Comb for treating head louse

Abstract

A comb for treating head louses provides an innovative arrangement of grooves of the teeth in order to significantly improve the efficiency of removing louse eggs and / or lice without reducing combability.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to hair cleaning, and more particularly to a device for treating head lice in order to remove nits or eggs of lice attached to the hair, and even more particularly, the present invention relates to a new comb for treating head lice, which improves the effectiveness of removing lice eggs (nits) or lice from the hair by the arrangement and differentiation of grooves, without reducing the effectiveness of combing or combability. Background Art

[0002] As is well known in the art, head lice are a common problem that affects countless people, especially a thorny problem in school groups, because school-age children are more likely to be infected when they come into contact with their classmates in the classroom or educational institutions where they study. Similarly, the spread between children occurs not only in educational places, but also in squares, houses, and any place where two or more people gather, provided that at least one of them is a potential carrier of nits and / or lice.

[0003] When a carrier comes into contact with a non-carrier and transmission occurs, the lice lodge in the hair and implant the well-known nits there, that is, the eggs of Pediculus humanus capitis and similar species, which are more commonly referred to as lice.

[0004] Many compounds have been developed for treating this parasitic phenomenon, and countless combs have been developed, which are designed to treat this problem by removing lice and nits, thus avoiding the application of chemical products that cause side effects. Thus, there are combs of various designs including a handle, to which a plurality of teeth or wire comb members are attached, where the spacing between the teeth is studied such that only the hair passes tightly between adjacent teeth, so that any adherents, especially nits, remain between the teeth of the comb. By passing the comb through the entire hair of the patient, as many nits as possible can be removed.

[0005] One of the combs that most effectively achieves the purpose of removing nits with the greatest success is the comb disclosed in U.S. No. 5,873,374, which is more specifically defined in its claims, which describes a cleaning comb having needles with a rough portion on its outer peripheral surface, the comb including a handle and a plurality of teeth, wires or needles preferably made of steel, each needle having an end for grasping the handle, a front end, and an outer peripheral surface, and the front end of each needle having a sharp rounded tip. According to the concept of these patents, the novelty of the prior art comb is that the outer peripheral surface of each needle is provided with a rough portion designed to capture and drag the nits attached to the hair. The comb also has other characteristics, such as the distance between adjacent needles being between 50 μm and 100 μm, each needle having a total length in the range of 40 mm to 80 mm and a useful length outside the handle in the range of 20 mm to 60 mm.

[0006] The roughness characteristics mentioned in the above-cited U.S. patent are preferably based on providing helical grooves having a pitch of, for example, less than 4 mm. The roughness may also consist of circumferential grooves separated from each other by a distance between 0.5 mm and 3 mm, and the grooves may have a depth of less than 0.2 mm.

[0007] The described patent comb has other characteristics, for example, the comb is made of steel, the number of needles is between 10 and 100 needles, more precisely 33 needles, and the leading edges of the needles together form a curved edge. Additionally, the tines or needles hold their proximal ends in the handle, and their distal ends (all ends are aligned on the leading edge) must be finely machined into a tapered, fine, and rounded shape so that combability is not reduced and at the same time allows hair to enter the space between the teeth or needles.

[0008] Another type of comb can be the comb disclosed in Levandosvky's Gazette US2002 / 0078972A1. According to the prior art related to FIG. 1 corresponding to Levandosvky Figure 4 and incorporated herein by reference, a comb 1 for cleaning adherent substances (especially lice and nits) from hair is taught. The comb includes a plurality of needles 3, with a gap between 5 microns and 100 microns defined between the plurality of needle tips 3. Each needle has at least one "U"-shaped material collection groove 8 extending along two combing sides 6 and 7 defined by the needle tips, as visible in FIG. 1 related to the prior art.

[0009] Each collection groove 8 of each needle is arranged near the leading edge of the reed and is placed side by side to form an overall collection groove or width. Each collection groove 8 is defined by a recess 9 having a right angle. On the other hand, Levandosvky teaches that each needle has a circular cross-section, preferably a cylindrical shape, which defines a needle diameter of about 1 mm to about 1.5 mm. Thus, each recess 9 and thus groove 8 has a depth of about 20% to 25% of the needle diameter and a width of about 3 mm to about 8 mm. Similarly, each needle 3 has a plurality of slots 13 spaced from each other by a distance between 3 mm and 5 mm. Like the recesses 9, the slots 13 are provided on the two sides 6 and 7 having a combing function.

