BACKGROUND 1. Field of the Disclosure The present disclosure relates to a hair curling appliance. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a hair curling appliance having a transparent and/or translucent sleeve.
2. Description of Related Art Conventional hair curlers require a user to wind the user's hair around a heated portion of the hair curler by hand. This can be difficult for a user to do because it requires one hand to hold the hair curler and limits use to only one hand to wind the hair around the heated portion of the hair curler. Previous attempts to assist the user with winding the user's hair around the heated portion of the hair curler undesirably obstructs the user's view of the hair once it has been wound around the heated portion of the hair curler.
Accordingly, it has been determined by the present disclosure that there is a continuing need for a device that overcomes, alleviates, and/or mitigates one or more of the aforementioned and other deleterious effects of prior devices.
SUMMARY The present disclosure provides a hair curling appliance having a transparent and/or translucent sleeve.
The present disclosure also provides a hair curling appliance having a transparent and/or translucent sleeve that is removable.
A hair curling appliance is provided that includes a handle, a removable sleeve that is transparent and/or translucent that is connected to the handle, a heated barrel in the sleeve, and one or more hair winding members that are rotatable to wind hair around the heated barrel.
The above-described and other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be appreciated and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, drawings, and appended claims.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a first side perspective view of a hair curling appliance according to the present disclosure.
FIG. 2 is a partial front perspective view of a top portion of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a partial rear perspective view of the top portion of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a partial first side perspective view of a bottom portion of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 is a partial second side perspective view of a bottom portion of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 1.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial rear perspective view of the top portion of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 1.
FIG. 7 is a top perspective view of a modified hair curling appliance of FIG. 1 in use.
FIG. 8 are schematic views of a modified hair curling appliance of FIG. 1 showing the connection of a sleeve.
FIG. 9 is a front perspective view of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 1 having parts removed.
FIG. 10 is a first side perspective view of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 9.
FIG. 11 is a second side perspective view of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 9.
FIG. 12 is a front view of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 9.
FIG. 13 is a rear view of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 9.
FIG. 14 is a top view of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 9.
FIG. 15 is a bottom view of the hair curling appliance of FIG. 9.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the drawings and in particular to FIGS. 1-6 and FIGS. 9-15, an exemplary embodiment of a hair curling appliance according to the present disclosure is shown and is generally referred to by reference numeral 10. Referring to FIG. 1, hair curling appliance 10 has a sleeve 12 connected to a handle 14. Sleeve 12 has a sleeve body 16 that is transparent and/or translucent. Sleeve 12 has an insertion slot 18 formed in a first side of sleeve body 16 and an upper slot 20, as shown in FIG. 3, formed in a second side of sleeve body 16 that is opposite insertion slot 18. Insertion slot 18 has a first straight portion 22, a hook shape portion 24, a second straight portion 26 and a perpendicular portion 28. Alternatively, sleeve 12 can have insertion slot 18 and upper slot 20 having different shapes. Sleeve 12 has a locking ring 29 that is rotatable between a locked position to connect sleeve 12 to handle 14 and an unlocked position where sleeve 12 can be disconnected from handle 14. Sleeve 12 can be a material, for example, plastic.
Hair curling appliance 10 has a heated barrel and one or more hair winding members both inside of sleeve 12 so that hair can be inserted into insertion slot 18 and/or upper slot 20 and hair winding members are rotated to wind hair around the heated barrel. Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 6, hair curling appliance 10 has a heated barrel 30, a first hair winding member 32 and a second hair winding member 34 (FIGS. 3 and 6), however, hair curling appliance 10 can have alternative heated barrel and hair winding members as is known in the art.
Referring to FIG. 3, heated barrel 30 is fixed to handle 14 and does not rotate. Heated barrel 30 has a barrel slot 36 that overlaps portions of each of insertion slot 18 and upper slot 20 of sleeve 12. Barrel slot 36 has a size so that first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34 will overlap a portion of barrel slot 36 during rotation of first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34. Heated barrel 30 is in thermal communication with a heating element that heats heated barrel 30. First hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34 can be an elongated member, such as rods or bars.
