U.S. patent application number 13/662158 was filed with the patent office on 2014-05-01 for heating apparatus for heating hair curlers.
The applicant listed for this patent is Yen-Chin Cheng, Feng-Chih Liao, Rie OISHI. Invention is credited to Yen-Chin Cheng, Feng-Chih Liao, Rie OISHI.
Application Number | 20140116461 13/662158 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 50545822 |
Filed Date | 2014-05-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140116461 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
OISHI; Rie ; et al. |
May 1, 2014 |
HEATING APPARATUS FOR HEATING HAIR CURLERS
Abstract
A heating apparatus for heating hair curlers is disposed in a
housing and clamped by at least one hair clip. The heating
apparatus comprises two assembling members and two thermal
conductive members which are coupled one another and disposed on a
base. Each of the thermal conductive members includes a heating
member and an elastic piece for fixing the heating member. Above
the assembling members and the thermal conductive members is
disposed a cover. The two heating members are closely pushed
against the thermal conductive layers of the hair clip, so as to
reduce the length of heat transferring route, and consequently
improving heating efficiency and enhancing temperature control
accuracy. Furthermore, the heating apparatus has a simple structure
and can be easily assembled at a low manufacturing cost.
Inventors: |
OISHI; Rie; (Tokyo, JP)
; Liao; Feng-Chih; (Taichung, TW) ; Cheng;
Yen-Chin; (Taichung, TW) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
OISHI; Rie
Liao; Feng-Chih
Cheng; Yen-Chin |
Tokyo
Taichung
Taichung |
|
JP
TW
TW |
|
|
Family ID: |
50545822 |
Appl. No.: |
13/662158 |
Filed: |
October 26, 2012 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
132/269 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A45D 2/362 20130101;
A45D 2/367 20130101; A45D 4/12 20130101; A45D 4/085 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
132/269 |
International
Class: |
A45D 1/00 20060101
A45D001/00 |
Claims
1. A heating apparatus for heating hair curlers being disposed in a
housing and clamped by at least one hair clip; the heating
apparatus comprising: a base including two assembling portions at
two opposite ends thereof, at a bottom of each of the assembling
portions being formed an elastic portion which is provided at an
end thereof with an engaging block, a direction extending between
the two ends of the base being defined as X; two assembling members
engaged in the assembling portions of the base and each including a
board which is provided along the direction X with an inner surface
and an outer surface, the inner surface of each of the boards being
provided along the direction X with two T-shaped engaging cavities,
an engaging hole between the engaging cavities, and two positioning
protrusions, the boards of the two assembling members are engaged
in the assembling portions of the base with their inner surfaces
opposed to each other in such a manner that the engaging blocks of
the elastic portions of the base are engaged in the engaging holes
of the assembling members; two thermal conductive members, each of
which being provided along the direction X with an assembling
surface and a thermal conductive surface which is arc-shaped to fit
the shape of the hair clip, the assembling surface being formed
with a receiving groove, along an outer edge of the receiving
groove being formed two engaging ribs extending in the direction X,
along a bottom of the receiving groove being formed a locking rib
with a T-shaped cross section, the thermal conductive members are
disposed between the two assembling members with their assembling
surfaces opposed to each other, and both ends of the locking ribs
of the thermal conductive members are engaged in the engaging
cavities of the two assembling members; two heating members
disposed in the receiving grooves of the two thermal conductive
members and electrically connected to a control circuit disposed in
the housing; two elastic pieces each provided with two opposed
elastic edges extending in the direction X and an elastic abutting
portion between the two elastic edges, the elastic pieces being
disposed in the receiving grooves of the thermal conductive members
in such a manner that the elastic edges are engaged with the
engaging ribs of the thermal conductive members, and the heating
members are pressed into the receiving grooves of the thermal
conductive members by the elastic abutting portions of the elastic
pieces; and a cover provided at two ends thereof in the direction X
with two positioning portions, and an arc-shaped rest portion being
formed between the positioning portions to fit the hair clip, the
positioning portions of the cover being assembled to the two
assembling members in such a manner that each of the positioning
portions is provided with two positioning cavities for engaging
with the two positioning protrusions of each of the assembling
members, and the rest portion is rested against positioning walls
of the two thermal conductive members, the rest portion and the
thermal conductive surfaces of the thermal conductive members
define a structure to fit the shape of the hair clip; when in use,
the hair clip is clamped on the cover and the two thermal
conductive members, and two thermal conductive layers inside the
hair clip are pushed against the thermal conductive surfaces of the
two thermal conductive members, the control circuit controls the
two heating members to heat the conductive layers.
