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Patent Searching and Data


Title:
HAIR TRIMMER
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2014/088496
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
A trimmer head (1) for cutting superfluous hair growth, such as nose hair, wherein the trimmer head has an outer fixed dome-shaped cutting head (5) provided with slits (18), and a cutting body (6) with internal blades (14) which are adapted to make contact with the inside of the cutting head (5) by means of spring force and wherein said cutting body (6) and hence said blades (14) are rotatably journalled at an outer end (4) of a sleeve (2), said sleeve (2) further accommodating a motor shaft (8) that can be rotated inside said sleeve, wherein the sleeve (2) with the motor shaft (8) are adapted to be connected, at an inner end (3), to a drive unit, and wherein the motor shaft (8) at its outer end is connected to the cutting body (6), whereby said motor shaft (8) is brought by the drive unit to perform a rotary motion that influences said cutting body (6) and internal blades (14) to perform an oscillating rotary motion around a symmetry axis (13), common to the cutting head (5) and the cutting body (6), such that the trimmer head (1) cuts hairs that penetrate into said slits (18).

Inventors:
STENQUIST ROGER (SE)
Application Number:
PCT/SE2013/051430
Publication Date:
June 12, 2014
Filing Date:
December 02, 2013
Export Citation:
Click for automatic bibliography generation   Help
Assignee:
STENQUIST ROGER (SE)
International Classes:
B26B19/12; A61C17/26; B26B19/16
Domestic Patent References:
WO2010101983A12010-09-10
Foreign References:
CN201931478U2011-08-17
EP1747858A22007-01-31
US20040068873A12004-04-15
US20060005854A12006-01-12
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
LUNDMARK, Jan-Erik (Rimforsa, SE)
Download PDF:
Claims:
CLAIMS

1. A trimmer head (1) for cutting superfluous hair growth, such as nose hair,

characterized in that it comprises:

an external fixed dome-shaped cutting head (5) provided with slits (18),

- a cutting body (6) with internal blades (14) which are designed to make contact with the inside of the cutting head (5) by spring force,

said cutting body (6) and hence said blades (14) are rotatably journalled at an outer end (4) of a sleeve (2),

said sleeve (2) houses a motor shaft (8) that can be rotated inside said sleeve, the sleeve (2) with the motor shaft (8) are designed to be connected, at an inner end (3), to a drive unit,

- the motor shaft (8) is connected, at its outer end, to the cutting body (6),

said motor shaft (8) is brought by the drive unit to perform a rotary motion which influences said cutting body (6) and internal blades (14) to carry out an oscillating rotary motion around a symmetry axis (13) common to the cutting head (5) and the cutting body (6), whereby the trimmer head (1) cuts hairs that penetrate into said slits (18).

2. The trimmer head (1) according to claim 1, wherein said motor shaft (8) at its outer end has a pin (12) which is eccentrically placed in relation to the longitudinal axis (9) of the sleeve (2) and which is forced by the drive unit to carry out an eccentric circular rotary motion.

3. The trimmer head (1) according to claim 2, wherein said cutting head (5) and said cutting body (6) are arranged, with their common symmetry axis (13), essentially perpendicularly in relation to the longitudinal axis (9) of said sleeve (2).

4. The trimmer head (1) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said cutting body (6), in a lower part, comprises an elongated opening (16) intended to receive said pin (12), whereby said rotation of the pin (12) generates said oscillating rotary motion of the cutting body (6) and its internal blades (14) around said symmetry axis (13) common to the cutting head (5) and the cutting body (6). The trimmer head (1) according to claim 1, wherein said cutting head (5) is shaped as a dome-shaped shell with slits (18) which extend along said shell and which connect the outer side of the cutting head (5) with a cavity on its inside.

The trimmer head (1) according to claim 5, wherein said shell consists of a thin metal, for example of stainless steel.

The trimmer head (1) according to claim 1, wherein the motor shaft (8) has a centrally located hole (1 1) which is capable of receiving a rotating drive shaft of a drive unit to which the trimmer head (1) is connected.

The trimmer head (1) according to claim 1, wherein the cutting body (6) is made of a plastic.

The trimmer head (1) according to claim 1, wherein said spring force is achieved by means of a spring element (19).

Description:
HAIR TRIMMER

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a device that may be used for cutting nose hair or other superfluous hair growth.

