# US 10,478,981 B2 · Electric shaver > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,478,981 B2 - Document ID: US10478981B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/717,109 - Filed: 2017-09-27 - Published: 2018-03-29 - Granted: 2019-11-19 - Earliest claimed: 2016-09-28 - Assignees: Braun GmbH - Applicants: Braun GmbH - Inventors: Joachim Krauss; Johannes Stimpel; Wolfgang Stegmann - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10478981B2 ## CPC - B26B 19/3846: {Blades; Cutters (B26B19/044, B26B19/141 take precedence)} - B26B 19/04: Cutting heads therefor; Cutters therefor; Securing equipment thereof - B26B 19/046: {Cutters being movable in the cutting head} - B26B 19/048: {Complete cutting head being movable} - B26B 19/38: Details of, or accessories for, hair clippers, or dry shavers, e.g. housings, casings, grips, guards (cutters, cutting heads B26B19/04, B26B19/12, B26B19/14; cleaning or disinfecting devices A45D27/46; drying devices A45D27/48; casings for electric apparatus in general H05K) - B26B 19/382: {Built-in accessories} - B26B 19/3853: {Housing or handle} - B26B 19/3866: {Seals or dampers} - B26B 19/282: {Motors without a rotating central drive shaft, e.g. linear motors} - B26B: HAND-HELD CUTTING TOOLS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR (for harvesting A01D; for horticulture, for forestry A01G; for butchering or meat treatment A22; for manufactering or repairing footwear A43D; nail clippers or cutters A45D29/02; kitchen equipment A47J; {vegetable slicers, julienne cutters and similar devices and holders therefor, B26D3/28}; for surgical purposes A61B; for metal B23D; cutting by abrasive fluid jets B24C5/02; plier-like tools with cutting edges B25B7/22; pincers B25C11/02; handles for hand implements, in general B25G; guillotine-type cutters B26D; {perforating by non-mechanical means, e.g. by fluid jet, B26F1/26}; for erasing B43L19/00; for textile materials D06H) ## Abstract An electric shaver having at least one drivable cutter element and at least one rinse opening having a horn shape for rinsing water through the interior of the shaver head. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An electric shaver comprising a handle portion, a shaver head supported by said handle portion and including at least one drivable cutter element, and at least one rinse opening for rinsing water or other fluids through the interior of said shaver head, wherein said rinse opening forms a funnel-like inlet channel having a horn- or funnel-shaped contour with a cross-section continuously expanding towards the ambience of the shaver, wherein said shaver head has a functional face to be contacted with the skin to be shaved, a pair of oblong side faces neighboring said functional face and a pair of small side faces neighboring said functional face and said oblong side faces, wherein said at least one rinse opening opens toward one of said small side faces. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The electric shaver according to claim 1, wherein said at least one rinse opening has a longitudinal axis extending transverse to a longitudinal axis of said handle portion and extending substantially parallel to a drive axis of the cutter element. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The electric shaver according to claim 1, wherein said at least one rinse opening opens towards a neck portion of the shaver between the handle portion and the shaver head and/or towards one of said small side faces of the shaver head neighboring said oblong side faces of said shaver head. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The electric shaver according to claim 1, wherein said at least one rinse opening has a smooth contour free of steps and free of undercuts. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The electric shaver according to the claim 1, wherein the rinse opening has a cross-sectional contour the shape of which is the same in different cross-sections and the size of which is different in different cross-sections. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The electric shaver according to the claim 1, wherein the size of the cross-section is the smaller the deeper inside the rinse opening the cross-section is taken. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The electric shaver according to claim 1, wherein said horn- or funnel-shaped contour includes a larger cross-section having a cross-sectional area of at least 125% of the cross-sectional area of a smaller cross-section of said horn- or funnel-shaped contour and wherein a length of said horn- or funnel-shaped contour measured in the direction of flow through said rinse opening, is more than 50% of a diameter of said larger cross-section of said horn- or funnel-shaped contour. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The electric shaver according to the claim 1, wherein said at least one rinse opening comprises a pair of rinse openings, wherein said pair of rinse openings is provided on opposite sides of the shaver, wherein said pair of rinse openings is connected to each other via a connection channel allowing the rinsing water or other fluids coming in from one of said pair of rinse openings to be drained via the other of said rinse opening, wherein each of said rinse openings is connectable to the shaver head's interior to rinse water into the shaver head's interior from each of said rinse openings, wherein said pair of rinse openings and said connection channel, at least in one longitudinal cross-section, together define an hourglass-shaped contour with a necked section formed at least in part by said connection channel, wherein at least one rinse channel is branched off from said necked section to extend towards the cutter element and/or into the interior of the shaver head. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The electric shaver according to claim 8, wherein said pair of rinse openings and said connection channel together form a sight corridor through said shaver from one side thereof to the opposite side thereof. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The electric shaver according to claim 1, wherein an automatic valve is provided for automatically opening and closing a connection of said at least one rinse opening with the interior of the shaver head in response to rinsing fluid and/or flow of rinsing fluid in said at least one rinse opening. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The electric shaver according to claim 10, wherein said automatic valve is adapted to automatically open said connection of the rinse opening with the interior of the shaver head when a predetermined velocity and/or predetermined volume of rinsing fluid in the rinse opening is reached and/or exceeded, and/or said automatic valve is adapted to automatically close said connection of the rinse opening with the interior of the shaver head when there is no rinsing fluid in the rinse opening. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The electric shaver according to claim 10, wherein said automatic valve includes an elastic flap that elastically opens under pressure in the rinse opening and closes automatically in the absence of such pressure. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The electric shaver in accordance with claim 10, wherein two or more of such automatic valves are provided for controlling two or more communication openings communicating the at least one rinse opening with the interior of the shaver head, wherein such automatic valves are configured and/or controlled such that in a first mode of operation at least one of the valves is opened and at least a second one of the valves is closed to achieve one-way washing in the interior of the shaver head, and/or in a second mode of operation at least two of the valves are opened at the same time to achieve through-flow with water or fluid entering into the interior of the shaver head via a first one of said two opened valves and leaving the interior of the shaver head via a second one of said two opened valves. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The electric shaver according to claim 10, wherein said at least one valve is positioned spaced away from an outermost portion of the rinse opening which outermost section of said rinse opening is always open. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The electric shaver according to claim 1, wherein at least one flow-guiding projection is provided for redirecting rinsing fluid flowing in said rinse opening along the longitudinal axis thereof into the interior of the shaver head towards the cutter element. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The electric shaver according to claim 15, wherein said flow-guiding projection has a ramp-shaped contour extending at an acute angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the rinse opening and includes a shovel-like nose extending from a downstream side of a communication opening into the rinse opening towards an outermost section thereof and projecting against a flow direction of rinsing fluid coming in through said rinse opening.