EP0451165A1

EP0451165A1 - Device for release and/or absorption of a liquid by capillarity

Info

Publication number: EP0451165A1
Application number: EP19900900195
Authority: EP
Inventors: Peter Busch; Klaus Thiele; Horst Höffkes
Original assignee: Henkel AG and Co KGaA
Current assignee: Henkel AG and Co KGaA
Priority date: 1988-12-30
Filing date: 1989-12-21
Publication date: 1991-10-16
Also published as: CA2006872A1; WO1990007388A1; ES1014168Y; ES1014168U; DE3844370A1

Abstract

Un dispositif de distribution et/ou d'absorption d'un liquide comprend une pluralité de minces plaques et/ou pellicules superposées entre lesquelles sont situés des interstices en forme de fentes de dimensions telles que selon le matériau dont se composent les plaques et/ou les pellicules et selon le liquide à distribuer ou à absorber un transport par capillarité du liquide en question est assuré à travers les interstices en forme de fentes. On peut ainsi avec des moyens simples transporter par capillarité des quantités plus élevées de liquide, le cas échéant contenant de fines particules solides pour de nombreux nouveaux cas d'application. A cet effet, le dispositif forme un objet usuel ou outil manuel avec lequel on peut appliquer un liquide sur des surfaces, ou faire absorber le liquide sur ces surfaces. Au moins une face latérale du paquet de plaques et/ou de pellicules sert de surface de distribution et/ou d'absorption du liquide, tandis que les zones restantes du paquet de plaques et/ou de pellicules emmagasinent le liquide.A device for dispensing and / or absorbing a liquid comprises a plurality of thin superimposed plates and / or films between which are interstices in the form of slots of dimensions such as according to the material of which the plates are made and / or the films and, depending on the liquid to be distributed or absorbed, capillary transport of the liquid in question is ensured through the slots in the form of slots. It is thus possible with simple means to transport by capillarity higher quantities of liquid, if necessary containing fine solid particles for many new cases of application. For this purpose, the device forms a usual object or hand tool with which one can apply a liquid to surfaces, or have the liquid absorb on these surfaces. At least one side face of the plate and / or film package serves as a liquid distribution and / or absorption surface, while the remaining areas of the plate and / or film package store the liquid.

Description

"Device for delivery and / or admission

a liquid by capillarity "

The invention is directed to a device for dispensing and / or taking up a liquid with a number of thin plates and / or foils arranged in layers in relation to one another and between the individual. Plates and / or foils have gap-shaped spaces such that capillary transport of the liquid in question takes place through the gap-shaped spaces depending on the respective plate and / or foil materials and the liquids to be dispensed or taken.

sical phenomena are defined that occur as a result of the surface tension of liquids in the narrow cavities of solid bodies, i.e. in cracks, capillaries and in the case of porosity. So far, only porous materials have proven to be of practical importance or for normal everyday objects for dispensing or absorbing liquid, for example for felting, dyeing and

Pens, blotting paper, application devices for applying hair treatment agents and the like. With regard to the materials that can be used and the amount of liquid that can be transported, the previously known are suitable However, materials are very limited and the production of porous materials, which are suitable, for example, for applying hair treatment agents to human or animal hair, is very complicated and time-consuming, and the transportation of liquids with small solid components is also difficult, for example with multicomponent hair colorants. For example, neither in the manufacture of papers nor in the manufacture of writing tips for felt-tip pens is it possible to form the course of the capillaries in a targeted and oriented manner. Rather, there is always a more or less random, unoriented arrangement of the capillaries. In addition, the design options with regard to the outer shape are. the previously used porous materials are narrowly limited.

Devices of the type described at the outset with plates and / or foils arranged in layers with respect to one another with gap-shaped gaps provided between the individual plates and / or foils are occasionally used for larger, stationary systems for metered and clean introduction of lubricants to rolling bearings or the like (DE-PS 546 784) or for the supply of liquid fuels to cooking, heating or lighting devices (DE-PS 619 817), but not for easy-to-use small everyday objects, such as felt pens, colored pens and pens or application devices as described above Kind for which so far exclusively porous materials or occasionally bristles with tube capillaries (DE-OS 22 56 464) have been used for the capillary transport of liquids with the above-mentioned disadvantages or shortcomings.

