Cutlery – Razors – With cooperating shearing blades
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-20
2002-10-08
Peterson, Kenneth E. (Department: 3724)
Cutlery
Razors
With cooperating shearing blades
C030S043600, C030S346510
Reexamination Certificate
active
06460252
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rotary electric shavers.
2. Prior Art
A conventional typical rotary electric shaver is shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
.
The electric shaver
10
is comprised of a main body case
16
and a shaver head
24
. The main body case
16
is made of a synthetic resin and is held in the hand during shaving. Inside this main body case
16
is installed a motor
12
, a power supply switch
14
and a power supply (not shown in the figures) that supplies electric power to the motor
12
, etc. The shaver head
24
is detachably mounted to the upper end of the main body case
16
, and it contains outer cutters
18
, inner cutters
20
, inner cutter bases
22
used for the inner cutters
20
, etc.
The electric shaver
10
of
FIGS. 6 and 7
is provided with three outer cutters
18
installed in the shaver head
24
, and the centers of the outer cutters are positioned roughly at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. However, there is no restrictions on the number of outer cutters
18
.
Inner cutter drive shafts
28
, made of a synthetic resin and used to transmit the rotational force of the motor
12
to the inner cutters
20
of the shaver head
24
, are installed in a number equal to the number of the inner cutters
20
. The inner cutter drive shafts
28
protrude from a cutter receiving base
26
. The cutter receiving base
26
is made of a synthetic resin and is attached so as to cover the opening in the upper portion of the main body case
16
. When the shaver head
24
is attached to the main body case
16
(more specifically to the cutter receiving base
26
of the main body case
16
), the tip ends of the inner cutter drive shafts
28
are connected by interlocking engagement to the inner cutter bases
22
to which the inner cutters
20
are attached. As a result, the inner cutters
20
receive a rotational force from the inner cutter drive shafts
28
and are rotated as a unit with the inner cutter drive shafts
28
.
The structures of the respective components described above will be detailed below.
First, the shaver head
24
comprises: a cutter frame
30
made of a synthetic resin, outer cutters
18
made of metal, outer cutter holder
32
made of a synthetic resin so as to hold the outer cutters
18
, inner cutters
20
made of metal, inner cutter bases
22
made of a synthetic resin and to which the inner cutters
20
are attached, and a cutter retaining plate
34
made of a synthetic resin so as to rotatably hold the inner cutters
20
.
The outer cutters
18
are made of metal and formed in the shape of inverted cylindrical bodies. The outer cutters
18
thus have a bottom and a low overall height (so as to be in an inverted saucer or cap shape). The upper-surface portion of each outer cutter which comes into contact with the skin has an annular outer hair entry region V and an annular inner hair entry region W. The hair entry region W is concentric to the inside of the outer hair entry region V. A positioning/engaging portion
36
(formed as an engaging recess for example) is formed in the undersurface of the region X which is inside the inner hair entry region W. The positioning/engaging portion
36
prevents wobbling of the rotating shaft of each inner cutter
20
with respect to the corresponding outer cutter
18
by way of making an interlocking engagement with the end of the inner cutter base.(described later) so that the inner cutter
20
consistently rotates concentrically with the outer cutter
18
.
A plurality of hair entry openings
40
are formed in the hair entry regions V and W. In
FIG. 6
, the hair entry openings
40
are slit-form openings that extend from the outer-circumferential sides to the inner-circumferential sides of the respective hair entry regions V and W. The hair entry openings
40
, however, may be scattered small round, oval or slot-form openings.
The surfaces of the respective hair entry regions V and W are made flat. In the outer cutters
18
shown in
FIG. 7
, the respective hair entry regions V and W are formed so that the hair entry regions are positioned on the same plane.
The outer cutters
18
are set in the outer cutter holder
32
that are made of a synthetic resin so that the outer cutters
18
are not rotatable and the amount of protrusion of the outer cutters
18
from the outer cutter holder
32
is changeable. The outer cutters
18
are tiltable in all directions within a specified angular range inside the outer cutter holder
32
.
The outer cutters
18
are mounted in the cutter frame
30
together with the outer cutter holder
32
so that the upper end surfaces of the outer cutters
18
protrude from outer cutter holes
42
formed in the cutter frame
30
. The internal diameters of the outer cutter holes
42
are slightly larger than the external diameters of the outer cutters
18
. Accordingly, the outer cutters
18
are provided in the cutter frame
30
so that the amount of protrusion of the outer cutters
18
from the cutter frame
30
may change when the outer cutters
18
are moved along the axes of the outer cutter holes
42
. The outer cutters
18
are tiltable within a specified angular range in all directions with respect to the axes of the outer cutter holes
42
.
The metal inner cutters
20
are U-shaped or Y-shaped inner cutter bodies
20
b,
and the tip ends thereof are bifurcated and disposed uprightly at equal angular intervals on the outer edge portion of an annular body
20
a.
Of the respective tip ends formed by the bifurcation of each inner cutter body
20
b,
the tip end on the outer side contacts the inside surface of the outer hair entry region V of the corresponding outer cutter
18
, while the tip end on the inner side contacts the inside surface of the inner hair entry region W of the corresponding outer cutter
18
. When the inner cutters
20
rotate, the tip ends of the respective inner cutter bodies
20
b
are rotated while making sliding contact with the inside surfaces of the respective hair entry regions V and W of the corresponding outer cutters
18
.
The cutter retaining plate
34
holds the inner cutters
20
. The retaining plate
34
, made of a synthetic resin material, is comprised of attachment rings
34
a,
which are equal in number to the inner cutters
20
, and a supporting frame
34
b,
which connects these attachment rings
34
a
into an integral unit. Anchoring portions
48
are disposed on the inner circumferential surfaces of the attachment rings
34
a
so as to protrude toward the axes of the attachment rings
34
a.
An attachment screw
50
, which is used to attach the cutter retaining plate
34
to the cutter frame
30
is disposed in the center of the cutter retaining plate
34
.
The structure for holding the inner cutters
20
by the cutter retaining plate
34
will be described below.
The inner cutter bases
22
to which the inner cutters
20
are fastened are formed in a columnar shape using a synthetic resin material. An inner cutter
20
is fastened to one end (the upper end in
FIG. 7
) of each inner cutter base
22
; and a flange
52
is formed around the outer circumferential surface of the other end (the lower end in
FIG. 7
) of each inner cutter base
22
. A positioning/engaging portion
38
(formed as an engaging projection, for example) which engages with a positioning/engaging portion
36
formed in the corresponding outer cutter
18
is formed in the center of the first end of each inner cutter base
22
. The radius of the flange
52
of each inner cutter base
22
is greater than the distance from axis (center) of the corresponding attachment ring
34
a
to the inside tip end of the anchoring portions
48
formed on the inner circumferential surface of the attachment ring
34
a.
Also, the radius of the portions of the inner cutter base
22
other than the flange
52
is smaller than the distance from the axis of the attachment ring
34
a
to the inside tip end the anchoring portion
48
. An engaging recess
56
is formed on the end surface of the other end of each inner cutter base
Flores Sánchez Omar
Izumi Products Company
Koda & Androlia
Peterson Kenneth E.
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