Engaging structure of electric shaver and electric charger thereof

Abstract

An engaging structure of an electric shaver and an electric charger is provided wherein the electric charger at least serving to charge the electric shaver is mounted thereat. The engaging structure includes a magnet provided at one of the electric shaver or the electric charger; and an attracting member provided at the other thereof, the attracting member being made of a material magnetically attracted to the magnet. Further, a contact portions for electrically connecting the electric shaver and the electric charger are provided between a weight center of the electric shaver and the magnet disposed above the contact point at an opposite side of a mounting direction of the electric shaver.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiment, given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view showing a rechargeable electric shaver capable of being charged by being mounted on a cleaning/charging apparatus;

FIG. 2 describes a perspective view of the cleaning/charging apparatus;

FIG. 3 provides an enlarged cross sectional view of principal parts illustrating contact portions between the electric shaver and the cleaning/charging apparatus;

FIG. 4 presents an exploded perspective view depicting a magnet provided at the cleaning/charging apparatus, contact metal strips of the contact portions and components for the contact metal strips;

FIGS. 5A to 5C represent bending of an contact metal strips; and

FIG. 6 offers a characteristic diagram demonstrating a relationship between the amount of stroke and a load when the reaction force of the contact metal strips is changed in multiple stages.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, a specific embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an engaging (mounting) structure of an electric shaver and a cleaning/charging apparatus having a cleaning function for cleaning a blade unit of the electric shaver and a charging function for charging the electric shaver.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cleaning/charging apparatus 1 includes a cleaning/charging apparatus main body 5 having a shaver insertion opening 4 which is for accommodating an electric shaver 2 to mount the same to a cleaning part 3 in a position where a blade unit of the shaver 2 faces downward. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cleaning/charging apparatus main body 5 has contact metal strips 7 that are electrically connected to terminal pins 6 provided on a rear surface 2a of the electric shaver 2; and a magnet 9 for attracting a metal plate 8 provided inside the rear surface of the electric shaver 2. In this embodiment, there are provided three terminal pins 6 and three contact metal strips 7.

Each of the contact metal strips 7 includes an attachment fixture 7A mounted at a strip mounting base 10, a horizontal portion 7B horizontally extended from a bottom portion of the attachment fixture 7A, a bending portion 7C elongated obliquely upward from a leading end of the horizontal portion 7B, and a contact portion 7D provided at a leading end of the bending portion 7C so as to contact with the terminal pin 6. The overall shape of the contact metal strips 7 is roughly a V shape as can be seen from FIG. 3.

The attachment fixture 7A is attached to a rear surface 10a of the strip mounting base 10. The horizontal portion 7B contacts with a bottom surface 10b of the strip mounting base 10. The bending portion 7C is disposed at a front surface 10c of the strip mounting base 10 and can be bent freely as it moves toward or away from the strip mounting base 10. The contact point 7D has a hemispheric shape so that it can easily come in contact with the terminal pin 6 in every direction without being stuck to or by the terminal pin 6.

Since the strip mounting base 10 serves as a base to which the contact metal strips 7 is attached, it is made of an insulating material to avoid a short-circuit. Provided on the front surface 10c of the strip mounting base 10 is a multi-bending provider 11 which allows the reaction force acting against the terminal pin 6 by the contact point 7D of the contact metal strips 7 to vary in multiple steps. That is, the changing rate of the reaction force with respect to a displacement of the contact potion 7D varies due to the presence of the multi-bending provider 11. The multi-bending provider 11 is formed as a protrusion having an inclined surface 11a that comes in surface contact with the bending portion 7C. When the terminal pin 6 is made press the contact point 7D, the bending portion 7C is bent and comes in contact with the inclined surface 11a. If the contact metal strips 7 are further pressed, the bending portion 7C is bent by pivoting about a leading end portion 11b of the protrusion, allowing a greater reaction force to be exerted by the contact portion 7D.

As depicted in FIGS. 5A to 5C, the reaction force of the contact point 7D of the contact metal strips 7 varies in multiple steps (two steps in this example). To be specific, at an initial stage in which the bending portion 7C is yet to be made in contact with the inclined surface 11a of the electric contact strip mounting base 10, the contact portion 7D is disposed by pivoting about a bent portion (first pivoting point) between the horizontal portion 7B and the bending portion 7C, as can be seen from FIG. 5A. The reaction force of the contact portion 7D acting on the terminal pin 6 in this step is defined as a first reaction force. After the bending portion 7C contacts with the inclined surface 11a of the electric contact strip mounting base 10 as illustrated in FIG. 5B, the contact point 7D is disposed by being pivoted about the leading end portion 11b of the strip mounting base 10 (second pivoting point), as can be seen from FIG. 5C. By reducing a distance between the second pivoting point and an operating point (contact point between the terminal pin 6 and the contact portion 7D), a greater reaction force (second reaction force) can be obtained.

FIG. 6 provides a graph explaining the above, wherein the horizontal axis represents the amount of stroke (displacement) and the vertical axis represents load. As can be seen from FIG. 6, the reaction force (load) at the contact portion 7D can be varied in multiple steps by making the contact metal strips 7 to contact with the multi-bending provider 11 at a certain displacement. In this embodiment, a single multi-point bender 11 is provided to serve as the pivoting point to vary the reaction force in two steps. However, two or more multi-point benders 11 can be provided to vary the reaction force in three or more steps.

