BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the treatment of human hair, it is necessary to employ a wide variety of different procedures. Once such procedure involves hair coloration from a wide range of different dyes, rinses and bleaches in order to realize the widely-acceptable variations in hair configurations and colorations that are associated with modern fashions.

Because so many variations in color need to be available, it is customary to store a large collection of the materials for coloration at separate site, commonly called"the color room", away from the location where the coloration is to applied. The separate site is usually a back room that can be large enough to store the several hundreds of different materials that need to be available in order to accommodate the multitude of different arrangements sought by customers.

Once the back-room mixing has taken place, the mix is brought into the salon and applied to the patron, who has little input into the coloration process until after the coloration procedure has taken place, and the customer can accept, reject or request modification of the result.

Needless to say, the requirement that the hair dresser go back and forth to the store of colorants in order to prepare different alternatives for the patron is inefficient, time consuming and involves limited consumer participation.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to expedite the hair treatment procedures employed at salons and elsewhere. A related object is to expedite treatment procedure at salons which provide a wide variety of services, such as enabling a patron to choose among hundreds of different treatments and colorations.

Another object is to increase the color awareness of patrons without having to the color room where the materials for a wide range of color effects are stored. A related object is to increase the wide range of color awareness at the location where the patron is being treated.

Still another object is to enable supervisors to educate staff at the site of a patron, without having the need for the staff to go to the color room for supervision.

A further object is to provide at the site of the client everything that is needed for the treatment requested by the client.

A still further object of the invention is to facilitate the cleaning up process following a cleaning up procedure requested by a patron.

Still other objects will become apparent from the more detailed explanations which follow.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION h accomplishing the foregoing and related objects, the invention provides a method and apparatus for expediting treatment procedures, particularly hair coloration, by a technician using a plurality of maneuverable storage compartments for ingredients that are to be mixed before being applied in a treatment procedure and moving the storage compartments, as a unit from a storage area for the ingredients, to a location, such as a salon, where the treatment is to take place after mixing selected ones of the ingredients in order to achieve a particular result desired by a patron. h accordance with one aspect of the invention, the storage compartments have a receptacle attachable to a side for storing a set of complementary ingredients that are combinable with selected ones of the ingredients from the storage compartments. The upper surface of the storage compartments can store a second set of complementary ingredients.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the storage compartments are reliable from one location to another, for example by casters affixed to the bottom of the compartments, which can be are vertically aligned and form an interconnected matrix.

A detachable receptacle for receiving waste products also is attachable to the storage compartments, which have an upper surface that can accommodate mixing bowels for components of the storage compartments, which are frontally accessible and the contents thereof visible.

The storage components can have a frontal transparent cover which is laterally slidable so that when the storage components are brought near a patron access to the stored ingredients can be obtained close to the patron.

In a method of the invention for expediting treatment procedures, the steps include: (a) storing ingredients that are to be mixed, before being applied in a treatment procedure, in a plurality of maneuverable storage compartments; (b) attaching a receptacle means to a side of the storage compartments for storing a first set of complementary ingredients; and (c) storing a second set of complementary ingredients on an upper surface of the storage compartments.

The method also includes the step of rolling the storage compartments from one location to another, such as from a storage area, where a large numbers of ingredients are kept, to a work area where selected ones of the ingredients are combined preparatory to accomplishing a particuloar treatment operations.

The method includes rolling the storage compartments by casters affixed to the bottom of said compartments, from one location to another, such as from a storage location to a treatment location or from one treatment location to another.

The method further includes selecting ingredients from vertically aligned storage compartments, forming an interconnected matrix, at a work station, mixing the ingredients from the storage compartments, inserting the mixed ingredients into a dispenser and using the dispenser to treat the hair of a patron, after which the storage compartments are moved to another patron, In the practice of the method, waste products are placed in a detachable receptacle that is attachable to the storage compartments, which has an upper surface for bowls for mixing storage compartment components that are frontally accessible with the contents thereof visible. When the compartments have a frontal transparent cover, it is laterally slidable so that the compartments can be brought close to the work site and the components readily accessed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other aspects of the invention will become appart after considering several illustrative embodiments, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a color specialist in a color room, where a wide ranging selection of color containers are stored, using the"color bar"of the invention, after a suitable variety of color constituents have been loaded on the color bar before the color bar is moved to a work station; FIG. 2 is a view of the color bar and color specialist of FIG. 1, after the color bar has been wheeled from the color room of FIG. 1 to a work station where a patron normally would be waiting for a requested coloration treatment ; FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of a color bar of the invention after it has been equipped with a wide variety of treatment materials before being wheeled to the vicinity of a patron that has requested a particular coloration treatment ; FIG. 4 is a partial end-elevational view of the color bar of FIG. 3 showing a storage accessory for filling dispensing bottles with specified color combinations after mixing using top stored mixing bowls ; FIG. 5 is a partial frontal view of the color bar of FIG. 3 showing the positioning of source bottles for mixing to achieve a desired color combination; FIG. 6 is a partial rear view of the color bar of FIG. 3 showing the storage of source bottles that can be transferred to the front of the color bar as shown in FIG. 5 for replenishing source bottle s whose contents have been depleted; FIG. 7 is a perspective view, looking from above the left-front corner of the color bar, showing conditioning bottles equipped with dispensing pumps in accordance with the invention; and FIG. 8 is a close-up view of FIG. 7 showing the pump-equipped developer dispensing bottles in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The features of this invention can best be understood by reference to the attached drawings.

