HK1013612B - Hair dressing accessory for hair dryer - Google Patents

Description

The Commission has already adopted a proposal for a directive.

The invention relates to hair dryers.

The first is the technical

The devices known so far usually consist of blowing pulsed air and heating it with a heating resistor to dry the hair.

These devices are often accompanied by removable accessories that are fixed on the blowing end of the device, which allow the hair to be dried while preparing it for the type of hairstyle intended, for example by waving it, giving it volume, etc.

The accessories often feature styling elements such as stiff hairs or fingers that come into contact with wet hair strands and make it easier to comb and separate wet hair stuck together.

However, the effectiveness of the drying operation depends to a large extent on the user's skill in handling the device fitted with the accessory, particularly when it comes to drying the hair quickly over its entire length or giving the hair the desired volume.

In the present state of the art, documents such as US-3 840,030 describe a hair removal machine with a blowing end fitted with movable combs which are used to remove hair and thus reduce drying time.

Therefore, the present invention aims to remedy these disadvantages by proposing a device which facilitates and accelerates hair drying and gives it volume without any special action by the user.

The invention therefore concerns an accessory as described in the preamble to claim 1.

The invention is presented in the following table:

According to the invention, this accessory includes the technical characteristics of the characteristic part of claim 1.

Vibratory means means means that impart a cyclic motion to the elements. It may be, for example, a vibration of very low amplitude of the order of the thickness of the element or of amplitude equal to several times this thickness.

This vibration of the stiff hairs or fingers makes it easier for them to penetrate the hair and facilitates the shedding of still wet hair. It increases the surface of the hair's exchange with air, especially near the roots, which facilitates and accelerates drying and naturally swells the hair without any special action by the wearer.

The dryer can also be held so that the accessory elements come into contact with the scalp by choosing a suitable temperature for the pulsed air, in which case the vibration of the elements is transmitted to the scalp, causing the scalp to be massaged.

The device of the invention may be a removable accessory or an integral part of the drying apparatus.

According to an advantageous version of the invention, the vibrating means include a rotating part mounted on a solid axis of a wall supporting the elements, this axis passing through points of the part other than its centre of gravity, with means being provided to bring the part to rotate around the axis.

The machine is mounted on an axis so that it has a bulwark. When the machine is rotated, this imbalance causes a vibration of the wall supporting this axis, which is transmitted to the above elements.

According to a preferred version of the invention, the part is a free propeller rotating about the axis and at least partially in the air flow path of the blown air in order to be rotated by it.

This version avoids the need to equip the appliance or accessory with specific means of rotating the part.

The invention also relates to a hair dryer according to claim 10.

The Commission shall be assisted by the Member States.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be described in the following description of six preferred embodiments. Figure 1 is an elevated view of a part of a hair dryer fitted with a hair accessory according to a first embodiment of the invention.Figure 2 is an elevated view of a part of a hair dryer fitted with an accessory according to the invention, the upper and lower halves of the figure illustrating a second and third embodiment of the invention respectively.Figures 3a and 3b are elevated views of a part of a hair dryer fitted with an accessory according to a fourth embodiment of the invention, andFigure 4 is an elevated view of a part of a hair dryer fitted with an accessory according to the invention.Figures 5a and 5b are shown in the following five-axis and five-axis embodiments.

The best way to do the invention

In the following different embodiments, identical elements bear the same references.

Figure 1 shows a first method of implementation of the invention.

The hairdryer 1 comprises a grip 2 jointed to the body 3 of the apparatus.

Along body 3 of axis 19, the apparatus typically comprises an external air intake grid 4, a propeller 5 to propel the external air into body 3, a motor 6 to drive the rotating propeller 5 and a heating resistor 7 to heat the air propelled by the propeller 5. The heated air is directed to the blown end 8 of the apparatus. A button 17 commands the engine to be set to work 6.

The end 8 is fitted with a removable attachment 9 which is solid to the end of the device. The attachment 9 is arranged to be passed through by air sent outside the device 1 for drying the hair. The attachment 9 has a general shape that escapes from the blowing end 8 and is limited to the opposite side by a wall 10. It has on wall 10 elements intended to come into contact with the hair such as stiff hairs 11 or fingers 12.

According to the invention, accessory 9 includes vibrating means to vibrate elements 11, 12 during hair drying.

The vibrating means here include a piece 13 mounted in rotation on a 14 axis solidary to wall 10 bearing elements 11, 12, with means being provided to put piece 13 in rotation around the 14 axis. The 14 axis passes through points in piece 13 other than its centre of gravity so that piece 13 is not balanced on the 14 axis. Such an arrangement may be achieved by arranging the 14 axis without passing through the geometric centre of piece 13, or by confusing the 14 axis with this geometric axis and fixing a load on one side of piece 13.

