[0001] This invention relates to an accessory for a hair styling apparatus, and a hair styling set with such an accessory. [0002] In styling, in particular, curling, of hair, it is usual to heat up the hair by a hair styling apparatus, e.g. an electric hair dryer. Tresses of hair are then wound around respective bristle rollers. Such bristle rollers have bristles which extend generally radially from the surface of a cylindrical roller body, for better engagement with the hair. The bristle rollers are kept in place by clips or the like. When the shape of the tresses of hair is generally fixed, the bristle rollers are rotated to unwind the hair from the rollers. It is found in practice that unwinding of the hair from the rollers is made difficult or at least cumbersome by the bristles.

[0003] It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an accessory for a hair styling apparatus and a hair styling set in which the aforesaid shortcoming is mitigated, or at least to provide a useful alternative to the public.

[0004] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an accessory for a hair styling apparatus, said accessory including an outer wall with at least one hole, an inner cavity, and a bristle-carrying member to which at least one bristle member is attached, wherein said bristle-carrying member is movable relative to said outer wall between a bristle-retracted position and a bristle-extended position, and wherein when said bristle-carrying member is moved from said bristle-retracted position to said bristle-extended position, at least a portion of said bristle member is moved out from said inner cavity through said at least one hole.

[0005] According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hair styling set including a hair styling apparatus with an air outlet, and an accessory for a hair styling apparatus, wherein said accessory is releasably engageable with said hair styling apparatus, wherein said accessory includes an outer wall with at least one hole, an inner cavity, and a bristle-carrying member to which at least one bristle member is attached, wherein said bristle-carrying member is movable relative to said outer wall between a bristle-retracted position and a bristle-extended position, and wherein when said bristle-carrying member is moved from said bristle-retracted position to said bristle-extended position, at least a portion of said bristle member is moved out from said inner cavity through said at least one hole.

[0006] A hair styling set according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of an example only, with reference to the following drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a hair styling set according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the accessory is releasably engaged with an electric hair dryer; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the hair styling set of Fig. 1 in which the accessory is disengaged from the electric hair dryer;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the part encircled in Fig. 1 ; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the part encircled in Fig. 2.

[0007] A longitudinal sectional view of a hair styling set is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in which the hair styling set is generally designated as 10. The hair styling set 10 includes an electric hair dryer 12 and an accessory, which will hereinafter be referred to as a bristle roller 14. The bristle roller 14 is releasably engageable with the electric hair dryer 12. In particular, the bristle roller 14 is shown in Fig. 1 as being engaged with the electric hair dryer 12, and is shown in Fig. 2 as being disengaged from the electric hair dryer 12. [0008] The hair dryer 12 has an electric cable 16 which may be electrically connected with an electricity source for powering the hair dryer 12. Although the hair dryer 12 is generally cylindrical in shape, so as to allow easy rotation in use, it is of course possible that the hair dryer 12 may be of other shapes and configurations. [0009] A motor 18 is electrically connected with the electric cable 16 for receiving electrical power. Upon rotation of the motor 18, a fan 20 attached to the motor 18 is caused to rotate to draw air from the outside environment into the interior of the hair dryer 12. The air is then blown past an electric heating coil 22 and out of the hair dryer 12 through an air outlet 24 of the hair dryer 12.

[0010] Adjacent the air outlet 24 of the hair dryer 12 is a circular wall 26 which is fixed relative to the hair dryer 12. A switch 28 provided on an outside surface of the hair dryer 12 is pivotally linked with a pair of diametrically opposed outer hooks 30 which are fixed relative to each other and a pair of diametrically opposed inner hooks 32 which are fixed 12 074506 relative to each other. Both the outer hooks 30 and inner hooks 32 are adjacent the air outlet 24 of the hair dryer 12. The distance between the pair of outer hooks 30 is longer than the distance between the pair of inner hooks 32. By way of the linking between the switch 28 and the outer hooks 30 and inner hooks 32, pivoting operation (e.g. manually by a user) of the switch 28 will selectively cause the pair of outer hooks 30 and the pair of inner hooks 32 to move simultaneously linearly in the direction indicated by the arrow A, which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the hair dryer 12, or a direction opposite thereto.

[0011] Turning to the bristle roller 14, such is generally cylindrical in shape, with a circular aluminium outer wall 34 formed with a number of holes 36. A front cap 38 is installed at one longitudinal end of the bristle roller 14. An inner cavity 40 is formed between the front cap 38 and the wall 34. A bristle carrier 42 is installed within the inner cavity 40 for movement relative to the outer wall 34. [0012] The bristle earner 42 includes an end piece 44, a central spindle 48, and a retractable spring 46 between the front cap 38 and a first longitudinal end of the central spindle 48. A number of bundles of bristles 50 are attached to the spindle 48. Another longitudinal end of the central spindle 48 is fixedly engaged with the end piece 44. By way of such an arrangement, the end piece 44 is movable within the inner cavity 40 linearly relative to the wall 34 along an axis parallel to a central longitudinal axis L-L (see Fig. 4) of the bristle roller 14 between the inner position shown in Fig. 1 (also called a "bristle-extended position") and the outer position shown in Fig. 2 (also called a "bristle-retracted position"). It can be seen that when the end piece 44 is at the inner position, the end piece 44 is closer to the front cap 38 than when the end piece 44 is at the outer position.

