EP2093028A1

EP2093028A1 - Hair clipper

Info

Publication number: EP2093028A1
Application number: EP09002467A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Satoshi Sobagaki; Yoshinori Masuko
Original assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Co Ltd
Current assignee: Panasonic Electric Works Co Ltd
Priority date: 2008-02-25
Filing date: 2009-02-20
Publication date: 2009-08-26
Also published as: CN101518907A; RU2389601C1; JP2009195608A; JP4538676B2

Abstract

A hair clipper includes a hair clipper body unit (2) and a hair strand suction unit (3). The hair clipper body unit has a driving power source (22) accommodated within a clipper body holding portion (11) of a housing (1) and a blade portion (25) provided in a tip end portion of the clipper body holding portion and operated by the driving power source, the hair clipper body unit being configured to clip hair strands by operating the blade portion. The hair strand suction unit is configured to suck the hair strands clipped by the blade portion of the hair clipper body unit from a suction port (44) of the housing through a suction passage portion (43) under the suction force of a suction mechanism (30) thereof. The clipper body holding portion has a communication portion (50) through which the interior of the clipper body holding portion communicates with the suction passage portion in an air-flowable manner.

Description

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a suction type hair clipper capable of sucking clipped hair strands.

Background of the Invention

As disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2007-105121 , a conventional suction type hair clipper includes: a housing with a clipper body holding portion; a clipper body unit having a driving power source accommodated within the clipper body holding portion of the housing and a blade portion provided at the tip end of the clipper body holding portion and driven by the driving power source, the clipper body unit being configured to clip hair strands by driving the blade portion; and a hair strand suction unit by which the hair strands clipped by the blade portion of the clipper body unit are sucked from a suction mouth provided outside the clipper body holding portion through a suction passage under the suction force of a suction mechanism. This suction type hair clipper is designed to prevent scattering of the clipped hair strands and eventually to reduce onerous hair strand cleaning work.
With the hair clipper mentioned above, however, a tiny gap is defined between the clipper body holding portion and the blade portion to ensure that the clipper body holding portion should not hinder operation of the blade portion. The hair chips clipped by the blade portion are infiltrated into and accumulated in the clipper body holding portion through the gap. For that reason, the task of cleaning the interior of the housing becomes laborious, which deteriorates the ease of maintenance.