In this example, room 13 is a free propeller rotating about axis 14 and arranged on the side of wall 10 facing body 3. The axis 14 is parallel to the direction of air flow and is in the center of this flow, in the alignment of axis 19.

The propeller 13 may be made of plastic or metal, for example.

The wall 10 bearing the propeller 13 is connected to the body 3 of the apparatus by a wall 15 made of a vibration-absorbing material, e.g. an elastomer.

Wall 10 has 16 openings for the air outlet.

The device just described works as follows.

The user presses button 17 to start engine 6. The propelled air is heated by resistor 7 and arrives at end 8 carrying accessory 9 as indicated by arrows 20.

The air propelled parallel to the 14th axis, carrying the 13th helix, causes the helix to rotate, and the unbalanced 13th helix produces a vibration in the 14th axis and then the 10th wall, which is transmitted to the 11th hair and 12th fingers, giving them a cyclic motion that is significantly orthogonal to the 19th axis.

When drying the hair, the wearer applies the accessory 9 to the hair. When in contact with the hair, the vibration hairs 11 and the vibration fingers 12 penetrate the hair and facilitate the separation of the hair and its drying along the entire length. The vibration elements 11, 12 cause scalp massage when the accessory is gently pressed against the head, an appropriate temperature being then chosen for the heated air.

Wall 15 absorbs vibrations that travel through wall 10 so that no vibration is transmitted to body 3 and handle 2.

The upper half of Figure 2 shows a second embodiment of the invention.

This time, the wall 21 connecting the accessory to body 3 is a rigid wall, e.g. made of plastic. Wall 10 carrying the propeller 13 is connected to wall 21 by a soft wall 22 connecting walls 10 and 21.

This device is used as before, the wall 22 is gonaded or waved and thus absorbs vibrations from wall 10, preventing their transmission to body 3.

The lower half of Figure 2 shows a third embodiment of the invention.

Here, the flexible wall 22 is replaced by elastic cushioning means, e.g. helical springs 23 or rods made of a vibration absorbing material, arranged around wall 10 and connecting it to wall 21.

During operation of apparatus 1, the shock absorbers 23 absorb vibrations from the wall 10 and prevent their transmission to body 3.

Figures 3a and 3b show a fourth embodiment of the invention.

In this device, wall 30 which carries elements 11, 12 and helix 13 is a continuous flexible wall e.g. made of elastomer. It is held by a rigid circular frame 31 which is connected to the rigid wall 21 by several radii 32 spread around the perimeter of the frame 31. Thus wall 30 is connected discontinuously by its edge to wall 21 so that air can flow over the perimeter of this wall 30, between frame 31 and wall 21, between radii 32.

Figure 3b shows the device in operation. As in the previous modes, air arriving from body 3 causes the propeller 13 to rotate. The wall being flexible, the imbalance of the propeller 13 causes the axis 14 to rotate significantly around the axis 19 of the device and the deformation of the wall 30 which swirls and gondolates. The tilt of the axis 14 and the deformation of the wall 30 have been deliberately exaggerated in Figure 3b.

This time, elements 11, 12 have a noticeably cone-shaped trajectory. The volume or bulge given to the hair is increased by this method of execution as well as the massage effect.

In an unrepresented variant of this method, the soft wall 30 has openings for air passage.

Figure 4 shows a fifth embodiment of the invention which is another variant of the previous embodiment.

The axis 14 of the propeller 13 is extended towards body 3 so that the propeller 13 is away from wall 30.

The accessory comprises ring-shaped media fixed to a rigid part of the accessory, here wall 21, and spaced from the soft wall 30 according to the flow direction.

The ring thus produced has its centre considerably on axis 14 and has a diameter considerably greater than the diameter of this axis and considerably less than the diameter of the helix 13.

In this example, the ring-forming means include a slightly curved rigid circular plate 35 extending between the helix 13 and wall 30 and attached by its edge to the frame 31.

The accessory also includes means to prevent the propeller 13 from moving appreciably in its axial direction in the opposite direction to the ring-forming means. These means include a crown 37 with axis 14 as its axis, fixed to wall 30 and extending in the direction of plate 35 to its neighbourhood. The inner diameter of the crown 37 is significantly larger than the diameter of the axis 14.

During operation, the wall 30 is deformed as in the previous mode, but plate 35 limits the lateral deflection of the propeller 13 and the axis 14, which bumps against the edge of the opening 36.

Because of its bulk, the crown 37 maintains a minimum distance between plate 35 and wall 30 because, in the absence of a crown 37 or similar means, the propeller 13 would tend to bring wall 30 into contact with plate 35.

In this embodiment, the configuration of plate 35 and crown 37 allows the amplitude of movement of elements 11, 12 to be chosen.

