EP1596686B1

EP1596686B1 - Hair styling attachment

Info

Publication number: EP1596686B1
Application number: EP04706233A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Wing Kin Chan
Original assignee: Dickson Industrial Co Ltd
Current assignee: Dickson Industrial Co Ltd
Priority date: 2003-01-30
Filing date: 2004-01-29
Publication date: 2008-07-23
Anticipated expiration: 2024-01-29
Also published as: EP1596686A1; WO2004066779A1; DE602004015253D1; CN1764397A; CN2713858Y; ATE401809T1; CN100396208C

Abstract

A hair styling attachment including a main housing (10) and at least a pair of hair treating members (21, 22, 23, 24, 25), the hair treating member includes at least a thermally conductive hair treating surface, the pair of hair treating members being adjacently disposed with the corresponding hair treating surfaces on the pair of adjacent hair treating members generally in compressive contact, the corresponding hair treating surfaces on the pair of adjacent hair treating members being relatively displaceable to form a gap (41, 42, 43, 44) for receiving the hair to be treated, the main housing (10) includes an air inlet and the hair treating surface being communicable with the air inlet.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to hair styling attachments, devices and apparatus and, more particularly, to hair styling attachments, devices and apparatus which operate with a hot or warm air source in the hair styling, setting or treating process. More specifically, although of course not solely limited thereto, this invention relates to attachments, devices and apparatus for hair straightening.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hair style setting attachments, devices and apparatus (collectively "hair formers") are widely used to effect designed or desirable hair styling for personal grooming or other requirements such as theatrical needs. In general, hair formers with the particular hair forming members can form specific designs of hair styling. For example, hair rollers or curlers are used to produce a curly effect on hair and hair straighteners are used to straighten hair which is otherwise curly.
Typically, to straighten hair a hair-dresser holds a comb or brush by one hand, engages the portion of hair to be straightened, imparting straightening tension to that portion of the hair by pulling towards the free end of the hair and then blow hot or warm hair onto that portion of the hair to impart more permanent hair styling setting to that portion of the hair. This requires the service of a hair-dresser and may not be comfortable to the customer because different customers may have different susceptibility to the straightening tension and different levels of straightening tension may be required to treat hair of different qualities.
Furthermore the traditional way of hair straightening requires two separate styling parts, namely, the comb or brush and the hair dryer or hot air blower. Since both hands are required, this may be inconvenient. Hence, it will be highly desirable if there can be provided an improved hair styling attachment, device or apparatus which alleviates the shortcomings associated with the above-mentioned conventional hair styling means and methods. More specifically, it is highly desirable to provide hair styling attachment, device or apparatus with integral means to simultaneously apply heat and tension to the hair for hair straightening.
FR-A-2,785,159 has described a hair brushing accessory comprising a hollow body (2) and a plurality of hair treating members (6, 7) for compressively receiving hair in which strands of hair are styled through elastic squeezing by an adjacent pair of hair treating members, the squeezing action means results frictional engagement between the hair treating members and the hair being engaged along a longitudinal direction. Such frictional engagement also means that an undesirable longitudinal tension will be applied on the scalp of a user during normal use when the accessory is being drawn towards a free end of the strands of hair. Therefore, improvements to known hair styling attachments are desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a hair styling attachment comprising a main housing and at least a pair of adjacently disposed hair treating members, wherein said main housing comprises an air inlet and said hair treating surface being communicable with said air inlet, each said hair treating member comprises an elongate main body having at least one thermally conductive hair treating surface thereon, said pair of hair treating members are in compressive contact to form a gap for receiving the hair to be treated, characterised in that said hair treating member includes a cylindrical main body with a first cylindrical axis, said hair treating member includes at least a cylindrical roller with its cylindrical axis substantially parallel to and off-set from said first cylindrical axis so that at least part of the cylindrical surface of said cylindrical roller is exposed from said cylindrical surface of said cylindrical main body and forming said cylindrical body and from said hair treating surface.
In a preferred embodiment, said thermally conductive hair treating surface is rotatable about an axis which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of said elongate main body of said hair treating member.
