Patent Publication Number: US-10779625-B2

Title: Battery powered collapsible blow-dryer

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Not Applicable 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable 
     THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT 
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     INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM 
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     STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR 
     Not Applicable 
     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 blow-dryers and more particularly pertains to a new blow-dryer for portable hair drying and styling. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a blow-dryer housing having an outer wall, an inner wall, an exhaust end, an intake end, a dorsal side, and a ventral side. A grill is coupled within the exhaust end of the blow-dryer housing. A pivot hinge is coupled to the ventral side of the blow-dryer housing adjacent the intake end. A handle has a handle cavity disposed between an anterior side, a posterior side, an upper end, and a bottom end. The upper end has a pivot receptacle pivotably coupled to the pivot hinge. The pivot receptacle comprises a locking mechanism to maintain the handle in a folded position and an alternate extended position, and a button to release the handle from the folded position and the extended position. A blow-dryer assembly comprises a heating element, a fan, and a plurality of controls. The heating element and the fan are coupled within the blow-dryer housing and the plurality of controls is coupled to the handle. The blow-dryer assembly takes air through the intake end, heats the air, and forces it through the exhaust end of the blow-dryer housing. The plurality of controls operates the heating element and the fan. A power assembly comprises a solar panel coupled to the blow-dryer housing, a rechargeable battery coupled within the handle cavity, and a charging port coupled within the bottom end of the handle through to the handle cavity. The solar panel and the charging port provide power to the rechargeable battery, and the rechargeable battery provides power to the blow-dryer assembly. 
     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. 
    
    
     
       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 isometric view of a battery powered collapsible blow-dryer according to an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 2  is a side elevation view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  is a side elevation view of an embodiment of the disclosure in a folded position. 
         FIG. 4  is a bottom plan view of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is an isometric view of a charging dock and a car charger of an embodiment of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to  FIGS. 1 through 5  thereof, a new blow-dryer 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 battery powered collapsible blow-dryer  10  generally comprises a blow-dryer housing  12  having a recycled plastic outer wall  14 , a ceramic inner wall  16 , an exhaust end  18 , an intake end  20 , a dorsal side  22 , and a ventral side  24 . The exhaust end  18  has a first diameter  26  greater than a second diameter  28  of the intake end  20 . A grill  30  is coupled within the exhaust end  18  of the blow-dryer housing. A light assembly  32  is coupled to the blow-dryer housing to provide light to a user when operating in poorly lit environments. The light assembly has a light housing  34 , an LED  36 , and a light control  38 . The light housing  34  is coupled to the ventral side  24  of the outer wall proximal the exhaust end  18 , the LED  36  is coupled within the light housing  34 , and the light control  38  is coupled to the light housing. The LED is in operational communication with the light control. 
     A pivot hinge  40  is coupled to the ventral side  24  of the blow-dryer housing adjacent the intake end  20 . A handle  42  has a handle cavity  44  disposed between an anterior side  46 , a posterior side  48 , an upper end  50 , and a bottom end  52 . The upper end has a pivot receptacle  54  pivotably coupled to the pivot hinge  40 . The pivot receptacle comprises a locking mechanism  56  and a button  58 . The locking mechanism maintains the handle in a folded position  60  or an alternate extended position  62 , and the button  58  releases the handle from the folded position and the extended position. In the folded position the blow-dryer housing  12  and the handle  42  are folded together to minimize the overall size for storage and travel. In the extended position the blow-dryer housing and the handle are perpendicular for enhanced usability. 
     A blow-dryer assembly  64  comprises a heating element  66 , a fan  68 , and a plurality of controls  70 . The heating element and the fan being are coupled within the blow-dryer housing  12  and the plurality of controls is coupled to the handle  42 . The blow-dryer assembly takes air through the intake end  20 , heats the air, and forces it through the exhaust end  18  of the blow-dryer housing. The ceramic inner wall  16  of the blow-dryer housing prevents heat damage to the recycled plastic outer wall  14 . The plurality of controls  70  may comprise a power switch  72  and a fan speed control  74  coupled within the anterior side  46  of the handle. The power switch may be a rocker switch  76  to turn the heating element and the fan on and off, and the fan speed control may be a slider  78  to adjust the velocity of the fan. 
     A power assembly  80  comprises a solar panel  82 , a rechargeable battery  84 , and a charging port  86 . The solar panel being may be coupled to the dorsal side  22  of the outer wall proximal the intake end  20  to maximize exposure to light from overhead sources. The rechargeable battery  84  is coupled within the handle cavity  44  and the charging port is coupled within the bottom end  52  of the handle through to the handle cavity. The rechargeable battery provides power to the blow-dryer assembly  64  and the light assembly  32  and is charged by attaching a cord to the charging port  86 , which may be a USB port. The solar panel  82  provides additional power to the rechargeable battery  84  to extend usage time while the USB port is not plugged into a wall outlet. 
     A charging dock  88  comprises a dock housing  90 , a power terminal  92 , and a power cord  94 . The dock housing has a bottom surface  96 , an angled top surface  98 , a front wall  100 , a rear wall  102 , and a pair of side walls  104 . The top surface has a handle receptacle slot  106  extending through to proximal the bottom surface  96  with the power terminal  92  coupled within the handle receptacle slot. The handle receptacle slot receives the handle  42  such that the battery powered collapsible blow-dryer  10  is supported upright within the charging dock  88  with the power terminal  92  engaging the charging port  86 . The power cord  94  is coupled to the power terminal  92  and passes through the rear wall  102  of the dock housing to be connected to a standard outlet. There may also be a car charger  108  with a male port terminal  110  and a cigarette lighter terminal  112 . The male port terminal is selectively engageable with the charging port and the cigarette lighter terminal is configured to connect to a cigarette lighter port of a vehicle. 
     In use, the charging port  86  is connected to a power source either directly or through the charging dock  88  until the rechargeable battery  84  is charged. The user may then operate the blow-dryer  10  with the handle  42  in the extended position  62  using the plurality of controls  70 . When operated in an environment with a strong light source, the solar panel  82  will charge the rechargeable battery to prolong its usage time. When operated in an environment with little light, the user may turn on the LED  36  using the light control  38 . To store the blow-dryer  10 , the user may press the button  58  of the pivot receptacle to move the handle from the extended position to the folded position  60 . 
     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.