Field of the invention

The invention relates to the field of hair care. More specifically, the invention relates to the field of hair drying apparatus, in particular an apparatus which operates in conjunction with a vacuum generating machine.

Background of the Invention

Hair grooming is a part of the daily grooming practice for many persons. One of the most familiar practices is the hair straightening. Hair straightening is usually done with a standard hair dryer, which blows hot air over damp hair, and straightens the hair with a dedicated brush. However, the use of such hair dryer may cause burns over the head and the ears from the air that is blown out and it can also damage the hair after long use.

Also the use of the brush is cumbersome and causes a great inconvenience to the user which has to handle the hair dryer with one hand and the brush with the second hand.

Having a hair dryer which does not blow the air, such as an apparatus which operates in conjunction with a vacuum generating machine would be highly advantageous, yet safety and operational difficulties arise, whereas hot air enters the vacuum machine, may result with overheating of the vacuum generator/engine of the vacuum machine that may damage it, or may trigger a safety device (if exist) which turns off the vacuum machine, hence preventing the continuous use of the hair dryer or even may not allow any use of it (due to immediate overheating).

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hair drying apparatus for straightening hair, which does not blow hot air out.

It is another object of the invention to provide a hair drying apparatus which performs the desirable hair drying and straightening simultaneously without the need to use a brush together with the hair dryer.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a hair drying apparatus, which utilizes a vacuum generating machine while cooling the exhausted air for ensuring a continuous and safe operation of the hair drier. Summary of the Invention

The present invention relates to a hair drying apparatus, comprising:

a vacuum machine for generating vacuum; and

a hair dryer device having a body defining a hollow tube, comprising: an opening adapted to receive a strand of hair to be dried and straiten simultaneously within an inner space of said hollow tube, upon activating a suction operation of said vacuum machine; a heating unit located within said body and adapted to heat the inner space of said hollow tube, thereby facilitating hair straitening; and a cooling element adapted to cool hot air that enters into said vacuum machine from the inner space said hollow tube.

In an embodiment of the invention, the hair dryer device is detachably connected to the vacuum machine.

In an embodiment of the invention, the body of the hair dryer device further comprising an adaptor at a first end, adapted to be connected to a vacuum tube of the vacuum machine.

In an embodiment of the invention, the body of the hair dryer device comprises a first part to which an inner tube is attached and a second part in which the heating unit is located, wherein said body is adapted to allow air entry from the exterior to the second part.

In an embodiment of the invention, the inner tube comprises air openings through which hot air passes upon heating air by the heating unit in the second part, thereby creating air circulation.

In an embodiment of the invention, the adaptor is a universal adaptor.

In an embodiment of the invention, the adaptor comprises a set of different adaptors configured to be adjusted to different dimensions of vacuum tubes, thereby enabling to couple the hair dryer device to a variety of existing vacuum machines.

In an embodiment of the invention, the hair drying apparatus further comprises a gripping section for allowing a comfortable handling by a user.

In an embodiment of the invention, the heating unit is powered by an internal rechargeable battery or by an external power source. In an embodiment of the invention, the heating unit is a heating coil.

In an embodiment of the invention, the cooling element comprises cooling fins.

In an embodiment of the invention, the cooling element comprises a temperature limiting element which cuts off the power supply to the heating element.

In an embodiment of the invention, the temperature limiting element is a thermocouple.

In an embodiment of the invention, the vacuum machine is integrated within the body of the hair dryer device.

In another aspect, the present invention relates to a hair dryer device, comprising: a body defining a hollow tube; an opening adapted to receive a strand of hair to be dried and straiten simultaneously within an inner space of said hollow tube, upon activating a suction operation of a vacuum machine; a heating unit located within said body and adapted to heat the inner space of said hollow tube, thereby facilitating hair straitening; and a cooling element adapted to cool hot air flowing out of the inner space of said hollow tube into said vacuum machine.

Brief description of the Drawings

Fig. 1A schematically shows a hair dryer device, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. IB schematically shows an inner tube of a hair dryer device of Fig. 1A, according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 schematically shows the air circulation in a hair dryer device with a cooling element, according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 3A schematically illustrates a cooling element having peripheral cooling fins 302, according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 3B schematically shows an adaptor for connecting a hair dryer device to a vacuum machine, according to an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 4 schematically shows a perspective view of a hair dryer device with an operation button of the heating element, according to an embodiment of the invention; and Fig. 5 schematically shows a hair drying apparatus that includes a hair dryer device integrated with a vacuum machine, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed description of the embodiments of the Invention

A hair drying apparatus comprising a hair dryer device which is configured to operate in conjunction with a vacuum generating machine is described herein for simultaneously drying and straitening hair.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the hair dryer comprises a body defining a hollow tube and it can be attached to an external vacuum machine with a hollow tube that is connected to the vacuum machine tube, and an inner tube being attached to the hollow tube of the hair dryer device and an adaptor is connected to the inner tube, through which the tube is connected to the vacuum machine at a first end and it contains an opening from the other end, to which the hair of the user is inserted.

