HAIR CURLER DEVICE
The present invention provides, in at least one embodiment, a customized hair curler with a barrel, and a handle that fits multiple types of barrels, the barrels being detachable and attachable. The handle has a release latch that allows a quick and simple detachment of the barrel from the handle, and a rotation switch for bidirectional rotation of the barrel with respect to the handle. The hair curler also has a heater and a user control interface for precise temperature control of the heater.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to hair styling, and more specifically, to an improved hair curler device.
2. Description of Related Art
A hair iron, also known as a hair tong, is a tool used to change the structure of the hair using electric heat. There are three general kinds of hair irons: a curling iron (also known as a hair curler), a straightening iron (also called a straightener or a flat iron), and a crimping iron. The hair curler makes the hair curly, the straightening iron straightens the hair, and the crimping iron creates crimps of a desired size in the hair.
Hair curlers create waves or curls in the hair. There are several types of modern hair curlers, which can have different barrel materials, diameters, shapes, and different types of handles. Hair curlers are typically made of Teflon, ceramic, tourmaline, metal, or titanium. The diameter often varies between 0.5 and 2 inches, where a small diameter creates spiral curls, and a large diameter gives a hairstyle shape and volume. The barrel's shape can be a cylinder, cone, or reverse cone, and the hair curler can have brush attachments.
To use a hair curler, a user inserts the hair, twists her wrists to the roll the hair curlers left (i.e., counter clockwise) and right (i.e., clockwise), allowing the hair curler to remain in place for a desired period of time to achieve a desired curl. The hotter the hair curler, the faster it works, but the greater the chance of damage to the user's skin or hair.
Measures have been taken to make hair curling safer, faster, and more flexible. For example, many hair curlers have a non-metal tip that is cooler and reduces skin burns. Also, other hair curlers have more than one temperature setting for faster results. Also, different hair curlers come in multiple sizes for producing different sized curls.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,159 describes a hair styler for curling hair. The hair styler has a cone mounted on a hand held motor. The cone has an open slot for receiving a lock of hair. The motor rotates the cone forming a roll of hair. The cone is then separated from the roll of hair and then the roll of hair is secured in place by a pin. U.S. Pat. No. 2,586,103 describes an electrically operated hair curler with an electric motor attached to a hair curling spindle, the spindle having a slot for inserting a strand of hair and the electric motor rotates the spindle. AbsolutelyNew and U.S. Pat. No. D455,860 describe and illustrate a self-rolling curling iron with a barrel that rotates by the push of a button. GadgetTown has a digital temperature control ceramic hair curler, HK-H00076, with digitally controlled heating and variable temperature settings between 176° F.-356° F. Conventional hair curlers lack many useful features that improve the hair curling experience, such as a simple barrel detachment mechanism and a bidirectional rotating barrel with precision heating, among other features.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention overcomes these and other disadvantages of the prior art by providing, in at least one embodiment, a customized hair curler with a barrel, and a handle that fits multiple types of barrels, the barrels being detachable and attachable. The handle has a release latch that allows a quick and simple detachment of the barrel from the handle, and a rotation switch for bidirectional rotation of the barrel with respect to the handle. The hair curler also has a heater and a user control interface for precise temperature control of the heater.
In an embodiment of the invention, a hair curler device comprises: a barrel comprising a heating element, wherein the heating element is capable of heating the barrel to a desired temperature; and a handle configured to detachably couple to the barrel, and further comprising: a user control interface, wherein the user control interface is configured to change a temperature of the barrel to two or more temperatures; a rotation switch, wherein activation of the rotation switch in one position rotates the barrel clockwise and activation of the rotation switch in another position rotates the barrel counter clockwise. The heating element may be disposed internally within the barrel. The barrel may comprise a slot configured to receive hair. The slot transverses the barrel from a tip of the barrel to an end with a prong. The user control interface may comprise a decrease temperature button, an increase temperature button, may be configured to change the temperature of the barrel to three or more temperatures, and may have a display. The handle may comprise a swivel allowing a power cord to rotate. The barrel may comprise a prong for receiving electrical signals to power the heating element.