[0010] Levandosvky's slots 13 are made by a cutting mechanism such as a grinding machine, which results in a significant reduction in the cross-section of the teeth or pins to at least half of the diameter. This reduction in diameter produces a significant weakening of the pins and results in a loss of their bending resistance. This forces Levandowsky to space the slots 13 apart from each other because if they were very dense, the teeth or pins would lose all the necessary resistance and would break under a slightly greater force than normal. This is important because the aim is to bring the slots closer to each other to improve the effectiveness and removal of lice eggs and lice. Similarly, using the collection area 8 is pointless because when the lice eggs are separated, they will inevitably die, and this area could be used for other purposes.

[0011] On the other hand, it can be seen that the arrangement of the slots 13 is perpendicular to the pins. This loses the effect that the slots must attack the lice eggs, i.e., if the comb is passed through the hair perpendicular to the hair, they will not work. Adding a very small number of slots makes the Levandosvky comb unsuitable for the treatment of head lice. Doubling the grooves on the two front sides only increases inefficiency due to the loss of the bending strength of the teeth. This is because removing material from the teeth weakens them and reduces performance. The inertia relative to the working axis of the teeth is proportional to the diameter, so removing 20% to 25% of the material reduces the bending resistance and the effectiveness of removing lice and lice eggs by the same proportion.

[0012] On the other hand, Levandosvky's grooves 8 are the product of a grinding process, and the recommended depth "a" is between 0.2D and 0.25D. In the case of a diameter of 1 mm to 1.5 mm, this translates to 0.2 mm to 0.375 mm. This means that only in the best case, the grooves with a tooth diameter of 1 mm will increase the effective spacing relative to adjacent grooves by more than 100%, i.e., from 0.10 mm to 0.22 mm. At the other end, for teeth with a diameter of 1.5 mm, the spacing between consecutive tooth grooves will be tripled, i.e., 0.3 mm. In summary, the spacing between the teeth has not changed, but the effectiveness between the grooves is affected because it increases between 100% and 200%. Similarly, the width of the grooves from 3 mm to 8 mm reduces the number of grooves required to remove lice eggs. It is also important to note that Levandovsky tried to collect all the materials, lice, lice eggs, dirt extracted from the hair in the slots (which are incidentally very wide and deep), rather than solving the effectiveness of removing lice eggs and lice.

[0013] Due to the current state of the art related to combs for treating head lice, it would be very convenient to have a new comb that improves the effectiveness or efficiency of removing lice eggs and / or lice for treating head lice during the cleaning and combing process without affecting the person's hair. Summary of the Invention

[0014] Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a new comb for treating head lice, the comb comprising needles, teeth or wires capable of holding, capturing and dragging lice eggs, dirt and lice without reducing combability, wherein the needles or teeth include novel peripheral grooves only on one side or one face of the comb.

[0015] Another object of the present invention is to provide a comb for treating head lice, which ensures the effective removal of lice eggs and foreign bodies adhering to the hair through the peripheral grooves, and these lice eggs and foreign bodies can easily enter the gaps between the teeth regardless of the way the comb passes through the hair.

[0016] Another object of the present invention is to provide a comb for treating head lice, wherein the grooves are made on the outer periphery of the teeth by laser, and the grooves do not reach the equator of the cross-section of the teeth, thereby avoiding any type of diameter reduction that may affect the treatment efficacy and the resistance of the teeth.

[0017] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a comb for treating head lice, wherein each needle or tooth on one side is provided with a plurality of the peripheral grooves, while the other side is smooth or does not include grooves.

[0018] Another object of the present invention is to provide a comb for treating head lice, wherein the peripheral grooves are arranged discontinuously from each other and are arranged at a distance to ensure the effective removal of lice eggs. Arranging discontinuously means that the slots do not completely extend around the needle or tooth, but extend in selected parts of the needle or tooth.

