This application relates generally to a hair care device that can supply moisture to hair without the providing of a liquid reservoir, and more particularly, to a hair iron.
A hair care device such as a hair dryer, hair iron or roll brush is equipped to wave, curl or straighten hair by using a heater to heat air, and by then blowing the heated air against the hair so as to dry the hair, or by using a heated clamping component in direct contact with the hair. However, the hair care device damages the hair due to the use of heat. In particular, a hair iron clamps the hair using two clamping components maintained at a high temperature of 120° C. to 190° C., and the hair is heated very quickly by a high temperature heating portion. That is to say, due to direct contact of the high temperature clamping components with the hair, repeated hair styling using the hair iron greatly damages the hair. Damaged hair is the major cause of loss of gloss and resilience, hair frizzing, and difficulty in handling of curly hair. Thus moisture retention or the supplying of moisture to the hair to prevent hair damage is important when using a hair iron.
The supplying of moisture to the hair is attempted in various types of previously developed hair care devices. For example, in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2009-136576, a hair dryer as a hair care device is disclosed that is suitable for increasing the spraying pressure of a steam generator to partially concentrate and apply steam. This hair dryer is equipped with a steam generator. This steam generator is equipped with a liquid storage chamber capable of receiving heat from a heater and capable of storing liquid, a steam spray opening for spraying the steam volatilized in the liquid storage chamber, and an open-close valve for opening and closing the steam spray opening. Due to this configuration, steam pressure within the steam generator can be increased by closing the open-close valve, and then the open-close valve can be opened to vigorously spray high pressure steam. The hair dryer disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2009-136576 is thus suitable for concentrated application of steam to part of the hair.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2013-102826 discloses a hair dryer as a hair care device capable of preventing electrical charging of the hair and capable of supplying sufficient moisture to the hair, by imparting positive and negative ions to the hair. This hair dryer is equipped with: a blower fan, a heater, an ion generator capable of generating H+(H2O)m as positive ions (in which m is a positive integer) and O2-(H2O)n as negative ions (in which n is a positive integer), an operational part for selection of operation in permeation mode for promoting permeation into the hair of positive and negative ions generated by the ion generator, and a control part for controlling a heater while operating the ion generator and the blower fan such that temperature of air blown from a blowing opening becomes a predetermined promotion temperature for promotion of permeation into the hair of moisture accompanied by the positive and negative ions generated by the ion generator.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2014-97214 discloses a hair iron that is capable of supplying heated vapor according to properties of hair so as to advantageously set the hair. This hair iron has a first clamping part having a first hair clamping surface and a second clamping part having a second hair clamping surface, and is configured such that the hair is clamped between the first hair clamping surface and the second hair clamping surface. At least one of the first hair clamping surface and the second hair clamping surface is equipped with a heater for heating the clamped hair. At least one of the first hair clamping surface and the second hair clamping surface is equipped with a superheated vapor generator for generating vapor by heating a liquid and then further heating the vapor to generate superheated vapor, and is equipped with a discharge opening for delivering the generated superheated vapor to the clamped hair. Due to configuration in this manner, the hair iron disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2014-97214 is capable of setting hair in a form desired by the user by the use of superheated vapor regardless of the condition of the hair of the user.
In order to generate steam, the hair dryer of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2009-136576 is required to be equipped with a steam generator that has the liquid storage chamber, the steam spray opening and the open-close valve. Also, when the user uses the hair dryer, the user is required to store water in the liquid storage chamber. That is to say, in addition to requiring the securing of space for arrangement of the steam generator, the hair dryer of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2009-136576 requires a complex mechanism for heating water in the chamber in order to spray high pressure steam through the open-close valve from the steam spray opening. Furthermore, the user is required to perform the troublesome operation of storing water in the liquid storage chamber when using the hair dryer.
The hair dryer of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2013-102826 has as required components: the ion generator for generation of positive and negative ions, the operational part for selection of operation in permeation mode for promoting permeation into the hair of positive and negative ions generated by the ion generator and a control part for controlling a heater while operating the ion generator and the blower fan such that temperature of air blown from the blowing opening becomes the predetermined promotion temperature for promotion of permeation into the hair of moisture accompanied by the positive and negative ions generated by the ion generator. Thus in order to supply moisture to the hair, the hair dryer of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2013-102826 requires the special structure that is the ion generator, operational part and control part.
The hair dryer of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2014-97214 must be equipped with the liquid reservoir for storage of liquid and a superheated vapor generator for heating the liquid to generate steam and further heating the generated vapor to generate superheated vapor. Thus the hair iron of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2014-97214 requires the securing of space for arrangement of the liquid reservoir and the heated vapor generator, and requires a complex mechanism for heating liquid in the chamber for heating the liquid, generating steam and further heating the vapor to generate the superheated vapor. Furthermore, the user is required to perform the troublesome operation of storing water in the liquid storage chamber when using the hair dryer.
In this manner, a conventional hair care device is incapable of supplying moisture to hair unless a special structure is provided that includes components such as the liquid storage chamber, steam generator, ion generator, operational part, control part and superheated vapor generator. The securing of space for this structure is required in order to provide this special structure, and miniaturization of the hair care device is difficult. Furthermore, the type of hair care device that generates a vapor from water stored in a liquid storage chamber requires complex mechanisms such as a mechanism for preventing leakage of water and a mechanism for generating a suitable vapor from water. In addition, this type of hair care device requires that the user perform the troublesome operation of storing water in the liquid reservoir when using the hair care device. An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a hair care device that does not require the arrangement of the special structure, that is capable of miniaturization, and that does not require of the user the troublesome operation of storing water in the liquid reservoir when using the hair care device.
The hair care device of the present disclosure includes a hair care device comprising: a fan configured to blow air; a regenerable drying agent; and a heater configured to heat the air blown by the fan and to heat the regenerable drying agent, wherein the air heated by the heater passes through the regenerable drying agent configured to pass the air heated by the heater. During use of this hair care device, a stream of air blown by the fan is heated by the heater, and the stream of air passes through the regenerable drying agent heated by the heater, and thus moisture is released from the drying agent.
In the hair care device of the present disclosure, furthermore, the drying agent can include a zeolite.
In the hair care device of the present disclosure, the drying agent can include alumina and silica.
In the hair care device of the present disclosure, the drying agent can include silica gel.
In the hair care device of the present disclosure, the drying agent can include a clay-based drying agent.
In the hair care device of the present disclosure, the hair care device can be configured so as to be capable of setting a temperature of the drying agent during use to greater than or equal to 150° C. By this means, moisture can be efficiently generated from the zeolite.
The hair care device of the present disclosure further includes a first clamping component and a second clamping component, and the hair care device is capable of use as a hair iron.
The hair care device of the present disclosure is capable of use as a hair dryer.
The hair care device of the present disclosure internally retains a regenerable drying agent, and an air stream generated during use blows moisture generated from a heated drying agent against the hair of the user to supply moisture to the hair. The regenerable drying agent takes up from the air in one day the necessary amount of moisture, and thus the hair care device can be used daily without the user performing the operation of refilling a liquid tank with water. Furthermore, since the hair care device of the present disclosure does not require the arrangement of specific structures of a conventional device, such as the liquid storage chamber, steam generator, ion generator, operational part, control part and superheated vapor generator, the hair care device becomes easily handled, and space for such a specific structure becomes unnecessary so that the hair care device can be miniaturized.
A more complete understanding of this application can be obtained when the following detailed description is considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:
A hair iron is explained below as an example of the hair care device of the present disclosure. As shown in a left side view of
The cross-sectional drawing of
A drying agent is arranged in drying agent retainers 12a, 12b and 12c at the periphery of the heater 14. For a cross section line A-A′ of the drying agent retainer 12a in
A drying agent such as SIBLET (tradename, manufactured by Tokai Chemical Industries Inc.), silica gel, clay-based drying agents and zeolites can be used as the regenerable drying agent of the hair care device of the present disclosure. SIBLET is a tablet type drying agent produced by tableting a porous, amorphous substance (natural silica-alumina clay, mineral name =allophane) that includes Al2O3·SiO2·nH2O as the major ingredient. SIBLET is chemically stable and has high moisture absorption capacity. Silica gel is manufactured by using sulfuric acid to neutralize sodium silicate. Silica gel is a drying agent that has a sponge-like porous molecular structure and is regenerated by heating to 150° C. to 180° C. The clay-based drying agent is a drying agent produced using as a raw material the mineral bentonite or the clay mineral montmorillonite. Zeolites are drying agents that, among aluminosilicates, have relatively large voids in the crystal structure.
In a first example, “SIBLET AS 1306”, which is a tableted type allophane drying agent produced by Tokai Chemical Industries Inc., was used by forming a powder from a portion of 20 tablets, and then placing the drying agent in drying agent retainers 12a, 12b and 12c. A single tablet of SIBLET AS1306 weighs 1 g, is 6 mm thick, and is 13 mm in diameter. Moisture release characteristics of a hair iron of the present disclosure using SIBLET AS1306 as the regenerable drying agent are explained below using Table 1 and
Operation of the hair iron 8 of the present disclosure is explained next. When the user turns the electrical power switch 40 on, via the electrical power cord 38 and the control board 42, electrical current is sent to the heater 14 and the blower fan 36. By operation of the blower fan 36, air is taken in by the air intake opening 34 and is sent through the air flow tube 33 to the heater 14. Moisture is released from the drying agent when the drying agent arranged in the drying agent retainers 12a, 12b and 12c is heated to a temperature greater than or equal to 150° C. by heating by the heater 14. This released moisture is blown out from the multiple blowing openings 32 arranged at both sides of the first clamping component 16 and is supplied as moisture to the hair of the user. As explained below concerning
When using the hair iron 8, the user presses the handle 30, opens the second clamping component 18 (
The first clamping component 16 and the second clamping component 18 reach a temperature during use that is greater than or equal to 140° C., and thus there is danger of burning or melting of a desk when the hair iron 8 is carelessly placed on the desk. The stand 28 is arranged on the hair iron 8 in order to avoid this danger. As indicated in
Table 1 shows moisture release characteristics of the hair iron of the present disclosure using 20 tablets of “SIBLET AS 1306”, produced by Tokai Chemical Co., Ltd., as the regenerable drying agent.
As can be understood from the data indicated in Table 1 and
In the above explanation, although the hair iron was used as an embodiment to explain the hair care device of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is not limited to hair irons, and of course the present disclosure can be used appropriately for devices such as hair dryers and round brushes.
The foregoing describes some example embodiments for explanatory purposes. Although the foregoing discussion has presented specific embodiments, persons skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. This detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the invention is defined only by the included claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2014249765 | Dec 2014 | JP | national |
This application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-249765, filed on Dec. 10, 2014. The entire specification, claims, and drawings of Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-249765 are incorporated by reference herein.