EP1645375A1

EP1645375A1 - Hair clippers

Info

Publication number: EP1645375A1
Application number: EP05356183A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Tae-Jun Oh
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-10-06
Filing date: 2005-10-06
Publication date: 2006-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2025-10-06
Also published as: DE602005001746T2; KR100576168B1; DE602005001746D1; KR20060030613A; EP1645375B1

Abstract

Disclosed is an electric hair clipper in which a movable blade (40) for cutting hair moves in the lateral direction and forward and backward. The clipper includes a driving gear (60) transmitting driving force to a reduction gear (50), a clutch (62) penetrating a shaft assembly (64) of a side of the driving gear, a clutch accommodating part (72) accommodating the clutch and a bushing (63), a pusher accommodating part (74) enabling the pusher (78) to purse the clutch accommodating part so as to provide external force pressing the outer circumference of the clutch, an auxiliary gear (54) installed in the reduction gear and engaged with a gear (82) having an eccentric cam (80), and a pusher (90) assembled to the body (10) by a pin shaft (92) and having one end contacting the eccentric cam and the other end contacting a fixed protrusion (42) installed in the movable blade and moved relative to the one end, thereby moving the movable blade forward and backward.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to electric hair clippers, and more particularly, to an improvement of an electric hair clippers in which a movable blade for cutting hair can move rightward and leftward and forward and backward so that hair cutting efficiency is enhanced.

