GB2259007A - Electrically operated hand-held hair-drier - Google Patents

Abstract

An electrically operated hand-held hair-drier (10) with a housing (11) to accommodate a heater, an electric motor to drive an impeller, an inlet grid (13) at one end for indrawn air and an outlet grid (15) at the other end (49) through which heated air can emerge. An air guide nozzle (14) is provided in the form of a diffuser which by way of an articulation member (39) is rotatably connected to said other end (49) of the housing (11) of the hair-drier (10). The articulation member (39) is a one-piece hollow body having an inner end connectable to said other end (49) of the housing (11) of the hair-drier (10) and an outer end connectable to an inner end of the diffuser (30) by catch or snap-action means and has an outer end face preferably angled with respect to an inner end face thereof and opposite side walls (40 and 41) of different lengths so that rotation of the diffuser (14) with respect to the articulation member (39) causes angulation of the diffuser (14) with respect to the hair-drier housing (11). <IMAGE>

Description

ELECTRICALLY OPERATED HAND-HELD HAIR-DRIER The invention relates to an electrically operated hand-held hair-drier.

Such a hair-drier may have a housing to accommodate a heater, an electric motor to drive an impeller, an inlet grid for indrawn air at one end of the housing, an outlet grid through which the heated air can emerge at the other end of the housing and an air guide nozzle in the form of a diffuser associated with said other end of the housing.

Many constructions of such hand-held hair-driers are already known. This is true of both the construction of the electrically operated hair-drier itself and also of the construction of the diffuser which cooperates with it. Such a diffuser can be fitted, for instance pushed, onto the front end of the housing of the hair-drier instead of a shaped member or shaped nozzle. At its outer end, the diameter of which is enlarged compared with the outlet grid, the diffuser may have a plurality of outlet orifices. Such a diffuser is intended to prevent the creation of turbulence in the user's hair which is to be dried.

Instead, when such a diffuser is used the user's hair is dried gently.

German Patent Specification 3 010 344 discloses various constructions of hair-drier of this kind having a housing with a handle and a nozzle.

Disposed on the nozzle is a fit-on part which is made from flexible material, particularly from thin transparent synthetic plastics sheet.

The fit-on part has a funnel shape with one end of small cross-section so that it can be separably connected to the front part of the housing of the hair-drier. To make this possible, the smaller diameter end is provided with a resilient band, like a rubber band, which rests behind a projecting rim of the housing and securely clamps the nozzle. The other end of the fit-on part has a substantially larger cross-section and is provided with a plurality of outlet orifices which are of the same shape as one another. Thje central part of a wall of this fit-on part is connected to the oppositely disposed other part by flexible strips. Air emerging from the outlet grid of the housing of the hairdrier distends the fit-on part. The strips provided grip the wall of the fit-on part while this is happening.The air is able to flow through the outlet orifices in the fit-on part and come into operative contact with the hair being treated. By the use of such a fit-on part, the air stream can be distributed over a relatively large surface so that the hair on a head can be evenly dried. At the same time, there is less risk of the air stream disturbing the styling of the hair.

In addition to such diffusers which are constructed as distensible members, however, there are also other known devices which are of a stable form and made from a substantially rigid material, particularly a synthetic plastics material. Such a construction is known for example from German Utility Model Specification 90 12 021 where the diffuser comprises two parts which can be connected to each other. The front surface of a cover-like outer part of this prior diffuser has a plurality of apertures disposed in groups and of different diameters. One embodiment has all the apertures of any one group having the same diameter.

Common to all the hitherto known constructions of hand-held hair-driers with fit-on diffusers is that the position of the fitted diffuser is fixed in relation to the hair-drier housing to which is it coupled. This means that once the diffuser has been fitted on, it occupies a precisely fixed and invariable position in relation to the housing of the hair-drier. Tests which have been constructed have shown that such a solution has its drawbacks in practice, particularly when it is necessary to dry long hair. The hitherto known constructions of hand-held hair-drier with a diffuser are not easily handled in such cases.

