US3589005A

US3589005A - Electric shaver

Info

Publication number: US3589005A
Application number: US797501A
Authority: US
Inventors: Richard Fischer; Friedrich Schreiber
Original assignee: Braun GmbH
Current assignee: Braun GmbH
Priority date: 1969-02-07
Filing date: 1969-02-07
Publication date: 1971-06-29
Anticipated expiration: 1988-06-29

Abstract

AN ELECTRIC SHAVER INCLUDES A PAIR OF TRANSVERSELY SPACED SHORT-HAIR CUTTERS AND AT LEAST ONE LONG-HAIR CUTTER WHICH IS LOCATED INTERMEDIATE THE SHORT-HAIR CUTTERS AND CAN BE RETRACTED OR ADVANCED DEPENDING UPON WHETHER OR NOT IT IS TO BE USED. DRIVE MEANS IS PROVIDED FOR THE SHORT-HAIR CUTTERS AND INCLUDES A MOTOR AND MOTION-TRANSMITTING MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHORT-HAIR CUTTERS. THE MOTIONTRANSMITTING MEANS IS ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH THE LONG-HAIR CUTTER FOR DRIVING THE SAME.

Description

June 29, 1971 R FlsCHER' EVAL ELECTRIC SHAVER Filed Feb. 7, 195g DRH/E INVENTOR muuuy F/swm BY Pme-Imm .flm

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ATTORNEY Patented June 29, 1971 3,589,005 ELECTRIC SHAVER Richard Fischer, Frankfurt, and Friedrich Schreiber, Bad

Homburg, Germany, assignors to Braun Aktiengesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Filed Feb. 7, 1969, Ser. No. 797,501 Int. Cl. B26b 19/06, 19/10, 19/38 U.S. Cl. Sil-34.1 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An electric shaver includes a pair of transversely spaced short-hair cutters and at least one long-hair cutter which is located intermediate the short-hair cutters and can be retracted or advanced depending upon whether or not it is to be used. Drive means is provided for the short-hair cutters and includes a motor and motion-transmitting means associated with the short-hair cutters. The motiontransmitting means is also associated with the long-hair cutter for driving the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to electric shavers, and more particularly to the type of electric shavers having cutters both for short hair and for long hair.

Dilferent types f electric Shavers having both longhair and short-hair cutters are known. The present invention is concerned with the type wherein the short-hair cutter or cutters is or are covered by a perforated shearing foil which in use of the apparatus contacts the skin of the user and wherein additionally a long-hair cutter is provided. In apparatus of this type, where because of their particular construction the short-hair cutters are relatively wide, it is known only to provide the long-hair cutter at a location exteriorly remote from the short-hair cutters; this is because of the relatively large space requirements of short-hair cutters constructed in this manner. By contrast it is known to have cutting apparatuses utilizing so-called shear-combs for their short-hair cutters as well as the long-hair cutters, and because these require relatively little space the long-hair cutters are located between the two or more short-hair cutters. This latter type of apparatus, however, utilizes a separate drive for the long-hair cutter as we have invariably found in all prior-art constructions known to us. In the former type of apparatus, that is with the shear-foil-covered short-hair cutters, the use of a longhair cutter located between two short-hair cutters is not known at all.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an electric shaver of the type using shear-foil covered shorthair cutters which is provided with a long-hair cutter requiring no separate drive.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide such 'an electric shaver wherein a long-hair cutter is provided without disturbing the balance of masses obtained in this type of apparatus by having the two short-hair cutters driven in opposite directions.

An additional object of the invention is to provde an apparatus of the type under discussion wherein the arrangement of the long-hair cutter is greatly simplified and its drive is reliable but much less complicated than herebefore.

