Comb With Built-in Level Adjustable to a Plurality of Orientations

The present invention relates to combs and more particularly to combs provided with a level which is rotatably adjustable about its longitudinal axis to accommodate a leveling operation for various orientations of the comb which are encountered during normal use.

Individuals as well as hair salons typically utilize combs in conjunction with scissors or other cutting instruments when cutting hair. It is frequently desirable to orient the comb so that it is level or parallel with the horizontal to facilitate a cutting operation. The accuracy of the orientation is typically limited to the operator's judgment. It is thus desirable to provide an instrument, such as a level, to obtain much greater accuracy in alignment of the comb. Although it is known in the art to mount a level upon a hair cutting guide, it is still nevertheless desirable to provide a level which is capable of assuming a variety of different orientations in order to accommodate a variety of orientations of the comb which is typically encountered during normal use and further to facilitate rapid and simple adjustment of the level.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a comb which is capable of being easily and rapidly oriented and maintained in the desired position by means of a rotatable mounted level further incorporating click stop detent means for automatically orienting the level in the desired position to accommodate orientations of the comb typically encountered during normal use.

The present invention is comprised of a comb having a substantially conventional back with a plurality of integral parallel teeth extending therefrom. The portion of the back remote from said teeth is provided with a recess for receiving a level having a substantially cylindrical shape. The level, in one embodiment, may be provided with spindle receiving openings at opposite ends thereof, each opening adapted to receive a spindle provided at opposite sidewalls of the recess provided in the comb back. A helical spring is provided about one of the spindles for biassing the level towards the opposite spindle which is provided with a recess for cooperating with one of a plurality of projections or teats arranged at spaced intervals about the adjacent end surface of the level whereby, upon alignment of said recess with one of said teats, the level snaps into a detent position thereby maintaining the level in a predetermined, desired orientation to facilitate positioning of the comb during use. In the preferred embodiment, the comb may be arranged, for example, so that it is oriented with the vertical direction; oriented with the horizontal direction with one side of the comb facing upwardly and oriented in the horizontal direction with the opposition side of the comb facing upwardly to facilitate reading of the level. Rotation of the level to the desired orientation greatly facilitates the observation of the level to orient the comb.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention is provide a comb having a level which is capable of being rotated to a variety of orientations.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a comb having a level which is rotated about its longitudinal axis to facilitate use of the level for orienting the comb in a variety of different positions.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a comb provided with a level which is rotatable about its longitudinal axis and including detent means for automatically locking the level into any one of a plurality of orientations.

The above as well as other objects of the present invention will become apparent when reading the accompanying description and drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a combined comb and level structure embodying the principles of the present invention.

FIGS. 2a through 2i show a number of different embodiments for mounting the level to the comb.

FIG. 3a shows a top view of a portion of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of arrows 3--3.

FIG. 3b shows an end view of a portion of the comb of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of arrows 3b--3b.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the combined comb and level.

FIG. 1 shows a combined comb and level assembly 10 embodying the principles of the present invention. The assembly 10 is comprised of a comb 12 of generally conventional type and having a back 14 and a plurality of integral, substantially parallel teeth extending from the lower end of back 14. Back 14 is provided with an elongated recess 14a. A level 20 is rotatably mounted within recess 14a so as to be rotatable about its longitudinal axis.

Level 20 may be a liquid level type indicator which is well known to the art and which is preferably transparent along at least its upper surface 2a to render bubble 20b visible therethrough. The bubble freely moves along the cylindrical housing, settling at a location according to the orientation of the housing. Graduations 20c facilitate determination of when the bubble 20b is properly centered to indicate a level condition.

As was mentioned hereinabove, level 20 is rotatable about its longitudinal axis represented, for example, by chain line 21 shown in FIG. 2b, in order to rotate the level to any one of a plurality of different orientations to facilitate observation of the bubble through the transparent portion of the housing.

One mounting arrangement is shown in FIG. 2a wherein level 20, which is a substantially cylindrical-shaped body, is provided with openings 20e and 20f at its left-hand and right-hand ends. Spindles 22 and 24 are arranged at the sidewalls 14b, 14c (see FIG. 1) of recess 14a. The spindles may, for example, be plates 22a, 24a each provided with a projection or spindle 22b, 24b arranged to extend into openings 20e, 20f respectively, for rotatably mounting level 20.

A flexible spring element such as a spring 26 is provided on spindle 24b as shown in FIG. 2c in order to bias level 20 in the direction shown by arrow A. The V-shaped spring 26 facilitates the click-stop arrangement which, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2a and 2c, comprised of a projection 22c which cooperates with one of the recesses 20g, 20h, and 20i arranged along the left hand side of level 20. The manner in which the click stop arrangement operates is as follows:

In order to change the angular orientation of level 20, the level is gripped between the fingers and moved in a direction shown by arrow B to move level 20 and hence recesses 20g-20i away from projection 22c. As soon as the recess receiving projection 22c is clear of the projection, the level is free to be rotated about its longitudinal axis. After rotation through a small angle, the force urging the level 20 in the direction of arrow B may be released causing spring 26 to urge level 20 in the direction shown by arrow A, whereupon projection 22c will slide along the surface of the left-hand end of level 20 whereupon level 20 may be further rotated until the projection 22c moves into alignment with one of the recesses 20g-20i, at which time spring 26 causes the level to snap into a detent position in a click-lock fashion. As shown in FIG. 3b, the recesses 20g-20i may be arranged so that they respectively orient the level in a "right lock", "center lock" and "left lock" position. For example, FIG. 1 shows the level in the center lock position wherein the comb is substantially aligned with the vertical direction and the transparent reading portion of the level extends directly upward. Moving the comb so that it lies in a substantially horizontal plane, the level is rotated so that one of the right-lock or left-lock detent recesses is selected, whereupon the level is oriented with one of the associated side surfaces 14d or 14e of comb 12 as shown, for example, in FIG. 3a.