Description of the Related Art

Electric hair clippers are structured such that a movable blade, which is reciprocated in the lateral direction by a motor installed in a body and cuts hair, is closely installed on the upper side of a comb-shaped fixed blade so that when a power switch is manipulated, the movable blade eccentrically connected to a rotation shaft of the motor closely contacts the upper side of the fixed blade and reciprocates in the lateral direction to cut hair.
In the conventional hair clippers, in order to minutely adjust the length of hair to be cut, an adjusting ring is installed in the outer circumference of the body, a sliding member having a support protruded from the leading end thereof is provided in the body such that the support of the sliding member moves the movable blade forward and backward due to the manipulation of the adjusting ring to minutely adjust the cutting length of hair.
As such, the conventional hair clippers are manually operated. In other words, since the movable blade is selectively moved forward and backward by the sliding member associated with the adjusting ring manipulated by a user, it is difficult to use the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above and/or other problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an electric hair clipper capable of freely adjusting a cutting length of hair to be cut once so that cutting efficiency is enhanced, cutting time is reduced, and it is convenient to use.
In accordance with the present invention, the above and other aspects can be accomplished by the provision of an electric hair clipper including a fixed blade, a movable blade, and a moving device installed to the rear side of the movable blade to move the movable blade forward and backward such that the cutting length of hair is freely adjusted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic view illustrating a conventional hair clipper;
Figure 2 is a plan view of an electric hair clipper according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 3 is a partially sectional view illustrating a major part of the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 4 is a perspective view illustrating a clutch holder of the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figures 5a and 5b are reference views illustrating the assembly of the clutch holder and a clutch of the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 6 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an eccentric cam of the hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and
Figures. 7a to 7d are reference views illustrating the forward and backward movement of a movable blade generated by the eccentric cam of the hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the preferred embodiments of a heat pump air conditioner according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 is a schematic view illustrating a conventional hair clipper, figure 2 is a plan view of an electric hair clipper according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, figure 3 is a partially sectional view illustrating a major part of the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, figure 4 is a perspective view illustrating a clutch holder of the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, figures. 5a and 5b are reference views illustrating the assembly of the clutch holder and a clutch of the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, figure 6 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an eccentric cam of the hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and figures. 7a to 7d are reference views illustrating the forward and backward movement of a movable blade generated by the eccentric cam of the hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in the drawings, like the conventional electric hair clipper, the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a cylindrical body 10 in which a motor 30 and a rechargeable battery are installed, a manipulation switch and a pusher installed in the outer circumference of the body 10, a comb-shaped fixed blade 20 fixed to a front head of the body 10, and a movable blade 40 coupled with and closely contacting the upper side of the fixed blade 20 such that the movable blade 40 is reciprocated in the lateral direction by the motor 40 to cut hair.
However, the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a driving gear 60 of a reduction gear 50 for selectively transmitting driving force to a rotation shaft 31 of the motor 30 installed in the body 10 such that the movable blade 40 is moved forward and backward by the driving gear 60.
At a side of the driving gear 60 of the reduction gear 50, a clutch 62 having a plurality of cut-away portions radially cut away to penetrate a shaft assembly 64 is integrally installed.
The clutch 62 has an outer circumference surrounded by a bushing 63 made of a nonferrous metal and is accommodated in a clutch accommodating part 72 of a clutch holder 70.
The bushing 63 coupled with the outer circumference of the clutch 62 slides on the clutch 62 when the clutch 62 is rotated with the rotation shaft 31.
The clutch accommodating part 72 formed in a side of the clutch holder 70 has an opening formed by cutting away the lower side of the clutch accommodating part 72 such that the clutch accommodating part 72 is temporally contracted inward. Thus, when the clutch accommodating part 72 and the bushing 62 press the outer circumference of the clutch 62 positioned in the clutch accommodating part 72, a shaft assembly 61 of the clutch 62 having the radial cut-away parts purses inward to tighten the outer circumference of the rotation shaft 31.
The shaft assembly 61 installed in the inner circumference of the clutch 62 has a saw tooth-shaped serration, and the rotation shaft 31 installed in the serration has also a saw tooth-shaped serration part 31a having a structure corresponding to the serration.
Thus, when an external force is applied to the clutch 62 supported by the rotation shaft 31, the serrations are engaged with each other so that the clutch 62 rotates within the bushing 63 installed in the outer circumference of the clutch 62 and the driving gear 60, integrally formed with the reduction gear to drive the reduction gear 50 when the clutch 62 rotates together with the rotation shaft 31, also rotates.
Meanwhile, in the opposite side of the clutch holder 70 in which the clutch accommodating part 72 is formed, a wedge-shaped pusher accommodating part 74 is installed to allow a pusher 78 to enter and exit. The pusher 78 is spread out when the pusher 78 is inserted into the pusher accommodating part 74 due to the vertical movement by a user so that the clutch accommodating part 72 purses inward to bite the clutch 62 and rotates together with the rotation shaft 31, and, conversely, when the pusher 78 exits from the pusher accommodating part 74, the clutch accommodating part 72 is spread out so that the external force applied to the clutch 62 is loosened, thereby preventing the clutch accommodating part 72 from rotating together with the rotation shaft 31.
Meanwhile, an auxiliary gear 54 installed to the reduction gear 50 is engaged with a gear 82 provided in an eccentric cam 80, an end of a pusher 90 assembled to the body 10 by a pin shaft 92 contacts the eccentric cam 80, and the other end of the pusher 90 contacts a fixed protrusion 42 installed the movable blade 40 to move the movable blade 40 forward using the pusher 90 moves relative to each other.
The eccentric cam 80 has a lozenge shape and corners 80a of the eccentric cam 80 are flat by a predetermined width such that the pusher 90 relatively moves due to the eccentric cam 80 to continuously push the fixed protrusion 42 of the movable blade for a predetermined period of time.
In the present invention, only when manipulating the pusher 78 inserted into the pusher accommodating part 74 of the clutch holder 70, the clutch 62, and the driving gear 60 rotated together with the rotation shaft 31, and when the pusher 78 is not manipulated, the clutch 62 and the driving gear 60 have no load, that is, stop.
The body 10 includes an indicator 15 for indicating the movement of the movable blade 40 moved forward and backward by the pushed 90 associated with the eccentric cam 80 so that the forward movement of the movable blade is indicated.
Operation of the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is described as follows.
In the electric hair clipper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, when turning the switch on in the charged state, rotational force of the motor 30 is transmitted to the eccentric cam 80 through the rotation shaft 31 so that the movable blade 40 reciprocates in the lateral direction in the state of being supported by the fixed blade 20. Thus, hair is cut at the portions where the movable blade crosses the comb-shaped fixed blade 20.
The electric hair clipper operated as described above can adjust the cutting length of hair with a simple manipulation.
To this end, when the upper side of the pusher 78 is pressed to move the pusher 78 down so that the state depicted in figure 5a is changed to the state depicted in figure 5b, the pusher accommodating part 74 is spread to the sides thereof when the pusher 78 is inserted into the pusher accommodating part 74. At this time, conversely, the clutch accommodating part 72 opposite to the pusher accommodating part 74 contracts inward to press the outer circumference of the clutch 62 and to bite the outer circumference of the rotation shaft 31. Thus, the clutch 62 rotates together with the rotation shaft 31.
Since the clutch 62 includes the saw tooth-shaped serration formed in the shaft assembly 61 and the saw tooth-shaped serration part 31 a corresponding to the serration is formed in the outer circumference of the rotation shaft 31 assembled into the serration, when the external force is applied, the serration part 31 a is engaged with the serration so that the clutch 62 can rotate within the bushing 63. Thus, the driving gear 60 for driving the reduction gear 50 also rotates.
Thus, the driving gear 60 sequentially transmits the driving force to the reduction gear 50, the auxiliary gear 54, and the gear 82 to rotate the eccentric cam 80, whereby the other end of the pusher 90 contacting the eccentric cam 80 exhibits seesaw movement about the pin shaft and repeatedly pushes the fixed protrusion 42 of the movable blade 40.
As such, since the movable blade 40 sequentially moves to the leading end of the fixed blade 20, hair can be cut by a minimum length due to the minimum thickness of the fixed blade 20.
Thus, without several manipulations in the conventional hair clipper, since the pusher is pressed only once to move the movable blade forward and backward and to freely change the forwarded position, hair can be rapidly and effectively cut.
Meanwhile, when a user releases the fixed pusher 78 and retracts the pusher 78 from the pusher accommodating part 74, the external force applied to the clutch accommodating part 72 is also loosened so that the clutch 62 is automatically separated from the rotation shaft 31. Moreover, according to the separation of the clutch 62 from the rotation shaft 31, the driving gear 60 no longer rotates the reduction gear 560 so that the movable blade 40 does not move forward and backward, but stops, that is, is reciprocated in the lateral direction by the motor 30 to cut hair.
As described above, according to the electric hair clipper of the present invention, since the movable blade reciprocates in the lateral direction and moves forward and backward, the cutting efficiency for hair is significantly enhanced. A user can easily cut hair so that cutting time is reduced and the uniform cutting length can be achieved. Moreover, the electric hair clipper of the present invention is easy to manipulate and convenient to use.
Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

