WO2017029382A1

WO2017029382A1 - Automatic hair curler

Info

Publication number: WO2017029382A1
Application number: PCT/EP2016/069655
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yong Xiao; Mianjia WEI
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.; Shenzhen Fenda Technology Co., Ltd
Priority date: 2015-08-19
Filing date: 2016-08-18
Publication date: 2017-02-23
Also published as: WO2017031417A1; US20200196728A1; KR102045163B1; CN204994825U; CA2995481C; CA3061101A1; KR102203380B1; WO2017028538A1; KR20180031078A; KR20190128006A; CA2995481A1

Abstract

An automatic hair curler, comprising: a handle (10); a housing (20), a heat generating barrel (30), a rotating component (40) rotatable around the heat generating barrel (30), a driving device to drive the rotating component (40), and a hair curling cavity having an opening at an upper end being formed between an inner surface of the rotating component (40) and an outer surface of the heat generating barrel (30), an upper end of the housing (20) having a notch (21) which extends downwardly from a top end face of the housing (20) and is configured to place hair, the notch (21) communicating with the opening of the hair curling cavity (60); hair wrapping portions (41, 41') provided on the rotating component (40) to wrap the hair around the heat generating barrel (30) when the rotating component (40) is rotating. In operation, hair is placed in the notch provided in the housing (20) and can enter the hair curling cavity (60) from the notch, and hair can be wrapped around the heat generating barrel (30) when the rotating component (40) rotates so that an automatic curling can be realized and the operation is made simple; in addition, the heat generating barrel (30) can be effectively prevented from scalding users, thus making it safer to use the hair curler.

Description

AUTOMATIC HAIR CURLER

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to the technical field of hairdressing and styling tools, and specifically to an automatic hair curler. BACKGROUND ART

With social development, hairdressing and styling have already become a lifestyle in which people pursue beauty; therefore, various hairdressing tools are emerging, such as hair straightener, hair curler, etc. The hair curler is a hand-held electronic product that mainly comprises a handle and a heat generating barrel. The design of the hair curler uses a circuit board to control temperature. The material of heat generating barrel may be a tourmaline ceramic panel, which can disperse heat evenly, perform heating circularly, improve protein structure of hair so as to make curvature, and protect hair quality during the processing of hair perming and curling.

In the market, hair curlers can be divided into two classes according to the way of use, i.e., manual hair curler and semi-automatic hair curler, and the heat generating portion of the hair curler is generally exposed outside, which will easily cause a scald during use. The manual hair curler, if used at home by the user himself/herself, will require someone's help so as to fulfill hair curling, thus making the operation inconvenient. The semi-automatic hair curler, if used by the user himself/herself, has to be chosen as a hair curler with clips. A hair curler without clips is not easy to operate for the user himself/herself, and thus presents certain limitations during use.

SUMMARY

In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, an object of the invention is to provide an automatic hair curler which can realize automatic hair curling and improve curling efficiency while being easy to operate. The invention is defined by claim 1 ; the dependent claims define advantageous embodiments.

In order to realize the above objective, the invention employs the following technical solution: An automatic hair curler, comprising: a handle; a housing disposed on the handle, a heat generating barrel disposed on the handle and a rotating component fitted around the heat generating barrel and rotatable relative to the heat generating barrel, a hair curling cavity having an opening at an upper end being formed between an inner surface of the rotating component and an outer surface of the heat generating barrel, an upper end of the housing being provided with a notch which extends downwardly from a top end face of the housing and is configured to place hair, the notch communicating with the opening of the hair curling cavity; and wherein the rotating component is provided with hair wrapping portions which are configured to guide hair so that the hair is wrapped around the heat generating barrel when the rotating component is rotating; and a driving device which is configured to drive the rotating component to rotate relative to the heat generating barrel. Preferably, the driving device comprises an electric motor installed on the handle, an installation shaft fixedly connected to the handle, a bearing for pivotably connecting the rotating component to the installation shaft, and a gear which is fixed to the rotating component and is synchronously coupled to a rotating shaft of the electric motor, and the heat generating barrel is installed at an upper end of the installation shaft. Preferably, the rotating component comprises a fitting portion and hair guiding tabs distributed at an outer periphery edge of the fitting portion, wherein the fitting portion is fitted around an outer ring of the bearing and is fixedly connected to the outer ring of the bearing, and the hair curling cavity is located between inner surfaces of the hair guiding tabs and an outer surface of the heat generating barrel. Preferably, the hair wrapping portions are formed of protrusions that project from a side wall of the hair guiding tab, and an inner wall of the hair guiding tab is provided with a positioning elastic element.

