Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6386206
-
Patent Number
6,386,206
-
Date Filed
Thursday, March 8, 200124 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, May 14, 200222 years ago
-
Inventors
-
-
Examiners
Agents
- Cha; Steve
- Klauber & Jackson
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 132 223
- 132 224
- 132 225
- 219 222
- 219 225
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
The hair iron includes a pair of arms (12 and 14) opened and closed by a pivot (16), and each arm has a gripping portion (18) and a hair treatment portion (20). The hair treatment portions are provided with respective hair treatment members between which hair is held and pressed to hairstyle the hair. The hair treatment members are of the type of having planar top surfaces (22 and 24), or undulating top surfaces (62 and 64). An image marker of concave and convex images (26, 28, 66 and 68) are provided on the opposing surfaces of the hair treatment members, which are also supported by supporting protrusions (32 and 34) formed on the arms. When the arms are closed, the hair is held between the hair treatment members and part of the hair is also held between the image marker so that an image is imparted with the part of the hair by the pressure and temperature applied to the hair.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hair iron for straight or wave-perming hairs, especially to a hair iron for expressing a predetermined desired image at hair itself, in which the hair iron is used at barbor shops, beauty salons and homes.
2. Description of the Related Arts
A hair iron for perming hair into straight or wave hairdos of the type including a pair of arms or fingers pivotally joined to each other to make an opening and closing movement is known in the art. An example of that type of hair iron, as shown in
FIG. 1
, has a pair of arms joined by a pivot
1
at their one ends to enable closing and opening movements according to appliance and release of the gripping force to the arms. The first and second arms
2
and
3
are provided with forming plates
5
and
6
, respectively. Opposing surfaces of the forming plates have planar or corrugated surfaces which match each other. At least one of the forming plates
5
and
6
is connected to a heater
4
to heat the plates electrically. A desired hairstyle is accomplished by pulling down little by little the hair iron pressing the arms after holding hair between the forming plates
5
and
6
. At this time, what state of the hair is attained is dependent on how the hair comes into contact with the forming plates
5
and
6
between which the hair is grasped, because hair, when heated, will conform to the shape of the plates on which the hair is held for a certain period of time, as is well-known.
The conventional hair irons of the type as examplarily illustrated in the above are able to make hair curled, waved, or straightened, but there have been no arts or hair irons for providing decorative figures of a character, pattern, or design to the hair itself in a region-wise manner. Therefore, hairdressing accessories have been often employed after treating the hair by using the conventional hair irons. Such hair dressing accessories are separately attached to the hair, not expressed on the very hair itself as decorative designs.
In addition, with the conventional hair irons in which the forming plates
5
and
6
approach and leave with each other by the opening and closing movement of the arms around a shaft such as a pivot pin so as to hold therebetween and treat the hair, contact about the end portions of the forming plates
5
and
6
takes place without the even surface-to-surface contact of the forming plates
5
and
6
over the entire opposed surfaces thereof so that the large portions of surfaces of the forming plates remain without contact with each other. Uneven contact between the forming plates leads to the poor gripping of the hair so as to result in a bad hairdressing state.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hair iron having an image marker capable of expressing an image of a character, pattern, or predetermined design by forming an embossed-intaglioed or concave-convex portion on the very hair itself at a desired portion in the hair.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hair iron having support protrusions which cause a seesaw movement of hair treatment members to allow the hair treatment members provided to each arm to be in a close and even surface-to-surface contact when the arms are closed so that the gripping and treatment of hair is attained effectively.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a hair iron able to apply various types of hair styles by employing twined hair treatment members for holding and treating the hair which are attachable and releasable to a pair of arms or another pair of hair treatment members installed in the corresponding arms, respectively.
According to the present invention, a hair iron comprises: a gripping portion; twined hair treatment members designed to be heated up for pressing and treating hair therebetween; and an image marker of a concave and convex type provided on opposing surfaces of said hair treatment members for imparting an image with the hair by holding and pressing the hair between said hair treatment members when said hair treatment members approach each other.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a side view of a conventional example of a hair iron.
FIG. 2
is a perspective view of a hair iron according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3
is a side view of the hair iron with a partially sectional view of hair treatment portions in FIG.
2
.
FIG. 4
is a partially enlarged sectional view of the hair treatment portions in FIG.
3
.
FIG. 5
is a sectional view taken along line A—A in
FIG. 3
in which
FIG. 5A
shows the hair iron in an opening position and
FIG. 5B
shows the hair iron in a closing position.