According to the invention there is provided an electrically operated hand-held hair-drier having a housing to accommodate a heater, an electric motor to drive an impeller, an inlet grid for indrawn air at one end of the housing, an outlet grid through which heated air can emerge at the other end of the housing and an air guide nozzle in the form of a diffuser associated with said other end of the housing, the diffuser being rotatably connectable to said other end of the housing by an articulation member.

Such an arrangement can make the diffuser capable of being used in any situation which occurs in practice and accomplish this by simple and inexpensive means.

Preferably the articulation member is a one-piece hollow body of which an inner end is connectable to said other end of the housing and an outer end is connectable to an inner end of the diffuser by catch or snap-action means.

Such an embodiment of electrically operated hand-held hair-drier with a diffuser can offer substantial advantages over the prior art.

In particular, the position of the diffuser in relation to the housing of the associated electrically operated hair-drier can be altered and preferably adjusted on a steplessly variable basis. Therefore, the user of the hair-drier can, by adjustably rotating the articulation member, obtain the most favourable position of the diffuser.

Advantageously the housing and the diffuser can have not only one single clearly defined position in which the longitudinal axis of the housing coincides with that of the diffuser but instead, positions in which the longitudinal axis of the housing of the hair-drier is at an angle to the diffuser, the magnitude of this angle also being adjustable.

Advantageously the articulation member has on the inside surface at the outer end a projection which can engage a depression in the inner end of the diffuser and the inner end of the articulation member has a groove in its outer surface and at the inner end a rounded rib which cooperate with matching parts of said other end of the housing of the hair-drier.. The aforementioned projection and depression can provide a snap-action connection between the articulation member and said other end of the housing of the hair-drier.

Preferably the articulation member has oppositely disposed side walls of different lengths and is provided at one end with an end face perpendicular to the side walls and at the other with an end face extending at an angle to said end face.

Advantageously adjacent said one end of the articulation member there is, a part shaped as a hollow cylinder, the diameter of which is suited to the diameter of said other end of the housing of the hair-drier.

A longer of the side walls of the articulation member can be outwardly curved and a shorter of the side walls is inwardly curved.

The inner end portion of the diffuser can also have oppositely disposed walls which are of different lengths and which are curved in different directions.

The longer side wall of the articulation member and the shorter side wall of the inner end portion of the diffuser can supplement each other to make up a total length which is equal to the total length of the longer side wall of the inner end portion of the diffuser and the shorter side wall of the articulation member.

The diffuser which is connected to the hair-drier by way of the articulation member may comprise an inner part and a cover-like outer part releasably engageable with the inner part by a catch with the cover-like outer part having a plurality of apertures therein and studs thereon.

The invention is diagrammatically illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through an electrically operated hand-held hair-drier according to the invention with a diffuser and articulation member fitted thereon; Figure 2 is a side view showing the diffuser of Figure 1 and the articulation member in one possible relative position; Figure 3 shows the diffuser and the articulation member in a different relative position to the shown in Figure 2; Figure 4 shows a section through an inner part of the diffuser; Figure 5 shows a view of the inner part of the diffuser shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 shows on a greatly enlarged scale a fragmentary section through part of the inner part of the diffuser, indicated at VI in Figure 4;; Figure 7 shows on a greatly enlarged scale a fragmentary section through part of the inner part of the diffuser indicated At VII in Figure 4; Figure 8 shows a section through the articulation member; Figure 9 is a plan view of the articulation member shown in Figure 8; Figure 10 shows on a greatly enlarged scale a fragmentary section through part of the articulation member indicated at X in Figure 8; and Figure 11 shows on a greatly enlarged scale a fragmentary section through part of the articulation part indicated at XI in Figure 8.

