GB2026983A - Cosmetics containers - Google Patents

Abstract

A container for cosmetics in stick form comprises a tubular body having an upper part (11) and a lower part (18), and a stick-holder (14) axially movable within the tubular body; the upper part of the body is secured to a sleeve (12) formed with axial guide slots (13), the lower part of the body is secured to a sleeve (16) formed with spiral guide slots (17), and follower prongs (15) extend from the stick-holder to enter both the axial slots and the spiral slots so that rotation of the lower part of the body relative to the upper part of the body will effect non-rotary axial movement of the stick-holder. The container may also provide a mould for formation of the cosmetic stick. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Containers or cases, particularly for cosmetics in stick form It is known that in containers for conventional cosmetics, the stick-carrying cup is controlled by a rotation and translation motion, obtained as consequence of the displacement of the crosspoint of two guides, in such way that during the operation the stick rotates in respect to the container, so that the stick is unable to keep the correspondence of its outline in respect to that of the container.

An object of the present invention is a construction of a case, in any case a straight (or rectilinear) translation motion.

Another object of the present invention is a case or sheath, preferably for cosmetics, wherein the upper body has an outline which is shaped, for instance, as flute beak, that is with a slanting plane or with a curved concave or convex plane, or with broken planes, and so on. Furthermore, the inner side of the upper body itself, which houses the stick, is adapted to work also as a die, being slits less and/or grooveless. The upper body of the container may, therefore, have a transverse cross-section of a cylindrical shape like the conventional one, or else of any polygonal shape (or outline) as triangular, square, and so on, or may be egg shaped, or also of polygonal outline obtained by means of circle arc.

The container, having at its own upper portion the same outline as the stick, acts in the use also a continuous forming member of its point, since the rim acts tapering always the stick according to its original shape, as opposed to conventional ones which, in the use, tend to lose it. Furthermore, since it is no more necessary to have the stick protrude completely but, on the contrary, along a small portion only, the stick keeps better protected from breakage so allowing the employment of more soft pastes or more brittle sticks with compact powders, due to higher tensile strength which is achieved for the winding shape of this container.

Still another object of the invention is a case, preferably for cosmetic articles, in which the stick is able to effect successive vertical or proportioned displacements, having a previously established value.

In particular, it is to be noted that the essential characteristic of the case, according to the invention, in which the motion of the stick-carrying cup is obtained by the means of the displacement of the crosspoint between two guides, consists of the fact that, of the two parts in which the external mantle or skirt is divided, the upper one, that is the part looking towards the free end of the stick, and which is shaped for instance as the beak of the flute, is provided with a rectilinear guiding means, this guide being formed at the inside of said portion of case or inside a portion which is made integral with it, said guide being composed of one or more grooves or slits machined along generating lines of the upper portion of the external skirt, while the external lower portion is made integral with one or more slits or grooves which are curvilinear and shaped preferably according to a spiral shape.

In the enclosed drawings, which are to be considered only in an exemplary non-limitative way, some embodiments of the invention are illustrated.

In said drawings: Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a first form of case according to the invention; Fig. 2 shows in a similar exploded perspective view showing a second form of case according to the invention; Figures 3, 3a, 3b, 4, 4a, 5 and 5a are partly sectional views illustrating further forms of case according to the invention; and Figures 6, 6a and 6b are sectional elevations showing yet a further form of a case according to the invention.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 1, the case according to the invention is composed of an external upper body 1, a body 2 arranged inside the body 1 and internally provided with grooves 3, a cup or small basin holding stick4 and provided with prongs 5, a body 6 to receive the stick holder 4 and to be received, freely rotatable within the body 2. The bodies 1 and 2 may be separated, especially in the case in which the body 1 is formed of a metal and the body 2 is made of plastic material, or else the 2 bodies may form a single body together. Body 2, as said, is provided with rectilinear grooves 3, while body 6 is provided with helical slits 7 and ends by a portion 8 which, once the case has been mounted, will underly the body 1.As it is apparent, the assembly of a case according to the present invention is obtained by inserting the stick-holder 4 within the body 6 in such a way that the prongs 5 engage themselves with the helical slits 7, the body 6 with the stick-holder 4 housed within it is inserted into the body 2 in such a way that the prongs 5 of the stick holder 4 which project from the slits 7 will find room and housing within the vertical grooves 3, and, in the case that the body 1 is separate and distinct from the body 2, this body 1 is assembled in order to line or cover the whole ensemble. The result is a case in which one sees the body 1 overhanging and the portion 8 of the body 6 underlying, both portions being in condition to be caught by the fingers.If, now, one imparts a rotation to the body 1 in respect to the body 6 and vice versa, the result will always be a displacement, in an axial, vertical, non-rotational direction of the stick-holder4 in respect to body 1.

