Hair cutting and trimming device

Claim 2

A hair cutting and trimming device comprising. an elongated, tubular housing having one open end and an opposite closed end, motor driven cutter means located within said housing, cutter blade means located at a forward end of said cutter means, means for supporting said cutter means axially of said housing, with said cutter forward end facing toward said open and of said housing, said cutter blade means being supplied with cutting teeth, said closed end of said housing being supplied with an opening, means for connecting said opening with a source of suction, said suction providing an air stream progressing from said open end, past said cutter blade means and towards said opening in said closed end, hair guide means located in said air stream, adjacent said cutting teeth, means for selectively varying the distance between said cutting teeth and said open end of said housing, hair length indicating means on said housing, a plurality of vacuum breaking slots located in rim of said open end, incremental control means for selective positioning of said cutting teeth relative to said open end, at least one suplementary extension tube detachably attachable to said open end of said housing, said extension tube having a free open end and a plurality of vacuum breaking slots in rim of said free open end, and descriptive hair style programing means co-operative with said means for selectively varying distance between said cutting teeth and said open end of said housing, said descriptive programming means containing illustrations of hair styles, supplied with a plurality of zones, each zone being marked to denote desired length of hair within said zone, said markings corresponding with said hair length indicating means on said housing.

Claim 3

A hair cutting and trimming device as claimed in claim 1, in which said cutter means, located within said housing, is attached substantially to one side of said housing, said housing being sufficiently larger in cross-section than said cutter means, to provide ample free cross-sectional area for said air stream to progress through, said cutter means being located in said housing so as to provide that said cutting teeth become located directly in said air stream, and slidable seal means at said forward end of said cutter means, between said cutter means and said housing, to prevent said air stream from passing by said forward end of said cutter means at locations other than in close proximity of said cutting teeth.

Claim 4

A hair cutting and trimming device as claimed in claim 1 in which said hair guide means comprises two separable sections, one being a stationary section, permanently attached in path of said air stream, between said cutting teeth and said closed end of said housing, said stationary section depending downward from inner surface of said housing, directly adjacent said cutting teeth and partway toward said cutter means, to force hair, that is drawn in through said open end, past said cutting teeth by said air stream, to be biased toward and into said cutting teeth and be cut, the other of said separable sections being a removable section of said hair guide means, detachably attached to said stationary section, said removable section being located in said air stream, between said open end of said housing and said cutting teeth, said removable section depending down in front of said cutting teeth, said removable section and said stationary section forming a curved, concave configuration over said cutting teeth to bias air stream and any hair located in said air stream above said cutting teeth towards and into said cutting teeth.

Claim 5

A hair cutting and trimming device as claimed in claim 1 in which said cutter blade means comprises a stationary cutter blade that completely fills the internal cross-sectional area of said housing, and a movable cutter blade juxtapositioned against said stationary cutter blade, said cutting teeth in said stationary blade comprising a plurality of adjacently positioned elongated slots, substantially perpendicular to direction of motion of said movable blade, said cutting teeth in said movable blade comprising a plurality of cutting slots located in a position corresponding to said cutting slots on said stationary blade, said cutting slots in said stationary blade and said cutting slots in said movable blade being located obliquely to each other to provide shearing action on hair that enters said cutting blade means during cutting operation, said motor driven cutter means having a reciprocating drive member supplied with pivot pin means having an axis perpendicular to direction of said reciprocating motion, spring yoke means having an eye formed substantially centrally of said spring yoke means, said eye being pivotably located on said pivot pin means, ends of said spring yoke means being attached at either side of said movable blade, said spring yoke means being adapted to transfer said reciprocating motion from said motor drive arm to said movable blade, and at the same time bias said movable blade toward said stationary blade, said hair guide means comprising plate means located in front of said stationary blade, said plate means having a truncated hole therethrough, a smaller end of said truncated hole being located directly over area of said stationary blade that contains said plurality of cutting slots, larger end of said truncated hole facing toward said open end of said housing.

Claim 6

A hair cutting and trimming device as claimed in claim 1 in which said means for selectively varying the distance between said cutting teeth and said open end of said housing comprises an external, telescopically slidable, extendable tube located axially around said housing, said extendable tube having an open end extending outwardly of said open end of said housing, said open end of said extendable tube having a rim containing a plurality of vacuum breaker slots, said housing being supplied externally with a plurality of incrementally spaced annular grooves, said extendable tube containing at least one, inwardly biased, spring loaded detent means, adapted to successively engage in said annular grooves upon said extendable tube being moved in and out upon said housing, said hair length indicating means comprising visual scale means on said housing co-operating with marker means on said extendable tube to visually express distance between said open end of said extendable tube and said cutting teeth.

Claim 7

A hair cutting and trimming device as claimed in claim 1, in which said tubular housing is of circular cross-section, said means for selectively varying the distance between said cutting teeth and said open end of said housing comprising an external, telescopically slidable, extendable tube, located around said housing, said extendable tube having an open end extending outward from said open end of said housing, said open end of said extendable tube having a rim containing a plurality of vacuum breaker slots, said tubular housing having a shallow thread located in its external cylindrical surface, said extendable tube containing at least one inwardly biased, spring loaded detent means, adapted to successively engage in said shallow threads upon said extendable tube being moved axially in and out upon said housing, said detent means acting as nut means for said extendable tube on said thread, upon said extendable tube being rotated on said housing, said hair length indicating means comprising visual scale means on said housing co-operating with marker means on said extendable tube, said hair guide means being supplied with at least one turbulence breaking tab means projecting partway into said airstream toward said cutting teeth.

Claim 8

A hair cutting and trimming device as claimed in claim 1, in which said means for supporting said cutter means comprises handle means attached to said cutter means, said handle means extending outward through elongated slot means in said tubular housing, flexible seal means being attached on either side of said slot, said flexible seal means being biased to ward each other and around said handle means to seal against loss of vacuum within said housing, said cutter means being axially moveable within said housing for the length of said slot, said handle means being penetrated by rack means supplied with ratchet teeth, said rack means being attached to said housing parallel to axial direction of said housing, manually operable trigger means on said handle means containing pawl means co-operable with pawl means on said handle means to engage with said ratchet teeth and move said handle means and said cutter means relative to said open end of said housing a distance of at least one ratchet tooth upon said trigger being depressed, and means for rotating said ratchet teeth on said rack out of engagement with said pawls to permit said cutter means and said handle means to be moved back in direction against said ratchet teeth.