Shaving system with shaving device and cleaning device

Abstract

A shaving system includes a shaving device and a cleaning device. The cleaning device includes a receiving space for receiving the shaving device and a reservoir that contains a cleaning liquid. When the shaving device is placed in a cleaning position, the shaving device and the cleaning device are arranged in a manner that the receiving space of the cleaning device receives a shaving unit of the shaving device. In this cleaning position, the devices are arranged and cooperate such that the fluid is transported from the reservoir to the receiving space, where the shaving unit is located. In this way, the shaving unit can be cleaned.

Claims

1. A cleaning device for use in a shaving system, said cleaning device comprising: a supporting structure for supporting a shaving device; a receiving space for receiving a shaving unit of the shaving device when the shaving device is arranged in a cleaning position supported by the supporting structure; and a reservoir for containing a cleaning liquid and a fluid pumping unit for transporting the cleaning liquid from the reservoir to the receiving space; and a driven coupling member and a drive unit coupled to the driven coupling member and to the fluid pumping unit such that the fluid pumping unit is drivable by the driven coupling member, wherein the driven coupling member is accessible from an outside of the cleaning device, and wherein the driven coupling member is arranged such that, in the cleaning position of the shaving device, the driven coupling member is coupled to a driving coupling member of the shaving device such that the fluid pumping unit is drivable by the driving coupling member.

2. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the driven coupling member is arranged in the receiving space.

3. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the driven coupling member is arranged centrally in a bottom wall of the receiving space.

4. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reservoir is replaceable.

5. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the reservoir is integrally formed with the cleaning device.

6. A cleaning device for use in a shaving system, said cleaning device comprising: a supporting structure for supporting a shaving device; a receiving space for receiving a shaving unit of the shaving device when the shaving device is arranged in a cleaning position supported by the supporting structure; a reservoir for containing a cleaning liquid and a fluid pumping unit for transporting the cleaning liquid from the reservoir to the receiving space; a driven coupling member and a drive unit coupled to the driven coupling member and to the fluid pumping unit such that the fluid pumping unit is drivable by the driven coupling member; and a lower housing portion and an upper housing portion detachably coupled to the lower housing portion, wherein the reservoir is arranged in the lower housing portion and accessible for replacement by removing the upper housing portion from the lower housing portion, wherein the driven coupling member is accessible from an outside of the cleaning device, and wherein the supporting structure, the receiving space, the driven coupling member and the fluid pumping unit are arranged in the upper housing portion.

7. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the drive unit is arranged in the upper housing portion.

8. A shaving system, comprising: a shaving device; and a cleaning device as claimed in claim 1.

9. A cleaning device for use in a shaving system, the cleaning device comprising: a support configured to support a shaver; and a housing having a receiving space for receiving a head of the shaver when the shaver is arranged in a cleaning position supported by the support, wherein the housing includes: a reservoir for containing a cleaning liquid and a fluid pump configured to transport the cleaning liquid from the reservoir to the receiving space, and a driven coupler and a driver coupled to the driven coupler and to the fluid pump such that the fluid pump is drivable by the driven coupler driven by a driver of the shaver.

10. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the cleaning device is operable without a powered drive unit within the cleaning device.

11. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the housing is devoid of a voltage source.

12. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the housing is devoid of an electrical motor.

13. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the driven coupler is arranged such that, in the cleaning position of the shaving device, the driven coupler is coupled to a driving coupler of the shaver such that the fluid pump is drivable by the driving coupler driven by the driver of the shaver.

14. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the driven coupler is accessible from an outside of the cleaning device.

15. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the housing includes a lower housing portion and an upper housing portion detachably coupled to the lower housing portion.

16. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the reservoir is arranged in the lower housing portion and accessible for replacement by removing the upper housing portion from the lower housing portion.

17. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the support, the receiving space, the driven coupler and the fluid pump are arranged in the upper housing portion.

18. The cleaning device as claimed in claim 15, wherein the driver and the fluid pump are arranged in the upper housing portion.

