Cosmetic container having variable product take-up

• US 4,705,053 A
• Filed: 04/30/1985
• Issued: 11/10/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/1984
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: L'Oreal SA
• Original Assignee: L'Oreal SA
• Inventors: Goncalves, Antonin
• Primary Examiner(s): Swiatek, Robert P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): WEHNER, CARY ELLEN
• Application Number:
  US06/729,147
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: 132/88.7, 132/88.5, 401/129, 401/122, 401/121
• US Class Current: 132/218
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 40/268 with adjustable wiping action

Abstract

A make up unit comprises a container for mascara, a cap, and a stem carrying a brush which penetrates into the container via a passage axially traversing a wiper element. The wiper element has a wiping zone defining a passage whose cross section is smaller than that of the brush in its state of rest. The wiper element is formed by a lip whose internal edge defines the brush-receiving passage and is joined at its periphery to a ring of a greater thickness, which can sustain, by an axial compression exerted on it, an elastic deformation leading to a variation of the cross-section of the passage. An adjuster ring controls the compression and a reservoir of mascara is accommodated in a barrel. Thus the degree of compression of the wiper element can be adjusted and, as a result, the force of the wiping action will be adjusted.

Claims

1. In a make up unit for dispensing eyelash make up comprising:

(a) a container for a fluid or pasty make up product, said container having an inlet;

(b) a detachable cap fitted on the container;

(c) a stem coaxial with said cap and having a proximal end integral with said cap, said stem projecting in relation to said cap;

(d) a brush carried by the distal end said stem as an extension of the said stem;

(e) a wiper element having a wiper lip made of an elastic material and disposed at the inlet of said container into which said brush enters, said wiper element including means defining a passage delimited by the inner edge of the wiper lip, said passage having a smaller cross-section than the cross-section of the brush in the undeformed state of the brush;

the improvment wherein said wiper element further includes a ring made of an elastic material joined to the periphery of the wiper lip, said ring having a greater thickness than said lip, and wherein said wiper element is capable of sustaining an elastic deformation leading to a variation of cross-section of the passage under the actuation of control means which varies the axial compression of said elastic ring;

said container being constituted by a movable element and a fixed element between which said ring of the wiper element is interposed, the movable element being capable of axial translation in relation to the fixed element and being connected to the control means;

said container including a neck and a tube formed therewith, the fixed element of the container being constituted by a tube joined to said neck at its end remote from the end cooperating with the control means, said neck and said cap comprising complementary first and second means for fitting the cap on said neck, the connection of said tube to said neck constituting an annular shoulder against which the wiper element bears.

2. A make up unit according to claim 1, wherein the wiper element is constituted by a single component having a transverse centre plane, in the vicinity of which the wiper lip is disposed.

3. A make up unit according to claim 1, wherein the ring has curved inner faces and end planes which in the relaxed state of the ring are concave towards the axis of the passage provided for the brush, said curved walls joining the wiper lip to the end planes of the ring.

4. A make up unit according to claim 1, wherein said passage delimited by the wiper lip, when the wiper element is in its unstressed state, has a cross-section no greater than that of the portion of stem which penetrates into the container through said passage.

5. A make up unit according to claim 1, wherein in the assembled position of the cap on the container, the stem of the brush has a reduced cross-section in its zone situated in said passage of the wiper element.

6. A make up unit according to claim 1, including means for indicating the degree of compression exerted on the wiper element.