FIG. 6
is a side view of a hair iron with a partially sectional view of hair treatment portions, according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7
is a sectional view taken along line B—B in
FIG. 6
in which
FIG. 7A
shows the hair iron in an opening position and
FIG. 7B
shows the hair iron in a closing position.
FIG. 8
illustrates an image formed on the user's hair using the hair iron of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
With reference to
FIGS. 2 through 5
, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. A hair iron
10
includes a pair of arms
12
and
14
which approach and leave through the opening and closing movements of the arms
12
and
14
around a pivot
16
serving as a shaft. The hair iron
10
also includes a gripping portion
18
, which is placed near the pivot
16
to grip the hair iron
10
when using, and a hair treatment portion
20
which is placed away from the pivot
16
to hold and treat hair.
The hair treatment portion
20
is provided to one end portion of each arm
12
,
14
and has larger surface area than that of the gripping portion
18
. The hair treatment portion
20
takes preferably a generally rectangular shape. Each hair treatment portion
20
of the arms
12
and
14
is provided with a hair treatment member
22
,
24
which has a heater
30
housed therein. With the opposed surfaces of the hair treatment members
22
and
24
, a convex image marker
26
and a concave image marker
28
are provided respectively so that the convex and concave image markers
26
and
28
constitute an image marker IM.
The image marker IM is able to take various types of image such as a character, pattern, or design which is imparted with the hair. Namely, when a pair of arms
12
and
14
are closed, the hair treatment members
22
and
24
approach to each other so that the convex and concave image markers
26
and
28
are also matched each other. At this time, a tress of hair is held between the hair treatment members
22
and
24
and heated by the temperature from the heater
30
so that the hair tress is permed. During this process, an image I of various types such as a heart (refer to
FIGS. 1 and 8
) is imparted with the hair tress which is placed between the convex and concave image markers
26
and
28
of the hair treatment members
22
and
24
.
The arms
12
and
14
are provided with supporting protrusions
32
and
34
, respectively, at about the middle in a longitudinal direction of the hair treatment members
22
and
24
to support the members
22
and
24
. Preferably, the members
22
and
24
are supported by a pair of support protrusions
34
and
34
a
as especially shown in FIG.
4
. In addition, the hair treatment members
22
and
24
are also supported at their bottom surfaces
36
by resilient restoring members,
40
and
42
, respectively, which are provided with the respective arms
12
and
14
. Rails
46
and
48
are formed extending along the longitudinal axes of the respective arms
12
and
14
. The rails
46
and
48
are provided with both inner ends of the respective arms
12
and
14
in such a manner that wings
38
and
38
a
each extending from either sides of each hair treatment member
22
,
24
are placed on the respective rails
46
and
48
so as to allow the hair treatment members
22
and
24
to make a seesaw movement. To accommodate the seesaw movement of the hair treatment members
22
and
24
, the width W of each rail
46
,
48
is spacious enough to receive the respective wings
38
and
38
a.
Therefore, especially referring to
FIGS. 4 and 5
, when the arms
12
and
14
are opened, the front edges of the hair treatment members
22
and
24
are kept upheaved by the respective resilient restoring members
40
and
42
with the corresponding supporting protrusions
32
and
34
as the supporters therefor. On the contrary, when the arms
12
and
14
are closed, the hair treatment members
22
and
24
come into contact with each other at their opposed leading ends, and the following increasing force of gripping more stronger than the elastic force of the resilient restoring members
40
and
42
is applied to allow the hair treatment members
22
and
24
to bring a seesaw movement using the respective supporting protrusions
32
and
34
as the supporters for the members
22
and
24
so that in the hair treatment members
22
and
24
, the leading ends fall while the rear ends rise. As a result, the opposed surfaces of the hair treatment members
22
and
24
come into even contact. Accordingly, as shown in
FIG. 5B
, the hair
50
is evenly and closely held between the hair treatment members
22
and
24
in all directions of front, rear, left and right so as to get a fine treatment of the hair. When the pressing force applied to the arms
12
and
14
is released, the hair treatment members
22
and
24
return to their initial positions by the resilient restoring members
40
and
42
.
A pair of guide projections formed in the respective arms
12
and
14
of the hair iron
10
serve as a guide means not to be put out of joint with the opening and closing of the arms
12
and
14
. Each free end of the guide projections
44
and
44
a
comes into contact with each other at their ends when the arms
12
and
14
are placed at their most opened positions and comes into slide contact with each other with the opening and closing of the arms
12
and
14
. The hair iron
10
is also provided with an on-off switch
52
and a display lamp
54
for confirming whether the switch
52
is turned on. A power supply cord
30
provides electric power to the hair iron
10
in order to heat the heater
30
.