2. The heating apparatus for heating hair curlers as claimed in
claim 1, wherein a direction perpendicular to the direction X is
defined as Y; each of the assembling portions is a stepped
structure which includes a first notch and a second notch, at a
bottom of the second notch is formed the elastic portion; the outer
surface of each of the two assembling members is provided along the
direction Y with a pair of first engaging protrusions and a pair of
second engaging protrusions, the engaging hole runs through each of
the boards and is located between the engaging cavities and the
first and second engaging protrusions, the second engaging
protrusions of the assembling members are engaged in the second
notches of the base, the first engaging protrusions are engaged in
the first notches of the base, and the engaging blocks of the
elastic portions of the base are engaged in the engaging holes of
the assembling members.
3. The heating apparatus for heating hair curlers as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the receiving groove of each of the thermal
conductive members is defined by the two positioning walls
extending in the direction X, the engaging ribs are provided on the
positioning walls.
4. The heating apparatus for heating hair curlers as claimed in
claim 1, wherein a direction perpendicular to the direction X is
defined as Y, each of the boards is provided with a clamping notch
extending along the direction Y, the two positioning protrusions
are located at two sides of the clamping notch, and the heating
members are electrically connected to the control circuit via the
clamping notch.
5. The heating apparatus for heating hair curlers as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the two thermal conductive members are made of
aluminum.
6. The heating apparatus for heating hair curlers as claimed in
claim 1, wherein the housing includes a lower half and an upper
half pivotally coupled to each other, and the base is disposed in
the lower half.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a heating apparatus, and
more particularly to a heating apparatus which is used in
combination with hair clips to form a heating hair curler, the
heated hair clips are suitable for use on Velcro or spongy rollers,
and can also be used in combination with pre-heating rollers.
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0004] Many heating type hair styling apparatuses have been
developed. One of them is a heat apparatus for heating hair clips
as shown in FIGS. 1-3, wherein a plurality of clips A, which are
each provided with a thermal conductive layer A1, are disposed in a
receiving space B1 of a base B. In the base B are further disposed
two parallel heating members 10 and a control circuit C. The clips
A for heating and styling hair are clipped on and heated by the
heating members 10. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a direction along
which the heating members 10 extend is defined as a longitudinal
direction, in each of the heating members 10 is disposed an
elongated electronic heating element 11 electrically connected to
the control circuit C. Between the electronic heating element 11
and the thermal conductive layer A1 are disposed a pair of
balancers 12, a plurality of arc-shaped heat conductive members 13
and two thermal insulators 14.
[0005] The balancers 12 and the thermal insulators 14 are formed
with openings for allowing the heat conductive members 13 to extend
into contact with the thermal conductive layers A1 of the clip A.
The electronic heating element 11 is clamped in space defined by
the two balancers 12, the heat conductive members 13 and two
opposed clampers 15. Between each of the thermal insulators 14 and
the heat conductive members 13 and the clampers 15 is provided a
fixing member 16 to fix the thermal insulators 14.
[0006] It is to be noted that temperature control of the heating
members 10 is a very important factor in hair styling, hair will be
hurt if temperature is too high, or hair cannot be styled if
temperature is too low. However, as shown in FIG. 3, there is a
space distance D between the balancers 12 and the corresponding
thermal conductive members 13, which is not conducive to heat
transfer. Therefore, the balancers 12, the clampers 15 and the
thermal conducive members 13 become the main heat transferring
route for transferring the heat generated from the electronic
heating elements 11 to the clip A. The thermal conductive members
13 are arc-shaped and only partially in contact with the balancers
12, resulting in a small heat transferring area. Besides, the heat
transferring route from the electronic heating elements 11 to the
clip A is long, which will cause great heat loss. The electronic
heating elements 11 have a low heating efficiency, and it is
difficult to control the temperature of the clip A to be heated by
the heating elements 11. On top of that, this conventional heat
apparatus for heating retaining hair clips has the problems of
complicated structure, and high manufacturing cost.
[0007] The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate
the afore-described disadvantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0008] The primary object of the present invention is to provide a
heating apparatus for heating hair curlers, wherein the heating
apparatus is provided with two heating members to be closely pushed
against the thermal conductive layers of the hair clip, so as to
reduce the length of heat transferring route, and consequently
improving heating efficiency and enhancing temperature control
accuracy.
[0009] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
heating apparatus for heating hair curlers, which has a simple
structure and can be easily assembled at a low manufacturing
cost.
