EP0330533A1 - Brush for applying make-up, particularly mascara, and a product container with such a brush - Google Patents

Abstract

The brush (1) comprises a multitude of hairs (8) clamped in the turns of at least two strands (9, 10) of a metallic wire twisted into a helix, which form the core of the brush. The hairs (8) of the brush have a flat cross section, that is to say a cross section whose large dimension is at least double the small dimension, and at the most equal to five times this small dimension, and the hairs (8) are kinked. …<IMAGE>…

Description

The invention relates to a brush for applying a makeup product, in particular for applying a mascara to the eyelashes or a dye to the hair, a brush of the kind which includes a multitude of bristles trapped in the turns of at least two branches of a metallic wire twisted in a helix, which form the soul of the brush.

We know that such brushes are intended to be placed in a product tank, which comprises, in the upper part, a wringing device. In current brushes, provided with bristles of circular section, the wringing causes the product to be released onto the area of the bristles located radially beyond a given diameter, which depends in particular on the diameter of the passage of the wiper and the rigidity of this wringer. In addition, the bristles generally form a substantially helical sheet and the ends of the bristles are arranged in the form of a whorl, so that the eyelashes or the hair cannot easily penetrate inside the sheet formed by the bristles of the brush. .

As a result, the makeup is not always carried out in good conditions and may require a relatively long time if it is desired to attenuate the defects caused by the brush itself and the manner in which it has been wrung.

The object of the invention is, above all, to provide a brush, for applying a makeup product, of the kind defined above which no longer exhibits or to a lesser degree the drawbacks mentioned above and which, in particular, after wringing retains bristles, the ends of which remain loaded with makeup products, and, when in use, allow spread the product well.

According to the invention, a brush for applying a make-up product, in particular for applying a mascara to the eyelashes or a dye to the hair, of the kind defined above, is characterized in that the bristles of the brush have a flat cross section , that is to say a section whose large dimension is at least equal to twice the small dimension, and at most equal to five times this small dimension, and that the hairs are twisted.

Preferably, the twist of the bristles is obtained during tightening and helical twisting of the branches of the metal wire forming the core of the brush.

The bristles may have a rectangular section, in particular with rounded corners. The short side of the rectangular section may have a dimension of the order of eight hundredths of a millimeter (0.08 mm), while the long side may have a dimension of the order of twenty hundredths of a millimeter (0.20 mm) ).

As a variant, the bristles with a rectangular section may comprise, on at least one of their large faces corresponding to the long side of the section, at least one rib oriented substantially in the longitudinal direction of the bristle; the rib (s) are not taken into account for the small dimension of the cross section of the hair.

According to another variant, the bristles have an oval cross section.

Due to the twisting of flat bristles, according to the invention, the major axis of the sections of the bristle is oriented differently along the entire length; this results in a different flexibility from one pile to another in a given direction, due to the different orientation of each pile. The ends of these hairs are no longer arranged in the form of a whorl but diverge from each other. In addition, the wiping of the flat bristles depends on their orientation so that on the brush, after wringing, it is possible to find bristles more or less loaded with product, in particular towards their end remote from the core.

• La figure 1, de ce dessin, est une vue en coupe axiale d'une brosse pour appliquer un produit de maquillage, conforme à l'invention, montée dans un réservoir de produit.
• Les figures 2 à 4 représentent diverses formes de section transversale de poils plats.
• La figure 5, enfin est un schéma simplifié, en coupe de poils orientés différemment dans la brosse, destiné à faciliter les explications relatives à l'essorage et à l'utilisation.

The invention consists, apart from the arrangements set out above, of a certain number of other arrangements which will be more explicitly discussed below in connection with particular embodiments described with reference to the attached drawing, but which are in no way limiting.