Preferably, said hair treating member is displaceable along a direction which is substantially transversal to the longitudinal axis of said elongate main body of said hair treating member to form a gap for hair receiving.
Preferably, said pair of hair treating members are relatively movable against spring urge.
In a preferred embodiment, said roller which is rotatably connected to said elongate main body of said hair treating member, and the axis of said roller is parallel to and offset from the longitudinal axis of said elongate main body of said hair treating member.
Advantageously, said elongate main body has a circular cross-section, and the longitudinal axis of said roller is parallel to and off-set from the longitudinal axis of said elongate main body.
Preferably, the thermally conductive hair treating surfaces of an adjacent pair of said hair treating members directly face each other.
Preferably, said elongate main body comprises a round or dome-shaped headed, and the heads of an adjacent pair of said hair treating members co-operatively form a hair engaging aperture.
Preferably, said main housing includes an upstream end and a downstream end; said hair treating members include a first and a second end with said first end being a free end protruding beyond said downstream end; and said first end of said hair treating member is deflectable and/or displaceable relative to said main housing, characterised in that said corresponding hair treating surfaces are convexly disposed with respect to each other.
Preferably, said hair treating member resembles a finger with a generally cylindrical body.
Preferably, said hair treating member includes a generally elongated and thermally insulated main body mounted with a rotatable metallic surface which forms said hair treating surface.
Preferably, the hair styling attachment also includes a plurality of hair treating members, wherein first and second hair treating surfaces are formed on some of said plurality of hair treating members, and said hair treating surfaces on the same hair treating member are diametrically disposed.
Preferably, the hair styling attachment also includes a plurality of hair treating members, wherein said plurality of hair treating members are linearly disposed.
Preferably, said main housing includes an attachment means for coupling said device to a hot air blower.
According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a hair styling apparatus including a hair styling attachment described herein and a hair blower.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained in further detail below by way of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a preferred embodiment of a hair caring attachment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view along the section line A-A of the attachment of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view along the section line B-B of the attachment of Fig. 1;
Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view along the section line C-C of the attachment of Fig. 1;
Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view along the section line D-D of the attachment of Fig. 1;
Fig. 5A shows the front and side views of an exemplary hair treating member.
Fig. 6 shows the same cross-sectional view as Fig. 2 but with the hair treating members displaced relative to each other;
Fig. 7 is a sectional view along the line C-C corresponding to Fig. 6;
Fig. 8 illustrates engagement of hair by a pair of adjacent hair treating members; and
Fig. 9 illustrates the displacement of one of the hair treating member the hair is engaged between the left-most pair of the hair treating members.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the Figures, the hair styling device which is a hair styling attachment 1 for the present example includes a main housing 10 and a plurality of hair treating members 21-25. The main housing 10 includes a generally frusto-conical body with an upstream end 12, a downstream end 13 and a circumferential wall 14 interconnecting the upstream end and the downstream end. The downstream end of the main body 10 includes a top member 15 on which a sub-assembly including the plurality of the hair treating members 21-25 and a mounting base 26 is attached. The upstream end 16 of the main housing includes an air-inlet aperture and coupling means for attaching to a hot air blower such as a hair dryer. The coupling means includes a collar member 16 which extends generally along the axial direction of the frusto-conical main body and is provided with a circumferential flange 17 for, for example, latching engagement with the nozzle of the hot air blower.
The hair treating member 21-25 includes an elongated main body with a generally circular or rounded cross-section and a thermally conductive hair treating surface (211; 221a; 221b; 231a; 231b; 241a; 241b). The elongated main bodies of the plurality of the hair treating members are generally aligned with their longitudinal axes generally parallel and the corresponding hair treating surfaces in contiguous compressive contact.