The object of the invention is to provide a solution which enables the capillary transport of larger quantities of liquid, possibly including small solid components, for a large number of new applications with considerably less effort than previously.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that a device of the type described at the outset is designed as a freely movable, portable object or implement for the application or removal of liquid on / from surfaces by brushing the same, for which purpose at least on the plate and / or film package one side surface is designed as a liquid dispensing and / or receiving surface and the other areas of the plate and / or foil package form a liquid reservoir.

The fact that, according to the invention, the plate pack in question serves not only as a pure means of transport from a liquid reservoir to a point of consumption, as in the known uses of such capillary-active plate packs, but also the liquid store itself det, there are numerous new applications for simple everyday objects, as will be explained in more detail below.

It has been found that practically all materials with a production-related surface roughness can be used for capillary plate packs of the type in question, which can be processed in plate or film form. Due to the surface roughness of the plates or foils, the gap-like spaces with capillary activity are formed when the plates or foils are placed on top of one another.For example, practically all polymers such as PVC, PE, acrylate, polypropylene, polycarbonate can be used, as can glass and metals, e.g. aluminum or stainless steel . The plate thickness is preferably in the range from 0.1 to 0.2 mm. The plate and film thickness can also be in the 1/100 mm range and in the um range and in the cm range. The gap-shaped spaces between individual plates or foils can fluctuate within relatively wide limits depending on the surface design of the plates. These heights are preferably between 5 and 150 μm. The surface design is largely dependent on the manufacturing process of the panels in question, for example, longitudinal grooves are produced in conventional manufacturing processes for panels made of polyethylene. By varying the manufacturing process of the plate material, the number of plates, the plate thickness and the surface design (e.g. grooves, grains, curvatures, profiles), the capillary activities can be influenced or optimized and targeted.

It is particularly advantageous if the plate and / or film surfaces facing the gap-shaped spaces are profiled in accordance with the desired liquid profile.

The individual plates or foils can be connected to one another at least at two mutually opposite edges or by means of spot welding, the individual welding points preferably being distributed substantially uniformly over the plate surface.

The plates and / or foils of a plate pack can have different thicknesses, for example the two outer plates can be made stronger than the inner plates for reasons of strength.

The plates and / or foils can have flat or curved courses in order to adapt them to specific uses, for example to achieve higher mechanical strength.

The plate pack can also be formed from a one-piece, spirally wound plate or film material be, which obviously contributes to a particularly cheap production.

Finally, the package can also be assigned an additional storage made of capillary-conductive material, for example made of porous material, in order to further increase the volume of liquid to be applied or removed.

In the case of a particularly favorable device for the treatment of deep-pile carpets or the treatment of the hair and / or the skin of humans or animals, comb teeth can be incorporated into the package at one edge of the plate pack for pulling through the hair to be treated. Here it is possible, among other things, to produce a comb in the usual form with a handle from a one-piece plate pack, the comb teeth forming the delivery zone and the rest of the plate pack including the handle forming a storage for the treatment liquid, whereas previously capillary comb teeth and storage material were made from separate different materials exist, a capillary connection with one another must first be brought about by inserting porous comb teeth into porous storage material. An embodiment according to the invention also allows a variety of design options with regard to the shape and color of an appropriately designed application package, for example a kara coloring comb. Furthermore, the invention provides a device for stamping purposes, wherein the desired stamp image is incorporated into an end face of the plate pack by appropriate cutting. Previous stamps generally require a supply of stamp ink after every single or a few printing processes, which requires simple movement of the stamp to a stamp pad or, if such an stamp pad is integrated in the stamp, a correspondingly complicated configuration of the stamp pad Stamp as a rotary stamp.

For applying agents to flat parts, in particular parts of the body, such as skin, fingernails and toenails, it is further provided that an end face of the package expediently forms an essentially flat delivery zone. However, the plate pack can also be spherical, for example, in order to be used as a so-called deodorant ball or deodorant pen.