That is, in other words, the stick-holder 4, and therefore the stick housed within it, never effects an angu lar motion in respect to the external body ensemble 1-2, thus if the stick towards its free end is of a shape which corresponds to that of the end of body 1, the stick will maintain its initial form in register with the form of the end of the body 1. Such a solution which utilizes the basic concept of the invention, allows the stick to be formed with and maintain any suitable end shape corresponding to the end shape of the body.

As already said, the material forming the lipstick or other cosmetic to be received within the case and to be displaced through the stick-holder 4, is soft and sometimes friable up to reaching the consistency of lightly compacted powders. Therefore, it may be virtually essential to be able to guide the stick slowly in such a way that only a small portion of the stick is extended for each pitch of the curvilinear multi-turn guide. Furthermore, it may be essential that, inside the body within which it slides, the stick does not meet grooves, slits, curvilinear and/or rectilinear, with consequent possibility of using said internal wall as a die for the stick, the product simply being poured into the body.

Furthermore, it may be essential to have both the stick and the wall of the body protecting the stick, formed of a different and non-circular cross-section.

It may be possible to adopt cross-sections for the stick which are polygonal, star-shaped, egg-shaped, or of any other suitable shape.

As it is illustrated in Fig. 2, such a solution can be achieved through the utilization of the illustrated embodiment. In particular, always maintaining in mind the fact that the upper external body must have, or must be rendered integral with, rectilinear guides whereas the lower external body is provided with, or made integral with, curvilinear guides with the end of the realizing an exclusively axial motion of the stick-carrying cup in respect to the upper external body, the control mechanism illustrated in Fig. 1, is, in said Fig. 2, characteristic for the invention, displaced axially below the rim of the stick-holding cup.

In Fig. 2, parts which are similar and analogus with those illustrated in Fig. 1 are indicated by the same reference numerals but increased by 10.

We have, thus, an upper external body 11, followed below, in vertical direction by the body 12 which is provided with rectilinear guides 13. The stick-carrier 14 is provided, at its lower end, with prongs 15, keeping in mind that it has a remarkably increased length in comparison with the corresponding stick-carrier 4 of Fig. 1. Similarly, the external lower body 18 is fixed to, or is integral with, the lower portion of the element 16 provided with one or more helical guides 17.As it can be seen from Fig. 2, the stick-carrier member 14, whose upper rim may end in a plane which is horizontal in respect to the longitudinal axis, as it is practiced usually, or by a plane slanting in respect to this longitudinal axis, as it is indicated in Figures 3, 3a, 3b by dashed lines, is remarkably lengthened below the lower surface of the stick 19, and the prongs 15 are arranged towards the lower base in order to obtain the control mechan ism for the rotation-and-translation motion below the rim of the stick-carrying cup.

The prongs 15 are two in number if the internal groove 17 of the body 16 has only one or few turns, such to allow for a double helix, otherwise the prong may be only one if the groove 17 must be realized with a number of turns such to leave room for a single helix only. The stick-carrying element 14 may have the stick supporting surface 19 with a closed bottom, for sticks poured into external dies and successively inserted, or with a holed bottom for sticks poured from the bottom.