19. A shaving system, comprising: a shaving device; and a cleaning device as claimed in claim 9.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter. In the following drawings

(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a shaving system according to the invention, wherein a shaving device is placed on a support structure of a respective cleaning device;

(3) FIG. 2 shows an enlarged perspective view of the cleaning device of the shaving system of FIG. 1 without the shaving device;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of the cleaning device of FIG. 2, wherein in addition the shaving unit of the shaving device is shown in a cleaning position within the cleaning device;

(5) FIG. 4 shows the cross-sectional view according to FIG. 3, but without the shaving unit of the shaving device;

(6) FIG. 5 shows an enlarged cross-section of the shaving unit together with an associated electric actuator and a first drive unit of the shaving device of FIG. 1;

(7) FIG. 6 shows an enlarged top view of the shaving unit of the shaving device of FIG. 1 with three hair-cutting units in a first configuration with a centrally arranged driving coupling member;

(8) FIG. 7 shows three alternative embodiments of the shaving unit of the shaving device of FIG. 1, in particular three different alternative off-center positions for the driving coupling member;

(9) FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of an upper housing portion of the cleaning device of FIG. 1;

(10) FIG. 9 shows a cartridge containing a cleaning fluid that can be introduced into a lower housing portion of the cleaning device of FIG. 1;

(11) FIG. 10 shows a lower housing portion of the cleaning device of FIG. 1 with the cartridge and the upper housing portion removed;

(12) FIG. 11 again shows the upper housing portion of the cleaning device of FIG. 1 in perspective view;

(13) FIG. 12 shows the associated lower housing portion with the cartridge inserted in the lower housing portion, so that the upper housing portion as shown in FIG. 11 can be placed thereon;

(14) FIG. 13 shows a perspective view of the shaving device of the shaving system according to FIG. 1;

(15) FIG. 14 shows a schematic representation of an alternative coupling structure of the shaving device of FIG. 13 that ensures that the driving coupling member is driven only when the shaving device is arranged in the cleaning device in the cleaning position, shown in a non-coupled position; and

(16) FIG. 15 shows the coupling structure according to FIG. 14 in a coupled position, when the shaving device is in the cleaning position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(17) FIG. 1 shows a shaving system according to the invention in perspective view which is designated in total with reference numeral 10. The shaving system 10 comprises a cleaning device 14 including a supporting structure 15, whereon a shaving device 12 can be placed in a cleaning position. The cleaning device 14 comprises a pot-shaped housing 22 (see FIG. 2). A rest 16 protrudes from the top of the housing 22. The rest 16 serves to support a main housing of the shaving device 12 when the shaving device 12 is placed on the support structure 15 as shown in FIG. 1.

(18) FIG. 1 further schematically shows a detector 20 provided at the shaving device 12. The detector 20 cooperates with an associated detector activating means 18 provided on the rest 16. The detector activating means 18 may be for instance a permanent magnet that cooperates with a hall sensor serving as the detector 20 within the shaving device 12. Thus the detector 20 can detect whether the shaving device 12 is placed correctly in the cleaning position on the supporting structure 15.

(19) FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective representation of the cleaning device 14. The pot-shaped housing 22 comprises a lower housing portion 24 onto which an upper housing portion 26 is placed. The upper housing portion has a top wall 66, wherein a substantially triangular opening is formed that provides access to a receiving space 28 extending into the interior of the housing 22. The shape of the receiving space 28 corresponds to the shape of a respective shaving unit provided on the shaving device 12. When the shaving device 12 is placed with its shaving unit within the receiving space 28 as shown in FIG. 1, the main housing of the shaving device 12, which is in the shape of a handle, is supported by the rest 16.

(20) In FIG. 2, in addition a driven coupling member 30 is shown that is provided in a central position of the receiving space 28 on the bottom wall 29 thereof. When the shaving device 12 is placed with its shaving unit within the receiving space 28 of the cleaning device 14, as shown in FIG. 1, then the driven coupling member 30 will be coupled with a respective driving coupling member provided on the shaving unit of the shaving device 12, as will be explained hereinafter.

(21) FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional representation of the cleaning device 14, wherein in addition the shaving unit 38 of the shaving device 12 is shown in a cleaning position within the respective receiving space 28.

(22) As can be seen in FIG. 4, the cleaning device 14 comprises the lower housing portion 24, onto which the upper housing portion 26 is placed. Within the lower housing portion 24 there is received a cartridge 32 (see also FIG. 9) that can be placed within the lower housing portion 24 when the upper housing portion 26 is removed. The cartridge 32 contains a cleaning liquid and can be provided as a separate consumer replaceable part, which the user can insert into the cleaning device 14 and which needs to be replaced usually after a certain number of cleaning operations.

(23) In FIG. 8 the upper housing portion 26 is shown above the cartridge 32 (shown in FIG. 9) which can be placed within the lower housing portion 24 (shown in FIG. 10).

(24) In FIG. 12 the lower housing portion 24 is shown, with the cartridge 32 arranged in the lower housing portion 24, in a position below the associated upper housing portion 26 shown in FIG. 11.

