Sanitary hair-catching mantle

April 30, 1940. f. ferry 2,199,334

SANITARY HAIR-CATCHING MANTLE

Filed April 6, 1939

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Patented Apr. 30, 1940

2,199,334

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,199,334 ' SANITARY HAIR-CATCHING MANTLEFrank Ferry, Bristol, Pa., assignor of one-half to Elwood W. Bilger, Bristol, Pa.

Application April 6, 1939, Serial No. 266,308

Claims.

My present invention relates to a sanitary appliance for use in barber shops and elsewhere and to be worn by the customer while he is being barbered.

A purpose of the invention is to provide a haircatching mantle that will be simple and inexpensive; that will collect the falling hair, dandruff, burnt particles from hair singeing and the like in a hairway for delivery into a normally closed 1° receiver carried by the mantle; that will be comfortable to wear, leaving the customer’s arms free, as for smoking, without disturbing the proper fit of. the mantle; that will adjustably fit the customer’s neck and. be so low on the neck ¹⁵ as to be out of the way. of the different barbering operations, avoiding any need for removing or even-for shifting the mantle throughout a succession, of barbering operations, as for example of hair-cutting, neck shaving, hair singeing and ²⁰ dry shampooing; that will be easy to put on and take off; that, will effectively protect the customer, the barber and the floor from falling hair and other particles; that will be impenetrable to falling hair and other particles, and that will be 25 very _eaSy to clean, whether by means of boiling water, steam or antiseptic solutions.

A further purpose is to surround a flexible and wide collar with, a relatively stiff hairway, with front and rearward portions of the hairway con³⁰ necting and preferably hinging together at the customer’s shoulders, preferably near the front of . the shoulders, sloping downwardly and outwardly from the line of hinging, out peripherally far enough to catch falling hair and down far ^3υ enough to be out of the way of the barber.

A further purpose is to provide the wide collar with a zipper front and a narrow neck band, and with a· fresh strip of paper for each customer folded over the neck band and down between the ⁴⁰ neck band and the customer’s neck.

A further purpose is to discharge both the.rearward and front hairway portions through a downward opening of the front portion into a preferably cylindrical receiver located below and horizontally across the bottom and front of the mantle.

A further purpose is to carry the hair receiver removably in a receiver housing having an up50 ward opening into the hairway, the receiver having a longitudinal opening to register with the housing opening when the hairway is. to be discharged into the receiver.

A further purpose is to open and close connec55- tion between the hairway and. the receiver by (CI. 2—50) :,. .-1.-., turning, the receiver in its housing, opening.and closing, the receiver by bringing the receiver opening respectively into registry with the housing opening and out of registry therewith.

A further purpose, when operating for example in a hospital, is to barber optionally a succession of customer patients before emptying the receiver, keeping the receiver closed when the mantle is being worn by customers and clearing the mantle into the receiver after taking it off ¹⁰each customer. .

A further purpose is to use the housing of the hair receiver to hold out the front portion of the mantle.

A further purpose is to hold out the rear por- ^&amp;tion of the mantie rearwardly by the engagement of downward spurs oppositely adjacent the line of. hinging·¹ of relatively stiff peripheral portions of. the mantle, respectively to the front and'rear; with a pair of opposing spurs at each shoulder. ²⁰

A further purpose is to support the mantle from the customer’s shoulders, with its frontwardly and rearwardly extending portions in a measure: balancing one another, each tending to hold the other outward by engagements of . down- ²⁵ward spurs at the line of hinging between relatively stiff peripheral portions of the mantle.

A further purpose is to accommodate any customer’s wish to smoke by presenting from the _ mantle a stab, surface for use in putting out un- ³⁰consumed cigaret stubs and a receiver for ashes and. stubs.

Further purposes will appear in the specification and in the claims.

I have elected to show one. only of the different ^3Sforms of my invention, selecting, a form however that is practical and efficient in operation arid which well illustrates the principles involved.

In. the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating a ⁴⁰desirable embodiment of the invention as worn by. a customer.

Figure 2 is a top plan of the embodiment of Figure 1, nearly in position of use and without the customer. . Figure 3 is a side elevation showing, the structure of Figure 1 on a customer.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary section of: Figure 2,. taken upon the line 2—2 thereof, in the direction 50 of the arrows. .-,:.

Like numerals refer to like parts in all figures.

Describing in illustration and not in limitation and referring to the drawing:

In the illustration, a one-piece mantle extends 8?

2,199,334 downwardly and outwardly from around the neck and presents an outwardly extended upwardly directed hairway to catch hair and other particles falling during barbering, and below the front of the mantle carries a cylindrical pan or hair receiver, normally closed and removably mounted within a casing suitably integral with the mantle.

The mantle also presents a stub surface for use by customers who smoke while being bartered, to extinguish finished cigarets, and with an adjacent recess for cigaret stubs and ashes.

