Coating implements with material supply – Supply container and independent applicator – With means for removing surplus material from tool
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-21
2001-08-28
Huson, Gregory L. (Department: 3751)
Coating implements with material supply
Supply container and independent applicator
With means for removing surplus material from tool
C015S206000, C015S207200, C132S218000, C401S268000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06280113
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to an application device equipped with a number of bristles for applying, to a surface such as the skin and its superficial growths, a product of liquid to pasty or pulverulent consistency, for example, a cosmetic or dermatological product. The invention also relates to an application system containing the product and equipped with such an application device.
The present invention can also relate generally to an application system having a reservoir containing the product and equipped with an open end to which a cap is removably attached. The cap acts as a handle, or element for grasping. The cap is secured to an application element, generally by way of a wand, so that when the assembly is closed, the application element remains immersed in the product.
The reservoir is, for example, intended to contain either a make-up product or dermatological product, for example, a mascara, a liquid lipstick, an eyeliner, a powder of the blusher type, nail varnish, or a hair treatment. A dose of this product is withdrawn using such an application device and is applied to the surface that is to be treated.
Many application devices of this type have been proposed in the past with a view toward applying mascara to the eyelashes, varnish to the nails, powder to the cheeks, or dye to the hair.
It is known from FR-A-2,607,372 to produce an applicator in the form of a mascara brush including bristles, each having at least one straight capillary groove at its surface running in a straight line along its entire length. The capillary grooves constitute sites which hold reserves of mascara, allowing swift and effective transfer of the mascara onto the eyelashes at the time of application with a view toward uniform application of the make-up.
In addition, it is known from FR-A-2,759,872 to produce a mascara applicator for eyelashes, comprising a handle of roughly flat profile bearing an application element having of a number of bristles embedded in a first end of the handle in an arrangement that is perpendicular to a plane passing through the handle. The bristles may have a section (or cross-section) in the shape of a cross, a semicircle, or an S. Thus, the bristles have, one or two straight grooves, respectively, at their surface.
Furthermore, FR-A-2,687,055 discloses a nail varnish applicator which has a tuft made of two types of bristles, which bristles may exhibit at least one longitudinal capillary groove.
Another source, WO 97/10374, describes a method of manufacturing twisted fibres of non-circular cross-section obtained by twisting monofilaments about their central axes. The cross-section of the monofilaments is not a cylinder of revolution. This document quotes fibres of oval or polygonal cross-section or monofilaments which have a core with at least one rib extending in a helix about the core of the filament. Such fibres are twisted after extrusion. This document describes the use of these fibres for various kinds of abrasive or cleaning brushes, or alternatively, for toothbrushes.
Although these conventional applicators are, on the whole, satisfactory, it has become desirable to have an application device which makes it possible to achieve a make-up effect which is both very heavy and very uniform, and which dispenses a greater capacity of product than the known applicators. The problem is that the above-mentioned applicators may have the drawback of losing a significant proportion of their load of product, particularly when the application element is subjected to a wringing-out operation prior to application. This drawback can be even more significant when the grooves or capillary grooves of the bristles are scraped along their entire length during this wringing-out operation.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide an applicator which, particularly after wringing-out, has a substantial reserve of product. Specifically, the present inventor has discovered that, by combining bristles which have a left-handed helical profile and bristles which have a right-handed helical profile, it is possible to obtain an applicator which has a capacity, in terms of the amount of product it can hold, which is markedly greater than the capacity of a conventional applicator.
Within the meaning of the present invention, bristles with a “left-handed” helical profile are to be understood as meaning bristles whose surface forms at least one pattern which progresses in a helix about a longitudinal axis of the bristles, with a direction of rotation which is counterclockwise, the helical pattern being viewed from the axis of the bristles.
Likewise, bristles which have a “right-handed” helical profile are to be understood as meaning bristles whose surface forms at least one pattern progressing in a helix about a longitudinal axis of the bristles with a direction of rotation in the clockwise direction, the helical pattern being viewed along the axis of the bristles.
The invention is also aimed at controlled application of the product, regardless of the region of the bristles that is brought into contact with the surface to be treated. For example, the invention could be practiced for the application of make-up to the eyelashes or eyebrows, to the lips, to the skin, or to the nails, or to a hair or dermatological treatment.
Another object of the invention is to provide an applicator which remains simple and economical to manufacture and practical to use. Furthermore, when the product to be applied is relatively fluid, the object of the invention is to gain better control over the speed at which the product flows during application.
Another object of the invention includes a mascara brush having bristles which are more heavily laden with mascara than a conventional brush, while at the same time being able to apply the make-up to the eyelashes very evenly.
The present inventor has also observed that the intersection of the lashes with a mixture of bristles with left-handed and right-handed helical profiles, with which a mascara brush is equipped, hugs the shape of all of the lashes of an eyelid. Unlike conventional brushes, a brush such as this allows the entire surface of each eyelash to be coated fully and more uniformly. Thus, when the user applies the brush to her eyelashes, she loads the base of the lashes with mascara across the entire width of the eyelid. Thereafter, by twisting the brush about its central axis, she gradually releases the mascara loaded into the profiles of the bristle over the entire surface of each eyelash, combing out the lashes and separating them. A brush such as this makes it possible to obtain a make-up effect which is simultaneously heavy, uniform, lengthening, and curling.
Yet another object of the invention is of a brush for applying a varnish to the nails and having controlled-flow properties while at the same time having a very high product-retention capacity.
It should be understood that the invention could still be practiced without performing one or more of the objects and/or advantages described above. Still other objects will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.
To achieve those and other advantages, and in accordance with the purposes of the invention, as broadly described herein, one aspect of the invention includes an application device having a stem and an application element on the stem. The application element includes a plurality of bristles. The plurality of bristles include at least one first bristle having a counterclockwise helical profile extending over at least a portion of a length of the at least one first bristle. The plurality of bristles also include at least one second bristle having a clockwise helical profile extending over at least a portion of a length of the at least one second bristle.
In another aspect of the invention, the plurality of bristles includes a plurality of first bristles having a counterclockwise, or left-handed, helical profile and a plurality of second bristles having a clockwise, or right-handed, helical profile. In a further aspect, the first bristles can include a plurality of
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Huson Gregory L.
L'Oreal
Prunner Kathleen J.
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