Mascara container and dispenser

• US 5,884,634 A
• Filed: 12/15/1997
• Issued: 03/23/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Topline Products Company, Inc. (PSB Industries SA)
• Original Assignee: Charles Chang
• Inventors: Chang, Charles, Sheffler, Robert J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Manahan, Todd E.
• Application Number:
  US08/990,977
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• Field of Search: 132/218, 132/313, 132/317, 132/216, 401/122, 401/129
• US Class Current: 132/218
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 34/046 comprising a wiper
• CPC Class Codes: A46B 2200/1053 Cosmetics applicator specifically for mascara
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: B26B 29/063 Food related applications

Abstract

A container and dispensing device for mascara and the like, has a small bottle with an externally threaded neck of reduced diameter, into which a molded plastic one-piece separator member is pressed. The device has an applicator screw cap which screws onto the bottle neck, and which has an applicator rod depending from an intermediate transverse sealing wall. The applicator rod projects from the bottom of the screw cap, being surrounded by the walls of the separator member, and carries a brush for disposition in the bottle. Above the bottom end of the separator member is a doctor blade, which normally surrounds the juncture of the brush and applicator rod. The doctor blade has an annular sealing bead which seals against the bottom surface of the applicator rod, and the latter is commensurate in diameter with that of the brush. The separator member also seals against the sealing wall of the screw cap, whereby the separator member is sealed and maintains the applicator rod in a clean condition. The orifice of the doctor blade can have numerous different configurations to effect different wiping effects on the brush as the latter is withdrawn for use.

Claims

1. A container and dispensing device for mascara and like cosmetic substances, comprising in combination:

a) a bottle for holding said cosmetic substances, said bottle having an externally threaded neck of reduced diameter,

b) a molded plastic screw cap applicator comprising a body which is screwed on said bottle neck, said screw cap body having internal threads engaged with the threaded bottle neck and having a transverse sealing wall disposed above said internal threads,

c) said applicator body having an applicator rod extending downward from its transverse sealing wall and said applicator rod having an upper portion which forms an annular cavity in the underside of the screw cap body, which cavity is occupied by the reduced neck of the bottle,

d) the lower half portion of said applicator rod projecting from the bottom of the screw cap body and carrying at its lower extremity an applicator brush that forms a junction at said lower extremity,

e) a cup-shaped separator member extending through and carried by the reduced neck portion of the bottle,

f) said separator member enclosing the lower projecting half portion of the applicator rod and having an annular doctor blade which surrounds the said junction between the applicator rod and brush and which controls the amount of cosmetic substances that are to be withdrawn by the brush,

g) said separator member having a depending annular skirt that projects downward from the doctor blade thereof,

h) said lower extremity of the applicator rod having an annular sealing surface and said doctor blade having a sealing bead that is cooperable with said annular sealing surface to seal the interior of the separator member from the contents of the bottle when the applicator is screwed onto the bottle,

i) said separator member having an upper lip portion that is engageable with the transverse sealing wall of the screw cap body at the time that the applicator rod seals against the said sealing bead.

2. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 1, wherein the separator member is constituted as a one-piece molded plastic component.

3. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 1, and further including:

a) retainer means on the bottle and separator member, holding the separator member captive and fixed in the bottle.

4. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 3, wherein said retainer means comprises an internal shoulder of the bottle, formed by the reduction in diameter of the externally threaded neck of the bottle.

5. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 4, wherein the retainer means further comprises a plurality of resilient wing formations on the exterior of the separator member, engageable with the internal shoulder of the bottle.

6. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 5, wherein the resilient wing formations have camming surfaces which, when experiencing forces, can flatten the wings so as to enable the separator member to be forced into the bottle past the neck of reduced diameter thereof,

7. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 1, wherein the annular doctor blade of the separator member has an inner periphery of star-shaped configuration.

8. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 1, wherein the annular doctor blade of the separator member has an inner periphery of scalloped configuration.

9. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 1, wherein the annular doctor blade of the separator member has an inner periphery of serrated configuration.

10. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 1, wherein the annular doctor blade of the separator member has an inner periphery comprised of multiple fine scallops.

11. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 1, wherein the annular doctor blade of the separator member has an inner periphery of square configuration.

12. A container and dispenser as set forth in claim 1, wherein the transverse sealing wall of the screw cap applicator is located in the transverse wall of said shroud.

13. A container and dispensing device for mascara and like cosmetic substance, comprising in combination:

a) a bottle for holding said cosmetic substance, said bottle having a neck and a shroud axially-disposed inside the neck, said shroud having a bottom end portion located in the bottle and having a flat transverse wall disposed in said bottom end portion at substantially 90°

to the axis of the shroud, said flat transverse wall having an opening communicating with the interior of the bottle, and said shroud comprising at its bottom end portion a depending open-bottom skirt which defines a drainage space that also communicates with the interior of the bottle,

b) a plastic cap for the bottle, said cap having an applicator rod that extends into the shroud when the cap is assembled to the bottle,

c) said applicator rod having a brush extending from its remote end and through the opening in the transverse wall of the shroud, and into the interior of the bottle when the cap is assembled to the same,

d) said applicator rod being elongate, having a peripheral outer surface and having a flat, planar end wall from which said brush extends, and

e) squarely-abutting sealing means at the said opening in the transverse wall of said shroud and including said planar end wall of the applicator rod, sealingly closing off the interior of the bottle from the peripheral outer surface of the applicator rod, so as to positively prevent cosmetic substance from coming into contact with the peripheral surface of the applicator rod when the cap is assembled to the bottle,

f) said skirt of the shroud being adapted to receive an upper part of said brush to foster retention of doctored mascara in the skirt for coating the brush as the latter is being withdrawn from the bottle.

14. A container and dispensing device as set forth in claim 13, wherein:

a) said applicator rod comprises a solid cylinder and the end wall thereof is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder.

15. A container and dispensing device as set forth in claim 14, wherein:

a) said transverse wall of the shroud is substantially parallel to the end wall of said solid cylinder, and spaced a finite distance therefrom.

16. A container and dispensing device as set forth in claim 15, wherein:

a) said sealing means comprises an upstanding bead on the transverse wall of the shroud, that is engaged by the end wall of the cylinder.