Abstract:
A doll supports a quantity of hair which may be combed by a hand held comb. The hand held comb defines a comb head having one surface supporting an elongated ornament magazine. The ornament magazine defines a channel which receives a plurality of hair ornaments in a sliding support. The hair ornaments further include outwardly extending hook attachment pads of the type commonly used in hook and loop fasteners. The hook pads extend beyond the magazine and engage underlying hair as the comb is moved upon the hair surface. The engagement of the hook pads allows the ornaments to be drawn from the magazine and remain temporarily secured to the hair.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to dolls and particularly to hair play apparatus for use in combination therewith. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Hair play dolls are well known in the art and derived their name from the focus of play activity upon styling the doll&#39;s hair. One of the more popular types of hair play dolls, known generally in the art as “fashion dolls”, often relies heavily upon very exaggerated and extreme hair play. Such fashion dolls utilize a small relatively thin high fashion doll body which supports a disproportionately long hair style. For the most part, such fashion dolls are clothed in garments which are relatively sophisticated, colorful and of high fashion design. A substantial portion of fashion doll hair play is intended to generally mimic and often exaggerate human hair grooming and hair ornamentation activities. For the most part, human grooming activities often focus substantially on various hair fasteners or hair tie apparatus. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,384 issued to Piers, Jr. Sets forth a FASTENER TIE having an elongated straps supporting a plurality of hook and loop fastener attachment pads. The elongated strap is ornament ed and is intended to retain or clasp a substantial quantity of hair drawn rearwardly upon the wearer&#39;s head. Such hair styles have often been known in the art as “pony tails”. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,542,041 issued to Marcella sets forth HAIR FASTENERS AND METHODS OF USING THE SAME designed to fasten together a body of hair at the head of the wearer. The fastener includes an elongated endless stretchable elastic filament supporting a pair of elongated portions and a pair of flexible tag connected to opposed portions of the filament. Fastening means are provided for securing the tabs to each other in overlapping relation. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,884 issued to Chap man et al sets forth a LOOP STRAP HAIR TIE used to fasten locks of hair into ponytails, braids or deadlocks. The hair tie includes a generally planar elongated material containing corresponding fastening surfaces at each end. Additionally the hair tie incorporates an elastic loop and friction pad to ensure that the hair tie securely attaches and remains in position on the lock of hair. Ornamentation such as jewelry, beads and ribbon may decorate the hair tie. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,585 issued to Soup sets forth a HEADBAND WITH PONYTAIL HOLDER includes an elongated member having an inner surface, an outer surface, a first generally U-shaped end having outwardly extending legs, and a second generally U-shaped end having corresponding outwardly extending legs. The headband further includes a pair of hook-and-loop type fasteners on each of the end pairs for overlapping attaching above and below the ponytail. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,575 issued to Rental sets forth a HAIR SECURING DEVICE having a fabric panel for wrapping about and enclosing a ponytail. A plurality of fastening bands having hook-and-loop attachment pads thereon are secured to the panel to complete its attachment about the ponytail. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,672 issued to Hans bury sets forth a HAIR RETAINING DEVICE formed of length of fabric or other sheet material and defining an elongated pocket suitable for receiving and supporting a conventional pipe cleaner. A gripping member is attached at the center portion of the fabric length for gripping the hair bundle. The malleable type cleaner is used to form the elongated strip about the ponytail hair. 
     Other types of hair grooming devices often utilize variations of combs which provide multiple functions in addition to hair combing. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,130 issued to Kludge et al sets forth a COMB AND DISPENSER UNIT for grooming hair or fur. The unit includes a reservoir having an outwardly flared base with a flat bottom surface for stable support. A handle portion is coupled to the reservoir and includes a pump actuator in communication with the reservoir and a nozzle. A comb is coupled to a handle portion with teeth extending away from the handle. The nozzle is coupled to a portion of the comb for spraying fluid pumped from the reservoir into the hair. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,193 issued to Bunch et al sets forth a CONTINUOUS HAIR DYE DISPENSING DEVICE for continuous application of hair dye to a person&#39;s hair. A porous material is supported within a housing together with teeth made of the porous material such that capillary action transfers the dye to the porous material to the teeth. A reservoir supplies the fluid to the porous material for transfer by capillary action to the teeth. As the unit is combed through the hair, the dye is transferred from the teeth to the hair. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,298 issued to Bunch et al sets forth a DISPENSER FOR MULTI COMPONENT HAIR COSMETIC PRODUCTS having a tubular element including absorbent material in separate storage compartments therein. Each product is then supplied to the separate storage compartments. The device further includes a plurality of fines of absorbent material partially inserted into each of the storage compartments for transferring the fluid onto hair in a combing action. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,690,279 issued to Hochberg sets forth a BIRTH CONTROL DISPENSER IN THE FORM OF A HAIR BRUSH having a hair brush defining an interior cavity within which a quantity of pills are stored. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,765 issued to Lehmann et al sets forth a TOY TATTOO PLAYSET while U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,356 issued to Pizzelli et al sets forth a DECORATIVE TOY AND STORAGE UNIT WITH ATTACHABLE HOLDERS both of which represent illustrative examples of toy devices which utilize a transfer and attachment of a decorative or ornamental item to a doll or human participant. 