7. In a make up unit for dispensing eyelash make up comprising:

(a) a container for a fluid or pasty make up product, said container having an inlet;

(b) a detachable cap fitted on the container;

(c) a stem coaxial with said cap and having a proximal end integral with said cap, said stem projecting in relation to said cap;

(d) a brush carried by the distal end of said stem as an extension of the said stem;

(e) a wiper element having a wiper lip made of an elastic material and disposed at the inlet of said container into which said brush enters, said wiper element including means defining a passage delimited by the inner edge of the wiper lip, said passage having a smaller cross-section than the corss-section of the brush in the undeformed state of the brush;

the improvement wherein said wiper element further includes a ring made of an elastic material joined to the periphery of the wiper lip, said ring having a greater thickness than said lip, and wherein said wiper element is capable of sustaining an elastic deformation leading to a variation of cross-section of the passage under the actuation of control means which varies the axial compression of said elastic ring;

said container being constituted by a movable element and a fixed element between which said ring of the wiper element is interposed, the movable element being capable of axial translation in relation to the fixed element and being connected to the control means;

said movable element carrying internally, along its upper edge, a thrust ring which both ensures the seal between the said movable element and wiper element and distributes the compressive force applied against the ring of said wiper element.

8. In a make up unit for dispensing eyelash make up comprising:

(a) a container for a fluid or pasty make up product, said container having an inlet;

(b) a detachable cap fitted on the container;

(c) a stem coaxial with said cap and having a proximal end integral with said cap, said stem projecting in relation to said cap;

(d) a brush carried by the distal end of said stem as an extension of the said stem;

(e) a wiper element having a wiper lip made of an elastic material and disposed at the inlet of said container into which said brush enters, said wiper element including means defining a passage delimited by the inner edge of the wiper lip, said passage having a smaller cross-section than the cross-section of the brush in the undeformed state of the brush;

the improvment wherein said wiper element further includes a ring made of an elastic material joined to the periphery of the wiper lip, said ring having a greater thickness than said lip, and wherein said wiper element is capable of sustaining an elastic deformation leading to a variation of cross-section of the passage under the actuation of control means which varies the axial compression of said elastic ring;

said container being constituted by a movable element and a fixed element between which said ring of the wiper element is interposted, the movable element being capable of axial translation in relation to the fixed element and being connected to the control means;

said make up unit further including a reservoir constituting said movable element of the container, said reservoir having a cylindrical base, an upper edge which exerts a thrust on the wiper element;

a barrel of the container surrounding the reservoir and constituting the fixed element of the container;

an adjuster ring constituting the control means and being mounted for integral translation with said barrel; and

complementary first and second threads externally on the cylindrical base of said reservoir and internally of said adjuster ring.

9. A make up unit according to claim 8, wherein the barrel comprises, along its edge on the opposite end remote from the wiper element, means for engaging the adjuster ring.

10. A make up unit according to claim 8, including means for indicating the degress of compression exerted on the wiper element, and a window of the barrel;

and wherein the adjuster ring has a cylindrical wall comprising, on its external surface, a succession of marks which are disposed radially and which appear in turn in the window of the barrel when said adjuster ring is being turned, said cylindrical wall penetrating inside the barrel.

11. A make up unit according to claim 8, wherein said barrel has a lateral wall and said adjuster ring has a lateral wall and said lateral wall of said barrel and the lateral wall of said adjuster ring are flush with one another.

12. In a make up unit for dispensing eyelash make up comprising:

(a) a container for a fluid or pasty make up product, said container having an inlet;

(b) a detachable cap fitted on the container;

(c) a stem coaxial with said cap and having a proximal end integral with said cap, said stem projecting in relation to said cap;

(d) a brush carried by the distal end of said stem as an extension of the said stem;

(e) a wiper element having a wiper lip made of an elastic material and disposed at the inlet of said container into which said brush enters, said wiper element including means defining a passage delimited by the inner edge of the wiper lip, said passage having a smaller cross-section than the cross-section of the brush in the undeformed state of the brush;

the improvement wherein said wiper element further includes a ring made of an elastic material joined to the periphery of the wiper lip, said ring having a greater thickness than said lip, and wherein said wiper element is capable of sustaining an elastic deformation leading to a variation of cross-section of the passage under the actuation of control means which varies the axial compression of said elastic ring;

said container being constituted by a movable element and a fixed element between which said ring of the wiper element is interposed, the movable element being capable of axial translation in relation to the fixed element and being connected to the control means;

said make up unit further including a reservoir constituting the movable element of the container, said reservoir having an upper edge for exerting a thrust on the wiper element;

a barrel of the container constituting the fixed element of the container, said barrier surrounding the reservoir;

an adjuster ring constituting the control means, said adjuster ring and said reservoir having cooperating first and second threads of which said second thread is in the zone of said container which is remote from that receiving the cap, said adjuster ring abutting against the bottom of the reservoir.

