Patent ID: 8393082

Claim:
A rotary electric shaver comprising: a shaver main body; a plurality of cutter units, each including a substantially disk-shaped outer cutter and an inner cutter rotating in resilient contact with the inner surface of the outer cutter; a shaver head pivotably provided on the shaver main body; an outer cutter frame included in said shaver head and supporting the outer cutters in a vertically movable fashion; a main drive shaft for transmitting, via a first universal joint, a rotational output of a motor provided inside the shaver main body to a driving mechanism provided inside the shaver head; a plurality of inner cutter drive shafts provided in the shaver head and rotationally driven by the driving mechanism; and a plurality of second universal joints for transmitting a rotation of the inner cutter drive shafts to the inner cutters of corresponding cutter units; wherein the first universal joint is provided in a vicinity of a pivotal center of the shaver head, said first universal joint comprises a coupling-element, which is securely attached to said main drive shaft that is provided on a shaver main body side, and a coupled-element, which is securely attached to a driven shaft that is provided on a driving mechanism side, and radial pawls, provided in one of the coupling-element and the coupled-element, and axial elongated grooves, provided in the other one of the coupling-element and the coupled-element, are brought into mutual engagement.