It is frequently necessary to choose from a wide variety of materials before applying liquid, semi-liquid, or pasty materials directly to the hair and intimately contact every hair in a lock of hair. Because of the demands of modern hair styling, the hair stylist needs to select the materials from among a wide assortment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the materials for coloration are typically stored in a back room, away from the patron seeking a particular variety of hair coloration. The Stylist S, as shown in Fig. 1, usually mixes the coloring materials away from the patron in the back room.

However, in accordance with the invention, a color bar 10 is provided that allows a wide range of materials to selected from the stock shown in the background of the storage room, and loaded into storage compartments C within the color bar 10, so that the color bar 10 can be moved away from the back room to the vicinity of patron stations in the salon shown in FIG. 2.

As a result, as indicated in Fig. 2, the mixing of the color components by the stylist S can take place conveniently in the presence of the patron who can participate in the coloration and mixing process directly. Thus if an initial mix is not suitable for the patron, a fresh mix can be made without the need for returning to the storage room of FIG. 1 to select a different set of ingredients.

A front elevational view of the color bar 10 of the invention, after it has been equipped with a wide variety of treatment materials is shown in FIG. 3. The color bar 10 is formed by a frame 11 that includes storage compartments C11 though C67. The first digit of the suffix indicated the row of the storage compartment, and the second digit indicates the column. Thus the stoprage compartment C26 indicates the compartment in row 2 and column 6.

In order to facilitate movability of the color bar 10, it is provides with a set of casters 12-1 though 12-4, of which only casters 12-1 and 12-2 are visible in FIG. 3. Attachable to the top at the left side of the frame 11 is a removable waste receptacle 13, which has an overhang 13-1 to allow the receptacle 13 to be easily removed to discard waste material collected therein. Opposite the waste receptacle 13, and intermediately attached at the right-side of the frame 11, is a bin 14 for dispensing vials D1 though D5 for applying the color mixture to the hair of a patron, after being loaded from one of the bowls B at the top of the frame 1 lused to mix the color components.

At the top of the frame 11, adjacent the waste receptacle 13 is a set of cream developers C that are employed to added selected amount of bleach, such as hydrogen peroxide, into the mix. Also at the top of the frame 11, adjacent the dispensing bin 14 is an attachment 15 for holding a box 15-1 of disposable gloves that used by the stylist S in both preparing and applying the coloration mix to the hair of the patron using one or more of the dispensing vials D. In addition the application process may be supplemented by using a brush or comb to assure that the coloration material being applied to the hair has reached the roots of the hair.

In the partial end-elevational view of the color bar of FIG. 3 show in FIG. 4, the dispensing bottles Dl though D5 are illustrated before being filled with a particular color mix obtained, after mixing to produce a specified color combination, in one of the top stored mixing bowls B, making use of disposable gloves from the glove box 15-1.

As indicated in FIG. 5, which is a partial frontal view of the color bar 10 of FIG. 3, the coloration source bottles L, used in mixing to achieve a desired color combination, are stored side down to facilitate their removal by the stylist when engaged in a coloration procedure. However, as indicated in FIG. 6, is a partial rear view of the color bar 10 of FIG. 3, the coloration source bottles L are stored vertically in temporary storage before being transferred to the front of the color bar 10 to replace bottles L of FIG. 5 as replenishment source bottles L whose contents have been depleted ; In the perspective view of FIG. 7, looking from above the left-front corner of the color bar 10, and in close-up in FIG. 8, the cream conditioning bottles Cl 1 through C25 are shown equipped with dispensing pumps 16 in accordance with the invention. Ordinarily, the cream conditioner or developer is applied by unscrewing a cap and pouring a desired amount into a mixing bowl B. To avoid this cumbersome and imprecise procedure, the invention provides the bottle C with the valve pump 16 that allows the stylist to add the cream developer to the mix by bringing a mixing bowl to the bottle and controllably depressing the plunger of the pump 16.

While the invention has been described with respect to certain specific embodiments, it will be appreciated that many modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is intended, therefore, by the appended claims to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.