Referring to the drawings, only those parts of an electrically operated hand-held hair-drier which are important to an understanding of the invention are shown. In particular, a major part of regulating and control means are omitted. Also, for the sake of simplicity, a heater is not shown. It should however be mentioned that all the parts of the hair-drier which are omitted from the drawings may be of a known construction and in known manner may be disposed in or on the electrically operated hair-drier.

The electrically operated hand-held hair-drier which is taken as the basis of the embodiment is generally designed 10. The hair-drier has a housing comprising a front housing part 11 and a rear housing part 12, the two housing parts 11 and 12 being connectable to each other by known means. A rearwardly directed aperture in the rear housing part 12 is covered by an inlet grid 13 for the induction of fresh air. The inlet grid 13 can for example be connected by catch engagement to the rear end of the housing part 12. The inlet grid 13 has a plurality of inlet aperture, not described in greater detail.

At the front end, the hair-drier 10 has an outlet grid 15 formed as a one-piece synthetic plastics body constructed from an outer ring and a plurality of inner rings which extend coaxially with the longitudinal axis. The inner rings are of different diameters and are connected to one another by connecting webs. In the example shown, one of the rings is of conical construction.

As can be seen from Figure 1 of the drawings, a diffuser generally designated 14 is associated with the hand-held hair-drier 10 but in contrast to the known constructions of appliances of this kind, it is not connected directly to the housing of the hair-drier but through an interposed articulation member generally designated 39.

It can be seen from Figure 1 of the drawings that the outlet grid 15 is inserted into the interior of the front part 11 of the housing of the hair-drier 10. The rearward end of the outlet grid 15 is in known manner operatively connected to those end parts of supports of a heater which are facing it. The heater itself can be of known construction so that it is possible to dispense with its graphic illustration and with details of its construction and mode of operation. Furthermore, the hair-drier 10 has a secondary baffle means disposed in the immediate vicinity of the electric motor. An electric motor is associated therewith and is used to drive an impeller.The air drawn in through the apertures in the inlet grid 13, when the hair-drier is in use, passes into the region of the impeller and then into the zone of action of the secondary baffle means and from there finally to the heater.

After being heated, the air leaves through the outlet grid 15, passes into the articulation member 39 which is connected to the front part of the housing 12 and finally passes into the diffuser 14.

As can also be seen from Figure 1, the hair-drier 10 has a handle 16 which is of hollow construction and can therefore be used to accommodate regulating and control means. In the embodiment illustrated, there is accommodated within this handle 16 a switch of which only a switch grip 18 is shown. Above the grip 18 a control wheel 19 is rotatably mounted in a cavity in the handle 16 and portions of the wheel emerge through an aperture in the wall of the handle 16 so as to be accessible to the user.

Accommodated in the region of the end face of the handle 16 is one end of a mains lead 17 the other end of which carries in known manner a plug which can be fitted into a socket of a mains supply.

The diffuser 14 is provided as an accessory associated with the hand-held hair-drier 10. It comprises an inner part 20 and a cover-like outer part 21. The two parts 20 and 21, are separably connected to each other by a catch type connection. For this purpose, there is provided in a marginal portion 34 of the cover-like outer part 21 a recessed part 35 which cooperates with a matching catch flange 36 on the inner part 20. The two parts 20 and 21 of the diffuser 14 are each made in one piece from a form-stable synthetic plastics material and are combined into one structural unit, namely the diffuser 14.

The front face of the cover-like outer part 21 of the diffuser 14 has a plurality of apertures 22 therein which are of different diameters. The apertures 22 may be disposed in groups, for example in such a way that one group of apertures is disposed in a circle around a central position of the cover-like outer part 21 of the diffuser 14.

In addition, in the embodiment shown, the front surface of the cover-like outer part 21 of the diffuser 14 has not only the apertures 22 but also studs 23. The studs 23 are disposed in the region of the cover-like outer part 21 of the diffuser 14 instead of some of the apertures.