• Figure 1 of this drawing is an axial sectional view of a brush for applying a makeup product, according to the invention, mounted in a product reservoir.
• Figures 2 to 4 show various cross-sectional shapes of flat bristles.
• Figure 5, finally, is a simplified diagram, in section of bristles oriented differently in the brush, intended to facilitate explanations relating to spinning and use.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, one can see a mascara applicator assembly 1 comprising a reservoir 2 which contains a product of liquid to pasty consistency. This reservoir is surmounted by a cap 3 to which is connected a rod 4 carrying a brush 5 for applying the makeup product. A circular wiping lip 6, made of flexible material, is provided in the vicinity of an introduction chimney 7.

The brush 5 comprises a multitude of bristles 8 wedged in the turns of two branches 9, 10 of a metal wire, twisted in a helix and forming the core of the brush.

Generally, for the manufacture of the brush, the branches 9 and 10 are, at the beginning, formed by parallel rectilinear branches of a U obtained by bending at 180 ° a metal wire, in particular an iron wire. The bristles 8 are placed between the rectilinear branches along a sheet situated in a plane substantially orthogonal to the plane of these branches; the latter are then twisted as shown in FIG. 1 so as to trap the bristles 8 between them, the middle part of which is wedged between the turns of the two branches 9 and 10.

As can be seen in FIGS. 2 to 4, the bristles 8 of the brush according to the invention have a flat cross section, that is to say that the large dimension 1 of this section is at least twice the small dimension e , and at most equal to five times this small dimension e . So we have the relation: 2 e ≦ 1 ≦ 5 e .

With bristles 8 having such a flat section, during the tightening and helical twisting of the branches 9 and 10, each bristle 8 undergoes a twist around its longitudinal axis, that is to say that its cross section progressively rotates in the direction of the length of the hair, as has been shown briefly in Figures 2 to 4. Therefore, the major axis of a cross section of the hair is oriented differently along the entire length of this hair. The flexibilities of the bristles in a given direction will be different due to the different orientations of the cross sections.

The ends such as 11, of the bristles 8, located radially outwards no longer exactly follow the shape of a turn but diverge from one another.

The cross section of the bristles 8 can be rectangular as shown in FIG. 2. Preferably, the angles are rounded. The small dimension e can be of the order of eight hundredths of millimeter (0.08 mm) while the large dimension 1 of the cross section can be of the order of twenty hundredths of a millimeter (0.20 mm).

As a variant, the flat bristles of rectangular section may comprise, on at least one of their large faces, corresponding to the long side of the section, at least one rib such as 12 (FIG. 3). This rib 12 may have a substantially semi-circular section, convex towards the outside. Preferably, a rib 12 is provided in the middle of each large face of the hair. It is important to note that in the definition of a flat pile the dimension or thickness of the rib is not to be taken into account to determine the small dimension of the cross section; for this reason, the dimension e in FIG. 3 corresponds to the thickness of the hair outside the ribs 12.

The variant of FIG. 4 corresponds to bristles 8 admitting an oval cross section, the small dimension e and the large dimension 1 of which satisfy the definition of the flat section given above.

We will now compare the spin of a conventional brush with bristles of circular cross section and the spin of a brush according to the invention.

In a conventional brush having bristles with a circular cross section, the wringing takes place along a surface tangent to the inclined bristles, turn by turn, one turn pushing the next. The product with which the brush had taken charge in the reservoir 2 remains in the vicinity of the core formed by the branches 9 and 10; beyond a given diameter, depending on the diameter of the wiper 6 and its flexibility, the bristles are almost all discharged of product.

With a brush according to the invention having bristles 8, flat and twisted, during spinning, the hairs which no longer truly form turns do not fall back on each other. Due to the different orientations of the cross sections of the bristles, the effects of wringing will be different.

Refer to Figure 5 for more detailed explanations. In this figure, there is shown two ends 11a, 11b of two bristles oriented differently. The end 11a has a section whose large dimension is substantially parallel to the axis of the brush and the rod 4, while the end 11b has a section whose large dimension is substantially orthogonal to the axis of the rod 4.