The magnet 9 is positioned above and near the contact portion 7D of the contact metal strips 7. Further, the magnet 9 is attached to a yoke 12 which is for boosting the magnetic force, the yoke 12 having a substantially one side-opened rectangular shape when seen from the top. Moreover, the magnet 9 is disposed, together with the yoke 12, in the cleaning/charging apparatus main body 5. In this embodiment, a weight center G of the electric shaver 2, the contact portion 7D and the magnet 9 are disposed as described below.

That is, the contact portion of the terminal pin 6 and the contact portion 7D of the contact metal strips 7 for electrically connecting the electric shaver 2 and the cleaning/charging apparatus main body 5 are provided between the weight center G of the electric shaver 2 and the magnet 9 disposed above the contact portion 7D at an opposite side of the mounting direction of the electric shaver 2. When the magnet 9, the contact point 7D and the weight center G of the electric shaver 2 are arranged in the above-described configuration, the electric shaver 2 can be mounted in the cleaning/charging apparatus 1 in a most stable manner. That is, even if the magnet 9 has a low magnetic force, the presence of the magnet 9 disposed above the contact portion 7D provides more force to attach the electric shaver 2 toward the cleaning/charging apparatus 1. This increased force allows in turn a stable mounting state of the electric shaver 2 in the cleaning/charging apparatus 1.

Meanwhile, the metal plate 8 configured to magnetically attract to the magnet 9 is provided at a part in the electric shaver 2 so as to face the magnet 9. The metal plate 8 and the magnet 9 are arranged so that a central position C2 of the metal plate 8 with respect to a central position C1 of the magnet 9 is deviated in a direction allowing the electric shaver 2 to be attracted along the mounting direction in the cleaning/charging apparatus 1. Specifically, the metal plate 8 is positioned not right in front of but slightly above the electric shaver 2.

By shifting the central position C2 of the metal plate 8 with respect to the central position C1 of the magnet 9 opposite to the mounting direction, not only a vertical magnetic force but also an attractive magnetic force in a surface direction parallel to a magnet surface is applied therebetween. The electric shaver 2 is inserted by itself into the cleaning part 3 when mounting the electric shaver 2 in the cleaning/charging apparatus 1 as if the electric shaver 2 is being pulled into the cleaning/charging apparatus 1.

Moreover, the cleaning/charging apparatus 1 includes a detector unit for detecting the mounting status of the electric shaver 2 in the cleaning/charging apparatus 1. The detector unit has a shaver detection switch 13, which is switched on by being pressed by the electric shaver 2 when the electric shaver 2 is mounted at the cleaning/charging apparatus 1; and a shaver detection member 14 for providing the detection signal when the shaver detection switch 13 is pressed.

By providing the shaver detection switch 13 serving to detect the electric shaver 2 and the electric contact metal strips 7 separately, erroneous detection of the electric shaver 2 can be avoided which can otherwise take place when the contact metal strips 7 are configured to function as the shaver detection switch as well For example, even when a metal piece or the like attracted to the magnet 9 is mistakenly gotten into the cleaning/charging apparatus 1, the cleaning operation is prevented from being initiated as long as the shaver detecting switch 13 is pressed.

In order to mount the electric shaver 2 to the cleaning/charging apparatus 1 configured in a manner described above, the electric shaver 2 is dropped through the shaver insertion opening 4 of the cleaning/charging apparatus 1 with its blade unit placed upside down. Due to a self-weight of the electric shaver 2, the electric shaver 2 is then slipped into the cleaning part of the cleaning/charging apparatus 1. While the electric shaver 2 is slipped therethrough, the metal plate 8 provided at the electric shaver 2 is attracted to the magnet 9 provided at the cleaning/charging apparatus 1 and, therefore, the electric shaver is automatically attracted in the desired mounting direction. As a result, the blade unit is mounted to the cleaning part 3.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to the embodiment, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modification may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims

1. An engaging structure of an electric shaver and an electric charger, the electric charger at least serving to charge the electric shaver mounted thereat, comprising: a magnet provided at one of the electric shaver or the electric charger; andan attracting member provided at the other thereof, the attracting member being made of a material magnetically attracted to the magnet,wherein a contact portions for electrically connecting the electric shaver and the electric charger are provided between a weight center of the electric shaver and the magnet disposed above the contact point at an opposite side of a mounting direction of the electric shaver.

2. The engaging structure of an electric shaver and an electric charger of claim 1, wherein a central position of the attracting member is deviated, with respect to a central position of the magnet, in a direction allowing the electric shaver to be attached along the mounting direction in the electric charger.

3. The engaging structure of an electric shave and an electric charger of claim 1, wherein among the contact portions, a contact portion of a contact metal strip provided at the electric charger has a hemispherical shape.

4. The engaging structure of an electric shaver and an electric charger of claim 1, further comprising a multi-point bender for varying a reaction force acting at the contact portions in two or more steps.

5. The engaging structure of an electric shaver and an electric charger of claim 3, further comprising a detector unit provided separately from the contact metal strip provided at the electric charger, the detector unit detecting the electric shaver when the electric shaver is mounted in the electric charger.