Hair clipper

A hair clipper includes a cutter head and a hair entrapping member which is movable toward and away from a cutting edge of the cutter head. The cutter head comprises a stationary blade with a toothed edge defining a cutting edge of the cutter head and a movable blade with a like toothed edge. The movable blade is driven to reciprocate in shearing engagement between the toothed edges of the stationary and movable blades for shearing hairs therebetween. The hair entrapping member is preferably in the form of a comb which is movable between an open position and a closed position. In the open position the comb is spaced away from the cutting edge of the cutter head, thus permitting hairs to enter between the comb and the cutting edge. In the closed position, the comb is held close to the cutting edge to thereby seize the hairs therebetween for shearing the hairs. Thus, the hair shearing can be made by guiding the comb across the skin of a head while maintaining the cutting edge spaced from the skin, avoiding a direct contact of the cutting edge with the head skin and preventing an accidental injury of the skin by the cutting head during the hair shearing operation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention is directed to a hair clipper, and more particularly 
to a home use hair clipper having a cutter head and a hair entrapping 
member which is movable toward and away from a cutting edge of the cutter 
head. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
Home hair shearing has been generally done by the use of a scissors. With 
the scissors, it is rather difficult for an unskilled person to perform 
hair shearing since it requires to manipulate the scissors in one hand and 
at the same time to hold hairs between the fingers of the other hand. 
Particularly, when manipulating the scissors, the blade edges of the 
scissors will engage the hairs at an inclined angle and be likely to push 
the hairs out of position along the blade edges as the blades are closed, 
failing to provide a straight cut. Thus, a straight cut with the use of 
the scissors requires a considerable skill and is found not to be 
practical in home. On the other hand, powered hair clippers have been 
utilized for many years in homes which are easy to manipulate and to 
effect a straight cut. The prior hair clipper, as typically shown in U.S. 
Pat. No. 4,825,546, is provided with a cutting head having a toothed 
stationary blade and a toothed movable blade. The movable blade is driven 
to reciprocate in hair shearing engagement between the toothed edges of 
the stationary and movable blades. Although the prior hair clipper may 
have a comb projecting past the cutting edge of the cutter head, it is 
manipulated to move in advance of the cutting edge which are held in 
contact or in close relation with the skin. Therefore, the prior art hair 
clipper is still required to be carefully manipulated so as not to injure 
the skin by the cutting edge. This is particularly important when shearing 
the hair of a baby. As known from the above, the prior hair clipper is 
found to be still unsatisfactory for easy and safe hair cutting. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The above problem has been eliminated by the present invention which 
provides a unique hair clipper which can be safely and easily manipulated 
by an unskilled person and is particularly suitable for home use. The hair 
clipper in accordance with the present invention comprises a cutter head 
and a hair entrapping member which is adapted to be in slidable contact 
with the skin of a head. The cutter head includes a stationary blade with 
a toothed edge which defines a cutting edge of the cutter head and a 
movable blade with a like toothed edge. The movable blade is driven to 
reciprocate in hair shearing engagement between the toothed edges of the 
stationary and movable blades for shearing hair therebetween. The hair 
entrapping member is made movable between an open position and a closed 
position. In the open position the hair entrapping member is spaced away 
from the cutting edge to allow hair to enter between the member and the 
cutting edge. In the closed position, the comb is held close to the 
cutting edge so as to seize the hair therebetween for shearing the hair. 
Thus, the hair shearing can be made by guiding the hair entrapping member 
across the skin of the head to collect the hair between the member and the 
cutting edge and subsequently to shear the thus collected hair by the 
cutting edge. In this manner, hair shearing can be made by repeating to 
move the hair entrapping member from the open position to the closed 
position while guiding only the hair entrapping member in direct or close 
contact with the skin and maintaining the cutting edge spaced away from 
the skin, eliminating the possibility of injuring the skin by the cutting 
edge during the hair shearing operation. Further, since the shearing is 
effected to the bulk of the hair held between the hair entrapping member 
and the cutting edge, it is easy to provide a straight cut with the 
clipper of the present invention. 
