Rechargeable hair styling tool

Abstract

A rechargeable hair styling tool may be plugged into an electrical outlet to enable charging of each battery and operation of the hair styling tool. Electronics of the hair styling tool may enable it to alternately operate under power from the battery or batteries (i.e., stored power) while the hair styling tool is unplugged from an electrical outlet (e.g., a wall socket, etc.) and under power of an external source of electricity while the hair styling tool is plugged into the electrical outlet. Each heating element of such a rechargeable hair styling tool may be heated when the hair styling tool is plugged in and, once each heating element has been heated to a sufficient temperature, continue to function under power supplied by the battery or batteries of the rechargeable hair styling tool.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A hair styling tool, comprising:
 a tool housing defining:
 a handle; 
   a hair styling end:
 adjacent to the handle; and 
 carrying a hair styling feature; 
   a charging port:
 in the handle of the tool housing; 
   a battery:
 carried by the tool housing; 
   electronics:
 carried by the tool housing; 
 in communication with the charging port and the battery; and 
 that control operation of the hair styling feature in a manner that:
 enables heating of the hair styling feature to a target temperature by power communicated through the charging port; and 
 upon heating the hair styling feature to the target temperature and unplugging a power supply from the charging port, directs power from the battery to the hair styling feature to maintain the target temperature of the hair styling feature. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The hair styling tool of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 electrical contacts:
 in communication with the electronics and the battery; 
 carried by the tool housing on the hair styling end and oriented flush with a surface of the tool housing; and 
 accessible from an exterior of the tool housing. 
   
     
     
         3 . The hair styling system of  claim 1 , wherein the hair styling feature comprises a flat iron plate. 
     
     
         4 . The hair styling system of  claim 1 , wherein the hair styling feature comprises a crimping plate. 
     
     
         5 . The hair styling system of  claim 1 , wherein the hair styling feature comprises a curling plate. 
     
     
         6 . The hair styling system of  claim 1 , wherein the hair styling feature comprises a straightening brush. 
     
     
         7 . The hair styling system of  claim 1 , wherein the hair styling feature comprises a heated roller brush. 
     
     
         8 . The hair styling system of  claim 1 , wherein the charging port is located at an end of the handle. 
     
     
         9 . The hair styling system of  claim 1 , wherein the electronics of the hair styling tool can operate the hair styling feature while an AC/DC adapter is plugged into the charging port to charge the battery. 
     
     
         10 . A hair styling tool, comprising:
 a housing defining:
 a handle; 
 a hair styling end:
 adjacent to the handle; and 
 carrying a hair styling feature; 
 
   a battery:
 carried by the housing; and 
 electrical contacts: 
 carried by the housing; 
 accessible from an exterior of the housing; and 
 including contact surfaces that are substantially parallel to an outer surface of the housing; and 
   electronics:
 carried by the housing; 
 in communication with the battery and the electrical contacts; and 
 that control operation of the hair styling feature in a manner that:
 enables heating of the hair styling feature to a target temperature by power communicated through the charging port; and 
 upon heating the hair styling feature to the target temperature and unplugging a power supply from the charging port, directs power from the battery to the hair styling feature to maintain the target temperature of the hair styling feature. 
 
   
     
     
         11 . The hair styling tool of  claim 10 , wherein the contact surfaces of the electrical contacts are substantially flush with the outer surface of the housing. 
     
     
         12 . The hair styling tool of  claim 10 , wherein the electrical contacts are positioned on or adjacent to the hair styling end. 
     
     
         13 . The hair styling tool of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a charging port in the handle of the tool housing, the charging port in communication with the electronics.   
     
     
         14 . The hair styling tool of  claim 13 , wherein the electronics enable simultaneous charging of the battery and heating of the hair styling feature while the charging port receives power. 
     
     
         15 . A hair styling tool, comprising:
 a housing defining:
 a handle; 
 a hair styling end:
 adjacent to the handle; and 
 carrying a hair styling feature; 
 
   electronics:
 carried by the housing; and 
 that control operation of the hair styling feature; 
   a battery:
 carried by the housing; and 
 in communication with the electronics; and 
   a display on the housing and in communication with the electronics, the display having an outer periphery and including:
 a battery indicator having a same shape as the outer periphery of the display and located adjacent to the outer periphery; and 
 a temperature display surrounded by the battery indicator. 
   
     
     
         16 . The hair styling tool of  claim 15 , wherein the outer periphery of the display and the battery indicator are circular in shape. 
     
     
         17 . The hair styling tool of  claim 15 , wherein appears as a complete periphery of a shape when the battery is fully charged and as a portion of the periphery of the shape when the battery is partially charged. 
     
     
         18 . The hair styling tool of  claim 15 , wherein the temperature display displays a numeric value. 
     
     
         19 . The hair styling tool of  claim 18 , wherein the temperature display displays a target temperature. 
     
     
         20 . The hair styling tool of  claim 18 , wherein the temperature display displays the numeric value in a first state before the hair styling feature reaches the target temperature and displays the numeric value in a second state when the hair styling feature reaches the target temperature.