An electric hair clipper comprising:
a comb-shaped fixed blade fixed to a head of a body;

a movable blade coupled with and closely contacting the upper side of the fixed blade such that the movable blade is reciprocated in the lateral direction by a motor to cut hair;

a driving gear coupled with a rotation shaft of the motor to selectively transmit driving force to a reduction gear;

a clutch having a plurality of cut-away portions radially cut away to penetrate a shaft assembly installed at a side of the driving gear;

a clutch accommodating part of a clutch holder for accommodating the clutch and a bushing;

a pusher accommodating part, into and from which a pusher is introduced and exited, installed in the other end of the clutch holder to enable the pusher to contract the clutch accommodating part so as to provide an external force pressing the outer circumference of the clutch;

an auxiliary gear installed in the reduction gear and engaged with a gear having an eccentric cam;

a pusher assembled to the body by a pin shaft and having one end contacting the eccentric cam and the other end contacting a fixed protrusion installed in the movable blade and moved relative to the one end, such that the pusher moves the movable blade forward and backward.
The electric hair clipper as set forth in claim 1, wherein the eccentric cam has a lozenge shape and has flat corners with a predetermined width.
The electric hair clipper as set forth in claim 1, wherein a saw tooth-shaped serration is formed in a shaft assembly of the clutch and a saw serration part corresponding to the serration is formed in the outer circumference of the rotation shaft so that the clutch is engaged with the rotation shaft only when the pusher is manipulated to rotate the driving gear.
The electric hair clipper as set forth in claim 1, further comprising an indicator installed in the body to indicate the movement of the movable blade.