EP0619086A1 - Cosmetic box with controlled opening and corresponding compact - Google Patents

Abstract

This is a box comprising a case (4) with its lid (6) with hinge (20, 22), means (14, 30, 58) for controlling the opening of the lid (6), and means (62, 64, 66, 68) for damping the opening movement of the said lid, these means comprising at least one substantially elastically compressible means (62, 64), such as a block of foam and/or a flexing spring, arranged in the box to act during the essential part of the opening travel of the lid by absorbing the energy communicated to the latter in order for it to open. Application, in particular, to powder compacts or make-up boxes. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to the field of cases for cosmetic, make-up, hygiene or care products, and more particularly to make-up or powder boxes (or compacts) used in the field of cosmetology by women for powdering themselves. or for example to color their cheekbones or their eyelids, such cases also constituting in certain cases real articles of jewelry.

Among the boxes known very particularly in this field, some are equipped with a cover which is articulated in rotation relative to the box of the box according to a sort of "damped" movement, that is to say whose speed d aperture has been adjusted so that it is neither too slow, so as not to annoy the user, or too quickly, so that one can appreciate the general elegance of the case and the elements it contains , as well as the graceful and elegant effect that emerges from its handling.

However, such speed adjustment means are, to the knowledge of the applicant, usually constituted to date by "oil bath" systems incorporating a viscous liquid enclosed in a chamber, the viscosity of the fluid and the adhesion (that is to say the effects of friction), of the parts concerned of the housing with regard to this fluid allowing the desired adjustment of the opening speed of the cover.

However, such viscous fluid systems (which may in particular be constituted by a silicone), may prove to be not stable over time and vary according to atmospheric conditions. In addition, since it is a fluid, there is always the risk of leakage. Finally, certain specialists consider that the use in the present case of a viscous fluid leads to difficulties in industrial implementation, increases the manufacturing costs and multiplies the manipulations that each case must undergo for its manufacture.

In this context, the object of the invention is to provide a housing which does not have the aforementioned potential drawbacks and which allows fine adjustment of the opening speed of the cover, whatever the frequency of handling it. here or from the housing and practically whatever its usual conditions of use.

• un coffret et son couvercle,
• une charnière d'articulation en rotation du couvercle par rapport au coffret,
• des moyens de commande en ouverture de ce couvercle,
• et des moyens d'amortissement du mouvement d'ouverture dudit couvercle, pour ajuster sa vitesse d'ouverture en la ralentissant, ces moyens d'amortissement comprenant au moins un moyen compressible sensiblement élastiquement.

For this purpose, the housing of the invention is characterized in that it comprises:

• a box and its cover,
• a hinge hinge in rotation of the cover relative to the box,
• control means for opening this cover,
• and means for damping the opening movement of said cover, to adjust its opening speed by slowing it down, these damping means comprising at least one compressible means which are substantially elastically elastic.

Thus, to adjust the speed of opening of the lid, one will no longer play on any viscosity index or on a coefficient of friction, but on the more or less compressible nature of a damping means, which is with elastic compression to regain its compressibility potential each time the cover is closed.

In practice, the invention further provides, for even greater comfort of use and an optimum effect of controlling the opening of the cover, that said damping means will act during practically all, or at least the essential, of the opening stroke of the cover by absorbing, until substantially canceling it at the end of the travel, the energy communicated to the cover for its opening by its associated control means.

As damping means, the invention recommends the use of a block of foam, and more particularly of a block of synthetic foam, for example PVC or impregnated polyurethane, the reliability and thermal stability of which are known, the cost price of which is low and the ease of both adapting the shape and setting up or even replacing it is great, without any risk of soiling the other parts of the housing.

• les moyens d'ouverture du couvercle comprennent un premier ressort pour une ouverture relativement rapide de ce couvercle, et
• que lesdits moyens d'amortissement comprennent, quant à eux :
  • . un second ressort agissant à l'encontre du premier ressort essentiellement pendant une première partie de la course d'ouverture du couvercle,
  • . ledit bloc de mousse agissant essentiellement pendant une seconde partie finale de cette course.

