Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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COMB FOR THE TREATMENT OF PEDICULOSIS
STATE OF THE ART OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the cleaning of hair
and more particularly to the devices used for the treatment of
pediculosis, with the object of removing nits or eggs from lice
that cling to hair, and even more particularly the invention
refers to a new comb for the treatment of pediculosis with an
arrangement and configuration of the teeth or needles that allow
the comb to be used even in those scalps that could be damaged,
injured, with bedsores, etc., wherein the configuration of the
teeth makes them more economical in their manufacture and, yet
retain the efficiency that allows removal of nits and lice from
the hair more effectively than the known devices and combs
without damaging the hair.
Description of the prior art
Pediculosis is a problem that affects countless
individuals in all kinds of communities and represents an
obstacle in the student population since school-age children
acquire it easily when they contact their peers in the
educational institution they attend.
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Head lice settle in the hair and lay down the well-known
nits there, that is, the eggs of Pedeculus humanus , Phtirius
pubis and similar species, more commonly known as lice.
Many chemical compounds have been developed for the
treatment of this infection, as well as a number of combs
intended to treat it by removing lice and nits, thus causing no
side effects, as is the case with the application of chemicals.
There are various comb designs comprising a handle to which
multiple teeth or steel wires are attached, the separation of
which is studied to allow just a hair to pass tightly between
adjacent teeth, so that anything adhered on it, particularly a
nit, is retained between the teeth of the comb. Thus, passing
the comb throughout the patient's hair allows to achieve the
removal of as many nits as possible.
One of the combs that has most effectively achieved the
goal of removing nits more successfully is the one disclosed in
Argentine Patent AR 03275 Bl, and its American equivalent U.S.
No. 5.873.374, both owned by the present owners and which
describe, as more specifically defined in the claims, a cleaning
comb with needles that have a ruggedness on its peripheral
surface, comprising a handle and a plurality of -preferably
steel- teeth, wires or needles, each needle having an end
attaching to a handle, an attacking end and a peripheral surface,
and the attacking end of each needle having a sharp and rounded
tip. According to the concepts of these patents, the novelty of
this comb as regards prior art is that the peripheral surface of
each needle is provided with a ruggedness designed to catch and
drag nits attached to the hair. The comb also has other features,
such as the distance between adjacent needles, which is between
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50 pm and 100 pm, each needle having a total length in the range
of 40 to 80 mm and a useful length, outside the handle, in the
range of 20 to 60 mm.
The ruggedness feature referred to in Argentine Patent AR
03275 Bl, as well as in its U.S. counterpart, is preferably based
on the provision of a helical groove having, for instance, a way
narrower than 4 mm. This ruggedness can be also formed by
circumferential grooves with a distance from each other between
0.5 and 3 mm, and these channels may be less than 0.2 mm deep.
Additionally, this known comb has other features, such as
the fact that it is made of steel, the number of needles is
between 10 and 100, more precisely 33 needles, and that the
attacking edges of the needles form together a curved edge.
In addition, the teeth or needles have their proximal
ends retained in the handle and their distal ends, which all end
up aligned on said leading edge, must be delicately finished in
a tapered, sharp and round shape , so as not to damage the hair
and, at the same time , allow hair to enter the space between
the teeth or needles. This smooth finish, which can be done
through various techniques, always results in a significant cost
in the total cost of manufacturing the comb. As a consequence of
this, these combs are not always accessible to every community.
Known combs, which have their teeth or thin needles that
end at tapered ends to facilitate the entry of the hair into the
space between teeth, have proven to be efficient in some cases,
however when the patient or user has a scalp hurt by some reason,
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for example weakened, with bedsores, etc. these combs cannot be
used because their tips would further damage the scalp.
In view of the foregoing, the inventors of the present
invention, set out to improve this type of comb, whether combs
with conventional needles or smooth teeth, as well as those of
the above patent, with roughened means to obtain a comb that can
be used even in damaged scalp and that is more economical to
manufacture, without affecting the efficiency and effectiveness
of the removal of nits and lice, as well as the cleaning of
hair .
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to
provide a new comb for the treatment of pediculosis comprising
needles, teeth or wires capable of retaining, catching and
dragging nits, dirt and lice without causing damage to the
hair or scalp, wherein said needles or teeth comprise at least
two types of needles or teeth of different length.
It is yet another object of the present invention to
provide a new comb for the treatment of pediculosis that
guarantees an effective removal of nits and foreign matter
adhered to the hair which easily enters the spaces of separation
between teeth by means of a configuration of alternating lengths
in the distal ends of the teeth.