Referring back to FIG. 1, handle 14 has a handle body 38. Handle 14 has buttons 40, 42, 44, 46 extending through handle body 38. Button 40 can be a button that activates and/or deactivates rotation of first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34 around heated barrel 30. Button 42 can change a direction of rotation of first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34 around heated barrel 30. Button 44 can change a temperature of heated barrel 30. Button 46 can change a curl type that is imparted to hair of the user, for example, by changing the temperature of heated barrel 30, speed of rotation of first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34 around heated barrel 30, and the like. Alternatively, handle 14 has additional or less buttons than buttons 40, 42, 44, 46. Handle 14 can also house a controller, for example, a microcontroller unit and printed circuit board that controls operation of hair curling appliance 10 so that (1) button 40 activates and deactivates a motor that rotates first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34, (2) button 42 activates and deactivates a motor to change a direction of rotation of first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34 around heated barrel 30, (3) button 44 can change a temperature of heated barrel 30, and/or (4) button 46 can change a curl type that is imparted to hair of the user. The controller can control the time first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34 rotate, for example, when the user pushes button 40, then first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34 can rotate for a predetermined time. Handle 14 is connected to a power cord 35 that is connectable to a power source.
FIG. 8 shows hair curling appliance 10a that is that same as hair curling appliance 10 except sleeve 12a is opaque, and handle 14 has a receiving portion 48. To connect sleeve 12 to handle 14, locking ring 29 of sleeve 12 is placed over receiving portion 48 of handle 14, as shown by arrow A, so that locking ring 29 and/or sleeve 12a can be rotated to the locked position, as shown by arrow B, to connect sleeve 12 to handle 14 allowing use of hair curling appliance 10, as shown by arrow C. The user can rotate locking ring 29 to the unlocked position to disconnect sleeve 12 from handle 14. Sleeve 12 is removable from handle 14 for cleaning and de-tangling hair during use.
During use, as shown in FIG. 7 that shows hair curling appliance 10a that is the same as hair curling appliance 10 except sleeve 12b is opaque and heated barrel 30b has a different shape, the user can plug power cord 35 into a power source to conduct electrical current to a motor, heating element, controller and/or other portions of hair curling appliance 10. The user positions upper slot 20 so that it faces a head of the user and the user places a portion of hair H in insertion slot 18 and upper slot 20 of sleeve 12. The user can also insert the portion of hair H in barrel slot 36b of heated barrel 30b. The user can then press button 40 so that first hair winding member 32 and second hair winding member 34 rotate to wind the hair around heated barrel 30b while heated barrel 30b is heated to impart a curl to the portion of hair H. Advantageously, in hair curling appliance 10 of FIG. 1, the user can see the portion of hair H in sleeve 12 as it is wound around heated barrel 30 because sleeve 12 is transparent and/or translucent (e.g. by looking in mirror), or a stylist working on a customer can see the portion of hair H in sleeve 12. When the user is done, then the user can remove the portion of hair H from hair curling appliance 10 by unwinding the portion of hair H from heated barrel 30b.
Advantageously, hair curling appliance 10 has sleeve 12 that is transparent and/or translucent so that a user can see (e.g. looking in mirror), or a stylist working on a customer can see, the hair tuft as it is wound around the heated barrel internally of the transparent sleeve. The shape of insertion slot 18 having first straight portion 22, hook shape portion 24, second straight portion 26 and perpendicular portion 28 also advantageously assists with winding the hair tuft around the heated barrel internally of sleeve 12.
It should also be noted that the terms “first”, “second”, “third”, “upper”, “lower”, and the like may be used herein to modify various elements. These modifiers do not imply a spatial, sequential, or hierarchical order to the modified elements unless specifically stated.
While the present disclosure has been described with reference to one or more exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes can be made and equivalents can be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, many modifications can be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the disclosure without departing from the scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure should not be limited to the particular embodiment(s) disclosed as the best mode contemplated, but that the disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.
