Patent Application
20130255455
1. Field
Embodiments of the present inventive concept relate to a hair cutting apparatus and method of use for hair cutting, and in particular, to a hair cutting apparatus and method of use for hair cutting that enable a user to cut hair with improved ease and efficiency using palm-down movements in various directions.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Clippers for cutting hair generally include a handle connected to a blade. Such handles are typically cylindrically-shaped to allow a user to manipulate the clipper and drag the clipper across a cutting surface. While dragging the blade across cutting surfaces using a conventional clipper, the user typically grasps the clipper while making a first oriented perpendicularly to the cutting surface, which results in an unnatural and difficult cutting movement for the user. Further, conventional clippers are limited to unidirectional cutting, and require removal from the cutting surface or readjustment within the user's hand to accommodate a change in cutting direction.
The following brief description is provided to indicate the nature of the subject matter disclosed herein. While certain aspects of the present inventive concept are described below, the summary is not intended to limit the scope of the present inventive concept. Embodiments of the present inventive concept provide an apparatus for cutting hair with greater ease and comfort, and a method of using the apparatus to these ends. The present inventive concept does not suffer from and remedies the deficiencies of conventional devices such as those previously set forth herein.
The present inventive concept provides, in its simplest form, a hair cutting apparatus configured to be held along a gripping surface for palm-down cutting. “Palm-down”, as used herein, means with the palm of the user generally facing a cutting surface. The hair cutting apparatus includes a housing, and the housing has an outer gripping surface shaped to receive a palm of the user for ergonomic use. Attached to the housing is a motor that drives a first shearing blade to move over a second shearing blade in a cutting action.
The aforementioned may be achieved in an aspect of the present inventive concept by providing a hair cutting apparatus having a housing. The housing has an outer surface which forms a gripping surface, and the gripping surface is preferably of a convex and ergonomic shape to receive a palm of the user. A motor is secured to the housing, and the motor is in operable contact with a first shearing blade. The motor drives movement, for example oscillation or rotation, of the first shearing blade over a second shearing blade which is attached to the housing.
The gripping surface may include an apex running generally along the center of the housing for improved grasping by the user. Grasp may further be improved where the housing includes a protrusion or knob extending from and adjacent to the gripping surface, and where the knob has an aperture or finger hole sized and shaped to at least partially receive a finger to facilitate secure gripping of the apparatus by one or more fingers of the user. The gripping surface may further include a surrounding surface of the finger hole for improved grasp.
The first and second shearing blades may each have two cutting edges for bidirectional cutting, a first and third cutting edge being on the first shearing blade and a second and fourth cutting edge being on the second shearing blade. The first cutting edge may then be moved over the second cutting edge in a cutting action, and the third cutting edge may be moved over the fourth cutting edge in a cutting action. The motor which drives the first shearing blade may in a preferred embodiment be a piezoelectric motor controlled by a microprocessor.
In another embodiment of the present inventive concept, a hair cutting apparatus is provided having a housing with an outer surface that presents a gripping surface. A base is attached to the housing, and a motor for driving a first shearing blade is attached to the base. A second shearing blade is also attached to the base, and the motor drives the first shearing blade to move over the second shearing blade for multi-directional cutting.
The hair cutting apparatus may further include a depth adjuster having clips to allow selective placement of the depth adjuster on the housing. This allows for additional adjustability of hair cutting length. Further, the first shearing blade may be driven by the motor via a motor gear connected to an output drive shaft of the motor and engaged with the first shearing blade at an internal circumference. The first shearing blade may be supported by supporting gears which also engage its internal circumference and are rotatably secured to the second shearing blade.
In still another embodiment of the present inventive concept, a method for palm-down cutting is presented. According to the method, a hair cutting apparatus is provided which has a gripping surface shaped to receive the user's palm. The hair cutting apparatus is applied to a cutting surface, and is moved across the cutting surface such that the user's palm remains generally facing the cutting surface. The user may also shave in more than one direction by employing preferred embodiments. For example, where the shearing blades each have two generally linear cutting edges facing opposing directions, the hair cutting apparatus may be utilized to cut hair by moving the hair cutting apparatus in either of the two opposing directions without the need to twist or reorient the housing of the hair cutting apparatus.
The multiple directions may include two opposite directions along a first linear path of the cutting surface, and/or two opposite directions along the first linear path of the cutting surface and a second linear path of the cutting surface. The second linear path may extend substantially perpendicular to the first linear path. The first shearing blade may mirror a configuration of the second shearing blade relative to the housing.
Additional aspects, advantages, and utilities of the present inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the present inventive concept.
Embodiments of the present inventive concept are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
a is a side view of a hair cutting apparatus of the present inventive concept, illustrating the hair cutting apparatus on a cutting surface and in the grasp of the user's hand; and
b is a front view of a hair cutting apparatus of the present inventive concept, illustrating the hair cutting apparatus on a cutting surface and in the grasp of the user's hand.
The drawing figures do not limit the present inventive concept to the specific examples disclosed and described herein. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present inventive concept.
