IIUUVIONAL DIBU Hair-pins.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 7th Dec., 1889-Accepted, 5th Apr., 1890
IIUUVIONAL DIBU
Hair-pins.
I, Mrs. LOUISA OUSEY, of Bellevue Villa, South Wimbledon, in the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
A rod or wire is bent in the form of the letter U which is again so curved that,
when it is applied to the rounded surfaces of the integument of the human skull, it
will lie for nearly the whole of its length, either in actual contact with, or parallel
with such surfaces, only diverging from parallelism where the natural dissimilarity
of such surfaces compels such divergence.
The curved branches of the U may, for the purpose of keeping the Hair-pin in
position, be crimped, crinkled, or waved, laterally to the curve that adapts them to
the figure of the skull.
The foot of the U may, for convenience of handling, or for sustaining a mass of
hair, or for purposes of ornamentation, be bent back from the curve, so as to stand
off, or recede from the surface to which the rest of the Hair-pin would adapt itself,--
may also, for the purpose of fixing a bead, or of attaching a dangler, be convoluted,
or twisted, and form'a loop.
it
The points of the U may, as a safeguard against the frequent, and sometimes
serious, accident of a Hair-pin penetrating the skull, and for the purpose of
preventing them from abraiding or scratching the skin, be diverted or bent back
from the curve, or continue in the direction of the chord that might be supposed to
subtend the same, these points will likewise tend to bind any mass of hair that
they may chance, when in position, to penetrate or traverse.
The continuous use of the Hair-pins now in vogue is detrimental and destructive
to the hair,for, since a Hair-pin that is either straight, or not carefully adapte:
to the contour of the head, can only touch the integument of the skull at the base
of a very limited number of hairs, the strain of supporting a mass of hair is imposed
upon these few hairs, which gradually fail, fall, and disappear, causing bare patches,
and, consequently, a certain diminution of the mass.
The advantages claimed for this new Hair-pin are:-That these serious conse-
quences are prevented by the fact that it is, on account of its shape, brought into
contact with the integument of the skull, at the base of a very large number of
hairs, with the effect that no perceptible strain is imposed, upon any of them,-and
this gives rise to a feeling of comfort, and produces a sense of security because the
Hair-pin is itself much more firmly held in position, and therefore has the power of
preventing the hair from falling down while dancing, riding, or at tennis, and the
lateral crimping, crinkling or waving of the prongs prevents the Hair-pin from
shaking-out while taking violent exercise of any kind.
This Hair-pin may be made of any metal, but preferably of Aluminium, on account
of its lightness (low specific gravity), it may likewise be made of vulcanite or
celluloid or of such material as wood-pulp or papier maché, which may have a core
of thread or of fine wire,-when it is made of any of these latter substances, the
prongs, instead of being simply waved laterally, may be made to be alternately thick
and thin along their length.
To correctly adapt the curve of the Hair-pin to the conformation of the average
head, it is necessary to have regard to the fashion of the time, and the parts of the
head on which the hair is worn, and then to take casts of those parts of a number of
(say) adult female heads, shaven, or skulls,—if these casts be then cut through-the
lines of section being taken in those directions in which the pins are usually fixed-
and then, if these sectional lines be applied to each other, as by drawing them all.
with a pencil, one over another, on the same piece of paper, the darkest part of the

page_text: finished line (the succession of the greatest number of points of coincidence) will
give, for the fashion of the time, the curve best adapted to the conformation of the
average head.
If the casts are taken from the bone, then in constructing dies, allowance will have
to be made for the thickness of the integument.
The distinguishing features of this Invention are:-
1. A Hair-pin curved, substantially as described, to the conformation of the
average head."
2. An ordinary, metallic wire, U shaped Hair-pin, the plane of which is curved so
as to lie upon a rounded surface.
3. The branches of a curved Hair-pin, rimped, crinkled or waved laterally to the
curve.
4. The foot of a curved Hair-pin bent back from the curve.
5. The bent-back foot, of a curved Hair-pin, twisted into a loop for the attachment
of, a dangler.
6. A curved Hair-pin of which the foot is bent back, having, likewise, the points
of its branches bent back from the curve, and continuing in the direction of the
chord subtending the same.
7. A Hair-pin of papier-maché, wood pulp, or any other non-metallic substance,
containing a core of thread or fine wire, and having its branches or prongs alternately
thick and thin along their length.
Dated this 27th day of February A.D. 1889.
1
I, Mrs. Louisa OUSEY, of Bellevue Villa, South Wimbledon, in the County of
Surrey, England, 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:-
Dermatologists conversant with the nature of the skin and of the hair, as described
in works on Histology, cannot when their attention is drawn to it, ignore the
barbarous abuse to which these delicate structures are subjected by the employment
of ordinary Hair-pins, which are inconsiderately designed and, in continuous use,
detrimental to, and destructive of the hair.
