GB2080680A - Hairdryer - Google Patents

Abstract

A main operated electrical hairdryer is of the kind which has a housing 11, an electrical heating element 19 within the housing, an electric motor 12 driving a fan 14 to blow air over the heater 19 from an inlet 15 to an outlet 17 from the housing. Cable stowage means is provided remote from the heating element and from the outlet for the conventional mains cable and comprises a bracket or cable clip 31. The stowage means may incorporate an annular groove extending around a narrow part of the housing in the region of the fan 14 and bounded by a larger part of the housing and a rear flange 27. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Hairdryers The invention relates to mains operated electrical hairdryers of the kind having an electric heating element and a motor driven fan arranged to draw air in through an inlet and blow the air over the heating elementto produce a stream of heated air from the outlet for drying hair.

Hairdryers of this kind are normally provided with an electrical cable which is permanently connected into the hairdryer and has to be sufficiently long to allow freedom of movement of the user of the hairdryer while the cable is connected to a fixed mains outlet. Atypical cable length is two to three metres.

It is common practice for users of many mains electrical appliances to wrap the cable round the appliance for convenience of storage or to effectively shorten a long cable when only a short length of cable is needed. In addition, with some electrical appliances such as vacuum cleaners, it is common practice for the manufacturer to provide brackets or the like as cable stowage means. However, with hairdryers, it has not been the practice of manufacturners to encourage users to stow the cable on or around the product. Possibly, this is because the typical hairdryer is a small appliance with a high power heater so that a cable wrapped round the appliance could be damaged by excessive heat.

According to the present invention there is provided a mains operated electrical hairdryer comprising a housing, an electrical heating element and a motor driven fan arranged in the housing to draw in airthrough an inlet in the housing and blowthe air over the heating element to produce a stream of heated air from an outlet in the housing for drying hair, a handle extending from the housing, and cable stowage means comprising a cable stowage bracket on the handle remote from the housing, such that the cable can be wrapped round both the housing and the bracket on the handle.

The use of the bracket on the handle enables the length of cable to be stowed to be accommodated more easily.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of one hairdryerin accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing an alternative hairdryer; and Figure 3 is a similar view showing a further alternative.

In the embodiments about to be described, the interior operative parts of the hairdryer are of no detailed relevance to the invention apart from the positions within the hairdryer housing of the conventional motor, electrical heating element and fan which is driven by the motor to cause air to flow over the heater. For this reason, the interior parts of each hairdryerwill be described only briefly, in sufficient detail to explain the relative positions of the motor, heater and fan.

Figure 1 shows a hairdryer with a short but comparatively large diameter housing 11. The interior of the hairdryer incorporates an electric motor 1.2 which is supported in the housing by means of a sleeve 13, fixed attheforward end of the housing.

This electric motor 12 drives a multi-blade fan 14 which causes a flow of air to be drawn in to an inlet 15 to the hairdryer as indicated by arrow 16 and to be passed round an annular airflow passage to an annular outlet 17 as indicated by arrows 18. An electrical heating element 19 is arranged within the annular air flow path so that as the air passes through the hairdryer it is heated by the electrical heating element.

Controls, not shown in detail, include a switch 21 for turning the electrical motor on or off and a further control 22 which may control the power of the heater andlorthe speed of the motor when in operation.

The controls 21 and 22 are arranged on a handle 23 which projects radially from the housing 11. A mains electrical supply cable 24 is connected permanently into the bottom of handle 23 and is held in position by a cable grip and guide 25.

The diameter of the fan 14 and hence of the part of the housing surrounding the fan, is of smaller diameter than the part of the housing accommodating the motor and heating element, because the swept area of the fan should be similar to the area of the annular flow passage around the motor in the region of the heating element. Behind this reduced diameter part 26 of the housing there is a circumferential flange 27. The reduced diameter portion 26, flange 27 and the large diameter part of the housing together form an annular groove which constitutes cable stowage means. As shown, several turns 28 of the cable 24 are shown wrapped round the groove.

The cable stowage means is arranged at the input side ofthe hairdryerwhere it is remote from the heating element 19 and the outlet 17 for heated air.

