Patent Grant
10814506
This application is the U.S. National Phase application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/EP2016/051705, filed on Jan. 27, 2016, which claims the benefit of European Application No. 15152931.0 filed on Jan. 28, 2015. These applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a hair clipping device, in particular to a hair clipping device with a hair system for catching and collecting cut hairs.
Electric hair cutting appliances are generally known and include trimmers, clippers and shavers whether powered by main-supplied electricity or battery-driven. Such devices are generally used to trim body hair, in particular facial and head hair to allow a person to have a well-groomed appearance.
Conventional hair trimming devices, also denoted as hair trimmers, comprise a main body forming an elongated housing having a front or cutting end and an opposite handle end. A cutting assembly is disposed at the front end. The cutting assembly usually comprises a stationary cutting blade, which is sometimes also referred to as “guard”, and a moveable cutting blade, which is sometimes also referred to as “cutter”. The moveable cutting blade is displaceably mounted on the top surface of the stationary cutting blade and resiliently biased against said top surface of the stationary cutting blade. The moveable cutting blade is usually driven by a motor in an oscillatory manner relative to the stationary cutting blade. The movement of the motor is typically transferred to the stationary moveable cutting blade via a drive shaft that is arranged between the motor and a coupling element which is fixed to the moveable cutting blade. Said coupling element is often denoted as “driving bridge”. One or more spring elements are used for biasing the moveable cutting blade against the stationary cutting blade in order to receive the so-called teeth pressure during hair cutting.
A typical problem of such hair trimmers is the problem that hairs get sprayed around almost randomly. Everybody who has already used such a hair trimmer is aware of this problem. During usage cut hairs get sprayed all over the place and pollute the bathroom. This is especially unpleasant for other family members making use of the same bathroom. The tooth brush, the soap, the mirror, the sink and other accessories within the bathroom are often full of whiskers.
A lot of manufacturers have already tried to tackle the above-mentioned unwanted hair spraying side effect of hair trimmers. A typical solution includes the application of a vacuum/suction system in order to suck in the cut hairs and collect them anywhere in the interior of the hair trimmer housing. An example of such a hair trimmer with a suction unit is known from US 2009/02770912 A1.
However, it has been shown that solutions using vacuum/suction units are in practice not efficient enough. Typical hair catching efficiency values of such hair trimmers are maximally between 75-90%, meaning that at most 75-90% of the cut hairs can be sucked in and collected, while the remaining 10-25% are still spraying around within the bathroom.
Tests of the applicant have shown typical launching speeds of cut hairs in a range of up to 6 m/s. This means that such vacuum systems need to be capable to create a powerful localized counter air speed above 6 m/s. On the other hand, vacuum technology is by itself limited, since the bear minimum of vacuum is close to 1×10−8 bar. This would “only” provide a pressure drop of 1 bar at maximum. To achieve such a strong vacuum one would need to use a vacuum source providing power of more than 500 W, i.e. similar vacuum sources as used in vacuum floor cleaning machines. Of course, this is in practice not realistic, already because of the limited space. Hair trimmers usually have motors in a 2-6 W power range.
In the so far known hair trimmers with vacuum/suction systems a fan is used to create suction/vacuum. The rotation speed of the fan is furthermore limited due to sound restrictions and user sound acceptance levels. The ergonomics of a hand-held trimming appliance also have limitations towards the maximum fan size. Thus, fan size and rotation speed limitations make suction air speed above 6 m/s difficult, especially in large “hair spray areas” which require a bigger entrance nozzle.
One also has to consider the following geometrical dilemma: The bigger the nozzle entrance, the lower the air speed (distributed over a large area), i.e. the lower the suction effect. The smaller the nozzle entrance, the higher the air speed (localized in a very small area), i.e. the higher the suction effect, however, only in a very limited and focused area.