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a 
hair clipper which is capable of assuring easy and safe hair shearing, yet 
assuring an exact straight cut. 
In a preferred embodiment, the cutter head is provided at a forward end of 
an elongated housing which incorporates a motor for driving the movable 
blade to reciprocate. The hair entrapping member is provided also at a 
forward end of an elongated base which is pivotally connected to the 
housing at the respective rear ends to form a clipper assembly resembling 
a conventional stapler. That is, the base pivots about a pivot axis 
relative to the housing to move the hair entrapping member toward and away 
from the cutting edge, i.e., in the closed and open positions in a manner 
as manipulating a stapler. The base is spring biased in the direction of 
moving the hair entrapping member into the open position. Thus, the hair 
cutting can be performed by closing the housing to the base against the 
bias in much the same way as the stapler. The hair entrapping member is 
preferably in the form of a comb having a number of comb teeth arranged in 
parallel with the cutting edge for smoothing the hairs into between the 
comb and the cutting edge. 
It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a hair 
clipper which can be easily manipulated in a like manner as utilizing a 
conventional stapler and is capable of smoothly guiding the hair past the 
cutting edge for effective hair shearing. 
The movable blade is concealed behind the stationary blade and has its 
toothed edge offset or retarded from the corresponding toothed edge of the 
stationary blade. The comb is located at the front edge of the base and is 
arranged to be positioned forwardly of the toothed edge of the stationary 
blade in the closed position. The comb is formed at its trailing edge with 
a portion projecting toward the cutting edge. The projecting portion 
defines immediately therebehind a recess into which the toothed edge of 
the stationary blade extends when the comb is brought into the closed 
position such that the projecting portion of the comb overlaps the toothed 
edge of the stationary cutter and also the toothed edge of the movable 
blade. That is, the toothed edge of the stationary blade can hardly miss 
the hairs which have been guided past the comb, thereby assuring to 
successfully shear the hairs to a desired length. 
It is therefore a further object of the present invention to provide a hair 
clipper which is capable of assuring a smooth and even hair cut. 
Included in the housing is a power switch which is associated with the 
pivotal movement of the base relative to the housing such that it 
energizes the motor in response to the comb brought into the closed 
position and deenergize the motor in response to the comb brought into the 
open position. With this result, the movable blade is driven to 
reciprocate only when the comb is moved into the closed position and is 
rendered inoperative when the comb is in the open position. In other 
words, the movable blade can be driven to reciprocate only in the cutting 
condition and can be kept otherwise stationary so as to well prevent 
accidental injury of the skin by the reciprocating movable blade even when 
the movable blade accidentally comes into contact with the skin, which is 
therefore a still further object of the present invention. 
The base is of a generally U-shaped configuration having a bottom and a 
pair of opposed side walls extending from the lateral sides of the bottom 
wall to define therebetween room for receiving a bottom portion of the 
housing when the base is closed to the housing. The room is divided by a 
transverse partition into longitudinally spaced front and rear portions. 
The front portion has the bottom wall terminating at the comb and defines 
therein a dust chamber for collecting the clipped hairs. 
It is therefore a further object of the present invention to provide a hair 
clipper in which the clipped hairs can be collected into the dust chamber 
formed in the base adjacent to the comb. 
The base is also configured to be pivotable to a further extent past the 
open position into an extended position where the cutting edge is spaced 
from the comb by a considerable extent so that the cutting head can be 
alone manipulated in direct contact with the skin for effecting hair 
trimming. To this end, the power switch has another mode in which it 
energizes the motor independently of the pivotal movement of the base 
relative to the housing. 
It is therefore a further object of the present invention to provide a hair 
clipper which is capable of effecting a conventional hair trimming 
operation in addition to the above-mentioned safe hair shearing with the 
use of the movable comb. 
