A HAIR STYLING APPARATUS WITH HAIR COOLING ARRANGEMENT

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to hair styling apparatus, and more particularly, although not exclusively, to hair styling apparatus having a pair of heated styling heads such as hair clamps, hair curling irons, hair straighteners or like devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many hair styling apparatus, for example, hair clamps, hair tongs and hair straighteners, comprise a pair of heated styling heads which are arranged to cooperatively engage with each other so as to compressively engage tresses of hair upon engagement during use in order to impart a predetermined styling effect to the tresses of hair. Such contact type hair styling apparatus usually comprise a pair of complementarily shaped hair styling heads which are moveable between a hair engaging position at which the styling heads are cooperatively engaged with each other to exert a compressive force on tresses of hair engaged between them to set the hair into a predetermined style, and a hair releasing position at which tresses of hair can be inserted or released. Curling, waving, straightening, etc, are the more commonly known styling varieties, although other rippled or non- rippled styling varieties are also known. To prolong the styling effects, an appropriate level and duration of heat is applied to the hair engaged, since it is known that simultaneous, or near simultaneous, application of heat and pressure to the hair being styling will result in a more efficient and a more long term styling.

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A commonly known contact-type hair styling apparatus is the 'tong'-type hand-held apparatus which comprises a pair of hinged arms having a pair of styling heads at the un-hinged ends of the arms. The pair of styling heads comprise a pair of complementarily shaped and heated styling surfaces which when closed will impart styling shape and pressure on tresses of hair being engaged, and when opened will release the hair from engagement. The styling surfaces may be flat, as in the case of a hair straightener, or complementarily curved, for example concave or convex, in the case of a hair curler, or complementarily waved or rippled if multiple curls are desired.

Another known type of contact hair styling apparatus is 'flute'-shaped which comprises a handle and an elongate styling head extending axially from the handle. The styling head has a metallic shaft which defines a styling curvature and which encloses heating assemblies so that hair can be styled at an elevated temperature. A spring-biased clamping arm, which is hinged to the styling apparatus at near the junction between the handle and the metallic rod, is provided for retaining tresses of hair to be styled on the styling head. The clamping arm is particularly provided to compressively hold the hair during styling. The abovementioned hair styling apparatus are commonly and collectively known as hair clamps.

Although it is known that styling hair at an elevated temperature for an extended period of time is necessary for contact styling, this is however damaging to hair in the long run. Therefore, it is desirable if a hair styling apparatus which offers the benefits of high-temperature styling while alleviating damage to hair due to prolonged high temperature hair treatment can be provided. The present

invention therefore seeks to overcome or at least mitigate shortcomings of known styling apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a hair styling apparatus comprising a styling head portion which is arranged to style hair under heat and compression, a cooling arrangement which is arranged to reduce hair temperature upon exit of the hair from the heated styling head portion, and an air- moving device which is arranged to provide forced ventilation to dissipate heat built up on said cooling arrangement during use.

A styling apparatus comprising such a cooling arrangement enables hair to be cooled relatively rapidly immediately upon exit from the hair styling head portion to mitigate damage to hair while permitting a relative effective and long term styling.

The styling head portion may comprise a pair of oppositely facing hair styling surfaces which is moveable between a hair engaging position and a hair releasing position, said cooling arrangement comprising a pair of oppositely facing cooling surfaces which is arranged such that a said cooling surface is disposed alongside a corresponding said hair styling surface and is moveable together with the corresponding said hair styling surface. The juxtaposition of a cooling surface to a styling surface means hair could enter into a cooling area within a very short time after the hair has been set.

The pair of cooling surfaces may be arranged to compressively engage said hair upon exit of said hair from said hair styling surfaces when the hair styling

surfaces are in the hair engaging position. A compressively held contact-type cooling arrangement would promote more efficient dissipation of adverse residual heat from the hair just styled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be explained in further detail below by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a hair clamp showing a first embodiment of this invention,

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the hair clamp of Figure 1 ,

Figure 3 is a first side view of the hair clamp of Figure 1 ,

Figure 4 is a second side view of the hair clamp of Figure 1 ,

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the hair clamp of Figure 1 ,

Figure 6 is a first perspective view showing the hair clamp of Figure 1 in an opened configuration,

Figure 7 is a perspective view. of Figure 6 when viewed from another side,

Figure 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the hair clamp along line B-B,

Figure 8A shows the hair clamp of Figure 8 in the opened configuration,

Figure 9 is a transversal sectional view of the hair clamp along line A-A,

Figure 10 is an exploded view showing the various components of the hair clamp, and

Figure 11 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a second embodiment of the hair clamp of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to Figures 1-10, a hair clamp 100 comprises a pair of pivotally joined handles 112, 114 each carrying a heated hair styling surface 142, 144 at its distal free end 122, 124. Each styling surface 142,144 comprises a flat and elongate hair contact surface which is heated by a heating element and a heater assembly upon actuation. The hair styling surfaces 142, 144 are correspondingly located and oppositely facing so that, collectively, they define a hair styling head portion.

