Electric shaver

• US 8,627,574 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2009
• Issued: 01/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Shimizu, Hiroaki, Shigeta, Hiroshi, Hosokawa, Shin, Iwasaki, Jyuzaemon
• Primary Examiner(s): PRONE, JASON D
• Application Number:
  US12/649,447
• Publication Number:
  US 20100175264A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,476 Days
• Field of Search: 30/42, 30 437- 46, 305/27
• US Class Current: 30/527
• CPC Class Codes: B26B 19/048 Complete cutting head being movable

Abstract

An electric shaver includes a rod-shaped body part, a head part, and an interposer. The head part projects from one end portion, in a longitudinal direction, of the body part and swingably attached to the body part. The head part includes a shaving portion and a drive mechanism. The interposer is configured to support the head part swingably about a first swing axis parallel with a longitudinal direction of the shaving portion, and to be supported on the body part swingably about a second swing axis orthogonal to the projecting direction of the head part and orthogonal to the first swing axis.

Claims

1. An electric shaver comprising:

a rod-shaped body part;

a head part projecting from one end portion, in a longitudinal direction, of the body part and attached to the body part, the head part including a shaving portion and a drive mechanism, the shaving portion formed to be elongated in a direction orthogonal to a projecting direction of the head part and having a pair of blades configured to operate relative to each other, the shaving portion having a contact surface to be brought into contact with a shaving area and a tip portion of the contact surface, the drive mechanism configured to drive at least one blade of the pair of blades;

an interposer configured to support the head part swingably about a first swing axis parallel with a longitudinal direction of the shaving portion, and to be supported on the body part swingably about a second swing axis orthogonal to the projecting direction of the head part and orthogonal to the first swing axis,

wherein the second swing axis is located farther away from the tip portion, in the projecting direction, of the contact surface of the shaving portion to be brought into contact with a shaving area, than the first swing axis is;

a first link mechanism including two first link arms each defining a first connecting axis wherein the first link arms are connected to the interposer and the head part respectively at the first connecting axes parallel with the longitudinal direction of the shaving portion, the first link mechanism configured to support the head part on the interposer swingably about the first swing axis; and

a second link mechanism including two second link arms each defining a second connecting axis wherein the second link arms are connected to the body part and the interposer respectively at the second connecting axes orthogonal to the projecting direction of the head part and orthogonal to the first swing axis, the second link mechanism configured to support the interposer on the body part swingably about the second swing axis, wherein

a distance between the first connecting axes for connection of the two first link arms to the interposer is shorter than a distance between the first connecting axes for connection of the two first link arms to the head part,

a distance between the second connecting axes for connection of the two second link arms to the body part is shorter than a distance between the second connecting axes for connection of the two second link arms to the interposer, and

a first straight line joining the second connecting axes for one of the two second link arms, a second straight line joining the second connecting axes for the other second link arm, a third straight line joining the first connecting axes for one of the two first link arms, and a fourth straight line joining the first connecting axes for the other first link arm, in which an intersection of the first straight line with the second straight line is located closer to an opposite end portion, in the longitudinal direction, of the body part, than an intersection of the third straight line with the fourth straight line is.

2. The electric shaver according to claim 1, further comprising:

an additional first link mechanism separated from the first link mechanism in the longitudinal direction of the shaving portion, and including two first link arms each defining a first connecting axis,

a shaft configured to rotatably support the head part is bridged between one of the first link arms of one of the two first link mechanisms and one of the first link arms of the other first link mechanism,

two longitudinal end portions of the shaft are fixed to the first link arms of the two first link mechanisms, and

a longitudinal center portion of the shaft is fixed to the head part.

3. The electric shaver according to claim 1, further comprising:

an additional first link mechanism separated from the first link mechanism in the longitudinal direction of the shaving portion, and including two first link arms each defining a first connecting axis,

the two first link mechanisms are provided independently of each other, and

each pair of the first connecting axes corresponding between the two first link mechanisms is concentrically arranged.

4. The electric shaver according to claim 1, wherein

the first link mechanism includes a first support arm configured to rotatably support the two first link arms,

the first support arm includes an attachment having a flat portion intersecting with an imaginary plane orthogonal to the first swing axis, and

the attachment is fixed to the interposer with the flat portion placed against the interposer.

5. The electric shaver according to claim 1, wherein

the second link mechanism includes

a base and

paired second support arms projecting respectively from two sides, in a direction of the second swing axis, of the base, and

each of the two second link arms is bridged rotatably between the paired second support arms.

6. The electric shaver according to claim 5, wherein

each of the two second link arms is bridged in a U shape between the paired second support arms, and

the interposer is attached to a bottom portion of the U shape of each of the two second link arms.

7. The electric shaver according to claim 5, further comprising an elastic member configured to apply a reactive force against a swing motion of the interposer with respect to the body part,

wherein the elastic member is bridged between the body part and the interposer from one side to another side in the direction of the second swing axis.

8. The electric shaver according to claim 1, further comprising:

a first biasing mechanism configured to apply a reactive force against a swing motion of the head part with respect to the interposer; and

a second biasing mechanism configured to apply a reactive force against a swing motion of the interposer with respect to the body part,

wherein torque obtained by the reactive force from the second biasing mechanism is larger than torque obtained by the reactive force from the first biasing mechanism.