US3834403A

US3834403A - Wig construction

Info

Publication number: US3834403A
Application number: US00199528A
Authority: US
Inventors: B Ahn
Original assignee: Bando America Inc
Current assignee: Bando America Inc
Priority date: 1971-11-17
Filing date: 1971-11-17
Publication date: 1974-09-10
Anticipated expiration: 1991-09-10

Abstract

A wig construction in which spaced points of adjacent strips of wefting are joined together at points of attachment offset from strip to strip to form a wefting network expandable to conform to the wearer''s head. The periphery of the wefting network is attached to fabric which includes a cap band and may include a section of a cap.

Description

United States Patent [191 Ahn [ WIG CONSTRUCTION [75] Inventor: Byong Kwon Ahn, Corona, N.Y.

[73] Assignee: Bando America, Inc., New York,

[451 Sept. 10, 1974 1,614,231 l/1927 Cosgrove 132/49 1,624,727 4/1927 Goldberg 3,444,865 5/1969 DeVita 132/53 Primary Examiner-G. E. McNeil] A s'sisrunl Examiner-Gregory E. McNeil] Attorney, Agent, or FirmD0nald P. Gillette [57] ABSTRACT V A wig construction in which spaced points of adjacent strips of wefting are joined together at points of attachment offset from strip to strip to form a wefting network expandable to conform to the wearers head. The periphery of the wefting network is attached to fabric which includes a cap band and may include a section of a cap.

10 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTED SEP 1 man FIGI 1 WIG CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to wigs of capless construction and particularly to novel wig construction in which strips of wefting are joined together to form an expandable network that holds the hairlike fibres in place yet allows excellent ventilation of the wearers scalp.

2. Description of the Prior Art Wigs have been made for many years by attaching real hair to a cap. More expensive wigs have been handmade by attaching each hair to the cap individually or in strands of a few hairs. Lower cost wigs have also been made by using machines to sew the hair into strips of wefting and then attaching the wefting to a cap. For some years, hairlike fibres of synthetic materials that have a quite realistic appearance have been used as a means of further reducing the cost.

The cap that forms the base for a wig is preferably made of lightweight, soft material. It is desirable that this material not be too dense, because if it is, air will not be able to flow through it very easily and the wig will be uncomfortable to wear. This has led wigmakers to reduce the solid portion as much as possible. The wefting may be sewn to strips of narrow fabric that are attached to each other to form a cap with relatively large open areas. Of course, the wefting and hair cover these areas. However, even these wigs have relatively fixed shapes, and although they, as well as the full cap wigs, may have elastic sections in their cap bands, there is a tendency for the material to bunch if the elastic is not stretched. At the same time, the wefting in certain areas may not be limited closely enough to a specific location, and the wearers own hair may show through. In order to prevent that from happening, the number of wefting strands is made large, which limits the flow of air.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a wig construction that allows free flow of air around the wearers scalp.

Another object is to provide a wig construction that accommodates itself easily to the shape of the wearers head and natural hair.

Still another object is to provide a well-ventilated wig construction of wefting strips capable of being loosely interconnected in one area of the wig and tightly interconnected at another.

Further objects will be apparent from the following specification together with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The wig construction of the present invention comprises a network of strips of wefting formed with hairlike fibers. Adjacent strips extending, initially, in generally parallel directions are joined together at spaced points of attachment. These points are staggered so that those between a given strip and the strip on one side of it are generally intermediate those between the given strip and the one on the other side. This permits the strips to spread apart perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the strips to the extent permitted by the distance between adjacent points of attachment. The distance between these points may be less in some areas of the network than in others, for example in areas where the fibres are to be parted.

The peripheral part of the network is attached to fabric including a cap band and, in some cases, larger pieces of fabric constituting, in effect, a fraction of a cap. The cap band may include adjustment means, such as an elasticized section, to make the wig fit better. The ability of the wefting strips to spread apart or to close up helps the wig to accommodate different heads and styles of the wearers hair. Even where the wefting strips join the elastic part of the cap band, there will be no bunching if the elastic part is not stretched. On the other hand, if the elastic part is stretched, the fact that the wefting strips are joined to the elastic part at spaced points means that the elastic part can stretch to its inherent limit without interference from the network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side view of a wig turned inside out. FIG. 2 shows several strips of wefting to illustrate the way they are joined together to make the wig in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a fragment of the wefting network of FIG. 2 stretched apart as it is when in use.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The wig in FIG. 1 is shown being worn inside out to illustrate the construction. Around the base of the wig and more or less following the wearers natural hairline is a strip of fabric 11 referred to as a cap band. This strip is usually not a single piece of material but is made, as in the embodiment shown, of pieces of fabric joined together. Usually the fabric pieces are sewn together. They include a front piece 12 of relatively inelastic material, a strip of elasticized fabric 13, another section of inelastic material 14, and another elastic section 16 at the back. The band is usually symmetrical and has similar pieces of material on the side that is hidden in FIG. 1. Not every wig need have a cap band with so many sections. On the other hand, additional flaps may be required. The purposes of the cap band 11 are to define the contour of the new hairline created by the wig and to provide support for relatively dense placement of hair or hairlike fibres, which is frequently necessary around the perimeter and at the place the wig hair is parted.