These and still other objects and advantages of the present invention will 
become more apparent from the following detailed description of the 
preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying 
drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
First Embodiment &lt;FIGS. 1 to 15&gt; 
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a hand-held clipper in accordance 
with a first embodiment of the present invention. The hair clipper 
comprises an elongated housing 10 and an elongated base 70 which are 
pivotally connected at their rear ends to be movable between an open 
position of FIG. 1 and a closed position of FIG. 2, in a manner like a 
conventional stapler. As seen in the figures, the housing 10 has its 
longitudinal axis crossed with a longitudinal axis of the base 70 at an 
angle of about 15.degree. in the open position and has the former axis 
generally in parallel relation with the latter axis in the closed 
position. The housing 10 is provided at its front end with a cutter head 
30 which comprises a stationary blade 31 with a toothed edge and a movable 
blade 32 with a like toothed edge. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the 
stationary blade 31 is supported on an interior surface of a head plate 33 
fitted in the front end of the housing 10. The movable blade 32 is 
supported at its one end by a carrier 34 which is held slidable on the 
interior surface of the head plate 33 such that the toothed edge of the 
movable blade 32 is in hair shearing engagement with the corresponding 
toothed edge of the stationary blade 31 with the leading edge of the 
movable blade 31 offset upwardly or retarded from the forwardly adjacent 
leading edge of the stationary cutter by a slight extent. The stationary 
blade 31 and the movable blade 32 define therebetween a cutting plane 
which is inclined by an angle .THETA. of 50.degree. to 90.degree. with 
respect to a longitudinal axis of the housing 10. The cutter head 30 thus 
formed is held in position by a pair of clips 37 each of which, as shown 
in FIG. 6, have its ends hooked to the head plate 33 and the interior of 
the housing 10. 
Disposed in the middle of the housing 10 is an electric motor 20 which has 
an output shaft 21 coupled to a joint 22 with an eccentric shaft 23. The 
eccentric shaft 23 engages into a cam socket 35 formed on the carrier 34 
in order to translate the rotational movement of the output shaft 21 into 
a reciprocating movement of the movable blade 32 relative to the 
stationary blade 31. A battery casing 25 is formed below the motor 20 to 
extend longitudinally over the middle and rear portions Of the housing 10 
for receiving therein a couple of dry batteries (not shown) energizing the 
motor 20. The battery casing 25 is fitted with a detachable lid 27 which 
is slidable along the casing 25 to close the same. 
As best shown in FIG. 6, the housing 10 comprises upper and lower halves 11 
and 12 between which a slider 40 is received together with the motor 20. 
The slider 40 has a pair of opposed side bars 41 and 42 connected by a 
center plate 43 which is slidably held between the motor 20 and the inner 
surface of the upper housing 11. One of the side bar 41 is provided at its 
rear end with a contactor 44 which cooperates with contact leads 51 to 53 
to form a main power switch SW.sub.1 for connecting and disconnecting the 
motor 20 to and from the batteries. Also formed on the same side bar 41 is 
a switch handle 45 which projects on the side face of the housing 10. The 
center plate 43 includes a pair of resilient arms 47 each having a latch 
projection 48 at its free end. The latch projections 48 are engageable 
with a catch 13 which, as shown by a dotted line in FIG. 5, projects on 
the interior of the upper half 11 of the housing 10 in the form of a 
figure eight to define on either exterior side thereof three 
longitudinally spaced detent, i.e., those at the ends and the middle of 
the figure eight. During the slide movement of the slider 40, the 
resilient arms 47 flex outwardly in such a manner that the latch 
projection 48 can ride over the curved periphery of the catch 13 and is 
clicked into one of the three detent. Whereby the slider 40 is movable 
clickwise between three switching positions, i.e., OFF position, a 
dependent ON position, and an independent ON position, the detail of which 
will be discussed later. 
