Hair Detangler

Abstract

For use with a hair detangler which has a hand support and power means in a housing to provide rapid reciprocating movement and a pair of spaced outer comb means supported on the housing with a separate comb means attached for reciprocation by the power means and straddled by the spaced comb means. The invention improves on the comb means by providing the separate comb means with teeth longer than the straddling comb means and having the root surface between its teeth recessed below the root surface of the outer comb means so the hair under tension does not touch the root surface of the separate reciprocating comb means to keep the load thereon low and a shaking and detangling movement only is applied to the hair.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention:

The invention is directed to an improved comb means for a hair detangler by providing for rapid reciprocation of one comb with respect to a fixed spaced straddling comb and having specifically oriented teeth to avoid any squeezing, pinching, or curling of the hair and provide a shaking and detangling movement only and to reduce loading on the moving comb when the detangler is pulled through the hair to avoid slowing down of the reciprocating comb.

2. Description of the Prior Art:

Tangled hair is a daily problem for most women and some men. It has been found that a pair of parallel combs reciprocating with respect to each other, much like the blades of an electric knife, helps in untangling hair. The action seems to be one of rapidly and lightly shaking the hair while pulling the comb through it causing potential knots to slip through and become untangled rather than to tighten. Present detanglers generally provide comb movement much like an electric knife using adjacent single or double combs with the same length teeth and this requires careful placement to avoid scratching the scalp, and results in a squeezing action on the hair and loading on the combs tending to slow them down as they are pulled through the hair. Early curling irons used adjacent manually reciprocable combs designed to put a curl or wave into the hair by squeezing it into a waved position with fluids or heat, or both. It has been found desirable to improve the present electric knife type of motion of adjacent sets of reciprocating teeth that produce harsh uncomfortable action to the user as well as an undesirable shearing-like and curling and squeezing action on the hair. To this end, a straddling fixed outer comb spanning a rapid reciprocable inner comb having longer teeth produced a shaking and detangling movement only on the hair. Such a device is disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 345,451, filed Mar. 27, 1973, of common assignment. The present invention improves on that device by a structural arrangement to reduce the load on the movable comb so that the device does not slow down substantially in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly described, the invention is provided for use with a hair detangler that has a hand support and power means in a housing providing rapid reciprocating movement, the detangler having a pair of sapced outer comb means supported on the housing and separate comb means attached for reciprocation by the power means and straddled by the spaced comb means. The separate comb means has teeth longer than the straddling comb means and has the root surface between its teeth recessed below the root surface of the outer comb means, both combs being spaced transversely to avoid rubbing one another and the teeth of the combs coming into alignment during a stroke of the reciprocating comb. The particular tooth orientation prevents any squeezing, pinching, or curling of the hair and provides a rapid, gentle, shaking and detangling movement only to the hair. Additionally, the combs are arranged to minimize the loading imposed upon the reciprocating comb by its recessed root structure to substantially reduce the tendency of the comb to slow down in operation. Thus, the main object of the invention is to provide an improved comb structure for a hair detangler that is safe to use in a wet environment, that provides only a shaking and detangling movement to the hair, is not irritating to the scalp, and is constructed to avoid unnecessary loading on the moving comb and consequent slowing down of the device in operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of the detangler showing the combs and sealed connection;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross section taken along the line 2--2 showing the normal comb arrangement; and

FIG. 3 is a view, similar to FIG. 2, showing the improved recessed root structure to reduce loading the reciprocating comb.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a hair detangling device in a housing 10 which has a hand support that may be in any form including the housing and may conveniently be a longitudinal extension of the housing to form a handle 12. Any suitable power means may be provided in the housing to provide rapid reciprocating movement to shaft 14 with a socket to receive a tool for reciprocating movement. The entire device is sealed by a flexible boot 16 that may be cemented or clamped to the socket and housing 10 to provide a seal between the reciprocating shaft and the housing. As thus far described, the device is generally shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,524,088, of common assignment, which shows a dual motion battery-operated toothbrush which, simplified for a single motion, may be used herein. The transmission structure forms no part of the present invention and reciprocation may be supplied to shaft 14 by operation of button or switch 18 to operate the internal power means which may be a plug-in type or preferably, as shown, is battery operated so that the detangler may be used in a wet environment.

The power means, whether house current or battery, is designed to provide rapid reciprocating movement in the 2,000-4,000 strokes per minute range and this is what is meant by "rapid reciprocating movement" as used herein. In order to provide a detangling and unsnarling action on the hair, there is provided a spaced outer comb means 20 that is supported directly on the housing 10 preferably to extend longitudinally thereof and is fixed as shown in FIG. 1. The outer comb means 20 is formed of a pair of combs as shown in FIG. 2 designed to straddle an inner separate comb means 22 which is connected to shaft 14 for rapid reciprocation within the outer comb means 20. Both comb means are supported directly on the housing and may, in one form, extend longitudinally of the handle 12 as shown. Both comb means are also spaced transversely to avoid rubbing one another and prevent any shearing action on the hair as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. A desirable detangling action has been obtained in an alternate construction, as shown in Ser. No. 365,592, filed May 31, 1973, of common assignment, by the use of a pair of fixed comb means 20 acting in conjunction with the single comb 22 reciprocating at about 3,000 strokes per minute.

