Triangular Tine Carding Tool for Selective Pet Hair Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pet grooming tools often remove too much live hair while attempting to remove loose hair, and their manufacturing processes are labor-intensive and costly.
Innovation Solution
A grooming tool with an elongated handle and a carding portion featuring triangular tines spaced closely together, designed to collect loose hair without engaging live hair, made from durable plastic materials for efficient and cost-effective production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a toothed blade is used to remove loose hair, then loose hair removal effectiveness is improved, but live hair removal increases undesirably
Solution Approach 1:
The carding portion is divided into multiple rows of closely spaced tines, creating numerous narrow gaps between them. This segmentation allows the tool to effectively capture loose hair while the small gap size prevents live hair from being engaged or removed, thus resolving the contradiction between removal effectiveness and harmful effects.
Solution Approach 2:
The gaps between tines are specifically designed with a particular size and distribution pattern optimized for the local requirement of distinguishing between loose and live hair. This local structural quality enables selective removal where the gap dimensions are critical for allowing loose hair passage while blocking live hair engagement.
2Ease of operation
If a toothed blade with handle is used for better gripping and handling, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The handle and carding portion are merged into a single integrated component rather than separate parts. This combining maintains the ergonomic benefits of a handle for gripping and handling while eliminating the complexity of assembling multiple parts, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated handle-carding portion design serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, enables comfortable gripping and handling, and forms the complete functional tool in one piece. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components and simplifies manufacturing.
3Manufacturing precision
If traditional machining processes are used for toothed clipper blades, then manufacturing precision is achieved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The design parameters of the carding portion, including tine dimensions, spacing, and gap sizes, are optimized to achieve the required functional precision through alternative manufacturing methods. By changing the geometric parameters to suit molding processes rather than machining, the tool achieves sufficient precision at lower manufacturing cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The carding portion is designed to be manufacturable through cost-effective molding processes, creating an affordable tool that can be produced at scale. This approach accepts that the carding portion may have a limited service life but compensates through low unit cost, resolving the contradiction between precision and manufacturing cost.
Data Source
AI summary
An improved pet grooming tool is provided for grooming pets and removing loose or detached hair from their fur coats, while removing substantially no or acceptably little live hair and without the need to include any blade portion for engaging the loose or dead hairs. The tool can also collect the removed hair as opposed to permitting most of it to fall to the floor. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the grooming tool includes an elongated handle portion having proximal and distal ends, a head portion at the distal end of the handle, and a carding portion on the head. A tool axis extends in a proximal direction from the head to the proximal end and in preferred embodiments of the invention, corresponds to the direction in which the tool is drawn across the animal's coat (the grooming direction). The grooming tool also has a plurality of tines, with a generally triangular shape when viewed from their sides or top, such that they narrow when extending from base to tip.