The base 70 is of a generally U-shaped configuration having a bottom wall 
71 and a pair of opposed side walls 72 extending upwardly from the lateral 
sides of the bottom wall 71 to define therebetween a space for receiving 
the bottom portion of the housing 10 in the closed position of FIG. 2. 
Formed at the forward edge of the bottom wall 71 is a comb 80 with a 
number of comb teeth 81 arranged along the forward edge for smoothing 
hairs prior to shearing the hairs by the cutter head 30. As shown in FIG. 
7, the comb 80 includes a tapered projection 82 which has an angled edge 
at its front and from which the comb teeth 81 project in the general plane 
of the front inclined portion of the bottom wall 71. As seen in the 
figure, each of the comb teeth 81 is in the form of a somewhat rounded 
flat fin having a thickness T greater than a thickness P of the projection 
82. The projection 82 defines therebehind a recess 84 into which the 
cutting edge of the cutter head 30 project when the base 70 is pivoted 
into the closed position of FIG. 4. It is this closed position that the 
shearing is made to the hairs held between the comb 80 and the cutting 
edge as being smoothed by the comb 80. That is, as shown in FIGS. 10A to 
10C, the hand clipper is firstly manipulated in its open position so as to 
smooth and guide the hairs between the comb 80 and the cutter head 30 and 
is then closed to the position of the position of FIGS. 11A to effect the 
hair shearing. In this manner, the hairs can be easily cut to straight 
without exposing the cutting edge in the vicinity of the skin, thereby 
assuring a safe hair shearing without the fear of accidentally injuring 
the skin by the cutting head. It should be noted at this time that, as 
shown in FIG. 3, the housing 10 in the open position has the battery 
casing 25 projected into the base 70 so as not leave therebetween any 
substantial gap, therefore eliminating the possibility of pinching the 
finger of the user between the housing 10 and the base 70 during the 
repeated operations of closing and opening the clipper. Further, the above 
inclined surface of the front portion of the bottom wall 71 is somewhat 
rounded to be readily guided across the skin particularly around the neck. 
The recess 84 has a depth D which, as shown in FIG. 11C, is greater than a 
gap distance G between the leading edges of the stationary and movable 
blades 31 and 32 so that the projection 82 overlaps that different when 
the clipper is in the closed position of abutting the stationary blade 31 
against the bottom of the recess 84, which contributes to successfully 
shearing the hairs once held between the comb 80 and the toothed edge of 
the stationary blade 31 without substantially missing the hairs, and 
therefore assuring an even cut. In this connection, the front portion of 
the bottom wall 71 is inclined such that the toothed edge of the movable 
blade 32 or stationary blade 31 is at an angle .alpha. of 70.degree. to 
90.degree. in consideration of that the toothed edge of the movable blade 
31 would certainly slip over the hairs when the angle is smaller than 
70.degree.. 
As shown in FIGS. 10A and 11A, the hair clipper can be manipulated only by 
one hand of a user and the hair shearing can be effected by repeatedly 
pressing the housing 10 toward the base 70. For secure holding of the hair 
clipper, the base 70 is formed on the rear end portion with anti-slip ribs 
73 as well as a finger stop 74 while the housing 10 is formed in its top 
surface with a depression 15 for engagement with the thumb of the hand 
gripping the clipper. It is noted at this time that the clipper has one 
switching mode which enables to reciprocate the movable cutter 32 only 
when the housing 10 is moved into the closed position and to stop 
operating the movable blade 32 in response to the housing 10 is moved out 
of the closed position, which will be discussed later. 
