Hairdryer
A hair dryer , hair dryer or hair dryer (as a registered word / figurative mark) or hair dryer (also hot air shower ) is an electrical device that is primarily used to dry damp hair by ventilating the hair strongly and heating the air beforehand so that it is larger Can absorb amounts of water (see humidity ).
history
In 1890, the Frenchman Alexandre Godefroy had the forerunner of a hair dryer in his hair salon in Paris. Around 1900 the German company AEG produced an electric hairdryer. In 1911, Gabriel Kazanjian registered a patent for a hair dryer in the United States. In 1908, the Sanitas company brought out the first hair dryer under the model name Foen , and in January 1909 it was entered in the trademark register . The name has become synonymous with this type of device. The FOEN brand was taken over by AEG in 1957, which had previously advertised with the term hot air shower. It is often mistakenly assumed that AEG is the originator of the brand.
The device was originally used not only for drying hair, but also for treating neuralgic and rheumatic diseases.
In France in 1926 the engineer Léon Thouillet brought out the first hair dryer at Calor . In the 1950s, the first hair dryers were made from plastic. In the decades that followed, it was downsized in several steps so that the devices became lighter, more efficient and more manageable. Jean Mantelet , engineer at Moulinex , introduced the pistol shape. In the last few decades the hairdryer has become a design object.
In 1965 General Electric developed and marketed the "Medaillon Hair Dryer", a portable hair dryer in which the four-stage hot air unit ("Instant Heat") was worn with a belt on the side of the hip.
The words Fön , Foen and Föhn
The term "Fön" is derived from the Föhn (foehn wind).
On January 22, 1909, the Sanitas company registered the name Fön in the trademark register - the word Föhn cannot be protected. After Sanitas was taken over by AEG in 1957 , only AEG products Fön could be mentioned. The other manufacturers had to call their products hair dryers .
The word and figurative mark “ Foen ” in hollow letters and the word mark “FOEN” are registered to the Electrolux Rothenburg GmbH Factory and Development in Nuremberg, which is why only this company has the right to label its products with this name.
Before the reform of the German orthography in 1996 , the usual name for hair dryers was written just like the brand name “Fön”, so that the wind (hair dryer), which is written with an h , could be distinguished from it. In 1996 the spelling to be used for the hair dryer was changed to “Föhn” - the word mark “Fön” is of course unchanged.
functionality
With a fan (formerly a radial fan, today an axial fan; motor, formerly shaded pole motor , today permanent magnet direct current motor ), air is passed over heating wires through which electricity flows. The coils used to be on ceramic carriers and are now wound on insulating mica plates . The warm air generated in this way can absorb a lot of water and thereby dry hair.
Often an inexpensive low-voltage DC motor is used, fed via rectifier diodes from a tap on the heating coil. Such devices cannot deliver cold air.
Hair dryers have an excess temperature protection in the area of the heating coil to switch off the device if the blower fails or the suction or discharge opening is blocked.
Some manufacturers offer models with a built-in ionizer , which should have an antistatic effect on the hair. However, a comparison by Stiftung Warentest showed that the hair dryers advertised with an ionizer did not show any significant improvement in terms of the static charge on hair compared with conventional models.
Some models have a lint filter in front of the fan. This has to be cleaned from time to time, as otherwise the hair dryer could be damaged and / or there would be too little and too hot air.
hazards
Blow-drying that is too hot can damage your hair.
Hot parts of a blow dryer can cause burns to bare skin.
Mains voltage devices in damp rooms, mainly hair dryers, cause some fatal electrical accidents every year in Germany . Suicides with hairdryers in the bathtub are more common . The device does not have to be switched on for this. Residual current circuit breakers protect quite reliably, but have not yet been retrofitted in many old buildings.
Hood dryer
A drying hood is an electric hot air device for drying hair, in which a bell-shaped part, reminiscent of a hood , from which the hot air flows out, is placed over the head. The device hangs on a stand or (with permanently installed dryer hoods in a hairdressing salon) on a wall arm. Another design that is now the most widespread for domestic use is a hood made of plastic film that can be pulled over the head and into which warm air is blown by an attached fan.
Others
Drying your hair with a towel beforehand shortens the duration of the blow dryer and thereby significantly reduces energy consumption.
A tool with the same functional principle, but usually a significantly higher working temperature and a different purpose, is the hot air gun .
literature
- Andreas Holfeld, Claus Lochner: Safety of hair dryers. 2nd updated edition. Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Dortmund 2014 ( PDF ).
Web links
- The hair dryer - cold! Hot! Out! Indispensable for every home . In: Energiegeschichte.de (PDF)
- Hair dryer, hair dryer or hair dryer . In: EsteticaMagazine.de, December 18, 2017
- "The little story" ... of the hair dryer ( Memento from July 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ). In: Arte.tv , January 12, 2007
- Literature on hair dryers in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Information on the "Foen" trademark in the register of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA)
- ↑ a b Information on the Union trademark number 000268003 for "FOEN" in the register of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA)
- ↑ Freizeitfreunde.de ( Memento from April 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Hair dryer, blow dryer or blow dryer. In: EsteticaMagazine.de. December 18, 2017, accessed December 21, 2019 .
- ↑ Hot air shower . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon. 6th edition. Volume 5. Leipzig 1906, p. 311.
- ↑ The little story ... of the hair dryer. ( Memento from July 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Arte TV
- ^ GE advertising from 1965 and 1966
- ↑ January 22, 2009 - 100 years ago: "Fön" entered in the trademark register. In: WDR.de. January 22, 2009, accessed December 21, 2019 .
- ↑ Entry on "Fön / Föhn" in Julian von Heyl's website, accessed on June 18, 2020
- ↑ Hair dryer: cheap hair dryer burns in the test. Stiftung Warentest, October 2, 2009
- ↑ Andreas Holfeld, Claus Lochner: Safety of hair dryers . BAuA , Dortmund / Berlin / Dresden 2014.
- ↑ Hubert Bachl, Gottfried Biegelmeier, Franz Taubkorb: Death in the bathtub (1) (2) . elektro.net 23 & 24/2002.
- ^ Markus Berneburg, Markus Tripp ( TÜV Hessen ): Electricity accidents - limits of additional protection by RCD. Lecture for the Kassel District Association of the VDE on November 20, 2014.