An alternative solution is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,971 A. The therein disclosed hair clipping device uses also a suction fan. However, in addition to a suction air inlet that is arranged below the stationary cutting blade, an air outlet is arranged above the moveable cutting blade through which pressurized air exits the hair clipper housing. The pressurized air thus passes across the moveable and the stationary cutting blade, wherein the created air pressure shall inhibit an undesired accumulation of cut hair strands in the blades. However, the blowing direction of this blowing airflow is arranged outwards from the cutter perspective, i.e. in the direction from the back end of the cutter to the front end of the cutter where the cutting teeth are located. Tests have shown that such a blowing airflow does not contribute to the hair collection performance. It actually counteracts the hair collection, because cut hairs are blown away from the appliance, as the direction of the blowing airflow is almost the same as the typical launching direction of the cut hairs. This blowing airflow may thus only be used as clogging prevention of the blades, but not as an effective collecting and catching mechanism of cut hairs.
There is thus still room for improvement.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hair clipping device which overcomes the above-mentioned problems. It is particularly an object to provide a hair clipping device that overcomes the unwanted side effect of cut hairs getting sprayed around. Compared to known devices, the hair catching and collecting efficiency shall be increased while the overall size of the hair clipping device shall remain as small as possible and the power consumption is kept as low as possible.
This problem is solved by a hair clipping device comprising:
a drive arrangement for driving the moveable cutting blade relative to the stationary cutting blade;
One of the central features of the present invention is the usage of a fan for generating a pressurized airflow instead of or in addition to a vacuum aggregate or suction unit. The cut hairs or whiskers are thus not collected by means of a suction/intake airflow (under-pressurized airflow) but by means of a blowing airflow (over-pressurized airflow). This blowing airflow is used to block and transport the cut hairs to a predefined location within the housing, e.g. to a hair container. The fan, which is used therefore, is preferably configured to generate a pressurized airflow with a speed at the air outlet being higher than the launching speed of the cut hairs (i.e. preferably above 6 m/s, most preferably above 9 m/s) in area around or near the cutting assembly. The main advantage of such a blowing airflow compared to suction airflows is the inherent physical ability to create an overpressure in a technically easier manner than an underpressure (vacuum). A blowing airflow is apart from that easier to direct and to control. An illustrative example for this phenomena is the following: Ten adults have almost no chance to suck out candles on a birthday cake, while one child has no problem blowing out the birthday candles at a single blow.
Another characteristic of the present invention is the direction of the pressurized airflow. In contrast to the solution proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,971 A, the pressurized airflow is not directed across the moveable and the stationary cutting blade from the top to the bottom of the cutting assembly, but is rather directed to flow over the top face of the moveable cutting blade and from there back into the housing again. The term “at least partly re-enters the housing” shall herein mean that at least a part of the airflow exiting the housing at the air outlet re-enters the housing again at the air inlet. It is preferred that the majority, i.e. more than 50% of the airflow re-enters the housing, even more preferred is that more than 90% of the airflow re-enters the housing again.
The air outlet and the air inlet are both arranged on the first side with respect to the stationary cutting blade, wherein the first side denotes the side of the stationary cutting blade that faces towards the moveable cutting blade. In other words, this means that the stationary cutting blade and the moveable cutting blade contact each other along a cutting plane, wherein the moveable cutting blade is arranged on the first side of the cutting plane and the stationary cutting blade is arranged on the second side of the cutting plane, and wherein the air outlet and the air inlet are both also arranged on the first side of the cutting plane. The result is a circulating airflow over the top face of the moveable cutting blade, i.e. the side of the moveable cutting blade that faces away from the stationary cutting blade.
Experiments of the applicant have shown that the hair clipping device according to the present invention provides a significantly increased hair catching and collecting efficiency compared to hair clipping devices using vacuum or suction units and also compared to the device known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,971 A. Some tests have even shown a hair catching and collecting efficiency value of above 95%.
