Dry shaver with floating cutter heads

Abstract

A dry shaver comprises a head frame mounting at least one cutter head. The cutter head includes a holder carrying an outer foil and an inner cutter which is driven to move in shearing contact with the outer foil. A spring is provided to give a biasing force to bias the inner cutter against the outer foil so as to develop a contacting pressure therebetween. The shaver includes a floating support structure for floatingly supporting the holder to the head frame so that the cutter head can be depressed relative to the head frame. The floating support structure comprises an elastic member which gives an elastic force when the cutter head is displaced relative to the head frame such that cutter head receives a floating force which is a combination of the biasing force and the elastic force and which becomes greater as the cutter head is depressed further. The elastic member develops the elastic force which gives a non-linear relation between the displacement of the cutter head and a depression load applied thereto, and that the non-linear relation has a node of changing elastic constant for displacement of the holder such that the elastic constant is greater when the cutter head is depressed further beyond the node than otherwise. Since the elastic member is only responsible for changing the elastic constant as the cutter head is depressed, the cutter head can be given a light floating force initially and be given an moderately increasing floating force thereafter, yet without resorting to an undue increase in the contacting pressure between the outer foil and the inner cutter.