Adjustable spacing comb, adjustment drive and hair cutting appliance

An adjustment drive for an adjustable spacing comb for a hair cutting appliance, the adjustment drive comprising:

• an actuator configured for actuating a movable comb portion of the adjustable spacing comb with respect to a blade set of the hair cutting appliance;
• a sensor element configured to detect multi-faceted user inputs applied to the sensor element by a user, the multi-faceted user inputs comprising detected user input speed of an input stroke by the user, and to output a user input signal that is derived from the detected multi-faceted user inputs, wherein the actuator is operated on the basis of the user input signal;
• and
• a control unit coupled to the actuator and to the sensor element, the control unit configured to select an adjustment mode from a plurality of adjustment modes in response to the detected user input speed of the input stroke to set corresponding length adjustment increments for moving the movable comb portion, and to convert the user input signal into an actuator operating signal in accordance with the selected adjustment mode.

A hair cutting appliance, comprising:

• a housing portion;
• a cutting unit including a blade set;
• an adjustable spacing comb comprising a movable comb portion configured to be moved with respect to the housing portion;
• and
• an adjustment drive comprising:
• an actuator configured for actuating the movable comb portion with respect to the blade set;
• a sensor element configured to detect at least a user input speed of an input stroke applied to the sensor element by a user and to output a user input signal that is derived, at least in part, the detected user input speed;
• and
• a control unit coupled to the actuator and to the sensor element, the control unit configured to select one of a plurality of adjustment modes with different length adjustment increments, respectively, for moving the movable comb portion in response to the detected user input speed of the input stroke and to convert the user input signal into an actuator operating signal for controlling the actuating of the moveable comb portion according to the selected adjustment mode.