Abstract:
An electrical appliance assembly includes at least two electric operating modules and a connector. Each of the modules has a housing having a space defined therein, two openings in communication with the space, and blocks protruding from an edge defining the openings; a holder securely received in the housing and capable of holding an electrically drivable device. The connector has grooves and cutouts defined on a peripheral thereof and in communication with each other. The blocks on at least two electric operating modules are passable through the corresponding cutouts and can be slid into the corresponding grooves so as to selectively connect or detach the at least two electric operating modules and the connector.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention is related to a sectioned electrical appliance assembly, and in particular to an appliance which is a selective combination of modules including heater, illuminator and/or motor depending on the use purpose. The modules can be directly or indirectly assembled. The module(s) can be replaced in part if the module(s) is/are disabled after being used repeatedly without affecting other workable parts. That means, each module in the appliance assembly are independent and cooperatable with other modules, even further with additional attachments, to fulfill specific applications which are stated in the following detailed descriptions. 
         [0003]    2. The Prior Art 
         [0004]    Home electrical appliances of medium and small size have played an important role in home living, because functions of these appliances bring living convenience, especially illumination and temperature control that are the most important for living environment. Popular electrical appliances of small size include electric toothbrush, electrical razor, flashlight, lamp, water heater kettle, irons, air heater and etc., and each of them works independently. Despite these electric appliances having different functions, however in the simplest condition of that, the driving core of the appliances can be a motor, a heater, a illuminator or their combinations driven by electric power. 
         [0005]    Specifically, the appliance is consisted of at least one driving core (except power supply) and other attachments and circuits that driven by the core. For instance, an electric toothbrush is consisted of a motor as its driving core, a transmission mechanism driven by the motor and a brush head driven by the mechanical structure. For another instance, a flashlight is consisted of an LED device as its main driving core and an optical system for guiding and adjusting the light. In order to satisfy all the demands of home living, electrical appliances with different kinds must be completed even some of them are not used quite often. 
         [0006]    With regard to repair of appliance, a conventional way is returning the disabled appliance back to the factory or to the specialized repairing department, because most current appliances are not designed to provide convenient assembly structure and conveniently purchased repairing elements for user repair. On the other hand, without the convenient assembly structure, some of the workable parts in the appliance will possibly be damaged during the detachment process, and often scrapping the entire appliance. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The objective of the present invention is to provide a sectioned electrical appliance assembly which is, namely, assembled by pristine modules working with various operations, and the modules are capable of coupling to other attachments to perform specific functions. When the module(s) of the sectioned appliance is/are disabled, it can be easily replaced or repaired without damaging the other adjacent part(s) of the electric appliance due to the independency of the modules. 
         [0008]    In order to achieve the aforementioned objective, the electrical appliance assembly of the present invention includes at least two electric operating modules and a connector, wherein each of the modules has a housing having a space defined therein, two openings communicating with the space and blocks protruding from an edge defining the openings; and a holder securely received in the housing and capable of holding an electrically drivable device. The connector having grooves and cutouts defined on a peripheral thereof and mutually communicating with each other. The blocks of the at least two electric operating modules are passable through the corresponding cutouts and slidable into the corresponding grooves so as to selectively connect or detach the at least two electric operating modules. 
         [0009]    The electrically drivable device can be a motor, a bulb, a heater or other available devices. 
