US3541302A

US3541302A - Heat storing curling bobbin and heating device

Info

Publication number: US3541302A
Application number: US738340A
Authority: US
Inventors: Tomio Makino
Original assignee: NICHIEI DENKI SANGYO KK
Current assignee: NICHIEI DENKI SANGYO KK
Priority date: 1968-06-19
Filing date: 1968-06-19
Publication date: 1970-11-17
Anticipated expiration: 1987-11-17

Description

1 1970 TOMIO MAKINO 3,54

-.-HEAT STORING CURLING BOBBIN AND HEATING DEVICE Filed June 19, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 17, 1970 HEAT STORING GURLING BOBBIN Filed June 19. 1968 TOMIO MAKINO AND HEATING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 7

United States Patent ice US. Cl. 219222 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for curling hair comprises an electrical heatlng plate mounted in a case and disposed so as to heat a plurality of thermally conductive rods mounted on the plate. A hollow curling bobbin is removably mounted on each of the rods and each curling bobbin comprises an inner cylinder of thermally conductive material such as aluminum, an intermediate cylinder formed of a heat storing material such as polycarbonate and an outer cylinder formed of a hard synthetic resin. The outer cylinder has a plurality of radial projections adapted for twining hair on the bobbin. The device has a first safety device which regulates the temperature of the heater rods and a second safety device which interrupts electrical power to the heater rods if the first safety device fails.

The invention relates in general to hair curling devices and more particularly to heating devices for curling hair.

Conventional heat storing curling bobbins have a layer of paraffin contained between inner and outer cylinders. The bobbins are heated by external means and heat is stored in the paraflin layer. This type of bobbin is subject to problems such as the parafiin leaking out from between the inner and outer cylinders. Conventional heaters for paraffin type bobbins are also subject to disadvantages such as a requirement for accommodating different inner diameters found on paraffin type bobbins and usually require complex electrical thermostats and complex mechanical assemblies.

An object of this invention is to provide a device for heating curling bobbins in which overheating is prevented even if the thermostat means are out of order.

Another object of this invention is to provide a heat storing curling bobbin which does not use parafiin as a heat-storing material. 8

Another object of this invention is to provide a'device in which curling bobbins can be easily mounted for heating and can be easily removed when heated.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device in which it is possible to confirm the fact that the bobbin temperature is high enough for use.

Another object of this invention is to provide a device which is of simple construction and is portable.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a hair curling set in accordance with the invention comprising a plurality of bobbins and heating means housed in a case shown with the cover of the case open.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the hair curling set with a portion of the case cut away.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the hair curling set with a single bobbin shown in place.

FIG. 4 is a view of the power cord.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a bobbin.

FIG. 6 is a view of the closed end of the bobbin.

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing electrical connections according to the invention.

3,541,302 Patented Nov. 17, 1970 A hair curling set in accordance with the invention shown by way of example in the drawing comprises a plurality of bobbins and heating means housed in a case. The case is made of a synthetic resin and comprises an outer case 11 and cover 12 which are connected by connecting means suh as hinges 13 and 14. The opening of the cover 12 is limited by a link 17 and by stopper pins 15 and 16 which are disposed on portions 11a and 12a of the case 11 and cover 12 respectively.

The cover 12 is provided with a mirror 18 on its inner surface and with a fastener 19 which locks with a fastener 21 on the case 11 when the cover is closed.

The case 11 is provided with a pair of mounting tubes 22 and 23 projecting from the bottom of the case near the front and a second pair of mounting tubes 24 and 25 projecting from the bottom of the case near the back. These tubes are integrally formed as part of the case or alternately may be bonded to the case.

Each of the tubes has an internal thread. Additional mounting tubes 26, 27, 28 and 29 are provided at the locations of the hinges 13 and 14 which are attached to case 11 by means of screws fitting into the tubes 26, 27, 28 and 29.