Preferably, an upper end of the hair guiding tab is provided with an elastic piece that is gradually inclined outwardly from bottom to top, and the hair guiding tab is located at a joint of the hair guiding tab and the elastic piece.

Preferably, the automatic hair curler further comprises a cap installed at a top end of the heat generating barrel, and an outer surface of the cap is a cone surface or a flat dome surface.

The invention brings about the following technical effects. Compared to the prior art, the automatic hair curler according to the invention is provided with a notch in the housing so that hair can be placed in the notch. Since the notch communicates with the opening of the hair curling cavity, the hair placed in the notch can enter the hair curling cavity; during the rotation of the rotating component, hair can be wrapped around the heat generating barrel so that an automatic curling can be realized and the operation is made simple; in addition, the provision of the housing and the rotating component can each effectively prevent the heat generating barrel from scalding users, thus making it safer to use the hair curler.

These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is a schematic structure view of an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a schematic sectional structure view of an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 3 is a schematic structure view of an embodiment of the rotating component of the invention; and

Fig. 4 is a schematic structure view of another embodiment of the rotating component of the invention,

Overview of reference signs used in the drawings: 10 handle; 20 housing; 21 notch; 30 heat generating barrel; 31 cap; 40 rotating component; 41, 41 ' hair wrapping portions; 42 positioning elastic element; 43 fitting portion; 44 hair guiding tab; 45 elastic piece; 51 electric motor; 52 installation shaft; 53 gear; 54 bearing; 60 hair curling cavity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

As shown in Figs. 1-4, an automatic hair curler comprises a handle 10, a hair curling assembly installed on the handle 10, and a driving device 51-54. In use, under the action of the driving device, the hair curling assembly begins to operate and accomplishes curling process. Since the user holds the handle 10, a scald can be prevented.

The hair curling assembly comprises a housing 20, a heat generating barrel 30 and a rotating component 40, wherein the rotating component 40 is provided with hair wrapping portions 41 for paddling hair. Specifically, both the heat generating barrel 30 and the housing 20 are fixed on the handle 10, and the rotating component 40 is fitted around the heat generating barrel 30, and can rotate relative to the heat generating barrel 30 when driven by the above driving device; meanwhile, a hair curling cavity 60 for curling the hair can be formed between an outer surface of the heat generating barrel 30 and an inner surface of the rotating component 40, and the hair curling cavity 60 is opened at its upper end. In addition, a notch 21 which communicates with an opening of the hair curling cavity 60 is provided in the housing 20, and the notch 21 extends downwardly from a top end face of the housing 20. In this way, when in use by the user, the hair can be placed into the hair curling cavity 60 from the notch 21. Then the rotating component 40 begins to rotate when driven by the above driving device. Since both the housing 20 and the installation shaft 52 are fixed relative to the handle 10, hair wrapping portions 41, 41 ' disposed on the rotating component 40 can wrap the hair around the heat generating barrel 30 as the rotating component 40 rotates, and the hair wrapped around the heat generating barrel 30 can be curled during a continuous heat generating process of the heat generating barrel 30. Moreover, the provision of the housing 20 and the rotating component 40 can each effectively isolate the user from a heat source of the heat generating barrel 30 and prevent the heat generating barrel 30 from scalding the user during hair curling process, thus making it safer to use the hair curler.

Preferably, the driving device comprises an electric motor 51, an installation shaft 52, a bearing 54 and a gear 53. Specifically, the electric motor 51 is installed on the handle 10, the gear 53 is fixedly connected to the rotating component 40 and is synchronously coupled to a rotating shaft of the electric motor 51 ; moreover, the installation shaft 52 is fixed to the handle 10 and the heat generating barrel 30 is fixed at an upper end of the installation shaft 52, and the bearing 54 pivotably connects the rotating component 40 to the installation shaft 52. As such, when driven by the electric motor 51, the gear 53 begins to rotate so that the rotating component 40 can stably rotate relative to the heat generating barrel 30 under the action of the gear 53 and the bearing 54. Preferably, the rotating component 40 comprises a sleeve-fitting portion 43 and hair guiding tabs 44, wherein the hair guiding tabs 44 are distributed at an outer periphery edge of the sleeve-fitting portion 43, and the sleeve-fitting portion 43 is sleeve fitted around an outer ring of the bearing 54 and is fixedly connected to the outer ring of the bearing 54. The hair curling cavity 60 can be formed by inner surfaces of the hair guiding tabs 44 and an outer surface of the heat generating barrel 30 that are spaced apart, thus obtaining a more stable structure. Further, specifically, the hair wrapping portions 41, 41 ' can be formed by protrusions that project from a side wall of the hair guiding tab 44 so as to better wrap the hair; at the same time, a positioning elastic element 42 is disposed at an inner wall of the hair guiding tab 44 so that the hair can be wrapped around the heat generating barrel 30 more smoothly during the hair curling process and a better curling effect can be realized.