Another important device for applying cleaning or preserving liquids to larger areas, such as textiles, windows or tiles or for removing such or other liquids, such as rainwater from window panes, is characterized in that a ranc side of a rectangular plate package than in the we substantial level delivery or reception zone is formed. Since, in such an application, larger amounts of liquid are generally to be dispensed or taken up, it is particularly advisable here to assign a memory made of capillary-conductive material to the plate pack according to the invention.

The invention is explained below with reference to the drawing, for example. This shows in:

1 shows a device according to the invention in its simplest basic form as a plate pack in a perspective view,

2 is a plate pack basically similar to FIG. 1 with comb teeth formed on one edge in plan view,

3 shows the upper area of the plate pack according to FIG. 2 in a side view,

4 is a perspective view of the comb prong area of the plate pack according to FIGS. 2 and 3,

5 shows a detail in a greatly enlarged illustration of the detail A from FIG. 3, 6 is a top view of a plate pack designed as a hair coloring comb with a handle,

Fig. 7 with a plate pack usable as a stamp

Stamp image on one end face of the same in perspective,

0 is a perspective view of a plate pack designed as a surface applicator with a rounded delivery end surface,

Fig. 9 is a spirally wound plate pack with a hemispherical delivery surface in a perspective view and in

10 is a perspective view of a plate pack integrated in a window wiper with an associated porous memory.

In the basic embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1, a plate pack, designated as a whole by 1, is formed from a number of mutually parallel plates 2 with gap-shaped spaces 3 provided between the individual plates. The spaces 3 form a store and the capillaries for the capillary transport Liquid. The plates are against each other in a manner not shown on at least two overlying edges joined together, for example by gluing, welding, lasering or the like.

The material of the plates can be optimally adapted to the respective intended use, a large number of materials being usable, as already explained above. The plate thickness can also be varied according to the specific purposes and is preferably between 0.1 and 0.2 mm. Depending on the surface design of the plates, the gap-shaped interspaces 3 can fluctuate within relatively wide limits, namely approximately between 5 to 150 μm.

A plate pack of the type in question can be used in the simplest manner, for example in such a way that an open edge region of the plate pack 1 in question is immersed in a liquid, it having been shown that, due to the capillarity, almost all of the gap-shaped gaps 3 between the individual are abrupt Fill plates 2 with liquid. If the plate pack filled with liquid is then brought into contact with suitable materials, either by brushing past such materials or simply by contacting them, the liquid is released from the pack and transferred to the coated material, especially if the materials themselves are so porous that they develop appropriate capillary forces, e.g. Blotting paper or other capillary-active materials. It has been shown that all of the liquid stored in the plate pack is essentially completely sucked out of the gap-shaped spaces, even if no new liquid is supplied at the opposite edge of the plate pack. Naturally, the liquid delivery or absorption volume can be significantly increased if the plate pack 1 in question is also assigned a memory made of capillary-active material, for example porous fiber material, as will be explained in more detail below with further examples.

2 to 4 show a plate pack 4 particularly suitable for the hair treatment of humans and animals but also for the application of cleaning agents in carpets, in which a number of comb teeth 5 are formed on one edge of the plate pack by sawing or the like is. The distance 7 between the individual comb teeth 5 is expediently approximately half the width 8 of the comb teeth. On the opposite edge, a gable roof-shaped bevel 6 (see in particular FIG. 3) is formed, which essentially serves to facilitate the entry of liquid into the gap-shaped spaces 9 between the individual plates 10 (see FIGS. 3 and 4), be it by immersing it directly in liquid or by surrounding it with one additional storage shown made of porous fibrous material. The free ends of the comb teeth 5 can be closed in a manner not shown by welding, gluing, lasering or the like. In such a way that a plate packet 4 pulled through the hairs of a human head with the comb teeth 5 when the teeth brush past the comb teeth 5 one releases hair treatment liquid stored in the gap-like spaces between the plate pack laterally to the hair without directly wetting the scalp, as is usually desired, for example, when applying hair dye.