An inner case 30, made of a synthetic resin is fitted inside case 11 and is supported on mounting tubes 22, 23, 24 and 25. Inner case 30 is divided by means of a center partition 31 into compartments 32 and 33. Mounting tubes 26 and 27 are received in a recess 34 and mounting tubes 28 and 29 are received in a recess 35 which are formed in the outer walls of compartments 33 and 32 respectively. Compartment 32 is somewhat deeper than compartment 33.

A plurality of projecting springs 38 are located on the inner wall of compartment 32 and are used to support the bottom of a support plate 39 thus creating a space between the support plate and the bottom 32:: of compartment 32. This space is used to store a power cord 36. The power cord 36 is provided with plug 361; on one end of lead wire 36a and connector 36c on the other end.

Spare curl bobbins 37 are stored on projecting

rods

40 and 41 which are mounted on the support plate 39. As can be seen in FIG. 1, the rear margin of the support plate 39 is notched at 39a to accommodate the recessed portion 35 of the compartment 32.

The partition 31 is provided with a countersunk compartment 42 on which a cover 43 is detachably mounted. Compartment 42 is intended for housing hair pins (not shown).

A pilot lamp 44 is fitted on the top plate 31a of the said partition 31 by usual means. An electrical connector 46 with connector pins 46a and 46b is firmly fitted in the top plate 31a of partition 31 slightly spaced from and in front of the pilot lamp by means of a mounting plate and screws 48.

Screw holes 49, 50, 51 and 52 are provided in the corner portions of the bottom wall 33a of the abovementioned compartment 33 at positions corresponding to the mounting tubes 22, 23, 24 and 25 provided in the outer casing 11. The inner casing 30 can firmly be secured in the outer casing 11 by screwing screws 53 to 56 into the threaded holes 49 to 52 provided in the bottom wall 32a and in their corresponding mounting tubes 22 to 25 on bottom of the outer casing. The center part of the bottom wall 33a of the compartment 33 has a rectangular opening 57 which is fitted firmly with a rectangular plate 58 made of synthetic resin or similar insulating material. Plate 58 is provided with circular holes 59 aligned both laterally and vertically. Eight holes 59 illustrated in the drawing are merely an example, and 6 holes or 9 holes or an arbitrary number of holes will do.

Heat conductors 60 are inserted in holes 59 with a slight clearance and their tops project slightly above the opening of the compartment 33 as shown in FIG. 2. The eight heat conductors 60 appearing in the drawing are illlustrated only by way of example and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention. The heat conductors 60 are made of high thermal conductivity material, such as brass, copper, aluminum or equivalent material, formed into rod-shaped and having lower end portions embedded into a heat conducting plate 61 as illustrated in FIG. 2.

The heat conducting plate 61 is likewise made of high thermal conductivity material and is rectangular in shape. The heat conducting plate 61 is mounted spaced from plate 58 by wooden frame members 62 which extend transversely of the plate. The heat conducting plate 61 is fixed to the wooden frame members 62 at both of its ends by means of screws 63. The ends of the frame members 62 are fixed firmly to the bottom wall 33a of compartment 33 by means of screws 64, 65, 66 and 67.

A heating element 68 is provided under the conducting plate 61 and is covered on its bottom with insulating material 69. The combination of the heating element 68 and the insulating material 69 is suspended from the heat conducting plate 61 by means of a channel-shaped metal plate 70. The outermost layer of said insulating material 69 is in contact with said plate 70 as shown in FIG. 2, and the side edges of said plate 70 along those of the heat conducting plate 61 are bent to hold said heat conducting plate 61.

As a protective device, a thermostat mechanism 71 is fitted to the right lower corner of the said heat conducting plate 61 in the manner that a screw 72. is screwed up into the said heat conducting plate 61 to secure' said mechanism 71 to the said heat conducting plate 61. Since the structure of the thermostat mechanism 71 is itself well known, detailed explanation and illustrations are not given here. However, the electrical connection concerning the said mechanism will be described in detail later.

As a second protective device, a temperature responsive fuse 73 is fitted firmly in a fuse holder 74 mounted on the inner wall of the outer casing 11 by means of screws 75 and 76. As seen in FIG. 2, the fuse is located below a central portion of the conducting plate 61.

