JP2015531625A - Apparatus and method for knitting a plurality of small bundles - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus and method for knitting hair or other flexible material is disclosed. The apparatus has a set of gears including a plurality of sector gears and a plurality of oval gears, the oval gears defining a central portion of the cavity for receiving hair or other flexible material. Have. The device further includes a control device, a motor, a power source, and a user interface. The user interface allows the user to select various knitting methods. The apparatus and method of the present invention can be used to knit four or more small bundles of material. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for intertwining a plurality of small bundles of flexible material, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for knitting hair.

  Knitting is widely recognized as a form of hairstyle preparation and is commonly used to form ropes and other objects. A number of devices have been developed to help knit or entangle hair and other materials. These devices are often related to knitting hair into a flat braid. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,369,690 discloses a device that has a set of three oval gears through which a user passes hair and is held and operated by hand. Using the rack and pinion connected to the hand crank, the two sector gears alternately move the oval gears to make a braid. Other hair knitting devices, such as those disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,988,181, are braided using a motor or actuator that moves a plurality of small bundles from one place to another according to a predetermined rule.

  However, existing hair knitting devices have several drawbacks, such as irregular stitches, inconsistent performance, and / or difficult manipulation. Furthermore, the existing apparatus can only repeat a single knitting method using three small bundles.

  The present disclosure provides an apparatus and method for intertwining single fibers or other flexible materials into various knitting schemes. In particular, the apparatus includes a housing including a sector gear and an oval gear, at least one motor, and a control device that controls the motor. This hand-knitting apparatus may also have a memory unit and a user interface for selecting and storing various different knitting methods.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for selecting a knitted module that knitting a plurality of small bundles. The knitting module is selected using the user interface of the handheld knitting apparatus. This knitting module can also be stored in the memory unit of the knitting device or in a readable medium device. The module of the knitting method is loaded into the control device using, for example, a user interface, and the knitting device is operated using an actuator.

  Other systems, methods, features and advantages of the present invention will be or will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following detailed description and drawings. The features, functions, and advantages that have been discussed so far can be achieved independently in various aspects of the invention, or can be combined with further aspects. Details of yet another aspect can be understood with reference to the following description and drawings.

  Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. Elements in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present invention. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the relationship of various elements in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. 1 is a top view of an apparatus for knitting hair according to one aspect of the present invention. 2B is a side view of the device shown in FIG. 2A. FIG. 2B is a partial top view (without a housing) of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2A. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the motion of the gearwheel of the apparatus for braiding hair by this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the gear set by the one aspect | mode of the apparatus for braiding hair by this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the set of the gearwheel in the other aspect of the apparatus for braiding hair by this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the sleeve by one aspect | mode of the apparatus which knits the knitting of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the 1 step of the method of making the knitting style of four small bundles by this invention. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a system for selecting a braided hair style according to another aspect of the present invention.

  In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings. These drawings are part of the present application and illustrate various aspects of the invention by way of example. It should be understood that other embodiments may be used and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

  FIG. 1 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention, in which various features of apparatus 100 are schematically illustrated. In this drawing, the features of the device are not shown to scale and are arranged as convenient in the description of the device. A solid line between elements indicates an electrical connection with the power source 190. Dotted lines indicate data or command transmission / reception connections between various elements and the controller 170. Dashed lines indicate the physical connection between the gear set 125 and at least one motor 140 and the physical connection between the gear set and at least one sensor 145. The gear set may be a conventional arrangement of a plurality of gears or other strategically shaped parts. Such a gear set is driven by at least one motor 140, and the motor 140 is controlled by the controller 170. A plurality of sensors 145 monitor the movement of the gear set 125 and provide data to the controller 170. The controller is used to execute a set of instructions. Such an instruction is given to the control device through the memory unit 180 by using the user interface 150. A separator line 195 is drawn around the memory unit 180 and the user interface 150 to indicate that these two elements may be particularly remote from the handheld device itself.

  2A and 2C show another embodiment of the device 100 according to the present invention. The hair knitting apparatus 100 has a housing 101 to which a handle 102 is attached. The hair knitting apparatus 100 further includes three sector gears 110 and four oval gears 120. The sector gear 110 and the oval gear 120 are disposed in the housing 101 and can be accessed from the upper side and the bottom side of the housing 101 through the opening 105. Each oval gear 120 is hollow and has a respective sleeve 130 therein. The various gears are rotated by a motor 140, each of which is shown connected to one of the sector gears 110. Each of the sector gears 110 rotates about the corresponding rotation shaft 115. The illustrated embodiment also shows three sensors 145, each paired with a respective motor 140. The hair knitting device also has an actuator 160.

