Make-up unit with an adjustable wiper device

• US 4,407,311 A
• Filed: 10/19/1982
• Issued: 10/04/1983
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/1981
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: L'Oreal SA
• Original Assignee: L'Oreal SA
• Inventors: Gueret, Jean-Louis H.
• Primary Examiner(s): McNeill, Gregory E.
• Application Number:
  US06/435,313
• Time in Patent Office: 350 Days
• Field of Search: 132/88.5, 132/88.7, 15/167 R, 15/160, 401/130
• US Class Current: 401/122
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 34/047 with adjustable wiping action

Abstract

A make-up element comprises a bottle of make-up product receiving an applicator which is to be variably wiped to remove excess make-up product therefrom as it is withdrawn from the bottle. The wiping action is exerted by a wiper sleeve adjustable in cross-section by rotation of a manipulating sleeve, which may or may not be threaded to move axially of the bottle neck upon rotation. A peripheral sliding element between the wiper sleeve and the manipulating sleeve serves to avoid damage to the wiper sleeve as a result of repeated rotation of the sleeve with respect to a cross-section-adjusting formation externally thereof.

Claims

1. In a make-up unit comprising:

(a) a bottle for containing a make-up product, and having a barrel and a neck;

(b) an applicator;

(c) annular wiper means defining an adjustable opening capable of receiving said applicator, said annular wiper means being at least partly accommodated within the neck of the bottle; and

(d) movable manipulating means for variably deforming said annular wiper means to vary the cross-section of its said opening;

the improvement comprising;

(e) a peripheral sliding element disposed between said movable manipulating means and the annular wiper means (24,

     60) to avoid torsional deformation of the annular wiper means upon movement of said movable manipulating means.

2. A make-up unit according to claim 1, wherein the movable manipulating means comprises screwable means cooperating with said bottle.

3. A make-up unit according to claim 2, wherein said peripheral sliding element consists of at least one washer inserted within the neck of the bottle between said annular wiper means and said movable manipulating means.

4. A make-up unit according to claim 3, wherein said annular wiper means has a first end adjacent said washer and a second end remote therefrom;

and further including stop means, integral with the bottle and disposed adjacent said second end of the annular wiper means, for holding the annular wiper means within the neck of the bottle.

5. A make-up unit according to claim 4, wherein said stop means comprises an annular shoulder arranged within the neck of the bottle in the connecting zone between the neck and the barrel of the bottle.

6. A make-up unit according to claim 1, wherein said annular wiper means comprises an elastically deformable sleeve.

7. A make-up unit according to claim 4, wherein the bottle neck has an external screw thread;

and wherein said screwable manipulating means consists of a collar comprising first and second substantially coaxial skirts of which said second skirt is disposed radially within said first skirt, and means defining an internal thread on said first skirt to cooperate with the external thread of the bottle, said second skirt being arranged to enter the neck of the bottle and to bear against said washer.

8. A make-up unit according to claim 1, wherein said bottle neck includes internal projection means, wherein said annular wiper means comprises an oblong opening, and wherein the movable manipulating means is an element rotatably mounted on said bottle, said movable manipulating means being effective to vary the angular orientation of the annular wiper means in relation to said internal projection means of the neck of the bottle, thereby effecting deformation of said annular wiper means.

9. A make-up unit according to claim 8, wherein the annular wiper means and said peripheral sliding element are integral with said rotational manipulating means, and said internal projection means of the neck of the bottle are made integrally with said bottle.

10. A make-up unit according to claim 9, wherein said internal projection means of the bottle comprise two diametrically opposite internal projections for compressing the annular wiper means within its peripheral sliding element.

11. A make-up unit according to claim 8, wherein the annular wiper means comprises a sleeve of a soft, elastically deformable material and has said oblong opening in the bottom thereof.

12. A make-up unit according to claim 8, wherein said peripheral sliding element includes skirt means comprising a multiplicity of strips each having a first free end nearer the bottom of the bottle, and including means interconnecting said strips at their second ends.

13. A make-up unit according to claim 10, wherein said annular wiper means comprises a sleeve made of a soft, elastically deformable material;

and wherein the skirt means has an external diameter which is smaller than the distance separating said two diametrically opposite internal projections of the neck of the bottle, and has an internal diameter which is substantially equal to the external diameter of said sleeve.