US 11,850,763 B2
Hair cutting unit having a coupling structure
Hendrik Klaas Paauw, Roden (NL); and Hilde Seip, Groningen (NL)
Assigned to KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N. V., Eindhoven (NL)
Appl. No. 15/733,102
Filed by KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
PCT Filed Nov. 4, 2018, PCT No. PCT/EP2018/080074
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 18, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/101496, PCT Pub. Date May 31, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 17202788 (EP), filed on Nov. 21, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0361104 A1, Nov. 19, 2020
Int. Cl. B26B 19/38 (2006.01); B26B 19/14 (2006.01)
CPC B26B 19/386 (2013.01) [B26B 19/145 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A hair cutting unit for use in a shaving device, said hair cutting unit comprising:
an external cutting member having a shaving surface with hair-entry openings;
an internal cutting member which is rotatable relative to the external cutting member about an axis of rotation and which has a plurality of hair-cutting elements;
a supporting member having a skin contacting surface surrounding the external cutting member; and
a retaining component which is releasably couplable to the supporting member by a coupling structure and which is configured to retain the external cutting member in an operational position relative to the supporting member in an assembled condition of the hair cutting unit;
wherein in the assembled condition:
a retained element of the external cutting member is retained between a first retaining member of the retaining component and a second retaining member of the supporting member at least in an axial direction parallel to the axis of rotation;
in a parallel orientation of the shaving surface relative to the skin contacting surface, the shaving surface protrudes relative to the skin contacting surface in the axial direction over an exposure distance; and
wherein the coupling structure comprises a first guiding member provided on the supporting member and a second guiding member provided on the retaining component, the first and second guiding members being configured to:
mutually engage when the retaining component is in any angular position between a first angular position and a second angular position about the axis of rotation relative to the supporting member, the first and second angular positions being mutually different; and
establish the assembled condition in the second angular position of the retaining component, and
wherein the first and second guiding members are configured such that, when the first and second guiding members mutually engage in the first angular position of the retaining component, the retained element of the external cutting member is moveable between the first and second retaining members parallel to the axis of rotation over a distance which is at least equal to the exposure distance such that the shaving surface of the external cutting member protrudes from a minimum position to a maximum position in the axial direction away from the skin contacting surface of the supporting member by a distance up to the exposure distance in response to manually turning the retaining component relative to the supporting member about the axis of rotation by an angular distance from the first angular position to the second angular position, and
wherein:
the retaining component has an annular base portion;
the supporting member has a cylindrical receiving member for accommodating the external cutting member;
the second guiding member comprises two guiding elements provided on two diametrically opposite circumferential portions of the annular base portion and each comprising a guiding surface which, in the assembled condition, extends obliquely relative to a tangential direction relative to the axis of rotation; and
the first guiding member comprises two abutment elements provided in diametrically opposite positions on an inner wall of the receiving member for engaging the guiding surface of a respective one of the two guiding elements.