Toilet – Toilet kit – Powder box and applicator
Reissue Patent
2001-02-02
2004-01-27
Robert, Eduardo C. (Department: 3732)
Toilet
Toilet kit
Powder box and applicator
C132S307000
Reissue Patent
active
RE038398
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a case for packaging and dispensing a powdery or semi-fluid product. This product is, in particular, a powder for a care personal or make-up product for the skin or for the hair, and more especially, a powder, cheek blusher or eyeshadow, or a make-up foundation.
2. Discussion of the Background
Related cases for make-up powder comprise a rigid body closed by a lid, which case accommodates a vertically movable receptacle or rigid pan containing the powder and a screen capable of allowing the powder to pass. These cases comprise, moreover, an applicator element such as a puff disposed on the screen. A mechanical pressure exerted by the puff on the screen makes it possible to take up a certain quantity of powder.
Unfortunately, because of the uncontrollable mobility of the screen in this type of case, the powder is in permanent contact with the screen, in particular when the case is moved or shaken when in its closed position, which frequently happens when the case is carried in a handbag or in a traveling case. This permanent contact between the powder and the screen produces a considerable emergence of powder coming to impregnate or permanently overload the puff. Thus when the user opens the case to make herself up, the surplus powder deposited on the puff escapes, fouling the whole case and the surrounding space. Such a case thus has the drawback of a bad seal with respect to the powder.
Moreover, related powder compacts similar to those described above, comprise furthermore a damping and/or aerating means. Such a case is, in particular, described in FR-A-2719202. The damping and/or aerating means has the purpose of decompacting and/or aerating the powder between successive take-up operations.
In this type of case, the powder is permanently acted on by the damping and/or aerating means and remains constantly in contact with the screen, in particular, in the closed position when the case is shaken. Moreover, the forced ventilation of the powder when the case is shaken promotes its emergence from the receptacle. This case, therefore, has the same disadvantages of an imperfect seal with respect to the powder.
Furthermore, the above types of cases do not permit the storage and dispensing of semi-fluid products. Indeed, since such products readily flow out under their own weight they would escape via the screen from the receptacle in too large a quantity. This would result in too heavy an impregnation of the applicator element by the product, rendering it unusable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,620 describes an applicator case for a powdery product wherein the emergence of the product is promoted by having a bellows-type device available beneath the reserve of the product, allowing pressurized air to be injected in contact with the powder. The powder is contained in a reservoir with a fixed volume. Such devices also pose sealing problems during their carriage, as well as problems concerning accuracy of the dosing of the powder. However, these problems are not critical for the application envisaged in that document, that is to say, the application of a charcoal or maize starch-type powder before a surface is painted.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,919,703 describes a case in which there is inserted a powder reservoir, taking the form of deformable or pliable structure whose top forms a screen through which the product is forced to emerge under the effect of pressure exerted on the side remote from the screen with a view to its dispensing by means of a puff-type element. The drawback of such a device lies mainly in the fact that the screen is supported by a deformable or pliable structure and is therefore not mounted at a fixed height in the case. There does indeed arise the problem of the accurate dosing of the product on the puff, inasmuch as the screen could give way under the effect of pressure exerted by means of the puff. Moreover, during the carriage of such a case, the sizeable free space which may exist between the screen and the puff allows the powdery product to pass through the screen, thus unduly impregnating the applicator and producing dirty marks during the opening of the case.
Thus there remains the need for a packaging and dispensing case for a powdery or semifluid product, which allows a sufficient quantity of the product to be taken up, without an excessive emergence of the product during transport and/or storage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The Applicant has surprisingly found that a case with a rigid body and a flexible bottom, associated with a fixed screen, allow the above drawbacks to be remedied. With such a confirmation, the product is brought to pass through the meshes of the screen only when a force is exerted on the flexible bottom, since pressure applied to the screen does not in fact produce any appreciable action on the axial position of the screen. On the other hand, the use can control perfectly the quantity taken up by the applicator inasmuch as the screen cannot give way under the effect of a force exerted perpendicularly to its surface by means of an applicator or exerted directly with the fingers.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a case for the packaging and dispensing of at least one powdery or semifluid product, comprising a rigid body and a flexible bottom, delimiting with the body at least one variable volume compartment containing the product and at least one screen on the side remote from the flexible bottom. The screen is capable of allowing the product to pass during pressure on the flexible bottom and is fixedly mounted along the axis of the case and inside the case.
The variable volume compartment can be defined by the walls of the body themselves or else by the walls of a receptacle. Thus in an advantageous way, the body comprises an emergent opening in which there is accommodated a receptacle containing the product, the soft bottom then forming part of the receptacle. This receptacle is advantageously fixedly mounted relative to the body of the case.
Advantageously, the flexible bottom, the opening and the variable volume compartment have cross-sections that are substantially identical and aligned along an axis X. This characteristic makes it possible to optimize the emptying of the compartment with a variable volume by allowing pressure to be applied over substantially the whole surface of the bottom of the compartment. This is, in particular, not the case in U.S. Pat. No. 2,919,703 discussed above, where the opening coincides only with a central portion of the bottom of the reservoir.
Advantageously, the screen is accommodated in the variable volume compartment. However, it may be accommodated above the compartment. Preferably, it is situated at a distance from the free surface of the product so as to restrict the fortuitous emergence of the product.
The body of the case of the present invention is constituted by a rigid, that is to say a non-deformable, material and in particular a material chosen from plastic materials, glass wood, composite materials, and combinations thereof. It may take any possible shape and the receptacle may have a shape which may or may not be adapted to that of the hole of the body of the case.
The present invention applies to any kind of powdery or semi-fluid product, and more especially to make-up and/or skin care products. Thus the products may take the form of a powder of a granulometric size ranging from 1 &mgr;m to 100 &mgr;m, and preferably ranging from 6 &mgr;m to 20 &mgr;m. It may also take the form of a semi-fluid product having a viscosity ranging from 10
−2
Pa·s to 0.15 Pa·s, and preferably from 5×10
−2
to 0.12 Pa·s, that is to say, 10 to 150 times the viscosity of water.
The case of the present invention has the advantage that it allows an easy and accurate dosing of the product to be taken up without compressing it, while ensuring an excellent seal with respect to the product. This seal is, in particular, due to the rigid body and fixed screen. The fixing of the screen is ensured by any known
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP
L'Oreal (S.A.)
Robert Eduardo C.
LandOfFree
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