As can be seen from Figure 1, the studs 23 are constructed as hollow studs which are open towards the rear of the cover-like outer part 21. It can also be seen from the same figure that the studs are of different lengths. The outermost free ends of the studs 23 are rounded.

The inner part 20 of the diffuser is a one-piece synthetic plastics body of a form-stable material of the kind normally used in the relevant field. The inner part 20 has a conical main part 24 which tapers at one end to an outer portion 25 which is in the form of a hollow cylinder. The diameter of the inner part 20 of the diffuser 14 is greater at this location. Provided on the inside wall 27 of the cylindrical front portion 25 of the inner part 20 is an encircling projecting rib catch 26 which is used to establish a coupling with the cover-like outer part 21 of the diffuser 14. At the opposite end, the conical main part 24 of the inner part 20 of the diffuser 14 merges into a neck 28. Upstream of this neck 28 is an inner end portion 29 of the inner part 20 which has on one side a longer wall 30 and on the opposite and other side a shorter wall 31, as is best illustrated in Figure 4.The outer surface of the inner end portion 29 of the inner part 20 of the diffuser is provided with a groove 32, Figure 7, to be used as a coupling means. The attachment to the articulation member 39 takes place in this area.

As Figure 1 shows, the cover-like outer part 21 of the diffuser has a curved surface 33 which merges into the marginal portion 34 which is substantially at right-angles thereto. Provided in the marginal portion 34 is the recessed part 35 which cooperates with the matching catch flange 36 on the outer portion 25 of the inner part 20 of the diffuser 14.

As can be seen from Figure 4 of the drawings, the inner end portion 29 of the inner part 20 of the diffuser 14 defines an aperture 37 which merges into a widened space 38 in the direction of the outer end of the diffuser inner part 20.

As can be seen particularly from Figure 1, the diffuser 14 can, via the articulation part 39, be rotatably connected to a free end 49 of the housing 11 of the hair-drier 10.

The articulation part 39 is shown in detail in Figures 8 to 11 from which it can be seen that the articulation part 39 is a one-piece hollow body, preferably of an insulating synthetic plastics material.

An inner end 45 of the articulation member 39 can be connected to the free end 49 of the housing of the hair-drier 10 while its other end can be connected to the inner end portion 29 of the diffuser 14 by catch or snap-action means.

Figure 10 shows best how the articulation member 39 has on the inside wall 44 of its outer end a rib 43 which engages the groove 32 in the outer surface of the inner end portion 29 of the diffuser 14. The inner end of the articulation member 39 has as shown in Figure 11, a groove 47 and on opposite sides thereof an abutment 47 and a rounded rib 48 which cooperate with matching parts of the free end 49 of the housing part 11 of the hair-drier 10, as shown in Figure 1.

The articulation member 39 has oppositely disposed side walls 40, 41 of different lengths (Figure 8). The articulation member 39 has an inner end face 50 which is perpendicular to the walls 40, 41 and an outer end 42 which is inclined to inner end face 50.

Figure 8 further shows that the inner end 45 of the articulation member 39 is shaped like a hollow cylinder with a diameter suited to that of the free end of the front housing part 11 of the hair-drier 10 and is adjacent the inner end face 50 of the articulation member 39.

The longer side wall 40 of the articulation member 39 is outwardly curved while the shorter side wall 41 is inwardly curved.

Figure 1 shows that the inner end portion 29 of the diffuser 14 which is towards the articulation member 39 likewise has the side walls 30 and 31 of different lengths and curved in different directions.

Figure 1 also shows that the longer side wall 40 of the articulation member 39 and the shorter side wall 31 of the inner end portion 29 of the diffuser 14 supplement each other to result in a total length which is identical to the total length of the longer wall 30 of the inner end portion 29 of the diffuser 14 and the shorter boundary wall 41 of the articulation member 39.