The air outlet comprises a curved guiding surface for deflecting the airflow towards the air inlet. The airflow does therefore not exit the housing in a straight manner, but is already deflected onto a curved trajectory before leaving the housing. This provides the advantage that leakages are minimized as much as possible, since the airflow is already directed towards the air inlet (i.e. back into the housing again) when exiting the housing. Preferably more than 90% of the pressurized airflow exiting the air outlet thus re-enters the housing at the air inlet again together with the cut hairs.
Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.
The air outlet and the air inlet are, according to a preferred embodiment, separated from each other by a wall element which comprises a rounded end portion at its free end. The air outlet is preferably defined by the curved guiding surface and the rounded end portion of the wall element. The term “rounded” shall not necessarily imply circular or semi-circular, but may also include parabolic or elliptical shapes, as long as it is not angular.
The pressurized airflow exits the housing locally in between the rounded end portion of the separating wall element and the curved guiding surface. The rounded end portion provides the advantage that it helps to deflect the pressurized airflow onto a substantially U-shaped path from the air outlet to the air inlet. The reason is the so-called Coandã effect due to which the airflow gets attracted to the rounded end portion of the wall element and thereby deflected. The wall element is preferably arranged transverse to the cutting assembly, and the curved guiding surface is preferably arranged substantially parallel to the rounded end portion, such that a majority of the pressurized airflow flows in a substantially U-shaped airflow from the air outlet, in a tangential manner over the top face of the moveable cutting blade, towards the air inlet. The term “transverse” shall not necessarily imply perpendicular, but rather non-parallel. The U-turn caused by the Coandã effect also provides the advantage that rather high airflow speeds may be achieved.
As already mentioned above, the drive arrangement of the hair clipping device comprises a motor, and a drive shaft for transferring the power of the motor to the moveable cutting blade. The drive shaft is usually arranged at or near the centre of the housing.
It is according to the present invention especially preferred that the air outlet has a larger distance from the drive shaft than the air inlet. The air inlet is, in other words, arranged closer to the central or longitudinal axis of the housing than the air outlet. The pressurized airflow is thus so to say directed inwards from the cutter (moveable cutting blade) perspective. The pressurized airflow preferably flows in a tangential manner from the front end of the moveable cutting blade where the cutting teeth are arranged towards the back end of the moveable cutting blade. The pressurized airflow is therefore arranged almost exactly opposite to the launching direction of the cut hairs. The cut hairs may thus be directly blocked and transported into the interior of the housing.
The fan is fluidly connected to the air outlet via an outlet channel. According to an embodiment, it is preferred that a cross-section of the outlet channel is constricted at or near the outlet channel. Such a constriction at or near the air outlet provides the advantage that the speed/velocity of the pressurized airflow is significantly increased at the air outlet which again increases the hair catching and collecting efficiency. It shall be noted that such a constriction decreases the flow rate of the airflow (due to a smaller area), but increases the velocity of the airflow. A higher pressure drop occurs between the air outlet and the air inlet. Less airflow but higher air speeds also means less power consumption such that smaller fans may be used that consume less energy. This in turn also provides a volume benefit as smaller sized fans may be used.
The constriction of the outlet channel is preferably realized by means of the wall element that separates the air outlet from the air inlet. To provide this function it is especially preferred that the cross section of the wall element is locally increased in the area of the free end of the wall element. The increased cross section of the wall element does not only lead to a constriction of the outlet channel near the air outlet but also to a constriction of the inlet channel near the air inlet. This again provides the advantage that already caught and collected hairs are prevented from falling out of the housing even if the device is turned off and the fan is not blowing anymore. However, it shall be noted that during operation the air speeds are anyhow strong enough to prevent hairs from falling out even if the appliance is held upside down.
According to a further embodiment, the air outlet is fluidly connected to an outlet of the fan, and the air inlet is fluidly connected to an inlet of the fan, such that a (re-)circulating airflow is created. In this embodiment it is especially preferred that the hair clipping device further comprises a filter mesh which is arranged between the air inlet and the inlet of the fan. According to a specific embodiment, this filter mesh has a conical or frustoconical shape. The fan is preferably realized as a radial fan.
