Blade set, hair cutting appliance, and related manufacturing method

1. A stationary blade for a blade set of a hair cutting appliance, said blade set being arranged to be moved through hair in a moving direction to cut hair, said stationary blade comprising:

a first wall portion arranged to serve as a skin facing wall when in operation,

a second wall portion at least partially offset from the first wall portion, such that the first wall portion and the second wall portion define therebetween a guide slot arranged to receive a movable cutter blade,

at least one toothed leading edge jointly formed by the first wall portion and the second wall portion,

wherein the at least one toothed leading edge comprises a plurality of teeth,

wherein the first wall portion and the second wall portion are connected at a frontal end of the at least one leading edge, thereby forming tips of the teeth,

wherein the stationary blade is an integrally formed metal-plastic composite stationary blade,

wherein the first wall portion is at least partially made from metal material, and

wherein the second wall portion is at least partially made from plastic material.

2. The stationary blade as claimed in claim 1 , comprising a metal component, particularly a sheet metal insert, and a plastic component bonded to the metal component, wherein at least a central portion of the first wall portion.

3. The stationary blade as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the metal component further comprises tooth stem portions comprising cutting edges that are configured to cooperate with cutting edges of respective teeth of the movable cutter blade to cut hairs that are trapped therebetween when in operation.

4. The stationary blade as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the metal component comprises at least one anchoring element, particularly at least one positive-fit anchoring element extending from a respective tooth stem portion, wherein the plastic component and the metal component are connected at the at least one anchoring element.

5. The stationary blade as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the at least one anchoring element is inclined with respect to a top surface of the first wall portion, particularly rearwardly bended.

6. The stationary blade as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the at least one anchoring element is T-shaped, U-shaped or O-shaped, particularly when viewed from the top.

7. The stationary blade as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the at least one anchoring element is rearwardly offset from a top surface of the first wall portion.

8. The stationary blade as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the tips of the teeth are formed by the plastic component, wherein the plastic component further engages the positive-fit anchoring elements at a bonding area between the tooth stem portions of the metal component and the tips of the teeth.

9. The stationary blade as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the plastic component and the metal component form an integrally formed part selected from the group consisting of insert-molded part, outsert-molded part and overmolded part.

10. The stationary blade as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the teeth of the at least one toothed leading edge comprise, when viewed in a cross-sectional plane perpendicular to the lateral direction (Y), a substantially U-shaped form comprising a first leg at the first wall portion and a second leg at the second wall portion, wherein the first leg and the second leg merge into one another at the tooth tips.

11. A blade set for a hair cutting appliance, said blade set being arranged to be moved through hair in a moving direction to cut hair, said blade set comprising:

a stationary blade as claimed in claim 1 , and

a movable cutter blade comprising at least one toothed leading edge, said movable cutter blade being movably arranged within the guide slot defined by the stationary blade, such that, upon relative motion between the movable cutter blade and the stationary blade, the at least one toothed leading edge of the movable cutter blade cooperates with corresponding teeth of the stationary blade to enable cutting of hair caught therebetween in a cutting action.

12. A method of manufacturing a metal-plastic composite stationary blade of a blade set for a hair cutting appliance, comprising the following steps:

providing a metal component, particularly a sheet metal component, at least substantially forming a central portion of a first wall portion,

providing a mold, particularly an injection mold, the mold defining a shape of a plastic component,

arranging the metal component in the mold,

providing a substitute component in the mold, the substitute component being configured to keep clear a to-be-formed guide slot of the stationary blade when molding,

forming, particularly injection molding, the plastic component,

wherein the plastic component and the metal component define a first wall portion and a second wall portion, the first wall portion being arranged to serve as a skin facing wall when in operation, the second wall portion being at least partially offset from the first wall portion, such that the first wall portion and the second wall portion define therebetween the guide slot for a movable cutting blade,

wherein the first wall portion and the second wall portion jointly form at least one toothed leading edge comprising a plurality of teeth, and

wherein the first wall portion and the second wall portion are connected at a frontal end of the at least one leading edge, thereby forming tips of the teeth, and

removing the substitute component from the metal-plastic composite stationary blade.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the step of providing the substitute component in the mold comprises at least one of the following steps:

providing at least one lateral slide in the mold that defines the guide slot for the movable cutter blade, and

arranging a separate replacement dummy component in the mold, particularly a reusable dummy component, wherein the dummy component is removed from the metal-plastic composite stationary blade outside the mold.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12 , further comprising:

machining the metal component,

wherein machining the metal component comprises at least one of forming tooth stem portions and forming anchoring elements at the metal component, and

wherein the step of machining the metal component further comprises at least one process selected from the group consisting of:

cutting, particularly laser cutting,

etching, particularly electrochemical etching,

stamping,

coining,

eroding, particularly wire-eroding, and combinations thereof.

15. A method of manufacturing a blade set for a hair cutting appliance, comprising the following steps:

manufacturing a stationary blade in accordance with the method as claimed in claim 12 ,

providing a movable cutter blade comprising at least one toothed leading edge arranged to cooperate with at least one respective toothed leading edge of the stationary blade; and

inserting the movable cutter blade into the guide slot of the stationary blade, particularly feeding the movable cutting blade through a lateral opening of the stationary blade.