Appliance for plucking hairs out of human skin

A depilation appliance for plucking hair of the human skin of a user, comprising

• a housing having an opening,
• a rotary depilation member having an outer envelope surface and comprising a plurality of hair-grasping elements, said hair-grasping elements sequentially clamping and opening respectively into and out of hair plucking relation to one another,
• said depilation member disposed within the opening and rotating about its longitudinal axis for grasping hairs of the skin of the user within a plucking zone defined by a region of intersection of clamped hair-grasping element portions with the outer envelope surface,
• an impulse mechanism comprising at least one reciprocating skin-impacting impulse element, and
• a motor drive element disposed within the housing coupled with the depilation member and to drive the impulse mechanism,
• said impulse mechanism further comprising
• an actuator supporting said at least one skin-impacting impulse element,
• an actuator guiding structure disposed in pivotal relation in the housing about a pivot axis and that maintains motion of said actuator in a direction perpendicular to the depilation member longitudinal axis so as to limit sideways travel of the actuator, and
• an actuator driving member having a portion arranged eccentric to an axis parallel to said pivot axis of the actuator guiding structure, and
• wherein the actuator driving member eccentric portion vibrates the actuator to move said reciprocating skin-impacting impulse element generally parallel to a plane perpendicular to the depilation member longitudinal axis, said skin-impacting element being cyclically accelerated into and subsequently away from a region of skin to impart localized impulse stimulus perceived by the nervous system of the user in synchronization with a rotational cycle of the depilation member,
• whereby said skin-impacting impulse element imparts a masking stimulus to the region of the skin as the user moves the depilation appliance over the skin, to thereby lessen a perceived discomfort of depilation.

A depilation appliance for plucking hair of the human skin of a user, comprising

• a housing having an opening,
• a rotary depilation member having an outer envelope surface and comprising a plurality of hair-grasping elements, said hair-grasping elements sequentially clamping and opening respectively into and out of hair plucking relation to one another,
• said depilation member disposed within the opening and rotating about its axis for grasping hairs of the skin of the user within a plucking zone defined by a region of intersection of clamped hair-grasping element portions with the outer envelope surface,
• an impulse generator comprising at least one reciprocating skin-impacting impulse element disposed in laterally spaced relation to the plucking zone, and
• a motor drive element disposed within the housing coupled with the depilation member and to drive the impulse generator,
• wherein said reciprocating skin-impacting impulse element has a distal free end cyclically being accelerated into and subsequently away from a region of skin to impart localized impulse stimulus perceived by the nervous system of the user in synchronization with a rotational cycle of the depilation member, and
• wherein the skin-impacting impulse element displaces generally linearly,
• whereby said impulse element free end imparts a masking stimulus to the region of the skin in sequence with the skin being subjected to the hair-grasping elements plucking the hair of the user as the user movers the depilation appliance over the skin, to thereby lessen a perceived discomfort of depilation.

A depilation apparatus, comprising

• a housing having an opening,
• a rotary depilation member having an outer envelope surface and comprising a plurality of hair-grasping elements disposed along an axial direction along said outer envelope surface, said hair-grasping elements sequentially clamping and opening respectively into and out of hair plucking relation to one another within a plucking zone,
• said depilation member disposed within the opening and rotating about its longitudinal axis for grasping hairs of the skin of the user,
• a vibration member adapted to exert mechanical vibrations on the skin and disposed in laterally spaced relation to the plucking zone, wherein the vibration member comprises a carrier and a plurality of protrusions resiliently mounted to said carrier, and
• a motor drive element disposed within the housing coupled with the depilation member and to drive the vibration member carrier,
• wherein each of said plurality of protrusions has a distal free end reciprocatingly being accelerated into and subsequently away from a region of skin to impart localized impulse stimulus perceived by the nervous system of the user in synchronization with a rotational cycle of the depilation member,
• whereby said protrusion free ends impart masking stimuli to the region of the skin in sequence with the skin being subjected to the hair-grasping elements plucking the hair of the user as the user moves the depilation appliance over the skin, to thereby lessen a perceived discomfort of depilation.