In another embodiment of the invention, a barrel comprises: a handle end, the handle end configured to detachably couple to a handle; a tip end, the tip end comprises a slot configured to receive hair; and a heating element, wherein the heating element is capable of heating the barrel to two or more desired temperatures. The heating element may be disposed internally within the barrel. The slot transverses the barrel from the tip end to the handle end. The barrel may comprise a prong for receiving electrical signals to power the heating element. The heating element may be configured to receive electrical signals to decrease temperature, increase temperature, and to change the temperature of the barrel to three or more temperatures.
Embodiments of the present invention have several advantages over existing technology. For example, the hair curler provides the user (e.g., a person curling her own hair, an acquaintance curling the hair, a hair styling professional, etc.) more control in curling hair. A detachable barrel allows the user flexibility to customize the barrel size and type that best suits the hair, whether it is long, medium, or short (e.g., after a haircut) and style that the user is looking for (e.g., a particular curl size or wave, hair style that the user desires that day, etc.). The detachable barrel also allows replacing a defective barrel (e.g., broken, ineffective, etc.), upgrading to a better barrel (e.g., newer, higher quality, different brand, etc.), and sharing barrels (e.g., among housemates). Controlled bidirectional rotation makes it faster and easier for the user to curl the hair in both directions. Precise temperature control allows the user to select a temperature that best suits the hair style, the amount of time that the user allots to curling the hair, and her concern towards skin burns. This additional control can save the user time, provide more safety, reduce effort, result in a better hair style, and provide more consistent results.
The foregoing, and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following, more particular description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, the accompanying drawings, and the claims.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the ensuing descriptions taken in connection with the accompanying drawings briefly described as follows:
Further features and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying
The present invention provides, in at least one embodiment, a customized hair curler with a barrel, and a handle that fits multiple types of barrels, the barrels being detachable and attachable. The handle has a release latch that allows a quick and simple detachment of the barrel from the handle, and a rotation switch for bidirectional rotation of the barrel with respect to the handle. The hair curler also has a heater and a user control interface for precise temperature control of the heater.
The hair curler device 100 (e.g., device, hair curler, etc.) curls and styles hair with the detachable barrel 155, has controlled bidirectional rotation from the rotation switch 110, and has precise temperature control from the increase and decrease temperature buttons 130, 135, which saves the user time and effort, and improves safety, results, and consistency. The handle 105 provides a grip for a user to hold and maneuver the hair curler device 100 through the hair. In one embodiment, the handle 105 is eight inches in length and the barrel 155 is four inches in length. The rotation switch 110 (e.g., spin button, direction switch, swing switch, etc.), attached to the handle 105, has a neutral setting, a left setting, and a right setting for the rotation of the barrel 155. When the rotation switch 110 is in the neutral setting, the barrel 155 does not rotate. When the rotation switch 110 is in the left setting, the barrel 155 rotates counter clockwise. When the rotation switch 110 is in the right setting, the barrel 155 rotates clockwise. The release latch 115, attached to the handle 105, can be activated to detach the barrel 155 from the handle 105.
The user control interface 120 (e.g., digital control interface) has the display 125, the increase and decrease temperature buttons 130, 135, powers up the hair curler device 100, and allows selection of a specific temperature. The display 125, e.g., light-emitting diode (LED) display, shows the temperature of hair curler device 100. In one embodiment, the temperature is measured from a temperature sensing element within the hair curler device 100. The increase temperature button 130 raises the temperature of the hair curler device 100 and the decrease temperature button 135 lowers the temperature of the hair curler device 100 (e.g., in increments of 1° F.). The power button 140 (e.g., on/off button) turns the hair curler device 100 on and off when the power cord 145 (e.g., electrical power, swivel power cord, etc.) is connected to an outlet.
The barrel 155 (e.g., small barrel, attachment, detachable rotation fitting, tongs, plates, etc.) is small and produces small-sized curls. The slot 152 in the barrel 155 receives the hair and the barrel 155 rotates clockwise and counter clockwise with respect to the handle 105. In one embodiment, the barrel 155 has heaters (e.g., heating elements) inside, where the heaters are positioned to contact the hair from both sides (e.g., within the slot 152, between the barrel 155, etc.). The heaters can be any type of heater, e.g., positive temperature coefficient (PTC), negative temperature coefficient (NTC), ceramic, etc. PTC heaters are formed from heating elements (e.g., round or rectangular ceramic stones), and are high quality heaters with fast heating times to a desired temperature. In one embodiment, the heat varies between 220° F. and 430° F. The tip 150 (e.g., cool tip) prevents some of the heat from reaching the end of the hair curler device 100 and burning the user, and gives the user something to hold onto or touch when needed. The tip 150 can be made from a material (e.g., plastic, aluminum, etc.) that dissipates heat from the barrel 155.
