HAIR STYLER AND TEMPERATURE-INFLUENCING DEVICE
A hair styler includes a top cover, a roller body, and a base. The top cover includes a funnel body with a wide mouth and a narrow neck, and formed of a flexible material so as to be pliable or restorable in response to an external force, wherein the funnel body radially includes a plurality of segments, which are different in at least one parameter. The roller body has a first end connected to the narrow neck of the top cover for winding therearound a hair portion, wherein the top cover is flipped over by the external force to confine the hair portion within a space between the top cover and the roller body. The base is connected to a second end of the roller body, which is opposite to the first end, and functions as a flange of the roller body to stop the hair portion from escaping from the space.
The present application is a nonprovisional application claiming benefit from a prior-filed provisional application bearing a Ser. No. 62/726,477 and filed Sep. 4, 2018, the entity of which is incorporated herein for reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to a hair styler, and more particularly to a hair styler operable with an external temperature influencer to be heated up and/or cooled down for enhancing styling effects.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONHair rollers are common tools for curling hair. A conventional hair roller is a small tube, and a hair portion to be curled is wound around the tubular roller and then fixed with a separate part such as a clip or a rubber band. The tubular roller is generally hard and not suitable for ‘sleep in’ use.
Another conventional hair roller, which is so called as Peco roll, has thus been developed. The Peco roll is goblet-shaped and is able to secure a hair portion rolled up therearound by pushing its cup-shaped end to flip over the hair portion, and snapping it in place. The Peco roll is integrally formed of a soft material, so it is suitable for ‘sleep in’ use. Unfortunately, commercially available Peco rolls, e.g. Spoolies® Hair Curlers, easily slip off hair and do not securely hold hair in place. When used with larger volumes of hair, they are likely to pop open and hard to keep closed. Moreover, they are hard to get smooth ends or curl at the user's hair roots. Furthermore, it requires a quite long duration of time to curl the hair portion to a desired degree.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONTherefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a hair roller, which is soft enough for ‘sleep in’ use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a hair roller, which is easily operable and keeps stable in a working state.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a hair roller, which has an improved efficiency to curl hair to a desired degree.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a hair styler comprises: a top cover including a funnel body with a wide mouth and a narrow neck, and formed of a flexible material so as to be pliable or restorable in response to an external force, wherein the funnel body radially includes a plurality of segments, which are different in at least one parameter; a roller body having a first end connected to the narrow neck of the top cover for winding therearound a hair portion, wherein the top cover is flipped over by the external force to confine the hair portion within a space between the top cover and the roller body; and a base connected to a second end of the roller body, which is opposite to the first end, and functioning as a flange of the roller body to stop the hair portion from escaping from the space.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a hair styler comprises: a top cover including a funnel body with a wide mouth and a narrow neck, and formed of a flexible material so as to be pliable or restorable in response to an external force; a roller body having a first end connected narrow neck of the top cover for winding therearound a hair portion, wherein the top cover is flipped over by the external force to confine the hair portion within a space between the top cover and the roller body; a base connected to a second end of the roller body, which is opposite to the first end, and functioning as a flange of the roller body to stop the hair portion from escaping from the space; and a temperature retaining structure disposed inside the roller body for making a thermal and/or cold effect work longer.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a temperature-influencing device for heating/reheating or cooling/recooling a hair styler as described above, comprising: a housing that is formed with an open space for holding the hair styler; a closed space for holding an electronic system; and a temperature influencing unit for generating heat and/or cold and transmitting heat to the open space to adjust a temperature of the hair styler.
The above contents of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
In order to coax hair to assume any shape or style other than its natural shape or style efficiently, it is preferable to apply heat or cold to a hair roller. The temperature change is for styling purpose. Heat will change hair texture and make it easy to style. On the other hand, cold will make the hair in style longer. The commercially available designs may employ moisture from user's wet hair but has no internal ability to employ heat and/or cold. Therefore, there is a need to design a hair styler, which is heat- and/or coldness-resistant enough for user to handle, and able to remain at an adequate working temperature for efficiently styling hair. Meanwhile, an objective of improving the hair handling mechanism for securing hair is also concerned. It is desirable to be sufficiently soft to have the desired ‘sleep in’ quality. The instant invention is to effectively provide a specific high and/or low temperature condition to hair while being able to be safely operated with wet or dry hair, to further lock-in moisture, protect hair from damage, reduce frizz, improve shine, and enable a longer-lasting style. Furthermore, there is also a need to design a temperature-influencing device for conveniently heating, reheating, cooling and recooling the hair styler.
