Surgery – Instruments – Means for removal of skin or material therefrom
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-17
2003-12-30
Shaver, Kevin (Department: 3732)
Surgery
Instruments
Means for removal of skin or material therefrom
Reexamination Certificate
active
06669704
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND ART
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a hand-held epilating device, and more particularly to such a device having a rotary cylinder carrying a plurality of hair pinching rows arranged around an axis of the rotary cylinder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,559 discloses a prior art epilating device which has a rotary cylinder carrying a pair of hair pinching rows spaced circumferentially around the rotary cylinder. Each of the pinching rows includes a plurality of stationary blades and a plurality of movable blades which are arranged along the lengthwise direction of the rotary cylinder with the tow adjacent movable blades disposed on opposites of each stationary blade. The movable blades in each pinching row are supported to a pair of actuator bars which are driven to counter-reciprocate along the longitudinal axis of the rotary cylinder in order to shift the movable blades towards the adjacent stationary blades for pinching the body hairs between the blades. Subsequently, the pinched hairs are plucked from a user's skin as the rotary cylinder rotates. In order to catch the hairs between the blades as well as to release the plucked hairs, the actuator bars in each pinching row is urged by a return spring to move the movable blades away from the adjacent stationary bars prior to and subsequent to pinching the hairs. The spring is required between the counter-reciprocating actuator bars in each pinching row. That is, each pinching row necessitates one return spring. Consequently, as the number of the pinching rows increases, a correspondingly increased number of the springs have to be incorporated in the rotary cylinder, which incurs difficulty of assembling the increased number of the springs into the rotary cylinder. Therefore, it has not been practical to provide a large number of the pinching rows yet using the return springs for each of the pinching rows.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above insufficiency to provide an improved epilating device which is capable of realizing an increased number of the pinching rows around a rotary cylinder with a minimum number of return springs. The epilating device in accordance with the present invention includes a housing to be grasped by a hand of a user, and a rotary cylinder mounted to the housing and having a longitudinal axis. The rotary cylinder carries a plurality of pinching row units which are circumferentially spaced about the longitudinal axis. Each pinching row units includes at least one set of blades arranged along the longitudinal axis of the cylinder. Also included in the rotary cylinder are a plurality of actuator bars which are arranged circumferentially about the longitudinal axis and are associated with the pinching rows, respectively. Each of the actuator bars extends through the rotary cylinder and is driven to shift along the longitudinal axis. Each actuator is connected to move at least one of the blades in each pinching row unit against and away from the adjacent stationary blade for catching and pinching the body hairs therebetween. A drive mechanism is provided for driving the actuator bars to reciprocate along longitudinal axis while rotating the rotary cylinder about the longitudinal axis for pinching the body hairs between the adjacent blades and plucking the hairs from the user's skin. The distinguishing feature of the present invention resides in that all the circumferentially spaced actuator bars are coupled commonly to a single return spring so as to be urged thereby in a direction of moving the blades away from the adjacent blade. Accordingly, an increased number of the pinching rows can be realized around the rotary cylinder only with the use of a minimum number of the return spring.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide the epilating device which is capable of achieving efficient hair plucking due to the increased number of the pinching row units around the rotary cylinder, yet ensuring to moving the movable blades away from the adjacent stationary blades by the use of the return spring for successfully catching the hairs with increased hair trapping efficiency.
In a preferred embodiment, the return spring includes a plurality of spring arms extending radially from a center hub secured to the rotary cylinder. Each spring arm is held in pressing engagement simultaneously with the circumferentially adjacent actuator bars for urging the bars axially outwardly of the rotary cylinder. Thus, the number of the spring arms can be half that of the circumferentially arranged pinching units, thereby simplifying the structure of the return spring.
The spring arm is U-shaped to have a first radial segment extending from the hub and a second radial segment which extends from the outer radial end of said first radial segment through an arc segment and projects radially inwardly from the arc segment. The second radial segment is utilized to be held in pressing engagement commonly with the two circumferentially adjacent actuator bars. With this U-shaped configuration, the second radial segment can be given an effective spring length which is sufficiently long relative to a radial dimension of the return spring, thereby giving a sufficient biasing force for moving the blade away from the adjacent blade only at a minimum radial dimension of the return spring.
In order to further increase the spring force, the spring arms are shaped to extend in a spiral fashion from the center hub about an axis of the hub. The hub may be formed with a hole which receives a portion of the rotary cylinder for fixedly mounting the return spring to the rotary shaft as well as for allowing an axle to pass therethrough for supporting the rotary cylinder to the housing.
Each of the actuator bars has a first end coupled to at least one blade in each set of blades and has a second end projecting on one longitudinal end face of the rotary cylinder in an opposing relation to a cam roller which is included in the drive mechanism. The cam roller is positioned to be in selective contact with the second ends of the actuator bars in such a manner as to move the actuator bars in a direction of pinching the body hairs between the blades as the rotary cylinder rotates about the longitudinal axis. The second end of each actuator bar is shaped to extend circumferentially about the longitudinal axis give an arcuate flange. The arcuate flanges of the circumferentially adjacent actuator bars are partially overlapped with each other in a radial direction of the rotary cylinder such that the overlapped portions of the arcuate flanges come simultaneously into contact with the cam roller. In this connection, each spring arm of the return spring is engaged with the radially overlapped portions of the arcuate flanges of the two circumferentially adjacent actuator bars. With this arrangement, the arcuate flanges of the adjacent actuator bars come into simultaneous contact with the cam roller to keep pinching the hairs over a prolonged period during which the cylinder continues rotating to pluck the hair successfully. Therefore, it is possible to arrange an increased number of the pinching rows around the rotary cylinder of a limited diameter, yet assuring to make the hair plucking successfully.
It is preferred that each of said arcuate flanges is formed at its opposite ends with receding slant faces away from the cam roller in order to reduce an impact when the actuator bars come into contact with the cam roller, thereby assuring smooth closing and opening movement of the blades and therefore reduced-in-noise operation.
In a preferred embodiment, each pinching row units includes a plurality of stationary blades and a corresponding number of movable blades which are arranged alternately in a direction parallel to said longitudinal axis. An advantageous feature associated with this embodiment resides in that the two longitudinally adjacent stationary blades in each of said pinching row units are integrally shaped from
Inoue Tomoyuki
Iwasaki Jyuzaemon
Sueyoshi Hidekazu
Yanagi Kotaro
Matsushita Electric & Works Ltd.
Priddy Michael B.
Shaver Kevin
LandOfFree
Hand-held epilating device does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Hand-held epilating device, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Hand-held epilating device will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3128249