The cap band 11 has a network 17 of wefting strips 18 attached to it. These are narrow strips formed by sewing strands of hairlike fibres together in a manner such as has been used heretofore. The general pattern of individual cells of the network 17 is more or less diamond-shaped, although the exact configuration is not to be considered a limitation of the invention. Both the exact shape and the size of the cells may vary from one part of the wig to another, depending on the styling of the wig.

The wefting strips 18 are usually sewn to the cap band 11, although they may be attached by another means. Those wefting strips 18a and 18b that are attached to the elastic section 13 are free to move back and forth depending on the extent to which this section is stretched to accommodate the wearer or the amount of natural hair that must be covered by the wig. It is one of the advantages of the present invention that only the narrow wefting strips 18a and 18b are joined to the elastic section. This is in contrast to prior wigs in which solid fabric was joined to the elastic sections. If the elastic were not expanded in such prior structures, the

solid fabric would have a tendency to bunch up at this point.

The ability of the network 17 to expand and contract is useful not only with respect to the part connected to the elastic section 13 but is actually useful over the entire wig. It makes the wig more comfortable to wear and permits the wearer greater freedom withrespect to arranging her natural hair.

The wig may require at some point an additional fabric section 19. This is referred to as the crown, although it need not match the natural crown of the wearer's head. It is the point, or at least a point, from which hair would extend in all directions. Therefore, it is necessary to have a considerable amount of hair or hairlike fibres at this location, and hence the fabric 19 is attached to the network 17 to provide attachment points for more hairlike fibres.

In a similar vein, a cap section 21 is shown located at the front of the wig just above the cap band 11. This would accommodate the extra hairlike fibres necessary to allow the wearer to effect a parting of the hair in the front.

FIG. 2 shows a short section of three

wefting strips

18c, 18d, and 18e. As may be seen, these strips are placed close together and are joined by short sections of stitching 22. In the step of manufacture illustrated in FIG. 2, the wefting strips are almost straight and parallel to each other and the hair 23 attached to these wefting strips extends downwardly therefrom.

FIG. 2 also illustrates an arrangement in which the points of attachment of adjacent wefting strips differ along the length of the wefting strips. This may be observed from the fact that the distance between the points of

attachment

22a and 22b is less than the distance between the points of attachment 22b and 220.

FIG. 3 shows the wefting strips 180-182 of FIG. 2 spread apart in the manner shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 illustrates that in this configuration strands of hair located along a given wefting strip, for example the strip 180, are shifted in different directions as indicated by the strands 23a and 23b. This can be important in styling the wig and as a factor to be taken into account in laying out the arrangement of the wefting strips.

What is claimed is:

l. A wig comprising:

A. a network of strips of wefting, each of said strips comprising strands of hairlike fibre attached thereto, adjacent strips of said wefting extending generally parallel to each other and being attached to each other at a plurality of spaced points of attachment, said points of attachment between each of said strips and the strip adjacent thereto on one side being offset with respect to said points of attachment between each of said first-named strips and the strip adjacent thereto on the other side; and

B. fabric attached to peripheral portions of said network and cooperating with said network to shape said network to conform in general to a section of the wearers head.

2. The wig of claim 1 in which said network is expandable at least in a direction which, at any point in said network, is perpendicular to the direction of said strips closest to said point and is tangential .to the surface defined by said network at said point.

3. The wig of claim 1 in which said points of attachment are spaced different distances apart along the re spective strips in different parts of said network.

4. The wig of claim 3 in which said points of attachment at interior areas of said network are most closely spaced at areas where said hairlike fibres are parted.

5. The wig of claim 3 in which said network includes a crown area and said points of attachment are most closely spaced adjacent said crown area.

6. The wig of claim 1 in which said fabric comprises a cap band.

7. The wig of claim 6 in which said cap band is adjustable in size to fit around the wearer's head.

8. The wig of claim 7 in which said cap band comprises an elastic section and ends of some of said strips are attached thereto.

9. The wig of claim 8 in which said elastic section is at the back part of said band.

10. The wig of claim 6 in which said fabric comprises a partial cap attached to said cap band.

Claims

1. A wig comprising: A. a network of strips of wefting, each of said strips comprising strands of hairlike fibre attached thereto, adjacent strips of said wefting extending generally parallel to each other and being attached to each other at a plurality of spaced points of attachment, said points of attachment between each of said strips and the strip adjacent thereto on one side being offset with respect to said points of attachment between each of said first-named strips and the strip adjacent thereto on the other side; and B. fabric attached to peripheral portions of said network and cooperating with said network to shape said network to conform in general to a section of the wearer''s head.

2. The wig of claim 1 in which said network is expandable at least in a direction which, at any point in said network, is perpendicular to the direction of said strips closest to said point and is tangential to the surface defined by said network at said point.

3. The wig of claim 1 in which said points of attachment are spaced different distances apart along the respective strips in different parts of said network.

6. The wig of claim 1 in which said fabric comprises a cap band.

7. The wig of claim 6 in which said cap band is adjustable in size to fit around the wearer''s head.