Toilet – Toilet kit – Powder box and applicator
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-23
2001-05-08
Wilson, John J. (Department: 3732)
Toilet
Toilet kit
Powder box and applicator
C132S296000, C132S301000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227208
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to compacts, and in an important specific sense is particularly directed to compacts for containing cosmetics for application by an end user.
For purposes of illustration, the invention will be described herein as embodied in compacts for cosmetics, it being understood, however, that its broader aspects the invention is not limited thereto but may be embodied in compacts for containing other types of materials as well.
Many cosmetics materials, including face powders, foundations, eye shadows, blushes, and some lipsticks and mascaras, are commonly placed (for retail sale and subsequent end use) in containers known as compacts. A conventional compact includes a base formed as a tray with one or more upwardly open recesses for holding the cosmetic material in compressed or like stable condition, and a cover for overlying the base and enclosing the tray to prevent the contents from drying out, becoming contaminated, spilling, or soiling outside objects. One or more brushes, pads such as powder puffs or other implements for applying the cosmetics may also be placed within the compact between the base and cover.
In these conventional compacts, the base and cover are typically molded of plastic or formed of metal, and are hinged together in clamshell fashion along one side of the compact, a manually operable latch being provided on the other side to hold them in closed position. The compact is dimensioned to be held in the hand, and may be square, rectangular, oval, circular, or of other regular or irregular shape. To apply the contained cosmetics, the user opens the compact, draws an applying implement (or a finger) across the cosmetic material held in a recess of the base tray to pick up some of the material, and conveys it on the implement to the appropriate facial area. Very advantageously, a mirror is provided within the inwardly facing surface of the cover so as to be visible by a user when the compact is open and the user is applying the cosmetic material to the face. Thus, the user can easily and accurately apply the cosmetic when no external mirror is available. The disposition of the mirror within the compact cover is an important feature of convenience in that it enables the user to hold and position both the exposed body of cosmetic material and the mirror in one hand while employing the other hand to manipulate the applicator.
It is frequently desirable to package a compact in a manner enabling retail customers to view the contained cosmetic material at the point of sale without exposing the material to contamination such as can occur if a compact is opened at a store by a prospective purchaser. Accordingly, the compact may be sealed in a transparent plastic film, e.g., in a blister package, with the cover opened to lie flat with the base so that the contents of the compact are clearly visible through the blister film. A problem with this type of packaging, however, is that the area of the package must ordinarily be at least twice the area of the closed compact, because the base and cover lie open at 180°, or approximately at 180°, to each other; hence the packages occupy undesirably large amounts of shelf or display space.
Expedients heretofore proposed to reduce the area occupied by compacts in blister-package or like displays have included the provision of special articulated hinges connecting the cover and base to enable the cover to turn 360° into a position underlying the base. These expedients are more or less structurally complicated, adding to manufacturing cost and complexity, and may present difficulties in manipulation for the end user.
Other possible arrangements for enabling point-of-purchase viewing of the contents of a compact would require elimination of the interior cover mirror with consequent loss of its beneficial attributes of ease and convenience in application of cosmetics.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a new and improved cosmetic material container of the type comprising a compact, enabling point-of-purchase visibility of the contained cosmetic in a manner that avoids the above-discussed difficulties. A particular object is to provide such a container enabling the cosmetic material to be visible at the point of purchase, and at the same time providing a mirror carried on the lid or cover of the compact and facing inwardly so that the user can conveniently view the mirror during application of the contained cosmetic.
To these and other ends, the present invention in a first aspect broadly contemplates the provision of a cosmetics container kit comprising a compact including a base for containing a quantity of cosmetic material and a transparent cover through which the contained cosmetic material can be viewed, and an insert member having a specularly reflective surface and manually mountable within the cover by a user to provide an inwardly-facing mirror for the compact.
Further in accordance with the invention, the insert member is opaque and advantageously has a decorative surface opposed to the reflective surface so as to be visible through the cover when the insert member is mounted within the cover. The insert member can be removably mountable within the cover, and the kit may include a plurality of the insert members, alternatively mountable within the cover and each having a specularly reflective surface and a decorative surface opposed thereto, the decorative surfaces of different insert members differing in appearance from each other. In addition, the kit may include an applicator positionable within the compact between the insert member and the contained cosmetic material when the insert member is mounted in the cover.
In particular, the invention is preferably embodied in a container for cosmetics comprising a compact having an exterior and an interior and including a base and a cover connected together in a manner permitting relative movement of the base and cover to open and close the compact, the base comprising a tray opening toward the interior of the compact for holding a quantity of the cosmetic material, the cover being transparent to enable the quantity of cosmetic material to be viewed therethrough when the compact is closed, and the cover having a surface facing the interior of the compact; an insert member, initially separate from the cover and base, having opposed extended surfaces and dimensioned to fit within the cover against the interior-facing surface thereof in overlying relation to a major portion of the latter cover surface, one of the extended surfaces of the insert member being specularly reflective, the insert member being manually fittable within the cover by a user; and retaining structure, including structure formed on the cover, providing snap-fitting interengagement between the insert member and the cover to hold the insert member securely within the cover when the insert member is manually fitted within the cover, with the specularly reflective surface facing the interior of the compact. Thereby, the specularly reflective surface constitutes a mirror, in the cover of the compact, visible when the compact is open to assist a user in the application of the contained cosmetic material. As herein used, the term “snap-fitting” embraces press-fitting and/or friction-fitting engagement securing elements (such as molded plastic elements) together when one is pressed or pushed into the other, such engagement being provided by appropriately shaped interfitting or interlocking structures molded integrally in one or both of the elements.
Advantageously, as a particular feature of the invention in currently preferred embodiments, the insert member has a peripheral edge and the retaining structure comprises projections formed integrally in the cover for snap-fittedly engaging the peripheral edge of the insert member.
In the container of the invention, the transparency of the cover enables point-of-purchase viewing of the contents of the compact with the compact closed (and thus occupying minimal shelf or counter area). Typically or c
Cooper & Dunham LLP
Doan Robyn Kieu
LIR-USA Manufacturing Co., Inc.
Wilson John J.
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