[0019] Another object of the present invention also lies in providing a comb for treating head lice of the following type, the comb comprising: a gripping handle; a plurality of teeth protruding from the handle, the teeth having a free distal end and a proximal end held in the handle, the free distal ends together defining a leading edge, the leading edge being designed to first contact a person's hair and pass through the hair to allow the process of removing lice eggs and / or lice, wherein each of the plurality of teeth includes a roughness defined by a plurality of grooves that are independent of each other and separated from each other, and each of the plurality of grooves is made in the outer peripheral portion of each tooth so as to project or extend circumferentially from the north pole of the cross-section of each tooth and around each tooth towards both sides of each tooth until near the equator of the cross-section of each tooth. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] For a clearer and better understanding of the object of the present invention, the present invention has been illustrated in several drawings, in which the present invention has been represented in one of the preferred forms of the embodiments, all of these preferred forms being by way of example, wherein:

[0021] Figure 1 shows a partial side view of a comb for treating head lice according to published US2002 / 0078972A1, which is incorporated herein by reference;

[0022] Figure 2 shows a front view of a comb for treating head lice according to the present invention;

[0023] Figure 3 shows an enlarged view of the front region of a comb for treating head lice according to the present invention, in which the arrangement of the grooves, which are the object of the present invention, can be observed in more detail;

[0024] Figure 4 shows a cross-sectional view of some of the teeth constituting the comb according to the present invention, in which the outer periphery formation of the grooves, which are the object of the present invention, can be observed in more detail, and which does not reach the equator of the cross-section so as to avoid being located in the space between the needles through which the hair slides;

[0025] Figure 5 shows an enlarged perspective view of a part of the comb of the present invention, in which the outer periphery arrangement of the grooves according to the present invention can be observed;

[0026] Figure 6 shows a schematic view of a part of the comb of the present invention, in which some teeth are shown, which are close to removing the corresponding nits and / or lice; and

[0027] Figure 7 shows an enlarged view of the removal of nits and / or lice by using the comb of the present invention and is for illustrative purposes only. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Referring now to the drawings, it can be seen that the present invention resides in a new comb for treating head lice, which provides a novel arrangement of grooves in the teeth or needles so as to significantly improve the efficiency of removing nits and / or lice without reducing combability. That is, the combability of the hair is not affected, and if the hair can be cut when nits are found, the damage to the hair is acceptable because pulling the nits by pressure causes pain and counteracts the cleaning process of a child's head. Preferably, the hair with nits is cut rather than pulling the nits to separate them from the hair. Generally, the laser edge according to the present invention cuts the nits without pulling the hair, or in some cases can also cut the hair with attached nits.

[0029] Therefore, according to Figures 2 to 7, the lice comb of the present invention is indicated by the general reference numeral 101 and comprises a gripping handle 102 formed by two joined plates, from which a plurality of teeth 103 project, said teeth 103 having a proximal end 104 held in said handle 102 and a free distal end 105, said free distal ends 105 together defining a leading edge which is slightly curved, which first contacts a person's hair and then passes through the hair and allows the process of removing nits and / or lice to be carried out.

[0030] According to the invention, each of said teeth comprises roughening means for holding and removing adhering material, nits and / or lice present in the hair, said roughening means being defined by a plurality of separate valleys, grooves, slots or recesses 106 which are separated from one another, each of said recesses 106 being made in the peripheral part of each tooth 103 so as to extend from the north pole 107 of the tooth and circumferentially around the tooth towards both sides of the tooth until near the equator 108 of the cross-section of the tooth or needle, but not reaching the equator 108 at any time, so as to avoid the presence of recesses in the area where it scrapes the hair as occurs with conventional combs of the prior art. In other words, the slots, notches or recesses of one needle never face the slots of an adjacent needle, and the gap between the needles is always defined by the needle diameter without slots.

[0031] By way of example and not limitation of the invention, said recesses 106 may be made by laser and are arranged or practiced in an inclined manner with respect to the longitudinal geometric axis of each tooth, so as to form an angle between 40° and 50°, more preferably 45°. Similarly, said recesses 106 have a depth 113 between 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm, preferably 0.2 mm. On the other hand, said recesses 106 are separated from one another by a distance 114 between 1.0 mm and 3 mm. From Figure 3 , Figure 6 and Figure 7 it can be seen that the recesses 106 of each tooth 103 are arranged in line or opposite the adjacent recesses 106 of the adjacent tooth 103. In this way, the recesses 106 work together to guide the nits and / or lice on both sides, thus significantly increasing the removal efficiency of the recesses during treatment.

[0032] It is again clarified that the said measures are merely exemplary and that they may be modified and adapted to further increase the effectiveness of the comb of the present invention. Similarly, by means of the process of laser engraving the recesses, the advantage of the above-mentioned recesses facing one another is achieved, which is not possible with conventional wire grooving processes, since in the conventional process the subsequent cut needles or teeth will ultimately cause the ridges or adjacent needle grooves to be in different positions.