A conical or frustoconical filter mesh on the one hand provides the advantage of a relatively large filter surface. On the other hand, a conical or frustoconical filter may act as clogging prevention, since the filtered hairs/whiskers glide along the inclined outer plane of the conical filter due to gravity, such that there is always a part of the filter that is un-clogged/open.
However, it shall be noted that the system does not necessarily have to be realized as a re-circulating, close-loop system. In an alternative embodiment the air inlet is not connected to the air intake of the fan. The fan in this case sucks in air from outside of the housing, while no suction effect occurs at the air inlet. The cut hairs/whiskers are then “only” caught and collected by means of the pressurized (blowing) airflow that exits the air outlet and re-enters the air inlet. In this case it is especially preferred that the device further comprises an exhaust air port comprising a filter mesh which is arranged in an external wall of the housing separating the hair container from the exterior of the hair clipping device.
According to a further embodiment, the drive arrangement comprises a motor, a driving bridge which is connected to the moveable cutting blade, and a drive shaft which connects the motor to the driving bridge, wherein the driving bridge is at least partly covered by a protective casing, and wherein the air inlet is defined by the protective casing and the rounded end portion of the above-mentioned wall element that separates the outlet channel from the inlet channel.
The function of said protective casing is two-fold: On the one hand, it protects parts of the drive arrangement (i.e. the driving bridge) from getting polluted with cut hairs. On the other hand, it defines the air inlet together with the rounded end portion of the wall element and thereby provides the above-mentioned constriction of the inlet channel at or near the air inlet that increases the pressure drop and helps preventing cut hairs from falling out of the housing again.
According to a further embodiment, the protective casing may comprise an inlet opening which is fluidly connected to the air inlet and an outlet opening which opens out into the hair container.
In this embodiment parts of the pressurized airflow flows through the interior of the protective casing and thereby cools the back part of the moveable cutting blade and the driving bridge. The main advantage of this embodiment is, however, that the interior of the protective casing is getting cleaned from whiskers and cut hairs by means of the pressurized air flow. Cut hairs anyhow reach the interior of the protective casing even if not extra inlet opening is foreseen. The reason is as follows: The protective casing is arranged above the top face of the moveable cutting blade, i.e. on the first side of the moveable cutting blade which is opposite to the side of the moveable cutting blade that faces towards the stationary cutting. Since the moveable cutting blade is moving during operation, the protective casing may not directly contact the moveable cutting blade, such that a small gap occurs anyhow in between the moveable cutting blade and the protective casing. Hence, cut hairs may reach the interior of the protective casing via this small gap. Arranging an extra inlet and outlet opening within the protective casing provides the advantage that the afore-mentioned cut hairs, which get collected within the interior of the protective casing, are blown out of the protective casing and collected within the hair container.
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter. In the following drawings
The hair clipping device 10 comprises a housing 12. The housing 12 connects all parts of the hair clipping device 10 together and also serves as a skeleton for a cutting assembly 14. The cutting assembly 14 is fixedly or releasably attached to the front end 16 of the housing 12. The housing 12 has an elongated body which comprises a handle 18 at its rear end 20. The outer surface of the elongated housing 12 may be tapered slightly outwardly from the rear end 20 to the front end 16 and may have a slightly bent development to provide a more ergonomic holding position and to improve the esthetic appearance of the hair clipping device 10. It shall be noted that also other housing arrangements and designs are envisaged without leaving the scope of the present invention.
The hair clipping device 10 further comprises an user interface 22 for controlling the operation of the hair clipping device 10. The user interface 22 is in the presented example for simplicity reasons “only” shown as a regular on/off button. However, in practice the user interface 22 may comprise further buttons, e.g. one or more buttons for increasing and/decreasing the hair cut length setting, and a display which shows the user the currently set hair cut length as well as some other information, e.g. the battery status etc. The user interface 22 may also comprise a touchscreen which provides the afore-mentioned functions of the buttons and the display all in one.