Of course, the rotating component can also use the structure shown in Fig. 4, in which an upper end of the hair guiding tab 44 is provided with an elastic piece 45 which is gradually inclined outwardly from bottom to top. The elastic piece 45 has certain flexibility so that it can sway when the rotating component 40 rotates, which will also have a certain combing effect on the hair, and thus the hair can be more smoothly wrapped around the heat generating barrel 30. On this basis, the hair wrapping portions 41, 41 ' can be disposed at a joint of the hair guiding tab 44 and the elastic piece 45. Of course, both the elastic element and the elastic piece can be made of silicone or materials having elasticity such as rubber block, gum block or the like.

Preferably, the automatic curler further comprises a cap 31 installed at a top end of the heat generating barrel 30. The outer surface of the cap 31 is a cone surface which can provide a good guidance for the hair during the curling process. Alternatively, the outer surface of the cap 31 is a flat dome surface, which prevents user from accidentally touching the tip of the cone and get burnt.

In light of the above described technical solutions and concepts, various other modifications and variations can be made by those skilled in the art accordingly, and all these modifications and variations will fall within the scope of protection of the present invention. In the claims, reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. The word "a" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. A controller of the hair curler of the invention may be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements, and/or by means of a suitably programmed processor. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Claims

Claims:

1. An automatic hair curler, comprising:

a handle (10);

a housing (20) having one end disposed on the handle (10), and a free end opposite to the one end that is disposed on the handle (10),

a heat generating barrel (30) having one end disposed on the handle (10), and a free end away from the handle (10), and

a rotating component (40) rotatable around the heat generating barrel (30),

a driving device (51-54) to drive the rotating component (40) to rotate around the heat generating barrel (30); and

a hair curling cavity (60) having an opening at the free end of the heat generating barrel (30), and being formed between an inner surface of the rotating component (40) and an outer surface of the heat generating barrel (30), the free end of the housing (20) being provided with a notch (21) which extends from the free end of the housing (20) towards the one end that is disposed on the handle (10), which notch (21) is configured to place hair, the notch (21) communicating with the opening of the hair curling cavity (60); and wherein the rotating component (40) is provided with hair wrapping portions (41, 41 ') to wrap the hair around the heat generating barrel (30) when the rotating component (40) is rotating.

2. The automatic hair curler according to claim 1, wherein the driving device (51-54) comprises an electric motor (51) installed on the handle (10), an installation shaft (52)_fixedly connected to the handle (10), a bearing (54) for pivotably connecting the rotating component (40) to the installation shaft (52), and a gear (53) fixed to the rotating component (40) and synchronously coupled to a rotating shaft of the electric motor (51), wherein the heat generating barrel (30) is installed at an upper end of the installation shaft (52).

3. The automatic hair curler according to claim 2, wherein the rotating component (40) comprises a fitting portion (43) and hair guiding tabs (44) distributed at an outer periphery edge of the fitting portion (43), wherein the fitting portion (43) is fitted around an outer ring of the bearing (54) and is fixedly connected to the outer ring of the bearing (54), and the hair curling cavity (60) is located between inner surfaces of the hair guiding tabs (44) and the outer surface of the heat generating barrel (30).

4. The automatic hair curler according to claim 3, wherein each hair wrapping portion (41, 41 ') is formed of a protrusion that projects from a side wall of a respective one of the hair guiding tabs (44), and an inner wall of the hair guiding tabs (44) is provided with a positioning elastic element (42).

5. The automatic hair curler according to claim 3 or 4, wherein a free end of the hair guiding tabs (44) is provided with an elastic piece (45) that is gradually inclined outwardly from a part relatively close to the fitting portion (43) to a part away from the fitting portion (43), and the hair wrapping portions (41, 41 ') are located at a joint of the hair guiding tab (44) and the elastic piece (45).

6. The automatic hair curler according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a cap at the free end of the heat generating barrel (30), wherein an outer surface of the cap is a cone surface.

7. The automatic hair curler according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a cap at the free end of the heat generating barrel (30), wherein an outer surface of the cap is a flat dome surface.