Patent Application
20140053426
Hair drying devices deliver a stream of hot air for drying and shaping hair into a desired style. A diffuser is commonly used to disperse the air flow from a hair drying device thereby creating curls, body and texture without frizz. Under certain circumstances it is desirable to modify the design of a hair drying or styling device or its attachments in order to achieve a certain hair style.
Consumers often pay a premium to have their hair professionally blown dry to achieve a finished salon look. Hairdressers operate meticulously by drying and styling specific parts of the hair at one time. When drying hair, the hairdresser uses a brush, selects a small section of hair, and repeatedly applies heat to the hair. By concentrating the heat on a particular section and simultaneously pulling the brush in a desired direction, the drying process shapes the hair creating volume and style. For example, when the heated air from the dryer is applied, and the brush is pulled downward toward the ends of the hair a smooth finish is created.
Modifications to hair drying devices to improve performance can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,563,250, 5,956,863, 3,939,850, 6,199,295, and 5,316,025. However each of these modifications suffers from one or more disadvantages such as complexity, high cost, and limited effectiveness. For example, most hair dryer modifications have awkward configurations, making the drying process even more challenging for the user which can be tiresome and frustrating.
Typically hair dryers have a tubular body that houses a blower defining an air intake and air outlet. An electric motor is provided to run an internal fan which draws air from the environment into the air intake. The air is generally forced across a heating element toward the air outlet. The heated air flows through the air outlet and out of the body surrounding the air outlet. The circular cross section dries and flattens the surface of the hair, while the hair underneath remains wet for a longer period of time.
A conventional hair drying device without an accessory attached has a circular cross section flow pattern. Accessories can be attached to the body surrounding the air outlet of the hair dryer. The heated air flows through the body and exits the air outlet and through the accessory altering the flow pattern of the air. A variety of accessories are known for altering the flow pattern of air from the hair dryer, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos., D426674, 4,538,362, 71,521,610, D440354, and French Patent No. 2888095. However, each of these suffers from one or more of the disadvantages of low efficiency, and inability to create volume and a smooth finished hair style.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a hair treatment device that overcomes the disadvantages of prior devices.
A hair treatment device having features of the present invention satisfies the above-identified needs. An exemplary device has a body and a blower supported by the body from which air is blown. A concentrator separately connected to the blower or integral with the blower comprises at least one gas flow conduit in gas flow communication with the blower. A nozzle is in gas flow communication with a distal portion of the conduit and is oriented to blow air from the distal portion of the first conduit back toward the body.
Advantageously, the gas flow conduit has a longitudinal axis and the nozzle directs the air from the distal portion of the gas flow conduit toward the body at an angle greater than one hundred degrees relative to the longitudinal axis to direct air on the exterior surface of the hair.
The body can comprise two such gas flow conduits, each having a nozzle in gas flow communication with the respective conduit, both nozzles oriented to blow air from the distal portion of the respective conduit toward the body. Preferably, the longitudinal axes of the conduits are parallel to each other. The diameter of the nozzle outlets can be smaller than the diameter of the gas flow conduits for concentrating the air to increase its velocity.
The hair treatment device can optionally have a bar, which optionally has projecting bristles, positioned between the two gas flow conduits. The bar with projecting bristles is positioned on the device so the air exiting the nozzles intersects with the bristle portion of the device. The bristle portion can be used to engage the hair of a user. The bar can be permanently attached to the device or insertable so that the user can remove the bar. The removable feature allows for bars of various sizes or bristle properties to be inserted into the hair treatment device. For example, the bristle portion can have more of a brush-like configuration or a comb-like configuration. The bar can be of solid construction so that no air travels through the bar or the interior of the bar can be hollow creating an additional air flow path through the device. When the bar has a hollow configuration it can optionally have apertures so that air exits from both the bristle portion of the device as well as the nozzles.
The body may be cylindrically shaped, with the gas conduit portion positioned at one end of body and a gripping section proportioned to fit in a user's hand at the other end. Alternatively, when there is a cylindrically shaped body, the device can have a gripping section positioned substantially perpendicular to that body, and a switch can be positioned on that gripping section.
In use of the device a user grasps the hair treatment device and activates the blower whereby air is forced through an optional heating assembly, and subsequently through the one or more gas flow conduits and the one or more nozzles. The nozzle directs the air toward the body. The user places the hair at a location wherein the directed air along with the bristle portion engages the hair, thereby drying and styling the hair.
When the concentrator is not integral with a blower, it can be used by (a) placing the inlet of the concentrator over the outlet of a hair appliance, b) placing the hair in a location where the air is blown from the nozzle; and c) before or after step (b), activating the hair appliance to blow heated air through the concentrator.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:
The present invention is directed to a hair treatment device capable of drying and styling hair, and a method for doing the same. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a more thorough description of embodiments of the invention. It is apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the embodiments of the present invention can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known features have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the invention.
