Abstract:
Protective headwear for use under a hair dryer includes a strap which extends across the forehead of the wearer. A visor is attached to the bottom of the strap and covers and protects the eyes and nose of the wearer. A pair of earpieces are connected to opposite sides of the forehead strap by means of elastic connectors. Each earpiece has a first section and a bendable end section which extends around an ear of the wearer. Flaps are attached to and hang down from the first section to cover the ears. The forehead strap may be elastic and extendable, and the visor may be fan shaped.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/279,590 filed Mar. 29, 2001. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to improved protective headwear for use with a hair dryer, particularly with a hood hair dryer of the type used in a beauty salon. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Patrons of beauty salons often feel discomfort when under a hair dryer. Complaints frequently focus on excessive heat on the forehead and on ears, eyes and nose discomfort. 
     Utility U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,052 discloses protective headgear having a transparent visor to cover the wearer&#39;s eyes and nose, earflaps to cover the ears, and an insulated middle segment which extends across the forehead. Tie members connected to the middle segment extend around the back of the head to hold the headgear on the head of the wearer. The headgear is said to protect the wearer from heat-induced discomfort which otherwise might be caused by a hair dryer. The device is reusable and thus is not disposable. 
     Examples of other protective headgear are shown in design Pats. Nos. 250,296 and 315,224, and in Utility Pat. No. 4,704,744. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to protective headwear for use under a hair dryer. The headwear is disposable. The headwear comprises a strap which extends across the forehead of the wearer. A visor is attached to the bottom of the strap and covers and protects the eyes and nose of the wearer. The visor is made of a rigid material such as plastic or cardboard, and is curved to conform to the forehead of the wearer. A pair of earpieces are connected to opposite sides of the forehead strap by means of elastic connectors. Each earpiece has an elongated rigid inner section and a bendable end section which extends around an ear of the wearer. Flaps are attached to and hang down from the rigid inner section to cover the ears. The bendable end sections are readily bent to conform to the ears of the wearer and hold the headwear on the wearer similar to the earpieces of a pair of glasses. As the earpieces are connected to the forehead strap by elastic connectors, the headwear can easily be adapted to fit the head of any wearer. This makes the headwear of the present invention disposable. All of the components of the headwear are readily available commercial materials, and the assembly of the headwear is simple, so that the headwear of the present invention is inexpensive enough that it is disposable for this reason as well. 
     In an embodiment of the present invention, the elastic attached to the earpieces extends all the way across the forehead of the wearer from earpiece to earpiece. In the area of the visor, the elastic is covered with fabric to protect the wearer from heat absorbed by the elastic. The visor is fan shaped, so that when the headgear is placed over a very wide head, the visor expands as well as the elastic between the earpieces. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The invention and advantages thereof will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings in which 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a protective headwear of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of the protective headwear of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of a protective headwear in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 4 is a plan view of the protective headwear of FIG.  3 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the protective headwear  12  of the present invention comprises a strap  14  which extends across the forehead of the wearer. The strap  14  is relatively narrow in width (vertical dimension), preferably no more than about two inches, and preferably about one-half inch. The strap  14  is preferably of a height that it does not reach up to the wearer&#39;s hairline, but only rests on the skin of the forehead. The strap  14  is made of a flexible material so that it seals against the forehead. 
     Specifically, the strap  14  is made of a base  14   a  that may be polypropylene, for example, or another lightweight material strong enough to serve as a support. The strap  14  has a layer  14   b  on its outwardly facing surface that is made from a heat resistant and fire retardant material, such as Nomex brand material or another brand. The strap  14  has a layer  14   c  on its inwardly facing surface that is made from a material comfortable to the wearer, such as cotton or terry cloth. Various materials can be used. 
     The length of the strap  14  is enough that it extends across the width of the forehead of the wearer. Here also, the length of the strap  14  is not critical, as long as it extends more or less the full distance across the forehead of the wearer. 
     The strap  14  supports a visor  16 . The visor  16  is relatively rigid, and is made of a base material  16   a  such as plastic or cardboard. It is preferably covered on its outward facing surface with a layer  16   b  of heat resistant and fire retardant material, such as Nomex brand material or another brand. The fire retardant layer  16   b  may be a separate material layer or may be a sprayed on coating. The strap  14  has a layer  14   c  on its inwardly facing surface that is made from a material comfortable to the wearer, such as cotton or terry cloth. Various materials can be used, for example, a woven fabric, nylon, etc. 