  FIG. 2B shows another embodiment of a device 100 for knitting hair according to the present invention, which has a housing 101 and a handle 102. The user interface 150 is visible on the side of the housing 101. The connector 185 is also visible on the side of the device 100 for knitting hair.

  In one embodiment, the casing 101 of the hair knitting apparatus 100 is made up of two members, an upper casing and a lower casing. The upper housing and the lower housing are combined to form a housing 101 having a cavity therein, and a number of elements of the device 100 for knitting hair are accommodated in the cavity. Or the housing | casing 101 may have an integral structure, for example, the housing | casing which united two half bodies using the thermoplastic welding material may be sufficient. The moving part of the device 100 for knitting hair can be contacted from the opening 105 of the housing. The housing structure material may be any suitable material, including plastics, metals, and any other materials commonly used in the manufacture of home beauty products. Openings 105 can be provided at the top and bottom of the housing 101 so that the user can touch the internal machine from either side. In addition, the housing 101 may be provided with a protective cover or decorative cover, such a cover can be used for aesthetic purposes, or other places in the housing where seams or hair may be caught. Can be used to cover.

  In various embodiments, the handle 102 may be formed with the housing 101, or may be made as a separate element and later attached to the housing 101. In some embodiments, the handle 102 has an ergonomic shape. The handle 102 can have an outer surface formed of foam or other material suitable for making a comfortable grip, commonly found in the art.

  In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2A and 2C, three sector gears 110 and four oval gears 120 are visible from an opening 105 provided in the housing 101. The sector gear 110 has an appearance similar to that of a symmetrical apple core, and the oval gear has a substantially oval shape with two pointed ends. The sector gear 110 and the oval gear 120 are complementary, and by adding a pointed “oval” of one oval gear to each side of the sector gear 110, they are combined into a substantially circular shape. It is supposed to be. It is arranged by arranging two kinds of gears alternately (ellipse, sector, ellipse, sector) so that the center of each gear is in a straight line (in the vertical direction as seen in FIG. 2A or 2C) The gear group is in the form of a series of intersecting circles. See also FIG. 3A.

  These gears operate to rotate about each of the three rotation shafts 115. Each of the sector gears 110 corresponds to one of the three rotation shafts 115, that is, a rotation shaft located at the center of each of the sector gears 110. In some embodiments, the rotating shaft 115 has a pin or other physical element provided in the center of the sector gear 110. Alternatively, the rotating shaft 115 may be formed integrally with the sector gear 110. In other aspects, the axis of rotation 115 is simply defined as the position of the center of rotation, and in such an aspect, the gear by an outer limit of gear movement, such as a groove defining the outer boundary of the gear set 125, for example. The movement is guided.

  The oval gear 120 also rotates about one of the rotating shafts 115, but may rotate about any of the rotating shafts depending on the relative position of the oval gear. The oval gear 120 also rotates about one of the rotating shafts 115, but may rotate about any of the rotating shafts depending on the relative position of the oval gear. For example, FIGS. 3A to 3D show the relative operation of a sector gear and an oval gear, where the sector gear and the oval gear are centered on one of the rotation axes at a point in time. Rotate. In the figure, the arrow indicates the direction of rotation. FIG. 3A shows the sector and oval gears in the default position, where the sector and oval gears form a set of intersecting circles as described above. Is arranged. FIG. 3B shows a first operation of the sector gear and the oval gear in which the sector gear 111 rotates about the rotation axis 116. FIG. 3C shows a second operation of the sector gear and the oval gear in which the sector gear 112 rotates about the rotation axis 117. FIG. 3D shows a third operation of the sector gear and the oval gear in which the sector gear 113 rotates about the rotation axis 118. In some embodiments, the sector gear 111 and the sector gear 113 may rotate simultaneously. By performing these operations in a desired order, the relative position of the oval gear 120 may be switched. Note that when these operations are performed sequentially, the (shaded) open space 135 changes position as it passes through each of FIGS. In one embodiment, the sector gear 110 can rotate in either direction about the corresponding axis of rotation 115.

