Hand-held depilating device

Abstract: A hand-held depilating device capable of masking the pain of plucking the hairs through psychological effect. The depilating device comprises housing (10) adapted to be grasped by the hand of the user and a plucking head (40) mounted on top of the housing for plucking the hairs from the skin. Stimulator is mounted on top of the housing adjacent to the plucking head (40) for providing mechanical stimuli to the skin while the plucking head operates to pluck the hairs. The stimulator comprises a vibrator (31) which provides vibrations to the skin as the mechanical stimuli which act on sense receptors other than nociceptors that respond to pain, thereby masking the pain caused by plucking the hairs or received at the nociceptors. That is, the mechanical stimuli caused by the vibrations can activate Meissner's corpuscle or Pacinian corpuscle to make indistinct to the pain as demonstrated by a gate-control theory in psychology. Thus, the mechanical stimuli applied separately from the plucking operation can excite the tactile or pressure sense receptors so as to activate the gate control path at posterior horn of the spinal cord immediately before or simultaneously with the plucking the hair, thereby blurring the pain being transmitted through the nerve. Alternately, roller (160) with stimulus projections may be utilized to apply the mechanical stimuli for alleviation of the pain.

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention is directed to a hand-held depilating device for plucking hairs from the skin of a user, and more particularly to such device having a stimulator providing mechanical stimuli to the skin for masking the pain of plucking the hairs. BACKGROUND ART European Patent Application EP-A-0 622 033 A2 discloses a depilating device which comprises a plucking head for plucking the hairs from the skin of a user and a smooth roller which is mounted separately from the plucking head to be in rolling contact with the skin around a portion from which the hairs are plucked by the plucking head. The roller acts to stretch the skin for alleviating pain by the effect of reducing resistance to a force of pulling the hairs. However, even with the skin stretching, there remains a problem that the pain itself may be perceived still significantly by the user. In order to further alleviate the pain experienced at the time of plucking the hairs, the inventors study mechanism of pain including nerve systems as well as sense receptors in the skin. Through this study, it is found effective to give mechanical stimuli to the skin in order to considerably alleviate the pain caused by plucking the hairs. The present invention is accomplished based upon the above finding and comprises a depilator housing adapted to be grasped by the hand of the user and a plucking head mounted on top of the housing for plucking the hairs from the skin. Stimulator is mounted on top of the housing adjacent to the plucking head for providing mechanical stimuli to the skin while the plucking head operates to pluck the hairs. Therefore, the mechanical stimuli applied separately from the plucking operation can excite the tactile or pressure sense receptors so as to activate the gate control path at posterior horr of the spinal cord immediately before or simultaneously with the plucking the hair, thereby blurring the pain being transmitted through the nerve. EP 0 493 849 A1 discloses a depilation device, where, immediately prior to depilation, a vibration member is brought into contact with the skin to be depilated which member exerts forces of varying intensity on the skin whereby the nerve function in the skin is affected. It is the problem of the invention to provide for an alternative of the known device, in particular where mull functions are prevented. This object is solved by the depilation device of claim 1. According to the invention, the stimulator comprises a roller with a plurality of stimulus projections which provide the mechanical stimuli to the skin as the roller is caused to rotate in contact with the skin. The mechanical stimuli thus produced separately from the plucking operation can excite the tactile or pressure sense receptors so as to mask the pain caused by plucking the hair in the same manner as discussed hereinbefore. As the plucking head is manipulated across the skin, the roller is caused to rotate so that the stimulus projections apply the mechanical stimulus. In this manner, the mechanical stimuli can be obtained with a simple mechanism of using the roller, which is therefore a further object of the present invention. The stimulus projections are preferably in the form of bristles projecting radially from the roller. Preferably, the roller is carried on a skin guide frame which is floatingly supported to the housing so that the stimulus projections on the roller can easily follow the various portions of the skin while manipulating the plucking head thereacross. With this result, the mechanical stimuli can be applied effectively to the skin, which is therefore a still further object of the present invention. An adjusting mechanism is provided to adjust a projection amount of the stimulus projections from the top of the housing so that the user can select optimum mechanical stimulus for alleviating the pain. In addition, the roller may be detachably mounted to the housing so that it can be replaced with another roller of different stimulating characteristic. Thus, the user can select optimum stimulation effect for various portions of skin and for her own preference, which is therefore a further object of