Summary of the Invention

In view of the afore-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a hair clipper capable of preventing hair chips from being accumulated within a clipper body holding portion.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hair clipper including: a housing having a clipper body holding portion, a suction port and a suction passage portion; a hair clipper body unit including a driving power source accommodated within the clipper body holding portion and a blade portion provided in a tip end portion of the clipper body holding portion and operated by the driving power source, the hair clipper body unit being configured to clip hair strands by operating the blade portion; and a hair strand suction unit including a suction mechanism for generating a suction force, the hair strand suction unit being configured to suck the hair strands clipped by the blade portion of the hair clipper body unit from the suction port through the suction passage portion under the suction force of the suction mechanism, wherein the clipper body holding portion has a communication portion through which the interior of the clipper body holding portion communicates with the suction passage portion in an air-flowable manner.
Preferably, the communication portion has a slanting portion obliquely extending from the clipper body holding portion to the suction passage portion in the direction of a downstream side of the suction passage portion.
The hair clipper may further include a movable lid provided in one of the clipper body holding portion and the suction passage portion, the movable lid being movable between a closed position in which to close the communication portion and an open position in which to open the communication portion in an air-flowable manner.
The hair clipper may further include a switch for operating at least the suction mechanism and a connection member for operatively interconnecting the movable lid and the switch, the movable lid being configured to be shifted to the open position when the suction mechanism is in operation but to the closed position when the suction mechanism is not in operation.
The communication portion may be provided between the blade portion and the driving power source.
The housing may include a housing body with the clipper body holding portion and a cover member attached to the housing body, the cover member having a concave cross section and a concave surface opposing at least the clipper body holding portion, the clipper body holding portion having a lateral surface, the suction passage portion being defined by the lateral surface of the clipper body holding portion and the concave surface of the cover member.
In accordance with the invention set forth above, it is possible to prevent the hair chips from being accumulated within the clipper body holding portion.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments, given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a hair clipper in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;
Figs. 2A and 2B are plan and side section views showing the hair clipper; and
Figs. 3A and 3B are side section views illustrating operation modes of the hair clipper.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof.
Referring to Fig. 1, a hair clipper of the present embodiment includes an elongated housing 1 that can be held by one hand. The housing 1 includes a housing body 2 extending from a base end to a tip end thereof and protruding toward the front side (downwards in Fig. 1) and a cover member 3 removably attached to the rear side of the housing body 2.
As shown in Figs. 2A and 2B, the housing body 2 includes a flat clipper body holding portion 11 formed near the tip end, a suction mechanism holding portion 12 formed near the base end and an intermediate portion 13 for interconnecting the holding portions 11 and 12 while defining a hair chip collecting cavity portion 13a.
The clipper body holding portion 11 has a pair of motor support portions 21 provided at its base end (at its end near the intermediate portion 13) and at its longitudinal center. A first motor 22 as a driving power source is supported by the motor support portions 21 and is provided with an output shaft 22a protruding toward the tip end of the clipper body holding portion 11. The motor 22 is accommodated within the clipper body holding portion 11 so that the axis of the output shaft 22a can extend along the longitudinal direction of the hair clipper. A cam support portion 23 is formed slightly forwardly of the motor support portion 21 provided at the longitudinal center of the clipper body holding portion 11. A cam mechanism 24 operatively connected to the output shaft 22a of the motor 22 is supported by the cam support portion 23.
A blade mounting portion 25 obliquely opened toward the front side in the tip end direction is formed in the tip end portion of the clipper body holding portion 11. A blade block 26 is removably mounded to the blade mounting portion 25 in such a manner as to cover the opening of the blade mounting portion 25. The blade block 26 includes a flat base portion 26a and a blade portion 26b provided in the base portion 26a to protrude from the tip end of the clipper body holding portion 11. The blade portion 26b has substantially the same size as that of the clipper body holding portion 11 in the transverse direction (in the left- and-right direction in Fig. 2A). The blade portion 26b is installed to obliquely protrude toward the cover member 3. The blade portion 26b opposes the tip end portion of a cover-side lateral wall 11a of the clipper body holding portion 11, with a minute gap left therebetween. The blade portion 26b is connected to the cam mechanism 24 within the clipper body holding portion 11. Rotational movement of the motor 22 is converted to transverse reciprocating movement (movement perpendicular to the paper plane in Fig. 2B) of the blade portion 26b by the cam mechanism 24. In the present embodiment, the clipper body holding portion 11, the first motor 22, the cam mechanism 24 and the blade block 26 constitute a hair clipper body unit.
A suction mechanism 30 including a second motor 31 and a suction fan 32 connected to the output shaft of the second motor 31 is accommodated within the suction mechanism holding portion 12 arranged in the base end portion of the housing body 2. A filter 33 is provided on the tip end surface of the suction mechanism holding portion 12. An exhaust port 34 is formed at the base end of the suction mechanism holding portion 12. If the suction fan 32 is rotated by the operation of the second motor 31, a suction force is generated to suck the air through the filter 33. The air sucked from the filter 33 by the suction fan 32 is discharged through the exhaust port 34.
The cover member 3 covering the clipper body holding portion 11 and the intermediate portion 13 at the rear side of the housing body 2 includes a fixed cover 41 removably attached to the housing body 2 and a slidable cover 42 provided in the tip end portion of the fixed cover 41 for sliding movement in the longitudinal direction. The fixed cover 41 and the slidable cover 42 have an arc-shaped cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction thereof and concave surfaces (inner surfaces) 41a and 42a thereof oppose the clipper body holding portion 11 and the intermediate portion 13.
A suction passage portion 43 is defined by the inner surfaces and the side surfaces of the cover member 3 of the housing body 2. More specifically, the suction passage portion 43 is defined by the concave surfaces 41a and 42a of the fixed cover 41 and the slidable cover 42, the outer surface of the cover-side lateral wall 11a of the clipper body holding portion 11 and the hair chip collecting cavity portion 13a of the intermediate portion 13. The suction passage portion 43 is formed along the longitudinal direction to extend from the tip end portion of the housing 1 to the longitudinal middle portion.
The tip end portion of the slidable cover 42 defines a suction port 44 arranged on the rear side of the blade portion 26b. The suction port 44 is configured to suck in the ambient air present near the blade portion 26b. The hair chips thus sucked in are collected in the space defined by the hair chip collecting cavity portion 13a and the concave surface 41a of the fixed cover 41. The suction mechanism 30, the suction passage portion 43 and the suction port 44 constitute a hair strand suction unit in the present embodiment. The hair chips clipped by the blade portion 26b can be sucked from the suction port 44 through the suction passage portion 43 under the suction force generated by the suction mechanism 30.
As shown in Figs. 1 and 2A, a switch 45 for operating the first and second motors 22 and 31 is provided on one side portion of the housing body 2 in a longitudinally slidable manner. If the switch 45 is slid toward the tip end in the longitudinal direction and is placed in an ON-position, the first and second motors 22 and 31 come into operation. If the switch 45 is slid toward the base end in the longitudinal direction and is placed in an OFF-position, the first and second motors 22 and 31 stop their operation.
In the cover-side lateral wall 11a of the clipper body holding portion 11, there is formed a through-hole 50 that serves as a communication portion through which the interior of the clipper body holding portion 11 communicates with the suction passage portion 43. More specifically, the through-hole 50 has a rectangular shape when seen in a plan view and is formed in the transverse central region of the cover-side lateral wall 11a (see Fig. 2A). The through-hole 50 is formed between the cam support portion 23 and the blade portion 26b so that the space between the blade block 26 and the cover-side lateral wall 11a can communicate with the suction passage portion 43. At the longitudinal opposite ends of the through-hole 50, there are formed slanting portions 50a obliquely extending from the inside to the outside of the clipper body holding portion 11 in the direction of the base end thereof. In other words, the through-hole 50 extends obliquely from the clipper body holding portion 11 to the suction passage portion 43 in the direction of a downstream side of the suction passage portion 43. The respective slanting portions 50a have the same inclination angle.
A movable lid 51 is longitudinally slidably installed inside the cover-side lateral wall 11a of the clipper body holding portion 11. The movable lid 51 is slidable between two positions, i.e., a closed position (see Fig. 3A) in which to close the through-hole 50 and an open position (see Fig. 3B) in which to open the through-hole 50 in an air-flowable manner. The movable lid 51 is connected to the switch 45 through a connection member 52 accommodated within the clipper body holding portion 11. Use of the connection member 52 ensures that the movable lid 51 is slid in the same direction as the sliding direction of the switch 45 and in synchronism with the sliding movement of the switch 45. In other words, if the switch 45 is slid into the ON-position, the movable lid 51 is shifted to the open position. If the switch 45 is slid into the OFF-position, the movable lid 51 is shifted to the closed position.
The operation modes of the hair clipper will be described with reference to Figs. 3A and 3B. The arrows depicted in the suction passage portion 43 in Fig. 3B schematically indicate the air stream generated by the suction force of the suction mechanism 30.
If the switch 45 is slid into the ON-position, the movable lid 51 is shifted to the open position as shown in Fig. 3B. Thus the through-hole 50 gets opened and the first and second motors 22 and 32 come into operation.
This results in operation of the blade portion 26b and rotation of the suction fan 32, thereby forming an air flow path leading from the vicinity of the blade portion 26b into the suction passage portion 43 through the suction port 44. Consequently, most of the hair chips clipped by the blade portion 26b are sucked from the suction port 44 into the suction passage portion 43 and are successively collected at the base end side of the suction passage portion 43.
At this time, the suction force generated by the suction fan 32 creates an air flow path leading from the interior of the clipper body holding portion 11 into the suction passage portion 43 through the through-hole 50. Therefore, the hair chips that have entered the clipper body holding portion 11 through the gap between the blade portion 26b and the clipper body holding portion 11 can be sucked through the through-hole 50 into the suction passage portion 43. Just like the hair chips sucked through the suction port 44, the hair chips sucked through the through-hole 50 are successively collected within the suction passage portion 43. Since the through-hole 50 extends obliquely from the clipper body holding portion 11 to the suction passage portion 43 in the direction of the downstream side of the suction passage portion 43, it is possible to effectively suck the hair chips present within the clipper body holding portion 11 through the through-hole 50.
If the switch 45 is slid to the OFF-position, the movable lid 51 is shifted into the closed position as shown in Fig. 3A to thereby close the through-hole 50. Simultaneously, the first and second motors 22 and 31 stop their operation. This makes it possible to prevent the hair chips present in the suction passage portion 43 from infiltrating into the clipper body holding portion 11 through the through-hole 50.
Next, description will be made on the characterizing advantageous effects of the present invention.