     While the foregoing described prior art devices have often improved the art and in some instances enjoyed commercial success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for ever more interesting, amusing and entertaining hair play dolls and apparatus. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved hair play apparatus for use with a doll. It is more particular object of the present invention to provide an improved hair play apparatus for use with a doll which is capable of transferring ornamental objects to a dolls hair. 
     In accordance with the present invention there is provided a hairplay doll and doll comb comprising: a doll having a quantity of doll hair; a comb having a handle and a comb head defining a plurality of comb teeth; an ornament magazine supported on the comb head defining an open ornament channel; and a plurality of hair ornaments each having an ornament body slidably receivable in the ornament channel and each having a hook attachment pad, the ornament magazine and the hair ornaments constructed to allow a portion of the hook attachment pads to extend beyond the magazine whereby the hook attachment pads are able to engage the doll hair when stroked against the doll hair to draw the hair ornaments from the ornament magazine. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like reference numerals identify like elements and in which: 
     FIG. 1 sets forth a front perspective view of the present invention doll comb having apparatus for attaching ornaments in a typical use with a fashion doll; 
     FIG. 2 sets forth a rear view of an illustrative hair ornament constructed in accordance with the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 sets forth a rear view of the doll comb shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 sets forth a partial section view of a portion of the doll comb of FIG. 1 illustrating an ornament transfer; 
     FIG. 5 sets forth a rear view of an alternative hair ornament constructed in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1 sets forth a front perspective view of a doll generally referenced by numeral  10  in combination with a comb constructed in accordance with the present invention and generally referenced by numeral  20 . Doll  10  is fabricated in accordance with conventional fabrication techniques and is of the type of the dolls generally described as fashion dolls. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art however, that the present invention is equally explicable to other dolls without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
     Doll  10  includes a body  11  of conventional fabrication having a head  12 . Head  12  in turn supports a quantity of hair  13 . Hair  13  is rooted to head  12  by conventional means (not shown) and extends downwardly along body  11 . The length of hair selected for doll  10  is of an exaggerated length allowing full utilization of comb  20 . 
     Comb  20  is preferably formed of a molded plastic material or the like and includes a handle  21  shaped for gripping by a child user and a comb head  22 . Head  22  defines a plurality of spaced-apart comb teeth  23 . 
     In accordance with the present invention and as is described below in greater detail, head  22  of comb  20  supports a plurality of hair ornaments such as hair ornaments  30  and  31  shown in FIG.  1 . In further accordance with the apparatus set forth below in greater detail, the stroking of head  22  upon hair  13  in the direction indicated by arrow  15  transfers a plurality of hair ornaments such as hair ornaments  30  and  31  to hair  13 . As is better seen in FIG. 2, hair ornament  30  includes a pad of hook-type fabric attachment material which in accordance with the present invention grips hair  13  as comb  20  is moved downwardly. 
     Thus, the child user is able to stroke comb  20  upon hair  13  and transfer one or more of the hair ornaments stored thereon to hair  13  and thereby ornament hair  13 . Once attached, hair ornaments such as ornaments  30  and  31  are removable from hair  13  by simply grasping the hair ornaments and drawing them from hair  13  with sufficient force to overcome the temporary attachment of the hook pad material on the underside thereof. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art, that while illustrative hair ornaments  30  and  31  set forth in FIG. 1 generally resemble a butterfly in shape, other shapes may be used for hair ornaments in combination with comb  20  having similar attachment pads. By way of illustration, FIG. 5 shows a differently shaped hair ornament to illustrate this possible variation. It will be understood that still further differently shaped ornaments having hook-like attachment pads may be utilized without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 sets forth a rear view of an illustrative hair ornament generally referenced by numeral  30 . Hair ornament  30  includes a generally planar body  32  preferably formed of a light-weight molded plastic material or the like. Body  32  defines a rear surface  33  supporting a pad of hook-type fabric attachment material  34 . Pad  34  is secured to surface  33  using conventional adhesive attachment or the like. 
     FIG. 3 sets forth a rear view of comb  20  which as described above is preferably formed of a molded plastic material or the like. As is also described above, comb  20  defines a handle  21  and a comb head  22 . Comb head  22  in turn supports a plurality of generally parallel spaced-apart comb teeth  23 . 
     In accordance with the present invention, comb head  22  further supports an elongated ornament magazine  40 . Magazine  40  is preferably formed of a molded plastic material or the like, and is secured to head  22  using conventional attachment such as adhesives or alternatively other attachments such as chemical or sonic welding as desired. The important aspect is that magazine  40  is secured firmly to comb head  22 . Comb head  22  defines an elongated channel  41  having inwardly extending lips  42  and  43  on each side thereof. As is better seen in FIG. 4, lips  42  and  43  are spaced above the rear surface of magazine  40  as sufficient distance to allow a hair ornament to slide into channel  41  and be captivated in a slidable attachment within magazine  40 . Thus, lips  42  and  43  extend inwardly a short distance leaving a gap  44  therebetween. 