Each of the handles is moulded of hard or durable plastics which forms part of an elongate moulded housing. The front, distal, portion of the housing defines a hollow compartment on which the styling surface is mounted, while the rear, proximal, portion of the housing defines a handle portion. The pair of handles is pivotally joined at one end and is movable under spring bias about a pivotal joint 164 between an open position, when the handles are most distant from each other, and a closed position, when the handles are in close proximity to each other. The handles are pivotally moveable about the pivotal joint 164 in a plane substantially orthogonal to the pivotal axis, so that engaging force applied to the hair retained between the styling heads upon closure of the handles is also orthogonal to the pivotal axis. By way of a coil spring wound about the pivotal

joint, and with the spring axis parallel to the pivotal axis, spring urge is always applied in a direction to open the handles.

In addition to being a handle portion, the rear housing portion also defines a hollow compartment inside which electrical parts, such as, wires, switches and controller, or other components necessary to operate or control styling operation are accommodated. This hollow, insulated, compartment is sealed with a plastic cover made of the same material by means of detachable fasteners such as screws or bolts. A rotary wheel 162 for changing the temperature setting of the hair styling surfaces is mounted on one side of one of the handles and under the plastic cover, with a portion of the rotary wheel protruding beyond the plastic housing so that a user can change the temperature setting by turning with a finger while holding the hair clamp on one hand. An electrical power cord for supplying operating power to the hair clamp passes through the rear pivoted end of one of the handles and is connected to the various components inside the hollow compartment.

The oppositely facing hair styling surfaces 142, 144 are of a complementary shape and are equidistant from the pivotal axis of the pivotal joint 164. The styling surfaces are arranged such that, upon movement of the handles into the closure configuration, the hair styling surfaces 142, 144 will be driven into cooperative engagement with each other and a hair setting tension will be applied on the tresses of hair retained between the hair styling surfaces. Thus, as a result of the handle closure, tresses of hair trapped between the pair of hair styling surfaces 142, 144 will be compressively engaged or pressed. At the same time, heat is also applied to set the hair into a predetermined styling conforming to the

shape and configuration of the hair styling surfaces. Each of the hair styling surfaces is defined by a metallic or a thermally conductive member made of a thermally conductive substance, and is mounted on the front housing portion with its styling surface protruding above the housing portion. In the present example of a hair straightener, both styling surfaces 142, 144 are flat. A heater or heater assembly is attached to the backside of the metallic member to provide distributed heating to heat up the hair styling surface when the rotary heating switch 162 is turned on. The heater assembly is enclosed within the hollow compartment of the housing and is configured to heat the hair styling surfaces to an appropriate temperature of, for example, between 12O ⁰ C - 200 ⁰ C, since it is known that an elevated temperature is known to provide a reasonably quick and strong hair styling. However, it is also known that heating of hair to such an elevated temperature can be damaging to hair. Studies have shown that heating of hair at an elevated temperature of 180 ⁰ C for more than a few seconds is sufficiently damaging to hair.

To mitigate damage to hair due to residual styling heat, a cooling arrangement comprising a pair of hair cooling surfaces 132, 134 is provided adjacent the styling surfaces to sink or remove residual heat from the just-styled hair immediately upon its exit from the heated styling surfaces. As shown in the Figures, the pair of hair cooling surfaces is laterally adjacent to the pair of hair styling surfaces, and is arranged in an oppositely facing manner to sink or absorb residual heat from the hair immediately after the hair has moved out of heated styling contact with the hair styling surfaces 142,144. Similar to the hair styling surfaces, the cooling surfaces are equidistant from the pivotal axis, albeit laterally offset for a same distance from the corresponding laterally adjacent hair styling

surface. One cooling surface 132, which is adjacent the hair styling surface 142, comprises a polished slab of stone- or rock-like substances, such as marble, granite, mica, ceramics, quartz or the like. Rock-like substances are selected as they have a relatively large heat or thermal mass which could be used to sink heat from tresses of hair quickly and without an appreciable rise in its own temperature. A material with a high thermal mass is characterised by a relatively small temperature change when heat is absorbed by the material. The other cooling surface 134, which is opposite the first cooling surface 132 and adjacent the hair styling surface 144, comprises a pre-shaped perforated metallic plate. The stone slab 132, serving as a heat sink, and the pre-shaped perforated metal plate 134 together form a pair of oppositely facing cooling surfaces which, upon closure of the pair of hair styling surfaces, will operate to compressively engage the hair just styled so as to sink the residual heat.

As is shown more clearly in Figure 10, the cooling surface 132 and the styling surface 142 are carried on an insulated tray 172 which is moulded of plastics and which is mounted on the front housing portion and spans across the hollow compartment defined by the front housing portion. Similarly, the metallic cooling surface 134 and the styling surface 144 are carried on another insulated tray 174 in the same manner. Each of the cooling surfaces is elongate and the length of the cooling surfaces is identical or substantially equal to that of the hair styling surfaces so that all or at least a substantial portion of heated hair emerging from the hair styling surfaces will be engaged by the cooling surfaces. As the heat sinking members are attached to the correspondingly adjacent hair styling surfaces, the heat sinking members will also be closed and opened in

synchronisation respectively with the closing and opening of the hair styling surfaces.