1) With the present embodiment, the through-hole 50 that serves as a communication portion through which the interior of the clipper body holding portion 11 communicates with the suction passage portion 43 is formed in the cover-side lateral wall 11a of the clipper body holding portion 11. Therefore, the hair chips present in the clipper body holding portion 11 can be sucked into the suction passage portion 43 via the through-hole 50. This prevents the hair chips from being accumulated within the clipper body holding portion 11. As a result, it is possible to reduce the maintenance frequency of the clipper body holding portion 11.
2) With the present embodiment, the through-hole 50 has the slanting portions 50a obliquely extending from the clipper body holding portion 11 to the suction passage portion 43 in the direction of the downstream side of the suction passage portion 43. As a result, the air is allowed to smoothly flow from the interior of the clipper body holding portion 11 toward the suction passage portion 43 through the through-hole 50. Therefore, the hair chips entering the clipper body holding portion 11 can be effectively sucked into the suction passage portion 43 through the through-hole 50.
3) With the present embodiment, the movable lid 51 capable of moving between two positions, i.e., the closed position in which to close the through-hole 50 and the open position in which to open the through-hole 50 in an air-flowable manner is provided in one of the clipper body holding portion 11 and the suction passage portion 43. When shifted to the closed position, the movable lid 51 prevents the hair chips present in the suction passage portion 43 from infiltrating into the clipper body holding portion 11 through the through-hole 50.
4) With the present embodiment, the switch 45 for operating the first and second motors 22 and 31 is operatively connected to the movable lid 51 by the connection member 52. The movable lid 51 is configured so that it can be shifted to the open position when the suction mechanism 30 is in operation but to the closed position when the suction mechanism 30 is not in operation. Therefore, the movable lid 51 is shifted to the open position in a state that the suction mechanism 30 is operated to generate a suction force within the suction passage portion 43. This makes it possible to suck the hair chips present in the clipper body holding portion 11 into the suction passage portion 43. When the suction force is not generated, the movable lid 51 is shifted to the closed position. This makes it possible to prevent the hair chips present in the suction passage portion 43 from infiltrating into the clipper body holding portion 11 through the through-hole 50. The movable lid 51 can be shifted with ease by merely operating the switch 45.
5) With the present embodiment, the through-hole 50 is provided between the blade portion 26b and the driving power source. Therefore, the hair chips entering the clipper body holding portion 11 through the gap between the blade portion 26b and the clipper body holding portion 11 can be sucked through the through-hole 50 before they reach the driving power source.
6) With the present embodiment, the housing 1 includes the housing body 2 provided with the clipper body holding portion 11 and the cover member 3 attached to the housing body 2 so that the concave surfaces 41a and 42a thereof can oppose the clipper body holding portion 11. The suction passage portion 43 is defined by the cover-side lateral wall 11a of the clipper body holding portion 11 and the concave surfaces 41a and 42a of the cover member 3. Therefore, the cover member 3 does not hinder formation of the through-hole 50. This makes it easy to form the through-hole 50 in the clipper body holding portion 11.