The pivotal connection between the housing 10 and the base 70 is effected 
by a pivot axle 60 bridging between the rear ends of the base 70 and 
journaled in a bearing hole 16 formed in the rear end of the housing 10 
between the upper and lower halves 11 and 12. Integrally projecting from 
the middle of the axle 60 is a lever 61 which extends over a flat bottom 
portion at the rear end of the lower half 12. A compression coil spring 62 
is interposed between the end of the lever 61 and the upper bottom of the 
upper half 11, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, so as to bias the lever 61 in 
the counter-clockwise direction in the figures and in turn bias the base 
70 in that direction about the axle 60 relative to the housing 10, whereby 
biasing the clipper into the open position of FIG. 3. As seen in the 
figures, the coil spring 62 is fitted around a post 17 which projects 
integrally from the inner bottom of the upper half 11 and is utilized to 
receive a screw 29 fastening the upper and lower halves 11 and 12. 
The lever 61 is operatively connected at its free end to a slide member 90 
with a stud 63 at the free end of the lever 61 engaged in a slit 91 of the 
slide member 90. The slide member 90 is held vertically movable within an 
upstanding frame 18 on the inner bottom surface of the lower half 12 and 
includes a contactor 92 which cooperates with the contact leads 52 and 53 
to form an auxiliary power switch SW.sub.2. That is, the contactor 92 
straddles over the upright segments of the contact leads 52 and 53 held in 
position within the frame 18 to make and break the contact between the 
leads 52 and 53 in response to the vertical movement of the slide member 
90 which is in turn responsive to the pivotal movement of the lever 61 or 
the base 70 relative to the housing 10. It is noted at this time that, as 
shown in the wiring diagram of FIG. 9, the above-mentioned main switch 
SW.sub.1 comprises the contact leads 51, 52, and 53 and the contactor 44 
which is movable together with the slider 40 among the three positions in 
constant contact only with the lead 51 connected to one electrode of the 
battery B. The other electrode of the battery B is connected by way of a 
lead element 54 to one end to the motor 20 of which other end is connected 
to the contact lead 53. The contact leads 52 and 53 have their respective 
ends arranged in spaced alignment with the end of the contact lead 51 such 
that the contactor 44 disconnects the leads 52 and 53 (the motor 20) from 
the lead 51 (the battery B) in the OFF position, straddles between the 
leads 51 and 52 in the dependent ON position, and straddles between the 
leads 51 and 53 to connect the motor 20 to the battery B in the 
independent ON position. In the dependent ON position of the main switch 
SW.sub.1, the auxiliary switch SW.sub.2 is operative to energize and 
deenergize the motor 20 in response to the movement of the base 70 between 
the open and closed positions. That is, when the base 70 is in the open 
position, the contactor 92 of the slide contact 90 is held by the lever 61 
in an upper position of disconnecting the leads 52 and 53 from one another 
to deenergize the motor 20, but when the base 70 is moved into the closed 
position, the contactor 92 is brought by the correspondingly pivoting 
lever 61 into a lower position of conducting the leads 52 and 53 for 
energizing the motor 20, or reciprocating the movable blade 32. In this 
manner, the auxiliary switch SW.sub.2 is rendered active to effect the 
switching in response to the movement of the clipper between the open and 
closed positions while the main switch SW.sub.1 is in the dependent 
position. In this switching mode, therefore, the hair clipper can effect 
the shearing each time the housing 10 is pressed by the thumb of the user 
toward the base 70 into the closed position of FIG. 11A, and can stop 
driving the movable blade 32 each lime the housing 10 returns into the 
open position under the urging of the coil spring 62 as the user removes 
the pressing force on the housing 10. On the other hand, when the main 
switch SW.sub.1 is in the independent ON position, the auxiliary switch 
SW.sub.2 is bypassed to thereby energize the motor 26 irrespective of the 
positions of the hair clipper, or the pivotal movement of the housing 10 
relative to the base 70. 
