The present invention refers to improved scissors, in particular for hairstyling.

The art proposes numerous scissors arrangements which, as known, is a manual tool aimed to cut various types of materials and is typically composed of two half-scissors which can rotate around a fixed rotation pin, each of which being typically composed of a cutting portion with cutting profile and an opposite gripping portion: the effots is therefor provided through the mechanical action exerted by a user on the gripping portion, usually composed of two rings, in one of which the thumb is inserted, while the other contains one or more of the fingers of a same hand.

For parcicolar applications, such as for example hairstyling, scissors have been devised having specific features aimed to a professional use by hairdressers and barbers for cutting hair and beards. For example, from a metallurgic point of view, lately scissors have been proposed with steel blades comprising small amounts of cobalt, which however are not yet capable of providing an optimum compromise between hardness and ductility, above all for a specific use like the required one in the field of hairstyling.

Alternatively, the art proposes scissors having cutting portions made of traditional metals, such as stainless steel, in which the cutting profiles are made as hard metal inserts, to be included, connected or welded onto their respective cuttting portions, consequently making such scissors more complex to be fabricated.

Moreover, the blades of traditional scissors are made slightly curved, in order to improbe their cutting and, since such shape would make their grinding more complex, since the grinding wheel should follow a constantly different profile, the cuarvaute itself takes care of providing a self- sharpening effect for the blades.

Moreover, in order to make their use smoother for extended period, some scissors have rotation pints with arrangements which reduce their revolving friction. Such known arrangements substantially provide for:

the use of bushings (sometimes improperly called "bearings") which appear as fixed elements made of a low-friction material, such as, for example, nylon or Delrin®;

the use of one or more ball bearings in which, however, the necessary resistance offered by the blades lame is provided by an elastic element, typically a cup-spring, coaxially inserted with the rotation pin, cinsequently making such scissors relatively more complex to be fabricated.

Moreover, when each half-scissors comprise cutting portion and gripping portion made of different materials, for example metallic materials, very often the resulting scissors have problems of insufficient balancing, which can often be obtained with difficulty due to the possible operating and mechanical incompatibility of the materials which could hypothetically be used to obtain an ootimum result.

Therefore, object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems, by providing improved scissors: ^' in which at least the cutting portions are integrally made in a single piece made of hard metal, ^; extending the working life and improving the performances of such scissors, requiring in parallel less maintenance activities with respect t.o prior art scissors.

Another object of the present invention is providing improved scissors equipped with a rotation joint comprising actual roller bearings in order to make the use of such scissors even smoother also for extended periods.

Moreover, an object is providing improved scissors in which the rotation joint lacks any elastic element to obtain the resistance offered by the cutting portions, making the structure simpler and more slender.

Another object of the present invention is providing improved scissors equipped with gripping portions obtained integrally in a single piece and in a single metal, preferably titanium, to make such scissors optimally balanced.

Moreover, a/i object of the present invention is providing improved scissors in which the grippping portions are connected to the respective cutting portions through a bayonet-type joint, making such connection more efficient and reliable.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description, are obtained with improved scissors as claimed in claim 1. Preferred embodiments and nontrivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of: the dependent claims.

It is intended that all enclosed claims are an integral part of the present description.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the enclosed claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a side view of a preferred embodiment of the improved scissors according to the present invention in a closed position;

Figure 2 shows an exploded perspective view of the improved scissors of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a detailed view of some components of the improved scissors according to the present invention;

Figures 4a and 4b show detailed views of other components of the improved scissors according to the present invention respectively in a disassembled and an assembled position;

Figure 5 shows an enlarged view of the detail contained in box A of Figure 4b; and

Figure 6 shows an exploded side view of still another component of the improved scissors according to the present invention.

Therefore, with reference to the Figures, it is possible to note that improved scissors 1 according to the present invention comprise a pair of half-scissors la, lb operatively joined by at least one rotation joint 2 adapted to allow a mutual rotation movement of such half-scissors around a rotation axis X-X passing through such rotation joint 2, each of such half-scissors la, lb comprising at least one respective cutting portion 3a, 3b equipped with at least one cutting profile 5a, 5b and at least one respective gripping portion 7a, 7b, each of which is connected to a corresponding cutting portion 3a, 3b.

Moreover, the cutting portion 3a, 3b can comprise a respective shank 9a, 9b for connecting to a corresponding gripping portion 7a, 7b and a respective slit 11a, lib, substantially circular, adapted to house such rotation joint 2. Preferably, according to the prior art, such gripping portion 7a, 7b comprises at least one annular portion 71a, 71b inside which one or more fingers of a user's hand can be inserted.

In particular, such cutting portion 3a, 3b is integrally made in a single piece of a metallic material, such metallic material advantageously being at least one hard metal: preferably, such hard metal comprises tungsten carbide with cobalt as binder.