Firstly, The head has not a flat, but a rounded surface.
Secondly, The skin is susceptible of injury by abrasion, by pressure, by fridging.
Thirdly, The hair-shafts spring from the follicles in the scalp in definite directions,
and they may be injured, broken or destroyed by constant strain, by bending in a
wrong direction, by fridging, and by injuries to the skin and follicles.
The importance of these considerations is to be gauged, not by the injuries
sustained by one individual only, but by the number of persons affected, and there
are few things material to which a woman attaches more value than to the luxuriance,
the condition, health and quantity of her own natural hair.
The main objects of this Invention are:-
So to construct Hair-pins as to diminish the injuries that are ordinarily caused by
using the Hair-pins hitherto in common use.
To add to the comfort of the user, by enabling her to rest her head against the
back of a chair or carriage, or to wear a bonnet that fits her head, without suffering
from the pressure of the wire, with disturbing either the Hair-pins or the arrange-
ment of her hair, and without lugging or breaking her hair.
To enable her to if necessary, hurriedly insert Hair-pins without fear of abrading
her skin, and to protect her against sustaining serious injury, from Hair-pins, by a
fall, or any accidental blow on the head.
To enable her to take active exercise without either shaking her hair down, or
shaking-out the Hair-pins,

page_text: The objects of this Invention are carried out by:
(a) Adapting the Hair-pin to the shape of the head, so that it may lie near the
skin (in which are embedded the follicles of the hair), and can receive support
(derived from the follicles) from the shafts of a comparatively large number of
hairs, close to where they spring from their roots in the integument of the head,
and adapting it in such a manner that the number of shafts of hair that afford
support will increase with the length of the Hair-pin.
(b) Bending back the turn ( Fig. 6) from the arch of the Hair-pin (shape of
the head, a Fig. 6) for such a length as may be required, according to the
thickness of the mass of hair, which the Hair-pin (supported as just described) has to
hold-up.
(c) Bending back the points (e Fig. 6) from the arch of the Hair-pin, so that
when it is being inserted, they will not abrade, but will ride softly over the skin. or
over any other like Hair-pin that may happen to be already in position.
() Serrating the prongs of the Hair-pin (d, d, d, Fig. 6A),the angles of the
serrations being such that vibrations (if any) may have a tendency to cause the
Hair-pin to penetrate further in, rather than to be shaken-out.
In order to arrive at the arch (a Fig. 1) a mould is applied to the shaven scalp
(or, if to the skull, a slight allowance is made for the thickness of the integument),-
and, in order that the arch may be adapted to the average requirements of the
average female head, it is necessary to apply moulds to the positions that will
probably be occupied by the Hair-pins, and to make such application to a number
of heads.
The arch in the figures results from applying strips of pure tin, 10 centimetres
long, to three positions (determined by the natural sutures) on the right and side
of 37 well formed female skulls of European origin-these moulds answered to six
probable positions for a Hair-pin on each of the 37 heads.
The 111 (one hundred and eleven) curvatures thus obtained were super-posed, one
upon another, and, by the density of the composite line thus obtained, their average
was determined.
The same 111 curvatures were again, independently, laid down, one upon another
and their average was again similarly ascertained.
One of these average lines was then rubbed down upon the other, and the difference
between them (a mere line) was then split,-by these means the curvature given in
the drawings was obtained.
By the courtesy of Professor Stewart, skulls were made available for this purpose,
from among the large collection in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons,
London.
The turn (Fig. 6) is shewn to be bent back for a proportion of the length of
the Hair-pin, it is different in each of the Figs. 1 2, 3, 4 and 5, for the reason
that the larger the mass of hair "D" that requires to be held-up, the longer is the
Hair-pin that is usually employed, but, when Hair-pins are straight, they only touch
the scalp at the base of a very limited number of hairs, in these new Hair-pins,
however, it is obvious that, the greater the length of the Hair-pin, the greater is the
number of the shafts of hair, along the arch ( Fig. 6), that will support it,
and the greater, therefore, is the power of the, relatively, large bent-back portion
of the Hair-pin, the turn (b Fig. 6), to support the mass of hair "D," accor
ding to the desired thickness of which the length of the portion
determined.
"
b "
may be
The distance F H (Fig. 6), between the line E Fand the dotted line G H roughly
represents the distance between the ordinary straight Hair-pin and the head, and
indicates how inconveniently large and unstable a woman's bonnet or hat necessarily
is, to say nothing of the pain that is frequently occasioned by its pressure on the
projecting ends of a straight Hair-pin.
The Fig. 7 (Kepler's illustration of the distance of the Earth from Venus, modified)
expresses this diagrammatically.
6:
In these new Hair-pins only the turn protrudes beyond the hair, and

page_text: that, no further from the head than the distance EG (6 G actually), or the thickness
of the mass of hair "D" that it holds-up, and thereby many unnecessary discomforts
are avoided.