the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, the plucking head is floatingly supported to the housing to be capable of being depressed and is surrounded by a skin guide frame. The skin guide frame comprises a main body which is connected to the plucking head to be capable of being depressed together therewith and a front guide which is movably supported to the main body for limited displacement relative to the main body. The roller is supported to the front guide so that the roller can be depressed for a limited extent independently of the plucking head after which it can be depressed together with the plucking head. In this manner, the roller can well follow the contour of the skin while manipulating the plucking head thereacross, thereby enhancing the effect of the mechanical stimuli for alleviation of the pain, which is therefore a further object of the present invention. Further, the skin guide frame is supported to be swingable about a swing axis while it is depressed together with the plucking head. With the combination of the depressing and swinging movements of the skin guide frame relative to the housing, the roller on the skin guide frame can follow the skin more precisely while manipulating the plucking head thereacross. Thus, the mechanical stimuli can be applied effectively and successfully to the skin for further enhancing the alleviation of the pain. In order to achieve such sophisticated movement, the skin guide frame is engaged on a rounded portion of the housing at a point of contact defining the swing axis. As the skin guide frame swings, the point of contact is made to move along the rounded portion of the housing in a direction of facilitating an attendant depression of the skin guide frame together with the plucking head. Thus, the roller carried on the skin guide frame can follow the skin more conformably to achieve superior effect of alleviating the pain. These and still other objects and advantageous features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the embodiments when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view of a depilating device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the device of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a side section of a plucking head and a skin guide frame of the device; FIG. 4 is a front vertical section of the plucking head; FIGS. 5A and 5B are side sections showing a combination swing and depression movement of the skin guide frame; FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C show a hair plucking operation with the aid of a roller with stimulus projections carried by the skin guide frame; FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a mechanism of detachably mounting one of the rollers to the skin guide frame; FIGS. 8A and 8B are perspective and sectional views of a first alternative roller which may be utilized in the above depilating device; FIGS. 9A and 9B are perspective and sectional views of a second alternative roller which may be utilized in the above depilating device; FIGS. 10A and 10B are perspective and sectional views of a third alternative roller which may be utilized in the above depilating device; FIGS. 11A and 11B are perspective and sectional views of a fourth alternative roller which may be utilized in the above depilating device; and FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a fifth alternative roller which may be utilized in the above depilating device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS In a depilator device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention at least one roller is mounted adjacent to like plucking head to apply the mechanical stimuli to the skin as it is caused to rotate by contact with the skin. The roller 180 is disposed in generally parallel with and immediately behind a front bar 31G of a skin guide frame 30G to be freely rotatable about an axis of a shaft 182 the opposite ends of which are supported to bearing slots 183 in the opposite ends of the front bar 31G. The roller 180 carries a plurality of radially projecting bristles 181 arranged circumferentially and axially over a corresponding length of the plucking head 40G. A pair of additional rollers 190 are mounted respectively on the guide frame 30G axially outwardly of the plucking head 40G. Each of the additional rollers 190 is also supported to be freely rotatable about an axis of a shaft 192 and carries a plurality of radially projecting bristles 191. These rollers 180 and 190 are made into rolling contact with the skin and caused to rotate as the plucking head 40G is manipulated to move across the skin, during which the bristles 181 and 191 apply the mechanical stimuli to the skin for alleviating the pain of plucking the hairs. The skin guide frame 30G is made of a plastic material into a unitary structure of a generally rectangular configuration composed of the front bar 31G, rear bar 32G, and opposed end support 34G integrally connecting the front and rear bars. The front bar 31G is connected to the end supports 34G at its opposite ends respectively through resilient members 33G so that the front bar 31G is allowed to move vertically within a limited extent relative to the other portion of the guide frame 30G. The end support 34G is provided with a recess 194 for receiving the additional roller 190. The roller 180 supported by the front bar 31G is allowed to be depressed together with the front bar 31G relative to the other portion of the guide frame 30G for a limited extent after which it is depressed together with the guide frame 30G and the plucking head 40G relative to the head