In the present example, each of the main bodies of the hair treating members are generally cylindrical with a dome-shaped top or first end with the second end mounted on the base 26 of the main housing. The main bodies are preferably made of a thermally insulated material so as to avoid injuring the scalp of a user, although, of course, a thermally conductive main body can also be used. The dome-shaped first ends of the adjacent pairs of hair treating members co-operate to form a plurality of hair engaging apertures so that the hair treating members are adapted to more conveniently approach and engage the hair to be straightened. At least a roller is mounted with its longitudinal axis off-set from the cylindrical axis of the main body 51-55 of the hair treating member so that part of the curved surface is protruded from the cylindrical surface of the main body 51-55 of the hair treating members exposed to form the hair treating surface. While the rollers have a generally cylindrical body in this example, it will be noted that roller body of other geometry with a longitudinal extending curved surface can be used. For those hair treating members not disposed at the extreme ends i.e., hair treating members 22-24, a pair of rollers (33; 341; 342; 351; 352) are mounted on each of the main bodies 52-54. These rollers are mounted off-set from the cylindrical axis of the main body and are disposed so that the curved cylindrical surfaces of the corresponding cylindrical rollers are slightly pressing against each other under spring bias.
Referring to Figs. 4 and 7-9, the hair treating members 21-25 are mounted on a base housing 26 and are disposed so that the longitudinal axes of the hair treating members are generally parallel to each other with the partially cylindrical hair treating surfaces facing each other and in generally compressive contact. The hair treating members are generally linearly disposed and mounted on a channel formed on the base housing 26. Some of the hair treating members, for example, 21, 22, 24 and 25 are mounted with spring biasing so that they are urged by a lateral urging force along the transversal direction, i.e. the direction which is generally transversal to the axial or longitudinal axis of the cylindrical body, towards their neutral positions.
The hair treating members are disposed so that they can be slightly displaced or deflected by acting against the spring urging force to form a plurality of hair treating gaps 41-44. The channel provides a guide to the deflection or displacement of the movable hair treating members. It will be observed that the hair treating fingers 21-25 generally resemble a collection of parallelly disposed fingers each with a top free end protruding beyond the top member 15 of the main housing 10. The hair treating members 21-25 include a rounded or dome-shaped head 61-65 and the adjacent heads co-operate to form a hair engaging aperture which is convergent towards the downstream end of the main body so that they can gradually approach the hair and easily engage a small bundle of hair between the gaps formed by the adjacent hair treating members. It will be appreciated that the convergent apertures formed between adjacent rounded or dome-shaped heads assist convenient engagement of the desirable portion of hair.
Turning now to the operation of this preferred embodiment, the hair styling attachment 1 is coupled onto the outlet nozzle of a hot hair blower so that hot air is delivered towards the plurality of hair treating members via the upstream end air inlet 12. The circumferential wall 14 of the main body defines an air enclosure so that the air entering the upstream end 12 will travel towards the downstream end 13. When hair treating gaps are formed upon engagement of the hair between the gaps, a portion of the hot air will exit through the base aperture between the adjacent displaced hair treating members and generally travel along the partially cylindrical hair treating surface. This will cause the hair treating surfaces to be heated up and, since the hair is caught under tension, movement of the hair treating members towards the end of the hair by, for example, moving the hair styling device will straighten the hair in a manner similar to ironing the hair by the hair treating surfaces.
It will be appreciated that the present attachment or features of this attachment can be incorporated with a hot air blowing device to form a standalone unit or apparatus for the same hair styling purposes.
While the present invention has been explained by reference to the preferred embodiments described above, it will be appreciated that the embodiments are only illustrated as examples to assist understanding of the present invention and are not meant to be restrictive on its scope. In particular, the scope, ambit and spirit of this invention are meant to include the general principles of this invention as inferred or exemplified by the embodiments described above. More particularly, variations or modifications which are obvious or trivial to persons skilled in the art, as well as improvements made on the basis of the present Invention, should be considered as falling within the scope and boundary of the present invention.
Furthermore, while the present invention has been explained by reference to a hair styling attachment, it should be appreciated that the invention can apply, whether with or without modifications, to other hair styling devices or apparatus incorporating features of the present invention as set out in the attached claims.