[0033] On the other hand, it is very important to note that the groove 106 does not reach the equator 108 of the cross-section of the needle 103, far from it, but rather until a distance or height 109 of at least 0.1 mm from the equator, where the distance 109 corresponds to a tooth or needle diameter between 0.05 mm and 0.15 mm. Of course, this distance 109 will depend on the diameter chosen for each tooth or needle 103.

[0034] With the slots 106 of finite depth (preferably constant along the entire length of the groove, except at its ends) and accompanying the perimeter of the needle, the resistant part of the needle is not affected, the hair is not damaged, and the combability is not affected, and it allows the slots 106 to be arranged more closely together, thus greatly improving the removal and cleaning effect. In other words, the two purposes of not reducing combability and achieving the required effectiveness of removing lice eggs and lice are achieved.

[0035] Similarly, the width of each groove 106 can start from a greater width in the central region near the north pole 107 and decrease towards the equator 108. Obviously, as long as it remains within the spirit and scope of the purpose of the present invention, the shape of each groove 106 can vary without any inconvenience.

[0036] According to another object of the present invention, the comb 101 includes an operating surface 110 and a non-operating surface opposite to this first operating surface, where on the operating surface 110, the teeth 103 partially present the plurality of grooves 106 along their entire length; while on the non-operating surface, the teeth 103 are smooth or without grooves along their entire length. On the other hand, it should be emphasized that the teeth 103 are separated from each other by a distance between 0.05 mm and 0.1 mm. This distance allows the hair 111 to pass through without causing a reduction in combability, and at the same time allows the removal of lice eggs and / or lice 112 through the grooves 106.

[0037] In this way, the comb for treating head lice according to the present invention is constructed and configured, which has a plurality of grooves arranged in an inclined manner with respect to the geometric axis of the needle and thus protruding from a north pole of the cross-section towards the equator, all on the outer peripheral surface of each needle, without reducing the effective diameter of each needle or tooth, and thus without changing the effective distance between the teeth. It should be made clear that when referring to "teeth" or "needles", the same structural part of the comb is referred to.

[0038] Therefore, the present invention provides a comb, wherein:

[0039] - The grooves vary from a minimum to a maximum from the diameter near the equator where the hair rubs to the north pole in the cross-section;

[0040] - The combability on either side is not affected because the diameter is not engraved;

[0041] - The ribs can be deeper than before because they do not affect the hairstyle;

[0042] - The ribbing is more distinct because it is done with a laser;

[0043] - Different groove patterns can be made, which provide greater aggression against lice eggs;

[0044] - When the lice eggs exceed the diameter of the hair, they are well attacked by the ribbing.

[0045] Thus, there is a new comb for treating head lice, which lies in that the comb now does not use ridges in the form of "spirals or circular scratches", but uses independent and spaced grooves, all of which are on a single operating surface of the comb, because the other side has no grooves or is completely smooth.

[0046] Moreover, according to the present invention, spiral indentations or grooving made in the prior art using compression tools such as saws or grinders are preferably no longer made in this way. The grooves of the present invention are engraved using a laser process, and can be laser engraved on the finished comb or at least on the welded comb.

[0047] In fact, in the prior art, the teeth (reed) with grooves need to have slots or grooves machined in them before assembly, whether circumferential or spiral. After that, these teeth are cut to the required length, arranged in sequence, kept at an appropriate spacing, and fixed to the handle, for example by welding. However, in this case, it is impossible to control whether the slots between adjacent teeth are aligned, nor the starting position of each row of slots.

[0048] This results in traditional combs (except for the design of Levandosvky) having continuous spirals on a steel cylinder, which protrude outwards from the diameter to guide and cut off lice eggs. But since these spirals are continuous, the rough parts in contact with the hair will significantly reduce the combability of the comb, and combability is extremely important in the process of treating head lice. That is to say, the rougher the comb, although the better the effect of removing lice eggs, the more difficult it is to comb. Although in the case of Levandosvky, the goal was to improve combability, this goal was not fully achieved because its effectiveness was lost due to the rough parts not covering the positions where the lice eggs were located, resulting in the comb being inefficient in treating head lice.

[0049] Through the present invention, all the above-mentioned disadvantages are solved because the present invention provides a comb with "sharp" peripheral grooves that can reach the area where the lice eggs are located without affecting the combability of the comb.

