US3892247A

US3892247A - Electrostatic comb

Info

Publication number: US3892247A
Application number: US469318A
Authority: US
Inventors: Margaret J Andersen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1974-05-13
Filing date: 1974-05-13
Publication date: 1975-07-01
Anticipated expiration: 1992-07-01

Abstract

An electrostatic charge generating comb assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,716 is improved upon by substituting a wire having a significant resistivity for the very highly conductive wire, rearrangement of a conducting bar or wires relative to the edge of the intervening dielectric block between the conductive wire and the comb and the introduction to a flow of hot air between the bar or wire and the edge of the dielectric block.

Description

July 1, 1975 United States Patent [1 1 Andersen ELECTROSTATIC COMB [76] inventor:

[57] V ABSTRACT An electrostatic charge generating comb assembly dis- [22] Filed:

closed in US. Pat. No. 3,394,716 is improved upon by substituting a wire having a significant resistivity for the very highly conductive wire, rearrangement of a conducting bar or wires relative to the edge of the intervening dielectric block between the conductive 04 mm 14 12,25 3.x 4

AR um m H l .c Hr 8 NW a d 5nd UhF '11] 2 8 555 wire and the comb and the introduction to a flow of References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS hot air between the bar or wire and the edge of the dielectric block.

132/124 I 11/1970 34, 97 21 Chums 6 D'awmg 2.177.907 Morris 3 538 617 1 ELECTROSTATIC COMB The present invention relates to hair comb assemblies and more particularly to hair comb assemblies which generate electrostatic charges while combing hair.

In my U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,7I6, a hair comb assembly was disclosed which generated electrostatic charges in the hair during combing. This is acheived by spacing a conductive bar parallel to a comb and transfers to the teeth of the comb and further placing a dielectric block edge parallel to the conductive bar and spaced between the bar and the comb. This construction removed foreign particles from the hair and improves the body of the hair so that in some instances ratting is not necessary to give an improved appearance.

The present invention encompasses three principal methods of enhancing the electrostatic charge generating quality of the comb assembly previously disclosed in that U.S. Patent.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved electrostatic comb assembly.

A further object of the present invention is to improve the electrostatic charge generating quality of an electrostatic comb assembly by relocating the edge of a dielectric block separating the conductive bar from the comb so that it is more firmly contacting the hair during brushing.

Another object is to provide an electrostatic comb assembly which has improved electrostatic generating characteristics produced by utilizing a resistive conductive bar instead of a very highly conductive bar or wire.

Yet another object is to provide an electrostatic comb assembly of the type disclosed in my aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,716 wherein hot air is passed between the conductive bar and the electrostatic generating edge of the dielectric block.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top elevational view of one section of the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. I taken along the lines 22;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of two of the components of the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 when they are fitted together;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the lines 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional side elevational view of the modified embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a top elevational view of the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 5.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosures are to be considered as exemplifications of the principles of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention to the embodiments illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, a combination electrostatic and hot comb has a hot air generator I], a dielectric block 12 and a mounting bracket 17. The hot air generator includes a housing which has a handle portion 32 and a grill structure 21. The outer end of the handle portion 32 contains air passages and a fan for drawing air over heating elements (not shown). The heated air is ejected through the grill 21. The hot air generator illustrated corresponds to the Remington 600" manufactured by Sperry Remington Electric Shaver Division of Sperry Rand Corporation. Those skilled in the art will recognize that similar dryers of other manufacturers may be utilized. The heating elements are connected to suitable wiring which is connected to a source of cycle I 10 volts in the manner well known to those skilled in the art.

The dielectric plug 12 is made of a plastic such as Lexon manufactured by General Electric and has an outer surface 23. A hard rubber comb 22, which is also dielectric, is secured in the block 12. The comb includes a back 34 and a plurality of teeth 36 formed in tegrally with the back 34. The outer surface 23 of the dielectric block 12 forms an acute angle with an embrasure like surface 48 to form a hair engaging edge 50. This edge 50 forms a rectangle about the comb 22. The dielectric block 12 has a pair of guides 5i and 52 projecting from its ends.

The bracket 17 has four extending arms 25-28, forming an integral part thereof. An outward facing notch 55-58 is provided in each of the respective extending arms 25-28. The dielectric bar 12 slides into the bracket 17 as shown in FIGS. 2-4 with the guides SI and 52 sliding into slots provided between the pairs of arms 25-26 and 27-28 respectively. These slots are tapered so that the dielectric block will be positioned with the edge 50 extending below the wire 20 by approximately one-fourth inch. Referring to FIG. 4, when a plane is projected such as 100 from tips 37 of the tip 36, to the bar or wire 20 it may be seen that the dielectric block edge 50 lies substantially in the same plane, thus producing better contact with the hair during combing.