For this reason, the cable is stowed in a region of the hairdryer which does not become excessively warm so that the possibility of cable overheating is diminished. The end of the cable remote from the connection to the handle 23 carries a conventional electrical plug connector 29 and this end part of the cable is clipped into a flexible clip 31 arranged near the base of the handle 23 and forming part of the cable guide and grip 25. By clipping the cable into the clip 31, the remainder of the cable is prevented from inadvertantly unwinding from the cable stowage means.

In the absence of the present invention, it is poss iblethatthe hairdryer could be used with part of the cable wrapped carelessly round the housing in such a way that part of the cable lies across the outlet 17.

Heated air from the outlet 17 would then be detrimental to the cable. Alternatively, eitherwhilethe hairdryer is in use or immediately after it has been used, the cable could be wrapped around part of the housing near to the heaterorthe outlet and this part of the housing could have a substantially elevated temperature which would again be detrimental to the cable.

The embodiment shown in Figure 2 differs from that shown in Figure 1 in two essential respects.

Firstly, there is no reduced diameter portion of the housing in the region of the fan. Instead, the housing has a cylindrical outer surface 41. The rear of the housing terminates in an inlet grille 42 which is arranged to have a slightly larger diameter than the cylindrical housing 41. In this embodiment, the cylindrical surface 41 of the housing constitutes a part of the cable stowage means as will be described subsequently.

A second distinction between the embodiment of Figure 2 and that of Figure 1 is the provision in Figure 2 of an additional bracket 43 projecting from the rear of the handle 44. The axiai position of the handle 44 along the housing 41 is towards the front of the housing so that the bracket 43 is generally in line with that part of the housing in the region of the fan 45. The cable stowage means is constituted by the bracket 43 in conjunction with the part of the cylindrical housing surface surrounding the fan 45. Due to the enlarged diameter of the in let grille 42 and the fact that bracket 43 is well behind the heater element 46 and outlet 47, the cable is stowed at a position remote from the heating element and outlet.

The bracket 43 is retractable into a cavity 48 in the handle 44 when not in use.

Figure 3 shows a further altemative. In this example, the motor 51 is mounted on a tubular sleeve 52 extending back from the outlet 53 from the hairdryer.

The heating element 54 surrounds the sleeve 52 and is arranged in an annular airflow path between this sleeve 52 and the housing 55. The fan 56 is arranged behind the motor 51 and close to an inlet 57. A handle 58 extends from the rear part of the housing which incorporates the motor 51 and fan 56. The handle incorporates the usual controls 59. An electrical cable 61 extends out from the bottom front edge of the handle 58 through a cable guide and clamp 62. A cable guide bracket is formed at the bottom of the handle by means of a projection 63 spaced from the cable guide 62 to leave a slot 64 into which the cable can be wound as shown. The position of the handle and particularly of the slot 64 in relation to the housing 55 and the heater, motor and fan within the housing is such that when cable is wrapped around the housing and the slot 64, the cable is remote from the heater 54 and the outlet 53 from the hairdryer. Thus, in this example, the cable stowage means includes a part of the housing surface which becomes effective as cable stowage means due to the position of slot 64 in the handle.

Figure 3 shows an alternative form of cable clip which again forms part of the combined cable guide and clamp 62. In this example, instead of a hook for the cable, there is a longitudinally extending cylin drical sleeve 65 which is open at one side (not shown) to enable the cable to be clipped in to the sleeve.

Claims (5)

1. A mains operated electrical hairdryer compris ing a housing, an electrical heating element and a motor driven fan arranged in the housing to draw in air through an inlet in the housing and blow the air over the heating element to produce a stream of heated air from an outlet in the housing for drying hair, a handle extending from the housing, and cable stowage means comprising a cable stage bracket on the handle remote from the housing, such that the cable can be wrapped round both the housing and the bracket on the handle.

2. A hairdryer as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the bracket is retractable into the handle.

3. A hairdryer as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the heater is downstream of the motor which is in turn downstream of the fan, the handle projects from the housing in the region of the fan or motor, and the cable stowage means incudes a part of the surface of the housing in the region of the fan or motor defining a groove or recess for receiving the cable.

4. A hairdryer as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the bracket on the handle constitutes, or there is provided, a clip by rrbeans of which the free end portion of the cable adiacent an electrical plug can be clipped to hold the cabFein the cable stowage means.

5. A hairdryersubstantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.