The present invention relates to a dry shaver with a cradle shaving head, and more particularly to the shaver having the cradle shaving head tilting about a thickness axis of a shaver for enhanced smooth shaving contact with a user's skin.
A shaver with the cradle shaving head is known in the art, for example, in Japanese Patent Early Publication No. 6-343776 in which the cradle head carrying shaving units is mounted on top of a hand grip and is allowed to tilt about a thickness axis of the hand grip. A motor for driving inner cutters of the shaving units is attached to the lower end of the cradle head, and projects into an upper interior space of the hand grip. Since the motor tilts together with the cradle head, the hand grip is required to give a relatively wide dimension to the upper interior space for accommodating the tilt movement of the motor, thereby necessitating also a wide dimension to the hand grip which is a hindrance to making the shaver compact enough to be comfortably grasped by the user's hand.
Another prior art is disclosed in Japanese Patent Early Publication No. 10-43443 which discloses a like dry shaver with a cradle shaving head. The dry shaver has a hand grip of a reduced width dimension within which the motor is allowed to tilt together with the cradle head. However, the hand grip of the reduced width dimension limits the tilt movement of the motor and therefore of the cradle head, only leaving a relatively narrow angular range in which the cradle head is permitted to tilt with restricted capability of following the contour of the user's skin.
Further, Japanese Patent Early Publication No. 4-269992 discloses a like dry shaver with a cradle shaving head carrying a shaving unit. The cradle shaving head is supported to a hand grip to be capable of tilting about an axis. Also in this prior art, the motor for driving the inner cutter of the shaving unit is carried on the cradle head and projects into an upper part of the hand grip, thereby restricting the angular range of the tilting movement or necessitating unduly wide dimension for the hand grip.
Further, WO 00/38891 discloses a like dry shaver having a cradle shaving head. The cradle head incorporates the motor and is supported on top of a hand grip to be capable of tilting about a tilt axis without causing the motor to interfere with the hand grip, giving a wide range of tilting movement to the cradle head. However, the cradle head incorporating the motor is supported at its upper end to the hand grip to define the tilt axis upwardly of a mass center of the cradle head with respect to a height of the shaver. With this result, the weight or gravitational force acting on the cradle head functions to keep the cradle head to a neutral position when the hand grip is held upright, which is a comfortable operating position as the user is not required to raise ones's elbow and is free from fatigue which would otherwise mounts during an extended shaving operation. That is, as the cradle head tilts about the axis with the shaver being held substantially upright, a counter torque appears to impede the tilt movement, thereby making it not easy to tilt the cradle head to a greater extent, while the user moves the cradle head across the skin with the hand grip being held substantially upright. Therefore, the user has to keep one's elbow raised in order to make the cradle inclined for smooth contact with various face areas of the skin for shaving the face, at the expense of the accumulation of the fatigue.
This is true also for the prior art shaver disclosed in the above mentioned three Japanese Patent Publications. Accordingly, it is desired to provide a dry shaver which is capable of tilting the cradle head easily and largely for smooth shaving contact with the user's skin, while permitting the user to handle the shaver comfortably with a hand grip held substantially upright or without requiring to raise one's elbow to a greater extent.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above problem to provide an improved dry shaver having a cradle shaving head which assures a smooth and efficient shaving, yet with a comfortable handling. The shaver in accordance with the present invention includes a hand grip adapted to be grasped by a user's hand and having a thickness axis and a height axis. Mounted on top of the hand grip is a cradle head which carries at least one shaving unit composed of an outer cutter and an inner cutter driven to move in hair-sharing engagement with the outer cutter. A support mechanism is provided to support the cradle head to the hand grip in such a manner as to allow the cradle head to tilt relative to the hand grip about at least one tilt axis extending parallel to the thickness axis of the hand grip. The cradle head also carries a motor for driving the inner cutter so as to tilt together with the motor relative to the hand grip. The characterizing feature of the present invention resides in that at least one portion of the motor projects upwardly of the tilt axis, whereby the cradle head is given overall mass center (M) which is located upwardly of the tilt axis (S) with respect to the height axis of the hand grip.
