Abstract:
A moisturizing hairdressing apparatus including an main unit, a handpiece, an injection chamber, and an injecting tube. The main unit generates steam to moisturize one&#39;s hair. The handpiece movably attached to said main unit. The injection chamber is accommodated in said handpiece and receives the steam supplied through a pipe connected to the bottom part thereof from the main-unit. The injecting tube injects the steam to one&#39;s hair through a nozzle provided at one end thereof. In this apparatus, an outlet of said pipe is positioned between the nozzle and an inlet opposite to said nozzle of said injecting tube.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to a moisturizing hairdressing apparatus for supplying steam or the like to one&#39;s hair, to be used in a beauty salon, a barbershop, etc.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    A conventional apparatus for supplying steam to one&#39;s hair for use in a beauty salon, a barbershop, etc., is found, for example, in Patent Literature 1 cited below, which discloses a hair moisturizing apparatus.  
           [0005]    The hair moisturizing apparatus disclosed therein is configured to generate steam in a steam generating pot, such that the steam that has been generated is supplied through a steam conducting tube and a stretchable bellows hose into a cap put on one&#39;s head so as to cover his/her hair. Droplets that have emerged through dew condensation in the cap are discharged to a drain tank through an opening provided at a bottom portion of a U-shaped curvature formed halfway through the steam conducting tube.  
           [0006]    Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei-10-323213 teaches one known configuration. However, according to such a configuration of the apparatus, droplets of a high temperature may attach to the hair in a case where the steam contains droplets. Also, it takes a long period of time to provide sufficient moisture over the entire head of hair because the steam that has been generated is utilized as it is with its spontaneous pressure. Furthermore, since the entire head is covered with a cap it is impossible to moisturize only a part of the head of hair when necessary, nor to simultaneously perform another job such as brushing the hair.  
           [0007]    Accordingly, a hairdressing apparatus that permits preventing droplets from contacting one&#39;s hair, and that enables appropriate moisturization of a desired portion of one&#39;s hair, has been required.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    The present invention relates to a moisturizing hairdressing apparatus including an main unit, a handpiece, an injection chamber, and an injecting tube. The main unit generates steam to moisturize one&#39;s hair. The handpiece is movably attached to said main unit. The injection chamber is accommodated in said handpiece and receives the steam supplied through a pipe connected to the bottom part thereof from the main-unit. The injecting tube which receives the steam through an inlet provided at one end thereof and which injects the steam to one s hair through a nozzle provided at the other end thereof. In this apparatus, an outlet of said pipe is positioned between the nozzle and the inlet opposite to said nozzle of said injecting tube.  
           [0009]    According to such a moisturizing hairdressing apparatus, steam is injected to one&#39;s hair from the opening of the pipe and through the injecting tube, during which the steam is not rectilinearly guided from the pipe into the injecting tube, but changes a flowing direction and is guided into the injecting tube after flowing along a longitudinal direction of the injecting tube. In a case where the steam contains droplets, the droplets can be added to the injecting tube or a wall face of the injection chamber in a form of concentrated dew, because of such change in flowing direction.  
           [0010]    In the present invention, it is preferable that the injection chamber is provided with a slanted face located from its front face on which the nozzle of the injecting tube is disposed toward its bottom face connected to the pipe.  
           [0011]    As a result of such a configuration, even when droplets are produced because of dew concentration the droplets promptly return toward the main unit along the slanted face. Consequently, the droplets are not blown toward one&#39;s hair although the handpiece is inclined.  
           [0012]    According to the present invention, since the steam supplied through the pipe inside the handpiece is injected toward one&#39;s hair through the injecting tube only after changing a flowing direction, droplets are not blown to his/her hair. Also, since an operator can adjust an injecting position holding the handpiece  4  in hand, it is possible to sufficiently moisturize a desired portion of one&#39;s hair. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
       [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a moisturizing hairdressing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a handpiece. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]    Referring to the accompanying drawings, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in details.  