The fuse is accessible by opening a cover 77 of an opening in the bottom wall of the outer casing 11. The fuse is arranged to interrupt the circuit if a temperature higher than the normal operating temperature is reached.

A handle 78 is fitted to the outside wall of the said outer casing 11 through the medium of holders 79' and 80 and connecting rings 81 and 82, for the convenience of carrying the casing.

In FIGS. and 6 there is shown in more detail a bobbin 37 comprising an inner cylinder 37a and an outer cylinder 37b. All of the bobbins have the same inner diameter irrespective of the outer diameters in order to mount easily on the heater rods 60.

The annular spacebetween the inner cylinder 37a and the outer cylinder 37b is filled with heat accumulating material 370, for instance, polycarbonate (melting point 200 to 300 C.).

The inner cylinder 37a is made of high thermal conductivity material, by way of example, aluminum, formed with one end open and the other end closed. The open end of the inner cylinder is enlarged as seen in FIG. 5. On the other hand, the outer cylinder 37b is made of hard synthetic resin, for example polypropylene, formed with its one end open and the other closed, and its enter outer surface is provided with projections 37d on which to twine hair.

Red colored thermo paint 37e is coated on the center of the closed end of said outer cylinder 37b. This thermo point 37e reversibly turns black when bobbin 37 reaches a. certain prescribed temperature, which is helpful in confirming the reaching of temperatures necessary for curling hair.

The inner cylinder 37a is detachably engageable in heat transferring relation with the abovementioned heat conductor rods 60. The electric circuit is shown in FIG. 7.

4 The terminals 46a and 46b of the connector-46 are to be connected electrically to an AC 120 v. power supply 83 through the medium of the cord 36.

The terminal 46a is connected by a lead wire 84 to one end 85 of the thermostat temperature fuse 73 device. The other end 86 of the said temperature fuse 73 is connected by a lead wire 87 to one end of the heating element 68 through branch terminal 88. The other end of the heating element 68 is connected through a branch terminal 89 and lead wire 90 to one terminal 91 of the thermostat mechanism 71. The other terminal 92 of the thermostat mechanism 71 is connected by a lead wire 93 to the terminal of the aforementioned connector pin 45b.

The

abovementioned branch terminals

88 and 89 are connected with each other by means of lead wires 44a of the pilot lamp 44, whereby the pilot lamp 44 forms a circuit in parallel with the heating mechanism 68 of the conducting plate 61.

As shown in FIG. 1, ventilating holes 94 are formed in the bottom wall 11a of the outer casing 11.

The operation of the device is as follows. The fasteners 19 and 21 provided between the outer casing 11 and the cover 12 are disengaged in order to open the cover 12.

The support plate 39 is removed from compartment 32 by pulling upwardly on the spare bobbins 37 or on rods 41. The power cord 36 can then be removed from compartment 32 and is supported on projecting springs 38 which are arranged on the inner wall of compartment 32. The desired curling bobbins are engaged with heat conductors 60. The top surface of heat conducting plate 58 is in contact with the bottom end of the bobbins. Connector 360 of power cord 36 is connected to connector pins 46a and 46b and plug 36b is connected to an AC power supply 83. Current flows to connector 360 from the power supply through plug 36b and power cord 36a. From connector 360 the current passes through connector pin 46b, lead wire 93, the thermostat mechanism 71, lead wire 90 and reaches the branch point 89. Current then flows through the electric heating element 68 and reaches branch point 88, and then flows through lead wire 87 and into terminal 86 of temperature fuse 73 and returns to power supply 83 after passing through terminal 85 lead wire 84, connector pin 46a connector 36b, cord 36a and plug 36c.

The electric heating element 61 gets red hot and the heat evolved is transmitted to the heat conducting plate 61 incorporated into a single unit with insulating material 69, and further communicated to the heat conductors 60 arranged on the heat conducting plate and to the inner cylinders 37a of the bobbins 37 on said conductors 60,

Theheat thus communicated to the inner cylinders 37a is communicated to the outer cylinder 37b While it is partly stored in the heat accumulating material 370.