Barrels 360, 565 have four prongs 370 (e.g., forks) for attaching to the handle 105. The prongs 370 provide a secure attachment for rotating the barrels 360, 565, clockwise and counter clockwise. The prongs 370 also transfer electric signals (e.g., temperature commands) from the handle 105 to the barrels 360, 565. In one embodiment, the prongs 370 are designed to transfer a signal to a PTC heater and an NTC heater in the barrels 360, 565. In one embodiment, the prongs 370 are ceramic. In another embodiment, the prongs 370 are aluminum covered with ceramic paint.
The handle 905 is illustrated as being detached from the barrels 955-965, although at most one of the three barrels 955-965 could have been illustrated as being attached. Unlike the user control interface 120, the user control interface 920 has a rectangular design.
It is to be recognized that depending on the embodiment, certain acts or events of any of the methods described herein can be performed in a different sequence, may be added, merged, or left out altogether (for example, not all described acts or events are necessary for the practice of the method). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts or events may be performed concurrently, for example, through multi-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or multiple processors, rather than sequentially.
The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in a computer or electronic storage, in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination thereof. A software module may reside in a computer storage such as in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC.
The invention has been described herein using specific embodiments for the purposes of illustration only. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, however, that the principles of the invention can be embodied in other ways. Therefore, the invention should not be regarded as being limited in scope to the specific embodiments disclosed herein, but instead as being fully commensurate in scope with the following claims.
Claims
1. A hair curler device comprising:
- a barrel comprising a heating element, wherein the heating element is capable of heating the barrel to a desired temperature; and
- a handle configured to detachably couple to the barrel, and further comprising: a user control interface, wherein the user control interface is configured to change a temperature of the barrel to two or more temperatures; a rotation switch, wherein activation of the rotation switch in one position rotates the barrel clockwise and activation of the rotation switch in another position rotates the barrel counter clockwise.
2. The hair curler device of claim 1, wherein the heating element is disposed internally within the barrel.
3. The hair curler device of claim 1, wherein the barrel comprises a slot configured to receive hair.
4. The hair curler device of claim 3, wherein the slot transverses the barrel from a tip of the barrel to an end with a prong.
5. The hair curler device of claim 1, wherein the user control interface comprises a decrease temperature button.
6. The hair curler device of claim 5, wherein the user control interface comprises an increase temperature button.
7. The hair curler device of claim 1, wherein the user control interface is configured to change the temperature of the barrel to three or more temperatures.
8. The hair curler device of claim 1, wherein the user control interface has a display.
9. The hair curler device of claim 1, wherein the handle comprises a swivel allowing a power cord to rotate.
10. The hair curler device of claim 1, wherein the barrel comprises a prong for receiving electrical signals to power the heating element.
11. A barrel comprising:
- a handle end, the handle end configured to detachably couple to a handle;
- a tip end, the tip end comprising a slot configured to receive hair; and
- a heating element, wherein the heating element is capable of heating the barrel to two or more desired temperatures.
12. The barrel of claim 11, wherein the heating element is disposed internally within the barrel.
13. The barrel of claim 11, wherein the slot transverses the barrel from the tip end to the handle end.
14. The barrel of claim 11, wherein the barrel comprises a prong for receiving electrical signals to power the heating element.
15. The barrel of claim 11, wherein the heating element is configured to receive electrical signals decreasing temperature.
16. The barrel of claim 15, wherein the heating element is configured to receive electrical signals increasing temperature.
17. The barrel of claim 11, wherein the heating element is configured to receive electrical signals to change the temperature of the barrel to three or more temperatures.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 16, 2010
Publication Date: May 10, 2012
Inventor: Liora Amkie (Beverly Hills, CA)
Application Number: 12/947,747
International Classification: A45D 1/04 (20060101); A45D 1/08 (20060101);