Patent Grant
10779628
The present invention relates to the field of toe nail clippers and especially automated toe nail clippers for use with human hands and feet for clipping fingernails and toenails.
One of the more obvious needs for personal grooming is the need to clip to fingernails as they are unsightly when not properly addressed. Where open-toe shoes are used or individuals are barefoot, toenails are similarly important for grooming. Many groups of individuals are unable to groom their own nails because of infirmity, disability and the like, such as having only a single arm, back problems limiting bending, muscle weakness, partial paralysis, tremors, poor vision and the like. Nail trimming therefore becomes difficult and often requires individuals to seek the aid of others to enable them to maintain their desired level of personal grooming. This increases their dependency on others and adds to feelings of guilt in those requiring such basic care from third parties.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,954,2423 (Brizan) discloses a manual or electric nail clipper that can assist individuals to either manually or automatically clip a toenail or fingernail. The fingernail or toenail is inserted into the front end of the device and a pair of trimming edges move together to clip the fingernail or toenail safely, easily and conveniently. One of the embodiments contemplates a manual device and the other is an electric device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,865,312 discloses a nail trimmer for enabling a person to comfortably trim toenails without having to take on an awkward or uncomfortable posture. The nail trimmer has a long extension housing, which has a handle at its upper end and a trimmer unit at its lower end. A battery operated motor and on/off switch are incorporated into the handle end. A detachable trimmer unit is connected at the lower end. A dado cutting blade and a gear unit are enclosed in the trimmer unit. An opening in the trimmer unit housing provides access to the cutting edge of the blade.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,430 (Davidovitz) discloses a cutter device particularly useful to for cutting fingernails and toenails includes a housing grippable by a user for holding and manipulating the device. A slot is formed in a conical end portion of the housing and is elongated in the circumferential direction for receiving a nail to be cut. A rotatable head having an outer conical surface is rotatably mounted within the conical end portion of the housing. A blade is fixed to the rotatable head and has a cutting edge extending substantially radially of the conical surface of the head and perpendicularly to the slot. A motor within the housing and coupled to the head rotates the head, and the blade fixed thereto, such that the cutting edge of the blade is rotated substantially perpendicularly to the direction of elongation of the slot and the nail received therein.
Various animal nail clippers have been shown in the prior art such as U.S. Pat. No. 2,955,354, issued to Laing, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,838,507 issued to Clark, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,585, issued to Nelson. One of the deficiencies in prior art clippers is no provision for localizing the quick of the nail prior to clipping the nail thus avoiding the aforementioned injury. The present invention overcomes this deficiency by providing a mechanically actuated nail clipper for an animal, or pet, which allows the user to sense the position of the quick prior to clipping the nail then to clip the nail safely at the desired length.
Further, the U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,553 to Fields showed a claw clipper with a reciprocating cutter. The clipper has a gauge 56 to establish how much nail to remove. The reciprocating cutter, 30, then is rapidly advance to clip the nail using a motorized screw. The cutter includes a spring to return the cutter to a recoiled position for the motorized screw to advance the cutter again, reciprocally. Alas, this patent does not detect the presence of the quick with any sensor.
The published patent application to Kang, No. 2006/0042559 shows a clipper for to pet claws with a lever operated cutter. The clipper receives a nail on the side and the nail proceeds between the two blades of the cutter. The cutter has a fixed blade and a rotating blade. Grasping the lever rotates the rotating blade to clip the nail. The application discloses a battery powered motor in the larger handle for grinding a clipped nail. The present invention though has a cutter that receives a nail from the bottom and a cutter with two blades. The blades of the present invention slide along a common line while abutting each other. The present invention lacks a motor or other grinding feature but does have the sensing means and quick indicator which differentiates the present invention from the Kang publication.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,000,321 to Rodgers discloses an optical source and corresponding sensor for detecting the quick of an animal's nail. This patented device has a mechanical clipper with a sliding blade coupled with an optical source and sensor. The source and sensor are mounted proximate the clipper so an accurate reading of light passing through a nail is ascertained by the sensor prior to usage of the clipper. The present invention though has sensing through electrical charge or capacitance or resistance, a thermocouple, piezo-electric, heat, ultrasound, x-ray radiation, and infrared radiation. Once the quick is detected using the sensor, the present invention activates a quick indicator, preferably LED of single or multiple colors, to avoid startling an animal, to guide the user in operating the present invention.