As it may be seen from Fig. 2, the external body 11 is internally provided with the body 12 which is integral with it, the body 12 being provided with rectilinear guides 13 which, in the case in question, are slits which may, or may not, have a narrowing portion 1 9A at the lower end, this section acting as end-of-stroke stop for the prongs. The assembling, therefore, happens by introducing the stick-carrying member 14 into the body 12 in such a waythatthe prongs 15 may be able to engage the rectilinear guides 13, projecting outside from them and finding successively a housing within the spiral groove 17 of the body 16, which is integral with the lower external portion 18 of the case.The body 12 is provided, at its own lower rim with an external circular projection 20 having a diameter which is capable of narrowing elastically, due to the presence of the slits 13, in order to allow the hooking, and the keeping in place (once inserted), of the body 16 having the helical groove. We have, as in the case illustrated in Fig. 1, the rectilinear guides 13 machined in the external upper body 1, and, vice versa. We find the curvilinear guides on the body 16, made integral with, or being integral with, the lower external portion 18 of the case. Also in this case, a rigorously axial displacemenu takes place of the stick-carrying member 14 in respect to the body 11 and, consequently, a rigorously axial and non-rotational displacement of the stick which is carried by the stick-carrying member.

In this solution, however, in which the displacement mechanism of the stick-carrying element has been displaced downwards from the upper portion of the case, we have the resu It that the stick is completely lacking in any projection or in any recess or slit.

There is, therefore, the condition of sliding in the best possible way, if the case can be used as a die for stick material poured in, in a melted condition.

The provision, illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, of prongs 5 and 15 of the stick carrying member4-14, these prongs having identical size and being arranged in a symmetrical fashion, finds application when two diametrically opposed, rectilinear or curvilinear guides are involved, that is in the case in which the curvilinear guide has a path preferably of the spiral type, able-to run through by the prongs owing to a rotation of the external lower body 8-18, the rotation being of the amount of a turn or less.

If, however, one has to consider particularly delicate or soft materials so that a slow advance or feed motion ofthe stick is desired, it is convenient to have recourse to a double helical guide having few turns, or, still better, to a single helical guide having more turns, that is to a guide whose path by part of the prongs or respectively by part of the prong of the stick-carrying member requires the control member of the curvilinear guide to effect more than one rotation. In such case, it is convenientto have a recourse to a solution which is a variant of Fig. 2 of the type illustrated in Figures 3 to 5. Said figures respectively show the case in a vertical axial cross-section (Fig.

3), in a section in plan view of the stick-carrying member only (Fig. 4), and in a section which is similar to that of Fig. 3 of the lower portion of the case, (Fig. 5), while similar views, rotated by 90" are shown in the Figures 3a to 5a, and Fig. 3b shows the case during a step of the assembling.

As it can be seen from said Figures, the case is always formed by an external member 11, provided with a portion 12 on which a rectilinear guide 13 is made, on whose lower rim, furthermore, an eternal resilient circular projection 20 appears. A stickcarrying member 14 is formed, in the variant, internally with an open bottom, where small walls 22 shaped as parts of circle rings, obtained along the thickness of the mantle will act as a support for the bottom of the stick, while externally the stickcarrying member is formed with a single prong 15, and, at a symmetrical position, with a projection 21 acting as an end-of-stroke stop.

If one wants to realize a container adapted to receive sticks of different lengths, one can achieve such adaptation by changing the only the die of the stick-carrying cup. In effect since the upper end of the container keeps fixed, it is possible to vary the height, in respect to it, of the upper rim of the stickcarrying member, in such a way to obtain a long or short stick. Also, the stroke of the stick can be limited, without varying the length of the body 16 having the helical groove, by placing instead of a prong a projecting shim 21 not exceeding the thickness of the slits 13, so as to obtain an upper end-ofstroke projection, as it is illustrated in Fig. 3b.

In order to facilitate the molding of the body 12, one can eliminate the narrowing 19 of Fig. 2 of the slits which determine the lower end-of-stroke position of the prong 15, as it may be seen in Figures 5 and 5a, and one can determine said end-of-stroke condition by forming on the internal bottom of the lower external body 18 a circular projection 23 upon which, at end-of-stroke level, the lower end of the stick-holding cup 14 will resist.

Furthermore, in order to facilitate the molding operations, the prong 15 may have the shape which is illustrated in Fig. 5a.

The external lower body 18 is integral with the control element 16 provided with spiral-shaped 17 guide of the "slow pitch" type. As it may be observed, the structure of the case illustrated in Fig.