The cutting assembly 14 includes a stationary cutting blade 24 and a moveable cutting blade 26 (see e.g.
The drive arrangement 34 comprises a motor 36 that is either driven by main supplied electricity or battery-driven. The motor 36 drives a drive shaft 38 in a rotary manner. This drive shaft 38 is typically coupled via an eccentric element 39 to a so-called driving bridge 40. The driving bridge 40 is attached to the moveable cutting blade 26. The driving bridge 40 is used as a coupling element that couples the drive shaft 38 or the eccentric element 39 of the drive shaft 38 to the moveable cutting blade 26 in order to translate the rotary motor movement into a translational, oscillatory, reciprocal movement of the moveable cutting blade 26 along the first axis 32.
The stationary cutting blade 24 is usually designed to be thicker than the moveable cutting blade 26. Said stationary cutting blade 24 is also denoted as “guard”. Its front edge may either be designed as a sharp continuous edge or, similar as the moveable cutting blade 26, as a toothed edge with an array of cutting teeth 28, as this is exemplarily shown in the presented example. The moveable cutting blade 26 is also denoted as “cutter”.
In order to receive a good cutting performance the moveable cutting blade 26 is actively pressed onto the top face 42 (see e.g.
One of the central features of the present invention relates to a mechanism for catching and collecting cut hairs/whiskers. This mechanism is integrated into the hair clipping device 10. The mechanism includes a fan 46 for generating a pressurized airflow.
The fan 46 is preferably realized as a radial fan. In the presented example the fan 46 is mounted onto the same drive shaft 38 that is also used for driving the moveable cutting blade 26. This has the advantage that one and the same motor 36 may be used for the hair cutting operation as well as for the generation of the pressurized airflow. However, it shall be noted that other types of fans may be used, such as an axial fan, a mixed flow fan (combination of axial and radial fan, and it is also possible to use more than one fan without leaving the scope of the present invention.
The fan 46 is fluidly connected to an air outlet 48 via an outlet channel 50. It is important to note that the fan 46 creates a blowing airflow, i.e. an over-pressurized airflow. This blowing airflow exits the housing 12 at the air outlet 48, as this is indicated by means of arrows 52.
The generated pressurized airflow is used to prevent the cut hairs and whiskers from spraying around by blocking them and transporting them into a hair container 54 which is arranged within the housing 12. The hair container 54 may either be realized as a simple, fixed compartment of the housing 12 or as a separate compartment or box that may be detached from the housing 12 in order to dispose the collected hairs and whiskers.
The afore-mentioned substantially U-shaped airflow that flows over the top face 56 of the moveable cutting blade 26 and thereby catches the cut hairs and transports them to the hair container 54 is structurally achieved as follows: First of all, it is important to note that the airflow 52 flows from the air outlet 48 towards the air inlet 58. Both the air outlet 48 and the air inlet 58 are arranged on the same side of the stationary cutting blade 24, i.e. on the side of the stationary cutting blade 24 on which also the moveable cutting blade 26 is arranged. Said side of the stationary cutting blade 24 is herein generally denoted as “first side”. The opposite second side of the stationary cutting blade 24 faces to the exterior of the housing 12. The air outlet 48 and the air inlet 58 are separated from each other by means of a wall element 60. This separating wall element 60 preferably comprises a rounded tip portion 62 at its free end. This rounded tip portion 62 has a significant influence on the deflection of the airflow in the area between the air outlet 48 and the air inlet 58. The airflow 52 has the tendency to be attracted to the exterior surface of the rounded tip portion 62 and is thereby deflected into its U-shape that is schematically illustrated in
The above-mentioned arrangement that leads to the illustrated type of airflow 52 has the following advantages: A blowing airflow is used instead of a suction/intake airflow. Blowing airflows are physically more powerful and by far better to control. Better to control means that blowing airflows are easier to direct. Apart from that, higher air speeds may be generated with less power compared to suction airflows. Another main characteristic of the present invention is the fact that the system is not optimized for high flow rates, but instead for higher airflow velocities at very specific and advantageous locations.