         [0016]    As outlined in FIG. 1, a moisturizing hairdressing apparatus  1  according to this embodiment is provided with a main unit  2  for generating steam and a handpiece  4  connected to the main unit  2  through a supply hose  3  for injecting steam or negative ions into one&#39;s hair.  
         [0017]    The main unit  2  is provided with a steam pot  11  for generating steam, a purified water tank  12  from which purified water is supplied to the steam pot  11 , a control unit  13  for controlling supply of the purified water or steam generation, and an operating unit, a power source, a drain cock for discharging water, etc., which are omitted from the drawing.  
         [0018]    The steam pot  11  has a capacity sufficient to temporarily store a predetermined amount of purified water, and is provided with a heater  14  therein for heating the purified water. Also, the steam pot  11  is provided with a level sensor  15  for detecting a water level of the purified water. The purified water heated up by the heater  14  converts to steam, and the steam is guided to the supply hose  3  via an opening  11   a  located at an upper face of the steam pot  11  and a conducting tube  16   a.    
         [0019]    The purified water tank  12  is detachably installed at an upper portion of the main unit  2 , for storing the purified water to be supplied to the steam pot  11 . The conducting tube  16   b  connecting the purified water tank  12  and the steam pot  11  is provided with a valve  18 , so that the control unit  13  controls the valve  18  for adjusting a supply amount or a supply timing of the purified water from the purified water tank  12  to the steam pot  11 . Here, the supply amount or supply timing of the purified water is to be determined by the control unit  13  once the level sensor  15  has detected that the water level in the steam pot  11  has fallen below a predetermined value.  
         [0020]    An operating unit omitted from the drawing is provided on an upper face of the main unit  2  for operation of a main power switch of the moisturizing hairdressing apparatus  1  or start of steam supply, etc.  
         [0021]    The supply hose  3  is comprised of a bendable flexible tube, and an end portion  3   a  thereof is attached to the main unit  2  via an attachment  17 . The other end portion  3   b  is connected to the handpiece  4  for injecting steam into one&#39;s hair. The attachment  17  is rotatably supported by the main unit  2 , so that an entirety of the supply hose  3  can be rotated with respect to the main unit  2 . Also, the handpiece  4  is attached to the supply hose such that the handpiece  4  can rotate around a longitudinal axis of the supply hose  3 . Because of the supply hose  3  being bendable and rotatably attached to the main unit  2 , and the handpiece  4  being rotatably attached to the supply hose  3 , it is quite easy for an operator to move the handpiece  4  to a desired position for injecting steam. Further, it is preferable to provide a stopper on the main unit  2  for restricting a rotating angle of the attachment  17 , in order to prevent a portion of the supply hose  3  close to the attachment  17  from being oriented downward to form a U-shape or the like when the supply hose  3  is rotated together with the attachment  17 .  
         [0022]    The handpiece  4  is provided with a hand grip  21  to be held by an operator, and a lower end portion of the hand grip  21  is connected to the supply hose  3 . The handgrip  2 l is provided with a trigger switch  22  for locally controlling injection of steam or negative ions. Further, a portion of the handpiece  4  extending from an upper end portion of the hand grip  21  is formed in a protruding shape, thus comprising a projecting section  23  containing therein a steam nozzle, etc.  
         [0023]    As shown in the cross-sectional drawing of FIG. 2, the hand grip  21  internally contains a pipe  31  for conducting the steam supplied through the supply hose  3  to an injecting unit  42 , and is provided with the trigger switch  22  and an associated circuit  32 , and also a negative ion generating unit  33  for generating a high voltage to inject negative ions, respectively disposed at remaining positions inside the hand grip  21 .  
