HAIR CURLER

Abstract

A hair curler comprises: a lower clamp body, comprising a heating seat for curling hair and a pair of grooves disposed at opposite sides of the heating sea; an upper clamp body, movably connected to the lower clamp body, the upper clamp body comprising an opening corresponding to the heating seat and protrusions disposed at opposite sides of the opening, the protrusions being aligned with the grooves respectively when the upper clamp body is closed to the lower clamp body; wherein the lower clamp body comprises a impeller for generating an airflow, and each groove comprises a bottom which defines vent holes to allow the airflow to enter the groove. While curling hair by the hair curler, air is accelerated by the impeller, and the accelerated air flows to the grooves via vent holes, timely cooling and protecting the hair, thereby enabling the hair to be quickly styled.

Claims

1. A hair curler, comprising: a lower clamp body, comprising a heating seat for curling hair and a pair of grooves disposed at opposite sides of the heating seat respectively; and an upper clamp body, movably connected to the lower clamp body at a joint, the upper clamp body comprising an opening corresponding to the heating seat and protrusions disposed at opposite sides of the opening, the protrusions being aligned with the grooves respectively when the upper clamp body is closed to the lower clamp body; wherein the lower clamp body further comprises a fan for generating an airflow, and each groove comprises a bottom which defines vent holes to allow the airflow to enter the groove.

2. The hair curler according to claim 1, wherein the lower clamp body further comprises a negative ion generator for generating negative ions to be taken away by the airflow to the grooves.

3. The hair curler according to claim 2, wherein the lower clamp body further comprises an air guide member disposed under each of the grooves, and each of the air guide members defines an air guide channel configured to communicate an outlet of the fan with a corresponding one of the grooves.

4. The hair curler according to claim 3, wherein each groove is elongated and extends along a length direction of the hair curler; the air guide channels are parallel with the grooves; and the vent holes are distributed in the length direction at an even interval.

5. The hair curler according to claim 4, wherein the vent holes are round holes each of which has a diameter of 0.5-5 mm; the distance between adjacent vent holes in the length direction is in a range of 5-15 mm; or the distance between adjacent vent holes in a width direction of the hair curler is in a range of 3-8 mm.

6. The hair curler according to claim 3, wherein the bottom of each of the grooves acts as a top of one of the air guide channels and has a concaved arcuate shape.

7. The hair curler according to claim 1, wherein the lower clamp body comprises a lower housing and a lower cover, the lower cover is fixed to one side of the lower housing facing the upper clamp body; and the heating seat is movably mounted in the lower housing and protrudes upwardly beyond the lower cover.

8. The hair curler according to claim 7, wherein the lower housing comprises a first section, a connecting section and a second section arranged in the length direction of the air curler in sequence; the second section has a cross-sectional area greater than that of the first section; the connecting section is connected between the first section and the second section and defines a plurality of intake holes for introducing external air into inside of fan.

9. The hair curler according to claim 7, wherein a guide groove facing the opening is defined in the lower cover, the heating seat is located in the guide groove and protrudes from the lower cover toward the opening; and a height of the heating seat protruding beyond the lower cover can be adjusted by an adjusting mechanism.

10. The hair curler according to claim 9, wherein the heating seat comprises position limiters arranged at two opposite sides thereof, for guiding the heating seat to move and limiting a highest position of the heating seat.

11. The hair curler according to claim 9, wherein the adjusting mechanism comprises a gear, a gear rack meshing with the gear is provided on the heating seat, and the gear rack is arranged along a height direction of the heating seat.

12. The hair curler according to claim 11, wherein the adjusting mechanism comprises a knob and a rod, the rod is mounted in the lower housing, the gear is fixed on the rod, and the knob is connected to one end of the rod and beyond the lower housing for users to manipulate.

13. The hair curler according to claim 12, wherein the adjusting mechanism comprises a limiting seat fixed on the rod, and the limiting seat is configured to limit a position of the adjusting mechanism along a length direction of the rod and an angle of the of the adjusting mechanism rotating around an axis of the rod.

14. The hair curler according to claim 13, wherein a sleeve seat is provided in the lower housing, a second spring is set inside the sleeve seat, a bracket is fixed to the sleeve seat, the limiting seat is rotatably mounted on the bracket, one end of a locking lever is connected to the second spring, and the other end of the locking lever keeps in contact with the limiting seat.