     The visor  16  is attached to the strap  14 , for instance by sewing. The visor  16  is preshaped, similar to the visor of a baseball cap, to more or less conform to the shape of the forehead of a wearer. Despite this, the strap  14  preferably allows the headwear  12  to seal against the forehead of the wearer. The visor  16  extends downwardly but primarily outwardly from the strap  14  about four inches, more or less, to protect the eyes and nose of the wearer from the heat of the hair dryer. The visor  16  does not extend downward like a mask to actually cover the eyes and nose. 
     Connectors  18  and  20  are attached to opposite ends of the strap  14 . The connectors  18  and  20  are made of an elastic material, for instance an elastic fabric or bungee material. Such elastic materials are commercially available. The connectors  18  and  20 , because they are elastic, are longitudinally (front to back) extensible, as can be seen from a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2. It should be understood that the present invention encompasses connectors that are not elastic, also. 
     Earpieces  22  and  24  are attached to the connectors  18  and  20 , respectively. Preferably, the ear pieces  22  and  24  have relatively rigid straight portions  26  and  28  which are attached to the connectors  18  and  20 , respectively, and bendable end portions  30  and  32  which can be curved to conform to the ears of the wearer, that is, curved to have a shape generally similar to the ear pieces of a pair of glasses. Preferably the earpieces are made of plastic. An example of a bendable material that would be useable in the earpieces of the present invention is a plastic straw of the type often dispensed with the purchase of a soft drink. The bendable portions  30  and  32  are corrugated making them bendable and at the same time providing memory so that the portions  30  and  32  retain the shape to which they are bent. 
     Ear covers  34  and  36  are attached to the straight portions  26  and  28 . The ear covers  34  and  36  are generally rectangular pieces which hang downwardly from the straight portions  26  and  28  of the earpieces  22  and  24 . The size and shape of the ear covers  34  and  36  is not critical, so long as they are large enough to cover at least substantially the ears of the wearer and protect the ears from the heat of the hair dryer. Preferably the ear covers  34  and  36  are made from the same combination of materials as the strap  14 . The ear covers  34  and  36  can be attached to the earpieces  22  and  24  by sewing or other means. The ear covers are preferably stiff, not flexible. 
     Advantages of the present invention should now be apparent. Primarily, the protective headwear  12  of the present invention is easily adapted to fit the head of any wearer making it disposable. The elastic connectors  18  and  20  are made sufficiently elastic that the bendable end portions  30  and  32  fit securely over the ears of the wearer without causing the wearer any discomfort from excessive tension in the connectors  18  and  20 . The extensibility of the elastic connectors is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 by the dashed lines for earpieces  22  and  24 . The use of a bendable plastic with memory for the portions  30  and  32  makes the headwear  12  even more adjustable for different shaped heads. At the same time, the design of the headwear is sufficiently simple that it can be made inexpensively of inexpensive materials readily available in the marketplace. This also makes the headwear of the present invention disposable. 
     A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In this embodiment, the headwear  112  comprises a strap  114 , a visor  116 , connectors  118  and  120 , and earpieces  122  and  124 , as in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2. The earpieces have a relatively straight, rigid portion  126 , 128  and a bendable portion  130 , 132  having memory so that the bendable portion  130 , 132  retains the shape to which it is bent. Earflaps  134 , 136  drape from the rigid portion  126 , 128 . The elasticity in the connectors  118  and  120  allows the headwear to be adjusted to any shaped head. In this embodiment of the present invention, the strap  114  comprises an inner elastic and stretchable member  140 , covered loosely by a fabric member  142 . The elastic member  140  allows the strap  114  to be stretched to conform to very wide heads, making the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 even more adaptable to different shaped heads, and thus even more readily disposable. To facilitate adaptability to different shaped heads, the visor  116  is fan shaped having corrugations  144  which allow the visor to be fanned out or widened as with a conventional fan when the strap  114  is stretched. The construction of the visor  116  can be the same as that of a conventional fan. 
     From the foregoing, variations and modifications of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such variations and modifications of the invention within the skill of the art are intended to be covered by the claims appended hereto.