Each of the moulded trays is an integrally formed carrier which defines a first elongate recess for receiving a hair styling surface 142, 144 and a second, parallel, elongate recess laterally adjacent the first recess for carrying a cooling member 136, 138 which respectively defines the cooling surface 132, 134. An insulating wall or divider is formed between a heated hair styling surface and an adjacent cooling surface to mitigate adverse heat flow from the styling surface to the cooling surface. In addition, an elongate air gap is formed on the hair contact side between a cooling member and the corresponding hair styling surface to mitigate adverse thermal interference.

To facilitate efficient heat removal, the cooling surfaces are complementarily shaped so that they will operate to clamp or engage the heated hair under pressure upon closure of the pair of handles to sink the residual heat from the hair. It will be appreciated that a pressurised engagement between the cooling surfaces and the hair ensures good thermal contact and efficient heat transfer from the heated hair to the rock-like heat sink when hair is engaged by the pair of cooling surfaces.

The advantages of the cooling means are two-fold. Firstly, the cooling means helps to lower the hair temperature to below a hair damaging temperature once hair has left the heated hair styling surfaces. Secondly, the cooling performs also serves as a cold shock to the hair just heated and provides better setting.

In order to clear thermal built-up in the cooling members due to continued collection of heat from heated hair, so that the cooling members can continue to operate below a desired working temperature, a pair of motorised fans 152 to operate as an active cooling means for providing forced ventilation to cool the cooling members are provided. As shown in Figures 8 & 9, the motorised fans 152 are mounted inside the hollow compartment intermediate the cooling member 134 and the top of the housing.

The motorised fans are modular DC-fans arranged so that the rotational plane of the blades is substantially parallel to the back plane of the cooling member 134 for effective heat removal. The motorised fans are configured to operate to cool the cooling members 132, 134, especially the marble slab 132 on the other side of the fans when the heater is operating or when the temperature of the cooling members 132, 134 has escalated beyond a pre-determined high level. The plurality of distributed apertures on the cooling surface 134 allows passage of cooling air to move towards the slab cooling member 136. To provide a source of air to the motorised fans, a plurality of air inlet apertures 154 are distributed on the upper side of the housing and immediately above the motorised fans.

Although the pair of cooling members described above comprises a combination of a marble slab and a metal plate, it will be appreciated that both the cooling components may comprise a pair of non-conductive members having a high thermal mass such as the marble slab 132, alternatively, or a pair of conductive members, such as perforated or non-perforated metal plates without loss of generality. Likewise, although a pair of motorised fans have been described in conjunction with the above embodiment, it will be appreciated that a

single fan, or more than a pair of fans can be used. In addition, fans may be provided for either or both of the cooling members.

As an option, a cooling member may be pivotally mounted on the front housing portion so that the cooling member can be flipped in to cool the hair and flipped out to disengage contact from hair. In such a case, a portion of the front housing portion 156 carrying a cooling member is hingedly joined to the front housing portion so that the cooling member can be moved in and out of engagement with hair.

In a second embodiment of a hair clamp 200 as shown in Figure 11 , both cooling members 234 are thermally conductive members which are used in combination with the motorised fans to achieve active cooling. The cooling members 234 are made of a thermally conductive plate such as, for example, aluminium, aluminium alloy, steel or other appropriate substances which are made into appropriate heat sinking surface configurations for more effective heat sinking. Although the heat sinking members of this hair straightener are a planar metal slab, it will be appreciated that the heat sinking members can be shaped in other forms to cater for other styling applications. Modular DC motorised fans 252 are also used to provide forced cooling ventilation.

As an alternative, other active cooling means, such as Peltier elements, can be used as an active cooling means in addition to or as an alternative to the motorised fans.

To operate the hair clamp, power to the heater assembly is firstly turned on. When the surface temperature of the hair styling surface has reached a

prescribed level, for example, as indicated by a visual indicator, a user can open the handles to engage tresses of hair between the hair styling heads and the heat sinking members. During normal styling operation, the heated hair clamp with hair trapped between the styling heads is moved along the length of the hair and towards the free ends of the hair. To utilise the cooling function of the hair clamp, the relative disposition of the heat sinking members and the hair styling heads are such that the hair styling heads are forward of the heat sinking members so that heated hair will be immediately cooled when passing from the heated hair styling surface to the cooling surfaces of the heat sinking members. The handles may be opened to release the hair during styling or when the hair clamp is at the free ends of the hair.

While the present invention has been explained with reference to the examples and/or preferred embodiments described above, it will be appreciated that these are non-limiting examples to assist understanding of the present invention and are not meant to be restrictive. Variations or modifications which are obvious or trivial to persons skilled in the art, as well as improvements made thereon, should be considered as equivalents to the present invention.

Furthermore, while the present invention has been explained by reference to hair straighteners and handheld hair curlers, it should be appreciated that the invention can apply to other hair styling apparatus without loss of generality. More specifically, the hair styling surfaces can be complementarily curved, rippled or waved to suit various styling objectives.