Accordingly, the motor of generally heavy nature can be best utilized to locate the overall mass center (M) of the cradle head above the tilt axis (S) for generating a torque acting to tilt the cradle head from a neutral position about the tilt axis when the hand grip is held upright. Thus, the cradle head can be easy to be inclined for brining the shaving unit into smooth shaving contact with various areas of the skin while keeping the hand grip substantially upright, enabling the user to perform a smooth and efficient shaving, while keeping ones' hand relaxed.
Preferably, the support mechanism gives two tilt axes which are spaced in a width direction of the hand grip so as to allow the cradle head to tilt about either one of the tilt axes, making it possible to give a sophisticated tilting movement to the cradle head for improved smooth contact of the shaving unit with various areas of the skin.
In a preferred embodiment, the cradle head is elongated to have a width along the elongated direction and are supported to the hand grip at two tilt axes which are spaced along the width of the cradle head by a distance less than a half of the width of the cradle head. Thus, the elongated cradle head can be easy to make the sophisticated tilt movement for brining the shaving unit into smooth contact with the skin.
The support mechanism is arranged to floatingly support the cradle head to the hand grip so that the cradle head can be depressed with an attendant vertical movement of the tilt axes. Therefore, the cradle head can tilt at differently depressed positions to further improve the capability of bringing the shaving unit into smooth contact with the user's skin, yet realizing a suitable contact pressure for assuring effective shaving. For this purpose, the support mechanism includes a spring means which gives a biasing force to urge the cradle head towards an undepressed position or neutral poison where the cradle head has its width axis kept substantially perpendicular to the height axis of the hand grip.
The support mechanism is preferred to include an adjustor which acts on the spring means to vary the biasing force, thereby adjusting the contacting pressure of the shaving unit against the user's skin. The adjustor may be additionally provided with a locking function of locking the cradle head to the neutral position. Alternatively, the support mechanism may be given the same locking function without being accompanied with the pressure adjusting function.
The cradle has a casing which is separately formed from the hand grip and accommodates therein the motor. The casing is coupled to the hand grip at such a position that the overall mass center of the cradle head is located upwardly of the tilt axes along the height axis of the hand grip. The hand grip has an interior space within which the battery for the motor is received, and has a top wall closing the upper end of the interior space. The cradle head has its lower end entirely spaced upwardly of the top wall, thereby avoiding interference of the cradle head with the hand grip, assuring a wide range of the tilt movement for the cradle head.
The hand grip accommodates a driving circuit together with the battery for driving the motor. The driving circuit is connected to the motor by means of a flexible cable for permitting the tilt movement of the motor incorporated cradle head.
The hand grip is preferred to have a top guard which projects to overlap the lower end of the cradle head in order to protect the cradle head from moving in directions not associated with the tilt and the depressing movement. In order to add smooth tilting and depressing movement to the cradle head, the top guard is provided with a guide which comes into slidable engagement with a portion of the cradle head.
Preferably, the cradle head as well as the hand grip are made watertight with a sealing sheath fitted around the cable over the entire length thereof inclusive of the connections respectively with the cradle head and the hand grip, thus making the whole shaver water-tight. In this connection, the supporting mechanism is arranged outside of water-tight spaces of the cradle head and the hand grip. Thus, the supporting structure including moving parts can be isolated from the water-tight structure, which in turn makes it easy to design the water-tight structure of the cradle head and the hand grip.
The cradle head is formed on its opposite width ends respectively side extensions each being cooperative with a corresponding upper width end of the hand grip to define therebetween a gap. The gap which is opened at an outer width end and closed at an inner width end, and is made greater towards the outer width end than at the inner width end. With the provision of thus configured gaps between the cradle head and the hand grip on opposite sides thereof, the cradle head is permitted to tilt or be inclined over a wide angular range for bringing the shaver unit in smooth and effective shaving contact with various areas of the skin while holding the grip substantially upright or at a small angular deviation.