15. The hair curler according to claim 14, wherein a plurality of limiting slots is distributed around outer circumference of the limiting seat, and an upper end of the locking lever passes through the bracket and extends into one of the limiting slots.

16. The hair curler according to claim 1, wherein the heating seat is provided with at least one first heating wire therein, and the protrusions are provided with at least one second heating wire therein.

17. The hair curler according to claim 1, wherein the heating seat is inverted U-shaped, the opening is an elongated groove extending along a length direction of the upper clamp body, and the opening extends through the upper clamp body in a height direction of the upper clamp body; or the protrusions are arc-shaped, and the protrusions matches with the arc-shaped grooves in shape.

18. The hair curler according to claim 1, wherein the upper clamp body is rotatably connected to the lower clamp body at the joint, and a first spring is engaged between the lower clamp body and the upper clamp body adjacent to the joint.

19. The hair curler according to claim 18, wherein a first tailstock is provided at an end of the lower clamp body, a second tailstock is provided at an end of the upper clamp body, and the first tailstock and the second tailstock are fixed to each other and received in a sleeve.

20. The hair curler according to claim 1, wherein a control circuit board is mounted within the upper clamp body, and at least one control button electrically connected to the control circuit board is provided on the upper clamp body for controlling operation of the hair curler.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] In order to illustrate the technical solution of the present disclosure more clearly, a brief introduction to drawings to be used in the embodiments will be given below. It should be understood that the following accompanying drawings only show certain embodiments of the present disclosure, and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For those skilled in the art, other relevant drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings without creative efforts.

[0029] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a hair curler in one embodiment;

[0030] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the hair curler shown in FIG. 1, viewed from another aspect;

[0031] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the hair curler shown in FIG. 2, viewed from another aspect;

[0032] FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the hair curler shown in FIG. 1;

[0033] FIG. 5 is another exploded view of the hair curler shown in FIG. 1;

[0034] FIG. 6 is an exploded view of a lower clamp body of the hair curler;

[0035] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another disassembled structure of the lower clamp body;

[0036] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of disassembled structure of an adjusting mechanism and a lower housing;

[0037] FIG. 9 is an enlarged diagram of the adjusting mechanism;

[0038] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of assembled structure of the adjusting mechanism and a U-shaped heating seat;

[0039] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of disassembled structure of part of the lower clamp body;

[0040] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of the lower clamp body removing the lower housing;

[0041] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of an upper clamp body of the hair curler;

[0042] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of disassembled structure of the upper clamp body; and

[0043] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of the upper clamp body removing an upper housing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0044] For ease of understanding this disclosure, a more comprehensive description of this disclosure will be provided with reference to the relevant drawings. The accompanying drawings present preferred embodiments of this disclosure. However, this disclosure can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described in this disclosure. On the contrary, the purpose of providing these embodiments is to enhance the understanding of the disclosed content in a more comprehensive manner.

[0045] It should be noted that when a component is fixed to another component, it can be directly on the other component or there can also be an intermediate component. When a component is described to be connected to another component, it may be directly attached to the other component or there may be an intermediate component. The terminology used herein, such as vertical, horizontal, left, right, and the like, is used for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be limiting.

[0046] Unless otherwise defined, the terminologies used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and are not intended to be limiting of the present invention. The terminology and/or used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed and associated items.

[0047] Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, a hair curler in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention includes a lower clamp body 100 and an upper clamp body 200. The upper clamp body 200 is rotatably connected to the lower clamp body 100 at one end, so that the hair curler can be opened to put hair to be curled therein or remove the curled hair, and can be closed to heat and curl the hair. Also referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, a first spring 300 is engaged between the lower clamp body 100 and the upper clamp body 200 adjacent to connecting ends between the lower clamp body 100 and the upper clamp body 200, and a sleeve 400 is set around the connecting ends. The first spring 300 is configured to exert an elastic force to the upper clamp body 200, to open the upper clamp body 200 with respect to the lower clamp body 100.

[0048] The lower clamp body 100 includes a lower housing 110 and a lower cover 120 which is fixed to one side of the lower housing 110 facing the upper clamp body 200. A first chamber is defined between the lower housing 110 and the lower cover 120. The upper clamp body 200 includes an upper housing 210 and an upper cover 220 which is fixed to one side of the upper housing 210 facing the lower clamp body 100, and a second chamber is defined between the upper housing 210 and the upper cover 220. The lower cover 120 and the upper cover 220 face each other to clamp hair to be curled therebetween.