(25) As can be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, in the upper housing portion 26, below the top wall 66 thereof and enclosed by an annular side wall 64 and a bottom wall 68, there is formed a basin 36 into which cleaning fluid can be pumped from the cartridge 32. Within the top wall 34 of the cartridge 32 there is one smaller cavity 44 (see FIGS. 9 and 4) and one larger cavity 46 that both extend downwardly from the top wall 34 of the cartridge 32 towards the bottom of the cartridge 32. The first smaller cavity 44 is surrounded by a cone-shaped wall 45. The second larger cavity 46 within the cartridge 32 is surrounded by a substantially cylindrical pump receptacle 61 that extends from the top wall 34 of the cartridge 32 towards the bottom thereof and that includes lateral suction openings 54, 56.

(26) From the bottom wall 68 of the upper housing portion 26 there protrudes a pipe stud 70 into the cone-shaped first cavity 44 of the cartridge 32.

(27) From the bottom wall 68 of the upper housing portion 26 there further protrudes a fluid pumping unit 48 downwardly into the pump receptacle 61 of the cartridge. The fluid pumping unit 48 is surrounded by a pump housing 52 and includes a pinion 58 that reaches downwardly and that drives a pump impeller 60 attached at the lower end thereof The driven coupling member 30 is coupled to the fluid pumping unit 48 by means of a drive unit 50 transferring a rotating motion of the driven coupling member 30 onto the pinion 58 of the fluid pumping unit 48.

(28) Thus, when the driven coupling member 30 is driven by the shaving device 12, then the pinion 58 of the fluid pumping unit 48 is driven via the drive unit 50. Thus the pump impeller 60 is rotated so as to draw cleaning fluid through the suction openings 54, 56 and to pass it through a feed channel 62 upwardly into the receiving space 28 for cleaning the shaving unit of the shaving device 12.

(29) At the center of the receiving space 28 there is the driven coupling member 30 that includes a protrusion 76 (see FIG. 4) protruding upwardly that is mated to a respective driving coupling member 82 provided on the shaving unit 38 (see FIGS. 3 and 5).

(30) When the shaving device 12 is placed correctly on the cleaning device 14 in the cleaning position, then the driving coupling member 82 will be coupled by a rotational connection with the driven coupling member 30 arranged at the center of the receiving space 28.

(31) If the coupling is effected between the shaving device 12 and the cleaning device 14 in the cleaning position, then the driven coupling member 30 drives the fluid pumping unit 48 via the drive unit 50. In this case cleaning fluid is sucked through the suction openings 54, 56 by the pump impeller 60 and is fed through the feed channel 62 into the receiving space 28 to clean the shaving unit 38. During the pumping operation the cleaning fluid, that is circulated around the shaving unit 38 for cleaning it, is contained within the basin 36 and flows back into the interior of the cartridge 32 through the pipe stud 70 and through another, smaller cavity 92 extending from the top wall 34 of the cartridge 32 down towards the bottom thereof (see FIG. 9).

(32) The shaving unit 38 of the shaving device 12 comprises three hair cutting units 88, 89, 90 as shown in FIG. 6. Each hair-cutting unit 88, 89, 90 comprises an external cutting member 91 and a respective internal cutting member (not visible and only schematically indicated in FIG. 6 with reference numeral 93). The internal cutting members 93 are rotatable relative to the external cutting members 91 to effect cutting of hairs.

(33) The shaving unit 38 according to FIG. 5 is driven by an electric actuator only indicated in dashed lines by reference numeral 77. The electric actuator 77 drives a first drive unit 78 also indicated in FIG. 5 only by dashed lines. The electric actuator 77 and the first drive unit 78 are accommodated in the handle-shaped main housing 94 of the shaving device 12 (see FIG. 13). The first drive unit 78 is coupled to a coupling structure 80 of the shaving unit 38 via a suitable coupling member by a rotational fit. The shaving unit 38 comprises a second drive unit 79 that is coupled by the coupling structure 80 to the first drive unit 78 contained within the main housing 94 of the shaving device 12. The second drive unit 79 comprises a driving gear wheel 81 which is centrally arranged relative to the three hair-cutting units 88, 89, 90 and engages a respective driven gear wheel 83 of each of the hair cutting units 88, 89, 90 (see FIG. 5). The coupling structure 80 that drives the second drive unit 79 accommodates a central drive shaft 84 that mutually couples the driving gear wheel 81 and the first drive unit 78. The driving coupling member 82 is connected to the driving gear wheel 81 such as to be rotatable together with the driving gear wheel 81 about a common axis of rotation.