13. A make up unit according to claim 12 wherein the adjuster ring constitutes a cylindrical cup having a bottom, a projecting male threaded member coaxial with the cup and abutting against the bottom of the reservoir, and within the cup, and forming part of said cup bottom, a female threaded member in engagement with said barrel and cooperating with said male member abutting against said bottom of the reservoir.

14. A make up unit according to claim 13, wherein the female threaded member is in the form of a sleeve which is fixed on that one of the ends of the barrel which is remote from said cap, said end being open.

15. A make up unit according to claim 13, wherein the female member is carried by the bottom of a sleeve which is fixed on that one of the ends of the barrel which does not receive the cap, said end being open, and wherein the sleeve is coloured differently from the adjuster ring and the barrel and constitutes said subjacent element forming, with said opening and the opening means in the barrel and in the adjuster ring, respectively, the first and the second marks.

16. A make up unit according to claim 15, wherein the fixed element comprises the opening forming the first mark and the adjuster ring comprises the opening means forming the second marks, wherein said opening forming the first mark is constituted by a cut out of the rim of the barrel at the end remote from that receiving the cap, and wherein the sleeve carries a protuberance capable of being accommodated in the said cut out.

17. In a make up unit for dispensing eyelash make up comprising:

(a) a container for a fluid or pasty make up product, said container having an inlet;

(b) a detachable cap fitted on the container;

(c) a stem coaxial with said cap and having a proximal end integral with said cap, said stem projecting in relation to said cap;

(d) a brush carried by the distal end of said stem as an extension of the said stem;

(e) a wiper element having a wiper lip made of an elastic material and disposed at the inlet of said container into which said brush enters, said wiper element including means defining a passage delimited by the inner edge of the wiper lip, said passage having a smaller cross-section than the cross-section of the brush in the undeformed state of the brush;

the improvement wherein said wiper element further includes a ring made of an elastic material joined to the periphery of the wiper lip, said ring having a greater thickness than said lip, and wherein said wiper element is capable of sustaining an elastic deformation leading to a variation of cross-section of the passage under the actuation of control means which varies the axial compression of said elastic ring;

said container being constituted by a movable element and a fixed element between which said ring of the wiper element is interposed, the movable element being capable of axial translation in relation to the fixed element and being connected to the control means;

said make up unit further including means for indicating the degree of compression exerted on the wiper element, wherein the control means is an adjuster ring, and the means for indicating the degree of compression of the wiper element comprising;

(i) a first mark formed by means defining an opening in the lateral wall of one of the fixed element and the adjuster ring, said opening exposing a subjacent element which is of a different color from the part carrying the said first mark; and

(ii) several second marks each formed by opening means in the lateral wall of the other of said fixed element and adjuster ring which does not carry the first mark, said opening exposing a subjacent element which is of a different color from that of said other of the fixed element and adjuster ring carrying said second marks, each of said second marks being capable of coming to a position opposite the first mark for a given position of the adjuster ring.

18. A make up unit according to claim 17, wherein the fixed element comprises the opening forming the first mark and the adjuster ring comprises the opening means forming the second marks.

19. A make up unit according to claim 17, wherein the opening means forming the second marks have differing parameters.

20. A make up unit according to claim 19, wherein the parameters of holes forming the second marks are associated with the state of compression of the wiper element.

21. A make up unit according to claim 19, wherein the opening means forming the second marks have circular shapes.

22. A make up unit according to claim 17, wherein the opening means forming the second marks have axes which are disposed in the same plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the adjuster ring.

23. A make up unit according to claim 17, where in there are three of said opening means forming the second marks.