The experience of hinge articulation systems and in particular of those used in the field of the invention, having shown that it is necessary to fine-tune the adjustment of the speed so that it is suitable for the desired objective, and in practice is substantially regular over the entire race, a preferred embodiment of the invention provides that:

• the lid opening means comprise a first spring for relatively rapid opening of this lid, and
• that said depreciation means include:
  • . a second spring acting against the first spring essentially during a first part of the opening stroke of the cover,
  • . said block of foam acting essentially during a second final part of this race.

Thus, in a first part of the opening stroke, it is possible to use a relatively rigid spring to absorb the sudden acceleration communicated to the cover by its first spring, the end-of-stroke damping being provided by the block of foam which will take over. of the second spring while the opening energy will have already significantly decreased, the foam block avoiding any rebound effect at the end of the stroke.

Advantageously, to promote the desired effect, the block of foam will be placed near the hinge of articulation of the cover.

Still within the framework of a preferred embodiment of the invention, the box enclosure may contain a drawer which will be mounted therein sliding under the control of the articulation movement in rotation of the cover, the drawer enclosing at least one said damping means, such as advantageously that said second spring, which will compress or relax depending on the movement of the drawer, pressing against a fixed wall of the box.

In this way, one will be able to reliably and with good dynamic efficiency, finely adjust the manner in which the opening of the cover will take place.

• la figure 1 est une vue en perspective et en éclaté d'un boîtier conforme à l'invention, dans son ensemble,
• la figure 2 montre, en vue de détail agrandie, la zone privilégiée d'implantation du bloc de mousse d'amortissement (le bloc en lui-même n'étant pas figuré),
• la figure 3 montre la zone du boîtier de la figure 2 avec le bloc de mousse en place, le couvercle étant ici en position de pleine ouverture,
• les figures 4 à 7 montrent, en coupe longitudinale médiane, le même boîtier en différentes situations d'ouverture ou de fermeture, plus ou moins complète, de son couvercle,
• et la figure 8 montre en vue partielle de dessus une variante de réalisation du ressort d'amortissement associé au tiroir,

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description made with reference to the appended drawings given solely by way of nonlimiting examples and in which:

• FIG. 1 is a perspective and exploded view of a housing according to the invention, as a whole,
• FIG. 2 shows, in an enlarged detail view, the preferred area for installing the block of damping foam (the block itself is not shown),
• FIG. 3 shows the zone of the box of FIG. 2 with the foam block in place, the cover here being in the fully open position,
• FIGS. 4 to 7 show, in median longitudinal section, the same case in different opening or closing situations, more or less complete, of its cover,
• and FIG. 8 shows in partial view from above an alternative embodiment of the damping spring associated with the drawer,

In FIG. 1, first of all, we therefore see illustrated a casing 2 for powder and / or make-up, essentially made of plastic, comprising a box 4 closed by a cover 6.

The cover essentially comprises a parallelepipedic block 8 with a bottom 8a and four perimeter side walls 8b inside which comes a frame 10 retaining a mirror 12 and provided, on one side (at the front), with a hook or notch 14 for locking in the closed position of the cover and, on the opposite side (at the rear), of a fallen wall extension defining a hinge zone 16, of transverse axis 18 with two lateral axial pins 20 adapted for journalling in bearings 22 of a part 24 linked to the box for example by fixing screws 25. This part 24, which is a fixed part, has a generally parallelepiped shape generally having the appearance of a frame coming from fit between the four side walls 26a of the basic parallelepiped block 26 at the bottom 26b of the housing 4.