[0002] There are currently numerous different types of trimmers on the market for cutting or tearing off nose hair or other superfluous hair growth, such as, for example, ear hair. Most known such trimmers consist of devices in which a drive motor and a cutting or clipping unit are integrated with each other. Further, these cutting or clipping units are arranged essentially along the longitudinal axis of the device, which involves a risk of a clipping unit being inserted too far into, for example, a nostril or an ear when trimming hair, hence causing internal injuries. [0003] A known device for trimming nose hair is disclosed in the Japanese publication

JPH09- 154626. The trimmer according to this publication has an external essentially cylindrical cutting head. Inside the cutting head, internal blades are arranged to be rotated against the external cutting head around a longitudinal symmetry axis that is common to both the cutting head and the internal blades. The cutting head is provided with longitudinal slits which are able to receive nose hair. In this way, the nose hairs penetrating through the slits can be cut when the internal blades, which are resiliently arranged towards the inside of the cutting head, rotate and function as knives which cut off the hairs at the slits in the cutting head. The rotation of the internal blades is caused by a drive motor in a drive unit with which the cutting unit is integrated.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0004] The present invention relates to a trimmer, preferably intended for

cutting/clipping nose hair. The trimmer is designed as a cutting module that may be connected to a drive unit with a motor. The cutting unit is designed to be able to be used also for drive units for motor-driven toothbrushes. Such toothbrushes have a drive unit to which brush modules are connected. These brush modules are usually driven by a shaft that rotates around a longitudinal axis of the drive unit. The inventive cutting module is arranged to be driven by means of such a rotating shaft of a drive unit. [0005] A cutting head for cutting hair is further arranged essentially perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the drive unit. One reason that the cutting head is designed in this way is that a user, for example when cutting nose hairs, does not risk having the cutting head too far into a nostril.

[0006] An additional aspect of the invention is that the trimmer is preferably made as a module, hereinafter called a trimmer head, and may be mounted in a simple and fast manner to a drive unit of the same kind as is used for modules in the form of toothbrush heads with brushes for brushing teeth. In this way, toothbrush heads, or trimmer heads for cutting, for example, nose hairs, may be alternately mounted on the drive unit and be used for the same drive unit.

[0007] According to one aspect of the invention, a device is presented which has the characteristic features according to the device specified in claim 1.

[0008] Further embodiments of the invention will be presented in the dependent claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of a trimmer head for a hair clipper according to the inventive aspect, where the trimmer head is illustrated by means of an exploded view with internal details made visible.

Fig. 2 shows a trimmer head according to Figure 1 assembled into a complete module Fig. 3 shows the trimmer head mounted on a drive unit. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0009] In the following, a number of embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings show only schematically the principle of the invention and do not claim to show any proportions between different elements thereof according to scale.

[0010] The trimmer head 1 according to the invention is shown in an exploded view in Figure 1 , that is, the details building up the trimmer head 1 are shown detached. The trimmer head 1 has a stem in the form of a sleeve 2 which supports the other parts of the invention. These other parts are connected to the sleeve 2 in the manner described below. The sleeve 2 has an inner end 3, by which is meant an end by which the sleeve is connected to a drive unit M. An outer end 4 of the sleeve has an opening, to which a cutting head 5 and a cutting body 6 are arranged. The opening at the outer end of the sleeve 2 is situated at an end surface of a hollow cylindrical body 7 which may be shaped as an integral part of the sleeve 2 or which may constitute a separate part connected and fixed to the sleeve 2.

[001 1 ] Apart from the area occupied by the body 7, the sleeve 2 is preferably cylindrical externally or has a conical character.

[0012] A motor shaft 8 is journalled inside the sleeve 2 along the longitudinal central axis 9 thereof in such a way that the motor shaft 8 may rotate around said central axis 9. The motor shaft 8 is kept inside the sleeve 2 by means of a locking sleeve 10. At its inner end, the motor shaft 8 has a centrally located hole 1 1 capable of receiving a rotating drive shaft of a drive unit, to which the trimmer head 1 is connected. At its outer end the motor shaft 8 is provided with a pin 12 which is eccentrically placed in relation to said longitudinal central axis 9 of the motor shaft 8. Thus, when the motor shaft 8 is rotated by the drive unit, the pin 12 will be rotated along a circular path around the central axis 9 of the motor shaft 8.

[0013] The body 7 belonging to the sleeve 2, which body has a cylindrical cross section -at least in its inner cavity - has a symmetry axis 13. The body 7 is transversely positioned in relation to the central axis 9 of the sleeve 2. Thus, the symmetry axis 13 of the body 7 forms an angle relative to the central axis 9 of the sleeve 2, where said angle preferably is in the order of magnitude of 90 degrees, but which could be an angle within the interval 70 to 1 10 degrees (with the angle calculated on the inside of the trimmer head 1).