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It is also another object of the present invention to
provide a comb for the treatment of pediculosis of the type
comprising a grip handle from which a plurality of teeth are
projected, wherein said teeth have a proximal end retained in
said handle and a free distal end, said teeth being
differentiated into a first plurality of teeth and a second
plurality of teeth, where the teeth of the first plurality
alternate with the teeth of the second plurality and the' teeth
of said first plurality are longer than the teeth of said second
plurality so that the distal ends of the teeth of the first
plurality project beyond the distal ends of the teeth of said
second plurality.
It is still another object of the present invention to
provide a comb for the treatment of pediculosis, which comprises
a grip handle and a plurality of teeth of different and alternate
lengths, which may be provided with rough means such
as successive grooves or valleys intended for catch and drag the
nits and lice present in the hair.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For the sake of clarity and understanding of the subject
matter of this invention, it has been illustrated in several
figures, in which the invention has been shown in one of the
preferred forms of representation, just by way of example,
wherein:
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Figure 1 shows a front elevation view of a comb for the
treatment of pediculosis in accordance with Argentine Patent AR
03275 Bl, and its US equivalent No. 5,873,374, both owned by the
present applicants which are hereby incorporated by reference;
Figure 2 shows a detailed and enlarged view of the distal
ends of the needles or teeth of the comb of Figure 1;
Figure 3 shows a detailed and enlarged view of the needle
teeth of a comb such as that of Figure 1, but hypothetical, to
which the tapered or tapered ends of the distal ends have been
removed in order to reduce their manufacturing cost in detriment
of its functional efficiency;
Figure 4 shows a front elevation view of a preferred
embodiment of the comb of the present invention, and
The Figure 5 shows an elevation front view of another
preferred embodiment of the comb of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring now to the figures it is seen that the
invention consists of a comb for the
treatment of
pediculosis, which may be of the type disclosed in
the Argentine Patent AR 03275 Bl of the same inventors and
applicants of the present invention, and that is shown in Figure
1. This type of comb, indicated with the general reference
1, comprises a grip handle 2 into which a plurality of teeth 3
are mounted extending from the handle 2 parallel to each other
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and , preferably and not in a limitative manner for this
invention, they retain a distance of for example 50 pm and
100 pm , distance which has proven to be efficient already in
the comb of the Argentine Patent. In the case of the comb of the
present invention the range of distances between the teeth has
been extended, finding that a separation between 50 pm and 200
pm has also been useful both in the removal of lice and nits and
in the cleaning of the hair, especially if one takes into account
the diversity of types of hair where this kind of combs can be
used. Also preferably, the teeth or needles may have a total
length in the range of 40 to 80 mm and a useful length, outside
the handle, in the range of 20 to 60 mm. In the mentioned patent
the teeth or needles are provided with roughing means for
retaining and dragging of lice and nits present on
the hair. These means, among other alternatives, can be formed
by a plurality of successive grooves or valleys that are defined
on the surface of at least one longitudinal section of each of
said teeth. In the cited Patent, and as better shown in Figure
2 the distal ends 4 of the needles or teeth 3 are preferably
terminated in a smooth conical way to avoid damage to the
scalp and to facilitate the entry of the hair to the spaces 5
between the teeth 3.
It should be noted that the concepts of the present
invention can be applied to the comb of the mentioned patent,
with a pattern of grooves or valleys either helicoidal or
circumferential 6 along at least one longitudinal portion of
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each of the teeth, or any type of pattern or design of grooves,
gutters or valleys, provided that these are intended to form a
trap to catch and drag nits, foreign matter and lice attached to
the hair of the patient or user. However, the concepts of the
invention can also be applied to a comb such as that of Figure
1 or the like whose teeth or needles are smooth. The teeth may
be separated from each other by a distance of for example 50 pm
and 200 pm , and, if teeth with rough means such as grooves are
used, as indicated, said circumferential grooves may be ,
separated from each other by a distance of
between 0.5 mm and 4 mm , and said helicoidal grooves may have
an helicoidal space of between 0.5 mm and 4 mm. Preferably, in
either cases, helicoidal or circumferential row spacing should
not be less than 0.2 mm.
As for the tapered ends 4 of the teeth 3 of the combs of
the prior art, they impose tasks and times, as well as the use
of special machinery which, in the end, represents an important
cost. The teeth or needles 3 are cut from a roll wire, by means
of a machine, to the determined length and, once cut, the teeth
are taken to another machine that must finish one of the ends,
the ends 4, so as to round them and make them conical, as shown
in Figure 2. As explained, conicity is essential to allow, hair
to enter the space between teeth. If you want to avoid the times,
tasks and costs of this finishing of the ends 4, you should
simply leave the ends 4 unfinished, a hypothetical situation
that would leave the teeth 3 with blunt endings, as shown in
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Figure 3 and indicated with reference 7. Of course, if the
finishing does not show cutting edges resulting from the cutting
of the wire, it could be used and expect no damage to the scalp.
