Baths – closets – sinks – and spittoons – Hair washing machine or device or accessory
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-03
2001-08-07
Huson, Greogory L. (Department: 3751)
Baths, closets, sinks, and spittoons
Hair washing machine or device or accessory
C004S517000, C004S601000, C004S603000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06269492
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an automatic hair washer which is installed in a beauty salon, a barbershop or the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 3
is a diagram illustrating a structure of a prior art automatic hair washer.
In the figure, reference numeral
1
denotes a mixing tank for mixing water and hot water which is transmitted from an external water supply and an external hot water supply, via a curb stop, a strainer, and a check valve (which are not shown), to prepare wash water having a temperature suitable for hair washing. Numeral
2
denotes a motor valve. Numeral
3
denotes a hot water storing tank for storing the wash water supplied from the mixing tank
1
via the motor valve
2
. Numeral
4
denotes a thermistor provided at a lower position in the hot water storing tank
3
to measure a temperature of the wash water in the hot water storing tank
3
. Numeral
5
denotes a float switch for detecting an amount of the wash water in the hot water storing tank
3
. Numeral
6
denotes a hot water supplying pump for pumping out wash water from the hot water storing tank
3
. Numeral
7
denotes a valve for hand shower. Numeral
8
denotes a drawable hand shower used for washing off hairs, shampoo agent, or conditioner agent which are attached to a cistern, or in finishing hair washing. Character A
1
denotes a hot water supply pipe, one end of which is connected to the hot water supplying pump
6
, to lead the wash water pumped out by the hot water supplying pump
6
. Numeral
9
denotes a draining electromagnetic valve provided in midway in the hot water supply pipe A
1
to drain unnecessary wash water. Characters S
1
to S
12
denote shower heads, each being connected to an end of the branched hot water supply pipe A
1
, to spout wash water. Numerals
10
a
to
10
k
denote hot water supplying electromagnetic valves for supplying the wash water to the shower heads S
1
to S
12
and nozzle heads N
1
to N
6
by opening operations, and stopping the supply of the wash water by closing operations. Numeral
11
denotes a shampoo tank for storing shampoo agent. Numeral
12
denotes a conditioner tank for storing conditioner agent. Numeral
13
denotes a shampoo supplying pump for pumping out shampoo agent from the shampoo tank
11
. Numeral
14
denotes a conditioner supplying pump for pumping out conditioner agent from the conditioner tank
12
. Numerals
15
and
16
denote check valves. Characters N
1
to N
6
denote the nozzle heads, each being connected to an end of the branched hot water supply pipe A
1
, to spout the wash water mixed with the shampoo agent or the conditioner agent which is pumped out from the shampoo tank
11
or the conditioner tank
12
. Numeral
20
denotes a hot water supplying pump control unit for controlling the output of the hot water supplying pump
6
to change amounts of the wash water supplied to the shower heads S
1
to S
12
and the nozzle heads N
1
to N
6
.
FIGS. 4
to
6
are diagrams schematically illustrating a structure of the cistern of the prior art automatic hair washer.
FIG. 4
is a plan view,
FIG. 5
is a longitudinal sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along a line V—V of
FIG. 4
, and
FIG. 6
is a longitudinal sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along a line V
1
—V
1
of FIG.
4
.
In the figures, the same reference numerals and characters as those in
FIG. 3
denote the same or corresponding parts. Numeral
31
denotes a cistern into which a person
35
whose hair is to be washed inserts his head. Numeral
32
denotes a cabinet. Numeral
33
denotes a neck receiving part for supporting the nape part of the person under hair washing
35
when the person inserts his head toward the cistern
31
. Numeral
34
denotes a drain outlet.
As shown in the figures, the shower heads S
1
to S
12
and the nozzle heads N
1
to N
6
are provided on inner walls of the cistern
31
, and hair washing is performed using wash water spouted from these washing nozzles. Respective washing nozzles spout the wash water toward different parts. The shower heads S
1
and S
12
wash the top of the head, the shower heads S
2
to S
5
wash the sides, the shower heads S
6
and S
11
wash the back, and the shower heads S
7
to S
10
wash the nape, respectively.
FIG. 7
is a timing chart for illustrating the opening/closing operation of the hot water supplying electromagnetic valves
10
a
to
10
k
for the shower heads S
1
to S
12
and the nozzle heads N
1
to N
6
, and the output from the hot water supplying pump
6
, in the prior art automatic hair washer.
Hereinafter, an operation of the prior art automatic hair washer will be described with reference to FIG.
7
.
First, in an initial drainage step to, cooled wash water remaining in the hot water supply pipe A
1
is spouted from the shower heads S
1
to S
12
and the nozzle heads N
1
to N
6
, via the hot water supplying electromagnetic valves
10
a
to
10
k.
Next, the operation proceeds to a preliminary washing step t
1
, and the wash water is spouted over all the hair from the shower heads S
1
to S
12
in a prescribed order, with the wash water from the shower heads overlapping each other.
Then, the operation proceeds to a shampooing step t
2
, and wash water is spouted from the shower heads S
1
to S
12
, as well as wash water mixed with shampoo agent pumped by the shampoo supplying pump
13
is spouted from the nozzle heads N
1
to N
6
.
When the shampooing step t
2
is finished, the operation proceeds to an osmosis step t
3
, a secondary washing step t
4
, a massage step t
5
, a conditioning step t
6
, and a rinsing step t
7
, and thus, the series of washing steps are completed.
As shown in
FIG. 7
, outputs from the hot water supplying pump
6
are decided in advance for the respective steps. For example, in the massage step, in order to stimulate the head, the output from the hot water supplying pump
6
and the pressure of the wash water spouted from the shower heads S
1
to S
12
are relatively high. In the conditioning step, it is not necessary that the conditioner agent reaches the head like the shampoo agent. It is sufficient for the conditioner agent to be applied to the hair. Therefore, the output from the hot water supplying pump
6
is set lower and pressures of the wash water spouted from the shower heads S
1
to S
12
and the nozzle heads N
1
to N
6
are relatively low. As described above, the outputs from hot water supplying pump
6
are changed for the respective washing steps, whereby the forces of the wash water spouted from the washing nozzles are varied.
However, when hair is washed using the prior art automatic hair washer, the output from the hot water supplying pump is kept constant for each step and the same amount of the wash water is supplied to each washing nozzle. Therefore, the amount and hydraulic pressure of the wash water spouted over the head from each washing nozzle are fixed in the prior art automatic hair washer, although the amount and pressure of the wash water is varied depending upon the part of the hair to be washed. For example, tip parts of hair are easily cleaned with a small amount of wash water, but the scalp is difficult to clean and requires massaging by forcibly scattering wash water to it. Accordingly, excessive wash water is spouted to parts where a large amount of wash water is not necessary, and thus it is uneconomical and inefficient.
Further, the head has parts which are insensitive to stimuli, such as the top of the head, or sensitive parts such as the nape part. Therefore, even if the wash water is spouted under a constant pressure, the person under hair washing feels a pain in some parts, or feels dissatisfied with the stimuli in other parts.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made to solve the above-described problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic hair washer which can wash hair in a most suitable situation for parts which are washed by respective washing nozzles and purposes of the washing nozzles.
According to
Miyoshi Hideaki
Shimizu Hirohisa
Burr & Brown
Huson Greogory L.
Huynh Khoa
Oohiro Works Ltd.
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