EP2723289A1

EP2723289A1 - Cotton swab

Info

Publication number: EP2723289A1
Application number: EP12730144.8A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Beat Häni; Christian Rytka; Guy Petignat
Original assignee: ROWEG HOLDING AG
Current assignee: ROWEG HOLDING AG
Priority date: 2011-06-24
Filing date: 2012-06-20
Publication date: 2014-04-30
Also published as: WO2012174673A1; US20140289986A1; US9555153B2; CH705159A2

Abstract

The invention relates to a cotton swab (1) with a rod-shaped grip body (2), and with a cotton body (3a, 3b) arranged at least on one free end of the grip body (2). The invention is characterized in that the rod-shaped grip body (2) is a biodegradable extrusion body and contains natural fibres embedded in a substance matrix.

Description

COTTON SWAB

The invention is in the field of hygiene and care articles and relates to a cotton swab, with a rod-shaped handle body and with a, at least at a free end of the handle body arranged cotton body. Cotton swabs of the type mentioned above with cotton balls attached to both ends are often used for daily beauty care, in particular for cleaning the ears, in eye cosmetics, manicures, lipstick correction, etc. The cotton swabs are so-called disposable articles, which are supplied after a single use of waste recycling. It is therefore desirable that the cotton swab be biodegradable as a whole, or at least in part, and moreover be fabricated as a whole, or at least in part, from renewable resources. While the cotton body is usually made of natural fibers such as cotton, the handle body is often made of a non-biodegradable plastic such as polypropylene.

Another requirement of such a cotton swab is its cost-effective production. Since the cotton swab is a disposable item, it should be as inexpensive as possible. The price of the cotton swab is made up of the raw material costs as well as the production costs. The focus of manufacturing costs is in particular the production of the handle body. ST AND THE TECHNOLOGY It is therefore not surprising that handle bodies made of non-biodegradable and therefore less environmentally friendly but inexpensive plastic are still widely used. Even the production of plastic handles is relatively inexpensive and therefore inexpensive. For example, DE-A-2 013 886 describes a cotton swab with a handle body made of a plastic pipe piece, which is produced in an extrusion process.

Previous versions of cotton swabs are no longer available today. This is because the grip body should not be too rigid or rigid due to the use of such care articles in the eye cosmetics. Although the handle bodies used today are still relatively rigid, but have a certain flexibility or flexibility, so that they bend when exceeding a certain bending force, but without splintering. This z. B. reduces the risk of injury in case of unwanted mistreatment during makeup or cleaning of the ears.

DE-U-297 16 819 describes a compostable cotton swab made of cardboard or paper. The cardboard handle body is made by cutting or punching it out of a flat cardboard body, or it is obtained by filling a cellulose pulp into corresponding molds and pressing it. The handle body made of paper is produced as a wound body, in which paper strips are wound into a rod-shaped body with appropriate winding technology. The Gnfikörper described above either have the disadvantage that they are not environmentally friendly or that their production is complex and correspondingly expensive.

PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a cotton swab of the aforementioned type, which on the one hand cost-effective in the production and on the other hand has a biodegradable handle body.

This object is achieved with the features of the independent product claim. Preferred embodiments and further developments of the invention will become apparent from the dependent claims.

The cotton swab is thus characterized by a rod-shaped handle body, which is a biodegradable extrusion body, and which contains a matrix of substances and natural fibers embedded therein, such. As cellulose fibers contains, as z. B. from waste paper, directly from wood and / or rice husks, straw and / or cereal bowls are obtained.

The substance matrix serves in particular as a binder, which holds the natural fibers together and forms a fiber-reinforced structure with them. The matrix contains or preferably consists of one of the following biodegradable materials. Furthermore, the substance matrix can also consist of or contain a mixture of these materials: Starch, gluten, hemicellulose, sugar, lignin, chitin, gelatin, proteins, wax, glycerin, fructose, methylcellulose, agar-agar, pectin and / or biodegradable polymers. Biodegradable polymers may, for. For example:

biodegradable copolyesters, such as BTA, in particular blends with other biodegradable polymers,

- Thermoplastic starch (TPS), starch blends,

Polylactide or polylactic acid (PLA), and PLA blends,

Cellulose products, such as cellulose acetate (CA),

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), polyhydroxybutyric acid (PHB),

biodegradable petroleum-based polymers, such as polycaprolactone (PCL),

biodegradable polymers derived chemically from lignin, chitin, casein, gelatin, proteins in general, or vegetable oils,

- biodegradable polymers based on modified cellulose derivatives.

