Low temperature hairbrush

Abstract

A hairbrush comprises a housing and a cooling device in the housing. A comb is in thermal contact with the cooling device and is adapted to be cooled when thermal energy in the form of heat is transferred by the cooling device in a direction away from the comb. The comb has a hair contacting surface. The hair contacting surface comprises one or more teeth adapted to directly engage the hair of a user.

Description

[0001] BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0002] 1. Field of the Disclosure

[0003] The present disclosure relates to a hairbrush. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a cooled hairbrush.

[0004] 2. Description of Related Art

[0005] The effects of low temperatures on hair are well known: cold water (such as cold water) closes the hair cuticle, thereby locking in moisture and reducing frizz and dryness, leaving hair silkier and smoother. Heat is known to strip hair of oils and open the cuticle, leading to dryness and frizz.

[0006] Therefore, there is a need for a hair treatment appliance that provides the advantages of low temperatures applied to the hair and avoids the disadvantages of applying heat to the hair.

[0007] Overview

[0008] The present disclosure provides a hair brush that cools the hair to provide the advantages of low temperature applied to the hair, namely to close the hair cuticle, thereby locking in moisture and reducing frizz and dryness, making the hair silkier and smoother, and avoid the disadvantages of applying heat to the hair, namely to remove hair oils and open the cuticle, causing dry and frizzy hair.

[0009] The present disclosure provides a hairbrush, which includes a housing and a cooling device in the housing. A comb is in thermal contact with the cooling device and is adapted to be cooled when thermal energy in the form of heat is transferred by the cooling device in a direction away from the comb.

[0010] The present disclosure further provides that a comb of a hairbrush has a hair contacting surface including one or more teeth adapted to directly engage the hair of a user.

[0011] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand and appreciate the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure from the following detailed description, drawings and appended claims.As shown throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals represent the same or corresponding parts.

[0012] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure 1 1 is a top perspective view of a hairbrush with a plug according to the present invention.

[0014] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Bottom perspective view of a hairbrush.

[0015] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 view of a hairbrush.

[0016] Figure 4 The power cord is attached Figure 1 Bottom view of a hairbrush.

[0017] Figure 5 yes Figure 4 Side view of.

[0018] Figure 6 yes Figure 1 Front view of a hairbrush.

[0019] Figure 7 yes Figure 1 view of a hairbrush.

[0020] Figure 8 yes Figure 1 An exploded top perspective view of a hairbrush.

[0021] Fig. 9 is used for Figure 1 A top perspective view of an improved comb of a hairbrush.

[0022] Fig.10 yes Figure 1 Top view of a hairbrush.

[0023] Fig.11 yes Figure 1 Hairbrush Fig.10 A side cross-sectional view taken along line AA.

[0024] Fig.12 is a top perspective view of a hairbrush with a battery according to the present disclosure.

[0025] Fig.13 yes Fig.12 Bottom perspective view of a hairbrush.

[0026] Fig.14 yes Fig.12 view of a hairbrush.

[0027] Fig.15 is from Fig.14 Rotate 180 degrees Fig.12 view of a hairbrush.

[0028] Fig.16 yes Fig.12 Front view of a hairbrush.

[0029] Fig.17 yes Fig.12 view of a hairbrush.

[0030] Fig.18 yes Fig.12 An exploded top perspective view of a hairbrush.

[0031] Fig.19 is used for Fig.12 A top perspective view of an improved comb of a hairbrush.

[0032] Fig. 20 yes Fig.12 Bottom view of a hairbrush.

[0033] Fig.21 yes Fig.12 Hairbrush Fig. 20 A side cross-sectional view taken along line AA.

[0034] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0035] The hairbrush 10 according to the present disclosure is Figure 1-7 The hairbrush 10 has a cooling surface 102. Brushing the cooling surface 102 through the user's hair can provide the benefits of low temperatures applied to the hair, namely closing the hair cuticle, thereby locking in moisture and reducing frizz and dryness, making the hair silkier and smoother.

[0036] The hairbrush 10 has a housing 11. The housing 11 has an upper housing 100 and a lower housing 200. The upper housing 100 and the lower housing 200 are die-cast metals. The upper housing 100 forms an upper brush portion 108 and an upper handle portion 110. The upper brush portion 108 has a central opening 112 and a hole 114 surrounding the central opening 112.

[0037] The comb 116 has teeth 117 extending through the central opening 112. The teeth 117 are connected to a tooth support 119. The comb 116 is metallic or any suitable material having thermally conductive properties.

[0038] Bristles 118 extend through the aperture 114. The bristles 118 may also be teeth. The bristles 118 may or may not be thermally conductive. The bristles 118 may include 90 cool-touch metal or non-metal bristles to help organize the hair and hold it against the hairbrush 10.