[0010] To achieve the above objects, a heating apparatus for
heating hair curlers in accordance with the present invention is
disposed in a housing and clamped by at least one hair clip. The
heating apparatus comprises a base, two assembling members, two
thermal conductive members, two heating member, two elastic piece
and a cover. The base includes two assembling portions at two
opposite ends thereof. At a bottom of each of the assembling
portions is formed an elastic portion which is provided at an end
thereof with an engaging block, a direction extending between the
two ends of the base is defined as X. The two assembling members
are engaged in the assembling portions of the base and each
includes a board which is provided along the direction X with an
inner surface and an outer surface. The inner surface of each of
the boards is provided along the direction X with two T-shaped
engaging cavities, an engaging hole between the engaging cavities,
and two positioning protrusions. The boards of the two assembling
members are engaged in the assembling portions of the base with
their inner surfaces opposed to each other in such a manner that
the engaging blocks of the elastic portions of the base are engaged
in the engaging holes of the assembling members. The two thermal
conductive members are each provided along the direction X with an
assembling surface and a thermal conductive surface which is
arc-shaped to fit the shape of the hair clip. The assembling
surface is formed with a receiving groove, along an outer edge of
the receiving groove are formed two engaging ribs extending in the
direction X, and along a bottom of the receiving groove is formed a
locking rib with a T-shaped cross section. The thermal conductive
members are disposed between the two assembling members with their
assembling surfaces opposed to each other, and both ends of the
locking ribs of the thermal conductive members are engaged in the
engaging cavities of the two assembling members. The two heating
members are disposed in the receiving grooves of the two thermal
conductive members and electrically connected to a control circuit
disposed in the housing. The two elastic pieces are each provided
with two opposed elastic edges extending in the direction X and an
elastic abutting portion between the two elastic edges. The elastic
pieces are disposed in the receiving grooves of the thermal
conductive members in such a manner that the elastic edges are
engaged with the engaging ribs of the thermal conductive members,
and the heating members are pressed into the receiving grooves of
the thermal conductive members by the elastic abutting portions of
the elastic pieces. The cover is provided at two ends thereof in
the direction X with two positioning portions, and an arc-shaped
rest portion being formed between the positioning portions to fit
the hair clip, the positioning portions of the cover being
assembled to the two assembling members in such a manner that each
of the positioning portions is provided with two positioning
cavities for engaging with the two positioning protrusions of each
of the assembling members, and the rest portion is rested against
positioning walls of the two thermal conductive members, the rest
portion and the thermal conductive surfaces of the thermal
conductive members define a structure to fit the shape of the hair
clip.
[0011] When in use, the hair clip is clamped on the cover and the
two thermal conductive members, and two thermal conductive layers
inside the hair clip are pushed against the thermal conductive
surfaces of the two thermal conductive members, the control circuit
controls the two heating members to heat the conductive layers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional hair
curler;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the conventional hair
curler;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of a heating apparatus of
the conventional hair curler;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a hair curler in accordance
with the present invention;
[0016] FIG. 5 is an assembly view of a heating apparatus and the
heating curler in accordance with the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the heating apparatus for
heating hair curlers in accordance with the present invention;
and
[0018] FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of the heating apparatus
for heating hair curlers in accordance with the present
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0019] The present invention will be clearer from the following
description when viewed together with the accompanying drawings,
which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred
embodiment in accordance with the present invention.
[0020] Referring to FIGS. 4-7, a heating apparatus for heating hair
curlers in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present
invention is disposed in a housing 80 and clamped by at least one
hair clip 90. The heating apparatus comprises two assembling
members 30 and two thermal conductive members 40 which are coupled
one another and disposed on a base 20. Each of the thermal
conductive members 40 includes a heating member 50 and an elastic
piece 60 for fixing the heating member 50. Above the assembling
members 30 and the thermal conductive members 40 is disposed a
cover 70.
[0021] The base 20 includes two assembling portions 21 at two
opposite ends thereof, each of the assembling portions 21 is a
stepped structure which includes a first notch 211 and a second
notch 212. At a bottom of the second notch 212 is formed an elastic
portion 22 which is provided at the end thereof with an engaging
block 221. A direction extending between the two ends of the base
20 is defined as X, and a direction perpendicular to the direction
X is defined as Y. In this embodiment, the housing 80 includes a
lower half 801 and an upper half 802 pivotally coupled to each
other. The base 20 is disposed in the lower half 801.