The side extensions may be formed respectively with release buttons for detaching the outer cutter from the cradle head when pressed. In this case, the release button is preferred to have its lower end pivoted to the lower end of the side extension to pivot about an axis extending the thick direction of the cradle head. Each release button is formed at its upper end with a hook for detachable engagement with the outer cutter. Thus, the release button is activated to detach the outer cutter only responsive to forces being applied by the fingers of the user grasping the hand grip in definite directions, i.e., the sideward forces acting to press the upper end of the release button. This means that, although the provision of the gap certainly causes the user to place the fingers in touch with the lower ends of the side extensions while manipulating the shaver, the release buttons can be well protected from being activated by such simple touch of the fingers on the buttons.
The cradle head may carry a plurality of the shaving units each being elongated to have width axis in parallel with the widthwise axis of the cradle head. At least one of the shaving units is floatingly supported at its opposite width ends to the cradle head such that at least one shaving unit is capable of being inclined against a spring bias with its width axis being angled with respect to the widthwise axis of the cradle head as well as of being vertically depressed against the spring bias with its width axis kept in parallel with the widthwise axis. The spring bias of urging at least one shaving unit relative to the cradle head is set to be lower than that of urging the cradle head relative to the hand grip. Thus, the shaving unit alone can move when pressed slightly against the user's skin and subsequently move together with the cradle head as the skin contact pressure increases. With this result, the shaving unit can be adjusted its orientation and/or skin contacting pressure independently of and jointly with the movement of the cradle head relative to the hand grip for optimum shaving contact with various areas of the user's skin. In this connection, all the shaving units can be movably supported to the cradle head so as to be capable of being inclined and depressed independently from each other, making it easy to place the individual shaving units for optimum shaving contact with skin portions of varying surface configurations.
Preferably, the cradle head is also supported floatingly to the hand grip to be capable of being depressed against a spring bias which is greater than that for urging the shaving unit relative to the cradle head. Thus, the shaving unit can be depressed alone and jointly with the cradle head so as to give a corresponding skin contact pressure varying over a wide range for optimum shaving contact.
These and still other advantageous features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.
Referring now to
The hand grip 10 is vertically elongated to have a height axis and includes a water-tight housing 11 which accommodates therein rechargeable batteries 17 as well as a circuit board 18 mounting electronic components realizing a driving circuit for driving the inner cutters and a charging circuit for the batteries. A switch button 19 is disposed in a curved recess on front of the hand grip 10 to activate the driving circuit for energizing a motor 40 to reciprocate the inner cutters. As best shown in
The cradle head 30 is elongated along its width axis to have a width greater than a height thereof. It is the width axis along which the inner cutters reciprocate for shaving the hairs. The cradle head 30 a water-tight casing 31 accommodating therein the motor 40 which is electrically connected by means of a flexible cable 44 to the driving circuit formed in the hand grip. The motor 40 is a linear reciprocating motor having two reciprocators carrying the drive elements 42 projecting on top of the cradle head 30. The casing 31 is formed separately from the hand grip 10 and is movably supported thereby by a support mechanism 100 so as to be capable of effecting a combination of tilting and depressing movements relative to the hand grip 10, as shown in
As shown in
Further, the levers 102 contact at their respective upper ends to the cradle head 30 with some tolerance given about at least one of the pins 32 such that the cradle head 30 can tilt about either one of the pins 32 or the tilt axis S of the corresponding one of the levers 102, while lowering the other lever 102 with associated compression of the coil spring 114. Whereby, the cradle head 30 is allowed to tilt in either directions with associated inclination of the shaving units 70 and 80 relative to the height axis of the hand grip 10, as shown in
Since the cradle head 30 tilts at its lower end relative to the levers 102 and incorporates the entire motor 40 of heavy nature, the cradle head 30 is given an overall mass center M which is located upwardly of the tilt axes S defined respectively at the upper ends of the levers 102, as shown in
The support mechanism 100 is disposed exteriorly of the water-tight spaces of the cradle head 30 and the hand grip 10. That is, the levers 102 abut against the pin 32 external to the casing 31 of the cradle head 30 and the anchors 112 are secured to the hand grip 10 upwardly of the top wall 14 closing the upper end of the water-tight housing 11 of the hand grip 10. With this arrangement, the cradle head 30 and the hand grip 10 are not required to include the support mechanism 100 having the moving parts interconnecting the cradle head and the hand grip, and accordingly can be easily designed to be water-tight. The flexible cable 44, which is provided for electrical connection of the motor 40 with the circuit board 18, is covered over an entire portion exposed between the cradle head 30 and the hand grip 10 with a water-tight sheath 46 which is sealed both at the connections with the cradle head 30 and the hand grip 10. Further, the cradle head 30 has its lower end entirely spaced upwardly of the top wall 14 closing the upper end of a water-tight interior space of the hand grip 10. Thus, the cradle head 30 incorporating the motor 40 can effect tilting movement free from interfering with the hand grip 10 and is therefore given a wide angular range for the tilting movement.
