US20050284494A1

US20050284494A1 - Electric curling iron

Info

Publication number: US20050284494A1
Application number: US11/078,169
Authority: US
Inventors: Myung-Seob Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: YS Creation Co Ltd
Priority date: 2004-06-28
Filing date: 2005-03-11
Publication date: 2005-12-29
Also published as: GB2415624B; GB0503625D0; KR200364344Y1; GB2415624A; JP2006006909A

Abstract

An electric curling iron provides a user's hair with a shape by forming hemispherical projections and recessions in surfaces of heating plates thereof which contact the user's hair, and stretches out the hair and naturally and easily forms waves. The electric curling iron includes upper and lower grips, which contact each other. Upper and lower heating plates are provided in contact surfaces of each of the grips and configured to be heated by the heating portions to discharge heat. Hemispherical projections and recessions are spaced and arranged in the surfaces of the upper and lower heating plates. The projections and recessions are arranged such that the projections are engaged with the recessions when the upper and lower heating plates are contacted each other. Further, both ends of the upper and lower heating plates are finished or end in the form of a straight line.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an electric curling iron, and more particularly, to an electric curling iron for providing a user's hair with a certain shape by forming hemispherical projections and recessions in surfaces of heating plates thereof contacting a user's hair, and for stretching out the hair or having the hair waved naturally and easily thereby.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Generally, a curling iron has been used for a long time so as to adorn a user's hair. In former days, the curling iron has been used such that metal products were fabricated with various shapes and heated by fire. However, in recent years, the electric curling iron is heated using electricity and has been remarkably popularized.
Korean utility model registration No. 348014 discloses an example of an electric curling iron entitled “an electric curling iron used in a vehicle” which has been recently used.
The disclosed electric curling iron entitled “an electric curling iron used in a vehicle” has a heating plate for generating heat by a power supply from the outside, and the heating plate includes an upper heating plate 60 and a lower heating plate 62. If a user's hair is positioned between the upper heating plate 60 and the lower heating plate 62 under the condition that they are in a set temperature, the heat generated from each of the upper heating plate 60 and the lower heating plate 62 will make the user's hair get straightened or waved.
However, in such a case of the conventional electric curling iron having the above-mentioned construction, because the surfaces to which a user's hair contacts, that is, the surfaces of the upper heating plate and the lower heating plate are formed in a flat shape, the user can stretch the user's own hair only when the hair is strongly pulled.
Consequently, when a user applies excessive force so as to straighten out the user's own hair, this may cause not only a disadvantage that the hair may be pulled out but also drawbacks that the hair may be damaged by the heat after being applied several times due to any difficulty in straightening the hair. In addition the user's wrist may be fatigued due to this operation after a while, and the fatigue may be accumulated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is intended to solve the above disadvantages associated with the prior art. The present invention provides an electric curling iron for providing a user's hair with a certain shape by forming hemispherical projections and recessions in surfaces of heating plates thereof contacting with a user's hair, and for stretching out the hair or having the hair waved naturally and easily thereby.
To accomplish this, an electric curling iron according to the present invention comprises upper and lower grips which are joined by a hinge at ends thereof to be contacted with each other and which have heating portions heated by electricity, respectively, and upper and lower heating plates which are provided in contact surfaces of each of the grips and configured to be heated by the heating portions and discharge heat. Here, hemispherical projections and recessions are spaced and arranged with respect to each other in the surfaces of in the upper and lower heating plates. The projections and recessions are arranged such that the projections are engaged with the recessions when the upper and lower heating plates are contacted with each other. Further, both ends of the upper and lower heating plates are finished in the form of a straight line.
In the above-mentioned construction of the invention, the projections and the recessions are formed in lines, and lines of the projections and lines of the recessions are positioned in an alternate way. It is desirable that the recession is positioned between projections.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electric curling iron according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side elevation showing an arrangement in which heating plates of the present invention are unfolded.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an arrangement in which the heating plates of the present invention are folded.
FIG. 4 is a side elevation showing an arrangement in which the heating plates of the present invention are folded.
FIG. 5 is a front elevation showing an arrangement in which the heating plates of the present invention are folded.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The above-mentioned features and operations of the structures will be described in detail in connection with the preferred embodiments of the electric curling iron according to the present invention.
Among the attached drawings, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electric curling iron according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side elevation showing an arrangement in which heating plates of the present invention are unfolded, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an arrangement in which the heating plates of the present invention are folded, FIG. 4 is a side elevation showing an arrangement in which the heating plates of the present invention are folded, and FIG. 5 is a front elevation showing an arrangement in which the heating plates of the present invention are folded.
As shown in the drawings, the electric curling iron according to an embodiment of the present invention includes upper and lower grips 1, 2 which are contacted with each other, and upper and lower heating plates 3, 4 which are provided in contact surfaces of each of the grip 1, 2 for discharging heat.
The upper and lower grips 1, 2 are made in the form of pliers in which the grips are contacted with each other and each end of the grip is pivotably engaged to a hinge 5. Like this, an elastic supporting portion 6 is positioned between the upper and lower grips 1, 2 made in the form of pliers, and is spaced in a predetermined distance from the hinge 5 toward the other end of the electric curling iron.
The elastic supporting portion 6 supports the upper and lower grips 1, 2 elastically such that the upper and lower grips 1, 2 may be placed to be constantly unfolded when a user does not press the upper and lower grips 1, 2 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, when the user presses, the upper and lower grips 1, 2, dress the user's hair, while the user's hand is pressing the upper and lower grips 1, 2. The upper and lower grips 1, 2 are unfolded by force of restoration of the elastic supporting portion 6 in a state as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
As shown in dotted lines in FIGS. 2 and 4, heating portions 8, 9 made in the form of coils are each embedded in the ends of the upper and lower grips 1, 2, and receive electric power through a cable 7 from the outside to heat the upper and lower heating plates 3, 4.
A power switch 10 for applying or interrupting power supply to the heating portions 8, 9 is positioned on the lower grip 2, and both ends of the upper and lower heating plates 3, 4 are finished in the form of a straight line.
The upper and lower heating plates 3, 4 are the portions to which the user's hair is directly contacted, and discharge heat with a suitable temperature after they are heated by an operation of the heating portions 8, 9.
The upper and lower heating plates 3, 4 are biased and positioned toward the other ends of the surfaces of the upper and lower grips 1, 2, and hemispherical projections and recessions 1; 12 are spaced and arranged with respect to each other in the surfaces thereof.
The projections and recessions 11, 12 formed in the upper and lower heating plates 3, 4 are arranged in a regular form so that the user hair can be dressed in a predetermined shape. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, lines of the recessions 11 a, 12 a and lines of the projections 11 b, 12 b are positioned in an alternate way such that the projections and recessions 11 of the upper heating plate 3 are engaged with the projections and recessions 12 of the lower heating plate 4. In other words, as shown in the drawings, when the recessions 12 a of the lower heating plate 4 are arranged in the center line thereof, and the projections 12 b are arranged in both side lines of the projections 12 a, the projections 11 b of the upper heating plate 3 are arranged in the center line thereof and the recessions 11 a are arranged in both side lines of the projections 11 b.
Meanwhile, because the recessions 11 a, 12 a formed in the upper and lower heating plates 3, 4 are positioned between one projections 11 b, 12 b and the other projections 11 b, 12 b, respectively, the user's hair can be passed in a wave form, not in a straight form.
The operation of the electric curling iron according to an embodiment of the present invention as constructed above will be now described in detail.
First, if the user inserts a plug into a power supply outlet (not shown) connected with a cable 7 and turns on a switch 10, the upper and lower heating plates 3, 4 will be heated at a suitable temperature by the heating portions 8, 9.
Like this, if the upper and lower heating plates 3, 4 are heated at a suitable temperature, the user may stretch the user's own hair by putting the hair between the upper and lower heating plates 3, 4, pushing the upper and lower grips 1, 2 and then fully pulling the hair or may give the user's own hair a wave by putting the hair between the upper and lower heating plates 3, 4, pushing the upper and lower grips 1, 2, and then slightly pulling the hair while maintaining this state for a prescribed time.
At this time, because the user's hair passes between the projections and recessions 11, 12, that is, the recessions 11 a, 12 a and the projections 11 b, 12 b formed in the surfaces of the upper and lower heating plates 3, 4 while having a waveform, the hair can be naturally spread out. Furthermore, because the user's hair is maintained in a certain time under the condition that the hair has been made in a waveform, the hair can be naturally waved.
Accordingly, the user can dress the user's own hair without applying excessive force thereto. Further, the user's hair can be protected from being pulled out, and damage of hair can be decreased owing to less heat applied thereto.
According to the electric curling iron of the present invention as constructed above, the user can dress the user's own hair without applying excessive force thereto and naturally stretch out the user's hair or give the user's own hair a wave by the provision of the projections and the recessions of the upper and lower heating plates. Thus, the hair can be protected from being pulled out. Further, because the hairdressing over several times is not required, the damage to the hair due to the heat can be decreased and the fatigue of the user's wrist can be minimized.
As mentioned above, while the electric curling iron according to preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the drawings attached hereto, it is to be understood that the present invention should not be limited to the embodiments and drawings herein and various modifications may be made without deviating from the scope of the concept of the present invention.