As shown in FIG. 5, depending on the plate materials used, the gap-shaped interspaces 9 can fluctuate considerably in terms of their distance from one another due to their production-related surface roughness or a special surface design and processing, for example profiling, from which the size of these gap spaces mentioned at the beginning varies between 5 up to 150 µm explained.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 6, a comb designated as a whole by 11 has been formed by cutting out a plate pack similar to FIG. 1, specifically with a handle 12 and comb teeth 13, in principle as in the plate pack according to FIGS. 2 to 4 The area of the handle 12 serves as an additional memory rather, from the hair treatment liquid can flow into the comb teeth 13 via the area 14 directly assigned to the comb teeth 13, if these are pulled through hair in the manner described above and if it is ensured that only indicated openings 15 in the area at the free end of the handle 12 of the gap-shaped spaces between the plates forming the comb 11 are provided, while the other edge regions of the handle 12 can be designed to be closed in order to prevent wetting of the hand acting on the handle 12 with stored hair treatment agent.

A comb of the type described can either be used in the simplest manner as a single disposable comb, for example if only a small volume of hair treatment liquid is required, such as for producing colored hair tresses, for example for punk or carnival hairstyles. However, with a comb of the type in question, even slightly larger amounts of hair treatment liquid can be applied to hair by immersing the comb teeth into a corresponding liquid reservoir each time after the comb has been emptied, whereupon, in the manner already described, all the gap-shaped spaces between the individual plates forming the comb soak it up completely again in the shortest possible time, so that it can then be reapplied. The storage part of the handle 12 be designed as a refillable cavity.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 7, a cuboid plate pack 16 is basically provided with a carved stamp image 17 on one end face, similar to FIG. 1, so that with such a stamp plate pack 16 after the same has been filled by simply immersing the end face bearing the stamp picture 17 in a A large number of stamp prints is possible without having to supply the stamp to an ink pad or the like in the meantime. Of course, in this case too, the gap-shaped spaces in the side surfaces of the stamp package 16 can be closed in order to avoid contamination with stamp ink if corresponding openings are formed in the area of the gap-shaped spaces on the end face opposite the sterapel image 17.

Such a sterile stack can also be used as a non-refillable, disposable article filled with ink.

The plate pack 18 shown in FIG. 8 corresponds essentially to that according to FIG. 7, with the exception that an end face 19 provided for liquid dispensing is rounded in order to be able to apply such a liquid gently to surfaces such as textiles or the like. Of course you could get the face in question also just as in the case of the stamp package according to FIG. 7.

In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 9, a plate pack 20 is wound spirally from a continuous film, the upper end of the plate pack in question forming a hemispherical end face 22 such that such a plate pack is particularly well usable as a so-called deodorant stick.

Finally, FIG. 10 shows a window wiper 22 with a housing 23 and a handle 24 located thereon. The housing 23 tapers in a wedge shape at one end, plate packs 25 being arranged in this wedge-shaped region of the housing parallel to the housing walls, those in the upper region 26 a memory 27 made of porous material is assigned to the housing. If one leads such a window wiper 22 with its lower end according to FIG. 10 over a wet pane, the liquid on the pane is sucked into the gap-like spaces between the plate packs 25 and from there passed on into the memory 27, so that a considerable amount of liquid is absorbed can be necessary before emptying the memory by simply pressing it or the like. Conversely, one can of course also use the same device for applying liquids to flat surfaces, for example by first introducing a cleaning liquid into the memory 27 and thus brushing the window surface to be cleaned or the like. Immediately afterwards, the cleaning liquid can then be removed again, for example with a second device designed as a liquid absorption window wiper.

Of course, numerous modifications of the described exemplary embodiments and numerous other embodiments of the invention are possible according to the basic principles explained above, without leaving the scope of the invention. For example, a plate pack according to FIG. 9 can never be given an increased capacity by immersing it in a corresponding liquid container, just like the comb-shaped plate pack according to FIGS. 2 to 4 in the manner indicated above by inserting it into a housing with hair treatment agent, optionally with an additional one porous storage in the housing can be considerably improved in terms of its application volume and the like. More.