[0039] The upper handle portion 110 has an opening 120 and an aperture 122. The opening 120 receives a user engageable member 123 which moves an on / off switch 124 ( Figure 8 ). The on / off switch 124 is, for example, a dual voltage switch. The hole 122 receives a power indicator, such as a light emitting diode ("LED"). The upper handle portion 110 has a cavity 126. The cavity 126 has an opening 127 through the upper handle portion 110. The cavity 126 is an open space below the surface of the upper handle portion 110. The opening 127 connects the cavity 126 to the ambient air outside the handle portion 110.

[0040] refer to Figure 2, the hairbrush 10 has a lower housing 200. The lower housing 200 forms a lower brush portion 208 and a lower handle portion 210. The lower brush portion 208 is connected to the upper brush portion 108 to form a brush portion 12 that can brush the hair of a user. The lower brush portion 208 has a ventilation opening 214. The lower handle portion 210 is connected to the upper handle portion 110 to form a handle 14 that can be grasped by the user. The lower handle portion 210 and the upper handle portion 110 are connected to the swivel joint 16, which receives the power cord 18, as shown in FIG. Figure 4 and Figure 5 shown.

[0041] refer to Figure 8 The lower housing 200 is connected to the upper housing 100 to accommodate a portion of the comb 116, a portion of the bristles 18, a portion of the user-engageable member 123, an on / off switch 124, a cooling device 300, a heater peripheral 400, a heat sink 500 positioned below the heater peripheral 400, a fan assembly 600, 602 and an ion generator 700.

[0042] The cooling device 300 has a thermoelectric cell 301, which is a solid-state, active heat pump, which transfers heat from one side of the cooling device 300, namely the cooling surface 306, to the other side, namely the hot surface 308, with the consumption of electrical energy. By controlling the direction of the current in the cooling device 300, a cooling surface 102 is generated on the brush surface 104 and a hot surface 204 is generated opposite to the brush surface 104, such as Figure 1 As shown, the cooling device 300 has electrical wires 302 and 304 .

[0043] The heater enclosure 400 may be metal or a non-conductive material having sufficient heat resistance that it does not retain heat and therefore does not stop the movement of heat being removed and directed to the heat sink 500. The heater enclosure 400 has an opening 402 through which heat is moved or transferred between the thermoelectric element 301 and the heat sink 500. The opening 402 is sized to mount the cooling device 300 therein. The heater enclosure 400 has an upper connector 404 and a lower connector 406.

[0044] The heat sink 500 is a block that is flat on the top 502 and has fins 504 on the bottom. The fins 502 dissipate heat. The heat sink 500 may be connected to the heater enclosure 400 by flanges 506 and connectors 508 on opposite sides of the heat sink 500.

[0045] The heater enclosure 400 may be any structurally rigid material. The heat sink 500 is an aluminum heat sink or other suitable material that, like aluminum, has good thermal conductivity.

[0046] The fan assemblies 600, 602 are brushless motor fans, for example, two small, quiet brushless motor fans. The fan assemblies 600, 602 are of the type commonly used to cool small electronic devices. The fan assembly 600 has wires 604, 606 and the fan assembly 602 has wires 608, 610. The fan assemblies 600, 602 may be "maximum life" brushless motor fans that dissipate heat for the thermoelectric element 301 of the cooling device 300 to achieve maximum cooling performance.

[0047] The ion generator 700 comprises a generally known structure, essentially, a needle receives a voltage and emits ions into the surrounding air. The ions exit the opening 127 through the upper handle portion 110. The ion generator 700 is a negative ion high voltage generator with a plurality of carbon fiber filaments for the ion emitter to increase the negative ion output, as is known in the art. The ion generator 700 has an emitter 702 and an electrical wire 704.

[0048] The lower housing 200 has a rear inner wall 216 .