At the OFF position of the main switch SW.sub.1, the housing 10 can be 
locked into the closed position by engagement of latches 46 projected on 
the side faces of the housing 10 and grooves 75 formed respectively in the 
inner surface of the side walls 72 of the base 70, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 
12. The latches 46 are formed on the side bars 41 and 42 of the slider 40 
to be movable in the lengthwise direction of housing 10 together with the 
switch handle 45. As shown in FIG. 8, the groove 75 is of a generally 
L-shaped configuration with a vertical segment and a horizontal segment 
defining therebetween a shoulder 76 with which the latch 46 is to be 
engaged. A vertical section of the groove 75 is open to the upper edge of 
the side wall 72 so that the latch 46 at the dependent as well as 
independent positions of the main switch SW.sub.1 can freely enter into 
the groove 75 through the vertical section without interfering with the 
shoulder 76 and that only the latch 46 at the OFF position can be engaged 
with the shoulder 76. The side walls 72 of the base 70 have enough 
resiliency such that they are capable of flexing outwardly to permit the 
latches 46 even at the OFF position of the main switch SW.sub.1 to ride 
over shoulder 76 into engagement therebehind. The latch 46 at the 
independent or dependent ON position can be of course guided along the 
horizontal section into engagement with the shoulder 76 by sliding the 
switch handle 45 rearward while maintaining the housing 10 in the closed 
position. In brief, the housing 10 can be locked into the closed position 
irrespective of the positions of the switch handle 45. 
The base 70 is provided with a partition 77 which is located immediately 
forwardly of the battery casing 25 in the closed position of the clipper 
so as to define a dust chamber 78 forwardly of the partition 77 for 
collecting the clipper hairs and preventing the collected hairs from 
scattering around the battery casing 25. The battery casing 25 is received 
in a space 79 defined rearwardly of the partition when the clipper is in 
the closed position. 
Turning back to FIG. 6, the above pivot axle 60 is provided at its ends 
with rotor discs 64 which are supported within circular brackets 100 
correspondingly formed at the rear end of the base 70 in such a manner 
that the axle 60 is also pivotable through a limited angular distance 
about an axis of the axle 60 with respect to the base 70, allowing the 
housing 10 to move past the open position further into an extended 
position of FIG. 14 in Which the housing 10 is kept at an angle of about 
120.degree. with respect to the base 70. In brief, the housing 10 pivots 
between the above open and closed position about the axis of the axle 60 
with the axle 60 being kept rotatively fixed to the base 70, and the 
housing 10 pivots between the open and extended positions with an 
attendant pivotal movement of the axle 60 or the rotor discs 64 relative 
to the base 70. The extended position of FIG. 14 is provided for hair 
trimming alone by the cutting head without cooperation of the comb 80, as 
shown in FIG. 15. As seen in the figure, the trimming can be made by 
simply gripping the housing 10 by one hand of the user while the base 70 
is kept widely opened so as not to hinder the trimming operation. 
The above limited pivotal movement of the axle 60 relative to the base 70 
is made in a clicked manner such that the housing 10 can be clicked into 
the open position from which it is smoothly movable to the closed position 
and also clicked into the extended position. Further movement of the 
housing 10 past the extended position is prohibited by abutment between a 
rear stop 19 of the housing 10 and the finger stop 74 of the base 70. In 
detail, as seen in FIGS. 12, 13 and 14, each of the rotor discs 64 is 
provided in its center with a bearing hole 65 into which a ring projection 
101 at the inner center of each bracket 100 extends for rotatively 
suppOrting the axle 60 between the brackets 100. Extending 
circumferentially around a portion of each disc 64 is a resilient bow 66 
carrying a click projection 67. The click projection 67 is thus allowed to 
move resiliently radially so that it will ride over cams 102 and 103 
circumferentially spaced along the periphery of the corresponding bracket 
100 as the axle 60 pivots, thereby giving the above clicking movement. It 
is noted at this point that by engagement between the lever 61 and the 
housing 10, the axle 60 itself will pivot together with the housing 10 
relative to the base 70 between the open position and the extended 