Claims

Expectations:

1. Device for dispensing and / or taking up a liquid with a number of thin plates and / or foils arranged in layers with respect to one another, which have gap-like spaces between the individual plates and / or foils of such a size that, depending on the respective plate and / or or film materials and the liquids to be dispensed or taken up, a capillary transport of the liquid in question takes place through the gap-shaped spaces,

characterized,

that the device is designed as a freely movable, portable object or tool for applying or removing liquid to / from surfaces by brushing the same, for which purpose at least one plate and / or film package (1)

Side surface is designed as a liquid dispensing and / or receiving surface and the other areas of the plate and / or foil package form a liquid storage.

2. Device according to claim 1,

characterized,

that the gap-shaped spaces (3) facing surfaces of the plates and / or foils (2) corresponding to the desired liquid flow are profiled.

3. Device according to claim 2,

characterized,

that the profiling is specifically designed for the liquid dispensing and / or receiving surface.

4. The device according to claim 3,

characterized,

that grooves or grooves are formed in the plate and / or film surfaces, which run straight from the storage part to the liquid dispensing and / or receiving surface.

5. The device according to claim 4,

characterized,

that further grooves are formed, which end in the side areas of the plate and / or foil package and have connections to the pills currently running.

6. The device according to claim 1 or one of the following,

characterized,

that the gap-shaped spaces (3) have a height of 5 - 150 µm.

7. The device according to claim 1 or one of the following, characterized in that

that the individual plates or foils (2) are connected to one another at least at two mutually opposite edges.

0. Device according to claim 1 or one of the following,

characterized,

that the individual plates or foils (2) are connected to one another by spot welding or gluing.

9. The device according to claim 8,

characterized,

that the point-like junctions are evenly distributed over the plate and / or film surfaces.

10. The device according to claim 1 or one of the following,

characterized,

that the gap-shaped spaces (3) in the longitudinal side areas of the plate and / or foil package and / or in partial areas of the liquid delivery and / or receiving surface are closed by gluing, welding or sealing.

11. The device according to claim 1 or one of the following,

characterized, that the plates and / or films of a package have different thickness.

12. The device according to claim 1 or one of the following,

characterized,

that the plates or foils are formed in a thickness of 0.001 mm to 2 cm.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 or one of the following,

characterized,

that the plates and / or films of a package consist of different materials.

14. The apparatus of claim 2 or one of the following,

characterized,

that the plates and / or foils of a package have different surface profiles.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 or one of the following,

characterized,

that the plate and / or film package has profiled or modeled contours in at least one side surface.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 or one of the following,

characterized,

that the plates and or films are flat or curved Have gradients.

17. The apparatus of claim 16,

characterized,

that the plate pack (20) is formed from a spirally wound plate or film material.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16,

characterized,

that the plate pack consists of layers of plate and / or film material arranged concentrically to one another.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 or 18,

characterized,

that openings are formed in the plates and / or foils for the formation of connecting channels between adjacent gap-shaped spaces.

20. The device according to claim 1 or one of the following,

characterized,

that the plate and / or film package (25) is assigned an additional memory, in particular made of capillary-conductive material (27).

21. The device according to claim 1 or one of the following, for the treatment of in particular deep-pile carpets or the hair and / or skin of humans or animals, characterized,

that comb teeth (5) for pulling through the hair or pile to be treated are worked into the plate package at one edge of the plate and / or film package (4).

22. The device according to one of claims 1 to 21, for stamping purposes,

characterized,

that the desired stamp image (17) is worked into an end face of the plate and / or foil package (16) by appropriate cutting.

23. Device according to one of claims 1 to 21, for applying agents to flat parts, in particular parts of the body such as skin, fingernails and toenails,

characterized,

that an end face (19) of the plate and / or foil package forms an essentially flat or rounded delivery zone.

24. Device according to one of claims 1 to 21, for applying cleaning or preserving liquids to larger areas such as textiles, windows or tiles or for pulling off such or other liquids, such as rain water from window panes,

characterized,

that an edge side of a plate pack (25) as delivery or receiving zone is formed.

25. The device according to claim 24,

characterized,

that two wedge-shaped walls of a window wiper (22) are designed as plate and / or foil packs (25) and a memory (27) made of porous material is assigned to them in the upper region (26) of the wiper housing.