[0050] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a comb for treating head lice (such as the comb shown and described above), wherein the method comprises the steps of: cutting a plurality of segments from a wire to form each tooth of the comb; fixing the teeth to a handle such that the teeth are arranged adjacent to each other and leaving an inter-tooth distance between the teeth; subjecting at least one side of the comb to laser engraving to form a plurality of ridges or grooves in the teeth on that side of the comb.

[0051] According to the method of the present invention, the grooves are made in the outer peripheral portion of each tooth so as to project circumferentially from the north pole and towards both sides until near the equator of the cross-section of the tooth. More specifically, the grooves are made to have a constant outer peripheral depth except at the ends of the grooves.

[0052] The grooves may be engraved on one or both sides of the comb. On the other hand, different from the prior art in which spiral or circular grooves occupy the space occupied by the hair (i.e., between two teeth or needles), the present grooves occupy the space immediately after the diameter. In this way, it does not affect the hair, but it does affect the lice eggs that occupy a larger space. This is because when the vertical distance between the laser and the wire changes, the focal length changes, and at the same time the geometry does not allow the wire to be affected over its entire circumference. In other words, this design is very "aggressive" towards lice eggs and not "aggressive" towards hair, thus enabling the removal of lice eggs and / or lice without reducing combability.

[0053] It should be emphasized that the shape and function of the handle, the bonding between components, the holding shape of the teeth 103, and the distal end or tip of the teeth or needles 103 are well known in the art and thus do not form part of the object of the present invention and will not be described in detail. It should be understood that the novel features of the present invention can be combined with any free tip of the needles or teeth and with any form of handle or comb for adaptation and use, as long as it does not depart from the spirit and scope of the object of the present invention.

Claims

1. A comb for treating head lice, the comb comprising: A gripping handle; A plurality of teeth projecting from the handle, the teeth having free distal ends and proximal ends retained in the handle, the free distal ends together defining a leading edge which is defined to first contact a person's hair and pass through the hair to permit the process of removing nits and / or lice, wherein the comb is characterized in that: Each of the plurality of teeth includes a roughened portion defined by a plurality of grooves which are independent of and separated from each other, each of the plurality of grooves being made in the outer peripheral portion of each tooth so as to extend circumferentially from the north pole of the cross-section of each tooth and around each tooth towards both sides of each tooth until near the equator of the cross-section of each tooth.

2. The comb according to claim 1, characterized in that, The comb includes an operating face and a non-operating face, wherein: On the operating face, the plurality of grooves of the teeth extend along a part of the entire length of the teeth; While on the non-operating face, the teeth are smooth and have no grooves along their entire length.

3. The comb according to claim 2, characterized in that, The grooves are inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis of each tooth, thereby forming an angle between 40° and 50°.

4. The comb according to claim 3, characterized in that, The angle is 45°.

5. The comb according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The grooves are made by laser.

6. The comb according to claim 5, characterized in that, The depth of the grooves is between 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm.

7. The comb according to claim 5, characterized in that, The depth of the grooves is 0.2 mm.

8. The comb according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The plurality of grooves are separated from each other by a distance between 1.5 mm and 3 mm.

9. The comb according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, The grooves of each tooth are arranged in rows and adjacent to the grooves of the adjacent tooth.

10. The comb according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, Each groove extends circumferentially from the north pole to a distance or height of at least 0.1 mm from the equator of the cross-section.

11. The comb according to claim 1, wherein The plurality of teeth are separated from each other by a distance between 0.05 mm and 0.1 mm.

12. A method of manufacturing a comb for treating head lice of the following type, the type of comb comprising a gripping handle, a plurality of teeth projecting from the gripping handle, the teeth having free distal ends and proximal ends retained in the handle, the free distal ends together defining a leading edge which is defined to first contact a person's hair and pass through the hair to permit the process of removing nits and / or lice, the method being characterized by the following steps: Cutting a plurality of segments from a wire to form each of the plurality of teeth of the comb; Fixing the plurality of teeth to the gripping handle, arranging one tooth adjacent to another tooth, leaving an inter-tooth distance between the plurality of teeth; Subjecting at least one side of the comb to laser engraving to make a plurality of grooves only in the plurality of teeth on the at least one side of the comb.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein The grooves are made in the outer peripheral portion of each tooth so as to project circumferentially from the north pole of the cross-section of each tooth and around each tooth towards both sides until near the equator of the cross-section of each tooth.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein Except at the ends of the grooves, the grooves are made to have a constant outer peripheral depth.

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