         [0024]    The projecting section  23  has a larger space than the pipe  31  because of its protruding shape. Inside the projecting section  23 , a negative ion injecting unit  34  for injecting negative ions and an injecting unit  35  for injecting steam are adjacently disposed in a vertical direction. The negative ion injecting unit  34  and the steam injecting unit  35  are oriented so that a longitudinal side thereof becomes substantially parallel to a protruding direction (the arrow A in FIG. 3) of the projecting section  23 , so that negative ions and steam are respectively injected through a nozzle cap  36  attached to a front end portion  23   a  of the projecting section  23 . Also, an LED  37  for showing that negative ions and/or steam are being injected, and a press-button type selecting switch  38  for performing continuous injection of negative ions and/or steam are provided at a rear face  23   b  of the projecting section  23 . The selecting switch  38  serves to select either on or off of the contact upon being pressed by an operator, and to maintain the selected state until a subsequent pressing. Meanwhile, the trigger switch  22  keeps the power on while the lever is being held by a finger or the like, but turns off the power once the finger is removed.  
         [0025]    The steam injecting unit  35  is comprised of an injection chamber  4 l, which is a container having a predetermined capacity, and an injecting tube  42  including an injecting nozzle  42   a  through which steam is to be injected.  
         [0026]    The injection chamber  41  has a greater cross-sectional area in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the pipe  31  than that of the pipe  31 , and is provided with a slanted face  45  located between its front face  43  on the side of the front end portion  23   a  of the projecting section  23  and its downwardly located bottom face  44  on the side of the pipe  31 , so as to reduce a longitudinal cross-sectional area of the injection chamber  41  (in a direction parallel to the arrow A). This slanted face  45  serves to facilitate droplets to return to the main unit  2  through the pipe  31 , when steam is concentrated into droplets inside the injection chamber  41 . Also, another slanted face  47  is provided between a rear face  46  opposite to the front face  43  and the bottom face  44 , so as to reduce the longitudinal cross-sectional area of the injection chamber  41 .  
         [0027]    The injecting tube  42  is comprised of a cylindrical pipe for urging the steam supplied to the injection chamber  41  to be injected outward, and is inserted into the injection chamber  41  through the front face  43 . An opening provided at an end portion of the injecting tube  42  is exposed from the front face  43  to comprise the nozzle  42   a.  On the other hand, an opening  42   b  provided at the other end portion of the injecting tube  42  is located closer to the rear face  46  of the injection chamber  41  than a longitudinal extension B (shown by dot-dashed line in FIG. 3) of the pipe  31  extrapolated from the opening  31   a.  In other words, the injecting tube  42  is disposed such that the steam supplied through the pipe  31  cannot directly flow in. In a case where the steam supplied through the pipe  31  contains droplets, the steam is guided into the opening  42   b  after changing its flowing direction from a direction along an extension B of the pipe  31  to a longitudinal direction of the injecting tube  42 . At this stage, since droplets cannot change their moving direction so easily as the steam can, the droplets hit an outer surface of the injecting tube  42 , etc., to be concentrated into dew. Accordingly, since droplets cannot intrude into the injecting tube  42 , the droplets cannot be directly blown into one&#39;s hair. Meanwhile, the droplets hit an outer surface of the injecting tube  42  or an inner wall of the injection chamber  41  and flow down to the bottom face  44 , wherein they return toward the main unit  2  through the pipe  31 .  
         [0028]    Now, according to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, operation of the moisturizing hairdressing apparatus comprised as above will be described hereunder.  
         [0029]    First, an appropriate amount of fresh purified water is deposited in the purified water tank  12  and the steam pot  11  respectively, and the power is turned on at the main unit  2 . An operator takes up the handpiece  4  and selects steam generation at the operating unit of the main unit  2 . This causes the operating unit to output a selection signal for notifying of the selection of steam to the control unit  13 , so that according to a controlling action of the control unit  13  the heater  14  in the steam pot  11  is activated, to heat up the purified water.  
         [0030]    Following the above, the operator directs the nozzle cap  36  (i.e. the nozzle  42   a ) of the handpiece  4  toward a subject&#39;s hair, and pulls the trigger switch  22 . This turns on the contact of the trigger switch  22 , so that the circuit  32  connected thereto outputs an injection instructing signal to the main unit  2 . According to a controlling action of the control unit  13  a temperature setting for the heater  14  in the steam pot  11  is raised so that evaporation of the purified water begins.  
