Patent Publication Number: US-6658759-B2

Title: Nail dryer

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The present invention is related to a nail dryer. 
     2. Related Prior Art 
     Many ladies like to wear nail polish on their nails and more particularly finger nails for aesthetic reasons. However, it takes a long time for the nail polish to dry in the air naturally. Therefore, a lady has to waste considerable time waiting for the nail polish on her nails to dry. To avoid such waste of time, some nail dryers have been devised to expedite drying of the nail polish on nails. 
     Sometimes, ladies dry nail polish on their nails with a hair dryer. Use of the hair dryer to dry the nail polish requires some skills. If the hair dryer is positioned too far from the nail polish, a small portion of hot air sent from the hair dryer can contribute to the drying of the nail polish. If the hair dryer is positioned too close to the nail polish, the nail polish will be wrinkled by strong air sent from the hair dryer. 
     For example, Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 209346 discloses a conventional nail dryer that includes a handle extending from a shell. A light source that can emit ultra-violet light is installed in the shell. The shell defines a slot through which ultra-violet light emitted from the light source can spray. After wearing nail polish on her finger nails, a lady can hold the handle with her hand so that the ultra-violet light shines on her finger nails in order to cure the nail polish. This conventional nail dryer however may cause a problem on human health, i.e., the ultra-violet light may hurt a user&#39;s skin. 
     The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     It is an objective of the present invention to provide a nail dryer that can expedite drying of nail polish on a nail. 
     It is another objective of the present invention to provide a nail dryer that can expedite drying of nail polish on a nail without wrinkling the nail polish. 
     According to the present invention, a nail dryer includes a housing for contacting a user&#39;s fingers and an air stream generation unit received in the shell for generation of an air stream in order to dry nail polish the user&#39;s nails. 
     The housing defines a plurality of vents and a plurality of apertures. Air leaves the housing through the vents and enters the housing through the apertures. 
     The housing includes two shells each defining a plurality of apertures. One of the shells includes a plurality of hooks formed thereon and the remaining one of the shells includes a corresponding number of recesses defined therein for receiving the hooks. 
     The air stream generation unit includes a motor and a propeller connected with the motor. The motor is connected with a DC power supply through a circuit. The circuit includes a switch. 
     The housing includes a seat on which the motor is mounted. The seat includes a plurality of plates projecting from one of the shells. Each of the plates of the seat includes an edge complementary to the motor. 
    
    
     Other objectives, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the attached drawings. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     The present invention is described through detailed illustration of embodiments referring to the attached drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a nail dryer according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the nail dryer shown in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the nail dryer shown in FIG. 1 with a housing cut away so as to show elements contained in the housing; 
     FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line  4 - 4  in FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 5 is a side view showing another way to use the nail dryer shown in FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to FIGS. 1-3, a nail dryer according to the present invention includes a housing  100  for containing other elements. The housing  100  looks like an American football except for including two flat ends. The housing  100  is assembled from two shells  10  and  20  similar to each other in profile. 
     The shell  10  includes an external side  11  that is exposed when the shells  10  and  20  are engaged with each other and an internal side  12  that is concealed when the shells  10  and  20  are engaged with each other. The shell  10  defines a plurality of apertures  13  through which air can enter the housing  100 . The shell  10  defines two holes  14  near an edge thereof. The holes  14  may be replaced with two recesses defined in the internal side  12 . The shell  10  defines three slots  15  in one end thereof. The shell  10  defines a cutout  19  in the edge thereof. 
     The shell  20  includes an external side  21  that is exposed when the shells  10  and  20  are engaged with each other and an internal side  22  that is concealed when the shells  10  and  20  are engaged with each other. The shell  20  defines a plurality of apertures  13  through which air can enter the housing  100 . The shell  20  includes two hooks  24  formed thereon near an edge thereof. 
     The shell  20  defines three slots  25  in one end thereof The shell  20  defines a cutout  29  in the edge thereof. 
     The shells  10  and  20  can be assembled. The holes  14  receive the hooks  24 . As best seen in FIG. 1, the slots  15  and  25  together make longer slots that function as vents through which air leaves the housing  100 . The cutouts  19  and  29  together make a hole to be described. 
     The nail dryer includes an air stream generation unit consisting of a motor  30  received in the housing  100  and a propeller  31  connected with the motor  30 . The motor  30  can drive the propeller  31  to generate the air stream. 
     A seat  26  is formed on the shell  20 . The seat  26  includes two plates  261  projecting from the internal side  22  of the shell  20 . The plates  261  are shaped corresponding to a profile of the motor  30  so that the motor  30  can be stably mounted on the plates  261 . 
     The motor  30  is connected with DC power supply  273  through a circuit. The DC power supply  273  consists of two batteries received in a box  27  formed on the internal side  22  of the shell  20 . Two metal strips  271  and  274  are mounted on a wall of the box  27 . A metal strip  272  is mounted on an opposite wall of the box  27 . The circuit includes a switch  28 , a wire  282  leading from the switch  28  to the metal strip  274 , a wire  284  leading from the metal strip  271  to the motor  30  and a wire  285  leading from the motor  30  to a wire  283  leading from the switch  28 . The circuit will not be further described in detail, because it is conventional and not the spirit of the present invention. The switch  28  includes a lever  281 . The switch  28  is installed in the shell  10  so that the lever  281  extends through the hole made by the cutouts  19  and  29 . 
     Referring to FIG. 4, a user (not shown) can hold the nail dryer with one hand. The user&#39;s thumb contacts an area of the shell  20  in which the apertures  23  are defined while the other fingers contact an area of the shell  10  in which the apertures  13  are defined. The motor  30  drives the propeller  31  in order to expel air from the housing  100  through the vents made of the slots  15  and  25 . This causes air to flow into the housing  100  through the apertures  13  and  23 . This air stream is strong enough to expedite the drying of the nail polish and is soft enough not to wrinkle the nail polish. 
     FIG. 5 shows another way to hold the nail dryer. 
     The present invention has been described through detailed illustration of the preferred embodiment thereof. Those skilled in the art can derive many variations from the preferred embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the preferred embodiment shall not limit the scope of the present invention. The scope of the present invention can only be defined in the attached claims.