With the dielectric bar 12 inserted in the bracket 17 as shown in FIGS. 2-4, the

anns

27 and 28 are inserted in

apertures

67 and 68 respectively and then the

arms

25 and 26 are inserted in the apertures and 66 respectively. The

notches

57 and 58 engage projections (not shown) in the hot air generator 11 and the

notches

55 and 56 are engaged by the end of a spring loaded slide (not shown) so that the bracket 17 with the dielectric bar and comb 12 are held rigidly in place. When it is desired to remove the bracket 17, the slide bar is slid away from the

notches

55 and 56 by a rigidly attached projection 69 which protrudes through an aperture 33 of the handle portion 32. A bracket 17 is constructed of a dielectric such as plastic. A wire 20 is rigidly mounted on the lower edge of the bracket I7 when the teeth of the comb are facing downwardly. The wire 20 illustrated in the drawings is No. 20 wire having 0.6347 ohms per foot resistance. Such a wire may be Nichrome V. wire manufactured by Driver-Harris Co. having a content of 60% nickel, 16% chrome and 24% iron. Thus the wire 20 while being conductive does have a significant and recognizable resistance. I have found that by providing a resistance wire in place of extremely highly conductive wire as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,716 that the electrostatic effect on the hair is significantly improved.

A series of slots 18 on the bracket 17 align themselves with a series of slots generally indicated at 19 on the dielectric bar 12 to form a series of circular passageways through which hot air being emitted through the grate 21 is passed outwardly between the edge 50 and the resistance wire 20.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6 the same dielectric block 12 is inserted in a brush handle generally indicated as 70. A rectangular aperture 71 is provided into which the dielectric block 12 is inserted with the

guides

51 and 52 entering the

slots

71 and 72 respectively. The guide 52 is maintained in place by a projection 73 in the handle 70 and after the dielectric block I2 is inserted with the guide 52 under the projection 73, a slide 74 which is movably mounted on the handle 70 may be moved over guide 51 so that the dielectric block 12 with comb 22 is held in place. Thus the dielectric block that was used with the hot air generator unit 11 may now be used as part of a manual haircomb assembly. A wire 80 which is identical or similar to wire is mounted on the handle 70 so that it surrounds the dielectric block 12 and is spaced about one-fourth inch from the dielectric block edge 50 when the dielectric block I2 is mounted in the brush handle 70.

I have found that the constructions illustrated in the FIGS. l6 have three distinct advantages over my disclosure of an electrostatic generating hair comb disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,716. First, the electrostatic charges which are generated when the hair is combed are noticeably increased when a wire such as 20 in FIGS. 1-4 and 21 in FIGS. 56 is utilized as compared with very highly conductive wire as previously disclosed in my aforementioned US. Pat. No. 3,394,7l6. A further improvement is provided when warm or hot air is passed between the edge of the dielectric bar and the partially resistive wire 20. I have found that, when such hot air is ejected, a noticeable improvement in the electrostatic charges produced on the hair is observed. The third significant improvement is that although the spacing between the edge 50 and the wire or bar 20 remains at approximately one-fourth inch, the edge protrudes downwardly from the bar so that a better contact is made with the hair as the electrostatic bar 20 or 21 and the comb 22 slides across the hair. As aforementioned, the dielectric block edge 50 is positioned to lie substantially in the same plane as that formed by the tips 37 of the teeth 36 and the electrically conductive bar or wire 20. Thus, while the actual dimensions may be changed from one construction of an electrostatic comb assembly to another, good results will be obtained if this latter criterion of keeping the tips of the teeth, the dielectric edge, and the conductive bar substantially in the same plane.

As was explained in my aforementioned US Pat. No. 3,394,716 electrostatic charges are produced in the hair by the bar or wire 20 and the gapping between the hair engaging edge 50 and the teeth causes foreign particles to be collected on the block and the teeth of the comb. My present invention, therefore, significantly increases the electrostatic charges produced. The assembly shown in FIGS. 1-4 with hot air passing between the bar 20 and the dielectric edge 50 may be used to style the hair at home more efficiently and easily than with the assembly illustrated in my aforementioned patent. The relatively bulky hot air generating unit need not be taken outside the home. Instead the dielectric block 12 with the comb mounted therein may be removed and placed into the handle 70 as previously described and the entire assembly placed in a purse.

