Abstract:
The present invention relates to a hair iron having a buffer member, particularly to a hair iron having a buffer member, which is located in between two opposing heating plates to help hair passing through the heating plates to be straightened smoothly and prevent thermal deformation of hair. The invention is characterized by a hair iron comprising a first pressing member  10  and a second pressing member  20  to which heating plates  12  and  22  having built-in thermal wire heaters  13  and  23  are attached, respectively. A buffer member  40  is attached to the heating plate  22  which is attached to the second pressing member  20.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/170,407 filed on Jun. 29, 2005, which claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2005-0017244 filed on Mar. 2, 2005, all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a hair iron having buffer members, particularly to a hair iron having buffer members, which are located in between two opposing heating plates to help hair between the heating plates to be straightened smoothly and prevent thermal deformation of hair. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     A hair iron is an apparatus used to straighten or roll hair at home or beauty salons.  FIG. 1  is a drawing showing the conventional hair iron. It is manufactured by inserting heating wires  13   b  into two opposing heating plates  12   b . When the heating plates  12   b  are heated by the heating wires  13   b , users can straighten or roll their hair by applying pressure from outside of the external case  11   a . Such a conventional hair iron is driven by a power supply. Descriptions on the power supply, including electric wires and the temperature controller  70 , will be omitted here. 
     A first pressing member  1  and a second pressing member  2  are joined by a hinge  5 . To the first pressing member  1  is fixed a spacing stick  60 . The spacing stick  60  has a horizontally expanded part  61  at the end. The second pressing member  2  has a spacing member  62 , which allows the spacing stick  60  to move up and down. Thus, the spacing between the first pressing member  1  and the second pressing member  2  can be adjusted by pressing with fingers. At the bottom of the spacing member  62  is mounted a spring  63 . 
     In the conventional hair iron, the heating plates  12   b  touch with each other, so that it does not fix hair smoothly. Also, hair may be damaged because of the heated heating plates. Therefore, buffer members are required to prevent hair from being damaged and deformed and to remove moisture from hair effectively. 
     Another conventional hair iron is illustrated in Japanese patent publication No. 2001-104036 and shown in  FIGS. 2A and 2B . Referring to  FIGS. 2A and 2B , the hair iron has two grip blocks  300  and  300 ′ in similar to that shown in  FIG. 1 . Four rollers  400  to  403  and two heating plates  310  and  310 ′ are included in the grip blocks  300  and  300 ′. Since the two grip blocks  300  and  300 ′ is gripped by hand, they should be made of a heat-resistant material. Two pairs of the rollers  400  to  403  are rotated in grooves when hair is arranged or straighten. Further, the rollers  400  to  403  are not disposed on the heating plates  310  and  310 ′ but deviated from the direct heating region of the heating plates  310  and  310 ′. The rollers  400  to  403  are made of a material with a high heat conduction coefficient in order to keep the effective heat treatment of the hair. In this case, the relatively high heating temperature of the heating plates  310  and  310 ′ must be maintained to provide heat for the rollers  400  to  403  and the rolling operation must is guaranteed exactly when straightening hair. 
     However, it is very difficult to guarantee the exact rolling because the rollers  400  to  403  are just disposed in the grooves without any auxiliary supporting members. Furthermore, since the rolling condition in the pair of the rollers  400  and  401 , which hair enters, is different from another rolling condition in the pair of the rollers  402  and  403 , the hair treatment is not smooth during styling. Moreover, since the grip blocks  300  and  300 ′ are made of a heat-resistant material, there are two temperature zones. The first temperature zone is positioned at a center zone between the rollers and the second temperature zone is positioned at the rollers  400  to  403  and the outside thereof. Since a part of hair is between the rollers  400  to  403  in a first temperature zone and another part of hair is between the heating plates  310  and  310 ′ in a second temperature zone during styling, the straightening or arranging is not smooth to cause damage to hair. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a hair iron having buffer member which are located in between two opposing heating plates to help hair between the heating plates to be straightened smoothly and prevent thermal deformation of hair. 
     To attain the object, the present invention provides a hair iron comprising a first pressing member and a second pressing member having heating plates, in which thermal wire heaters are built in, respectively, wherein buffer members are attached to the heating plate attached to the second pressing member. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a conventional hair iron. 
         FIGS. 2A and 2B  show another conventional hair iron with rollers. 
         FIGS. 3A and 3B  shows a hair iron having first and second pressing members according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  shows a cross-section of the hair iron in which the second pressing member has a buffer member. 
         FIG. 5  shows a cross-section of the second pressing member having another buffer member. 
         FIG. 6  shows a thermal expansion of the buffer members in the second pressing member according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is an enlarged perspective view of the buffer members in  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Hereunder the invention is described in more detail, referring to the attached drawings. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3A and 3B , a hair iron according to the present invention includes a first pressing member  10  and a second pressing member  20 . Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the first and second pressing members  10  and  20  have heating plates  12  and  22 , to which heaters  13  and  23  are attached, respectively, and buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are attached to both sides of the heating plate  22  which is attached to the second pressing member  20 . In this invention, each of the heating plates  12  and  22  means a single member to transfer heating temperature from a heater to hair. The heater  23  and heating plate  22  can be assembled in a body or implemented by separate elements with a high heat conductance. Furthermore, since the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are disposed on the heating plate  22 , the only one temperature zone is created in between the first and second pressing members  10  and  20 . 