Although three detent positions have been shown for three possible orientations, a greater or lesser number of detent arrangements may be provided.

The V-shaped resilient spring 26 shown in FIG. 2c may be replaced by a helical spring 28 shown in FIG. 2d. Helical spring 28 may placed about spindle 24b or, alternatively, as shown in FIG. 2e, spring 28 may be positioned within recess 20f of level 20.

As a further alternative, the spindles 22 and 24 mounted at the left-hand and right-hand sides 14b and 14c of recess 14a may be eliminated and replaced by spindles 30 and 32 having end cap portions which are fixedly secured to the left-hand and right-hand ends of level 20 by a suitable glue or epoxy. Spindles 30a, 32a are arranged to extend into openings 14f, 14g provided in sidewalls 14d, 14c respectively.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the detent projection 30b is provided on end cap 30 and is arranged to cooperate with a plurality of recesses 14h, 14i, 14j arranged in sidewall 14b. A helical spring 28 is utilized to normally urge level 20 and hence projection 30b into engagement with one of the detent recesses 14h-14j. Alternatively, helical spring 28 may be mounted within opening 14g or may be omitted and replaced by flexible spring 26.

FIG. 2f shows still another embodiment of the present invention in which end cap 32 is secured to the right-hand end of level 20 while the left-hand end of level 20 is provided with an opening 20e. Recess 14g is provided in right sidewall 14c to cooperate with spindle 32a which receives helical spring 28.

A spindle member 34 is mounted to the left-hand sidewall of 14b of recess 14 and is received within opening 20e in the left-hand end of level 20. Detent recesses 20g-20i are provided in the left-hand end of level 20 for cooperation with detent projection 34b integral with and extending from spindle member 34.

Any of the above embodiments may be utilized with equal success to provide a rotatably mounted level which further includes detent means for automatically locking the level into any one of a plurality of desired orientations. Recess 14a, in addition to providing a suitable notch for the mounting of the level, further facilitates observation of the transparent portion of the level regardless of whether the transparent portion is in the "12 o'clock", "3 o'clock" or "9 o'clock" position determined by the recesses 20h, 20i and 20g respectively shown, for example, in FIG. 3b.

The level and detent assembly may be simply and readily mounted in position within recess 14, for example, in the following manner:

Noting the embodiment of FIG. 2c, the spindles 22, 24 may be inserted within the respective openings 20e, 20f in level 20, with spring 26 mounted in the position as shown. An epoxy or other suitable glue is applied to end surfaces 14b and 14c of recess 14a and the assembly as shown in FIG. 2c is positioned between said recesses with the spindle members 22 and 24 pressing against the epoxy applied to sidewalls 14b, 14c. Spring 26 serves to exert sufficient outward forces to urge the spindle members 22 and 24 into firm engagement with the epoxy which, upon setting, completes the assembly. The assembly is preferably oriented such that the detent projection is extended into one of the detent recesses in order to properly align the level relative to the comb body.

The principles of the present invention may be embodied in combs of other sizes and figurations. For example, FIG. 4 shows a comb which is typically referred to as a hair cutting guide having a body 38 provided with downwardly depending integral teeth 40 and a handle 42 extending in a direction opposite that of teeth 40. A recess 44 is provided for receiving level 20. A portion 44a of recess 44 is cut away to facilitate observation of level 20 when oriented in the vertical direction, in addition to be easily readable when oriented in the horizontal direction with either side surface of the hair cutting guide extending upwardly. Level 20 is positionable in a detent-like fashion by providing one of the mounting and detent assemblies shown in FIGS. 2a through 2f.

FIG. 2g shows still another alternative embodiment of the present invention in which the detent mechanism is comprised of a substantially U-shaped detent spring 46 secured to the base of recess 14a and having a detent projection portion 46a extending into one of a plurality of detent recesses 20g, 20h and 20i arranged adjacent the cylindrical surface of the level 20. As the level 20 is rotated about its longitudinal axis in either the clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, as shown by double-headed arrow C, detent spring 46 is caused to flex, for example, moving out of recess 20h and, depending upon the direction of rotation, moving into either recess 20g or 20i.

The recesses 20g-20i may be provided at one end face of the level as shown in FIG. 2g or may be provided along the cylindrical surface of level 20 at a location intermediate the left-hand and right-hand ends of level 20 as shown in FIG. 2h.

The U-shaped resilient detent spring 46 may be replaced by a substantially V-shaped leaf spring 48 shown in FIG. 2i whose lower arm is secured to the base of the recess 14a by a suitable epoxy and whose remaining arm 48b is provided with a detent projection 48c for insertion into one of the detent openings 20g-20i. The spring 48 may be located within the recess so as to cooperate with the detent recesses arranged at one end face of the level 20 as shown in FIG. 2g or so as to cooperate with detent recesses provided along the surface of the level 20 at a location intermediate the ends of the level, as shown, for example, in FIG. 2h.

A latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure, and in some instances, some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features. Accordingly, it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the spirit and scope of the invention described herein.