Make-up unit, for eyelashes in particular

• US 4,617,948 A
• Filed: 07/06/1983
• Issued: 10/21/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/1982
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: French Joint Stock Company
• Original Assignee: L'Oreal SA
• Inventors: Gueret, Jean-Louis H.
• Primary Examiner(s): McNeill, Gregory E.
• Application Number:
  US06/511,202
• Time in Patent Office: 1,203 Days
• Field of Search: 132/88.5, 132/88.7, 401/122
• US Class Current: 132/218
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 40/267 comprising a wiper
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 3/18 the bristles being fixed on or between belts or wires
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 9/021 arranged like in cosmetics brushes, e.g. mascara, nail polish, eye shadow

Abstract

A make-up unit for storing mascara to be applied to eyelashes with a brush forming part of the unit includes a wiper device made of elastomeric material and having a pliable, elastically deformable lip which defines an opening whose diameter is distinctly smaller than the outer diameter of the brush and is slightly larger than the diameter of the core of the brush. The duct into which the brush is inserted during replacement into the reservoir of the make-up unit has, in its zone adjacent to the wiper device, a diameter which is greater than the diameter of a stem carrying the brush by at most 33%. The brush is constituted by a core formed by folding a metal wire back on itself and then twisting this doubled wire to secure the radial bristles in a helical arrangement, the diameter of the resulting brush being about 3 mm, the wire having a diameter of from about 0.4 mm to about 0.45 mm, and the stem having a diameter of about 3 mm.

Claims

1. A make-up unit comprising

(a) a reservoir for a fluid or pasty make-up product, said reservoir comprising a container having an inner wall and a step formed integrally on said inner wall with a retainer ring seated on said step, said retainer ring having a wall portion engaging the inner wall of said container, said inner wall above said step having a thickness smaller than the thickness of the remainder of said inner wall;

(b) a detachable cap fitted on said reservoir;

(c) a stem integral with said cap and disposed substantially along the axis of said cap and projecting in relation to the said cap;

(d) a brush carried by the step in the extension of the stem, said brush comprising an axial core formed from a metal wire folded back on itself, the resulting doubled wire being twisted so as to provide a helical arrangement of substantially radial bristles, the diameter of said brush being about 3 mm, said metal wire having a diameter of from about 0.40 mm to about 0.45 mm and said stem having a diameter of about 3 mm; and

(e) a wiper device having a lip bounding a substantially circular opening to receive said brush as it is inserted into said reservoir, the diameter of said opening being from about 1.5 mm to about 2.1 mm, said wiper device being disposed between the reservoir and a wiper holder fixed to said reservoir, said wiper holder engaging a portion of said retainer ring and having an insertion duct having an upwardly flaring frustoconical shape whose longitudinal axis is substantially identical with the axis of said circular opening through which said brush penetrates during insertion into said reservoir, the diameter of said insertion duct in the zone adjacent to said wiper device being from about 3.2 mm to about 4 mm, said wiper device being made of an elastomeric material and having said lip pliable and elastically deformable to define said circular opening with an external diameter which is clearly smaller than the outer diameter of said brush and is slightly greater than the diameter of the core of said brush.

2. The make-up unit of claim 1 wherein said wiper device is made of an elastomeric material having a Shore hardness value of from about 45 to about 75.

3. The make-up unit of claim 2 wherein said wiper device is made of neoprene or nitrile rubber (Buna) and has a Shore hardness of approximately 55.

4. The make-up unit of claim 1 wherein the diameter of the insertion duct at the zone furtherest removed from said wiper device is from about 5.5 mm to about 6 mm, the axial length of said insertion duct being about 10 mm.

5. The make-up unit of claim 1 wherein the helical arrangement of said bristles has a pitch of the order of 1 mm.

6. The make-up unit of claim 1 wherein said brush has a length of from about 10 mm to about 20 mm.

7. The make-up unit of claim 1 wherein said reservoir and said cap are cylindrical and both have an outer diameter of from about 8 mm to about 10 mm.