The allowed patent application to Huggans, published as No. 2005/0132975, shows a hand powered nail and claw clipper. The clipper has a mechanical two blade guillotine type cutter where one blade is advanced along the other blade when the handle is closed. The clipper also has a sensor located in the fixed blade opposite the advancing other blade. The sensor is preferably a high intensity light with a cooperating detector or alternatively an ultrasound detector, a pulse oximeter, a laser, and an infra red thermometer. The present invention shares some features with this allowed application. However, the present invention has at least one LED to inform the operator visually, using single or multiple colors, about proximity to the quick and a detector capable of initializing itself. The detector establishes, or is uses a pre-established, baseline on a non-quick substance, such as air, and uses that baseline to later determine the location of the cutting blade relative to the quick. An operator need not look at the position of the cutting blade on a nail but rather at the LED.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,100,088 (Manheimer) discloses a clipper for clipping nails of an animal such as a dog, or cat, that allows for the clipping of an individual nail at the desired length while preventing injury to the animal, including a clipper portion and a sensing portion which allows the nail to be localized in a desired position relative to the clipping plane of the clipper and the internal structure of the nail, wherein the sensing portion is included within circuitry that includes a signal generation portion, a signal reception portion, and a quick indicator. The animal nail is positioned near the clipper portion and the sensing portion produces a sensible signal confirming the position of the clipping plane upon the nail, particularly the quick of the nail. The user then may adjust the position of the clipper portion such that the clipping plane avoids the quick. The user then actuates the clipper portion and trims the nail. (1. A device for safely cutting a nail of an animal to a desired length, while reducing the possibility of injury to said animal by cutting into a quick of the nail, comprising: at least one cutting blade; a means for mounting said cutting blade, said mounting means having an accommodation for a sensing means; mechanical actuating means for reciprocally moving said cutting blade from a first position to a second cutting position; a fixed blade having to an aperture for receiving the nail of the animal, said fixed blade being placed adjacent said cutting blade; said mounting means having a hollow handle, said handle accommodating said cutting blade, said fixed blade and said actuating means; said actuating means linking to said cutting blade, and having a moveable handle pivotally connecting with said hollow handle thus allowing a user to close is said moveable handle upon said hollow handle thus advancing said cutting blade upon said fixed blade to cut a nail of an animal placed within said aperture; a sensing portion capable of detecting the internal structure of the nail of the animal received in said aperture of said fixed blade and providing an indication thereof before actuation of said cutting blade, said sensing portion including said sensing means, an electrical supply located within said hollow handle, a digital processor, and a quick indicator connected together in circuitry; said sensing means arranged adjacent to and connecting with the fixed blade and comprising a capacitor, said capacitor having at least a single plate, said capacitor of the sensing means being arranged at the approximate front end of the sensing means and just adjacent to the edge of the aperture of the fixed blade, said electrical supply providing power to said plate, said capacitor being in communication through said circuitry with said quick indicator, said capacitor including a circuit portion of said circuitry such that changes in the instantaneous capacitance of the capacitor causes a change in the oscillatory frequency of said circuit portion, said oscillatory frequency being interpreted by said digital processor, the digital processor being programmed to differentiate between frequency arising from the interposing of air, nail, or nail with underlying quick as located near the fixed blade aperture during usage; and said quick indicator comprising a visual display communicating with the circuitry for warning a user of said device to the presence of quick of the nail of an animal therein during usage, said visual display being at least one light emitting diode, for warning the user of said device to the presence of quick of the nail of the animal to before any cutting occurs.)
U.S. Pat. No. 8,496,013 (McCourtney) discloses a fingernail clipper holding device includes a housing having a hollow interior and having a generally ellipsoid ergonomic configuration that is easy to grip. An upper portion of the housing may include a channel having a configuration to receive the housing of a fingernail clipping device and to hold it securely. The housing defines a receiving area on which a user may position his finger adjacent the cutting head of the fingernail clipping device. A gripping member is attached to a lower portion of the housing to receive a user's fingers or hand. Stabilizing members may be attached to the bottom surface of the lower portion to hold the housing stationary on a flat surface.
Other general disclosures of nail clipping systems include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,539,632; 5,775,340; and 5,775,340 (with receptacle for cut nails). All documents cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The prior art devices are often lacking in ease of use, require manual input, and do not consistently provide safety features to avoid injury to the users.
An electrically-powered nail cutting apparatus includes a housing having a front face and a rear face, two sides, a top and a bottom. The front face of the housing having an open slot at least 0.5 mm in height and between 0.7 cm and 4 cm in width, the slot having a front-facing opening and a rear-facing opening. Within the housing and proximal to the rear-facing opening is a vertically translating nail-cutting blade plate associated with an electric motor that is configured to translate the nail-cutting blade plate consecutively down and up. The blade plate is a solid material having an opening therein, wherein the top of the opening comprises a to cutting blade with a cutting edge within the opening such that the cutting edge is adjacent the rear-facing element.
