Patent Publication Number: US-2020275754-A1

Title: Beard Iron

Description:
(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     (c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     (d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     (e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM. 
     Not Applicable 
     (f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     (g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98. 
     The disclosure and prior art relates to beard grooming tools and more particularly pertains to a new beard grooming tool for straightening beard hairs. 
     (h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a handle having a proximal end, a distal end, a dorsal side, and a ventral side. A hair iron is coupled to the distal end and comprises a heating plate and a heating element. The heating element warms a bottom side of the heating plate. A power source is coupled to the handle and is in operational communication with the heating element. A guide is coupled to the ventral side proximal the distal end and extends to rest adjacent the bottom side of the heating plate. 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. 
    
    
     
       (i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is an in-use view of a beard iron according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a top plan view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a side elevation view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a bottom plan view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the disclosure along line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 3 . 
     
    
    
     (j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 5  thereof, a new beard grooming tool embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral  10  will be described. 
     As best illustrated in  FIGS. 1 through 5 , the beard iron  10  generally comprises a handle  12  having a proximal end  14 , a distal end  16 , a dorsal side  18 , and a ventral side  20 . The ventral side  20  may be curved to make the handle  12  more ergonomic and may have a hang aperture  22  extending through the dorsal side  18  adjacent the proximal end  14 . An extension arm  24  is coupled to the handle  12  and may be angled. A hair iron  26  is coupled to the extension arm  24  and comprises a heating plate  28  and a heating element  30 . The heating plate  28  may be coupled to the extension arm  24  at an angle of 45° relative to the dorsal side  18  of the handle to provide an optimal user experience of securing the handle  12  and running the heating plate  28  through the user&#39;s beard. The heating plate  28  may be ceramic. The heating element  30  may comprise a control chip  32  and a heating coil  34 . The control chip  32  monitors the temperature of the heating coil  34 . Each of the control chip  32  and the heating coil  34  may be disposed within the heating plate  28  to warm a bottom side  36  of the heating plate. 
     A power source  38  is coupled to the handle  12  and is in operational communication with the heating element  28 . The power source  38  may be a power cord with a wall plug. A control dial  40  is coupled to the handle  12  and may be rounded and coupled to the dorsal side  18 . The control dial  40  is in operational communication with the power source  38  and the control chip  32  to set the temperature of the heating plate  28 . A status light  42  is coupled to the handle  12  adjacent the control dial  40  and is in operational communication with the control chip  32  to show when the heating plate  28  is hot. 
     A guide attachment  44  is coupled to the handle  12 . The guide attachment  44  may comprise an attachment arm  46  coupled to the ventral side of the handle and a sleeve  48  coupled to the attachment arm  46 . A guide  50  is coupled to the sleeve  48 . The guide  48  comprises an adjustment arm  52  and a comb  54  coupled to the adjustment arm  52 . The comb  54  may be wooden and defines a spine  56  coupled to the adjustment arm  52  and a plurality of teeth  58  coupled to the spine  56 . The plurality of teeth  58  may extend at an angle of 25° relative to the heating plate  28  to enable the user to adjust the distance of the heating plate  28  from his face. Each of the plurality of teeth  58  may be tapered. The sleeve  48  has a protrusion  60  and the adjustment arm  52  has a plurality of recessions  62 . When the adjustment arm  52  slidingly engages the sleeve  48 , the protrusion  60  engages one of the plurality of recessions  62  to maintain the position of the adjustment arm  52  while in use. The adjustment arm  52  secures the comb  54  at a variable distance from the distal end  16  of the handle to allow the plurality of teeth  58  to partially align with the heating plate  28  or to extend past the heating plate  28 . 
     In use, the control dial  40  is used to adjust the temperature of the heating plate  28 . The user places the adjustment arm  52  in the desired position based on beard length and secures the handle  12  to pass the heating plate  28  against the beard hairs. 
     With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. 
     A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.