However, what cannot be achieved is the entry of the hair to the
reduced space, for example between 50 pm and 200 pm or, worse,
between 50 pm and 100 pm, left between the teeth.
The present invention solves precisely the problem
indicated above, leaving the ends of the teeth blunt, without
tapering or without making them conical, which significantly
reduces manufacturing costs but, nevertheless, managing to allow
hair to enter the space between teeth, according to one of the
embodiments of the invention, and even more, better protecting
the scalp, according to another embodiment of the invention,
embodiments that will be referred to below in relation to Figures
4 and 5.
To identify the embodiments of the invention, reference
numbers from 10 will be used to avoid confusion with the
references of the comb of Figures 1 to 3. In accordance with a
preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated in Figure 4,
the comb, indicated by the general reference 10, comprises a
grip handle 11 from which a plurality of teeth or needles
project 12 that have respective proximal ends
hidden
and retained in said handle 11 and free
distal
ends , indicated by general reference 13 .
According to the concepts of the invention, the teeth 12
are differentiated in at least two groups, or even more groups,
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thus forming a first plurality of teeth 14 and a second
plurality of teeth 15 , wherein the teeth of the first
plurality 14 alternate with the teeth of the
second
plurality 15 and the teeth of said first plurality 14 are longer
than the teeth of said second plurality 15 so that the distal
ends 16 of the teeth of the first plurality project beyond the
distal ends 17 of the teeth of said second plurality.
According to the embodiment of Figure 4, the teeth of
the first 14 and of the second 15 plurality, have their distal
ends blunt. In this way, the expensive work of machining and
finishing the conical ends is avoided, however, the fact that
all the ends are blunt do not affect the entry of hair to the
space between teeth, as would happen, as explained, in the teeth
of Figure 3. Indeed, being the ends 16 and 17 at a
different distance a space is generated between them that
facilitates the entry of the hair. Even if the blunt ends of
both pluralities of teeth 14, 15 could be left bare and slightly
finished with a low-cost polishing, preferably, the blunt
ends 16 are coated with an insert 18 of a material that by its
constitution and shape does not damage the scalp. The inserts 18
are preferably rounded and can be formed by various materials
such as plastics, polymer, resin, ceramics and countless low
cost materials and of easy application.
The comb can have a variable number of teeth or needles
but in general, a number of about 30 teeth is usual. In this
case, the first and second plurality of teeth, will comprise 15
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teeth each. Longer teeth may be approximately 3 mm longer than
short teeth and will be arranged, as shown, alternately. The
needles, teeth or spikes may be made of
1.25
mm diameter steel and the spacing of approximately 0.1 mm or
0.2 mm.
As indicated, the invention can be applied to combs with
completely smooth teeth or combs that provide teeth with rough
means for the retention and dragging of nits and lice present in
the hair. Said rough means may be formed by a plurality of
successive grooves or valleys that are defined on the surface of
at least one longitudinal section of each of said teeth. Said
grooves may extend circumferentially around the teeth and can
be spaced apart with a distance of between 0.5 mm and 4 mm , or
they can extend in an helicoidal shape around the tooth and the
pitch of said helix has a dimension of between 0.5 mm and 4 mm
In the embodiment of Figure 5, the comb incorporates the
same features of the invention as shown in Figure 4 except that
the inserts 18 of the first plurality of longer teeth 14 are not
included. In this case, both the shorter and longer teeth, have
blunt ends. Thus, the shorter teeth have blunt ends 17 and the
longer teeth 14 have blunt ends 16 or sufficiently rounded to
avoid damaging the scalp. The blunt or rounded finishing, of
course, is cheaper than the conical finishing.
If it is still desired to further reduce manufacturing
costs, the ends of the shorter teeth may not be finished by any
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of the before mentioned techniques but left as they remain after
cutting because they do not come into contact with the scalp.
Compared with conventional combs, the cost benefit is
always better because
complete finishing, blunt or with
inserts, is only performed for the first plurality of teeth, the
longest, thus preserving the characteristics of the invention
when defining a large path for the hair between the longer
teeth, path that leads to the spaces between teeth that perform
hair cleaning and removal of nits and lice. Whether blunt or
with inserts, the scalp is protected. Particularly in the latter
case, the comb of the present invention has a set of teeth or
needles spaced apart to retain nits, or to clean the hair and,
even if the distance between needles can be as small as
described, the novel configuration of the needles allows the
introduction of the hair between them which are endowed with
"friendly" ends with the scalp which makes them usable in any
scalp even when these are sick, with sores, damage, etc.
In this way, without damaging the efficiency and
effectiveness of the comb, the invention results in obtaining a
comb with significant lower manufacturing costs.
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