         [0031]    Thereafter, the purified water is guided to the handpiece  4  through the supply hose  3  in a form of steam, and is injected toward the subject&#39;s hair through the nozzle cap  36  (more specifically from the nozzle  42   a ). The operator can move the handpiece  4  to a desired portion of the subject&#39;s hair, thus continuing the moisturizing process. In a case where the steam injection becomes temporarily unnecessary, for example when changing a position of the handpiece  4 , the operator can release the trigger switch  22 . Since the trigger switch  22  is urged to turn the contact off, releasing the trigger switch  22  suspends the output of the injection instructing signal. Accordingly temperature inside the steam pot  11  drops to a predetermined temperature and the steam generation is suspended. However, when the trigger switch  22  is pulled again, the steam generation is started as described above and the steam injection is restarted toward the subject&#39;s hair. Meanwhile, a predetermined temperature that suspends the steam generation is to be set at a level that can maintain a sufficiently high temperature of the purified water in the steam pot  11  so that steam can be promptly generated once the trigger switch  22  is pulled again.  
         [0032]    During the foregoing operation, the operator can also press the press-button type selecting switch  38  instead of pulling the trigger switch  22 . In this case, pressing the selecting switch  38  causes the circuit  32  to similarly output an injection instructing signal to the control unit  13 , and continues to output the same signal until the selecting switch  38  is pressed again. Accordingly, since the steam injection is continued once the selecting switch  38  is pressed, the operator does not have to keep pulling the trigger switch  22  when he/she wishes to continue the steam injection for a long period of time, which is a significant advantage.  
         [0033]    Also, the LED  37  is located at the rear face  23   b  for confirmation of an operating status of the trigger switch  22  and/or the selecting switch  38 , such that the LED  37  lights up while a steam generation instruction is effective (while the trigger switch  22  is pulled or when the selecting switch  38  is pressed down), and extinguishes when suspension of the steam generation is instructed (when the trigger switch  22  is released or the selecting switch  37  is pressed back). Therefore, the steam generation status can be visually confirmed upon checking the LED  37 .  
         [0034]    As described above, according to this embodiment an operator can perform a job holding in hand the handpiece  4  for injecting steam. Also, a start or suspension of the steam injection can be locally selected by the same hand holding the handpiece  4 . Accordingly, it becomes possible to sufficiently moisturize a desired portion of a subject&#39;s hair for a permanent wave or hair coloring process. Also, since a flowing direction of the steam is changed inside the handpiece  4 , the steam supplied from the main unit  2  through the supply hose  3  is not directly injected out of the injecting nozzle  42   a.  Further, because of providing the slanted faces  45  and  47  on the injection chamber  41  inside the handpiece  4  droplets that have emerged are promptly returned toward the main unit  2 , therefore the droplets do not fall on one&#39;s hair even when the handpiece  4  is inclined or the injecting nozzle  42   a  is oriented downward. In addition, providing two types of switches that perform different functions permits selection of two injection modes, thereby improving work efficiency. Here, “two injection modes” refers, as already described, to a first mode of performing the injection only while the trigger switch  22  is pulled, and a second mode of selecting either injection or suspension of the injection by the selecting switch  38 , so that the injection continues or remains suspended. The first mode is effective for appropriate injection to a desired portion, while the second mode is effective for injection over an extensive area.  
         [0035]    Furthermore, the handpiece  4  according to this embodiment is provided with the negative ion injecting unit  34  for injecting negative ions as already described. The negative ion injecting unit  34  is a device for injecting negative ions toward one&#39;s hair by applying a voltage generated by a high voltage circuit. A start and a stop of the negative ion injection can be controlled, upon selecting the negative ion injection at the operating unit provided in the main unit  2 , through manipulation of the foregoing trigger switch  22  and the selecting switch  38 . Negative ions can be employed for hair care, and an operator can select either injection of steam or negative ions alone or simultaneous injection of both, to one&#39;s hair.