Protective cape for salon clients

Abstract

A protective cape for salon clients of the type which is draped over the torso and fastened around the neck of a client, comprising a flexible sheet having a centrally located hole for encircling the neck, a perimeter, and a slit communicating between the centrally located hole and the perimeter. The slit extends laterally from the centrally located hole, so that the cape fastener is not located at the nape of the neck. The front and rear of the cape have greater length than the right and left sides. Optionally, the cape may have a collar, a collar fastener, and rounded corners where the front and rear edges meet the right and left edges. The overall configuration of the cape may in plan display symmetry from the front edge to the rear edge and symmetry from the right edge to the left edge, or may be generally trapezoidal.

1 . A protective cape for salon clients of the type which is draped over the torso and fastened around the neck of a salon client, comprising a flexible sheet, the flexible sheet including:
 a perimeter including
 a front edge, 
 a rear edge, 
 a right edge, and 
 a left edge, 
   a centrally located opening for accommodating the neck of the salon client,   a front section extending between the centrally located opening and the front edge and including a front length,   a rear section extending between the centrally located opening and the rear edge and including a rear length,   a right section extending between the centrally located opening and the right edge, and including a right length, the right length sufficient to protect an arm of a person wearing the cape from debris and fluid spills and less than the front length and the rear length,   a left section extending between the centrally located opening and the left edge and including a left length, the left length sufficient to protect an arm of a person wearing the cape from debris and fluid spills and less than the front length and the rear length,   a slit communicating between the centrally located opening and the perimeter, the slit extending from the centrally located opening along one of the right section and the left section, and   a manually releasable cape closure located at the slit adapted to fasten the cape snugly around a neck of the person wearing the cape in a manner that protects the neck and upper torso of the person from debris and fluid spills.   
   
   
       2 . (canceled) 
   
   
       3 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , further comprising a neck closure, the neck closure including a male tab and a female tab fastening element, whereby the male tab is securely engaged by the female fastening element. 
   
   
       4 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the cape closure comprises a shoulder closure for closing the protective cape over the torso of the salon client, wherein the shoulder closure comprises a closure member located near the shoulder area of the protective cape. 
   
   
       5 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the slit is straight along its length. 
   
   
       6 . The protective cape of  claim 5 , wherein the centrally located opening has a center point, and the slit is aligned with the center point. 
   
   
       7 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the length of the front section is about equal to the length of the rear section. 
   
   
       8 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the right section is, apart from the slit, essentially a mirror image of the left section. 
   
   
       9 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the length of the front section is greater than thirty inches and the length of the rear section is greater than thirty inches. 
   
   
       10 . The protective cape of  claim 3 , further comprising a collar disposed about the interior of the centrally located opening, wherein the collar may be closed about the neck of the client by the manually releasable cape closure. 
   
   
       11 . The protective cape of  claim 10 , wherein the fastening element comprises hook and loop material. 
   
   
       12 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the flexible sheet comprises an underlying section defined at the slit when viewed in plan and an overlying section defined at the slit when viewed in plan, which said overlying section overlies the underlying section when viewed in plan and when the fastener is closed. 
   
   
       13 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein when viewed in plane, the transitions between the front edge and the left edge, between the front edge and the right edge, between the rear edge and the right edge, and between the rear edge and the left edge are all curved. 
   
   
       14 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the flexible sheet displays, apart from the slit, symmetry from the front edge to the rear edge and symmetry from the right edge to the left edge. 
   
   
       15 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the flexible sheet displays, apart from the slit, a generally trapezoidal configuration. 
   
   
       16 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the flexible sheet includes a moisture resistant material. 
   
   
       17 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the flexible sheet includes material resistant to chemicals commonly used to treat human hair. 
   
   
       18 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the left length and the right length are one third to one half of the front length. 
   
   
       19 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the left length and the right length are between 18 inches and 23 inches. 
   
   
       20 . The protective cape of  claim 1 , wherein the front length is between 40 inches and 47 inches.