that the lever portion so 
positioned is capable of pivoting through an arc lying wholly outside of 
the adjacent end of the body 12. As seen in FIGS. 1, 2, 3A, 5A-5D, 7 and 
9, the lever portion 52 is provided on at least one end of the hair clip 
14 and optionally can be provided on both ends thereof, as shown in FIG. 
5D. Furthermore, the lever portion 52 can be provided in various 
orientations relative to the blade portion 50 of the hair clip 14. For 
example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 3A, 5A, 5D, 7 and 9, the lever portion 52 
can have a slighly upward curved shape and more so curved as shown in FIG. 
5B. On the other hand, the lever portion 52 can have a downward turned 
shaped as shown in FIG. 5C. 
Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2, 3A-3E, 5A-5D, 6A, 6B, 7 and 9-11, the mounting 
means 46 of the hair roller 10 is provided to mount the hair clip 14 
adjacent one end of its blade portion 50 to the elongated body 12 at the 
one annular rim 22 thereof. The hair clip 14 is so mounted to undergo 
pivotal movement relative to the tubular sidewall 20 along the arcuate 
path P between the closed position adjacent to the exterior side portion 
of the sidewall 20 and the opened position angularly displaced from the 
exterior side portion of the sidewall 20. More particularly, preferably 
the mounting means 44 includes a pair of spaced apart tabs 56 attached on 
the exterior annular surface 22A of the one annular rim 22 and extending 
outwardly therefrom, and a cylindrical pin 58 extending between and 
mounted to the tabs 56 and rotatably or pivotally mounted through a pair 
of spaced lugs 60 on the one end of the hair clip 14. Preferably, the 
annular rim 22 supporting the tabs 56 and pivot pin 58 is non-rotatably 
fixedly attached to the end of the tubular sidewall 20 of the body 12. 
However, in one illustrated embodiment shown in FIG. 8E, the annular rim 
22 and end wall 26 are attached together and rotatably mounted to the end 
of the tubular sidewall 20 by mated complementary annular shaped lips 62, 
64 formed respectively on the annular rim 22 and the end of the sidewall 
20. In this one embodiment, the rotation of the annular rim 22 relative to 
the sidewall 20 will permit the hair clip 14 to be positioned at any 
desired angular location about the body 12. 
As best seen in FIG. 10, the biasing means 48 preferably is a coiled spring 
48 encircling and thus mounted to the pivot pin 58 between the spaced lugs 
60 on the hair clip 14. The coiled spring 48 has opposite ends 48A, 48B 
which engage the body 12 and hair clip 14 and apply a biasing force in a 
clockwise direction with reference to FIG. 10 that causes the hair clip 14 
to pivotally move from the opened position to the closed position relative 
to the sidewall 20 of the body 12. The user can grip the lever portion 52 
of the hair clip 14 and easily apply an actuating force thereto which 
overcomes the biasing force of the coiled spring 48 and causes the spring 
to yield and permit pivoting of the hair clip 14 to the opened position. 
However, once the user releases the lever portion 52 of the hair clip 14, 
the biasing force takes over and causes the hair clip 14 to then pivotally 
move from the opened position back to the closed position against the 
sidewall 20 of the body 12. 
Referring to FIGS. 13-16, instead of providing the hair roller 10 with the 
tabs 56 of the mounting means 46 rigidly attached to the one annular rim 
22 on the body 12, as an alternative thereto the mounting means 46 can be 
configured to be removably inserted into an end of the body 12 for 
mounting the hair clip 14 thereto. With respect to this alternative 
construction which is illustrated in FIGS. 13-16, the mounting means 46 
now further includes a female socket 66 and a base 68 with a male plug 70, 
and a latch receptacle 72 and latch member 74. The female socket 66 is 
defined in the end of the body 12 having the one annular rim 22. The base 
68 is pivotally mounted to one end of the hair clip 14 and has the male 
plug 70 attached thereto and projecting outwardly therefrom. The male plug 
70 is of a size slightly less than the size of the female socket 66 so as 
to permit insertion into and mateable fitting within the female socket 66 
and thereby securely mount the base 68 within the annular rim 22 of the 
end of the body 12. 