A sixth mode of manufacture is shown in Figures 5a and 5b.

The device 40 is a brush with a 41-axis and a cylindrical or prismatic shape, which allows, in particular, to dry and comb the strands of hair separately from each other.

As in the previous modes, the propeller 42 driven by the engine 43 propels the air towards the resistance 44. The vibrating means include a propeller which is here a 45-spindle wheel whose geometric axis is orthogonal to the flow direction. The propeller 45 is mounted in rotation around an axis 46 in order to be unbalanced on this axis as in the previous modes.

A circular arc-shaped deflector 47 attached to the wall of the apparatus directs the air flow heated by the resistor 44 towards the half of the propeller 45 above the axis 46 in Figure 5a to rotate the propeller 45.

The accessory 48 of the apparatus has 49 fingers on either side of an air outlet 50 and the fingers are oriented in an orthogonal direction to the 41 axis.

The air causes the 45-pin to spin, which generates vibrations in the 49 fingers as in previous modes.

A blowpipe 52 made of a vibration absorbing membrane prevents the transmission of these vibrations to the part 53 of the apparatus which includes the handle.

Of course, many modifications and improvements can be made to the invention without going beyond the scope of the invention.

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The Commission has decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 8 (2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 in respect of the following:

The invention has industrial applications in the manufacture of hair dryer accessories.

Claims (10)

1. A removable accessory (9, 48) designed to be fixed to the blowing end (8) of a hair dryer appliance (1), the accessory being organized so that the air expelled from said hair dryer appliance passes therethrough, and including a wall (10, 30) supporting elements designed to come into contact with the hair, such as fingers (12, 49) and/or stiff bristles (11), vibrator means (13, 14, 45, 46) for putting said elements (11, 12, 49) into vibration while drying hair comprise a part (13, 45) mounted to rotate on a shaft (14, 46) passing through points of the part (13, 45) other than its center of gravity, and means provided for setting the part (13, 45) into rotation about the axis of its shaft (14, 46), the accessory being characterized in that the wall (10, 30) is flexible or is connected to the remainder of the accessory by a flexible wall (15, 22, 52) or by resilient damper means (23), and in that the vibrator means (13, 14, 45, 46) are secured only to the wall (10, 30).
2. An accessory according to claim 1, characterized in that the flexible connecting wall (15) is constituted by a wall made of elastomer.
3. An accessory according to claim 1, characterized in that the flexible connecting wall (22) is constituted by a wall made of rubber or made of suitable plastics material, e.g. forming bellows.
4. An accessory according to claim 1, characterized in that the resilient damper means (23) are constituted by helical springs or by rods made of a vibration-absorbing material.
5. An accessory according to any preceding claim, characterized in that the flexible connecting wall (15, 22, 52) and the damper means (23) are disposed around the periphery of the wall (10, 30).
6. An accessory according to claim 5, characterized in that the wall (10) carrying the elements (11, 12, 49) has outlet orifices (16) for the blown air.
7. An accessory according to claim 5 or claim 6, characterized in that the wall (10, 30) carrying the elements (11, 12, 49) is connected in discontinuous manner via its edge to a stiff portion (21) of the accessory so that the air can flow around at least a portion of the periphery of said wall (10, 30).
8. An accessory according to claim 1, characterized in that said part is a fan (13, 45) free to rotate about the axis of the shaft (14, 46) and lying, at least in part, in the flow path of the blown air so as to be set into rotation thereby.
9. An accessory according to claim 1, characterized in that it further includes ring-forming means (35) that are stationary relative to a stiff portion (21) of the accessory and that are spaced apart from the flexible wall (30) in the flow direction, the ring having its center substantially on said axis of the shaft (14) and having a diameter that is perceptibly greater than the diameter of said shaft and perceptibly smaller than the diameter of the part, the accessory also including means (37) for preventing perceptible displacement of the part (13) in its axial direction away from the ring-forming means.
10. A hair dryer appliance comprising at the blowing end (8) a part (9, 48) organized so that the air expelled from the hair dryer appliance passes therethrough, said part including a wall (10, 30) supporting elements designed to come into contact with the hair, such as fingers (12, 49) and/or stiff bristles (11), vibrator means (13, 14, 45, 46) for putting said elements (11, 12, 49) into vibration while drying hair comprise a part (13, 45) mounted to rotate on a shaft (14, 46) passing through points of the part (13, 45) other than its center of gravity, and means provided for setting the part (13, 45) into rotation about the axis of its shaft (14, 46), the appliance being characterized in that the wall (10, 30) is flexible or is connected to the remainder of the appliance by a flexible wall (15, 22, 52) or by resilient damper means (23), and in that the vibrator means (13, 14, 45, 46) are secured only to the wall (10, 30).