FIGS. 6 and 7A
and
7
B show another embodiment of the hair iron
10
according to the present invention and like numerals are given to like elements as in the first embodiment. The hair iron
10
includes a pair of arms
12
and
14
joined by a pivot
16
to be opened and closed, and gripping portions
18
and hair treatment portions
20
, both being provided with the respective arms
12
and
14
. Hair treatment portions
20
are provided with the respective planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
each having a top planar surface, and in turn, undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
with opposed undulating surfaces, respectively, are placed on the corresponding planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
. Each planar hair treatment member
58
,
60
is provided with a heater
30
and is supported by a supporting protrusion
32
,
34
formed in the respective arms
12
,
14
at about the middle in a longitudinal direction thereof. The planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
are supported at their bottom surfaces by the resilient restoring members
40
and
42
, respectively. Wings
38
and
38
a
each extending from either sides of each hair treatment member
58
,
60
are placed on the respective rails
46
and
48
elongated along the longitudinal axes of the respective arms
12
and
14
in such a manner that the hair treatment members
58
and
60
make a seesaw movement using the supporting protrusions
32
and
34
as their levers. The respective widths of the rails
46
and
48
are spacious enough to make a seesaw movement with the wings
38
and
38
a
retained therein.
Each of the planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
includes a top planar surface and two rails
70
and
74
each elongated along either sides of the top planar surface in a longitudinal direction thereof. Each leading end of the rails
70
and
74
extends vertically to be connected to the respective wings
38
and
38
a
. The rails
46
and
48
in the respective arms
12
and
14
are engaged slidably and detachably to the respective planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
by the corresponding wings
38
and
38
a
. Heaters
30
are arranged to provide electric power to the planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
. The planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
may have convex and concave image markers opposed to each other and formed on their top planar surfaces.
Undulating surfaces are provided on the opposing surfaces of the undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
and, in turn, an image marker IM of concave and convex images
66
and
68
is provided with the undulating surfaces in such a way that the concave and convex images
66
and
68
face each other so as to match when the arms
12
and
14
are closed. Therefore, when the arms
12
and
14
are closed, the undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
approach and not only the undulating surfaces but also the concave and convex images
66
and
68
match each other so as to allow for the hair to be held between the undulating surfaces and images
66
and
68
. The undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
are detachably engaged with the respective planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
in such a manner that a pair of joining bars
72
and
76
are formed on the bottom of each undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
along the longitudinal direction thereof relative to the rails
70
and
74
of the planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
, and the joining bars
72
and
76
are slidably seated on the respective rails
70
and
74
and releasably locked by a locker (not shown).
That the undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
are detachably joined to the planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
allows various types of hair to be treated without preparing separate hair irons. Namely, the planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
are suitable for straight, thick hair while the undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
are suitable for frizzled, thin and soft hair. The wave height and pitch of the undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
can be sized to be adaptable to various types of hair.
In operation, the hair treatment members
22
and
24
,
58
and
60
, or/and
62
and
64
are heated to its desired temperature. Then hair is placed between the hair treatment members and the hair iron is closed to hold and press the hair. Next, the hair iron
10
is slowly shifted from the hair root side toward the hair tip side. At this time, the planar hair treatment members
58
and
60
are suitable for straight hair and the undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
are preferable for frizzled hair. However, even for the straight hair, the undulating hair treatment members
62
and
64
can also be used. When treating the frizzled hair using the hair iron of the present invention, holding of the hair between the hair treatment members and shifting of the hair iron from the hair root to the hair tip may be repeated until the frizzled hair becomes straight enough.
As the arms
12
and
14
approach each other, the hair is held between the hair treatment members
22
,
24
,
58
,
60
,
62
and
64
, and with the increase of pressure against the arms
12
and
14
, the hair treatment members make a seesaw movement using the supporting protrusions
32
and
34
as their levers so that the hair is evenly held between the hair treatment members.
With the hair iron of the present invention, it is possible to impart an image of a character, figure or design with the desired part of the hair by holding the hair between the hair treatment members
22
,
24
,
62
or
64
, which are provided with the image marker IM, and then by pressing the hair for a certain period of time with the gripping pressure of the arms
12
and
14
. During this process, that part of the hair placed and pressed and heated between the concave and convex images
26
,
28
,
66
and
68
is imparted in a region-wise manner with a heart as shown in FIG.