As shown in
Also as shown in
Turning back to
With the presence of the gaps 60 at the lower side ends of the cradle head 30, the user is enabled to place the thumb and index finger respectively on the lower ends of the side extensions 36 for supporting or manipulating to the cradle head, as shown in
It should be noted here that although the provision of the gaps 60 between the cradle head 30 and the hand grip 10 is particularly suitable for the above described feature of positioning the overall mass center M of the cradle head 30 above the tilt axes P, it can be equally and advantageously adapted, alone or in combination with the associated scheme of preventing the accidental activation of the release buttons 50, to a shaver having a like cradle head but without the feature of locating the overall mass center above the tilt axis or axes.
Now referring to
The support mechanism 100B is provided for allowing the cradle head 30B to tilt and/or be depressed relative to the hand grip 10B, and includes a pair of horizontally spaced levers 102B which are pivotally connected respectively at their upper ends to pins 32B projecting at the lower end of the cradle 30B. Each lever 102B has its lower end supported to the upper end of the hand grip 10B by way of two parallel coil springs spaced along a thickness of the hand grip, i.e., a front spring 106B and a rear spring 114B, as best shown in
Turning back to
The cradle head 30B is formed on its front face with a post 34B which engages loosely with a vertical slider 26 fitted in a vertical guide 25 of the front top guard 20B such that the tilting movement of the cradle head 30B is smoothly guided by the vertical movement of the slider 26. The post 34B is engaged with the slider 26 in such a manner as to restrict the cradle head 30B from tilting forwards or rearwards, i.e., about a width axis of the cradle head for smoothly inclining and depressing the cradle head into smooth shaving contact with various areas of the user's face skin.
The housing of the hand grip 10B is made up from a front housing half 12B and a rear housing half 13B which are mated together to define the water-tight interior space therebetween for accommodating therein the batteries and the electronic components for the driving circuit. Top plates are formed the upper ends of the halves 12B and 13B are joined to define the top wall 14B closing the upper end of the space. As is formed in the shaver of the first embodiment, gaps 60B are defined respectively between the side extensions of the cradle head and the upper side ends of the hand grip 10B for the same purpose as described with reference to the first embodiment. Also, as shown in
Also in this embodiment, the spring bias, which urges the cradle head 30B to the neutral, i.e., undepressed position relative to the hand grip 10B, is set to be greater than the spring bias urging the shaving units 70B and 80B relative to the cradle head 30B, such that the shaving units are first caused to be displaced independently of the relative movement of the cradle head to the hand grip, and then subsequently caused to be displaced together with the relative movement of the cradle head as the cradle head is pressed at an increasing pressure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2001-350747 | Nov 2001 | JP | national |
2002-176471 | Jun 2002 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP02/11359 | 10/31/2002 | WO | 00 | 4/8/2004 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO03/041918 | 5/22/2003 | WO | A |
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Number | Date | Country |
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04-269992 | Sep 1992 | JP |
06-343776 | Dec 1994 | JP |
10-043443 | Feb 1998 | JP |
WO-0038891 | Jul 2000 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040231160 A1 | Nov 2004 | US |