[0049] refer to Fig.10 and Fig.11, the comb 116 has teeth 117 extending through the central opening 112. The tooth support 119 is larger in size than the central opening 108 to retain a portion of the tooth support 119 within the upper housing 100. The tooth support 119 has a protrusion 121 that contacts the cooling device 300. The wires 302, 304 of the cooling device 300 are connected to the on / off switch 124. The cooling device 300 is positioned in the opening 402 of the heater periphery 400. The heater periphery 400 is connected to or abuts the upper housing 100 through the upper connector 404, and the heater periphery 400 is connected to or abuts the rear inner wall 216 of the lower periphery 200 through the lower connector 406. The heater periphery 400 holds the position of the cooling device 300 between the protrusion 121 of the comb 116 and the heat sink 500. The heat sink 500 contacts the cooling device 300 on the hot face 308. The fan assemblies 600, 602 contact the heat sink 500 on a side opposite to the side where the heat sink 500 contacts the cooling device 300. The wires 604, 606, 608, 610 of the fan assemblies 600, 602 are connected to the on / off switch 124. The fan assemblies 600, 602 abut against the vent 214 through the rear wall 201 of the lower housing 200 on a side opposite to the side where the fan assemblies 600, 602 contact the heat sink 500. The ionizer 700 is positioned between the lower handle portion 210 and the upper handle portion 110. The wire 704 of the ionizer 700 is connected to the on / off switch 124. The emitter 702 of the ionizer is positioned in the cavity 126 of the upper housing 100. The hole 122 receives a power indicator, such as an LED 800 having a wire connected to the switch 124. The on / off switch 124 is connected to the power line 18 in the rotary joint 16 , for example, via an electric wire of the on / off switch 124 connected to an electric wire of the power line 18 .

[0050] During operation, the on / off switch 124 is moved by a user moving the user-engageable member 123 from a closed position that blocks current from being conducted through the on / off switch 124 to an open position where current is conducted through the on / off switch 124. The power cord 18 supplies current from a power source (e.g., an electrical outlet) to the on / off switch 124. The current is supplied to the LED 800 having a wire connected to the switch 124 to illuminate the LED 800. The illuminated LED 800 indicates that power is being supplied to the hairbrush 10 so that the user can determine that the hairbrush 10 is turned on.

[0051] Current is supplied to the cooling device 300 so that the thermoelectric cooler of the cooling device 300 operates by the Peltier effect (its more common name is the thermoelectric effect). The cooling device 300 has two sides, and when a DC current flows through the cooling device, the DC current carries heat from the cooling surface 306 to the hot surface 308, so that the cooling surface 306 becomes colder and the hot surface 308 becomes hotter. The hot surface 308 is attached to the heat sink 500 so that the hot surface 308 is kept at ambient temperature and the cooling surface 306 is below room temperature. In some applications, multiple cooling devices 300 can be connected in series to reduce the temperature. The cooling surface 306 contacts the protrusion 121 of the comb 116 to cool the comb 116 applied to directly contact the user's hair. The cooling surface 306 or the comb 116 cooled by the cooling surface 306 can also contact the bristles 118 and / or contact the upper housing 100 which can also be applied to directly contact the user's hair. The cooling surface 306 can reach 0 degrees Celsius. The thermal surface 308 conducts heat to the heat sink 500 .

[0052] The heat sink 500 may be an aluminum heat sink that draws heat away from the hot face 308 of the cooling device 300 from the upper housing 100 toward the lower housing 200. The heat sink 500 may be other suitable materials that, like aluminum, have good thermal conductivity. The fan assemblies 600, 602 help to quickly move heat away from the heat sink 500, and the lower housing 200 is ventilated through the vents 214 to release the heat into the ambient air. To maximize cooling, the fan assemblies 600, 602 are two small, quiet brushless motor fans to remove heat from the hot face 308. Light weight may be added to the brushless motor fans.

[0053] The ion generator 700 is supplied with electric current to emit ions from the hairbrush 10 through the opening 127 in the cavity 126. The ion generator 700 has an ion generator for reducing static electricity.

[0054] A vibration motor may be included to impart a vibration pattern to the hairbrush 10. The hairbrush 10 may include a vibration motor having an eccentric weight or a weight off center on a rotation axis as is generally known in the art. The vibration pattern massages the user's scalp.

[0055] When the user wishes to stop operating the hairbrush 10, the on / off switch 124 moves from the on position where current is conducted through the on / off switch 124 to the off position where current is blocked from being conducted through the on / off switch 124 by the user moving the user engageable member 123.

[0056] The hairbrush 10 may have a contact surface coated with various coatings known to impart a smoothing effect, including but not limited to coatings containing particles of titanium, ceramic, silver, and other elements, minerals, and substances.

[0057] refer to Fig. 9 , a comb 116A having teeth 117A is shown. Comb 116 can be modified to comb 116A to include more teeth 117A. Alternatively, comb 116 can be interchangeable with comb 116A, such that comb 116 is connected to upper housing 100 or comb 116A is connected to upper housing 100.

[0058] Figure 12-Figure 17 A hairbrush 10A is shown. The hairbrush 10A is the same as the hairbrush 10 except that the hairbrush 10A replaces the swivel 16 and the power cord 18 with a battery 900 and the housing 11 having the upper housing 100 and the lower housing 200 is modified to a housing 11A having the upper housing 100A and the lower housing 200A to accommodate the battery 900. Therefore, for the hairbrush 10A, the same reference numerals as the hairbrush 10 are used for the same components.