The following detailed description of the present inventive concept references the accompanying drawings that illustrate specific examples of the present inventive concept. The examples are intended to describe aspects of the present inventive concept in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the present inventive concept. Other combinations of, variations on, and relationships between the elements disclosed may be utilized without departing from the scope of the present inventive concept. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the present inventive concept is defined only by the appended claim, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
In this description, references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” mean that the feature or features being referred to are included in at least one embodiment of the technology. Separate references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and are also not mutually exclusive unless so stated and/or except as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. For example, a feature, structure, act, etc. described in one embodiment may also be included in other embodiments, but is not necessarily included. Thus, the present technology can include a variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein.
Turning to the drawings and particularly
To achieve an ergonomic and generally convex shape for ease of grasp by the user, the gripping surface 20A is shaped similarly to the exterior surface of a half-sphere, as illustrated in
The apex 24 enables the user to apply pressure to the housing 10 to manipulate the hair cutting apparatus 1 during operation. The housing 10 also has a knob 25 protruding upward from the gripping surface 20A, the knob 25 being near a center of the gripping surface 20A. The finger hole 22 is sized and shaped to at least partially receive one of the fingers of the user through the finger hole 22, which extends at least partially and preferably entirely through the knob 25. The user may place one finger in the finger hole 22 through a side, or pinch the finger hole 22 with two or more fingers entering from both sides of the finger hole 22, to improve the user's grasp on the hair cutting apparatus 1. It is foreseen that the knob 25 may at varying positions on the hair cutting apparatus 1 and its housing 10, for example along the periphery or bottommost edge of the housing 10, without deviating from the spirit of the present inventive concept.
Referring now to
The first shearing blade 30 is positioned between the second shearing blade 40 and the base 60. During operation, the first shearing blade 30 of this embodiment is driven by the motor 50 having end flanges 52, 53 connected by a drive shaft 54 that traverses through a motor housing 56. When the motor 50 operates to move the drive shaft 54, the drive shaft oscillates and the end flanges 52, 53 push and/or pull respective sides 33, 35 of the first shearing blade 30 in opposite directions to generate an oscillating movement of the first shearing blade 30. The motor 50 of
The first shearing blade 30 is pressed against the second shearing blade 40 by tension springs 70 secured to the board 62 and extending downward toward the first shearing blade 30. The tension springs 70 may be adjusted to vary the amount of pressure placed on the first shearing blade 30 to press it against the second shearing blade 40, thus controlling the relative ability of the hair cutting apparatus 1 to cut difficult hair and the friction created by movement of the first shearing blade 30 over the second shearing blade 40.
The first shearing blade 30 of the embodiment of
Referring now to
The second shearing blade 140 is secured to the base 160 by securing means, such as rigid or semi-rigid poles, which are secured to the board 160 and which extend through the center of the first shearing blade 130 and are secured to the second shearing blade 140. It is foreseen that the second shearing blade may be secured to the housing and/or base in varying embodiments by different means, such as by poles of varying numerosity and shape which may or may not pass through the body of the first shearing blade, without deviating from the present inventive concept.
The first shearing blade 130 further comprises an internal circumference 137 having gear teeth facing the center of the first shearing blade 130. The first shearing blade 130 is driven by the motor 150 via a motor gear 138. The motor 150 drives rotation of a drive shaft 154, and the drive shaft 154 is secured to the motor gear 138. The motor gear 138 has gear teeth facing outward along the motor gear's 138 outer circumference, and the motor gear's 138 gear teeth engage the gear teeth of the internal circumference 137 to drive rotation of the first shearing blade 130.
Several support gears 139 are also in contact with the internal circumference 137 to minimize side to side movement of the first shearing blade 130 and maintain contact between the motor gear 138 and internal circumference 137. The support gears 139 have outward-facing gear teeth along their outer circumferences which engage the gear teeth of the internal circumference 137. The support gears 139 are rotatably mounted on rigid poles or other supporting means, and the supporting means are fixed to the second shearing blade 140. The three support gears 139 illustrated in
Two tension springs 170 press the first shearing blade 130 toward the second shearing blade 140. The tension springs 170 are fixed to the board 162, and extend downward to contact the first shearing blade 130 between the first cutting edge 132 and internal circumference 137. The embodiment of
Referring to
Referring now to
The hair cutting apparatus 101 may, of course, be easily removed from the cutting surface by lifting along the z-axis in the positive direction and/or by utilizing the finger hole 122. The gripping surface may further include a surrounding surface 120B of the cavity of the knob 125. The surrounding surface 120B allows greater versatility of physical manipulation by the user, because the user may place a finger through the finger hole 122 and place pressure on the surrounding surface 120B to, for example, lift the hair cutting apparatus 101 from the cutting surface with reduced squeezing pressure on the gripping surface 120A.
These and other uses of, and modifications to, the present inventive concept will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading this disclosure. For example, it is foreseen that the shearing blades may include more than two cutting edges, and the hair cutting apparatus 1 may be configured to cut hair in more than two directions, without deviating from the present inventive concept.
Having now described the features, discoveries, and principles of the present inventive concept, the manner in which the present inventive concept is constructed and used, the characteristics of the construction, and advantageous, new and useful results obtained; the new and useful structures, devices, elements, arrangements, parts and combinations, are set forth in the appended clams.
It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the present inventive concept herein described, and all statements of the scope of the present inventive concept which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall there between.