         [0010]    Accordingly, each electric operating module can be served as a rotating module, an illuminating module or air/liquid heating module depending on what device installed in the holder. As named, the appliance assembly is a combination of different operating modules through the connector(s), and provides the specific function(s) according to the application purpose. And because each operating modules is an independent unit, every module within the appliance can be replaced without damaging its adjacent parts, just as convenient as light bulb replacing. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]    The invention, as well as its many advantages, may be further understood by the following detailed description and drawings in which: 
           [0012]      FIGS. 1A-1C  are perspective views and a plane view of a rotating module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIGS. 2A-2B  are perspective views of an illuminating module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIGS. 3A-3B  are perspective views of an air heating module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIGS. 4A-4B  are perspective views of a liquid heating module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIGS. 5A-5B  are perspective views of a warming module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a connector in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIGS. 7-11  are exploded views of the modules respectively illustrated in  FIGS. 1A ,  2 A,  3 A,  4 A and  5 A; 
           [0019]      FIG. 12  is an application of the sectioned electrical appliance assembly in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 13  is another application of the sectioned electrical appliance assembly in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0021]    With reference to  FIGS. 1A-5B , a sectioned electrical appliance assembly constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention has a rotating module  1 (as shown in  FIGS. 1A-1C ), an illuminating module  2  (as shown in  FIGS. 2A-2B ), an air heating module  3  (as shown in  FIGS. 3A-3B ), a liquid heating module  4  (as shown in  FIGS. 4A-4B ) and a warming module  5  (as shown in  FIGS. 5A-5B ). The modules  1 - 5  can be selectively assembled together to meet different application purposes, or can be assembled through a connector  6  as illustrated in  FIG. 6 . The connection provided by the connector  6  is illustrated later. 
         [0022]    Referring to  FIGS. 1A-1C , the rotating module  1  has a housing  11 , a container  12  and a motor  13  securely received in the container  12 . The housing  11  can be a sleeve having flanges  111  of thinner thickness formed on both openings thereof, and the inner wall of each flange  111  has a plurality of blocks  112  protruding inward. The container  12  securely positioned in the housing  11  by supports  121  connecting the housing  11  and the container  12 . The motor  13  can be securely received in the container  12  by a conventional manner, for example, by threaded. The size of the container  12  can be designed to fit the motor&#39;s occupation. The motor  13  can be a DC motor, AC motor, a step motor or others that can provide rotation. 
         [0000]    The motor  13  can be locked and held stably in the container  2 , to prevent it from turning loose during application. 
         [0023]    Referring  FIGS. 2A-2B , the illuminating module  2  has a housing  21 , a container  22  and an illuminator  23  (for example, a light bulb). However, the connection of the housing  21  and the container  22  are the same as the foregoing housing  11  and container  12  of the rotating module  1 , and the only different is the depth of the container  22  of the illuminating module  2  that is designed for purpose of installing the illuminator  23 . The housing  21  has flanges  211  respectively formed on the two openings thereof and blocks  212  protruded from the inner wall of the flanges  211 . Also, the container  22  securely positioned inside the housing  21  by supports (not shown in  FIGS. 2A-2B ) as the foregoing supports  121 . The interior of the container  22  can configure a bulb holder (not shown) to provide electrical connection with the bulb which can be substituted by another one. 
         [0024]    Referring to  FIGS. 3A-3B , the air heating module  3  has a housing  31  and a heater  32 , wherein the housing  31  has flanges  311  and a plurality of blocks  312 , whose configuration are identical with foregoing structure, and therefore the description thereof is omitted. It is noted, the housing  31  of the air heating module  3  further has supporting bars  313  and a ring  314  detachable to the housing  31 , a subset of the supporting bars  313  is extending from the ring  314  as illustrated in  FIG. 3A , and another subset of the supporting bars  313  is extending from the inner wall of the housing  31 , as illustrated in  FIG. 3B . Each of the supporting bars  313  has a slit (not numbered) defined on a side thereof. The heater  32  is consisted of a frame  321  and heating coils  322  arranged in the frame  321  by a conventional manner, wherein the frame  321  is constructed of plates and the heating coils  322  are securely received in the space between the plates. The plates of the frame  321  can be received in the corresponding slits of the supporting bars  313  to hold the heater  32  in the housing  31 . Power supply wire(s) can extend through the hollows of the housing  31  and connect with the heater  32  to be powered, and heating the air around. 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIGS. 4A-4B , the liquid heating module  4  has a housing  41  and an electrical heat rod  42  extending outwardly from the housing  41 . The housing  41  has flanges  411  and a plurality of blocks  412 , whose configurations are identical with foregoing structure, and therefore the description thereof is omitted. The electrical heat rod  42  can be designed as different shapes which are not limited by the drawings. Power supply wire(s) can extend through the hollows of the housing  41  and connect with the electrical heat rod  42  to be powered, to heat up the rod. 