Through extended experimental selection activities, the Applicant has discovered how, in order to obtain a surprising compromise between ductility and hardness of such hard metal with respect to what has been proposed or suggested by the prior art, above all for a use in the field of hairstyling, a first amount Q1 in weight of such cobalt is included between 10% and 15% in weight and a second amount Q2 in weight of such tungsten carbide is included between 85% and 90% in weight, such amounts Q1 and Q2 being independently determined within the above mentioned ranges so that Q1 + Q2 = 100%.

Still more preferably, such first amount Q1 is substantially equal to 15% in weight. It is also possible to provide that such hard metal can comprise a third amount Q3 of chromium carbide substantially equal to 0.75% in weight, such amounts Ql, Q2, Q3 being independently determined inside the above mentioned ranges so that Ql + Q2 + Q3 = 100%.

It can be noted, always advantageously, how the cutting profile 5a, 5b made of such hard metal does not in practice requie any further sharpening operation, even after numerous uses by a user and, consequently and contrary to what is required in prior art scissors blades, the cutting portions 3a, 3b and their related cutting profiles 5a, 5b of the scissors 1 according to the present invention can be made substantially planar, therefore without any curvature having self-sharpening functions.

Preferably, the rotation joint 2 is interposed between the cutting profiles 5a, 5b and the gripping portions 7a, 7b in such a way as to obtain the traditional operating kinematism as first-order double lever of the scissors.

Advantageously, the rotation joint 2 is composed of a rotation pin passing through such slits 11a, lib and composed of at least one male connecting pin 21, of at least one corresponding female connecting pin 23 and of at least one pair of opposed radial ball bearings 25a, 25b. In particular, the male connecting pin 21 is adapted to be axially connected to the female connecting pin 23 to close as package the radial ball bearings 25a, 25b against their respective slits 11a, lib: for such purpose, each of such radial ball bearings 25a, 25b is preferably equipped with at least one respective perimeter abutment edge 26a, 26b adapted to externally abut onto the corresponding perimeter edge of the respective slit 11a, 11b. The male connecting pin 21 is then equipped with at least one axial connecting portion 27, for example through engagement, gluing and/or screwing, in a corresponding axial connection seat 29 of the female connecting pin 23.

It can therefore be noted how, contrary to some prior art scissors, in the scissors 1 according to the present invention:

the used bearing is an actual revolving bearing and not a simple bushing;

no elastic element is necessary, for example of the cup-spring type, to obtain the necessary resistance offered by the cutting portions 3a, 3b, since this resistance is guaranteed by the thickness of the cutting portions 3a, 3b themselves: in fact, advantageously, the thickness of such cutting portions 3a, 3b is preferably included between 1 mm and 3 m , and more preferably is substantially equal to 1.9 mm.

Due to global balancing issues of the scissors 1 according to the present invention, the gripping portions 7a, 7b are preferably made integrally in a single piece and of a single metal: the Applicant has discovered, through extended experiments and accurate selection activities of the materials, that, in order to obtain an optimum balancing compromise, such metal is advantageously titanium. In fact, it has been discovered how the use of steel ro.ade the scissors 1 excessively heavy, while the use of Ergal© made the scissors 1 excessively unbalanced.

The gripping portion 7a, 7b is therefore preferably integrally made of titanium and, consequently, the coupling with the shank made of tungsten carbide can be problematic, since such materials being nearby and their limit dimensioning can create fissures, cracks or breakages. In order to solve such inconvenience, the gripping portion 7a, ⁷ b comprises a respective connecting end equipped with a related bayonet-type engagement seat 13a, 13b adapted to house a respective shank

9a, 9b.

In particular, such bayonet-type engagement seat 13a, 13b comprises at least one pair of opposed walls 15, each of such walls 15 being slanted by an angle a towards its respective shank 9a, 9b with respect to the plane P orthogonal to the bearing surface S of the shank 9a, 9b of such seat 13a, 13b, such angle a being preferably included between 8° and 12° and still more preferably substantially equal to 10°. Obviously, the connection between the shank 9a, 9b and the respective bayonet-type engagement seat 13a, 13b ooccurs due to the slant of such walls 15 which can also provide a hot driving operation of the shank 9a, 9b into its respective bayonet-type engagement seat 13a, 13b.

The connection between shank 9a, 9b and respective bayonet-type engagement seat 13a, 13b can further be made integral through any means suitable for such purpose, such as, for example, through at least one fastening pin 16 composed of male screw 17a, 17b and respective female screw 19a, 19b, wherein the related male screw 17a, 17b is screwed through suitable through-holes 21 coaxially obtained through the shank 9a, 9b and the corresponding bayonet-type engagement seat 13a, 13b.