The points, e (Fig. 6) being bent-back, the arch "a," and the turn "," will make
it highly improbable for a Hair-pin to penetrate the skull (as now occasionally
happens) by accident.
To prevent Hair-pins from shaking-out, it has hitherto been usual, either to make
the prongs diverge (Fig. 8); to make them of angular wire twisted, or to crinkle them
(Fig. 9), and frequently both (Fig. 8-9).
In inserting such Hair-pins, the divergent prongs are squeezed towards each other,
and, when in position, allowed to expand, they then push-over the shafts of hair
that were not between them, these hair-shafts then naturally resist flexion, and tend
to thrust the prongs away from the head.
This injurious bending of the hairs in two different directions, of which both may
(and one is likely to be contrary to that of the follicles, is avoided by simply
making the prongs parallel, and serrating, (indenting or denticulating) the sides,
only, of the wire (d, d, d, Fig. 6A), in this peculiar method of serrating, the angle
of resistance to withdrawal is made greater than the angle of resistance to penetra-
tion, and, that these angles may not have the same evil effects on the hair as crinkling
the wire, their depth is very minute, and bears a convenient relation to the thickness
of a hair, say, (according to Huxley) 0.08 mm.
The number of hairs on a given area of the scalp is (according to Withof) about
293 on the square inch, and the distance between the angles bears a convenient
Palation to but preferably
forester than)
The prongs, if thus made parallel, and serrated, will not, on account of their thick-
ness, their divergence, or their shape, push-over and injure the hair-shafts,-
they tend to slip-out.
―nor will
Instead of varnishing, iron Hair-pins can be finished by the Barff (superheated
steam) process, and the oxide surface can be brightened by tumbling.
There are two other properties which may be desired in Hair-pins, viz., Light-
ness (low specific gravity) without excessive bulk, and colour.
If they are made of aluminium, or aluminium alloyed, they may have lightness
combined with a metallic, grey, or golden colour-if they are made of oil-annealed
glass (known as toughened glass") they may be both light, and of any colour
desired.
"
Colour, alone, can be imparted cheaply, by plating, gilding, or colour-varnishing
the turn, or bent-back portion, only, ( Fig. 6) of the Hair-pin.

page_text: "
till they are in line with that of half the arc, both the turn and the points might
bend back a little more, and this is shewn in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5,-In these the
turn is bent back more, in proportion as the Hair-pin becomes shorter,-likewise
the points, which latter, as will be noticeable in Fig. 5, are in line with a chord equal
to that of half the arc in Fig. 1.
Fig. 6 The upper portion shews the new Hair-pin with a mass D of hair held-up
by the turn 6. The lower portion shews the scalp, x, y, z, with shafts of hair
supporting such Hair-pin (the dotted line b, a, c,) along the whole length of the
archia, while an ordinary Hair-pin (the line F) is supported near its middle only,
from j to i, for about one fifth of its length,--the lines HF and F shew an un-
necessary protrusion, and it is obvious that GE is greater than Gb, and that if E F
had passed through the centre of D, then HF, F would have shewn a still greater
protrusion. The portion F, of the Hair-pin E F, is thrust indefinitely into, or
through, supported (?) hair (into anything or nothing) to steady the effective por-
tion Ei, rocking (from to i) on the pivoty.
Fig. A shews fragments of prongs taken from the arch a, indicating the
peculiar method of serrating the sides, only, of the wire-(i) indented, and (ii)
denticulated-with cross-sections.
Fig. 7 illustrates how bonnets are necessarily large, and cannot fit, yet press
against the ends of ordinary Hair-pius, which, in turn, press painfully against the
head.
Fig. 8-shews ordinary diverging prongs.
Fig. 9-twisted angular wire, and crinkled, prongs.
Fig. 8-9--the same, with prongs as ordinarily made, viz., diverging.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:-
A-Arching the prongs of metallic Hair-pins-
(i) to the average curvature of the head;
(ii) to a rounded surface, substantially as, and for the purpose described.
B (i) Bending back, from such arching of the prongs, the turn with a portion of
the prongs, substantially as, and for the purpose described;
(ii) plating, gilding or colour-varnishing such portion of metallic Hair-pins.
C-Bending back, from such arching, the points of the prongs of metallic Hair-
pins, substantially as, and for the purpose described.
D-Serrating, by denticulating, or by indenting the surface of the sides, without
bending or twisting the core, of the prongs of Hair-pins, substantially as, and for
the purpose described.
E (i) Lightening Hair-pins, and making them of various colours by employing,
as a material, toughened glass:
(ii) giving such glass Hair-pins the form and serration above described.
F Finishing iron Hair-pins by the Barff-process, substantially as described.
IT
FIL
T 1000
LOUISA OUSEY.