In course of the above heat transmission, the heat conducting plate is heated up to a prescribed temperature. When it reaches a prescribed level of temperature, the contact 71a of the thermostat mechanism 71 disengages the terminal 91 of the said mechanism 71 (see FIG. 7), thereby current flowing from the power supply 83 is interrupted, and simultaneously with this, pilot lamp 44 goes out.

After a certain period of interruption, the temperature of the heat conducting plate 61 falls below a set value and the said thermostat mechanism 71 establishes again the heating circuit as explained above.

According to experiments, it takes about 6 min. after supplying current to the heating circuit until thermo paint 37 coated on the bobbin 37 turns from red to black. This discoloration is very helpful in judging whether the bobbin 37 is at an optimum temperature level.

After they have reached the optimum temperature, one can apply the bobbins 37 to the hair in an ordinary way after taking them off the heat conductors 60.

The heat storing material in the bobbin results in an effective use period of approximately 15 minutes.

Even if the first safety device 71 gets out of order so that it can not cut 011 power even when the heat conducting plates 61 reaches a set temperature, the temperature responsive fuse 73 constituting a second safety device, can automatically cutoff power thus preventing damage to the device.

In an alternative construction of the bobbins, the open ends of the inner and outer cylinders are connected. Another modification comprises fastening the heating mechanism to the heat conducting plate by means of a series of hooks formed in the bottom metal plate of the heating mechanism and cooperating with the top surface of the heat conducting plate.

Although I have described my invention with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What I claim is:

1. A heat storing curling bobbin and heating device comprising: a case having a floor portion composed of heat insulating material; said floor portion having a plurality of holes therethrough; a heat conductive plate beneath said heat conductive plate for heating the same; mounting means for mounting as an integral unit said heat conductive plate and electrical heating means beneath said floor portion in spaced relation thereto comprising spaced insulating strips positioned immediately beneath said floor portion and secured thereto, means securing said heat conductive plate to said strips, means mounting said heating means beneath said heat conductive plate, said mounting means comprising a channel-shaped plate having a bottom portion beneath said heating means and side edges secured to said heat conductive plate; temperature responsive means connected in circuit with said heater means and arranged in heat conductive relation to said heat conductive plate for controlling the tempreature of said plate, a plurality of heat conductive heater rods projecting from said heat conductive plate through said holes in said floor portion; a plurality of heat storing curling bobbins each removably mounted on a heater rod and each comprising a hollow inner cylinder having a closed end and an open end and an intermediate cylinder disposed on the outside of said inner cylinder with said intermediate cylinder formed of heat storing material and an outer cylinder disposed on the outside of said intermediate cylinder with said outer cylinder having a plurality of radial projections for twining hair, whereby said bobbins receive and store heat generated by said heating means.

2. A heat storing curling bobbin and heating device as in claim 1 wherein said outer cylinder is formed of a hard synthetic resin.

3. A heat storing curling bobbin and heating device as in claim 1 wherein said outer cylinder is formed of polypropylene.

4. A heat storing curling bobbin and heating device as in claim 1 wherein said inner cylinder is formed of a ma terial having high thermal conductivity.

5. A heat storing curling bobbin and heating device as in claim 1 wherein said inner cylinder is formed of brass.

6. A heat storing curling bobbin and heating device as in claim 1 wherein said intermediate cylinder is formed of polycarbonate.

7. A heat storing curling bobbin and heating device as in claim 1 wherein an end portion of said outer cylinder is coated with a temperature responsive paint which changes color when reaching a predetermined temperature.

8. A heat storing curling bobbin and heating device as in claim 1 wherein the internal diameters of said inner cylinders of all of said bobbins are equal irrespective of the outer diameters of said outer cylinders.

9. A heat storing curling bobbin and heating device as in claim 1 wherein the portions defining the open ends of said inner and said outer cylinders are connected in a fluid tight joint.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,576,558 11/1951 Bede 219-302 X 3,257,541 1/1966 Jorgensen 219222 3,410,985 11/1968 Giacchero 219222 2,415,254 12/1968 Brock et al. 219222 X ANTHONY BARTIS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.