8
. When deforming the image I formed in the hair
50
, the steps of gripping the hair with the imparted image between the hair treatment members
22
,
24
,
62
,
64
and then slowly shifting the hair iron toward the tip side are repeated.
The invention has been described in detail in connection with a preferred embodiment, various modifications, however, may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of this invention defined in the claims. For example, in the preferred embodiments of the present invention the arms
12
and
14
are opened and closed by the pivot
16
which joins the arms
12
and
14
together at their one-sided ends. To the contrary, the arms
12
and
14
can be movably joined together at their middle position by, for example, a pin, and the arms are crossed each other and hingedly moved using the pin as a lever like scissors. The image marker of the present invention can also be applied to this modification.
Furthermore, one of the arms may be cylindrical while the other may be a clip type rotatably connected to the cylindrical arm, in which hair is held between the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical arm and the clip arm according to the rotatable upward-downward movement of the clip arm. The image marker of the present invention can also be applied to this modification to this invention.
Claims
- 1. A hair iron comprising:a gripping portion; at least two hair treatment members designed to be heated up for pressing and treating hair therebetween; and an image marker having a first image marker and a second image marker provided on opposing surfaces of said hair treatment members for imparting an image with the hair by holding and pressing the hair between said hair treatment members when said hair treatment members approach each other; wherein said hair treatment members comprise a pair of planar hair treatment members having planar top opposed surfaces and a pair of undulating hair treatment members having undulating top opposed surfaces, wherein said undulating hair treatment members are detachably joined to the respective planar hair treatment members.
- 2. The hair iron of claim 1, wherein said opposing surfaces of said hair treatment members are planar.
- 3. The hair iron of claim 1, wherein said hair treatment members comprise undulating surfaces provided on opposing surfaces thereof so that when said hair treatment members hold the hair, not only the first image marker and the second image marker but also said undulating surfaces are matched each other so as to treat the hair.
- 4. A hair iron comprising:a pair of arms joined together by a pivot to be able to open and close said arms, and each having a gripping portion disposed near said pivot; a pair of hair treatment members disposed away from said pivot for treating hair by holding and pressing the hair according to the opening and closing of said arms; a heating means for heating at least one of said hair treatment members; and a first and second markers provided on opposing surfaces of said hair treatment members for imparting an image with the hair, the image marker being matched when said arms are closed; wherein said hair treatment members comprise a pair of planar hair treatment members having planar top opposed surfaces and a pair of undulating hair treatment members having undulating top opposed surfaces, wherein said undulating hair treatment members are detachably joined to the respective planar hair treatment members.
- 5. The hair iron of claim 4, wherein said opposing surfaces of said hair treatment members are planar.
- 6. The hair iron of claim 4, wherein said hair treatment members comprise undulating surfaces provided on opposing surfaces thereof so that when said hair treatment members hold the hair, not only the first image and second image of said image marker but also said undulating surfaces are matched each other so as to treat the hair.
- 7. The hair iron of claim 4, wherein a hair iron comprising:a pair of arms joined together by a pivot to be able to open and close said arms, and each having a gripping portion disposed near said pivot; a pair of hair treament members disposed away from said pivot for treating hair by holding and pressing the hair according to the opening and closing of said arms; a heating means for heating at lest one of said hair treatment members; and a concave and convex first and second image markers provided on opposing surfaces of said hair treatment members for imparting an image with the hair, the image marker being matched when said arms are closed; wherein said hair treatment members comprise a pair of planar hair treatment members having planar top opposed surfaces and a pair of undulating hair treatment members having undulating top opposed surfaces, wherein said undulating hair treatment members are detachably joined to the respective planar hair treatment members.
- 8. The hair iron of claim 7, wherein said hair treatment members comprise supporting protrusions each supporting the middle of the corresponding hair treatment members so that when said arms are closed, said hair treatment members make a seesaw movement using the respective supporting protrusions as their levers so as to allow said hair treatment members to come into even and close contact with the hair.
- 9. The hair iron of claim 7, wherein said arms further comprise resilient restoring members each provided between the respective arms and hair treatment members so that when said arms are opened, the displacement took place by the seesaw movement when said arms are closed is removed so as to restore the initial position of said hair treatment members.
Priority Claims (2)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
| 2000-11969 |
Mar 2000 |
KR |
|
| 2000-37805 |
Jul 2000 |
KR |
|
US Referenced Citations (9)