         [0026]    Referring to  FIGS. 5A-5B , the warming module  5  has a hollow basin structure  51  having two openings, and a thermal conductor  52  (such as metal) securely mounted on an edge defining the opening of the warming module  5 . The housing  51  has a flange  511  and blocks  512 , whose configurations are identical with foregoing structure, and therefore the description is omitted. The thermal conductor  52  further has an electrical heater  53  (with reference to  FIG. 11 ) securely attached to an inside surface of the thermal conductor  52  and capable of generating heat propagating through the thermal conductor  52  to provide a warn surface. 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , the connector  6  is provided in accordance with the invention is a ring having grooves  61  (there are two as shown in  FIG. 6 ) and cutouts  62  both defined on the peripheral thereof, wherein the cutouts  62  communicate with the corresponding grooves  61 , so as to allow the corresponding blocks of the foregoing modules  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4  and  5  passing through and sliding into the grooves  61  to connect any one or any two modules. However, according to the different application purposes, the connector  6  can be designed as other aspects, which are then described in the following paragraphs but not a limitation of the invention. 
         [0028]    With reference to  FIGS. 7-11 , which illustrates detachment of the foregoing modules  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4  and  5  in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 11  clearly shows the electrical heater  53  of the warming module  5  is contained inside the hollow basin  51 . Referring to  FIG. 8 , the illuminating module  2  can connect with a base  7  having a corresponding groove  71 , blocks  72  (just as the same configuration of the connector  6 ), supporting legs  73  and a through hole  74  provided for power connection, so that the illuminating module  2  is then assembled and served as a desk lamp. The connection of the power supply is well-known in the art, so the illustration thereof is omitted. 
         [0029]    With reference to  FIG. 12 , an application illustrates a hair dryer which is assembled including the rotating module  1  and the air heating module  3 , both are mentioned in previous paragraphs. The rotating module  1  is connectable with the air heating module  3  through the aforementioned connector  6  (not shown in  FIG. 12 ). The motor  13  connects to a fan  131 , and the rotating module  1  connects with a fan cover  132  by the same manner that blocks penetrate the corresponding cutouts and then slide into the groove. Thus, when the rotating module  1  and the air heating module  3  are powered at the same time, hot wind is then generated. It is noted, the structure of the housing of the foregoing modules  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4  and  5  can be variable, which depends on the use purpose. For example, in  FIG. 12 , the housing of the rotating module  1  further has a recessed installation hole  14  defined on a peripheral of the housing for receiving an end of a handle  141 , and one side of the housing of the air heating module  3  gradually reduces to radius and converges toward to an opening that served as dryer&#39;s outlet. 
         [0030]    With reference to  FIG. 13 , another application illustrates a combination of a cup warmer and a desk lamp. It is noted here, a double connector  8  consisted of two connector  6  provides a connection to the illuminating module  2 , the warming module  5  and two bases  7 , and thus creating a desktop appliance that can offer illumination to desk works and can warm hot drink at the same time, especially suitable for reading time. 
         [0031]    However, except the illustrated description and drawings in the present invention, the modules  1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  4  and  5  can be selectively assembled a specific appliance to meet user&#39;s need, and the wiring for power supply can be united if the working voltage of all modules are the same, or can be independent if the working voltage of all modules are different. It is noted, the connector  6  and the base  7  illustrated in the preferred embodiment of the invention can be changed into other variations but having the detachable configuration like the grooves, the cutouts and the corresponding blocks. Most importantly, the present invention has much more convenience that user can easily replace the disable element(s) of each module, such as the motor, the bulb or the housing, without damaging other workable elements. 
         [0032]    Many changes and modifications in the above described embodiment of the invention are able to, of course, be carried out without departing from the scope thereof. Accordingly, to promote the progress in science and the useful arts, the invention is disclosed and is intended to be limited only by the scope of the invention.