Patent Application
20250221519
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The disclosure relates to hairbrushes for thick textured hair, and more particularly pertains to a new powered rotary hairbrush used to create curls or a wavy pattern in thick texture hair, such as that commonly found with individuals of African American or Hispanic descent. Traditionally, men and women with thick texture or coarse hair use a technique called “palm rolling” to curl the ends of their hair after it reaches a length of approximately 1.5 inches to 6 inches. This technique involves applying the palm of one's hand to the hair and rubbing in a circular motion to produce a swirl or curl pattern. A more effective approach is to use a curl sponge. A curl sponge is a hairbrush constructed using a spongy material as the working component of the brush as opposed to a typical brush, which is composed of bristles, wire, boar hair or the like. The person uses the hair sponge brush in the same manner as a brush with bristles except the hair is not stroked in a straight pattern, rather it is stroked in a circular pattern designed to form the hair into swirls or curls or waves. Unfortunately, the best results are achieved when the user can control the pressure and pace, as well as utilize a large surface area of contact. In addition, the process can be lengthy, such as anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, and stressful for the user's hands, especially for those with lesser grip strength or other such limitations.
The prior art relates to hairbrushes and curl sponges that must be manually moved in a rotary or circular motion. The prior art, as best understood, does not disclose a powered brush that imparts the rotary or circular movement using rotary brush heads without the need for the user to manually do so.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above in a powered rotary hairbrush generally comprising a housing, brush heads, a rotation arrangement, a power source, and a button. The housing is ergonomically designed to be held by a hand of a user. The housing includes a brush side and a gripping side. The brush heads are positioned partially in the housing at the brush side. Each of the brush heads includes a brush face positioned essentially parallel to the brush side and brush projections projecting out from the brush face. Each of the brush projections is rotatable either individually or in groups. The rotation arrangement is positioned in the housing and designed to impart rotational movement to the brush projections. The power source is positioned in the housing and designed to power the rotation arrangement. The button is positioned on the housing and operatively connected to the power source to permit a user to activate and deactivate the rotation arrangement to permit a user to start and stop styling thick texture hair with the brush projections.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, each of the brush projections 28 has a conical or tubular shape or a combination thereof. In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the brush projections 28 are made of foam, sponge, and/or plastic material. In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the brush heads 14 are made of foam, sponge, and/or plastic material and the brush projections 28 are formed integrally with the brush heads 14. In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the power source 18 includes a rechargeable battery. The housing 12 includes a charging port 30 to permit a user to charge the rechargeable battery. The housing 12 includes an ergonomic knob-style handle 32 detachably connected to the gripping side 24 by an attachment structure 76. In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the housing 12 includes a compartment 34 designed to store a pick 36 or similar handheld hair styling tool and accessible via a slidable cover 38 in the gripping side 24.
In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, as seen in
In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the brush heads 14 include a first brush head 42 and a second brush head 44. The brush projections 28 include a first inner set of brush projections 28 and a first outer set of brush projections 28 positioned at the first brush head 42 with the first inner set of brush projections 28 positioned closer to the center of the first brush head 42 than the first outer set of brush projections 28. The brush projections also include a second inner set of brush projections 28 and a second outer set of brush projections 28 positioned at the second brush head 44 with the second inner set of brush projections 28 positioned closer to the center of the second brush head 44 than the second outer set of brush projections 28. The rotation arrangement 16 is designed to rotate the first inner set of brush projections 28 clockwise and the first outer set of brush projections 28 counterclockwise or vice versa. The rotation arrangement 16 is designed to rotate the second inner set of brush projections 28 clockwise and the second outer set of brush projections 28 counterclockwise or vice versa.
In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, the rotation arrangement 16 includes: a gear motor 46, a first planetary gear arrangement 72, and a second planetary gear arrangement 74. The gear motor 46 is operatively connected to the power source 18. The first planetary gear arrangement 72 includes a first planetary gear 60 that includes first outer gear teeth 64 positioned in meshed rotary engagement with the brush projection axles 58 of each of the first outer set of brush projections 28, and first inner gear teeth 66 positioned in meshed rotary engagement with the brush projection axles 58 of each of the first inner set of brush projections 28. The second planetary gear arrangement 74 includes a second planetary gear 64 that includes second outer gear teeth 68 positioned in meshed rotary engagement with the brush projection axles 58 of each of the second outer set of brush projections 28, and second inner gear teeth 70 positioned in meshed rotary engagement with the brush projection axles 58 of each of the second inner set of brush projections 28. The gear motor 46 is positioned in meshed rotary engagement with the first planetary gear 60 and the second planetary gear 62 to rotate the first planetary gear 60 and the second planetary gear 62 simultaneously and in opposite directions to one another, such that the first inner set of brush projections 28 and the second inner set of brush projections 28 rotate in the same clockwise or counterclockwise direction and the first outer set of brush projections 28 and the second outer set of brush projections 28 rotate in the same clockwise or counterclockwise direction.
In accordance with at least one possible embodiment, a user, such as a hair stylist or the person to be styled, can use the powered rotary hairbrush 10 to create curls or a wavy pattern in thick texture hair. The user first manually holds the housing 12 by the gripping side 24. The user then places the brush heads 14 facing thick texture hair. The user can then power the powered rotary hairbrush 10, either before or after inserting the brush projections 28 into the thick texture hair. The rotation arrangement 16 then rotates each of the brush projections 28, either individually or in groups depending on the design, in a clockwise and/or counterclockwise manner. This starts to create curls or waves with the moving brush projections 28 in a portion of the thick texture hair. The user can then move the powered rotary hairbrush 10 from one portion of the thick texture hair to the next until all desired portions have been styled in a desired manner with curls or a wavy pattern. When finished, the user pushes the button 20 and deactivates the rotation arrangement 16. In this manner, the user can curl or put waves or swirls in the thick texture hair without having to manually move the brush around in a circular or rotary motion, thereby alleviating hand fatigue or stress and facilitating fast, easy, and consistent styling.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