[0022] The assembling members 30 are engaged in the assembling
portions 21 of the base 20 and each include a board 31 which is
provided along the direction X with an inner surface 311 and an
outer surface 312. The outer surface 312 is provided along the
direction Y with a pair of first engaging protrusions 32 and a pair
of second engaging protrusions 33. The inner surface 311 of each of
the boards 31 is provided along the direction X with two T-shaped
engaging cavities 34, an engaging hole 35 between the engaging
cavities 34, a clamping notch 36 extending along the direction Y,
and two positioning protrusions 37 at two sides of the clamping
notch 36. The boards 31 of the two assembling members 30 are
engaged in the assembling portions 21 of the base 20 with their
inner surfaces 311 opposed to each other in such a manner that the
second engaging protrusions 33 are engaged in the second notches
212 of the base 20, the first engaging protrusions 32 are engaged
in the first notches 211, and the engaging blocks 221 of the
elastic portions 22 of the base 20 are engaged in the engaging
holes 35 of the assembling members 30.
[0023] The two thermal conductive members 40 are made of aluminum
and disposed between the two assembling members 30. Each of the
thermal conductive members 40 is provided along the direction X
with an assembling surface 401 extending in the direction X and a
thermal conductive surface 402 which is arc-shaped to fit the shape
of the hair clip. The assembling surface 401 is formed with a
receiving groove 41 which is defined by two positioning walls 411
extending in the direction X. Each of the positioning walls 411 is
provided along an outer edge of the receiving groove 41 with an
engaging rib 412. Along a bottom of the receiving groove 41 is
formed a locking rib 42 with a T-shaped cross section. The thermal
conductive members 40 are disposed between the two assembling
members 30 with their assembling surfaces 401 opposed to each
other, and both ends of the locking ribs 42 of the thermal
conductive members 40 are engaged in the engaging cavities 34 of
the two assembling members 30.
[0024] The heating members 50 are disposed in the receiving grooves
41 of the two thermal conductive members 40 and electrically
connected to a control circuit 81 disposed in the housing 80 via
the clamping notches 36 of the assembling members 30. In this
embodiment, the control circuit 81 employs a power supply (not
shown) to supply electric power to the heating members 50, and the
power supply can be AC power or DC power.
[0025] Each of the elastic pieces 60 is provided with two opposed
elastic edges 61 extending in the direction X and an elastic
abutting portion 62 between the two elastic edges 61. The elastic
pieces 60 are disposed in the receiving grooves 41 of the thermal
conductive members 40 in such a manner that the elastic edges 61
are engaged with the engaging ribs 412 of the thermal conductive
members 40, and the heating members 50 are pressed into the
receiving grooves 41 of the thermal conductive members 40 by the
elastic abutting portion 62 of the elastic pieces 60.
[0026] The cover 70 is provided at two ends thereof in the
direction X with two positioning portions 71, and an arc-shaped
rest portion 72 is formed between the positioning portions 71 to
fit the hair clip 90. The positioning portions 71 of the cover 70
are assembled to the two assembling members 30 in such a manner
that the each of the positioning portions 71 is provided with two
positioning cavities 711 for engaging with the two positioning
protrusions 37 of each of the assembling members 30, and the rest
portion 72 is rested against the positioning walls 411 of the two
thermal conductive members 40. Hence, the rest portion 72 and the
thermal conductive surfaces 402 of the thermal conductive members
40 define a structure to fit the shape of the hair clip 90.
[0027] When in use, the hair clip 90 is clamped on the cover 70 and
the two thermal conductive members 40, and the structure combined
by the cover 70 and the thermal conductive members 40 pushes the
hair clip 90 open, so that two thermal conductive layers 91 inside
the hair clip 90 are pushed closely against the thermal conductive
surfaces 402 of the two thermal conductive members 40. Using the
control circuit 81 can control the two heating members 50 to heat
the conductive layers 91, so that the hair clip 90 can be heated to
do hair styling.
[0028] In summary, the same number of heating members 50 as the
thermal conductive layers 91 of the hair clip 90 are disposed
inside the heat apparatus, and the base 20, and the assembling
members 30, the thermal conductive members 40 and the cover 70 are
assembled into a structure which can substantially reduce the
distance D between the heating members 50 and the thermal
conductive layers 91 of the hair clip 90, while considerably
increasing the heat transferring area between the heating members
50 and the thermal conductive members 40. Hence, the present
invention is not only capable of improving heating efficiency of
the heating apparatus, but also can reduce the temperature
difference between the heating members 50 and the thermal
conductive layers 91 of the hair clip 90, providing more precise
temperature control.
[0029] While we have shown and described various embodiments in
accordance with the present invention, it is clear to those skilled
in the art that further embodiments may be made without departing
from the scope of the present invention.
* * * * *