Therefore, at least two of the significant improvements will be available in a small compact unit that can be carried in a purse.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that hot air slots formed by the respective aligning

slots

18 and 19 may be made in other shapes for example, the air passage instead of being in a series of circular passages could be one long open passage whose width is equal to the circular passages illustrated in FIGS. 1-4. The width of the passages may be increased as desired. All such constructions are intended to be within the scope of the appended claims.

While the improvement of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4 includes means for generating a hot air flow, one modification of that structure would be to provide means for turning off the heating element and provide a selection between a hot flow of air or a flow of air at ambient air temperature. Another modification of the present invention would be to provide an assembly which produced merely a flow of air at ambient temperatures without heating elements. The friction of the flow of air between the edge on the dielectric block and the conductive bar provides improved electrostatic qualities without heating the air above an ambient tern perature. All such modifications are intended to be included in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An electrostatic comb assembly having a comb with a plurality of teeth, an elongated electrically conductive bar mounted on one side of said comb and positioned substantially transverse to the teeth of said comb, and a non-absorbent dielectric block positioned between said bar and the comb, the block having an elongated edge substantially parallel to the bar and spaced from the comb and the bar, wherein the improvement comprises,

an electrically conductive material having a recognizable resistance forming said bar.

2. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim I, wherein said electrically conductive material forming the bar is an alloy of nickel, chromium and iron.

3. An electrostatic comb assembly in accordance with claim I, wherein said bar has a resistance of approximately 0.06 ohms per foot.

4. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 1, wherein the bar is a nickel chromium alloy wire rigidly mounted on a dielectric base.

5. An electrostatic comb assembly having a comb with a plurality of teeth,

an elongated electrically conductive bar mounted on one side of said comb and positioned substantially transverse to the teeth of said comb and a nonabsorbent dielectric block positioned between said bar and the comb,

the block having an elongated edge substantially parallel to the bar and spaced from the comb and the bar, wherein the improvement comprises,

means for generating a flow of air,

and means for directing said flow of hot air between said bar and said elongated edge of said dielectric block.

6. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 5, wherein the flow of air flows over said bar and said elongated edge.

7. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 5, wherein said elongated electrically conductive bar surrounds said comb and said elongated dielectric block edge surrounds said comb,

said edge being substantially parallel to the bar and spaced between the comb and the bar.

8. An electrostatic comb assembly having a comb with a plurality of teeth,

said teeth terminating in tips,

an elongated electrically conductive bar mounted on one side of said comb and positioned substantially transverse to the teeth of said comb,

and a non-absorbent dielectric block positioned between said bar and the comb, the block having an elongated edge substantially parallel to the bar and spaced from the comb and the bar,

wherein the improvement comprises,

locating said elongated dielectric block edge approximately in a plane projected from said tooth tips to said electrically conductive bar.

9. In an electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 8, wherein said elongated electrically conductive bar completely surrounds said comb,

and said elongated dielectric block edge completely surrounds said comb, said edge being substantially parallel to the bar and spaced between the comb and the bar.

10. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 5, wherein said elongated electrically conductive bar has a recognizable resistance,

said teeth terminate in a row of tips, and

said elongated dielectric block edge is positioned approximately in a plane projected from said tooth tips to said electrically conductive bar.

11. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 5, wherein said electrically conductive bar has a recognizable resistance.

12. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 5, wherein said teeth terminate in a row, and

13. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 8, wherein said electrically conductive bar has a recognizable resistance.

14. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 10, wherein said elongated electrically conductive bar surrounds said comb, and

said elongated dielectric block edge completely surrounds said edge being substantially parallel to the bar and spaced between the comb and the bar.

15. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 10, wherein electrically conductive material forming the bar is an alloy of nickel chromium and iron.

16. An electrostatic comb assembly in accordance with claim 10, wherein said bar has a resistance of ap proximately 0.06 ohms per foot.

17. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 10, wherein the bar is a nickel chromium alloy bar which can be mounted on a dielectric base.

18. An electrostatic comb assembly comprising,

a housing having an aperture formed therein,

means for generating hot air and ejecting it through said aperture mounted in said housing,

a dielectric bracket having an electrically conductive bar mounted thereon,

a comb mounted in a dielectric block, said comb having a plurality of teeth,

an edge formed in said dielectric block spaced from said comb and positioned substantially transverse to said teeth,

means for detachably mounted said block in said bracket with said edge substantially parallel to said conductive bar,

means for detachably mounted said bracket to said housing over said aperture, and

means for directing hot air ejected from said grill between said dielectric block edge and said bar.

19. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 18, wherein said bar is constructed of an electrically conductive material having a recognizable resistance.

20. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 18, wherein said teeth terminate in a row of tips, and

21. An electrostatic comb assembly comprising,

a housing,

a dielectric bracket having an electrically conductive bar mounted thereon,

a comb mounted in a dielectric block, said comb having a plurality of teeth,

means for detachably mounting said block in said bracket with said edge substantially parallel to said conductive bar, and

means for detachably mounting said bracket to said housing.

Claims

1. An electrostatic comb assembly having a comb with a plurality of teeth, an elongated electrically conductive bar mounted on one side of said comb and positioned substantially transverse to the teeth of said comb, and a non-absorbent dielectric block positioned between said bar and the comb, the block having an elongated edge substantially parallel to the bar and spaced from the comb and the bar, wherein the improvement comprises, an electrically conductive material having a recognizable resistance forming said bar.

2. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 1, wherein said electrically conductive material forming the bar is an alloy of nickel, chromium and iron.

3. An electrostatic comb assembly in accordance with claim 1, wherein said bar has a resistance of approximately 0.06 ohms per foot.

5. An electrostatic comb assembly having a comb with a plurality of teeth, an elongated electrically conductive bar mounted on one side of said comb and positioned substantially transverse to the teeth of said comb and a non-absorbent dielectric block positioned between said bar and the comb, the block having an elongated edge substantially parallel to the bar and spaced from the comb and the bar, wherein the improvement comprises, means for generating a flow of air, and means for directing said flow of hot air between said bar and said elongated edge of said dielectric block.

7. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 5, wherein said elongated electrically conductive bar surrounds said comb and said elongated dielectric block edge surrounds said comb, said edge being substantially parallel to the bar and spaced between the comb and the bar.

8. An electrostatic comb assembly having a comb with a plurality of teeth, said teeth terminating in tips, an elongated electrically conductive bar mounted on one side of said comb and positioned substantially transverse to the teeth of said comb, and a non-absorbent dielectric block positioned between said bar and the comb, the block having an elongated edge substantially parallel to the bar and spaced from the comb and the bar, wherein the improvement comprises, locating said elongated dielectric block edge approximately in a plane projected from said tooth tips to said electrically conductive bar.

9. In an electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 8, wherein said elongated electrically conductive bar completely surrounds said comb, and said elongated dielectric block edge completely surrounds said comb, said edge being substantially parallel to the bar and spaced between the comb and the bar.

10. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 5, wherein said elongated electrically conductive bar has a recognizable resistance, said teeth terminate in a row of tips, and said elongated dielectric block edge is positioned approximately in a plane projected from said tooth tips to said electrically conductive bar.

12. An electrostatIc comb assembly as specified in claim 5, wherein said teeth terminate in a row, and said elongated dielectric block edge is positioned approximately in a plane projected from said tooth tips to said electrically conductive bar.

14. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 10, wherein said elongated electrically conductive bar surrounds said comb, and said elongated dielectric block edge completely surrounds said edge being substantially parallel to the bar and spaced between the comb and the bar.

16. An electrostatic comb assembly in accordance with claim 10, wherein said bar has a resistance of approximately 0.06 ohms per foot.

18. An electrostatic comb assembly comprising, a housing having an aperture formed therein, means for generating hot air and ejecting it through said aperture mounted in said housing, a dielectric bracket having an electrically conductive bar mounted thereon, a comb mounted in a dielectric block, said comb having a plurality of teeth, an edge formed in said dielectric block spaced from said comb and positioned substantially transverse to said teeth, means for detachably mounted said block in said bracket with said edge substantially parallel to said conductive bar, means for detachably mounted said bracket to said housing over said aperture, and means for directing hot air ejected from said grill between said dielectric block edge and said bar.

20. An electrostatic comb assembly as specified in claim 18, wherein said teeth terminate in a row of tips, and said elongated dielectric block edge is positioned approximately in a plane projected from said tooth tips to said electrically conductive bar.

21. An electrostatic comb assembly comprising, a housing, a dielectric bracket having an electrically conductive bar mounted thereon, a comb mounted in a dielectric block, said comb having a plurality of teeth, an edge formed in said dielectric block spaced from said comb and positioned substantially transverse to said teeth, means for detachably mounting said block in said bracket with said edge substantially parallel to said conductive bar, and means for detachably mounting said bracket to said housing.