At the front (marked AVT in FIG. 1), the box 26 has an opening 28 for the engagement through it of the parts 30, 32 forming the hook locking pusher 14 through the orifice 34 of the frame 24, when the cover must be closed, or unlocking the same hook when the box must be opened. Inside the part 24, a drawer 36 is mounted movable in translation towards the front or the rear of the box. At the front, the drawer 36 has two lugs 38 in which freely engage in rotation two pins 40 extending coaxially substantially parallel to the hinge axis 18, and belonging to a tilting part 42 mounted articulated in rotation around a fixed axis 44 also parallel to the axis 18, via an upper axial bead 46 capable of journalling in bearings such as 48, carried by two opposite side walls of the part 24.

At the rear, the drawer 36 also has two lateral arms extending at right angles, parallel to the axis 18, by two wall primers each carrying an upper tongue 50, slightly inclined towards the rear and intended to come s 'each engage between two areas of the part 16 forming two front guide fingers 52 and rear 54, respectively (see also Figures 3 and 5).

For the articulation in rotation of the cover, the part 16 has here, between these lateral guide zones 52, 54 and its pins 20, a recess in which an insert 56 engages first carrying a first spring 58 wrapped around a shaft 60 carried by the part 56 and extending parallel to the axis 18, as well as a block of shock absorbing foam 62 for example in polyvinyl chloride with closed cells or in polyurethane impregnated acrylic and whose presence constitutes an important characteristic of the invention.

First of all concerning the spring 58, it will be noted that it is a torsion spring, a hairpin, the two opposite end portions of which bear one against the rear side wall 26a of the box 26 , and for the other against the corresponding finger 52 (see Figures 2, 3 and 5).

Conventionally, the torsion spring 58 thus positioned will tend, upon release of the hook 14 by the operation of the pusher 30, to relax by communicating its expansion energy to the cover, thus causing it to open with a certain speed as a function of the force of the spring.

The object of the invention is to adjust this opening speed of the cover.

For this, provision has been made, in this embodiment, for using two complementary damping means, namely: the block of damping foam 62 as well as a second spring (in this case a bending spring) 64 designed to be placed inside the drawer 36, bearing at the rear against the rear transverse wall 66 of the drawer and, at the front, against a fixed transverse wall 68 belonging to the framing part 24.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 4 to 7, the spring 64 can in particular be constituted by a metal blade folded substantially "in W" so as to be fairly clearly rigid at the start of deformation for, as soon as the catch 14 is released , effectively counteract the relaxation of the first spring 58 and thus communicate only a fairly low acceleration to the cover at the start of the race, thus a fortiori ensuring an adjustment of its opening speed which will be able to have the desired regularity and relative slowness, the relay for the second part of the race being taken by the foam block 62 which, as shown in FIG. 4, will advantageously be placed in the immediate vicinity of the hinge area of articulation of the cover, and therefore of its pivot axis 18 , thus allowing compression for end-of-travel damping, without speed increase or final rebound, the foam block 62 being housed here in the hollow of a raised part tee in bucket 70 (see Figures 2 and 3) fixed to the cover to pivot with it, between the fingers 52 and the top of the rear wall 26a of the housing against which the foam block is therefore crushed at the end of opening of the cover ( see Figure 3), the block resiliently returning to its original shape, like spring 64, when the cover is closed.

Now let's take a look at figures 4 to 7 to briefly present the opening operation and when closing the case, it being specified that the make-up cup housed in room 24 was shown at 71.

Firstly, in FIG. 4, the box is closed, the notch 14 being engaged. The spring 58 is compressed. Both the foam block 62 and the spring 64 are practically unstressed.

If the pusher 30 is pressed, the notch 14 is released and the spring 58 relaxes, communicating to the cover an acceleration in the direction of its opening (FIG. 5). The pivoting of the cover around its hinge axis 18 causes the bars 54 to move simultaneously in rotation, which themselves drive the drawer 36 in forward translation in the direction of arrow 72, thus almost immediately compressing the spring of flexion 64 which almost instantly slows the opening speed of the cover by counteracting the effect of the spring 58. From, for example, two-thirds of the opening stroke of the cover, the damping effect of the spring 64 decreases, is replaced by that of the foam block 62 (see FIG. 6), the progressive compression of which will maintain the opening speed substantially regular, until the end of the stroke, where the forces in one direction and in the other then balance each other substantially.