position, while the housing 10 will pivot about the axis of the axle 60 
against and under the bias of the spring 62 between the open and closed 
positions. Also formed on the periphery of each disc 64 are spaced notches 
68 and 69 which are brought into abutment with corresponding ribs (not 
shown) respectively formed on each bracket 100 when the housing 10 is 
moved from the open position to the closed position and when the housing 
10 is moved to the extended position in order to prevent further undesired 
pivotal movement of the housing 10 relative to the base 70. In the present 
embodiment, a safe scheme is introduced to protect the pivot connection 
between the housing 10 and the base 70 from being damaged even when an 
excess force is applied to open the housing 10 and base 70 further beyond 
the extended positions. To this end, each disc 64 has its peripheral 
portions formed into tapered edges 111 and 112, and each bracket 100 has 
its center and peripheral portions partially formed into like tapered 
edges 104 and 105. When the housing 10 is forced to pivot further beyond 
the extended position, these tapered edges of the disc 64 and the bracket 
100 cooperate with corresponding portions which may be the tapered edges 
of the bracket 100 and the disc 64 to easily escape the disc 64 away from 
the bracket 100 as resiliently flexing the brackets 100 outwardly, thereby 
disengaging the disc 64 from the bracket 100 and therefore allowing easy 
separation of the base 70 from the housing 10. The separated base 70 can 
be readily fixed into a correct position of engaging the ring 101 of each 
bracket 100 into the bearing hole 65 of each disc 64 simply by placing 
each disc 64 in alignment with the bracket 100 again as flexing the 
bracket 100 resiliently outwardly. 
Although, in the above embodiment, the comb 80 is configured to have comb 
teeth 81 in the form of flat members, it is equally possible to provide 
comb 80A having comb teeth 81A which are bullet-shaped, as shown in FIG. 
16A, or to provide comb 80B in the form of a wedge, as shown in FIG. 16B. 
Further, as shown in FIGS. 17 to 19, a dust Chamber 78C may have a hinged 
bottom 85 for facilitating the disposal of the clipped hairs collected in 
the dust chamber 78C. The bottom 85 is biased into an open position of 
FIG. 19B by means of a torsion spring 86 wound around a hinge shaft 87 
connecting the bottom 85 and the remaining portion 70C of a base. A slide 
lever 88 straddles over the outer surfaces of the bottom 85 and the 
portion 70C such that it keeps the hinged bottom 85 closed when the slide 
lever 88 is shifted forward into a position of FIG. 19A and it allows the 
hinged bottom 85 to open under the bias of the spring 86 when shifted 
rearwardly into a position of FIG. 19B. The slide lever 88 is retained on 
the bottom of the base by engagement with guide rails 89 formed integrally 
with the bottom 85 and the portion 70C. 
FIGS. 20 to 25 shows another modification of the above embodiment in which 
a spring clamp 120 is additionally included in a cutter head 30D. The 
other structures are identical to those in the above embodiment and 
therefore like parts are designated by like numbers with a suffix letter 
of "D". The spring clamp 120 is of a generally U-shaped configuration with 
a pair of vertical segments connected by a horizontal segment, as shown in 
FIG. 22. Each vertical segment has its upper end bent into a C-shaped hook 
121 which engages into a corresponding slot 38 formed in either side of a 
housing 10D adjacent the cutter head 30D so that the spring clamp 120 
extends in parallel with the cutting plane of the cutter head 30D 
forwardly thereof with the horizontal segment projecting further beyond 
the cutting edge of the cutter head 30D. As shown in FIGS. 23 to 25, when 
the clipper is manipulated to move from the open position to the closed 
position, the horizontal member of the spring clamp 120 comes firstly into 
contact with the hairs smoothed past a comb 80D before the cutting edge 
comes into contact with the hairs, as shown in FIG. 24, to thereby hold 
the hairs between the comb 80D and the spring clamp 120. Then, as the 
clipper is moved further into the closed position of FIG. 25, the spring 
clamp 120 is resiliently deformed at the C-shaped hooks 121, as indicated 
in FIG. 22, to retard to some extent the cutting edge to shear the hairs 
in the closed position, while firmly holding the hairs between the spring 
clamp 120 and the comb 80D forwardly of the cutting edge. With this 
result, the hairs being cut can be prevented from slipping away from the 
cutting edge and therefore can be cut easily and exactly as desired. 