As it may be seen in
The air speed at the air outlet 48 may be increased by choking/constricting the outlet channel 50 at or near the air outlet 48. Such a constriction may be created by an increased cross section of the wall element 60 in the area of its free end where the rounded tip portion 62 is arranged. Such a constriction leads to a higher pressure drop area that leads to a decreased flow rate but increased local air speed. Less flow rate also means less power consumption as a secondary beneficial side effect (smaller fans may be used). However, it shall be noted that such a constriction also increases the turbulence of the airflow 52 at or near the air outlet 48.
The air inlet 58 is preferably defined between the wall element 60 (specifically the rounded tip portion 62 of the wall element 60) and a protective casing 66. The function of the protective casing 66 is two-fold: On the one hand it helps to define the air inlet 58 and parts of the air inlet channel 68 on the other hand, it protects the driving bridge 40 as well as the connection between the driving bridge 40 and the drive shaft 38. The cross section of the air inlet channel 68 is in the shown example also constricted at or near the air inlet 58 (due to the increased cross section of the wall element 60 in this area). Said constriction does not only have fluid dynamical reasons but also helps preventing cut hairs from falling out of the system when the fan 46 is turned off. The airflow 52 is according to the first embodiment shown in
The hair clipping device 10 according to the first embodiment shown in
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.
In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.
Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15152931 | Jan 2015 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2016/051705 | 1/27/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2016/120329 | 8/4/2016 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2294713 | Boerger | Sep 1942 | A |
| 2542333 | Hotz et al. | Feb 1951 | A |
| 2697876 | Blanchard | Dec 1954 | A |
| 2748472 | Sheley et al. | Jun 1956 | A |
| 2914849 | Watkins | Dec 1959 | A |
| 3384919 | Jording et al. | May 1968 | A |
| 3979825 | Baumann | Sep 1976 | A |
| 4475285 | Hara et al. | Oct 1984 | A |
| 4868984 | Elsherbini | Sep 1989 | A |
| 5075971 | McCambridge | Dec 1991 | A |
| 6665938 | McCambridge | Dec 2003 | B2 |
| 6684511 | McCambridge | Feb 2004 | B2 |
| 6948248 | Andis | Sep 2005 | B2 |
| 6986206 | McCambridge | Jan 2006 | B2 |
| 7076878 | Degregorio, Jr. | Jul 2006 | B2 |
| 7228630 | Obermann | Jun 2007 | B2 |
| 8484853 | Laube | Jul 2013 | B1 |
| 8931178 | Beam | Jan 2015 | B2 |
| 9919439 | Fu | Mar 2018 | B2 |
| 10279493 | Snow | May 2019 | B2 |
| 20060162516 | Andis | Jul 2006 | A1 |
| 20060230619 | Williams | Oct 2006 | A1 |
| 20080172901 | Parziale | Jul 2008 | A1 |
| 20090277012 | Mikula | Nov 2009 | A1 |
| 20120216410 | Beam | Aug 2012 | A1 |
| 20150224656 | Johnson | Aug 2015 | A1 |
| 20170361479 | Magrone | Dec 2017 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 3919022 | Dec 1989 | DE |
| 1216800 | Mar 2003 | EP |
| 3250349 | Mar 2019 | EP |
| 2410457 | Aug 2005 | GB |
| 52009546 | Jan 1977 | JP |
| 9736719 | Oct 1997 | WO |
| 0183172 | Nov 2001 | WO |
| WO-2016120329 | Aug 2016 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180333876 A1 | Nov 2018 | US |