In view of Figures 5 and 6 in particular, it will be noted that the movement in the direction of arrow 72 of the drawer 36 tends to cause the tilting upwards, in the direction of arrow 74, of the plate 42 which in this case , carries a brush display 76, this under the push of the pins 38.

To close the box, the user just has to bring the cover and the box towards each other, thereby releasing from their compression, the foam block 62 then the spring 64, and concomitantly compressing the opening spring 58, via a drive towards the rear of the drawer 36 by means of the control fingers 52 of the cover, the drawer naturally driving with it the plate 42 which returns to its low position inside the housing (FIG. 7), the maneuver ending in the attachment of the notch 14.

Let us now now take a brief look at the illustration in FIG. 8 which shows an alternative embodiment of the sliding drawer identified here 36 ′ and which differs from the drawer 36 in that a tongue forming a bending spring 76 is integrally molded therewith. , with two branches constituting substantially a "Ω", forming in the central part only one piece with the rear transverse wall 66 already mentioned, so that at the start of the slide 36 'stroke, the ends of the branches 76 come bear against the still existing wall 68 of the frame 24, thereby counteracting the effect of the still existing opening spring 58 (not shown here).

Claims (11)

Case for cosmetic, make-up, care or hygiene product, comprising: - a box (4) and its cover (6), the box being able to contain said product, - a hinge (20, 22) of articulation in rotation of the cover relative to the box, - parts (30, 32) for locking / unlocking a notch (14) for holding the cover in the closed position, - a first spring means (58) compressed in said closed position of this cover and the detent released by the unlocking of the notch is capable of causing the abrupt opening of the cover, - And means (62, 64, 66, 68, 76) of damping the opening movement of said cover, to slow this opening against said first spring means, these damping means comprising at least one means (62, 64) compressible substantially elastically suitable for being compressed or expanded as a function respectively of the expansion or compression of said first spring means. Housing according to claim 1,
characterized in that said damping means (62, 64) are arranged in the housing to act progressively during most of the opening stroke of the cover (6) by absorbing, until substantially canceling it out at the end of stroke, the energy communicated to the cover, for its opening, by the release of said first spring means (58). Housing according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that said compressible damping means (64) is arranged inside a drawer (36) while also being in abutment against a fixed wall (68) of the cabinet , said drawer being mounted sliding in the box (4), under the control of the articulation movement in rotation of the cover (6). Housing according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said damping means comprise a block of compressible foam (62). Housing according to claim 4, characterized in that the foam block is arranged near the hinge (16, 20, 22) of articulation of the cover. Housing according to claim 4 or claim 5, characterized in that said damping means comprise: - a second spring (64) acting against the first spring means, essentially during a first part of the opening stroke of the cover, - And said foam block (62) which acts essentially during a second final part of the stroke of said cover. Housing according to claims 3 and 6, characterized in that said compressible damping means (64) disposed in the drawer is constituted by said second spring. Housing according to any one of claims 3 to 7, characterized in that the drawer (36) has a first end close to the hinge (16, 20, 22) of articulation of the cover (6) and a second opposite end, which incorporates a pusher (30) for controlling the rotation of a pivoting part (42) articulated around a fixed axis substantially parallel to that (18) of the hinge and carried by the box. Housing according to claim 6, characterized in that said block of foam is disposed closer to the hinge of articulation of the cover than said second spring to take over after a first determined part of the opening stroke of the cover. Housing according to any one of Claims 6 to 9, characterized in that the said second spring (76) is produced integrally, in one piece, with the drawer (36) and has substantially an "Ω" shape, in a state unconstrained. Powder box containing a cosmetic powder and constituted by the box according to any one of the preceding claims.

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