frame 20G. In this manner, the roller 180 is made to easily follow the skin configuration. The front bar 31G is formed with comb projections 130G for smoothing and raising the hairs prior to plucking the same. It is noted here that the plucking head 40G is floatingly supported by a spring mechanism comprising a coil spring as described in EP..... (divisional application to this one, attorney's file : FB60621A, so as to be depressed relative to the head frame 20G and that the skin guide frame 30G is held on the plucking head 40G to receive the upward bias from the spring mechanism so as to be depressed together with the plucking head 40G. The rear bar 32G carries a freely rotatable smooth roller 131G which comes into rolling contact with the skin behind the plucking head 40G for smoothly guiding the plucking head in the moving direction. FIGS. 6A to 6C illustrate the sequence of the plucking operation in which the plucking head 40G moves from left to right in the figures while swinging about the longitudinal axis thereof as indicated by arrows for plucking the hairs. During this operation, the roller 180 and the additional rollers 190 (although not seen in these figures) are kept in rolling contact with the skin so that the bristles 181 and 191 thereof can apply the mechanical stimuli to the skin for masking the pain of plucking the hairs. Also in this embodiment, the guide frame 30G is formed on opposite ends thereof with like bearing projections 35G which include individual pins 36G for loose engagement into corresponding vertical grooves 24G in the opposite inner end surface of the head frame 20G. Further, the bearing projections 35G are formed in their lower ends with recesses 37G into which an upper end 62G of a like chassis 60G carrying the plucking head 40G engages so that the guide frame 30G is floatingly supported and is capable of being depressed together with the plucking head 40G. Each of the bearing projections 35G has a curved upper surface 38G which is urged against an inner curved surface 25G of an end flange 22G of the head frame 20G, as best shown in FIG. 5A, by the bias of a coil spring (not shown) acting to urge the plucking head 40G. The curved upper surface 38G of the bearing projection 35G has a radius of curvature R2 which is less than a radius of curvature R1 of the inner curved surface 25G of the head frame 20G so that the bearing projection 35G is engaged with the inner curved surface 25G of the head frame only at a point of contact P which moves along the inner curved surface 25G as the front bar 31G is depressed. That is, when no depression force acts on the front bar 31G as shown in FIG. 5A, the guide frame 30G is kept in a neutral position as being urged upwardly together with the plucking head 40G where the point of contact P lies on a vertical plane passing through the axis of the pin 36G and through the point at which the guide frame 30G receives the upward bias from the plucking head 40G, leaving a distance B1 between the front bar 31G pressed against the skin and the point of contact P. As a depression force F is applied to the front bar 31G as a result of being pressed against the skin, as shown in FIG. 5B, the point of contact P moves away by a distance of H from the vertical plane. With this consequence, the guide frame 30G is allowed to swing about thus moved point of contact P relative to the head frame 20G with increased distance B2 between the front bar 31G and the point of contact P, which accompanies a corresponding depressive movement of the plucking head 40G. That is, as the front bar 31G is depressed together with the roller 180, the guide frame 30G swings about the moving point of contact P with attendant depressive movement of the plucking head 40G. With such combination of the swinging and depression movements, the front bar 31G and the roller 180 can be kept in an optimum contact with the skin for alleviation of the pain. It is noted in this connection that the pins 36G on the opposite ends of the guide frame 30G are loosely and slidably engaged with the grooves 24G in the head frame 20G to allow the above combination movement of the guide frame 30G. The rollers 180 and 190 are preferred to be detachably mounted to the guide frame 30G so that the user can select optimum rollers from a set of rollers of providing different stimuli on her preference. FIG. 3 illustrates one scheme for the detachable mounting of the rollers 190, although it is equally applicable for the roller 180. The roller 190 is received in the recess 194 with its shaft 192 retained in bearing slots 193. The bearing slot 193 is formed in its upper end with latches 195 which project inwardly to define an entrance of a width slightly narrower than the diameter of the shaft 192. Due to resilient deformability inherently given to the plastic-made guide frame 30G, the shaft 192 is allowed to pass through the entrance and is locked in the bearing slot 193 behind the latches 195 for easy attachment of the roller 190. Likewise, the detachment of the roller can be made easily by the use of the resilient deformability. Although not shown in the figure, it is possible to make the bearing slots 193 deep enough and to provide additional latches intermediate its depth to latch the shaft 192 in the slots at different depth. With this design, it is made easy to adjust the projection amount of the roller or the bristles on the guide frame for selecting strong or weak mechanical stimuli from the rollers. Although the rollers with the bristles are shown in the above, the present invention is not limited thereto and may include rollers of different