3 corresponds substantially to the structure of the case of Fig. 2, apart from the said variants, and with the difference that the curvilinear guide 17 existing in the body 16 is a guide of the "slow pitch" type. In such case, a single pin 15 engages the rectilinear guide and the curvilinear guide, 17 and 13 respectively, whereas the end-of-stroke projection 21, being shorter than the prong 15 of the stick-carrying 14 engages only the rectilinear guide 13. From that it follows that the advance of the stick-holder 14, due to the rotation of the external lower portion 18 is more or less slow according to the number of turns and of the pitch of the spiral 17 and is related to the speed with which the crosspoint between the curvilinear guide with the rectilinear guide displaces itself.The assembling of a case according to the embodiment illustrated in Figures 3 to 5 is obviously similar to that which has been previously illustrated.

If it is not strictly indispensable that the portion within which the stick is housed be guideless, as in the case of the stick which is illustrated in Fig. 1, and if one wants to have a particularly slow advance motion of the stick, one can have recourse to the solution shown in the Figures 6, 6a, 6b, where parts similar to those illustrated in the Figures 3,4,5 are indicated by the same reference numerals, increased by 20. Said figures illustrate some axial vertical section of the case at the positions rotated by 90" each other (Figures 6 and 6a), and during the assembling (Fig. 6b). As can be appreciated from said Figures, the external body 31 is provided, as in all other cases, with a portion 32 on which a rectilinear guide 33 has been machined, whereas the lower body 36 is provided with a curvilinear guide 37.It is to be observed, as it appears more clearly from the Figures in question that the stick-holder 34 is provided with a set of prongs 35 which are situated along a generating line of the stick-holder itself and of the body 31-32. At the same time, it is to be observed that the lower portion 36 is provided with a spiralshaped guide 37 which has a limited number of threads or, better, a one-turn thread, machined in the inner wall, only along the upper end, whereas such a thread is not foreseen on the lower portion, and the construction is such that in the course of the rotation of the lower body 36, through to the lower external body 38, integral with it, in respect to the upper body, the prongs 35 come to enter successively the upper spiral stretch 37, the mutual distance of such prongs corresponding to the pitch of the spiral 37.It is obvious that the rectilinear guide 33 foreseen on the body 32 must extend also to the upper portion 31 of the body 32 itself, with the aim of allowing the prongs 35 which successively abandon the spiral 37, to be free to advance axially so that the stick-holder 34 will be allowed to displace itself up to the free top of the case. This solution allows to achieve a particularly efficient construction and to choose at will the speed of the stick-holder movement.

It is to be observed that all the various mentioned solutions are solutions which permit an easy molding of the various components of the case, preferably by means of dies of the male-female type, with consequent economies in time and costs. Aparticularly important feature to be noticed is that the structure of some types of illustrated cases, and which correspond to the inventive concept which has been previously exposed, permit, if this is desired, pouring the stick material from the bottom of the case through the lower surface of the stick-holder 14-34, said lower surface being pierced, as illustrated in Fig.

2 for allowing the passage of the material to be molded, or preferably being provided with simple bottom resting surfaces, as illustrated in Figures 4 and 4a.

It is apparent that a solution of pouring or forming the stick from the bottom of the case allows one to provide any desired end surface both of the container and of the stick the case that an upper closing member or a cover removable at the moment of use is foreseen, one can warrant the hygiene and non contamination and non-tampering of the stick itself, and this without the need of having recourse to suc cessive cuts or other operations being involved in unwrapping the product.

It is to be observed that the prongs 35 may be arranged vertically one below the other or vertically offset from each other, by suitably modifying the rectilinear guides 33, in such a way as to allow the prongs 35 to advance axially. This can lead to facilitating the molding operations and allow the use of simple and cheap dies, and so supports the gen eral, already mentioned, statement that a case according to the invention, in any of the represented embodiments can be produced in a particularly sim ple and economical manner.

It is to be observed furthermore that, by imparting to the curvilinear guide a suitable shape, it is poss isle to achieve an axial displacement which is nonlinear but suitably proportioned and of preset value for the stick-carrying cup. This can be easily obtained by the artifice of suitably shaping, as said, the curvilinear guide so that the guide itself possesses a spiral-shaped stretch and a stretch having zero slope or a slope different from that of the previous stretch, in such a way to obtain a position at which the stickcarrying cup keeps steady in vertical position, notwithstanding the rotation, and then it moves again vertically when the differently sloped is reached, whatever the slope is, of the inclined guide.

The improvements, in containers, and particularly in containers for cosmetics, have been here illustrated and described as a non-limitative example.

