Mascara applicator assembly having inturning wiper fingers

• US 6,502,584 B1
• Filed: 07/07/2000
• Issued: 01/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: GEKA GmbH (Sulzer AG)
• Original Assignee: Geka Manufacturing Ltd. (SONE Products Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Fordham, John F. W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Manahan, Todd E.
• Assistant Examiner(s): COMSTOCK, DAVID C
• Application Number:
  US09/611,699
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: 132/218, 132/216, 132/313, 132/317, 132/320, 401/122, 401/121, 401/118, 401/126, 401/129, 401/16
• US Class Current: 132/218
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 34/046 comprising a wiper
• CPC Class Codes: A45D 40/267 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

Abstract

A cosmetics applicator assembly, especially a mascara brush, comprising a cap (8) to a container having a wiper (6) in its neck (3), has a stop (20) at the end of a rod (12), immediately above the applicator (14), the rod tapering towards the stop. The wiper is provided with fingers (22) which bear against the rod so that as the applicator is withdrawn from the container as the tapered portion passes them they relax until their ends contact the stop which inverts them as it passes, the fingers remaining inturned until the applicator passes them when they will revert to their relaxed state removing any blob of cosmetic from the end of the applicator.

Claims

1. An applicator assembly that is insertable into a container that carries a viscous material and that has a wiper device for regulating the amount of viscous material that said applicator assembly retains when withdrawn from said container, said wiper assembly having a plurality of fingers that extend toward and engage said applicator assembly when being withdrawn from said container, said applicator assembly comprising:

a rod and an applicator disposed on a distal end of said rod;

said rod further comprising a groove at a point of contact of said fingers when said applicator assembly is fully inserted in said container;

wherein said rod includes a solid cup shaped portion that has a first end disposed adjacent said applicator and an opposed end that has a shoulder surface having a shoulder end, and wherein, when said applicator assembly is withdrawn from said container, said shoulder end engages and turns said wiper fingers back upon themselves.

2. The applicator assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein a portion of said rod adjacent said shoulder surface narrows in a constriction.

3. The applicator assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein said shoulder surface subtends an angle greater than 70°

to an axis of said rod.

4. The applicator assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein said shoulder surface is approximately perpendicular to said axis of said rod.

5. The Applicator assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein said shoulder surface is circular.

6. The applicator assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein said shoulder is formed by a larger circular face of a solid frustrum of a cone.

7. The applicator assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said applicator is a brush having bristles extending from a twisted wire core, said brush comprising from 160 to 200 bristles per cm, said bristles being of a diameter within the range 0.125 to 0.2 mm.

8. The applicator assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said applicator is a brush having bristles extending from a twisted wire core, said brush comprising a proximal portion of length from 3 to 6 mm having bristles of about 0.25 mm diameter, a remainder of said brush comprising bristles of about half said diameter of said proximal portion bristles.

9. The applicator assembly as claimed in claim 8, wherein said bristles have a density from 160 to 200 per cm.

10. An applicator assembly suitable for use for applying a viscous material, the assembly comprising a container for the viscous material, a closure member, an applicator and rod as claimed in claim 1, 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.

11. The applicator assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wiper device comprises an elongate hollow resilient body having a substantially circular orifice, said fingers being positioned around and extending directly from a periphery of said orifice toward an axis thereof and being elongate and resilient, each of said fingers having a free, distal, end portion and being at an angle within a range of from 90°

to 120°

to said axis and tapering toward said distal end portion, said fingers being radially spaced apart at least at said distal ends thereof, and occupying at most 55% of an area of said orifice as viewed axially.

12. The applicator assembly of claim 11, wherein there are four of said fingers each being at an angle of at least about 100°

to said axis, and wherein a distance between a pair of opposed distal ends of said fingers is at most 10% of the diameter of said orifice.

13. The applicator assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rod has a substantially circular cross-section, wherein said wiper device comprises a hollow resilient body having a substantially circular orifice, and wherein a diameter of said cup shaped portion is less than or equal to that of said circular orifice of said wiper device when in an equilibrium position minus twice a thickness of one of said fingers.

14. The applicator assembly of claim 1, wherein the diameter of said cup shaped portion is equal to or less than the diameter of a widest portion of said rod.

15. An applicator assembly that is insertable into a container that carries a viscous material and that has a wiper device for regulating the amount of viscous material that said applicator assembly retains when withdrawn from said container, said wiper assembly having a plurality of fingers that extend toward and engage said applicator assembly when being withdrawn from said container, said applicator assembly comprising:

a rod and an applicator disposed on a distal end of said rod;

a groove disposed in said rod at a location such that when said rod is fully inserted in said container, said fingers are situated in said groove;

wherein said rod includes a solid cup shaped portion that has a first end disposed adjacent said applicator and an opposed end that has a shoulder surface having a shoulder end, and wherein, when said applicator assembly is withdrawn from said container, said shoulder end engages and turns said wiper fingers back upon themselves.