Air heated by the heater of the hair-drier 10 flows through the outlet grid 15, traverses the space inside the articulation member 39, passes through the aperture 37 in the inner end portion 29 of the diffuser and then passes into the widened space 38. From there, the heated air is able to pass through the apertures 22 in the curved surface 33 of the cover-like outer part 21 of the diffuser and escape into the open air so that it can there - as intended - come into operative contact with the hair of the person using the hair-drier 10.

Figures 2 and 3 while omitting the hair-drier 10, each show two of the numerous possible relative positions of the articulation member 39 on the one hand and the diffuser 14 on the other. With regard to the position of these two parts as indicated in Figure 2 of the drawings, the longitudinal axis of the articulation member 29 is aligned with the longitudinal axis of the diffuser 14. In contrast, in the position of the components 39 and 14 as shown in Figure 3 of the drawings, the axis of the articulation member 39 is inclined in relation to that of the diffuser 14. It should be expressly mentioned that the two relative positions of the articulation member 39 and of the diffuser 14 shown in Figures 2 and 3 are only two of many possible relative positions of these two parts in respect of each other. A steplessly variable adjustment between the different positions can be achieved.

The illustrated embodiment is only one way of putting the invention into effect and it is shown by way of example only. The articulation member 39 may be used with other known hand-held hair-driers 10 or also in conjunction with other likewise known shapes of diffuser. There should be no rigid or fixed connection of the diffuser 14 to the front part 49 of the housing. Instead, there is incorporated between the diffuser 14 and the front portion 49 of the housing of the hand-held hair-drier 10 the articulation member 39 preferably incorporated in such a way that it produces a rotatable steplessly variable adjustment of the snapped-in or catch-engaged articulation member 39.

Claims (10)

1. An electrically operated hand-held hair-drier having a housing to accommodate a heater, an electric motor to drive an impeller, an inlet grid for indrawn air at one end of the housing, an outlet grid through which heated air can emerge at the other end of the housing and an air guide nozzle in the form of a diffuser associated with said other end of the housing, the diffuser being rotatably connectable to said other end of the housing by an articulation member.

2. A hand-held hair-drier according to claim 1, in which the articulation member is a one-piece hollow body of which an inner end is connectable to said other end of the housing and an outer end is connectable to an inner end of the diffuser by catch or snap-action means.

3. A hand-held hair-drier according to claim 2, in which the articulation member has on the inside surface at the outer end a projection which can engage a depression in the inner end of the diffuser and the inner end of the articulation member has a groove in its outer surface and at the inner end a rounded rib which cooperate with matching parts of said other end of the housing of the hair-drier.

4. A hand-held hair-drier according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the articulation member has oppositely disposed side walls of different lengths and is provided at one end with an end face perpendicular to the side walls and at the other with an end face extending at an angle to said end face.

5. A hand-held hair-drier according to claim 4, in which adjacent said one end of the articulation member there is, a part shaped as a hollow cylinder, the diameter of which is suited to the diameter of said other end of the housing of the hair-drier.

6. A hand-held hair-drier according to claim 4 or claim 5, in which a longer of the side walls of the articulation member is outwardly curved and a shorter of the side walls is inwardly curved.

7. A hand-held hair-drier according to any one of claims 4 to 6 when appendant to claim 2, in which the inner end portion of the diffuser also has oppositely disposed walls which are of different lengths and which are curved in different directions.

8. A hand-held hair-drier according to claim 7, in which the longer side wall of the articulation member and the shorter side wall of the inner end portion of the diffuser supplement each other to make up a total length which is equal to the total length of the longer side wall of the inner end portion of the diffuser and the shorter side wall of the articulation member.

9. A hand-held hair-drier according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the diffuser which is connected to the hair-drier by way of the articulation member comprises an inner part and a cover-like outer part releasably engageable with the inner part by a catch and the cover-like outer part has a plurality of apertures therein and studs thereon.

10. An electrically operated hand-held hair-drier substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings.