Abstract:
An apparatus for receiving operationally powering units interchangeable grooming units. The apparatus comprising a casing, a motor, attachment means for allowing the grooming units to be releasably attached to the casing and mounting means for allowing the grooming units to be driven by the motor. The mounting means comprise a shaft with an end portion having a protrusion located eccentrically on the end portion. The mounting means are adapted to enable the grooming units with accordingly adapted receiving means to carry out a rotational movement and/or a linear movement without gear arrangements in the receiving means of the grooming unit.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     This application claims the benefit of PCT International Patent Application No. PCT/IB2004/003023, filed Sep. 6, 2004, in the International Bureau, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for receiving interchangeable grooming units e.g. epilation means and depilation means for removing body hair.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     Commonly, apparatus for the removal of body hairs are either provided with an epilating cylinder for plucking body hair or alternatively with a depilation means for cutting body hair.  
         [0006]     Said means for removing hair are normally adapted to be driven by a gear arrangement wherein a depilating means executes a reciprocating motion in alternate directions relative to an inner cutter and wherein an epilating means such as an epilating cylinder executes rotary movement.  
         [0007]     Further in the prior art apparatuses for removing body hair are known in which the function of epilating and of depilating hair from the skin of a user are provided in a single apparatus.  
         [0008]     For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,277,129 discloses a dual ended hair remover wherein epilating and depilating heads are provided at opposite ends of said hair remover. Said hair remover comprises a motor and a gear arrangement which cause a shaving element to move reciprocating in alternating directions relative to a fixed element and rotates an epilating cylinder simultaneously with the shaving element while either the depilating head or the epilating head is covered by a handle.  
         [0009]     In U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,804 an appliance for the removal of body hair is disclosed which is adapted to receive a first attachment incorporating an epilating cylinder or alternatively a second attachment incorporating a long hair trimmer. The attachment incorporating the long hair trimmer includes a blade or an outer cutter adapted to be driven by a gear arrangement and performing an oscillating motion relative to an inner cutter. The gear arrangement includes a crown gear which is adapted to be driven by a driving gear and which meshes with a pinion provided with an eccentrically arranged engaging means coupled to the blade. In case the epilation head is attached to the hair remover the epilating cylinder is coupled to the driving gear and with the motor turned on rotates about its longitudinal axis or also oscillates.  
         [0010]     Said hair removers as described in the prior art have the disadvantage that they have a complicated structure which requires additional space. Further the hair removers are expensive in manufacturing. Moreover, they are neither intended nor suitable to carry out other operations than removing body hair by epilation or depilation.  
         [0011]     Further, the grooming units of the prior art have the disadvantage that they are either fixedly secured to a hair removal device and/or comprise a complicated structure which requires additional space.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]     The object of the present invention is therefore to provide an apparatus which can be manufactured at low costs and which can be provided with a plurality of different grooming units without requiring additional space. This object is achieved by the features of the claim  1  and its dependent claims.  
         [0013]     A further object of the present invention is to provide a grooming unit which can be easily attached to an apparatus according to the invention and which has a simple structure. This object is achieved by the features of independent claims  12 ,  18  and  22  and their dependent claims.  
         [0014]     According to the invention an apparatus is provided which is adapted to receive interchangeable grooming units. Said apparatus comprises a casing and a motor and further attachment means to allow a grooming unit to be releasable attached to the casing. The apparatus further comprises mounting means which allow the grooming units to be driven by the motor and which comprise a shaft with an end portion having a protrusion located eccentrically on the end portion. The mounting means are adapted to enable the grooming unit with accordingly adapted receiving means to carry out a rotational movement and/or a linear movement without the necessity of providing gear arrangements in the receiving means of the grooming unit.  
         [0015]     Since no gear arrangements are necessary to enable the grooming units and their accordingly adapted receiving means to carry out different movements, an apparatus can be provided which can be used for different operations such as epilating and depilating body hair or cutting nose hairs, sharpening nails or peeling operations. Further, the apparatus has a simple structure and is space saving. Moreover, the apparatus can be manufactured at low costs.  
         [0016]     According to the invention, grooming units are provided which have a simple structure and can be easily attached to an apparatus. This has the advantage that the grooming units can be easily exchanged and do not require additional space.  
         [0017]     Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]     These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
         [0019]      FIG. 1A  is plan view of a part of a conventional hair remover comprising at one end a depilation means;  
         [0020]      FIG. 1B  is a plan view of the apparatus according to  FIG. 1A  wherein the apparatus is provided with a cutting device at the other end;  
         [0021]      FIG. 2  is a sectional view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention, wherein the apparatus is provided with a shaving means as a grooming unit;  
         [0022]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view of a further embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, wherein the apparatus is provided with an epilation cylinder as a grooming unit; and  
         [0023]      FIGS. 4A-4C  are sectional views A-A of  FIGS. 2 and 3 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS  
       [0024]     Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.  
         [0025]     In  FIG. 1A  a conventional hair remover is disclosed, which comprises an epilating cylinder  60  which is connected to a gear arrangement  62 . The gear arrangement  62  comprises a rotary gear  64  which is affixed to one end of an axle  66  of a motor  68 . A rotary gear  70  is permanently engaged with the rotary gear  64  and has its axis of rotation parallel to that of the rotary gear  64  and has teeth  72  extending from the surface of the rotary gear  70  facing away from the motor  68 . A rotary gear  74  is positioned at a right angle to the rotary gears  64 ,  70  and permanently engages with the teeth  72  of the rotary gear  70 . A rotary gear  76  is affixed to an end of an axle  78  of an epilating head  80 . Grippers  82  are formed at the periphery of the epilating head  80 . When the axle  66  is driven by the motor  68 , the rotary gear  64  is rotated, thereby rotating the rotary gear  70  and the teeth  72 . The rotation of the teeth  72  causes the rotary gear  74  to rotate. Further the rotation of the rotary gear  76  causes the axle  78  of the epilating cylinder  60  to rotate, thereby causing grippers  82  of the epilating cylinder to  60  open and close, so as to pluck hairs from a skin of the user.  