configurations as explained below. A roller 200 in accordance with a first modification is shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B and comprises a plurality of elastic fins 201 spaced circumferentially and axially of the roller. The fin is made thinner toward its tip than at the root to be given elastic deformability for enhanced skin contact effect. FIGS. 9A and 9B show a second modification of roller 210 with a combination of bristles 211 and elastic projections 212 which project radially with different radial lengths to define stimulus projections of applying different stimuli to the skin. The bristles 211 and the elastic projections 212 alternate in the circumferential direction and arranged along the axial length of the roller. The elastic projection may be a bundle of the bristles. With the use of the stimulus projections of different characteristics, it is possible to apply different kinds of mechanical stimuli to the skin for enhancing the alleviation of the hair plucking pain. FIGS. 10A and 10B show a third modification of roller 220 with another combination of bristles 221 and elastic fins 222 which alternate in the circumferential direction. The elastic fins 222 is continuous over the substantial axial length of the roller 220 to apply the mechanical stimulus different from the bristles to the skin as it rotates on the skin. FIGS. 11A and 11B show a fourth modification of roller 230 with a further combination of bristles 231 and rings 232 which alternate in the axial direction of the roller and apply different mechanical stimuli to the skin, respectively. FIG. 12 shows a fifth modification of roller 240 with elastic fins 241 which are spaced circumferentially and axially of the roller with the width thereof aligned in the axial direction. The features disclosed in the foregoing description, in the claims and/or in the accompanying drawings may, both separately and in any combination thereof, be material for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof within the scope of claim 1.

Claims: A hand-held depilating device for plucking hairs from the skin of a user, said depilating device comprising: a housing (10G) adapted to be grasped by the hand of the user, a plucking head (40G) mounted on top of said housing for plucking the hairs from the skin; and at least one roller (131G; 180; 190; 200; 210; 220; 230; 240) rotatably mounted to said housing adjacent to said plucking head (40G) for rolling contact with the skin; said at least one roller providing mechanical stimuli to the skin while said plucking head operates to pluck the hairs; characterised in that at least one of said rollers is provided with a plurality of stimulus projections (181; 191; 201; 211; 221, 231; 241). The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said at least one roller (180; 190; 200; 210; 220; 230; 240) is floatingly supported to said housing to be capable of being depressed. The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 1 or 2, wherein said stimulus projections are in the form of bristles (181; 191; 211; 221) projecting radially from said at least one roller. The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 1 or 2, wherein said at least one roller (180; 190; 200; 210; 220; 230; 240) is carried on a skin guide frame (30G) which is floatingly supported to said housing to be capable of being depressed. The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 1 or 2, wherein said at least one roller (180; 190; 200; 210; 220; 230; 240) is pivotally supported to said housing to be swingable about a swing axis. The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 1 or 2, wherein adjusting means (193;195) is provided to adjust a projection amount of said stimulus projections from the top of the housing. The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 1 or 2, wherein said at least one roller (190) is detachably mounted to said housing. The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 1 or 2, wherein said plucking head (40G) is floatingly supported to said housing (10G) to be capable of being depressed, a skin guide frame (30G) being provided to surround said plucking head and comprise a main body (34G) which is connected to said plucking head to be capable of being depressed together therewith and a front guide (31 G) which is movably supported to said main body for limited displacement relative to said main body, and said at least one roller (180; 190; 200; 210; 220; 230; 240) being supported to said front guide. The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 8, wherein said skin guide frame (30G) is supported to said housing so that it can swing about a swing axis (P) while being depressed together with said plucking head. The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 9, wherein said skin guide frame (30G) is engaged at a point of contact (P) on a rounded portion (25G) of said housing, said point of contact defining said swing axis about which said skin guide frame can swing, said point of contact being capable of moving along said rounded portion (25G) as said skin guide frame swings and depressed. The hand-held depilating device as set forth in claim 1, wherein one of said rollers in a smooth roller (131G).

Inventors: ASADA MIKA, IWASAKI JYUZAEMON, TAKEGAWA YOSHINOBU, TANAHASHI MASAO, ASADA, MIKA, IWASAKI, JYUZAEMON, TAKEGAWA, YOSHINOBU, TANAHASHI, MASAO
Applicants: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC WORKS LTD, MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC WORKS, LTD.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A45D26
IPC codes: A45D26