An electrically-powered nail cutting apparatus includes a housing having a front is face and a rear face, two sides, a top and a bottom. The front face of the housing having an open slot at least 0.5 mm in height and between 0.7 cm and 4 cm in width, the slot having a front-facing opening and a rear-facing opening. Within the housing and proximal to the rear-facing opening is a vertically translating nail-cutting blade plate associated with an electric motor that is configured to translate the nail-cutting blade plate consecutively down and up. The blade plate is a solid material having an opening therein, wherein the top of the opening includes a cutting blade with a cutting edge within the opening such that the cutting edge is adjacent the rear-facing element. The dimensions in height facilitate nail thickness entry into the cutting position. Some nails are more curved that others and thicker than others, so that these dimensions may significantly vary upwards, but will not vary to lesser heights as it would severely limit the number of people that could use the clipper. Upper heights can be 0.75 mm, 1.0 mm, 1.25 mm, 1.5 mm and even as much as 3.5 mm to allow toe nails that have been damaged and malformed to fit within the opening and be exposed to the blades. The opening may be relatively uniform in thickness, or have a greater height on one side (or in the middle) than on the other side (or sides) to allow easier unassisted entry into the opening at one position and then repositioning of the nail within the opening to align the entire nail within the opening. The blade used is preferably made of metal, a rust-resistant metal such as stainless steel or titanium, and other components may be to variously made of polymeric materials and metal (the motor must have some metal components).
The front-facing opening in the slot further preferably includes a recess for accepting tips of digits or toes when fingernails or toenails, respectively, are inserted into the slot, but without allowing any significant penetration of the flesh of the digit or toe into the opening where the blade could contact the flesh in a cutting orientation. This may be a three-dimensional depression, a cavity, a molded open area, or cutout volume in the front face of the housing.
The apparatus preferably has the electric motor configured to continually move the blade plate up and down, or the electric motor is configured to move the blade plate up and down, with a time delay in transition from at least one direction to the other. A timing element, rheostat or any other timing device may be used to allow time between downward movements of the blade plate for the user to exchange or reorient toes or fingers that are to have their nails trimmed without having to gauge when it is timely to insert a nail in the slot. An indicator light may also be present on the apparatus indicating an appropriate time period when a nail may be inserted as opposed to the user guessing when the slot may not be blocked by the blade plate in an extended, lowered position.
The apparatus may perform its up-and-sown movement of the blade plate by the electric motor engaging the blade plate with a rotating cam that engages the blade plate to repetitively move the blade plate up and down. The cam may have a post which impacts against the bottom of the blade plate or engages a slot in the blade plate (preferably relatively below the opening to the blade, so that the blade plate is pulled down and pushed up by the rotating movement of the post extending from the cam, driven by the motor).
The apparatus preferably has the blade plate supported within a groove located behind the front face of the housing, with the cutting edge proximal to the slot. The cutting edge of the blade plate should intimately slide across the slot during its repetitive movement. In the apparatus, a bracing plate may be located against a side of the blade plate distal from the cutting edge. The bracing plate stabilizes the blade plate as the blade plate moves up and down. The bracing plate can be inserted or removed from the apparatus by sliding the brace plate within a second groove that secures the blade plate within the apparatus. Upon removal of the bracing plate from the apparatus, the blade plate becomes exposed and can be removed from the apparatus. The blade plate is free sliding, and can be slid upward out of the apparatus (e.g., for replacement or sharpening) or it may be manually or tool-removed from the groove.
The apparatus may be configured wherein the bracing plate has raised or extending elements on a surface to transmit pressure against the blade plate. As the bracing plate is fixed within the apparatus, these elements press against the blade plate to assure a strong pressure of the blade against the slot.
A review of the figures will assist in an understanding of the present invention.
Although specific materials, dimensions and descriptions are provided, these examples are mere species within the generic concepts of the present invention.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5557849 | Lee | Sep 1996 | A |
| 5622191 | McMullen, Jr. | Apr 1997 | A |
| 5791049 | Dolev | Aug 1998 | A |
| 7003882 | Sakai | Feb 2006 | B2 |
| 7954242 | Brizan | Jun 2011 | B1 |
| 20070028936 | Kriser | Feb 2007 | A1 |
| 20090119922 | Doyle | May 2009 | A1 |
| 20100107989 | Manheimer, III | May 2010 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20190090608 A1 | Mar 2019 | US |
