Coating implements with material supply – Solid material for rubbing contact or support therefor – Including means to advance material
Reexamination Certificate
1994-12-12
2001-11-06
Walczak, David J. (Department: 3751)
Coating implements with material supply
Solid material for rubbing contact or support therefor
Including means to advance material
C401S080000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06312179
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a device for applying a pasty product, particularly a cosmetic product such as lipstick, presented in the form of a stick.
The device envisaged by the invention is of the sort of those which comprise:
a tubular element with a slideway in which is mounted so that it can slide a cup intended to receive the stick of product and including at least one stub engaged in a slideway;
a cylindrical casing in the wall of which there is provided at least one helical slot, this casing being fitted tightly onto the tubular element and being held on the latter by axial abutment means, the stub of the cup being engaged in a slot of the casing;
and an outer sleeve, particularly a metal one, in which the casing is immobilized, while the tubular element can turn relative to the said casing and sleeve,
flexible bearing means being provided between the two components consisting of the casing and the tubular element, these bearing means including at least one tongue, which is flexible in the radial direction, provided on one of the two components and designed to interact with a bearing surface which is inclined relative to the axis of the tubular element, provided on the other component.
A device of this sort is known especially from
FIG. 8
of U.S. Pat. No. 3,515,493. However, the solution proposed by this document poses problems of practical implementation, because the radial space left to the flexible tongue for producing it and deforming it is small between the outer sleeve and the tubular element. This space barely corresponds to the radial depth of the helical slot, which depth is slight.
EP-A-0,491,579 shows, especially in
FIG. 5
, a device which makes it possible to take up play, essentially in the radial direction, between the various elements of the mechanism and, simultaneously, a smooth operation during the rotation of the tubular element with a slideway relative to the cylindrical casing and to the metal sleeve. However, the solution proposed by this document does not make it possible to obtain satisfactory compensation for the play in the longitudinal direction.
Above all, the object of the invention is to provide a device of the sort previously defined which is relatively simple to produce, especially as regards the molding and demolding operations, and in which the flexible bearing means can act with sufficient freedom to provide good elastic self-centering and an anti-vibration effect. The stick of pasty product is then better protected against shocks.
According to the invention, a device for applying a pasty product, particularly a cosmetic product such as lipstick, presented in the form of a stick, of the sort defined previously, is characterized in that the flexible bearing means consisting of the tongue or tongues and the inclined bearing surface are situated, in the axial direction, beyond the lower end of the outer sleeve.
The bearing surface may be frustoconical.
As a variant, the bearing surface is formed of a surface which is outwardly concave.
Advantageously, the maximum outer diameter of all these flexible bearing means is substantially equal to the outer diameter of the said sleeve.
Under these conditions, sufficient radial space is available to accommodate the flexible bearing means, whose effectiveness is thereby improved, and whose manufacture is substantially facilitated, especially as regards the molding and demolding operations.
Preferably, at least two diametrically opposed elastic tongues are designed to interact with the inclined-bearing surface.
According to a first possibility, the inclined bearing surface is a frustoconical surface or equivalent provided on the base of the tubular element, while the tongue or tongues are provided on the cylindrical casing. The frustoconical surface may point such that its large diameter is situated at the bottom, the tongue or tongues being provided at the bottom of the casing and being radially offset outwards relative to the casing so that an annular shoulder is formed at the root of the tongues, on the outer surface of the casing. The said shoulder advantageously constitutes an axial abutment for the outer sleeve.
As a variant, the frustoconical surface provided on the base points so as to have its large diameter at the top and this surface is concave, while the tongue or tongues provided at the bottom of the casing are urged radially inwards by the said frustoconical surface.
The internal face of the tongues provided at the bottom of the cylindrical casing is preferably situated substantially on the same cylindrical surface as the bottom of the helical slot.
According to another possibility, the frustoconical surface pointing outwards or inwards is provided at the bottom of the casing equipped with the helical slot, while the tongue or tongues are provided on the base of the tubular element and point upwards so as to interact outwards or inwards with the abovementioned frustoconical surface.
The inclined bearing surface may constitute part of a groove or of a rib with a transverse section in the form of a V or of an arc of a curve, with which a part of conjugate shape of the or of each tongue interacts.
The tongues may have a radial thickness which varies in the axial direction, this dimension diminishing in the direction of the free end of the tongue.
The tongues may have a curved shape, both as regards their contour and their profile lengthways in a plane passing through the axis of the device.
The tongues may include, at their ends, means making it possible to improve sliding and to diminish friction, particularly beads or recesses.
Each of the tongues may extend from a root to a free end, the root of the tongues having a same axial position.
The bottom of each slit bounding a fin preferably has a rounded shape.
Self-centering takes place in the longitudinal direction and in the radial direction.
The substance used for the cylindrical casing including the helical slot or slots is chosen from among the group of polystyrenes, polyolefins, polyacetals, derivatives of polytetrafluoroethylene and polyesters.
The molded substance of the tubular element is preferably chosen from among the group of polyolefins, polystyrenes, cellulose acetates and propionates, vinyl polymers, polyacetals and derivatives of polytetrafluoroethylene.
The substance used for molding the tubular element on the one hand, and/or the cylindrical casing equipped with the helical slot, on the other hand, preferably includes from 0.2 to 20% of a sliding agent such as boron nitride, molybdenum disulphide, graphite or silicones.
According to another characteristic of the invention which may be used independently or in combination with the characteristics set out hereinabove, a device for applying a pasty product, particularly a cosmetic product such as lipstick, presented in the form of a stick, of the sort defined previously, is characterized in that the tubular element with a slideway includes at least one relatively elastic strip, bounded by two longitudinal slits which are substantially parallel to the axis of the tubular element, this strip being attached at its narrow ends to the tubular element, while the cup and/or the strip includes at least one radially-projecting external and/or internal protuberance, designed to bear against the surface of the component with which it interacts, the strip exerting an elastic force on the said cup so as to take up the transverse play and maintain contact between the cup and a part of the internal surface of the tubular element.
Advantageously, the longitudinal profile of the internal surface of the strip is inwardly convex.
The tubular element with a slideway may include a closed bottom designed to reinforce its rigidity and facilitate its fastening, particularly by bonding, to a base piece.
The base of the tubular element may include, underneath the flexible bearing means, radially projecting annular discs, forming boss beading, designed to fasten the tubular element into a base piece.
The base of the tubular element may include at least one elastic protuberance designed to project ra
L'Oreal
Walczak David J.
Young & Thompson
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