         [0026]     In  FIG. 1B  the hair remover is provided with a second axle  84  on the other end which is simultaneously driven by the motor  68  and which causes a shaving element  86  of a depilating head to reciprocate back and forth relative to a fixed element  88 . The reciprocating of the shaving element  86  causes the hair extending from the surface of the skin of a user between the shaving element and the fixed element to be cut.  
         [0027]     In contrast thereto,  FIGS. 2 and 3  disclose different embodiments of an apparatus according to the invention. The apparatus as disclosed in the figures are provided with different grooming units  10  according to the invention.  
         [0028]     The apparatus as disclosed in  FIG. 2  comprises a casing  2  in which a motor  4  is arranged. The motor is fed in the present embodiment from two batteries  6  which can be regular or rechargeable. As a further alternative the motor can be provided with at least one adaptor.  
         [0029]     Further, an attachment means  8  is provided which is adapted so that a grooming unit  10  can be releasable attached thereto. As can be derived from  FIG. 2 , the attachment means  8  can comprise a recess  30  or alternatively an opening which is adapted to receive a protrusion  34  of a unit attachment means  32  of the grooming unit  10 .  
         [0030]     The apparatus  1  further comprises a mounting means  12  which can be connected with a shaft  24  of the motor  4 , so that the rotation of the shaft  24  can transmit a rotational movement to the mounting means  12 .  
         [0031]     As is shown in  FIGS. 4A, 4B  and  4 C, there are a plurality of possibilities to connect the shaft  24  with a recess  22  of a shaft  14  of the mounting means  12 . In  FIG. 4A  the shaft  24  comprises a polygonal portion which is adapted to fit in a corresponding polygonal portion of the recess  22 . Further, in  FIG. 4B  the shaft  24  can be provided with at least one protrusion  28  and the recess  22  with a corresponding groove  26  in which the protrusion can be inserted. Furthermore, in  FIG. 4C  the shaft  24  is provided with a groove  26  and a protrusion  28  to be attached to the recess  22  of the mounting means  12  comprising a corresponding protrusion and a corresponding groove. Another possibility is to provide the shaft  24  and the recess  22  with a thread. It is obvious for a man skilled in the art there are many different possibilities known in the art to connect the shaft and the mounting means so that the rotational movement of the shaft  24  can be transmitted to the mounting means  12 . The present invention is not limited to the possibilities as shown in  FIGS. 4A-4C .  
         [0032]     The shaft  14  of the mounting means  12  comprises a protrusion  18  at its end portion  16 . The protrusion  18  is located preferably eccentrically on the end portion  16 . In this case, a rotation of the shaft  24  of the motor  4  can transmit a rotational movement to the protrusion  18 . Since the protrusion  18  is located eccentrically on the end portion  16  the protrusion  18  can execute a linear movement respectively move reciprocating in alternating directions.  
         [0033]     Thus a grooming unit  10  can be either connected with the protrusion  18  of the mounting means  12  (see  FIG. 2 ) so that a linear movement can be transmitted to the grooming unit  10  or can be connected with the shaft  14  of the mounting means  12  (see  FIG. 3 ) so that a rotational movement can be transmitted to the grooming unit  10 . This has the advantage that a plurality of different grooming units  10  carrying out a linear and/or a rotational movement can be releasably attached to the mounting means.  
         [0034]     In  FIG. 2 a  depilating means  40  is provided as a grooming unit  10 . Said depilating means  40  comprises an outer cutter and a fixed cutter, wherein the outer cutter is adapted to perform a reciprocating motion in alternate directions relative to the fixed cutter. The cutting means further comprises a supporting structure which is adapted to engage with the protrusion  18  of the mounting means  12 . Thus, when the protrusion  18  located eccentrically on the end portion  16  of the mounting means  12  rotates it results in a reciprocating motion of the supporting structure and the outer cutter of the cutting device.  
         [0035]     Body hairs that have entered a space between the teeth of the outer cutter and the teeth of the inner cutter are then cut off by the linear oscillating motion of the outer cutter.  
         [0036]     On the other hand the depilating means disclosed in  FIG. 2  can be exchanged by an epilating means as disclosed in  FIG. 3  which shows an alternative grooming unit  10 .  
         [0037]     The grooming unit  10  comprises an epilating cylinder  44  for plucking hair and a gear arrangement  46  for driving the epilating cylinder  44 .  
         [0038]     Further, the grooming unit  10  comprises a unit attachment means  32  which is adapted to matingly fit with the attachment means  8  of the apparatus  1 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , the unit attachment means  32  comprises a protrusion  34  which can be releasably attached to a corresponding recess  30  of the attachment means  8 .  
         [0039]     Furthermore, the grooming unit  10  is provided with receiving means  20  which allow the grooming unit  10  to be driven by the apparatus  1 . The receiving means  20  comprises a recess  38  for receiving the shaft  14  of the mounting means  12 , wherein the receiving means  20  and the mounting means  12  are adapted, so that a rotational movement of the mounting means  12  can be transmitted to the receiving means  20 . Since the receiving means  20  is also associated with the epilation means, the circular motion of the receiving means  32  can drive a gear arrangement  46  of the epilating means thereby enabling the grooming unit  10  to pluck hair.  
         [0040]     Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.