The hair dryer device further comprises a heating unit (e.g., with no need for moving parts or additional parts to prevent hair from getting tangled up with such parts). Once the hair of the user is inserted to the opening and the vacuum machine is activated, the generated vacuum with the heating unit of the hair dryer device straighten the hair of the user without the need to blow out hot air and without causing inconvenience to the user. In addition, the use of the proposed hair drying apparatus does not require any further action after inserting the hair to the opening. Moreover, the use of the proposed hair drying apparatus does not require any further devices such as a brush or the like, hence enabling an easy one handed use of the proposed apparatus.

In an embodiment of the invention the adaptor can be a universal adaptor or it can be a set of different adaptors configured to be adjusted to different dimensions of vacuum tubes. The adaptors may be made of synthetic material such as Polybutylene terephthalate (PTB) and it is connected at the rear part of the hollow tube which is attached to the vacuum tube of the vacuum machine.

Fig. 1A schematically shows a hair dryer device 100, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the body of device 100 comprises an inner shell 110, which can be made of synthetic material, for example: Polybutylene terephthalate (PTB). Fig. IB schematically shows an inner tube 120 which is coupled to the first part 111 of the inner shell 110. The first part 111 of the inner shell 110, which is in a tube shape, is connected to the vacuum machine from its distal end 112 using an adaptor or a set of adaptors for different dimensions of vacuum tubes, such as an adaptor 310 of Fig. 3B. The inner tube 120 comprises air openings 121 at the proximal end 123, which is surrounded by the proximal end 113 of first part 111 (further illustrated in Fig. 2) through which the hair of the user is inserted. A heating element 116 (e.g., a passive heating element without moving parts) is located at the second part 115 of the inner shell. The rear part of the hair dryer is closed with a mesh like component with small holes, which allow air entry from the exterior, heating of the air inside the second part 115 and inserting the hot air through the air openings 121 of the inner tube 120. The air circulation can be seen in Fig. 2.

In an embodiment of the invention the air openings 121 are located at the proximal end and not along the inner tube 120 to avoid ties and messy hair.

In an embodiment of the invention, the heating unit may comprise a heating coil and it can be powered by an internal rechargeable battery or by an external power source, so that upon turning on the hair dryer device (e.g., by an activation switch 401 of Fig. 4) the heating unit is activated. In case hair dryer device 100 is integrated with a vacuum machine (e.g., as shown with respect to Fig. 5), turning on the hair dryer device 100 may also activate the vacuum machine. Alternatively, a separate activation switch can be used to activate the vacuum machine (i.e., a first activation switch is configured to activate the hair dryer device, while a second activation switch is configured to activate the vacuum machine). An integration of a vacuum machine and the hair dryer device 100 refers herein to a hair drying apparatus (e.g., as indicated by numeral 500 in Fig. 5).

Fig. 3A schematically illustrates cooling element 301 having peripheral cooling fins 302, according to an embodiment of the invention, wherein cooling element 301 is connected between the distal end 112 of the first part of device 100 and the vacuum tube of a vacuum machine. The cooling element 301 prevents overheating of the vacuum machine. According to some embodiments of the present invention, cooling element 301 further comprises a thermocouple element 303 which is connected through wires 304 to the power supply circuit of heating element 116, whereas a thermocouple 303 is selected (i.e., with a preset temperature limit) to hold off the power supply to heating element 116 at a predefined temperature, thus providing an independent mechanical safety measure and further adapting the hair dryer device for continuous use with multiple different vacuum machines of different heat limitations. According to an embodiment of the invention, the cooling element 301 can be utilized as an adaptor or be used in addition to an adaptor 310 of Fig. 3B.

Fig. 4 schematically shows a perspective view of device 100, with the opening at the proximal end 113, to which the hair of the user is inserted. Also shown in Fig. 4 is an activation switch 401 of hair dryer device 100, which can be turned on when a user wishes to straighten his hair.

In an embodiment of the invention device 100 comprises a gripping section for allowing a comfortable handling by a user. For example, the gripping section can be provided in form of a handle for easy grip by a user hand.

Fig. 5 schematically shows a hair drying apparatus 500 comprising a hair dryer device 100 integrated with a vacuum machine, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the body of device 100 is adapted to accommodate an integrated vacuum machine 501, thus providing a compact and portable hair drying apparatus, particularly comfortable for personal use. In this embodiment of the present invention the use of an internally adapted cooling element (not shown), such as a variant of cooling element 301 (shown in Fig. 3A) is highly significant given the compact design in which the air heated by heating element 116 (shown in Fig. 1A) flows through a very short distance before entering into vacuum machine 501.

A skilled person of the art will readily recognize multiple different internal designs of device 100, in which such integration is applicable, without departing from the principals of the proposed hair drying apparatus as claimed by the present invention.

Although embodiments of the invention have been described by way of illustration, it will be understood that the invention may be carried out with many variations, modifications, and adaptations, without exceeding the scope of the claims.