[0013] When the end piece 44 is at the inner position as shown in Fig. 1, the spring 46 is pressed against the front cap 38, and the bundles of bristles 50 are perpendicular to the central longitudinal axis L-L of the bristle roller 14. When the end piece 44 is at the outer position as shown in Fig. 2, the spring 46 is not set against the front cap 38, and the bundles of bristles 50 are inclined relative to the central longitudinal axis L-L of the bristle roller 14 by an acute angle. It can also be seen that, when the end piece 44 is at the outer position as shown in Fig. 2, only a very short portion of each of the bundles of bristles 50 extends through a respective hole 36 of the wall 34 to the outside environment, and when the end piece 44 is at the inner position as shown in Fig. 1 , a longer portion of each of the bundles of bristles 50 extends through a respective hole 36 of the wall 34 to the outside environment. Thus, when the end piece 44 is moved from its outer position to its inner position, at least a portion of each of the bundles of bristle 50 is moved out from the inner cavity 40 through a respective hole 36 to the outside environment. The bristle roller 14 is arranged such that the end piece 44 is biased by the spring 46 to the outer position.

[0014] When the bristle roller 14 is disengaged from the hair dryer 12, as shown in Fig. 4, it is possible to releasably engage the bristle roller 14 with the hair dryer 12 by first moving the bristle roller 14 towards the hair dryer 12 in the direction generally indicated by the arrow B in Fig. 4, until the circular wall 26 of the hair dryer 12 abuts the end piece 44 of the bristle roller 44. The bristle roller 14 is further moved towards the hair dryer 12, against the biasing force of the spring 46, such that the circular wall 26 of the hair dryer 12 moves the end piece 44 further into the inner cavity 40, until each of the outer hooks 30 of the hair dryer 12 is engaged with a respective recess 52 adjacent an air inlet 54 of the bristle roller 14. It can be seen that when the bristle roller 14 is engaged with the hair dryer 12 (as shown in Fig. 3), the end piece 44 is moved to the inner position (i.e. bristle-extended position) in which more length of each of the bundles of bristles 50 extends from the inner cavity 40 through the holes 36 to the outside environment. [0015] It can be seen that, when the bristle roller 14 is engaged with the hair dryer 12, and as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the air outlet 24 of the hair dryer 12 is in a fluid-communicable relationship with the air inlet 54 of the bristle roller 14, which is in turn in a fluid-communicable relationship with the holes 36 of the outer wall 26 via the inner cavity 40. Air (heated or otherwise) from the hair dryer 12 may then be blown through the connection between the hair dryer 12 and the bristle roller 14, into the inner cavity 40 and subsequently out to the outside environment through the holes 36.

[0016] If it is desired to disengage the bristle roller 14 from the hair dryer 12, a user only has to press the switch 28 to move the outer hooks 30 and the inner hooks 32 in the direction indicated by the arrow A in Fig. 2, so as to release the engagement between the outer hooks 30 and the recesses 52 of the bristle roller 14. The bristle roller 14 may then be moved away from the hair dryer 12. Because of the biasing action of the spring 36, the end piece 44 is automatically moved to its outer position (i.e. bristle-retracted position) in which more length of each of the bundles of bristles 50 is within the inner cavity 40, as shown in Fig. 4. N2012/074506

[0017] In operation, the bristle roller 14 is engaged with the hair dryer 12, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. A tress of hair (not shown) is then wound around the roller 14, e.g. by rotating the hair dryer 12 and the bristle roller 14 engaged with it around the tress of hair. The tress of hair is kept in the wound-up position around the bristle roller 14 by the bundles of bristles 50. Heated air from the hair dryer 12 continues to blow onto the tress of hair. When the tress of hair is wound to the desired extent, a clip is fixed onto the tress of hair and the bristle roller 14 to keep the tress of hair in shape. A user may then press the switch 28 to release the engagement between the hair dryer 12 and the bristle roller 14. Although the bundles of bristles 50 would by now be moved to the position as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the tress of hair is still kept wound around the bristle roller 14 by the clip. When the user believes that sufficient time has passed to achieve the necessary styling or curling effect, the clip is removed and the tress of hair is unwound from the bristle roller 14 by rolling the bristle 14 away. As only a shorter portion of each of the bundles of bristles 50 extends from the inner cavity 40 through each of the holes 36 to the outside environment, it is relatively easy to roll the bristle roller 14 away and out from the tress of hair.

[0018] It can be seen that, in this embodiment, the recesses 52 of the bristle roller 14 are adapted to be engaged with the outer hooks 30 adjacent the air outlet 24 of the hair dryer 12. It is envisaged that the hair styling set 10 includes at least a second bristle roller (now shown) which is of a smaller size (e.g. a smaller diameter) with recesses which are releasably engageable with the inner hooks 32 of the hair dryer 12.

[0019] It should be understood that the above only illustrates an example whereby the present invention may be carried out, and that various modifications and/or alterations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0020] It should also be understood that various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in any appropriate sub-combinations.