(34) The central drive shaft 84 at its outer end comprises a recess 86 (see FIG. 5). The recess 86 is mated to the protrusion 76 at the top end of the driven coupling member 30 of the cleaning device 14 (see FIG. 4) to effect a positive rotational coupling between the protrusion 76 and the recess 86.

(35) While the central arrangement of the driving coupling member 82 is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, it is also possible to arrange the driving coupling member 82 off-center, as shown in FIG. 7. In the shaving unit 38a according to FIG. 7 three alternatively possible locations for the driving coupling member 82 are shown close to the outer periphery between adjacent hair cutting units 88, 89, 90.

(36) When the shaving device 12 is placed in the cleaning position on the support structure 15 as shown in FIG. 1, the driving coupling member 82 is coupled to the driven coupling member 30 provided on the cleaning device 14. Thus the fluid pumping unit 48 can be driven by the drive unit 50 so that the pump impeller 60 is rotated so as to draw cleaning fluid through the suction openings 54, 56 and to pass it through the feed channel 62 into the receiving space 28 for cleaning the hair-cutting units 88, 89, 90.

(37) The cartridge 32 is configured as a consumer replaceable part and will usually be replaced after a certain number of cleaning operations. To this end the upper housing portion 26 is removed from the lower housing portion 24 (see FIG. 11, 12), then the cartridge 32 can be removed from the lower housing portion 24 (see FIGS. 9, 10) and can be replaced by a new cartridge 32. In FIG. 4 suitable sealings 74 are shown between an annular rim 72 of the cartridge 32 and the upper housing portion 26 to effect a sealing between the cartridge 32 and the upper housing portion 26.

(38) The shaving device 12 according to FIG. 13 includes an on-off switch 95 as well as a control unit 98 and a user interface 96 that may be configured as a soft-touch switch.

(39) The control unit 98 may be programmed by a software program that automatically starts a cleaning procedure when the shaving device 12 is placed onto the supporting structure 15 of the cleaning device 14 in the correct position. The correct position will be detected by the detector 20 cooperating with the detector activating means 18.

(40) As an alternative, a cleaning operation may be initiated by a user via the user interface 96.

(41) FIG. 14 shows a schematic representation of an alternative coupling structure denoted in total with 80a, that ensures that the driving coupling member 82 is driven only when the shaving device 12 is coupled to the cleaning device 14 in the cleaning position. The coupling structure 80a comprises an intermediate coupling member 85 that comprises a catch member 87 cooperating with the driving coupling member 82 under the action of a spring member. In the non-coupled position shown in FIG. 14 the catch member 87 is not coupled with the driving coupling member 82. Thus in this position the driving coupling member 82 does not rotate, even when the intermediate coupling member 85 rotates.

(42) FIG. 15 shows the coupling structure 80a in the coupled position, when the shaving device 12 is placed on the cleaning device 14 in the cleaning position. In this case the driving coupling member 82 is pressed against the action of the spring member towards the intermediate coupling member 85, so that the catch member 87 engages with the driving coupling member 82, so that the latter rotates when the coupling structure 80a rotates.

(43) While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.

(44) In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. 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.

(45) Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

(46) TABLE-US-00001 Reference List File No: 4046F2258EP1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 shaving system 11 12 shaving device 13 14 cleaning device 15 supporting structure 16 rest 17 18 detector activating means 19 20 detector 21 22 housing 23 24 lower housing portion 25 26 upper housing portion 27 28 receiving space 29 bottom wall of receiving space 30 driven coupling member 31 32 cartridge 33 34 top wall of cartridge 35 36 basin 37 38 shaving unit 39 40 41 42 sidewall 43 44 cavity 45 cone-shaped wall 46 cavity 47 48 fluid pumping unit 49 50 third drive unit 51 52 pump housing 53 54 suction opening 55 56 suction opening 57 58 pinion 59 60 pump impeller 61 pump receptacle 62 feed channel 63 64 sidewall 65 66 top wall 67 68 bottom wall 69 70 pipe stud 71 72 annular rim 73 74 sealing 75 76 protrusion 77 electric actuator 78 first drive unit 79 second drive unit 80, coupling structure 80a 81 driving gear wheel 82 driving coupling member 83 driving gear wheel 84 central drive shaft 85 intermediate coupling member 86 recess 87 catch member 88 hair-cutting unit 89 hair-cutting unit 90 hair-cutting unit 91 external cutting member 92 opening 93 internal cutting member 94 main housing (handle) 95 on-off switch 96 switch for cleaning program/ user interface 97 98 control unit 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116