  In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2C, the operation of the sector gear 110 and the oval gear 120 is operated by three separate motors 140. As shown in FIG. 2C, the three motors 140 contact the sector gear when the gear group is in the default position (FIG. 3A). The remote portion of the sector gear 110 and the surrounding area of each oval gear have a number of teeth. These teeth are then operated by one or more motors 140. This may be a worm drive or similar actuator that rotates the gear about any one of the rotating shafts 115 as desired. The teeth of the sector gear 110 of one embodiment of the gear set 125 are visible in FIG. 3E.

  As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, other motors and motor arrangements associated with gears may be employed in the present invention. For example, in some embodiments, the motor 140 is a natural rotating body and is connected to one of the rotating shafts 115 directly or by other mechanical devices such as a drive belt, thus each gear. May be rotated. In this alternative example, sector gear 110 and oval gear 120 may have no teeth. In this regard, the term “gear” herein can be construed to include a variety of moving parts that result in similar motion.

  In an alternative aspect, the apparatus 100 of the present invention may be configured to provide power to independently drive each of the sector gears with a single motor 140. This alternative configuration can be made, for example, by using a clutch for each of the rotating sector gears and the controller operating the engagement of each clutch.

  The invention further includes an alternative embodiment having an extended gear set that has the ability to handle a bundle of five or more hairs or filaments. An alternative embodiment is shown in FIG. 4A, in which the gear set 225 has five sector gears 210 and six oval gears 220 arranged in a straight line. Similarly, other linearly arranged configurations having n sector gears and n + 1 oval gears can be considered. FIG. 4B illustrates another aspect of the present invention in which the gear set 325 has 12 oval gears disposed around four sector gears. Therefore, according to this embodiment, a small bundle of twelve hairs or a bundle of filaments can be knitted at once. FIG. 4C shows yet another embodiment having a gear set 425 having seven oval gears and three fan gears and arranged in a triangular shape. As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, further aspects are contemplated herein, including numerous possible gear arrangements.

  As discussed above, the oval gear 120 has a central portion that is a cavity for containing a small bundle of flexible material. In one embodiment, the hair knitting device of the present invention has a plurality of sleeves 130 that fit into the hollow central portion of the corresponding oval gear 120. The sleeve 130 is formed of a flexible material that can be removed from the oval gear and replaced. The sleeve 130 is used to help bundle flexible material into a plurality of small bundles, including those that are further bundled into individual bundles. The sleeve 130 may also be designed to maintain a small bundle of tension without requiring additional effort from the user. This can be achieved by selecting a tactile material for the sleeve 130.

  FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention in which the sleeve 530 is configured with a surface 535 that substantially fills the hollow portion of the oval gear. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the sleeve 530 further has an elongated hole 536 through which a small bundle can be inserted. The sleeve 530 may be formed of a flexible material, and the elongated holes 536 exhibit some resiliency, thereby allowing for accommodating small bundles of various sizes. The elasticity of the sleeve 530 also helps to create tension in the small bundle during use.

  The present invention can be implemented using various mechanisms that hold the small bundle in place while operating the device 100. In yet another aspect, for example, a separate fastener can be used in place of the sleeve 130 that holds each of the small bundles in the hollow central portion of the oval gear 120. Or you may provide the fastener in the front-end | tip part of a small bundle.

  Reference is again made to FIG. 2C. A controller 170 sends a signal to each motor 140 that rotates the sector gear 110, thereby rearranging the oval gear 120 and each small bundle passing through the oval gear to form the desired knitting style. In some embodiments, the motor 140 can be controlled to operate in a number of different procedures. Here, one kind of small bundle knitting is formed in one procedure. In addition, the operation of the motor may be changed from one method to another after a predetermined number of rotations, thus forming a series of alternating stitch patterns on a small bundle of hair or filaments. it can. The hair knitting device 100 may also have a number of sensors 145 that allow the control device to sense the rotation of the gears. In a certain aspect, the control apparatus has an arithmetic processing unit.