Claims

A hair styling attachment (1) comprising a main housing (10) and at least a pair of adjacently disposed hair treating members (21; 22; 23; 24; 25), wherein said main housing (10) comprises an air inlet (12) each said hair treating member comprising an elongate main body (51; 52; 53; 54; 55) having at least one thermally conductive hair treating surface (211; 221a; 221b; 231a; 231b; 241a; 241b) thereon, said hair treating surface being communicable with said air inlet, and said pair of hair treating members being in compressive contact to form a gap for receiving the hair to be treated, characterised in that said hair treating member (21;22;23;24;25) includes a cylindrical main body with a first cylindrical axis, said hair treating member includes at least a cylindrical roller (33;341;342;351;352) with its cylindrical axis substantially parallel to and off-set from said first cylindrical axis so that at least part of the cylindrical surface of said cylindrical roller is exposed from said cylindrical surface of said cylindrical main body and forming said cylindrical body and from said hair treating surface (211; 221a; 221b; 231a; 231b; 241a; 241b).
A hair attachment according to Claim 1, characterised in that said thermally conductive hair treating surface (211; 221a; 221b; 231a; 231b; 241a; 241b) is rotatable about an axis which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of said elongate main body of said hair treating member.
A hair attachment according to Claims 1 or 2, characterised in that said hair treating member (21; 22; 23; 24; 25) is displaceable along a direction which is substantially transversal to the longitudinal axis of said elongate main body of said hair treating member to form a gap for hair receiving.
A hair attachment according to Claim 3, characterised in that said pair of hair treating members (21; 22; 24, 25) are relatively movable against spring urge.
A hair attachment according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that said roller (33; 341; 342; 351; 352) is rotatably connected to said elongate main body of said hair treating member, and the axis of said roller is parallel to and offset from the longitudinal axis of said elongate main body of said hair treating member.
A hair attachment according to any of the preceding Claims, characterised in that said elongate main body (51; 52; 53; 54; 55) has a circular cross section, and the longitudinal axis of said roller is parallel to and off-set from the longitudinal axis of said elongate main body.
A hair attachment according to any of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the thermally conductive hair treating surfaces of an adjacent pair of said hair treating members (21; 22; 23; 24; 25) directly face each other.
A hair styling attachment according to any of the preceding Claims, wherein said elongate main body comprises a round or dome-shaped headed (61; 62; 63; 64; 65), and the heads of an adjacent pair of said hair treating members (21; 22; 23; 24; 25 co-operatively form a hair engaging aperture.
A hair styling attachment according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said main housing (10) includes an upstream end and a downstream end; said hair treating members include a first and a second end with said first end being a free end protruding beyond said downstream end; and said first end of said hair treating member (21;22;23;24;25) is deflectable and/or displaceable relative to said main housing, characterised in that said corresponding hair treating surfaces are convexly disposed with respect to each other.
A hair styling attachment according to claim 9, wherein said hair treating member (21;22;23;24;25) resembles a finger with a generally cylindrical body.
A hair styling attachment according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said hair treating member (21;22;23;24;25) includes a generally elongated and thermally insulated main body mounted with a rotatable metallic surface which forms said hair treating surface (211;221a;221b;231a;231b;241a;241b).
A hair styling attachment according to any of the preceding claims and including a plurality of hair treating members (21;22;23;24;25), wherein first and second hair treating surfaces are formed on some of said plurality of hair treating members, and said hair treating surfaces on the same hair treating member are diametrically disposed.
A hair styling attachment according to any of the preceding claims and including a plurality of hair treating members (21;22;23;24;25), wherein said plurality of hair treating members are linearly disposed.
A hair styling attachment according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said main housing (10) includes an attachment means (17) for coupling said device to a hot air blower.
A hair styling apparatus including a hair styling attachment (1) of any of the preceding claims and a hot air blower.