The latch receptacle 72 is also defined in the end of the body 12 adjacent 
to the female socket 66. The latch member 74 is flexibly connected to the 
base 68 adjacent to the male plug 70 and is insertable into the latch 
receptacle 72 upon insertion of the male plug 70 into the female socket 
66. The latch member 74 is movable between a latched position, as seen in 
FIG. 13, wherein the male plug 70 is retained in the female socket 66 and 
prevented from being removed therefrom, and an unlatched position wherein 
the male plug 70 is removable from the female socket 66. 
Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 8A-8D, an elastic hair-anchoring element 16 
of the hair roller 10 is made of a stretchible material and is attached to 
and extends outwardly from the end wall 28. The elastic element 16 is 
stretchably extendable longitudinally along the sidewall 20 of the body 12 
between the annular rims 22, 24 at the opposite ends thereof so as to 
extend over and thereby anchor thereon the hair wound about the sidewall 
20 of the body 12. As seen in FIGS. 1, 2, 8B and 10, the elastic element 
16 is an endless elastic loop or band of the material attached to the end 
wall 28 through a hole 76 therein adjacent to the other rim annular 24. As 
seen in FIG. 8C, the end wall 28 is mounted for rotation relative to the 
rim 24 of the body 12 about an axis A and the elastic element 16 is 
attached to the rotatable end wall 28 at a location of hole 76 offset from 
the axis of rotation A. As an alternative seen in FIG. 8A, the elastic 
element can be an elongated elastic strip 78 of the material attached to 
the end wall 28 through a hole 80 therein. Furthermore, the elastic 
element 16 can be attached directly to the end wall 28 of the body 12, as 
depicted in FIGS. 1, 2, 8A and 8B, or to a looped element 81 fixed on one 
or the other of the end walls 26, 28 of the body 12, as depicted in FIGS. 
18 and 19. 
Referring finally to FIGS. 1, 2, 3A-3E, 4A-4F, 5A-5D and 9-11, the hair 
roller 10 further includes at least one and preferably a plurality of 
retention elements 82 defined on the other annular rim 24 and end wall 28. 
The retention elements 82 provide surfaces about which to secure a portion 
of the elastic element 16 to the opposite end of the body 12. The 
retention elements can take any of a variety of different configurations. 
In FIGS. 4A, 4D and 4F the retention elements 82 are pluralities of pegs 
84 and teeth 86 which project outwardly from the annular rim 24 on the 
body 12. FIG. 4B illustrates retention elements 82 in the form of internal 
teeth 88. FIGS. 4C and 4E depict retention elements in the form of eyelets 
90 which are attached to and extend outwardly from the other annular rim 
24 and end wall 28. Retention elements 82 having other configurations are 
within the purview of the present invention. Thus, the elastic anchoring 
element 16, being attached at one end to the respective one annular rim 22 
and end wall 26 at one end of the body 12, when stretched to encompass at 
least a side portion of the sidewall 20 of the body 12 and then passed 
around a selected one or ones of the retention elements 82 is retained 
over the hair wound around the sidewall 20 and thereby provides a means 
for anchoring the hair roller 10 to the hair wound thereon. 
Referring to FIGS. 20-24, there is shown the hair roller 10 incorporating 
further modifications of some of the earlier-described components and 
features of the hair roller 10. First, like the hair roller 10 shown in 
FIGS. 10-12, the sidewall 20 of the elongated body 12 has a plurality of 
elongated rib or ridge elements 43 defined on and about the exterior 
surface 20A of the sidewall 20 which are interrupted and absent from the 
exterior side portion of the sidewall 20 underlying the blade portion 50 
of the hair clip 14. However, unlike the hair roller 10 shown in FIGS. 