[0049] The lower clamp body 100 provides an inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 with at least one first heating wire 131 arranged therein. The first heating wires 131 are used to heat the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 for hair styling. The upper clamp body 200 defines an opening 230 corresponding to the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130. Specifically, the opening 230 is an elongated groove extending along a length direction of the upper clamp body 200. The opening 230 extends through the upper clamp body 200 in a depth direction of the upper clamp body 200. The inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 is aligned with the opening 230. When the hair curler is closed, the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 is accommodated in the opening 230, and hair disposed on the inverted U-shape heating seat 130 is clipped between the inverted U-shape heating seat 130 and the side wall around the opening 230. An adjusting mechanism 150 configured to adjust the depth of the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 that enters into the opening 230 for styling. In the embodiment, the inverted U-shape heating seat 130 is movably mounted in the lower housing 110 and protrudes upwardly beyond the lower cover 120. A height of the U-shaped heating seat 130 protruding beyond the lower cover 120 can be adjusted by the adjusting mechanism 150. Through adjusting the height of the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 protruding beyond the lower cover 120, curvature of curled hair by the hair curler can be adjusted.

[0050] The lower housing 110 comprises a first tailstock 112 at the connecting end, and the upper housing 210 comprises a second tailstock 212 at the connecting end. The first tailstock 112 and the second tailstock 212 are fixed together, and both are received in the sleeve 400.

[0051] FIG. 6 is an exploded view of a lower clamp body of the hair curler. Referring to FIG. 6, the lower housing 110 defines a firs chamber. The lower cover 120 defines a pair of arc-shaped grooves 122 symmetrically disposed on both sides of the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130. Each of the arc-shaped groove 122 defines a plurality of vent holes 124 for allowing air in the first chamber enter the arc-shaped grooves 122. Correspondingly, the upper cover 220 comprises a pair of arc-shaped protrusions 221 disposed on opposite sides of the opening 230 respectively, as shown in FIG. 13. When the hair curler is closed, the arc-shaped protrusions 221 are accommodated in the arc-shaped grooves 122 respectively, and hair disposed in the arc-shaped grooves 122 is clipped between surfaces of the arc-shaped grooves 122 and the arc-shaped protrusions 221. Preferably, the vent holes 124 are round holes each of which has a diameter of 0.5-5 mm, preferably 1-3 mm, for example 1 mm, 1.5 mm, 2 mm, 2.5 mm and 3 mm. The distance between adjacent vent holes 124 in the length direction is in a range of 0.5-20 mm, preferably 5-15 mm, more preferably 8-12 mm, for example 8 mm, 9 mm, 10 mm or 11 mm. The distance between adjacent vent holes 124 in the width direction is in a range of 1-15 mm, preferably 3-8 mm, for example 3 mm, 4 mm,5 mm, 6 mm, 7 mm or 8 mm.

[0052] Referring to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the lower housing 110 defines a plurality of intake holes 111 for introducing external air into the first chamber. The lower cover 120 comprises a spring seat 121 arranged at the connecting end for receiving the first spring 300, so that the first spring 300 resists on the connecting end of the upper cover. In order to adjustably mounting the U-shaped heating seat 130, a guide groove 123 facing the opening 230 is defined in the lower cover 120. The inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 is located in the guide groove 123, and protrudes from the lower cover 120 toward the opening 230. The inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 comprises position limiters 132 arranged at two opposite sides thereof, for guiding the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 to move along an adjusting direction (height direction) and limiting a highest position of the U-shaped heating seat 130.

[0053] Referring to FIG. 7 to FIG. 9, the adjusting mechanism 150 includes a limiting seat 151, a knob 152, a rod 153, and a gear 154. The knob 152, the limiting seat 151, and the gear 154 are successively fixed along the rod 153. The rod 153 is mounted in the first chamber of the lower housing 110 and the knob 152 is connected to one end of the rod 153. The knob 152 is beyond the lower housing 110 and the lower cover 120, for users to manipulate the knob 152. The limiting seat 151 resists on a side wall of the lower housing 110, and the gear 154 is located under the guide groove 123 to mesh with inner teeth formed at inner sidewalls of the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130. The limiting seat 151 is configured to limit a position of the adjusting mechanism 150 along a length direction of the rod 153 and a rotation angle of the adjusting mechanism 150 around the axis of the rod 153.