The matrix can also be formed by dissolving the natural fibers with the help of solvents to form self-reinforcing cellulose composites.

The substance matrix serves in particular for the positive, chemical and / or physical crosslinking of the fibers or the formation of hydrogen bonds. The proportion of the substance matrix can be greater than, equal to or less than the proportion of natural fibers in terms of volume. If the proportion of natural fibers predominates considerably, then the natural fibers can even form a fiber mass whose individual fibers are glued together by means of the substance matrix acting as a binder. The fabric matrix consequently forms a fiber-reinforced structure together with the natural fibers. The substance matrix can be added separately or already contained in the starting material, so that its function as binder only has to be activated during the production process. This is the case in particular if the substance matrix z. As starch, sugar or lignin.

The handle body preferably contains 10% by volume or more, in particular 30% by volume or more and advantageously 40% by volume or more of natural fibers. Furthermore, the handle body preferably contains 90% by volume or less, in particular 80% by volume or less and advantageously 70% by volume or less of natural fibers. The natural fibers are preferably secondary fibers of recycled, i. recycled fiber material. As already mentioned, the natural fibers z. B. cellulose fibers. The recycled starting material is preferably a very cheap available biological fiber material which z. B. recovered from waste paper or waste from rice production. Cellulose fibers may, for. B. be obtained from ground or frayed waste paper, i. Waste paper is digested and broken down into cellulose fibers. Hemicellulose can also be obtained from waste paper or waste from rice production. This ensures z. B. a high tensile strength and tensile strength of the handle body. The natural fibers can also primary fibers, eg. B. be made of wood. A mixture of primary and secondary fibers is conceivable.

The majority or all of the natural fibers in the grip body are preferably aligned in the longitudinal direction thereof. The orientation of the natural fibers in the longitudinal direction preferably takes place during the extrusion process. For additional reinforcement of the grip body, in addition to the named, primarily used natural fibers, it may also have further fibers, in particular long fibers, with a greater average fiber length than the natural fibers mentioned. The further fibers are preferably vegetable fibers, in particular cotton fibers, hemp fibers or mixtures thereof. Cotton fibers are preferably also secondary fibers, which z. B. recycled fibers from the spinning industry or the used textiles can be recycling. The primary natural fibers used can, for. B. have lengths of greater than or equal to 0.1 mm, in particular greater than or equal to 0.5 mm and less than or equal to 8 mm, in particular less than or equal to 5 mm. The other fibers (long fibers) may, for. B. lengths of greater than or equal to 5 mm, and less than or equal to 30 mm, in particular less than or equal to 20 mm.

The handle body of the cotton swab preferably has a typical length of 5 to 10 cm. The diameter of the handle body is z. B. 0.5 to 3 mm, in particular 1 to 2 mm. Both ends of the trained as a rod handle body are wrapped with a cotton ball. The cotton wool may be made from synthetic fibers or preferably from biodegradable natural fibers such as cotton.

The cross section of the rod-shaped handle body may be round (circular, oval) or polygonal. Other cross-sectional shapes are conceivable. The handle body may further be formed as a solid or hollow body. With regard to the cross-sectional shape of the handle body, there is a comparatively high degree of design freedom thanks to the use of an extrusion method. Also claimed is also a rod-shaped handle body, which is made of a biodegradable extrusion body, and contains natural fibers embedded in a matrix of substances. All in this description disclosed features of the handle body in connection with its use in cotton swabs apply to the generally claimed, rod-shaped handle body. This rod-shaped handle body finds, as already explained in detail, preferably use in cotton swabs. Also, the manufacturing method described and claimed below should generally apply to rod-shaped handle body, and be applicable not only to handle body, which are used in cotton swabs. The inventive handle body can also be used in the food sector, z. B. in Schlegelsten (Lollipop, Lollipop), for the production of popsicles. Furthermore, the grip body can also find application in other areas of personal hygiene. Thus, the handle body in dental care, z. B. as a dental floss holder, find use. Instead of cotton wool z. As well as a brush head or floss be attached to one end of the handle body.