Referring to
In this embodiment, the base 3 is substantially flat or slightly curved, and flexible to conformally deform with the curving of user's head. The base 3 has an upper surface 301 and a bottom surface 302. The upper surface 301 is secured to the roller body 2. The bottom surface 302 is exposed to air or in contact with user's scalp. The bottom surface 302 has a gripping structure 31 to prevent the hair styler from slipping off hair easily. The upper surface 301 has a gripping structure 32 to secure hair better within the hair styler. The gripping structure 31 and 32 may be, but not limited to, mini teeth, dots, posts or their combinations. The gripping structure 31 and 32 and the base 3 may be integrally formed by, for example, injection molding into one piece. The base 3 further has at least one opening 33 for better air flow and evaporating moisture from wet hair.
In the embodiment shown in
The temperature retaining structure 4 is made of a temperature conduction material for heat and/or cold and disposed inside the inner space of the roller body 2 in a fixed manner or a removable manner, and heat and/or cold is provided to hair through the wall of the roller body 2. The temperature retaining structure 4 illustrated in
Alternatively, the stoppers may be implemented with one or two stopping disks 42 disposed at either or both of the opposite ends of the roller body 2, as shown in
More alternative examples of temperature retaining structure 4 may be used in the hair styler of the (present invention. For example, the temperature retaining structure 4 and the roller body 2 are injected into one piece where the thickness of the injected material is used to differentiate the heat and/or cold transition, or a double injection technology may be used to make the temperature retaining structure 4 and the roller body 2 into one piece with more than one injected material to differentiate the heat and/or cold transition. All in one piece is to reduce the cost of mass production from labor assembly and furthermore making the roller body 2 and the temperature retaining structure 4 fixing together stronger.
The structures of hair stylers according to the present invention have been described hereinbefore. For the styling hair, hair can be divided into small portions. Each hair portion is wrapped around the roller body 2, and then the funnel body 10 of the top cover 1 is folded outwards and downwards until the roller body 2 with the hair portion is completely covered by the funnel body 10 together with the base 3, as illustrated in
For further improving configuration stability of the hair styler after being folded to fix hair well, the structure of the top cover 1 is particularly designed as illustrated in
In addition to the above-described embodiments and examples, the present invention may have more variations, which can achieve the purpose of the present invention. For example,
The hair styler is preferably soft for user to roll the hair and sleep in. The openings 12 of the funnel body 10 and the openings of the base 3 can be venting the moisture of wet hair with or without external temperature influencer (i.e. heating or cooling means) while the user is sleeping. Since the contour of the funnel body 10 in the embodiments of
Similar to the top cover 1, the shape of the edge of the base 3 may be, but not limited to, a circle, flower, heart and star shape, as illustrated in
Practically, the hair styler should be able to be repetitively used. If the temperature retaining structure is included, it is desirable that the temperature retaining structure can be restored to an effective temperature at any time. Therefore, a temperature-influencing device is developed according to the present invention to reheat or re-cool the hair styler. Referring to
The housing 60 is provided on an outer surface thereof with the electronic system 63 including a switch 631, a power indicator 632, a heat sensor indicator 633, a power line (not shown), etc. Functions of the switch and the power indicator can be simply made by a pushbutton with indicating light. When the pushbutton is pressed once, the light is lit to show the power is turned on. When the pushbutton is pressed once more, the light is off to show the power is turned off. The electronic system further includes a control circuit (not shown) that is electrically connected to the switch, the power indicator, the temperature-influencing unit, and further electrically connected to the power line via the switch. The heat generator generates heat by electromagnetic induction and the thermoelectric cooler generates cold. Both are controlled by the control circuit to supply heat and/or cold to the temperature-influencing unit to heat and/or cool the hair styler.
A heat sensor is connected to the heat sensor indicator, the temperature influencing unit and the control circuit. When the desired temperature is reached, the heat sensor will trigger the heat indicator to alert the user but not limited by a digital display, changing color and/or voice (i.e. beeping sound). Further, the heat sensor will also trigger the control circuit to shut off the power to prevent the hair styler from overheat and/or chill, and meanwhile the power light is off to indicate the power is turned off. The sensor indicator can be also changing colors to show temperature is raised and/or lowered to different setting.
An example of a temperature-influencing device for heating/cooling a plurality of hair stylers at the same time, which is also feasible for accommodating hair stylers, is shown in
Since heat is capable of changing hair texture and making it easy to style, and coldness is capable of making the hair in style longer, it is proper to supply heat and coldness in sequence within one hair styling procedure or two manually activate procedures for better styling effects.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
Claims
1. A hair styler, comprising:
- a top cover including a funnel body with a wide mouth and a narrow neck, and formed of a flexible material so as to be pliable or restorable in response to an external force, wherein the funnel body is radially defined with a plurality of segments, which are different in at least one parameter;
- a roller body having a first end connected to the narrow neck of the top cover for winding therearound a hair portion, wherein the top cover is flipped over by the external force to confine the hair portion within a space between the top cover and the roller body; and
- a base connected to a second end of the roller body, which is opposite to the first end, and functioning as a flange of the roller body to stop the hair portion from escaping from the space.
2. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein the top cover, after being flipped over the roller body, accommodates the base inside the flipped wide mouth.
3. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of segments are different in thickness, and one of the segments near the wide mouth is thicker than another one of the segments near the narrow neck.
4. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of segments are different in slopes, and a middle one of the segments is steeper than an end one of the segments.
5. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein the top cover has at least one opening in the funnel body or at least one recess on an edge of the funnel body for enhancing air flow and elaborating moisture for wet hair after being flipped over the roller body and the base.
6. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein the base has at least one opening therein or at least one recess on an edge thereof for enhancing air flow and elaborating moisture for wet hair after being flipped over the roller body and the base.
7. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein the top cover has a first gripping structure on outer and inner surfaces of the funnel body to provide additional friction for hand to operate and flip the funnel body, and for securing hair when the top cover is flipped over hair around the roller body.
8. The hair styler according to claim 1, further comprising a temperature retaining structure inside the roller body for making a thermal and/or cold effect work longer.
9. The hair styler according to claim 8, wherein the roller body is hollow, and the temperature retaining structure is a metal plate disposed inside the roller body.
10. The hair styler according to claim 8, wherein the roller body is hollow, and the temperature retaining structure is a coil spring disposed inside the roller body.
11. The hair styler according to claim 10, wherein the coil spring has a higher coil density at the middle of the roller body, such that heat is gradually cooler wear the top cover and the base when a heat source is applied.
12. The hair styler according to claim 10, wherein the coil spring is disposed and confined in the middle of the roller body by way of stoppers disposed inside the hollow hair roller, and at least one cooling air layer is reserved at either or both of the first and second ends of the roller body.
13. The hair styler according to claim 10, wherein the roller body is hollow, the coil spring is wrapped around a heat-conductive pillar, and inserted into the roller body.
14. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein the roller body has a second gripping structure on an outer surface thereof to secure hair while hair is wrapped around the roller body.
15. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein the gripping structure includes ring like tracks or spiral like tracks around an outer surface of the roller tube, and mini teeth and/or dot, and the mini teeth have different lengths and/or thicknesses to provide detangling for hair.
16. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein the base has an opening, through which a heat and/or cold source can be supplied to the temperature retaining structure inside the roller body.
17. The hair styler according to claim 1, wherein a bottom surface of the base has a third gripping structure to prevent the hair styler from slipping off hair easily, and/or an upper surface of the base has a fourth gripping structure to further secure hair within the space.
18. The hair styler according to claim 1, formed of a material mixed with powders, whose color is changeable with temperature.
19. A hair styler, comprising:
- a top cover including a funnel body with a wide mouth and a narrow neck, and formed of a flexible material so as to be pliable or restorable in response to an external force;
- a roller body having a first end connected to the narrow neck of the top cover for winding therearound a hair portion, wherein the top cover is flipped over by the external force to confine the hair portion within a space between the top cover and the roller body;
- a base connected to a second end of the roller body, which is opposite to the first end, and functioning as a flange of the roller body to stop the hair portion from escaping from the space; and
- a temperature retaining structure disposed inside the roller body for making a thermal and/or cold effect work longer.
20. The hair styler according to claim 19, wherein the material of the temperature retaining structure is the same as the material of the roller body, and integrally formed with the roller body by a single injection molding process, or the material of the temperature retaining structure is different from the material of the roller body, and integrally formed with the roller body by two injection molding processes.
21. A temperature-influencing device for heating/reheating or cooling/recooling a hair styler as claimed in claim 19, comprising:
- a housing that is formed with an open space for holding the hair styler;
- a closed space for holding an electronic system; and
- a temperature influencing unit for generating heat and/or cold and transmitting heat to the open space to adjust a temperature of the hair styler.
22. The temperature-influencing device according to claim 21, wherein the roller body is hollow, and the temperature influencing unit is inserted into a hollow portion of the roller body, where a heat or coldness source is supplied.
23. The temperature-influencing device according to claim 21, wherein the housing is a heating room for simultaneously receiving one or more hair stylers to be heated and/or cooled, and the heating room is constructed with an elongated front heating piece and an elongated rear heating piece, wherein the roller body of the hair styler is placed between the elongated front heating piece and the elongated rear heating piece.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 12, 2019
Publication Date: Mar 5, 2020
Inventor: Stephanie Chang (HERNDON, VA)
Application Number: 16/438,535