Pursuant to the above objects, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of our invention resides in the provision of an electric shaver which comprises a pair of transversely spaced short-hair cutters and at least one long-hair cutter located intermediate the shorthair cutters. The long-hair cutter is movable between a retracted position in which it is retracted below the cut- 'ting level of the short-hair cutters and one or more advanced positions in which it projects at least to the cutting level of the short-hair cutters and is thus operative for cutting long hair. Drive means includes a motor and motion-transmitting means which connects the motor with the short-hair cutters, and the motion-transmitting means is also operatively associated with the long-hair cutter for driving `the same.

It is possible to use not only a single long-hair cutter but two thereof in which case each long-hair cutter is associated with one of the short-hair cutters, which is to say that the long-hair cutter is coupled for driving movement with the drive means of one of the short-hair cutters. Advantageously each long-hair cutter is coupled for driving movement with the driving means of the short-hair cutter to which it is closest.

The novel features which are considered as characteristie for the invention are set forth in particular in the 'appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its constructon and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specic embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The single figure is a somewhat diagrammatic sectional side elevation of an apparatus embodying our invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail it will be seen that components not necessary for an understanding of the invention have either been omitted or shown diagrammatically. The drawing illustrates the upper part of an electric shaver in a vertical section taken in a plane transversely to the elongation of the cutting heads. The shorthair cutters are identified with reference numerals 1 and 10 and are elongated in a plane normal to the plane of the drawing. Such cutters are already well known in the art. Shear foils 2 and 20 respectively overlie the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 which latter can be constructed in known manner of a plurality of cutter blades mounted on or integral with a frame or the like. The shear-foils are very thin foils which are provided with a great number of perforations through which the hairI or beard stubble can come into contact with the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 respectively. In the illustrated embodiment the shear foils 2 and 20 are connected with their respectively opposite ends at the outer housing wall as shown, and inthe interior of the housing. However, it would also be possible to utilize a single shear foil overlying both of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 in which case the shear foil would of course have to be provided in the middle with suitable openings for the long-hair cutters which are still to be described. The outer contour of the shaving head of the apparatus is identified with reference numeral 21. At their outer ends, that is those which are connected with the outer wall of the housing, the shear foils 2 and 20 are so mounted in known manner as to have a certain freedom of movement so that they can conform themselves to the contours and movements of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 which are pressed against the shear foils 2 and 20 from below under the biasing action of springs 3` and 30 each of which is associated with one of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10.

In accordance with the present invention we further provide, located intermediate the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 and extending in longitudinal parallelism therewith, two long-hair cutters 4 and 40 of the type known from hair cutting machines. Such cutters are well known and are not believed to require a detailed discussion. A single one of these long-hair cutters could also be provided but we have chosen to illustrate an embodiment where two of them are provided.

The long-hair cutters 4 and 40 do not extend in parallelism with one another as far as their cutting portions are concerned; rather, the cutting portions extend substantially tangentially to the contour of the respectively associated short-hair cutter, that is either the one identified with reference numeral 1 or the one identified with reference numeral 10. Because of the way the cutting portions of the long-hair cutters 4 and 40 diverge from one another, there is a space of substantially conical cross section left between them which is filled and covered Itowards the exterior by the member 5 or an analogous member. This protects the long-hair cutters 4 and 40 when they are retracted, but it will be seen that the member 5 is so constructed that when the long-hair cutters 4 and 40 are to be used and consequently are to be moved outwardly, they will project beyond the upper exposed surface of the member 5.

The long-hair cutters 4 and 40 are in this embodiment lshown as capable of shifting movement between three positions in one of which they are retracted to or below the cutting level of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10, so that the long-hair cutters 4 and 40` are not operative. In the second position in which they are partially advanced and which is shown in the drawing, they extend to the cutting level of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 and serve during use of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 to cut off any long hairs. In this position each of the long-hair cutters serves as a pre-cutter or pre-trimmer of long hairs for the short-hair cutter which is farther spaced from it. In other words, if the shaver is moved over the skin of the user from left towards the right hand side of the drawing, then the long-hair cutter 40 will serve to pre-trim longer hair to shorter length ahead of the short-hair cutter 1 which subsequently will then completely remove the thusytrimmed longer hair together with the beard stubble. The third position, which is not shown, permits the long-hair cutters 4 and 40 to extend still farther outwardly than illustrated so that they can be used as hair trimmers to trim the contour of the hair, for instance of sideburns, at the neck or the like.