The grip bodies are preferably produced in an extrusion device. The extrusion device comprises a mixing device and an extrusion tool, via which the extrusion composition is extruded by molding. The method for producing the handle body of a cotton swab is characterized by the following steps:

mixing natural fibers with a biodegradable matrix material into an extrudable extrusion mass in a mixing device;

- Extruding the extrusion mass through an extrusion die to form an elongated extrusion body;

- curing the extrusion body.

The extrusion mass may be highly viscous depending on the matrix. The extrusion composition may also be a dry blend.

The mixing device can be integrated in the extruder. Fibers and matrix can this z. B. be introduced separately via two metering devices in the extruder. The components of the substance matrix are supplied, for example in granular form or in liquid or fiiessfahiger form of the extrusion device. In some cases, the components must be melted. Depending on which substances are used in which quantities, water can be added during the mixing process. The addition of water may, for. B. the activation of the already existing substance matrix or the binder, such as lignin, gluten or starch serve. Furthermore, the addition of water can serve for positive crosslinking of the fibers. In addition, the addition of water can serve for the formation of hydrogen bonds in the subsequent curing.

The extrusion composition is preferably mixed by means of an extruder screw. The extrusion compound can also be premixed before the extrusion process in a separate mixing device, the so-called compounder or mixer. The handle body can be manufactured or extruded accordingly by means of a single-screw or twin-screw extruder.

The extrusion may be horizontal or vertical, i. be extruded in the direction of gravity. The exiting from the extrusion die extrusion body is cut to length before, during or after curing to individual grips.

Curing in the broadest sense means the solidification of the extrusion. The feature curing thus also includes the mere solidification of the extrusion. That is, curing may involve merely drying, cooling, and / or polymerization.

The novel cotton batches are used in beauty care or cosmetics, for. As for makeup, in baby care, when cleaning the ears. Furthermore, inventive cotton swabs find use as a so-called smear tool, z. As for the smear of saliva samples, such as for the determination of the genetic fingerprint in DNA screening.

The grip body of the cotton swab according to the invention has the advantage that it has a comparatively high flexural rigidity and at the same time does not break apart splinteringly at high bending forces, but instead deforms plastically, for example. Accordingly, the grip body according to the invention has plastic properties. on. Furthermore, the grip body, as already mentioned, is cost-effective in its production, in particular when recycled natural fibers are used, as well as biodegradable.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

In the following, the subject invention is illustrated by means of an exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings.

The cotton swab 1 shown consists of a rod-shaped handle body 2 in the form of a biodegradable extrusion body and each wound around the handle body 2 cotton wool body 3a, 3b made of cotton.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

Cotton swab (1) with a rod-shaped handle body (2) and with a, at least at a free end of the handle body (2) arranged cotton body (3a, 3b), characterized in that the rod-shaped handle body (2) is a biodegradable extrusion body, which Contains natural fibers and a matrix of substances, wherein the natural fibers are held together via the substance matrix acting as a binder.

Cotton swab according to claim 1, characterized in that the natural fibers are or contain cellulose fibers.

Cotton swab according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the matrix acts as a binder and consists of or contains one of the following materials or a mixture of the following materials: starch, sugar, lignin, chitin, gelatin, proteins, glycerol, fructose, methylcellulose , Agar-agar, wax, pectin and / or biodegradable polymers.

Cotton swab according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the handle body contains 10 to 90% by volume, in particular 30 to 80% by volume, advantageously 40 to 70% by volume, of natural fibers.

5. Cotton swab according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the natural fibers in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped handle body (2) are aligned.

6. Cotton swab according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the handle body (2) contains cotton fibers as additional, long-fiber reinforcement.

Cotton swab according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the natural fibers are secondary fibers of a recycled material, such as waste paper, or from waste of rice production or contain such.

Cotton swab according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the natural fibers are primary fibers or contain those which are obtained directly from wood or wood waste.

Stabfbrmiger handle body (2), in particular for a cotton swab (1) according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the handle body (2) is made of a biodegradable extrusion body, and contains embedded in a matrix material natural fibers.

10. A method for producing the handle body (2), in particular for a cotton swab (1) according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized by the following steps:

- harden, as solidify or dry, the extrusion body.

1 1. A method according to claim 10, characterized in that water is added during mixing of the extrusion mass.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that the extrusion mass is mixed in an extruder screw.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that the extrusion body before, during or after curing into individual

Handle body (2) is cut to length.