The mantle comprises a wide collar 5, front and rear hairways 6 and 7 outside the collar, the casing 8 opening upwardly at S into the front hairway, cigaret stubbing pad iO, cigaret and ash receiver recess f 1 and a pair of front and rear downward spurs 12 and 13 at each shoulder and oppositely adjacent a line 14—14 of upward hinging between the front and rear portions of the mantle.

The wide collar 5 is provided with a narrow neck band 15 having in front a Zipper closure 16 that in release is long enough for an easy passage of the mantle over the customer’s head. The closure 16, herein conventionally called a Zipper, is intended for any suitable closure adjustable at the customer’s neck.

In use, a fresh strip of paper 17, shown in place in Figures 1 and 3, is intended to be applied to the neck band with each use of the mantle. This paper strip 17, new for each customer, folds down over the neck band 16, shielding the neck band from direct contact with the customer’s neck.

The wide collar 5 is preferably of material readily flexible while the front and rear hairways into which the collar 5 outwardly merges are intended to be stiff enough to hold the mantle out from the customer at the hairways. In Figure 2 the dot-and-dash line 18 is intended to show approximately the outward indefinite end of the collar and the inward indefinite beginning of the hairways.

The front and rear hairways are thus in effect structural members, inwardly merging at 18 with the collar and having upwardly directed rims 19 and 20 that function structurally to strengthen the hairways for holding out the mantle as well as forming the outside upward wall of the hairways.

The hairways connect together at the shoulders in such a way that the front hairway supports the rear hairway in its rearward extension, the flexible collar supporting the mantle as a whole on the shoulders of the customers, each hairway wholly or partially balancing the other on the customer’s shoulders.

While I may provide any suitable supporting connection between the front and rearward peripheral structural portions 19 and 20 of the mantle, I prefer to have this connection one that permits upward hinging at 14—14 of the rear portion of the mantle as well as one adapting the front hairway to support the rear hairway in its rearward extension.

An adaptation for the mantle to hinge upwardly is particularly desirable when the mantle is to be used in hospitals, as the front and rear portions of the mantle will there often need to accommodate in their position special and unusual positions and conditions of different customer patients of the hospital.

In the illustration, the structural portions of the upturned rims 19 and 20 are intended to end at or somewhat before the line of hinging 14—14, but optional lap extensions 21 and 22 are shown lapping one another across the line of hinging to insure better against the escape from the mantle of fallen hair at the line of hinging.

The hinge may comprise merely the flexible 5 material of the collar, preferably reinforced with fabric or the like.

The downward spurs 12 and 13 from the adjacent ends of the front and rear hairways, in engaging one another support the hairways from io downward hinging beyond the position of normal use, yet permit the rear portion of the mantle to be turned upward to any desired position, either for more easy delivery of cut hair out of the rear into the front hairway or better 55 to accommodate the mantle to different positions of customer patients in a hospital or elsewhere. The spurs preferably are located outwardly beyond the customer’s shoulders.

The cylindrical pan or hair receiver 23 in- 20 tended to be normally carried removably within the casing 8 may be a light metal cylinder, closed at the ends and longitudinally open at 24. It is shown with a handle 25 by which it may be turned angularly in the casing 8 or may be taken 25 out of the casing for discharge of its load.

Figure 4 illustrates the intended normal position of the hair receiver 23, the receiver being closed from connection with the hairway in that the receiver presents a portion of its outside wall 30 under the opening 9 of the hairway.

Only after finishing barbering a customer will the barber usually open the hair receiver by suitably turning it in the casing until the receiver opening 24 registers with the opening 9 from the 35 front hairway, the cut hair either before or after taking off the mantle from the customer being brushed into the hairways and thence forward to the opening 9 preferably before opening the receiver. 40

The receiver may be taken out and discharged after each customer or optionally may accumulate cut hail- from a number of customers, and from this standpoint is particularly convenient when the mantle is used in barbering the inmates 45 of hospitals.

Many customers insist on smoking while being barbered and the provision of the stubbing pad 10 and ash receiver 11 with freedom to get easily to his own pockets without in anywise disturb- 50 ing the haircatching mantle permits the customer to smoke at will without help from the barber, while hitherto the barber frequently has had to get and light the customer’s cigaret, to put out and remove the finished cigaret while 55 the cigaret ashes have gone to the floor of the shop.

It will be seen that the front overbalances the rear of the mantle, with the low position of the front limited and usually determined by the con- θθ tact of the customer with the casing 8.

I prefer to make the mantle of light waterproof material, smooth and impervious to the falling particles of cut hair so that the cut hair may be readily delivered from the mantle by ¢5 brushing from the collar into the hairways and from the hairways into the receiver opening 9, and so that the mantle may be sterilized quickly and easily as often as desired in hot water or steam or any suitable antiseptic solution. 70

One of many such materials is rubber suitably reinforced in the hairways and casing with fabric.

In view of my invention and disclosure variations and modifications will doubtless become 75

2,199,334 3 evident to others skilled in the art, to meet particular need or individual whim, and I claim all such in so far as they fall within the reasonable scope of the invention.