[0054] The adjusting mechanism 150 is mounted onto the lower housing 110 via a bracket 160, a second spring 170, and a locking lever 180. The lower housing 110 provides a sleeve seat 113 next to the side wall of the lower housing 110 for receiving the second spring 170. The second spring 170 is set inside the sleeve seat 113. The bracket 160 is fixed to the sleeve seat 113 by screws. The limiting seat 151 is rotatably mounted on the bracket 160. One end of the locking lever 180 is connected to the second spring 170. The elastic force of the second spring 170 pushes the locking lever 180, so that the other end of the locking lever 180 keeps in contact with the limiting seat 151.

[0055] A plurality of limiting slots 1511 are distributed around the outer circumference of the limiting seat 151, as shown in FIG. 9. The upper end of the locking lever 180 passes through the bracket 160 and extends into one of the limiting slots 1511. The limiting seat 151 can be limited by cooperating with the locking lever 180 through one of the limiting slots 1511, which effectively prevents the limiting seat 151 from rotating arbitrarily. The limiting seat 151 has a limiting sleeve at one end, which is internally connected to the knob 152.

[0056] In some embodiments, the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 comprises a pair of sidewalls opposite to and spaced from each other. A chamber is formed between the sidewalls. The rod 153 with the gear 154 is received in the chamber of the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130. A gear rack 133 along the height direction is set inside the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 for in mesh with the gear 154. Specifically, the gear rack 133 is formed on one of the sidewalls. Therefore, the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 can move along the up-down direction with respect to the lower cover 120 by manipulating the knob 152. When rotating the rod 153 via the knob 152, the gear 154 is rotated together with the rod 153, thereby driving the gear rack 133 to move along the up-down direction. The inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 is thus driven to move along the up-down direction. As the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 move along the height direction, the height of the inverted U-shaped heating seat 130 beyond the lower cover 120 is adjusted.

[0057] Specifically, according to desired curvature of the hair to be curled, the knob 152 can be manually rotated together with the limiting seat 151, thereby rotating the rod 153 together with the gear 154. The gear 154 meshing with the gear rack 133 drives the gear rack 133 to move, and then the U-shaped heating seat 130 extends or retracts. Thereby, the height of the U-shaped heating seat 130 extending outside the lower cover 120 is adjusted, so as to achieve the adjustment of curvature of the hair curler.

[0058] After curling by the hair curler, the temperature on the hair remains relatively high. The hair is easily straightened automatically, without the support of the hair curler. Therefore, the hair curler of the present invention also provides cool airflow for shaping while curling the hair.

[0059] Referring to FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, each arc-shaped groove 122 is provided with an air guide member 125. The air guide member 125 is connected to the lower cover 120 opposite to the corresponding arc-shaped groove 122. Specifically, the air guide member 125 comprises a pair of sidewalls, a top wall and a bottom wall which cooperatively form an air guide channel 1252 thereamong. The air guide member 125 is located under the arc-shaped grooves 122 and the air guide channel 1252 is in communication with the arc-shaped grooves 122 via the vent holes 124. A enclosure 126 is fixedly connected to the lower cover 120 by screws, a impeller 140 is installed in the enclosure 126, and a negative ion generator 127 is provided at one end of the enclosure 126 opposite to the air guide member 125. The negative ion generator 127 comprises an ion exit opening in communication with the outlet 128 of the enclosure 126. Preferably, the ion exit opening of the negative ion generator 127 is orientated the air guide channel 1252. When the airflow delivered by the impeller 140 flows, the airflow takes away the negative ions generated by the generator 127 to form negative ionic wind to enter into the air guide channels and then blow to hair clipped between the grooves 122 and the protrusions 221 via the vent holes 124. Preferably, the end of the outlet 128 is inserted into the air guide channel 1252 in the length direction of the hair curler.

[0060] Specifically, the enclosure 126 comprises two air outlets 128 facing and being connected to the air guide members 125, and the intake holes 111 in the lower housing 110 are facing the air entrance of the impeller 140. When the impeller 140 is in operation, external air can flow into the impeller 140 via the intake holes 111. Air is accelerated by the impeller 140 to generate accelerated airflow, and the accelerated airflow is mixed with the negative ions at the outlets 128 and then flows to the arc-shaped grooves 122 via the air guide members 125 and the vent holes 124, timely cooling and care of the hair by the air with negative ions, thereby enabling the hair to be quickly styled. Preferably, the impeller 140 is a centrifugal impeller and the enclosure 126 enclosing the impeller 140 acts as a volute of the centrifugal impeller. The impeller 140 and the enclosure 126 cooperatively form a fan. The outlets 128 act as the outlets of the fan. The axial direction of the impeller 140 is perpendicular to the length direction of the hair curler. Two negative ion generators 127 are provided corresponding to the two air outlets 128 respectively. Alternatively, one negative ion generator 127, which comprises two ion exit openings in communication with the two outlets 128 of the enclosure 126 respectively, can be used.