  The various knitting methods discussed above can also be stored, for example, as a knitting method module including a set of procedures. For example, a free space may be provided in the memory unit 180, and an additional method or a new method may be loaded and stored in the memory unit 180. The controller 170 can call any one of the stored knitting methods according to a user input. Referring back to FIG. 2B, input by the user can be made via the user interface 150. The user interface 150 may be a simple switch or dial, or may be provided as a graphical user interface (GUI) having a touch panel as shown. In another aspect, an external computing device such as a smartphone or a computer can be used to satisfy the user interface functions.

  In some embodiments, the knitting scheme module may be stored in memory using a number of different methods. For example, a new knitting method can be provided to the hair knitting device by uploading a new knitting method to the hair knitting device 100 or by using a GUI. For example, a knitting scheme can be uploaded using a connector 185 designed to accept a communication cable such as a USB interface. Alternatively, the knitting scheme can be uploaded wirelessly using an appropriate communication protocol such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, infrared communication, or other type of communication scheme.

  Actuator 160 allows the user to control the start and stop of motor operation without disrupting the entire set of procedures being performed by controller 170. An actuator 160, which may have either a trigger, button, lever or switch, allows the user to directly control the device. The actuator 160 may further have a spring. In one embodiment, the actuator 160 has a multi-stage switching device that controls the speed of the gear unit. The speed of the gear can be controlled based on the magnitude of the force applied to the actuator 160, for example. The actuator 160 may also have a slide selection device that can be moved laterally to control the speed of output.

  The hair knitting device 100 further includes a power source 190 that provides power to the various components of the device. The power source includes a battery, an AC connection, and / or a connector 185. The power source may include a rechargeable battery in connection with power from the AC connection and / or connector 185. FIG. 2C shows an embodiment where the power source 190 is inside the handle 102. In other embodiments, the power source 190 can be located in the housing 101 or outside the device 100.

  In use, the hair knitting apparatus 100 of the present invention can be used as part of a method of knitting a flexible material into a plurality of small bundles by various knitting methods. In one aspect, as shown in FIG. 6A, the method includes dividing the flexible material into four bundles (where one bundle is a single hair, fiber It may be a strip, or a bundle of other flexible materials.) Flexible materials include flexible metal elements, fiber elements, human or animal hair (such as horse tails), animal skins, fabrics, or any other material that the user wishes to knit Can be mentioned. Alternatively, if the small bundle is made of a flexible bundle of material, the small bundle may be temporarily bundled with a rubber band or a small piece of paper, as is generally known in the art. Can do.

  FIG. 6B shows a state where the small bundle 601 is inserted into the sleeve 130. Referring to FIG. 6C, each small bundle is placed in a sleeve, and then the sleeve 130 is placed in the center of an oval gear 120 (not shown) of the hair knitting device 100. Alternatively, the small bundle may be put directly into the oval gear without using the sleeve 130, or the small bundle may be inserted while the sleeve is in the oval gear 120.

  The user then selects the desired knitting method and begins operating the device 100 for knitting hair using the actuator 160. FIG. 6D shows the knitting operation of the device 100 for knitting hair in use. The resulting knitting style has a more beautiful appearance with the appropriate amount of tension applied to each small bundle 601. In some embodiments, this tension is provided by the sleeve 130 described above. Finally, when the knitting operation is completed, the hair knitting device 100 including the sleeve 130 is removed from the end of the small bundle.

  As shown in FIG. 6E, the final braid or braided hair is fixed. In one embodiment, the knitted small bundle can be fixed using an object 602, and examples of the object to be tied include a ribbon and a rubber band. Alternatively, the braided bundle can be fixed by baking the tip, by using an adhesive, or by other known methods.

  As shown in FIG. 7, another aspect of the present invention provides a method 700 for selecting a desired knitting module 701 for use with a hair knitting device according to the present invention. As with the various aspects, the hair knitting device 100 of the present invention can be used with many other flexible materials besides hair. The knitting method 701 is used for Internet servers 705, computing devices 710 (smartphones, tablets, computers, etc.), or readable media devices 755 (eg, flash drives, memory cards, cartridges, or other proprietary products or generally Product etc.). The knitting module 701 can be downloaded from the Internet server 705 to the computing device 710 and can be downloaded to the media device 755 readable from the computing device 710. The knitting module 701 can be stored in the memory unit 735 of the handheld device 720 and can be loaded directly into the control device 730. The storage or loading of the knitted module 701 can be performed using the wireless communication or a connector such as the cable connector 740 or the readable medium connector 750. When a large number of knitting type modules 701 are stored in the memory unit 735, a desired knitting type module 701 can be selected using the user interface 725. Alternatively, the functionality of the user interface 725 can be performed using the computing device 710.