Spinning occurs when the brush is removed from the reservoir, that is to say for a displacement of the brush and the bristles, relative to the wiper 6, in the direction of the arrow E substantially parallel to the stem axis 4.

On the other hand, during use and make-up, the displacement of the brush and of the bristles relative to the eyelashes takes place substantially in the direction of the double arrow M orthogonal to the axis of the rod 4.

When the brush is in the tank 2, the bristles 8 are loaded with product in a substantially uniform manner along their entire length.

When removing the brush from the reservoir 2, in the direction of the arrow E in FIG. 5, the wringing takes place by friction of the wringer 6 against the bristles.

For the bristles 8 a whose ends have oriented sections such as 11 a , the friction of the wiper 6 will occur essentially according to the zone 13, that is to say along a large face of the section; zones such as 14 corresponding to the short sides of the section will hardly be spun. In other words, on the face 13 a lot of product will be removed during the spin, while on the faces 14, the spin is weak and the product remains on the hair.

The bristles 8b , the end sections of which are oriented like the section 11b in FIG. 5, undergo greater dewatering because these bristles, in the direction E, have a relatively high flexibility.

Finally, after spinning, the brush will have bristles more or less loaded according to their twist, and according to the orientations of the end sections.

When using the brush for makeup, use that occurs with movement substantially in the direction M, hairs such as 8 to have a relatively large flexibility in direction M. The zones 14 of these bristles being loaded product, these bristles will ensure the deposition of the product on the eyelashes, and the flexibility which they present is advantageous for such deposition.

The bristles such as 8 b are presented in the hard direction, since they offer a higher flexural strength in the direction M than the bristles 8 a . These hairs 8B essentially contribute to comb eyelashes spreading and smoothing the product deposited by the bristles 8a.

It is clear that the diagram in FIG. 5 is a simplified diagram, and that in reality one can find a range of orientation of the bristles varying between the two extreme orientations represented in FIG. 5. The explanations provided remain valid, by introducing a modulation depending on the orientation of the section of the hair considered.

The brush according to the invention makes it possible to obtain a make-up with a new appearance, and makes it possible to avoid the drawbacks mentioned at the beginning of the description encountered in particular with brushes whose bristles have circular sections.

It is clear that the definition of a flat section according to the invention includes sections whose faces are not necessarily planar, as is the case for the variants of FIGS. 3 and 4. Another variant, not shown in the drawing, can be constituted by a flat section in the shape of a slight "V", that is to say one side of which forms a convex dihedral with a large opening, and the other side of which forms the corresponding concave dihedral.

Claims (7)

1. Brush for applying a makeup product, in particular for applying a mascara to the eyelashes or a dye to the hair, comprising a multitude of bristles (8) wedged in the turns of at least two branches (9, 10) d '' a wire twisted in a helix, which form the core of the brush, characterized in that the bristles of the brush have a flat cross section, that is to say a section whose large dimension ( 1 ) is at least equal to twice the small dimension ( e ), and at most equal to five times this small dimension, and that the bristles (8) are twisted. 2. Brush according to claim 1, characterized in that the twist of the bristles (8) is obtained during the tightening and helical twisting of the branches (9, 10) of the metal wire forming the core of the brush. 3. Brush according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the bristles (8) have a rectangular section. 4. Brush according to claim 3, characterized in that the angles of the rectangular section are rounded. 5. Brush according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the short side of the rectangular section has a dimension ( e of the order of eight hundredths of a millimeter, while the long side has a dimension ( 1 ) of l 'order of twenty hundredths of a millimeter. 6. Brush according to any one of claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the bristles with rectangular section have, on at least one of their large faces corresponding to the long side of the section, at least one rib (12) oriented substantially in the longitudinal direction of the hair, the rib (s) not being taken into consideration for the small dimension of the cross section of the hair. 7. Brush according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the bristles (8) have an oval cross section.

Images