Second Embodiment &lt;FIGS. 26 and 27&gt; 
A hair clipper in accordance with a second embodiment of the present 
invention comprises a housing 10E and a base 70E which are coupled 
together by means of arms 130 into parallel linkage so that the housing 
10E is movable in parallel with the base 70E between an open position of 
FIG. 26A and a closed position of FIG. 26B. The housing 10E is identical 
in structure to that utilized in the above first embodiment to have a like 
cutting head 30E with a stationary blade 31E and a movable blade 32E. The 
base 70E is in the form of a top open box having at its forward edge a 
comb 80E of the like configuration as in the above embodiment. Also the 
base 70E is formed on its front exterior with a like inclined guide 
surface and in its front portion with a like dust chamber 78E defined 
forwardly of a partition 77E. The hair clipper of the second embodiment is 
manipulated likewise to repeat moving the housing 10E between the open 
position and the closed position for collecting the hairs between the comb 
and the cutting edge and shearing the hairs. Due to the parallel movement 
of the housing 10E relative to the base 70E, the cutting edge is kept 
substantially at a fixed height relative to the comb 80E and therefore a 
portion of the skin of a head in contact with the comb 80E during the 
cutting operation, enabling one to effect an easy and exact hair styling. 
Third Embodiment &lt;FIGS. 28 to 30&gt; 
A hair clipper according to a third embodiment is similar in structure to 
the above second embodiment except that a housing 10F has its bottom 
portion slidably received within a base 70F by engagement between bosses 
140 on the opposite sides of the housing 10F and guide grooves 141 in the 
side walls of the base 70E. The other structures are identical to the 
first and second embodiment, therefore like parts are designated by like 
numerals with a suffix letter of "F". In the present embodiment, a 
compression spring 142 is interposed between a partition 77F and the front 
end of a battery casing 25F to bias the housing 10F toward the open 
position of FIG. 30A. With the hair clipper thus formed, the hair shearing 
is performed firstly by introducing the hairs between a comb 80F and the 
cutting edge in the open position of FIG. 30A and by moVing the housing 
10F into the closed position of FIG. 30B against the bias of the spring 
142. 
Fourth embodiment &lt;FIGS. 31 and 32&gt; 
A hair clipper according to a fourth embodiment comprising a housing 10G 
with an integrally formed comb member 150 which projects from the forward 
bottom end of the housing 10G in an inclined relation with respect to a 
longitudinal axis of the housing 10G and is provided at its leading edge 
with a like comb 80G. The housing 10G is provided at its front end with a 
like cutting head 30G composed of a stationarY blade 31G and a movable 
blade 32G defining therebetween a cutting plane which cross with the comb 
member 150 at an angle of 70.degree. to 90.degree.. The cutting head 30G 
is slidably supported on the front end of the housing 10G to be movable 
between an open position of FIG. 32A and a closed position of FIG. 32B 
along the cutting plane. The upper end of the cutter head 30G project 
above the top surface of the housing 10G to be pressed by the thumb of a 
user's hand gripping the housing 10G and is preferably biased into the 
open position such that the hair shearing can be effected simply by 
pressing the cutter head 30G against the spring bias into the closed 
position after smoothing the hairs past the comb 80G between the comb 80G 
and the cutting edge of the cutter head 30G with the cutter head 30G left 
in the open position. The clipped hairs are collected into a like dust 
chamber 78G formed between the comb member 150 and the front end of the 
housing 10G. The comb 80G in the present embodiment is of the same 
configuration as that of the first embodiment to include a recess 84G for 
receiving the cutting edge of the cutter head 30G in the closed position.