[0014] In the circular opening of the body 7 at the outer end 4 of the sleeve 2, the cutting body 6 is journalled to allow it to rotate around the symmetry axis 13 of the body 7. At its upper part, the cutting body 6 is equipped with internal blades 14. Further, at its lower part the cutting body 6 is designed with an associated drive member 15 which is inserted into the body 7. The drive member 15 has a downwardly-directed cylindrical shell with a rectangular opening 16. The drive member 15 is inserted into the body 7 in such a way that the

rectangular opening 16 of the cylindrical shell faces the motor shaft 8 and, inside itself, receives the pin 12 of the motor shaft 8 when the motor shaft 8 is fully inserted into the sleeve 2. When the motor shaft 8 is rotated by a drive unit such that the pin 12 is rotated in its eccentric path, this will cause the pin 12, during its rotation, to alternately bring the wall of the cylindrical shell at the rectangular opening into a first direction of rotation, and alternately bring the wall of the cylindrical shell into an opposite direction of rotation. The drive unit 15 will thus carry out a reciprocating rotary motion. Consequently, also the whole cutting body 6 with the internal blades 14 will carry out this oscillating rotary motion.

[0015] The cutting head 5 is dome-shaped, which in this context is to be conceived to correspond to the current notion as to the shape of a dome of a building. Thus, a dome resembles a cone, where the generatrices are curved into outward arcs. The dome-shaped cutting head 5 is built up preferably from a thin sheet, in the present embodiment of stainless steel, and thus internally exhibits a cavity, by which the cutting head 5 may be seen as a thin dome-shaped shell. At its lower part the cutting head 5 has a wide circular ring enclosing an opening 17 into said cavity. The circular ring may be snapped around the outer opening 4 of the sleeve 2. Further, the cutting head is made with slits 18 creating a connection between the outside of the cutting head 5 and the cavity on the inside thereof.

[0016] The internal blades 14 are outwardly arc-shaped and are adapted to the shape of the inside of the cutting head 5, which means that the internal blades 14 along their length make contact with the dome-shaped inside of the cutting head 5, that is, with the inside of the dome-shaped shell of the cutting head 5. The number of internal blades 14 is preferably as large as the number of slits 18 and approximately 5 to 10, or as an example 8. When, in operation, the cutting body 6 carries out its oscillating rotary motion, the internal blades 14 will be moved back and forth relative to a slit 18 in the cutting head 5. This brings about a clipping movement between the edges in the internal blades 14 where these pass over the edges in the slits 18 of the cutting head 5. Further, below the cutting body 6, between said body and the inner wall of the sleeve 2, a compressive spring element 19 is arranged. The purpose of this spring element is to press the cutting body 6 and hence the internal blades 14 against the inside of the cutting head 5. In Figure 1 the spring element 19 is exemplified as a compressing coil spring. At the lower part of the cutting head 5, there are holes (not shown), preferably circular, which connect with internally radially extending emptying drains in the cutting body 6. Via these drains, cut-off hair is drained out of the cutting head. [0017] A trimmer head assembled and ready for use is shown in Figure 2.

[0018] In use, the trimmer head 1 is applied with its sleeve 2 on a drive unit M, as described above (see Fig. 3). When the drive unit is activated, the trimmer head may be moved across a hair-covered region, for example inside a nostril. In this process, hair will penetrate the slits 18 in the cutting head 5. When the internal blades 14 of the cutting body sweep back and forth during its oscillating rotary motion over the slits 18 inside the cutting head 5, the hairs which have penetrated the slits 18 will be cut off between the edges of the slits 18 and the edges of the internal blades 14. One advantage of the described device is that hairs are cut at both directions of rotation of the cutting body 6, whereby the two side edges of the internal blades 14 alternately cut against either of the edges of the slits 18. This extends the life of the cutting edges of both the internal blades 14 and the edges of the slits 18. A further advantage is that the internal blades 14 will be self-grinding in that said blades are held with a certain pressure by means of the spring element 19 against the cutting head 5 upon rotation of the internal blades 14. The innovative solution with an oscillating rotation of the cutting body 6 is made possible by the described design of the rotating motion of the output shaft of the drive shaft into an oscillating rotary motion at the connection between the pin 12 on the motor shaft 8 and the cutting body 6. [0019] The cutting body 6 is suitably made of a stiff plastic material.