Toilet – Hair device – Eyelash or eyebrow
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-07
2003-01-07
Manahan, Todd E. (Department: 3732)
Toilet
Hair device
Eyelash or eyebrow
C401S122000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06502584
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to a material applicator and rod, more especially to an applicator and rod for a cosmetics material, for example, mascara or hair dye, and to an assembly comprising the applicator.
The assembly comprising the applicator normally comprises a container for the cosmetic, a closure cap attached by the rod to the applicator and located within the container a wiper plug or stripper having an orifice which, as the rod and applicator are withdrawn from the container, wipes the cosmetic from the rod and removes excess material from the applicator, leaving a desired quantity of material on the applicator.
Different designs of wiper have been proposed to try to ensure that the amount and distribution of material over the applicator are as required to give the desired effect on application. See for example, GB-A-2 097 662, GB-A-2312617 and EP-A-900 534. The wiper is required to remove material from the rod and excess material from the edge of the applicator and also desirably to remove any drop or thread of material from the free end of the applicator. The wiper may also control the quantity of material within the applicator when, for example, as is frequently the case with a mascara applicator, the applicator is a brush in which the mascara lies on, between and sometimes within the fibres of the bristles. Those wipers may comprise resilient fingers of a plastics or rubber material which extend inward from the material defining the orifice of the wiper. As the rod and applicator are withdrawn from the container the orifice of the wiper and/or the fingers, usually both, wipe material from the rod and then the applicator and finally the fingers close in and remove the drop or thread of material that is present at the end of the applicator.
While the wiper devices used are at least partially effective, they are still less than satisfactory. One problem they have is that they do not consistently remove the drop or thread of material from the free end of the applicator. A second problem that they have is that they tend to lose effectiveness over time and/or as a result of use. For example, where a wiper is of the type having resilient fingers, the relaxed diameter of the material defining the orifice is itself designed to be slightly less than the diameter of the rod, and the fingers extend inward from there. When the assembly is in its closed storage position, the material of the fingers is substantially deformed from its equilibrium configuration by the rod. The fingers have a tendency to set in the deformed position. In International Application WO 95/26147 it is proposed to alleviate this by providing the rod with an annular groove in the location contacted by the fingers. It has nonetheless been found that following prolonged storage the fingers do not close sufficiently onto the applicator as it is withdrawn through the wiper.
This tendency of the fingers to set in the deformed position (or, using other terminology, to lose their memory) is a significant disadvantage in that it restricts the shelf-life of the product and may inconvenience an infrequent user of a particular applicator unit.
Shorter fingers, as described in EP-A-900534, do appear to provide improved effectiveness over a longer period. They do not, however, eliminate the problem.
In DE-A-19744181 an applicator assembly is described which includes an applicator rod having a groove, in which the fingers of a wiper device, formed from a rubber type material, rest when the assembly is closed. The groove or stepped portion is formed by a narrowing of the rod via a sloping face to a straight sided narrow portion and then a broadening via a sloping face to its original width. In the closed position the rubber fingers rest with their tips in the groove. As the applicator rod is drawn through the wiper, the rubber fingers move against the broadening sloping side and their tips are turned inwards. The turned in tips of the fingers exert a greater wiping force on the rod and applicator. The assembly does, however, have the disadvantage that the turning in of the fingers may cause the material of the wiper to split as the rod is drawn through. A wiper made of a natural or synthetic rubber material may withstand the extra tension caused but the wiper fails if made from a thermoplastics type material.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides an applicator and rod suitable for use in an applicator assembly for applying a viscous material, the assembly comprising the applicator, the rod and a container, a closure means and a wiper device located within the container through which, in use, the rod and applicator may be drawn, the rod and the applicator each having a proximal end and a distal end, the distal end of the rod carrying the applicator by the latter's proximal end, and wherein (a) the rod has a constriction, the cross-sectional area of the rod between the part of the constriction having the smallest cross-sectional area and the distal end being less than that of the rod the proximal side of the constriction and the cross-sectional area of that part of the rod forming the distal side of the constriction being greater than the smallest cross-sectional area of the constriction or (b) the distal end of the rod tapers toward the applicator, there being positioned on the proximal end of the applicator a stop member, the cross-sectional area of the stop member being less than that of the rod on the proximal side of the tapered part but greater than the smallest cross-sectional area of the tapered part of the rod and, if there is any part of the applicator between the distal end of the rod and the stop member, greater than that part or (c) the proximal end of the rod has a greater cross-section than that of its distal end, the rod tapering from its greater cross-section to its lesser cross-section at a region of the rod closer to the proximal end than to the distal end, there being positioned on the proximal end of the applicator a stop member, the cross-sectional area of the stop member being less than that of the rod at the proximal end but greater than that of the rod on the distal side of the taper and, if there is any part of the applicator between the distal end of the rod and the stop member, greater than that part.
In a second aspect the invention provides a material applicator assembly comprising an applicator and rod according to the first aspect of the invention.
In a third aspect the invention provides a material applicator assembly comprising a container for a viscous material, a closure member, an applicator and rod according to the first aspect of the invention, the applicator being attached to the closure member by the rod, and, located within the container, a wiper device comprising a plurality of resilient fingers, advantageously positioned about the rod.
Advantageously, in embodiment (c) of the first aspect, the part of the rod with the taper is enclosed by the fingers of the wiper when the container is closed by the closure member.
The invention provides in a fourth aspect the use in a material applicator assembly comprising a wiper device comprising a plurality of resilient fingers and a rod carrying an applicator, of (a) a constriction in the rod to cause the resilient fingers of the wiper device to turn inward toward the rod as the rod is drawn through the wiper device and a cross-sectional area of the rod between the part of the constriction having the smallest cross-sectional area and the applicator of less than that of the rod before the constriction to inhibit or reduce failure of the material of the wiper device or of (b) tapering the rod carrying the applicator in the direction of the applicator and a stop member positioned on the proximal end of the applicator to cause the resilient fingers of the wiper device to turn inward toward the rod as the rod and applicator are drawn through the wiper device, the cross-sectional area of the stop member being less than that of the rod before the taper, to inhibit or reduce failure of the material of the wiper device.
The proximal e
Comstock David
Geka Manufacturing Ltd.
Manahan Todd #E.
Ohlandt Greeley Ruggiero & Perle L.L.P.
LandOfFree
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