The drive means for the apparatus is shown only diagrammatically. It will be seen that there is provided an electric motor and a shaft 6, `60` which may be of onepiece 0r of two-piece construction. Swing-levers or pivot levers 7, 70 are mounted on the shaft, or rather on the shaft sections `6 and 60, respectively, in the illustrated embodiment. The levers or motion-transmitting members 7, 70 are actuated in known manner by the electric drive, for instance inuenceable by a magnet in known manner, and are each associated with one of the short-hair cutters 1, 10. It should be understood that they provide oscillatory reciprocation of the short-hair cutters 1 and 10 in direction normal to the plane of the drawing.

Each of the levers 7, 70 is provided with a pin or

projection

71 and 710, respectively, which engage into respective recesses 41 and 410 of the movable cutter member of the respectively associated long-hair cutter 4, 40. Thus, the movable components of the long-hair cutters 4, 40 are also given oscillatory reciprocation in direction normal to the plane of the drawing. They are, in other words, constantly driven even when retracted. The dimensions of the recesses 41 and 410 in vertical direction of the drawing are such as to permit the movement between the retracted and the two advanced positions of the longhair cutters 4, 40. It will be appreciated, of course, that instead of the constant drive of the long-hair cutters 4, 40 it would be possible to provide for selective coupling of 4 the long-hair cutters with the

respective pins

71 and 710; this is well within the skill of those conversant 'with the art. The rivet 50 indicates that both long-hair cutters can be constructed as a single unit.

While the provision of the long-hair cutters in the manner according to the present invention does not provide for better cutting of long hair than is known from the art, it is emphasized that it is a lsolution which in the particular type of electric shaver with which the invention is concemed has not heretofore been proposed, that it is a most simple and effective solution, and that it provides for very good balancing of the moving masses and thus facilitates the use of Ithe shaver.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in an electric shaver, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made wthout departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

We claim:

1. An electric shaver comprising, in combination, a pair of transversely spaced short-hair cutters; a pair of discrete long-hair cutters located intermediate said shorthair cutters and movable between a retracted position in which they are retracted below the cutting level of said short-hair cutters and at least one advanced position in which they project at least to the cutting level of said short-hair cutters; and drive means including a motor and motion-transmitting means connecting the same ywith said short-hair cutters for driving the sa-me in mutually opposite directions, said motion-transmitting means being operatively associated also with said 1onghair cutters for driving the same.

2. An electric shaver as defined in claim 1, wherein said short-hair cutters and said long-hair cutters are each elongated and extend in longitudinal parallelism with one another.

3. An electric shaver as defined in claim 1, said motiontransrnitting means `comprising two motion-transmitting elements each associated with one of said short-hair cutters, and wherein said long-hair cutters are operatively associated with one of said elements.

4. An electric shaver as defined in claim 1, both of said long-hair cutters extend in substantial longitudinal parallelism and are each operatively associated with one of said elements.

5. An electric shaver as defined in claim 4, each of said long-hair cutters being operatively associated with that one of said elements which drives the short-hair cutter closer to the respective long-hair cutter.

6. An electric shaver as defined in claim 3, each longhair cutter having a movable cutter blade located in a plane inclined with reference to a plane of symmetry extending between and in parallelism with said short-hair cutters.

7. An electric shaver as defined in claim 6, wherein said cutter blade of the respective long-hair cutter is inclined towards that one of said short-hair cutters which is driven by said one element.

8. An electric shaver as defined in claim 7, wherein said cutter blade extends substantially taugentially of said one short-hair cutter.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,574,317 11/1951 Berg 30-34.1

OTHELL M. SIMPSON, Primary Examiner