     It should be noted that the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are formed on the heating plate  22  so that they and hair to be thermal-treated are positioned at the same temperature zone. The buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are made of heat-resistant silicone. Once the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ and the heating plates  12  and  22  are heated at the same temperature zone, hair is straightened by the hair iron at the same condition so that the hair straightening is smoother. The buffer members  40  and  40 ′ may be either attached on the surface of the heating plate  22  or inserted in a groove  22   a  formed on the surface of the heating plate  22 . Referring to  FIG. 4 , the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ may be attached on the surface of the heating plate  22  of the second pressing member  20 . In addition to heat-resistant silicone, the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ may be made of any other materials that are elastic and heat resistant. In case that the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are the above-mentioned thermal expansion substance, the structure of them may be different from those of the heat resistance, which will be described below in detail. 
     External cases  11  and  21  of semicircle housings cover the whole structure of the heating plates  12  and  22 , the heaters  13  and  23 , and supporting housings  11 ′ and  21 ′, respectively. Since the first and second pressing members  10  and  20  are symmetrical in shape, the second pressing member  20  having the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ will be described in detail. 
     In the case of the second pressing member  20 , the external case  21  is mechanically joined to the outside of the heating plate  22 . The supporting housing  21 ′ of a semicircle housing has protrusion parts  21 ″ at both ends thereof, grooves are formed at both ends of the second heating plate  22 . In more detail, expended parts  20 ′, which are vertically and downwardly expended from outside of the second heating plate  22 , are formed and the grooves are formed in parallel between the both ends of the heating plate  22  and the expended parts  20 ′. The protrusion parts  21 ″, which are expended from both ends of the supporting housing  21 ′, are then inserted into the grooves, being engaged with the expended parts  20 ′. In the present invention, it should be noted that there is a space between the heating plate  22  and the supporting housing  21 ′ to reduce the total weight of the hair iron. Preferably, the supporting housing  21 ′ is mad of a heat-resistant material and a reflecting film can be coated on the supporting housing  21 ′. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 3 , the first and second pressing members  10  and  20  may open and shut by a hinge  5 . A spacing stick  60  is fixed to the first or second pressing member  10  or  20 . The spacing stick  60  has a horizontally expanded part  61  at the end to avoid breakaway from the second pressing member  20 . The second pressing member  20  has a spacing member  62 , which allows the spacing stick  60  to move up and down. The spacing between the first pressing member  10  and the second pressing member  20  can be adjusted by a pressure of the first and second pressing members  10  and  20  with fingers. At the bottom of the spacing member  62  is mounted a spring  63 . 
     Although the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are attached on the heating plate  22  ( FIG. 4 ), they are disposed in grooves ( FIG. 5 ) of the heating plate  22 . Heat-resistant silicone is inserted into the grooves as the buffer members  40  and  40 ′. Particularly, referring  FIG. 5 , the members  40  and  40 ′ have horizontally expanded parts  40   a  and  40   a ′ in order to prevent the members  40  and  40 ′ from breakaway from the grooves of the heating plate  22 . That is, the horizontally expanded parts  40   a  and  40   a ′ are inserted into the grooves, and thus the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are not separated from the heating plate  22 . 
     Like other conventional hair irons, the hair iron of the present invention has a temperature controller  70 , power supply wires, etc. as a means of controlling temperature. Detailed description thereabout is omitted, because it is well known in the related art. 
     On the surface of the heating plates  12  and  22  is formed a ceramic coating, Teflon coating or anodizing coating. The heat-resistant silicone used in the invention can endure up to 100-230° C. 
     Hereunder is given a description of how to straighten or roll hair using the hair iron of the present invention. 
     First, plug in the power supply to heat the heating plates  12  and  22 . While the heating plates  12  and  22  are heated, the temperature controller  70  maintains the temperature adequately. 
     Then, hair that is located in between the opposing first and second pressing members  10  and  20  is smoothly pulled by the hair iron while pressing the outside of the first and second pressing members with hand. At this point, hair is pressed in between the heating plate  12  and the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ and heat is transferred to the hair. Because the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are made of heat-resistant silicone which is elastic, the hair can be effectively pressed. Consequently, hair can be straightened. 
     Hair located between the buffer members  40  and  40 ′, which are attached on or inserted into the heating plate  22  of the second pressing member  20 , and the heating plate  12  is pressed well and glides smoothly, because the heat-resistant silicone is soft and the whole hair within the hair iron is disposed at the same temperature. Also, because the heat-resistant silicone is located between the metallic heating plates  12  and  22 , damage done to hair by heat can be reduced. The buffer member  40  may be replaced with a new one after prolonged use. 
     The hair iron of the present invention has the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ which prevent hair from being directly pressed by the heating plates  12  and  22 . The buffer members  40  and  40 ′ also hold hair smoothly and hair damage can be prevented. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a substance having an expansion coefficient can be used for the buffer members  40  and  40 ′. In this embodiment, the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are also disposed within the grooves of the heating plate  22 ; however, it is not necessary to protrude prominently from the surface of the heating plate  22  at the normal state where electric power is not applied to the hair iron. Once power is applied to the hair iron and the heating plates  12  and  22  are increased up to a predetermined temperature, the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are expanded and then the top portions of the expanded buffer members  40  and  40 ′ are thermally protruded from the surface of the heating plate  22 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , the buffer members  40  and  40 ′ in the heating plate  22  of  FIG. 6  have a reversed V- or U-shape approximately and a plurality of supporting bars  501  which are provided to maintain the reversed V- or U-shape. The members  40  and  40 ′ may be thermally protruded upward in a range of 0.1 to 1.5 mm. Typically, the members  40  and  40 ′ may be protruded at a temperature of 180 to 230° C. 
     The buffer members of the present invention prevent hair from being pulled off and makes hair straightening or rolling more pleasant when using a hair iron. While the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and substitutions can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.