  The above-described aspects of the apparatus and method of the present invention are merely possible examples in practice and have been set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the invention. Many different aspects of the invention described herein can be designed and / or fabricated without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. All these and other such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention and protected by the following claims. Accordingly, it is not intended that the scope of the invention be limited except as expressly set forth in the appended claims.

Claims (20)

A housing having an opening on at least the upper side;
A plurality of gears forming a gear set having a plurality of oval gears having a hollow central portion, the gear set being at least partially accessible from an upper opening provided in the housing;
At least one motor for selectively rotating the plurality of gears;
Knitting a small bundle of hair into a desired knitting scheme, comprising controlling the at least one motor to control a set of procedures from the knitting scheme module apparatus.   The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a memory unit designed to store a plurality of knitting scheme modules, each knitting scheme module including a set of procedures.   The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a connector designed to receive information from a readable media device.   2. The gear set of claim 1, wherein the gear set further includes a plurality of sector gears, and each of the plurality of oval gears rotates with any one of the plurality of sector gears. The device described.   The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an arithmetic processing unit connected to the control unit. A plurality of sector gears;
At least four oval gears, each of the at least four oval gears rotating in contact with any one of the plurality of sector gears and one or more of flexible materials; At least four oval gears each having a central portion that is a cavity for accommodating a small bundle of
A device for knitting a plurality of small bundles of flexible material, characterized in that it comprises at least one motor.   The number of the plurality of sector gears is one less than the number of the at least four oval gears, and the plurality of sector gears and the at least four oval gears are linearly arranged. The apparatus according to claim 6.   7. A device according to claim 6, characterized in that the at least one motor is connected to a worm drive.   A plurality of rotation shafts each corresponding to one of the sector gears, wherein each of the sector gears further includes a rotation shaft that rotates about one of the plurality of rotation shafts. Item 7. The apparatus according to Item 6.   The housing further includes a housing that accommodates the plurality of sector gears, the plurality of oval gears, and the at least one motor, an upper opening on the top of the housing, and a bottom on the bottom of the housing. 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein a side opening is provided and the plurality of oval gears are at least accessible through the upper opening and the bottom opening.   A plurality of sensors, each of the plurality of sensors is designed to monitor rotational displacement for each of the at least three sector gears, and the controller is designed to receive data from the sensors; The device according to claim 6, wherein   The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each of the at least four oval gears and at least a part of each of the plurality of sector gears has teeth on a peripheral edge thereof.   A central further comprising at least four sleeves, each sleeve corresponding to one of said at least four oval gears, each of said at least four sleeves being a cavity of said at least four oval gears 7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that it is designed to be placed in a part.   And further comprising at least four fasteners, each fastener corresponding to one of the at least four oval gears, each of the at least four fasteners being a cavity within the at least four oval gears. The device according to claim 6, wherein the device is designed to be arranged in a central part. Separate multiple bundles from flexible materials,
Each of the plurality of small bundles is inserted into a hand-held knitting device,
At least three sector gears each arranged to rotate about one of the at least three axes of rotation;
At least four oval gears having a hollow central portion, the at least four oval gears arranged to freely rotate around any one of the at least three sector gears;
At least one motor for independently rotating each of the at least three sector gears;
A control device for controlling the operation of the at least one motor;
An actuator,
A method of knitting a plurality of small bundles of flexible material using a hand-held knitting device, wherein the hand-knitted device is made by operating the hand-held knitting device by engaging the actuator.   The method of claim 15, further comprising securing an end of the braid. The hand-held knitting apparatus has at least four sleeves corresponding to the at least four oval gears, and inserting each of the plurality of small bundles into the hand-held knitting apparatus;
Introducing each of the plurality of small bundles into one of the at least four sleeves;
The method of claim 15, comprising disposing each of the at least four sleeves in a central portion that is a cavity of each of the at least four oval gears.   The method according to claim 15, wherein the number of the plurality of small bundles is at least four.   16. The method of claim 15, further comprising selecting a knitting method having a corresponding number of small bundles before separating the plurality of small bundles from the flexible material. Method.   The method of claim 15, wherein the hand-held knitting device further comprises a graphical user interface.

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