The embodiment of the present invention may be modified as follows.
In the foregoing embodiment, the through-hole 50 has the slanting portions 50a formed at the longitudinal opposite edges thereof. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. As an alternative example, a single slanting portion 50a may be formed at one of the longitudinal opposite edges of the through-hole 50. As a further alternative, the slanting portions 50a may be omitted and the through-hole 50 may be formed perpendicularly to the suction passage portion 43.
In the foregoing embodiment, the respective slanting portions 50a of the through-hole 50 have the same inclination angle. However, the inclination angles of the slanting portions 50a may differ from each other.
In the foregoing embodiment, the through-hole 50 has a rectangular shape when seen in a plan view and is formed in the transverse central region of the cover-side lateral wall 11a. As an alternative example, the through-hole 50 may have an elliptical shape when seen in a plan view and may be formed over the transverse entire region of the cover-side lateral wall 11a.
Although only one through-hole 50 is formed in the foregoing embodiment, it may be possible to form a plurality of through-holes.
Although the through-hole 50 is formed between the cam support portion 23 and the blade portion 26b in the foregoing embodiment, the present invention is not limited thereto.
Although the movable lid 51 is provided inside the cover-side lateral wall 11a in the foregoing embodiment, it may be provided outside the cover-side lateral wall 11a or in the cover member 3.
In the foregoing embodiment, the movable lid 51 is slidable along the longitudinal direction. As an alternative example, the movable lid 51 may be configured to rotate about one end portion thereof as a rotation axis.
In the foregoing embodiment, the cover member 3 has an arc-shaped cross section. As an alternative example, the cover member 3 may be formed to have a bracket-shaped cross section. Furthermore, the cover member 3 may be formed into a completely tubular shape, instead of the halved tubular shape employed in the foregoing embodiment. In this case, the communication portion includes a through-hole formed in the side wall of the cover member 3 as well as the through-hole 50 of the clipper body holding portion 11.
In the foregoing embodiment, the suction mechanism 30 having a small size is provided within the housing 1. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. As an alternative example, a household air cleaner may be used as the suction mechanism.
While the invention has been shown and described with respect to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modification may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims

