Coating implements with material supply – Supply container and independent applicator – With means for removing surplus material from tool
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-13
2001-08-07
Walczak, David J. (Department: 3751)
Coating implements with material supply
Supply container and independent applicator
With means for removing surplus material from tool
C401S127000, C401S126000, C401S129000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270273
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a liquid cosmetic container for mascara, eyeliner, lip-gloss or the like. More particularly, it relates to a liquid cosmetic container provided with an applicator, such as a brush, which is freely insertable and retractable and a remover which has an aperture to remove excess cosmetics adhered to the applicator. The liquid cosmetic container can regulate the amount of cosmetics adhered to the applicator by the regulation of the diameter of the aperture of the remover.
BACKGROUND ART
Many kinds of this type of liquid cosmetic containers which can vary the amount of cosmetics to be removed are known in the art. Usually such a container has structure which can vary the degree of aperture of a remover by the vertical movement of an aperture regulation part to be in contact with the remover in the container. However this type of liquid cosmetic container has the disadvantage that the aperture regulation part moves and the degree of aperture unexpectedly varies due to torque applied to the neck when putting or removing the cap.
A similar application for a type of container which varies the degree of aperture of the remover by the tip of an aperture-regulating ring entails the same problem that when putting the cap, the aperture-regulating ring rotates by the force of tightening the cap or at the final tightening stage.
The present invention has an object of providing a liquid cosmetic container which has a remover with a variable aperture to remove excess cosmetics adhered to the applicator and which can regulate the amount of cosmetics adhered to the applicator. Since the liquid cosmetic container of the present invention has simple structure and a small outer diameter and the aperture-regulating ring does not rotate when a user puts the cap on the container in normal use, it has superior design and userfriendliness, as well as good appearance and applicability to additive decoration.
Furthermore, a liquid cosmetic container is proposed which has a reliable mechanism for determining the limits (opening and closing limits) of aperture regulation of the remover.
Furthermore a liquid cosmetic container is proposed which surely secures the remover and has superior airtightness.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above object, the liquid cosmetic container of the present invention comprises a container main body in which liquid cosmetics are contained, a cap which closes an aperture of the container, and a bar shaped applicator which is freely insertable into and retractable from the container main body and which is fixed to the cap. The liquid cosmetic container further comprises, in the container main body, a remover which is formed by a resilient body having a central aperture and which strokes the outer periphery of the bar shaped applicator using the aperture, an aperture-regulating ring which rotates freely about the rotational axis on an upper part of the container main body, and a neck which is movable in an axial direction of the container main body in response to the rotation of the aperture-regulating ring and which has an engaging part with the cap. The liquid cosmetic container is adapted to vary the diameter of the central aperture of the remover according to the rotational angle of the aperture-regulating ring.
Preferably the liquid cosmetic container of the present invention comprises the above neck which can slide freely in the vertical direction and which cannot rotate with respect to the main body, and provides an aperture regulation section at a lower end section of the neck. The neck is moved in an axial direction due to the spiral engagement of the neck with the aperture-regulating ring. This preferably creates pressure of the aperture regulation section on the remover and the diameter of the central aperture of the remover is varied.
In other words, there is no relative rotation between the neck and the main body and even if torque is applied when the cap is engaged with the neck, the neck will not rotate with respect to the container main body, and therefore a state of the aperture regulated will not vary.
The liquid cosmetic container of the present invention preferably comprises a means for limiting the relative rotation of the aperture-regulating ring and the container main body to a predetermined range. In the liquid cosmetic container of the present invention, the diameter of the central aperture is determined by the position of the neck in an axial direction. That position is determined by the angle of rotation of the aperture-regulating ring. Therefore in order to determine the opening and closing limits, there are a method of limiting the movement of the neck in the axial direction and a method of limiting the rotational angle of the aperture-regulating ring. In the former, depending on the structure of the aperture regulating mechanism, there is a danger that when the user applies a force and turns the aperture-regulating ring being in the regulated limiting range, a separating force may be applied to the composite section of the mechanism due to the force (thrust force) in the axial direction applied to the neck. On the other hand, there is no such danger as regards the method of limiting the rotational angle of the aperture-regulating ring.
In the liquid cosmetic container of the present invention, the aperture-regulating ring engages with an upper outer circumference of the container main body. A rotation-limiting piece extends from the lower end of the aperture-regulating ring. A rotation-limiting projection is provided on an outer face of the container main body which is under the engagement surface of the aperture-regulating ring. It is preferable that the rotation of the aperture-regulating ring is regulated by the contact of the rotation-limiting piece with the rotation-limiting projection.
In this way, it is possible to surely determine a rotational limit of the aperture-regulating ring. Furthermore manufacture and assembly of components is easy and the user can understand easily whether the aperture-regulating ring is at the rotational limit by viewing the position of an aperture regulation piece.
The actual liquid cosmetic container of the present invention comprises a container main body into which liquid cosmetics are contained, a bar shaped applicator which is freely insertable into and retractable from the container main body, a cap which closes an aperture of the container and which is fixed to the applicator, a neck which is disposed on the top of the container main body and which has an engaging section with the cap, a remover, disposed on the top of the container main body and comprised of a resilient member having a central aperture, for stroking the outer periphery of the bar shaped applicator by means of the aperture, an aperture regulation section, extending from a lower section of the neck, which abuts with the remover and varies the diameter of the central aperture, and an aperture-regulating ring which is rotatably engaged with the container main body and threadably engaged with the neck. A synchronous engagement section is provided between the container main body and the neck in order for the container main body and the neck to freely slide in a vertical direction and to be synchronously engaged with each other. The neck and the aperture regulation section are moved vertically by the rotation of the aperture-regulating ring with respect to the container main body and thus the degree of aperture of the central aperture of the remover is varied.
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Nguyen Tuan
Rabin & Champagne, P.C.
Suzuno Kasei Kabushiki Kaisha
Walczak David J.
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