[0059] The upper housing 100A has a rear wall 128. The rear wall 128 has an opening 130 to provide access to the socket 1000. The upper housing 100A also positions the opening 120, the hole 122, the user-engageable member 123, and the on / off switch 124 closer to the upper brush portion 108 than the upper housing 100.

[0060] The lower housing 200A has a lower rear wall 228. The lower rear wall 228 and the upper rear wall 128 are connected to form the end of the hairbrush 10A.

[0061] The ionizer 700 may be modified to be smaller, as shown in the ionizer 700A of the hairbrush 10A, to accommodate the battery 900 .

[0062] refer to Fig.18 , the battery 900 has wires 902, 904 connected to the on / off switch 124. During operation, the battery 900 supplies power to the on / off switch 124 instead of the power cord 18 of the hairbrush 10. The battery 900 can be a disposable battery or a rechargeable battery. The battery 900 is shown as a rechargeable battery, which can be charged via a USB cable that is connected to the socket 1000 on a first end and to a power source (e.g., an electrical outlet) on a second end of the USB cable, as is known in the art.

[0063] The hairbrush 10, 10A described herein can be used on wet and dry hair. When brushing through the user's hair, the hairbrush 10, 10A cools the hair, which can close the hair cuticle, thereby locking in moisture and reducing frizz and dryness, making the hair silkier and smoother. Therefore, when the user uses the hairbrush 10, 10A to comb the user's hair, the hairbrush 10, 10A provides the advantages of applying low temperature to the hair and avoids the disadvantages of applying heat to the hair.

[0064] Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to one or more exemplary embodiments, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and that equivalents may be substituted for its elements without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt specific circumstances or materials to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure will not be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed herein, but that the present disclosure will include all aspects that fall within the scope of a proper understanding of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A hairbrush comprising: a housing having a brush portion and a handle portion, the housing having a first end on the brush portion and a second end on the handle portion opposite the first end, the housing being closed at the first end of the brush portion; a cooling device in the housing having a hot face and a cooling face, the hot face of the cooling device being in contact with a heat sink in the housing; a comb having one or more teeth extending from a brush portion of the housing, the comb having the one or more teeth being a metallic material or a thermally conductive material, the comb being in direct physical contact with a cooling surface of a cooling device and being cooled when thermal energy in the form of heat is transferred by the cooling device in a direction away from the comb, whereby the cooling device cools the comb by thermal conduction and a heat sink in the housing draws heat away from the comb; one or more fan assemblies for removing heat from the brush portion of the housing, the heat sink being located between the cooling device and the one or more fan assemblies; wherein the comb has a hair contacting surface; wherein the hair contacting surface includes one or more teeth adapted to directly engage the user's hair; wherein the hairbrush cools the user's hair solely by heat conduction through contact with one or more teeth of the comb and / or one or more teeth of the comb and the housing; wherein the housing has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; wherein the comb extends from the first side and the second side is free of bristles and teeth; wherein the housing has a vent through the second side; wherein only the first side of the brush portion is cooled and heat is released to ambient air through vents through the second side, such that the one or more fan assemblies assist in moving heat away from the heat sink in an airflow, and the vents release the airflow to ambient air; and In this case, the air flow is only on the hot side of the cooling device, so that there is no air flow on the cooling side of the cooling device.

2. The hairbrush of claim 1, further comprising an ion generator in the housing.

3. The hairbrush according to claim 1, characterized in that The cooling device is connected to the plug.

4. The hairbrush according to claim 1, characterized in that A cooling device is connected to the battery.

5. The hairbrush according to claim 4, characterized in that The battery can be connected to a power source via a USB socket.

6. The hairbrush of claim 1 further comprising an opening in the housing, and a portion of the hair contacting surface extends through the opening.

7. The hairbrush of claim 6, further comprising a plurality of bristles extending from the housing to surround the hair contacting surface.

8. The hairbrush according to claim 6, characterized in that The comb is a first comb and further includes a second comb, wherein the first comb and the second comb are each selectively connectable to the housing, and wherein the first comb and the second comb are interchangeably connectable to the housing.

9. The hairbrush according to claim 6, characterized in that The housing is metal, and wherein the cooling device cools the housing.

10. The hairbrush according to claim 6, characterized in that The one or more teeth of the comb form a center row of teeth centered between the bristles of the U-shaped array, and wherein the width dimension of the teeth is greater than the width of each bristle.

11. The hairbrush according to claim 1, characterized in that Each tooth of the comb has a semi-elliptical circumference, and wherein each tooth of the comb extends from a support that is in direct physical contact with a cooling surface of a cooling device.

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