Hair knitting machine

Abstract

A hair braider for a three-bundle plait or braid includes a body having a handle (120) and a head portion (110) at one end of the handle; a selectively actuatable drive source (130) disposed within the body; and first and second rotatable rotors (300, 330) disposed within and accessible through openings formed in the head portion. They are operatively coupled to the drive source through a plurality of gears such that they rotate in opposite directions. The hair braider further includes a plurality of hair retaining members (200) that are received within openings formed through the first and second rotatable rotors, wherein each hair retaining member has a bore (216) formed therethrough for receiving one bundle of hair. A mechanism (400) transfers at a transfer location one hair retaining member from one rotor to the other rotor as the rotors rotate.; The rotation of the rotors in opposie directions and he successive transfer of one hair retaining member from one rotor to the other rotor results in a true, three-bundle braid being formed.

Description

Cross References to Related Applications This application claims the benefit of US Patent Application Serial No. 60 / 440,993, filed January 17, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. technical field The present invention relates generally to devices for treating hair and, more particularly, to devices for braiding or braiding strands of hair in response to motor drives. Background technique Devices for treating hair using motor drives are known and include the hairstyling device described in US Patent No. 6,318,378 to Kennedy et al. The device of Kennedy et al. performs a continuous operation of winding two bundles of hair at a time, and then twists the wound hair into a cable. The strands are held together by rotating tongs mounted on a rotating platform. Following the device of Kennedy et al., commercial devices are also provided that have a platform and forceps supported by replaceable heads, each head supporting a different number of...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Although these devices can treat or modify hair, they are specialized devices for only one task