[0061] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, the lower housing 110 comprises a first section, a connecting section and a second section arranged in the length direction of the hair curler. The cross-section area of the second section is greater than that of the first section. The cross-section area of the connecting section reduces gradually in a direction from the second section toward the first section. The first section is configured for holding by a user. The second section is for receiving the air guide member 125, the rod 153, the gear 154 and a part of the heating seat 130. The impeller 140 is received in the connecting section. The intake holes 111 are defined at the connecting section. The orientation of the intake holes 111 are perpendicular to or angled with respect to the length direction of the hair curler.

[0062] As shown in FIG. 13 to FIG. 15, the upper cover 220 is provided with arc-shaped protrusions 221 facing the arc-shaped grooves 122. The arc-shaped protrusions 221 are provided with at least on second heating wire 222 inside. The second heating wire 222 facilitates heating the arc-shaped protrusion 221 to heat and style the hair. The arc-shaped protrusions 221 are matched with the arc-shaped grooves 122 in shape.

[0063] A pin 213 is provided at the connecting end between the upper clamp body 200 and the second tailstock 212. The upper clamp body 200 is movably connected to the second tailstock 212 through the pin 213.

[0064] A control circuit board 250 is fixed to an inner side of the upper cover 220. Control buttons 240 electrically connected to the control circuit board 250 are provided on the upper clamp body 200 for controlling the hair curler. The first heating wires 131, the impeller 140, and the negative ion generator 127 and the second heating wires 222 are electrically connected to and controlled by the control circuit board 250. During use, the second heating wire 222, the first heating wire 131, the impeller 140, and the negative ion generator 127 are operated manually by controlling the control buttons 240.

[0065] After hair is placed between the upper clamp body 200 and the lower clamp body 100, as the hair passes between the arc-shaped protrusions 221 and the arc-shaped grooves 122, the airflow generated by the impeller 140 enters the air guide members 125 from the air outlets 128 on the enclosure 126. The airflow entering each of the air guide member 125 is then blown out through the vent holes 124, thereby cooling the hair and providing negative ion care.

[0066] Preferably, the arc-shaped grooves 122 extend along the length direction of the lower clamp body 100 and the vent holes 124 are evenly distributed in the length direction of the lower clamp body 100 at an interval. Each arc-shaped groove 122 has a concaved arc-shaped cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the lower clamp body 100. The bottom of the groove 122 protrudes downwardly toward the air guide member 125 such that the air guide channel 125 has an arc-shaped top. The vent holes 124 in each groove 122 are symmetrically distributed about a middle line of the groove 122 parallel to the length direction of the lower clamp body 100. In this embodiment, the vent holes 124 in each groove 122 are arranged in multiple lows and multiple columns, for example: two lows and eight columns. The orientation of the vent holes 124 is perpendicular to the length direction of the hair curler. Multiple vent holes 124 are defined in each of the grooves 122 to communicate with the air guide channel 125 such that the accelerated airflow mixed with negative ions generated by the negative ion generator 127 can flow to inside of a bundle of hair clipped in the groove 122 in a direction perpendicular to the bundle of hair to thereby improve the effect of cooling the hair and delivery enough negative ions to the hair.

[0067] When using the hair curler, the knob 152 can be rotated to get a desired height of the U-shaped heating seat 130 at first. Subsequently, place hair on the U-shaped heating seat 130, then manually grip the connecting ends of the lower clamp body 100 and the second clamp 200, so that the lower clamp body 100 and the second clamp 200 approach each other, and the U-shaped heating seat 130 is inserted into the opening 230 to bend the hair, thereby achieving the effect of curling.

[0068] The above-mentioned embodiments only express several implementations of the present invention, which are described in detail, but cannot be understood as restrictions on the scope of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for one of ordinary skill in the field, several deformations and improvements can be made without departing from the sprit thereof, which are all belong to the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.