Patent ID: 11910901
Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
Field: Other consumer goods (Other fields)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 5:
6. An epilator, comprising:
a hair-removal device comprising a movable epilating cylinder adapted to rotate around a longitudinal rotational axis, the movable epilating cylinder comprising at least a first hair-clamping member and a second hair-clamping member adjacent the first hair-clamping member, wherein the first hair-clamping member and the second hair-clamping member are movable relative to each other, and configured and arranged to mutually co-operate for removing hairs by mutually exerting a contact force, wherein the first hair-clamping member and the second hair-clamping member are each one of a plurality of hair-clamping members of the movable epilating cylinder adapted to clamp hairs and pull the hairs out of skin;
a pressing component adapted to generate the contact force by exerting a pressing force on a movable hair-removal component during operation, wherein, during operation, the pressing component exerts the pressing force on the first and second hair-clamping members in a radially offset position with respect to the longitudinal rotational axis such that first and second hair-clamping members are disposed against each other at least in a radially offset area for providing the contact force between the first and second hair-clamping members;
a skin proximity sensing component adapted to detect, during operation, a relative distance between the movable hair-removal component and a portion of skin with hairs to be removed; and
a force adjusting component configured to interact mechanically with the skin proximity sensing component to adjust, during operation, the pressing force exerted by the pressing component in dependence on the relative distance detected by the skin proximity sensing component, the movable epilating cylinder having a functional mode during which the contact force has a first value enabling the clamping of the hairs and a non-functional mode during which the contact force has a second value that is smaller than the first value disabling the clamping of the hairs,
wherein the force adjusting component is configured to adjust the pressing force exerted by the pressing component in dependence on the relative distance detected by the skin proximity sensing component such that, when the relative distance detected by the skin proximity sensing component is a first relative distance, the movable hair-removal component operates in the non-functional mode and, when the relative distance detected by the skin proximity sensing component is a second relative distance smaller than the first relative distance, the movable hair-removal component operates in the functional mode.