The present invention relates to a hairstyling device, and in particular a motorized hair roller winder comprising heating means integrated into the winder for said hair roller.
Motorized hair roller winders are well known by those skilled in the art. Examples include documents U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,398, U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,762, U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,583 and US 2005/0199257 disclosing motorized hair roller winders in different forms.
Furthermore, various heating means for hair rollers are also well known by those skilled in the art, as shown by documents US 2005/0000954, U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,355, WO 2011/015874 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,184. In these cases, the hair rollers are heated in a separate device by conduction, convection or induction before being applied on a motorized winder to be used for winding a lock of hair.
Document US 2005/0123286A1 discloses a hair dryer with a rotary brush. The rotary brush is not designed to be removed from the device once the hair lock is wound around it. It therefore does not disclose a hair roller winder for hair rollers designed to remain in the user's hair. It consequently does not involve a hair roller winder within the meaning of the present invention.
The independent management of the heating of the hair rollers and of the motorized winding thereof is simple in particular because there is no risk of overheating the winding motor, but the primary drawbacks of this approach lie in excessively quick cooling of the hair rollers, due to their handling before winding of the hair lock, and the lack of temperature control during application of the hair roller on the user's head.
The present invention aims to overcome the drawbacks of the state of the art, and in particular to combine motorized winding means for hair rollers and heating means for those same hair rollers within a same device so as to allow the hair roller to be heated up and/or kept at temperature until it is freed from its rotation drum.
The present invention discloses a motorized hair roller winder, comprising a handle and a rotary drum driven by a motor allowing, during use, to wind a lock of hair around said hair roller previously fixed on the winder, characterized in that said winder comprises integrated heating means allowing to heat said hair roller until said hair roller is removed from the rotary drum.
The preferred embodiments of the invention comprise at least one, or any suitable combination, of the following features:
The present invention also discloses a method for winding a lock of hair around a hair roller using the hair roller winder according to the invention, comprising the following steps:
The present invention lastly discloses a hair styling kit comprising a hair roller winder according to the invention and a set of hair rollers.
The invention is amply illustrated in the 16 figures of the description using numerical references. Like all electrical hair processing devices, the hair roller winder 1 according to the present invention comprises a power cable 6 and an On/Off switch 5 that may optionally be associated with increasing heating and/or blowing levels.
The motorized hair roller winder 1 according to the present invention combines the functions of heating the hair roller and motorized winding. To that end, it comprises heating means 19 well known by those skilled in the art, such as hot air generated using a fan or turbine and a heating resistor, conduction heating through a heating core 26 within the rotary drum 2, or an element allowing induction heating using a coil 14. The latter two types of heating require the presence of an electronic management unit 15, 25 in the handle 4 of the winder 1.
The hair rollers 9 used must be adapted to the heating means used. Thus, for hot-air heating means 19, hair rollers will be used comprising hot air exhaust openings, whereas for conduction heating means 19 using a heating core 26 or an induction coil 14, “closed” hair rollers 9 will rather be used, like those illustrated in
The main difficulty in combining these two functions within a same device is the bulk of the various elements, which must be reduced as much as possible so that the device maintains a manageable size.
The advantage of positioning means 19 for heating the hair rollers directly within the winder is that there is no interruption in the heating of the roller 9. During winding of the hair lock around the hair roller 9, the latter continues to be heated by the heating means (hot air, conduction or induction) coming from the rotary drum 2 and only ceases to be heated once released (unlocked) from the rotary drum 2.
The method for winding a hair lock around a hair roller 9 using the winder 1 according to the invention begins by adapting or locking a hair roller on the winding drum 2. The lock 12 of the hair roller 9 is located on the rotary drum 2. This gesture is illustrated in
When a new hair roller 9 is fitted on the rotary drum 2, it is also possible to automatically activate the heating means 19 of the hair roller 9 using an activating microswitch 11 located on the rotary drum 2. The activating microswitch 11 may also be combined with a temperature probe (not shown) allowing to give the signal to turn off the heating means 19 beyond a defined temperature threshold. This allows to control the risk of subjecting hair to an excessively high temperature.
Depending on the equipment chosen for the device, and therefore on the space available in the handle 4, the motor rotating the driving drum may be located in the handle 4 or in the rotary drum 2 itself. The configuration where the driving motor 16 is located within the rotary drum 2 is outlined in
Different diameters of hair rollers 9 may be applied on the rotary drum 2, the inner diameter of the hair roller 9 nevertheless being invariable so as to be able to be adapted on the rotary drum 2, the diameter of which is invariable.
Different means 10 also exist for fastening the hair lock on the hair roller 9. Non-limiting examples of these fastening means 10 are shown in
The hair roller winder according to the present invention may also comprise an ion generator 17. Such an ion generator may be particularly advantageous for placing hair rollers on dry hair. This alternative will be preferred with a hot air flow heating means, as it allows to blow the ions directly on the hair roller.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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11166674.9 | May 2011 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/EP2012/058157 | 5/3/2012 | WO | 00 | 11/14/2013 |