     A plurality of hair ornaments  51  through  58  are shown received within and captivated within magazine  40 . In further accordance of an important aspect of the present invention, gap  44  is sufficient to provide clearance for a plurality of hook-type fabric attachment pads  61  through  68  supported upon the rear surfaces of hair ornaments  51  through  58  respectively in a similar fashion to hair ornament  30  shown in FIG.  2 . With temporary reference to FIG. 4, it will be noted that the hook-type fabric attachment pads of the hair ornaments supported within channel  41  extend beyond lips  42  and  43 . This facilitates this engagement with the doll&#39;s hair as magazine  40  is stroked upon doll hair in the manner shown in FIG.  4 . 
     Returning to FIG. 3, a hair ornament  50  having a hook pad  60  is shown being loaded into magazine  40 . In this assembly, the user simply aligns ornament  50  with channel  41  of magazine  40  such that hook pad  60  of ornament  40  is aligned with gap  44  of magazine  40 . Thereafter, the user simply moves ornament  50  into channel  41  such that the outer edges of ornament  50  slide beneath lips  42  and  43  and hook pad  60  is exposed through gap  44 . 
     Thus, the user is able to sequentially load a plurality of hair ornaments into channel  41  of magazine  40  and thereafter stroke head  22  and magazine  40  against the dolls hair to cause hook pads  61  through  68  to engage the underlying hair and thereby slide ornaments  51  through  58  outwardly from magazine  40  to remain secured to the dolls hair. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the use of comb  20  is not limited solely to application of hair ornaments to a dolls hair. On the contrary, the use of comb  20  and hair ornaments  50  through  58  upon a quantity of human hair is equally feasible. In this manner, the child user is able to indulge in an additional exciting and amusing facet of hair play in which hair ornaments are transferred to the dolls hair and hair ornaments are also transferred to the child&#39;s hair. As a result, a more amusing sharing of hair ornamentation and hair play is accomplished. 
     FIG. 4 sets forth a partial section view of comb  20  applying a quantity of hair ornaments to a portion of doll hair  13 . As described above, comb  20  includes a head  22  supporting an ornament magazine  40 . As is also described above, magazine  40  defines a channel  41  within which a plurality of hair ornaments such as ornaments  52  and  53  are received. In further accordance with the present invention, ornaments  52  and  53  support extending hook-type fabric attachment pads  62  and  63 . As mentioned above, magazine  40  is configured to confine a gap  44  (seen in FIG. 3) through which attachment pads  62  and  63  extend. As a result, as comb  40  is stroked downwardly in the direction indicated by arrow  45 , the exposed attachment pads bind with hair  13  and creates sufficient grip to allow each of their respective hair ornaments to be drawn from channel  41  of magazine  40 . For purposes of illustration, hair ornament  51  having attachment pad  61  is shown engaged upon hair  13  having been withdrawn from channel  1  by the movement of comb  20  in the direction indicated by arrow  45 . 
     Thus, as the child user repeatedly strokes comb  20  upon either doll hair  13  or the child user&#39;s hair (not shown) one or more of the hair ornaments stored within magazine  40  is transferred to the hair. 
     As mentioned above, hair ornaments secured to hair  13  may be withdrawn therefrom by simply gripping the hair ornament and pulling it away from hair  13  overcoming the engagement of the hook attachment pads with the hair. Thereafter, magazine  40  may be reloaded as set forth above in connection with FIG.  3 . 
     What has been shown is a novel doll comb having apparatus for attaching ornaments to doll hair or alternatively to a child user&#39;s hair in a simply stroking action. The inventive hair play accessory shown is capable of repeated use and may be provided with a variety of differently appearing hair ornaments. According FIG. 5 sets forth an alternative hair ornament generally referenced by numeral  70 . Hair ornament  70  is shaped to generally resemble the outline of a flower. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that ornament  70  may be shaped differently as the user desires to provide further variety of appearance. Accordingly, hair ornament  70  is fabricated in a very similar fashion to hair ornament  30  shown in FIG.  2  and includes a body  71  preferably formed of a light-weight material such as molded plastic or the like. Body  71  defines a rear surface  72  supporting a hook-type fabric attachment pad  73 . As is also described above, pad  73  may be joined to surface  72  by conventional attachment means such as adhesive attachment or chemical or sonic bonding. By way of further variation, pad  73  may be integrally with body  71  as desired. The essential function of pad  73  is its ability to extend from magazine  40  (seen in FIG. 4) a sufficient distance to touch underlying hair and to engage such hair with sufficient grip and friction to be secured thereto in a temporary attachment. 
     While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects. Therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.