10-12, the blade portion 50 of the hair clip 14 on the hair roller 10 of 
FIGS. 20-24 has a plurality of elongated rib or ridge protrusions 92 
defined on the exterior surface 50B of the blade portion 50 which protrude 
outwardly therefrom and extend in a helical direction and are spaced apart 
from one another in a lengthwise direction along the blade portion 50 of 
the hair clip 14. Preferably, the helical ridge protrusions 92 on the 
blade portion 50 of the hair clip 14 are substantially aligned with the 
helical ridge elements 43 on the sidewall 20 of the body 12. Second, 
unlike in the sidewalls 20 of the earlier-described hair rollers 10, the 
exterior side portion of the sidewall 20 of the hair roller 10 in FIGS. 23 
and 24 which underlies the blade portion 50 of the hair clip 14 is 
inwardly offset from the remainder of the sidewall 20 which permits the 
blade portion 50 of the hair clip 14 to overlie and be seated on the 
inwardly offset exterior side portion substantially within an exterior 
profile of the sidewall 50 of the body 12. In the case of the body 12 of 
the hair roller 10 shown in FIGS. 23 and 24, the exterior annular profile 
is that of a cylinder. The insetting of the blade portion 50 of the hair 
clip 14 within the exterior annular outline or profile of the hair roller 
body 12 prevents the hair clip 14 from make an impression or indentation 
in the hair wound about the body 12. 
Referring to FIGS. 25 and 26, there is shown other embodiments of the hair 
roller 10 incorporating additional features in accordance with the present 
invention. The hair rollers 10 of FIGS. 25 and 26 have the same basic 
parts as most of the rollers described earlier. These same parts are 
identified by the same reference numerals. In addition thereto, the hair 
rollers 10 of FIGS. 25 and 26 also include a heat retaining member 94 
disposed in the interior chamber 30 of the roller body 12. The heat 
retaining member 94 is adapted to receive heat producing energy, such as 
steam in FIG. 25 or electrical current in FIG. 26, from a suitable 
external source through the one open end 28 of the body 12 and to retain 
the heat so produced by the energy for later release to the hair wound 
around the body 12 during a following period of use of roller 10. 
In the one embodiment shown in FIG. 25, the heat retaining member 94 
includes an annular tube 96 having a donut shape in cross-section defining 
an enclosed internal cavity 98 and a heat retaining material 100, such as 
a suitable wax or the like, contained within and substantially filling the 
internal cavity 98. The annular tube 96 has radially spaced outer and 
inner longitudinal walls 102, 104 and a pair of opposite end walls 106 
(only one being seen) extending between and interconnecting the opposite 
ends of the longitudinal walls 102, 104 so as to enclose the internal 
cavity 98 and the heat retaining material 100 therein. The inside of the 
annular tube 96 is accessible to the one open end 28 of the body 12 for 
receiving the steam to cause heating of the annular tube 96 and the wax 
100 therein. 
In the other embodiment shown in FIG. 26, the heat retaining member 94 
includes a pair of electrical conductors 108, preferably made of a 
suitable metallic material, having a pair of electrical terminals 108A at 
one end that are accessible to the one open end 28 of the body 12 and a 
heat retaining material 110, such as an electrically-conductive ceramic 
material known as a Positive Temperature Coefficient material, in 
electrical contact between the pair of electrical conductors 108. The 
application of an electrical current from the suitable external source to 
the terminals 108A causes the current to flow through the electrical 
conductors 108 and also through the heat retaining material 110 such that 
the heat retaining material 110 is thereby heated and, in turn, causes 
heating of the electrical conductors 108 which then retain the heat for 
later release to the hair wound around the body 12 during a following 
period of use of roller 10. 
It should be readily apparent that the hair roller 10 can be provided in 
different diameter sizes while retaining all of the above-described 
features which provide for enhanced rolling and setting of hair for 
achieving superior hair styling results. Furthermore, the hair roller 10 
can be employed in conjunction with the heating apparatus of the 
cross-referenced patent application or independently thereof. 
It is thought that the present invention and its advantages will be 
understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that 
various changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and 
scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the 
form hereinbefore described being merely preferred or exemplary embodiment 
thereof.