Head care apparatus

Abstract

The present invention provides a head care apparatus capable of performing a comfortable head care with a care unit forced on person's head in a suitable manner. The head care apparatus of the invention comprises a first support, a care unit having a contact capable of making contacts with person's head supported by the first support, an arm moving the care unit in a first direction which extends orthogonal to a surface of the person's head and/or a second direction which extends along the surface of the person's head, and a load detector having at least two load sensors arranged in different positions in the second direction for sensing loads applied thereto, the load detector being designed to detect the loads on the contact in the first direction.

1 . A head care apparatus comprising:
 a first support;   a care unit having a contact designed to be make contact with a person's head supported by the first support;   an arm moving the care unit in a first direction which extends orthogonal to a surface of the person's head and/or a second direction which extends along the surface of the person's head and orthogonal to the first direction; and   a load detector having at least two load sensors arranged in different positions in the second direction for sensing loads applied thereto, the load detector being designed to detect the loads on the contact in the first direction by using the loads sensed by the load sensors.   
     
     
         2 . The head care apparatus in  claim 1 , wherein the load detector detects the load on the contacts in the first direction by using a sum of the loads sensed by the load sensors. 
     
     
         3 . The head care apparatus in  claim 1 , wherein the load detector comprises a first calculation unit calculating the load on the contacts in the second direction by using a difference between the loads sensed by the load sensors. 
     
     
         4 . The head care apparatus in  claim 3 , further comprising a judging section judging whether the load in the second direction is greater than a predetermined value to determine that a trouble has occurred. 
     
     
         5 . The head care apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the judging section judges whether the load in the second direction is greater than the predetermined value when the arm is moving in the second direction to determine that the contacts are tangled in hair of the person's head supported by the first support. 
     
     
         6 . The head care apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the judging section judges whether the load in the second direction is greater than the predetermined value when the arm is at a stop to determined that the person's head is out of contact with the first support. 
     
     
         7 . The head care apparatus in  claim 1 , wherein each of the load sensors is a sensor to detect a load in one direction only. 
     
     
         8 . The head care apparatus in  claim 1 , wherein the load sensor is a load cell. 
     
     
         9 . The head care apparatus in  claim 8 , wherein each of the load sensors has a pair of leaf springs positioned in parallel to each other and at least two strain gauges attached to one of the paired leaf springs. 
     
     
         10 . The head care apparatus in  claim 1 ,
 wherein the arm has a support shaft, and   wherein each of the load sensor has a support through which the support shaft of the arm extends, the support supporting the support shaft so that the support shaft is rotatable about its axis but immovable in a direction parallel to the axis.   
     
     
         11 . The head care apparatus in  claim 1 , further comprising a weight cancelling section cancelling a load in the first direction caused by a weight of the care unit from the load in the first direction detected by the load detector. 
     
     
         12 . The head care apparatus in  claim 1 , wherein the care unit comprises a housing accommodating the load sensors, the housing having an aperture defined therein by a peripheral wall in which the support shaft of the arm is extended, and an elastic member closing a gap between the peripheral wall and the support shaft of the arm provided in the aperture. 
     
     
         13 . The head care apparatus in  claim 1 , wherein the care unit comprises
 a housing for accommodating the load sensors, the housing having an aperture defined therein by a peripheral wall,   a projection projecting from the load sensors to extend through the housing in the first direction and connected to the arm outside the housing, and   an elastic member for closing a gap between the peripheral wall of an aperture and the projection.