Referring to
The gas conduit 28 portion is located at one axial end of the tubular body 22 directing the airflow of forced air into the desired pattern while the gripping projections 38 for the user are located at the other axial end of the body 22.
The device 20 as shown in
Preferably the nozzles 34 are oriented so that the air is directed by the nozzles 34 toward the body 22 at an angle greater than one hundred degrees relative to the longitudinal axis of the conduits 28. In a preferred embodiment the interior diameters of the nozzles 34 is less than the interior diameters of the gas flow conduits 28. The nozzle 34 openings can optionally be covered with a screen or mesh to prevent hair from being sucked into the openings.
The bar 40 can be located where the air exiting the nozzles 34 intersects with the bristles 42. The bar 40 with projecting bristles 42 can be permanently affixed to the body 22 of the device 20 or can be removable to allow for bars 40 of various sizes and different bristle properties to be used. The cross section of the bar 40 can be square, rectangular, circular or any shape that is suitable for the design of the device. By having bars 40 with various sizes or bristle properties the resulting hair style capability can be changed. The bristles 42 can be a type of hair brush bristle including boar bristles, nylon or other plastic bristles, or a combination of bristle types, such as boar and plastic bristles. The boar and plastic bristles can be of varying stiffness for different brushing applications, such as soft bristles for thin or fine hair, and stiff bristles for thick or coarse hair. The nylon or plastic bristles can have rounded or balled ends to prevent scratching of the scalp, and boar and plastic or nylon bristles may be combined in one brush for yet other hair brushing applications. Other options may also be used for the projections, such as tourmaline, silicon or silicon coated bristles, or other bristle coatings which reduce frizz and enhance smoothing and detangling of the hair. The bar 40 with projecting bristles 42 can be of solid construction or can have an internal hollow cavity. Optionally, when the bar 40 has an internal hollow cavity the bar 40 can have apertures that allow air to exit the bar 40 and flow through the bristles 42.
As shown in
As is typical with hair dryers, the main body section 22A encases the blower 26 and its components. The blower 26 generally comprises a motor to run a fan located internal to the body 22 that is electrically connected with a power source such as AC power by a power cord 46. A heater typically is in the body 22 for heating the air flow travelling therethrough. According to this version, a heated blower 50, which includes a heater assembly 52 and a fan assembly 54, is used. In one exemplary version, the heater assembly 52 performs as a resistor to which current is supplied via power cord 46 or other means. Other examples of a hair styling tool having a heating element may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,631,646; and 7,481,228, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Referring now to
In this version, the body 22 of the concentrator 60 has a mid-conical section 66 and a discharge end 68, with the mid-conical section 66 being between the inlet 64 portion and the discharge end 68 defining a gas flow path therethrough. In a preferred embodiment the body 22 of the concentrator 60 defines two parallel gas conduits 28 in a horseshoe-type configuration. The body 22 can be made of a variety of materials conventionally used for hair appliances 70, hair dryers and hair dryer attachments, such as metal or plastic, namely polypropylene or combinations thereof.
As can be seen in
In
Whether the features of the present invention are configured as an attachment with a hair appliance 70 or integral with a blower 26, the user needs only to hold the device 20 or hair appliance 70 with one hand, while selecting portion of the hair to be treated. When the section of hair is engaged the hair is pulled away from the user while the concentrated air is applied.
When the device 20 is integral with the blower 26, the hair may be simultaneously heated and styled without the use of a hair dryer which is very convenient for the user. Once the device 20 is activated the bar 40 with projecting bristles 42 can engage the hair of a user. The concentrated air in combination with the bar 40 with projecting bristles 42 engages the hair of the user thereby lifting the hair away from the user's scalp. As a result, the engaged section of hair is dried by the air exiting the one or more nozzles 34. As the user further pulls the device 20 away from their head the hair is lifted and glides over the bristle portion 42 in a brush-like manner. As a result air moves through the hair uniformly drying it in a smooth manner. By drying the hair using this method a voluminous smooth finish is created.
When the concentrator 60 is used as an attachment for drying and styling the hair the user places the concentrator 60 as described above on a hair appliance 70 having an outlet 62. The inlet 64 portion of the concentrator 60 is proximate to the hair appliance 70 outlet 62 and the hair appliance 70 is activated to blow air, usually heated through the concentrator 60.
In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the various embodiments may be interchanged both in whole or in part. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and is not intended to be limitative of the invention so further described in the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/69 3,136 titled “Concentrator,” filed on Aug. 24, 2012, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61693136 | Aug 2012 | US |