A hair clipper, comprising:
a housing having a clipper body holding portion, a suction port and a suction passage portion;

a hair clipper body unit including a driving power source accommodated within the clipper body holding portion and a blade portion provided in a tip end portion of the clipper body holding portion and operated by the driving power source, the hair clipper body unit being configured to clip hair strands by operating the blade portion;

a hair strand suction unit including a suction mechanism for generating a suction force, the hair strand suction unit being configured to suck the hair strands clipped by the blade portion of the hair clipper body unit from the suction port through the suction passage portion under the suction force of the suction mechanism,

wherein the clipper body holding portion has a communication portion through which the interior of the clipper body holding portion communicates with the suction passage portion in an air-flowable manner.
The hair clipper of claim 1, wherein the communication portion has a slanting portion obliquely extending from the clipper body holding portion to the suction passage portion in the direction of a downstream side of the suction passage portion.
The hair clipper of claim 1 or 2, further comprising a movable lid provided in one of the clipper body holding portion and the suction passage portion, the movable lid being movable between a closed position in which to close the communication portion and an open position in which to open the communication portion in an air-flowable manner.
The hair clipper of claim 3, further comprising a switch for operating at least the suction mechanism and a connection member for operatively interconnecting the movable lid and the switch, the movable lid being configured to be shifted to the open position when the suction mechanism is in operation but to the closed position when the suction mechanism is not in operation.
The hair clipper of claim 1, wherein the communication portion is provided between the blade portion and the driving power source.
The hair clipper of claim 1, wherein the housing includes a housing body with the clipper body holding portion and a cover member attached to the housing body, the cover member having a concave cross section and a concave surface opposing at least the clipper body holding portion, the clipper body holding portion having a lateral surface, the suction passage portion being defined by the lateral surface of the clipper body holding portion and the concave surface of the cover member.