Claims

1. An electric curling iron including upper and lower grips which are joined by a hinge at end portions thereof to be contacted with each other and which have heating portions heated by electricity, respectively, and upper and lower heating plates which are provided in contact surfaces of each of the grips and configured to be heated by the heating portions and discharge heat, wherein hemispherical projections and recessions are spaced and arranged in the surfaces of the upper and lower heating plates, the projections and recessions being arranged such that the projections are engaged with the recessions when the upper and lower heating plates are contacted with each other, and wherein both ends of the upper and lower heating plates form a straight line.

2. The electric curling iron of claim 1, wherein the projections and the recessions are formed in lines, lines of the projections and lines of the recessions being positioned in an alternate way, the recessions being arranged to be positioned between projections.

3. The electric curling iron of claim 1, wherein the projections and the recessions are formed in lines, lines of the projections and lines of the recessions being positioned in an alternate way, the projection being arranged to be positioned between recessions.

4. The electric curling iron of claim 1, wherein the upper and lower grips are biased apart.

5. An electric curling iron comprising:

upper and lower grips joined by a hinge at end portions thereof;

upper and lower heating plates formed respectively in the end portions of the upper and lower grips to discharge heat, the upper and lower heating plates forming corresponding waved surfaces;

hemispherical projections and recessions are spaced and arranged in the waved surfaces of the upper and lower heating plates, the projections and recessions being arranged such that the projections are engaged with the recessions when the upper and lower heating plates are contacted with each other, and wherein both ends of the upper and lower heating plates form a straight line.