For the right motion and best detangling action, it has been found desirable that the separate comb means 22 be provided with teeth longer than the straddling spaced comb means 20 as shown. If the teeth are the same length and the handle is tilted slightly the outer teeth will engage some hair in the fixed teeth that is not being engaged by the moving teeth and it is possible to catch a tangle in one of the outer teeth where it just hangs up on the fixed tooth and never sees the reciprocating comb to shake it free. By having the center reciprocating comb teeth longer as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, substantially all of the hair engaged by the comb will be contacting the longer center teeth and will therefore be agitated and detangled. It is also desirable for best detangling to provide an interrelation between the comb teeth, the transverse spacing, and the reciprocating movement so that each tooth of the reciprocating comb at all times during its stroke is spaced from the adjacent corresponding teeth in the straddling comb means so that no rubbing or shearing action is provided on the hair. The transverse spacing is clearly shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and the combs operate so that the single comb has its teeth in alignment with the teeth of the outer fixed comb during a stroke, i.e., the teeth pass behind one another in short rapid strokes and the stroke and spacing is such to prevent shearing of the hair. This may involve an overlap between the moving and fixed teeth, although sufficient transverse spacing between the teeth may offset the need for the overlap. The result of the interrelation is substantially no hair is caught in openings between the teeth so as to be subjected to a shearing action.

A shaking and consequently detangling motion only is applied to all the hair engaged because of the long center teeth and the orientation or interrelation between the teeth. This shaking occurs whether the comb is tilted or not and tends to untangle any snarls in the hair more effectively. The better agitating or shaking action has the advantage of removing any objectionable dried hair spray to thus clean the hair for a subsequent shampooing. There can be substantially no shearing action on the hair because of the short stroke and transverse spacing to prevent any rubbing action between the combs.

The device thus far described employing the unique comb structure is substantially shown and claimed in said co-pending Pat. No. 345,451 application. The present invention improves the structure of said application.

It has been observed that when beginning to make a pass through the hair with the detangler, the user first moves the tips of the teeth of the comb toward the scalp and into the hair and, once the teeth are in the hair, the user rotates the comb as it is pulled away from the scalp and towards the ends of the tangled hair 24 as shown in FIG. 2. Many times the comb is rotated even farther than shown in FIG. 2 and tangles in the hair forward of the comb teeth cause the hair between the scalp and the leading edge of the fixed comb 20 to be under tension or pull tightly as shown in FIG. 2. This tension places a force, longitudinal of the teeth, on the root surface 26 between the teeth of the moving comb 22. This force on the base of the moving comb forces the base of the comb to rub against the base of the fixed comb at 28 so that some of the energy from the battery or the motor is lost in the form of friction between the bases of the moving and fixed combs. This reduces the energy to drive the moving comb and it may lose its rapid movement or stall, depending on the amount of tension placed on the hair by the user. Tests show that wet hair presents more of a problem than dry hair with the result of an increase in time required to detangle the hair as well as additional drain on the power source.

As shown in FIG. 3, the comb structure is improved by making the root surface 26 between each tooth of the moving comb lower or recessed below the corresponding root surface 30 of the outer comb means a sufficient amount so that the hair 24 under tension is loaded against root surfaces 30 of the fixed comb and does not touch the root surface 26 of the separate reciprocating comb means as clearly seen in FIG. 3. This simple undercutting or recessing of the root surface of the movable comb has removed the tendency to stall or slow down by taking a large load off the movable comb and placing it on the fixed comb.

The detangler thus provides a rapid shaking and detangling action, no shearing on the hair, a cleaning action by the shaking, a side thrust more effectively taken by the outer fixed combs to reduce the friction loading on the drive mechanism and prevent stalling of the movable comb by the recessed root structure, the unit may be cordless and more convenient for safe use directly on wet hair -- all these advantages being obtainable when the parts and movements are interrelated as to teeth, transverse spacing, recessed root, and reciprocating movement all as disclosed. Also, the entire unit may be sealed to protect the drive mechanism from cleaning solutions or moisture from wet hair. Further, the detangler may use a dispenser and the teeth spacing on the combs may be varied to provide a coarse comb for the first pass and a finer comb for finishing up as disclosed in said co-pending application.

While there has been described a preferred form of the invention, obvious equivalent variations and different shapes of detanglers are possible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practised otherwise than as specifically described, and the claims are intended to cover such equivalent variations.

Claims

I claim:

1. For use with a hair detangler having a hand support and power means in a housing providing rapid reciprocating movement,

a pair of spaced outer comb means supported on the housing, and

separate comb means attached for reciprocation by the power means and disposed to be straddled by said spaced comb means,

said separate comb means having teeth longer than said straddling comb means, and

having the root surface between its teeth recessed below the root surface of said outer comb means,

whereby hair under tension does not touch the root surface of said separate comb means and a shaking and detangling movement only is applied to the hair.

2. Apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein said spaced outer comb means is fixed to said housing and said separate comb means reciprocates within.

3. Apparatus as described in claim 2 wherein said comb means are spaced transversely to avoid rubbing one another.

4. Apparatus as described in claim 3 wherein said separate comb means is a single comb having its teeth in alignment with teeth of said spaced outer fixed comb means during a stroke.

5. Apparatus as described in claim 4 having the comb teeth, transverse spacing and reciprocating movement interrelated so that each tooth of said reciprocating comb at all times during its stroke is spaced from adjacent corresponding teeth in said outer comb means so no shearing action is provided on said hair.

6. Apparatus as described in claim 5 wherein said comb means extend longitudinally of said housing which forms a handle therefor and, seal means disposed between the reciprocating comb and handle.