SHAVING APPARATUS

Abstract: A shaving apparatus comprises a rotatably drivable first cutting member having a central part which carries cut­ ters each formed substantially by a cutter blade at one end of a cutter arm which extends at least partly in a radial di­ rection with respect to the aris of rotation of the first cutting member and the other end of which is connected to the cen­ tral part. The first cutting member cooperates with a second cutting member having a wall which comprises hair-entry apertures and over which the cutter lades are movable. Each cutter arm or the part thereof which extends in a radial direction is constructed as a leaf spring which his substan­ tially in a plane which is inclined with respect to the axis of rotation so that in the direction of width the arm or said part thereof extends substantially according to a helical line which extends both in the axial direction towards the sec­ ond cutting member and in the direction of rotation.

Description: shaving apparatus". The invention relates to a shaving apparatus having a rotatably drivable first cutting member with a central part which carries cutters each forced substantially by a blade at one end of a cutter arm which extends at least partly in a radial direction with respect to the axis of rotation of the first cutting member and the other end of which is connected to said central part, and comprising a second cutting member having a wall which comprises hair -entry apertures and over which wall the blades are movable. Such a shaving apparatus is known, for example, from Netherlands Patent Application 7217486 (PHN 6638; US-PS 3,890,705). It is the object of the invention to provide a simple construction which consequently is cheap to manufacture and in which there is no need for separate resilient elements for urging the first cutting member against the second cutting member and a good engagement of the first cutting member against the second cutting member is ensured. The construction according to the invention is characterized in that each cutter arm or the radially extending part thereof is constructed as a leaf spring which his substantially in a plane which is inclined with respect to the axis of rotation so that in the direction of width the arm or said part thereof extends sustantially according to a helical line extending both axially towards the second cutting member and in the derection of rotation. Special embodiments are claimed in Claim 2 and subsequent Claims. In embodiment of the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of first and second cutting members, Fig. 2 is an axial sectional view of the cutting members of Fig. 1 in the assembled condition, and Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing parts of the two cutting members during the cutting of a hair, the section being taken in a plane perpendicular to a radius of the first cutting member. The first cutting member 1 in Figs. 1 to 3 is rotatable around an axis 2 with respect to the second cutting member 3. The cutting member 3 comprises a wall 4 having hair-entry apertures 5. The cutters 6 of cutting member 1 comprise blades 7 at the ends of cutter arms 8 extending radially with respect to the axis of rotation 2. The other ends of the cutter arms 8 are connected to a central part 9 of the cutting member 1. The central part 9 con- prises a sleeve 10 with which the cutting member 1 is secured to the shaft 11. The cutting members 1 and 3 are camponents of a shaving apparatus , the remainder of which, for simplicity, is not shown in the drawings. The cutting member 1 is driven in known manner, for example, by means of an electric motor coupled to the shaft 11. When a hair protrudes through a hair-entry aperture 5, it will be cut off by a cutter blade 7 in cooperation with the second cutting member 3. The arms 8 are resiliently flexible so that with a slight deflection of said arms the cutter blades 7 press against the wall 4 of the second cutting nembeer 3 with a small force. Because of the resilience of the arms 8 there is no need for separate resilient elements for urging cutting member 1 against cutting near 3. It is essential that the force exerted per blade be kept as small as possible because the overall force exerted between the two cutting members is the sum of the forces exerted by all the cutters, and in order to minImize mean and energy loss by friction. By constructing each arm 8 as a leaf spring extending radially with respect to the axis of rotation 2 and which is flex ible in directions perpendicular to the cutting edge of the blade and rigid in directions parallel to the cutting edge of the blade, a construction in which small forces are exerted by the cutter blades on the second cutting meiker can be obtained in a simple manner. However, it is necessary to prevent a cutter blade being mc¯ed away from the second cutting member too rapidly by the forces occurring during cutting, since this auld abdversely affect the cutting action. For this purpose, each cutter arm 8, which as already mentioned is in the form of a leaf spring, lies substantially in a plane which is inclined with respect to the axis of rotation 2 so that in the direction of width the arm extends substantially according to a helical line which extends according to the arrow P both in the axial direction towards the second cutting member and in the direction of rotation. In the embodiment shown each cutter blade 7 is arranged in the same inclined plane as the associated cutter arm 8. The plane each cutter arm 8 encloses an acute angle OC, for example 300, with the portion of the wall 4 of the second cutting member 3 which is immediately to the rear of the associated cutter blade with respect to the direction of movement P (Fig. 3). The angle VC is so chosen that in nost cases will be larger than the angle /3which the cutting force K makes with said wall portion when the cutter blade 7 meets a hair 12. The cutting force K may be decomposed into a component K1 extending across the cutter blade and a component K2 at right angles thereto. Each cutter arm 8 will have considerable stiffness in the direction of component K1 so that the deflection of the arm in this direction will be small. As a result of the low stiffness in the direction of component K2,this component of the force K will keep the cutter blade 7 urged against the wall 4 during the cutting the hair 12, which is the best position for cutting the hair. The first cutting member 1, comprising the central part 9, the cutter arms 8 and the cutter blades 7, is preferably manufactured as a single component from one piece of sheet material. Because the cutter blades 7 are individually resiliently supported, they will become disengaged from the wall 4 due to unevenesses in the surface of said wall less rapidly than if the cutter blades were to form a rigidly assembly with the cutter arms and the central part 9. As a result of this, less stringent accuracy requirements need be imposed upon the manufacture of the second cutting member, so that said component can also be manufactured morse scheaply without this being at the expense of the action of the cutting members.

Claims: 1. A shaving apparatus having a rotatably drivable first cutting member with a central part which carries cutters each formed substantially by a cutter blade at one end of a cutter arm which extends at least partly in a radial direction with respect to the aris of rotation of the first cutting member and the other end of which is connected to said central part, and a second cutting member having a wall which comprises hair-entry apertures and over which the cutter blades are movable, characterized in that each cutter arm or the part thereof which extends in a radial direction is constructed as a leaf spring which his substantially in a plane which is inclined with respect to the axis of rotation so that in the direction of width the arm or said part thereof extends s & stantially according to a helical line which extends both axially towards the second cutting member and in the direction of rotation. 2. A shaving apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, characterized in the cutter blade is inclined in a manner similar to that of the cutter arm. 3. A shaving apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, character ized in that the first cutting member, comprising the central part the cutter arms and the cutter blades, is manufactured as a single component from one piece of sheet material.

Inventors: TIETJENS, EDUARD WILLEM
Applicants: N.V. PHILIPS' GLOEILAMPENFABRIEKEN
Application year: 1984
Main classification: B26B19
IPC codes: B26B19