Hairstyling Tool With Automatically Reversing Cylinder

Abstract

A hair styling tool includes a body, a cylinder extending from the body, the cylinder rotatable relative to the body, a motor for rotating the cylinder, a heater to heat the cylinder, and a styling arm pivotally attached to the body. The hair styling tool having a generally clam shell configuration, wherein the styling arm is movable between an open position and a closed position in which the styling arm contacts the cylinder. The styling arm may also include a brush head with fixed or retractable bristles and/or a smoothing plate. The hair styling tool also includes a detector for detecting the direction of movement of the styling arm along a user's hair, the detector being in communication with the motor for causing the motor to automatically rotate the cylinder in a direction corresponding to the direction of movement of the styling arm along the user's hair.

1 . A tool suitable for hair styling comprising:
 a body having a proximate end and a distal end;   a cylinder extending from the body, the cylinder being rotatable relative to the body in both a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction;   a motor adapted to rotate the cylinder both clockwise and counterclockwise;   a heater to heat the cylinder;   a non-rotatable styling arm supported by the body, the styling arm being movable between an open position distant from the cylinder and a closed position proximate to the cylinder for hair styling; and   a detector for detecting the direction of movement of the styling arm along a user's hair, the detector being in communication with the motor for causing the motor to rotate the cylinder in a direction corresponding to the direction of movement of the styling arm along the user's hair   where the detector comprises an inductor coil assembly.   
     
     
         2 . The tool of  claim 1 , where the inductor coil assembly comprises:
 (i) a magnetic conductor pole electrically connected to the inductor coil assembly;   (ii) a RLC tank circuit electrically connected to the inductor coil assembly; and   (iii) a microcontroller electrically connected to the RLC tank circuit for changing direction of the movement of the rotating cylinder along the user's hair.   
     
     
         3 . The tool of  claim 2 , where the tool suitable for hair styling comprises an elongated body and a cylinder that rotates relative to the body in both a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction determined by movement of the magnetic conductor pole of the inductor coil assembly. 
     
     
         4 . The tool of  claim 3 , where the inductor coil assembly comprises a rotatable member that is mechanically coupled to a shaft that is movable in and out of an air gapped inductor coil. 
     
     
         5 . The tool of  claim 4 , where the shaft is made from a magnetic field inducing material. 
     
     
         6 . The tool of  claim 4 , where nominal inductance of the air gapped inductor coil is between 75 uh to 185 uh depending on the shaft location with respect to the air gapped inductor coil. 
     
     
         7 . The tool of  claim 4 , where the RLC tank oscillator has an oscillation frequency output by an operational amplifier between 8 KHz to 8.88 KHz. 
     
     
         8 . A tool suitable for hair styling comprising:
 a) an air gapped inductor coil detector for detecting the direction of movement of the styling arm;   b) a motor for turning a cylinder;   c) a gear box attached to the motor for adjusting the turning speed of the cylinder;   d) a spring plate inductor connected to the gearbox to change turning directions of the cylinder;   e) a bearing bracket connecting the spring plate inductor to an inductor coil assembly used to determine the direction that the user is moving the hair styling tool;   f) a magnetic conductor cover covering a magnetic conductor pole used in conjunction with the inductor coil assembly to determine the direction that the user is moving the hair styling tool,   where the contact cover is affixed to the magnetic conductor pole and to a sensor contact bracket to move the magnetic conductor pole along the inductor coil assembly; and   g) a barrel shaft affixed to the contact cover, the cylinder and an end cap to support the cylinder during hair styling or brushing.   
     
     
         9 . The tool of  claim 8 , where the magnetic conductor pole comprises magnetic field inducing materials. 
     
     
         10 . The tool of  claim 9 , where the magnetic conductor pole is preferably iron. 
     
     
         11 . The tool of  claim 8 , where the air gapped inductor coil detector automatically identifies and selects the proper rotation direction of the cylinder for each pass through the user's hair. 
     
     
         12 . The tool of  claim 8 , where the barrel shaft, the cylinder and the end cap are mechanically coupled to an iron magnetic conductor pole that is movable in and out of the air gapped inductor coil. 
     
     
         13 . The tool of  claim 8 , where the nominal inductance of the air gapped inductor coil is between 75 uh to 185 uh depending on the location of the iron magnetic conductor pole with respect the air gapped inductor coil. 
     
     
         14 . The tool of  claim 8 , where the inductor coil is operably connected to an RLC tank oscillator that changes the oscillation frequency output of an operational amplifier between 8 KHz to 8.88 KHz. 
     
     
         15 . The tool of  claim 8  further comprising a circuit for controlling the direction of the cylinder using the inductor coil assembly. 
     
     
         16 . The tool of  claim 15 , where the circuit comprises at least one microcontroller used to control the motor's speed and direction during styling or brushing. 
     
     
         17 . A method for operating a tool suitable for hair styling comprising the steps of:
 a) placing at least a single strand of hair into the hair styling tool;   b) moving the hair styling tool in a direction causing a magnetic conductor pole to change position causing electricity to be conducted through an inductor coil assembly;   c) detecting the amount of electricity generated by the movement of the magnetic conductor pole in proximity to the inductor coil assembly by a circuit, where the circuit comprises:
 1) an RLC tank; 
 2) an operational amplifier; and 
 3) at least one microcontroller; and 
   d) driving a motor in the same direction as the movement of the hair styling tool detected by the circuit.   
     
     
         18 . A method of using a tool suitable for hair styling comprising an induction sensor system for automatically reversing direction of a hair styling tool comprising the steps of:
 a) plugging the tool into an outlet;   b) a user presses an on/off button into the on position;   c) resetting a sensor;   d) determining inductor limits, L-Max and L-Min by moving a motor in two directions;   e) examining extreme frequency ranges by a microcontroller at the beginning of each operation,
 where the microcontroller monitors and measures the output frequency of a RLC tank oscillator circuitry; 
   f) automatically placing the inductor in a center location;   g) detecting a frequency variation with respect to the center frequency as counter-clock-wise (CCW) or clock-wise (CW) rotation; and   h) stopping the motor;   i) If the user closes the handle and begins pulling hair through the tool, rotating the motor in the related sensor direction;   j) If the user releases the handle, then the motor is reset and the inductor limits for L-Max and L-Min are determined again; and   k) repeating steps a from a) through j) until the user releases the handle and is finished hair styling.