Improvements in Hair Pins.
Year: 1899

page_text: Improvements in Hair Pins.
We, CROWELL MUNDY DISSOSWAY and LEO EHRLICH, both of No. 33, Union
Square, in the City, County and State of New York, United States of America,
Architect and Builder, respectively, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a hair-pin having at one side or edge an open pocket
to receive a lock of the hair and hold the pin in place, this pocket being near
the head of the pin and opening toward the head. When the pin is pushed into
the hair a lock of the latter, crossing the pin, engages the pocket and acts to
prevent accidental displacement of the pin.
The bracket on the pin forming the pocket may lie edgewise with the pin,
or may project from the face thereof; and it may be formed by a bend in the
wire if the pin be formed of wire, or be formed in the material, if the pin be
made from celluloid, flat metal, horn, or the like.
Dated this 27th day of March 1899
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool.
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in Hair Pins.
We, CROWELL MUNDY DISSOSWAY and LEO EHRLICH, both of No. 33; Union
Square, in the City, County and State of New York, United States of America,
Architect and Builder, respectively, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
-
This invention relates to that class of hair-pins which have devices of some
kind to prevent them from slipping too readily out of the hair after insertion
therein. Many forms of pins have been proposed for this purpose, some of which
are ineffective and others, while reasonably effective in holding the pin in place,
are too difficult to extricate from the hair, an operation which it is desirable to
effect with one hand and which must not injure the hair.
The present invention, which has for its object to provide an inexpensive pin
which will not injure the hair, which will retain its place when inserted, and
which can be readily disengaged from the hair and withdrawn with one hand,
consists, broadly, in a pin having two prongs and a connecting-head, as usual,
Price RI

page_text: and having formed in one only of its prongs near the head, but not at the head,
a smooth concave pocket which is exteriorly situated relatively to the space
between the prongs of the pin so as not to contract the space between the prongs
at the point where it is situated, and which opens toward the head of the pin.
When the head of the pin is grasped between the thumb and finger and pushed
into the mass of hair up to the head, as usual, there is no undue compression
of the hair in passing a contracted part of the space between the prongs; but
the retention of the pin is effected by the engagement in said pocket of the hair
exterior to the pin and which crosses the pin near the head thereof and above or
beyond said pocket. In removing the pin this engaged lock of hair may be
simply disengaged by pushing it aside with the finger when the head of the
pin is grasped for withdrawing the latter. The lock of hair not being confined
between the prongs of the pin at its head, as in some forms of pins, it offers
no obstacle to the ready extrication of the pin.
In the accompanying drawings several embodiments of the invention are
illustrated.
In the drawings, Figure 1 includes a face or side view and an end view of a wire
hair-pin embodying the invention in a simple form. Figure 2 is an edge view,
and Figure 3a face or side view, of a wire hair-pin having the bracket forming
the pocket turned toward the face of the pin. Figure 4 shows the invention
embodied in a hair-pin made from other material than wire.
In all of the figures of the drawings, a represents the head of the pin, which is
usually arched and ties together the prongs . The commoner forms of these
pins are made by bending a piece of wire at its middle. In carrying out this
invention in a wire hair-pin the wire of one only of the prongs is bent at or near
the head end of the pin, so as to form a concave retaining-pocket, c, the mouth
of which opens or is directed toward the head end of the pin. When such a
pin is pushed into the mass of hair, some portion of the latter will, as stated.
fall into the pocket c and offer such resistance to the accidental working out of
the pin that the latter will retain its place until withdrawn by the hand. The
withdrawal of the pin may be effected without difficulty, as the finger used in
grasping the head of the pin can be used for pushing back or to one side the hair
crossing the pin in the pocket c, the latter being made smooth and rounded,
so as to prevent the hair from getting wedged or fast in it.
The pocket may be formed in the same plane as the face of the_pin, or, in
other words, the pin will he flat, as seen in the end view below in Fig. 1; but
the bracket, forming the pocket, may be turned at an angle to the face of
The pin, as indicated in the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.
Figure 4 shows the invention applied to a pin formed from other material
than wire, as celluloid, tortoise-shell, aluminium, or the like.
It will be noted that the displacement of the hair to permit the bracket in
which the pocket is formed to pass is effected in the loose exterior hair and not
by compression, as in the case of pins having interiorly-situated shoulders,
which contract the space between the prongs at the point where they are
situated.
In the simpler form of the pin, Figs. 1 and 4, the prongs are separated farther
between the pocket and their tips than between the pocket and the head. This
allows the pin to be more easily inserted and withdrawn.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. As an improved article of manufacture, a hair-pin having prongs and a
head, and having formed in one of its prongs near, but not at the head end of
the pin, an open, concave retaining-pocket, the said pocket being externally
situated with respect to the space between the prongs, and having its opening or
mouth directed toward the head end of the pin.

page_text: 2. As an improved article of manufacture, a hair-pin having prongs and a
head, and having formed exteriorly in one of its prongs an open, concave
pocket, the space between the prongs being narrower between the pocket and
the head of the pin than between the pocket and the ends of the prongs, whereby
the pin is adapted to be easily withdrawn when the hair is disengaged from said
pocket, substantially as set forth.