Obviously, they may be subjected to those constructive modifications and variants which may be suggested by the technics or by reasons of practical realization, without exiting from the scope of the invention itself, as it appears from the following Claims.

Claims (11)

1. A container for cosmetics in stick form, in which a stick-holder is axially movable within a tubular body by the displacement of the crosspoint of guide slots, characterised in that an upper part of said body is provided with or is non-rotatably associated with at least one axial guide slot, a lower part of said body is provided with or non-rotatably associated with at least one spiral guide slot and a follower carried by the stick-holder enters said axial slot and said spiral slot so that rotation of said lower part of the body relative to said upper part of the body will effect non-rotary axial movement of the stick-holder.

2. Improvements in containers, and particularly in containers for cosmetics, wherein the movement of the stick-holder (or stick-carrying member) is imparted to the stick-holder itself by the displacement of the crosspoint of two guides, characterised by that the upper portion of the external body is provided with, or made integral with, one or more rectilinear grooves or slits, machined according to a generating line of the body itself, and the lower external portion is provided, or made integral, with one or more curvilinear slits or grooves, which are machined, preferably spiral-shaped, on the mantle.

3. Improvements in containers, and particularly in containers for cosmetics according to Claim 2, characterized by that the free terminal rim of the upper portion of the external body is shaped at will, for instance as a flute beak, correspondingly with the shape of the end of the stick hold by the stick carrying member, that the upper body of the con tainer, wherein the stick is housed, may have a cross-section of a cylindrical, polygonal, egg-shaped or whatsoever form, the stick keeping always the same angular position in respect of the external upper portion of the case, whichever be the portion of the external, upper and lower, mantle, to which a rotation movement is imparted.

4. Improvements in containers, and particularly in containers for cosmetics according to claim 2, characterized bythat the control mechanism for the displacement of the stick-carrying member, that is the body carrying the rectilinear and curvilinear guides, is displaced downwards in respect to the open end of the container, the upper part of the external body being provided with, or being made integral with, rectilinear guides arranged below a smooth inner wall within which the stick is housed, the curvilinear guide or guides being carried by the second lower portion of the external body.

5. Improvements in containers, arrd particularly in containers for cosmetics according to Claim 4, characterized by that, as a consequence of the displacement of the control mechanism downwards, the stick-carrying cup, provided with the upper rim ending with a plane horizontal in respecttothe longitudinal axis, or with a shape identical with the shapes of the free end of the upper body and of the upper end of the stick, has an height which exceeds the height of the conventional cup, the prongs which engage themselves within the guides being remarkably situated downwards at the lower end of the stick-carrying cup in respect to the surface acting as a supporting bottom for the stick.

6. Improvements in containers, particularly in containers for cosmetics according to Claim 2, characterized by that the curvilinear guide is composed of a multi-turn spiral, the stick-carrying cup is provided with a prong which engages both the spiral guide and the rectilinear guide, whereas, instead of the second prong, it is provided with a projection which engages only with the rectilinear guide and not the curvilinear guide, acting as the upper endof-stroke stop for the stick-carrying cup in order to limit the stroke-of the stick when it is desired to have a shorter projection, for the stick, than the one which can be obtained with the curvilinear guide.

7. Improvements in containers, particularly in containers furcosmetics according to one or more of the preceeding Claims, characterized by that the stick-carrying member is provided with a set or series of prongs arranged along a generating line and separated by a mutual distance equal to the pitch of the spiral-shaped guide being limited to a minimum number of turns, one only at the limit, the rectilinear guide within which the prong sequence engages being extended in the upper body portion which houses the stick in orderto allow the advance motion of the prongs after the abandonment of the curvilinear guide by part of the prongs themselves.

8. Improvements in the containers, and particu larly in the containers for cosmetics according to one or more of the previous Claims, characterized by that the curvilinear guide is formed a spiral composed of mixed stretches, so that the stick-carrying member, and therefore the stick hold by it, effects rising or descending, proportioned movements, that is movements which are the reverse of the previous ones.

9. Improvements in containers and particularly in containers for cosmetics according to one or more of the preceding Claims, characterized by that the surface acting as a supporting bottom for the stickcarrying cup is closed at only one portion of itself towards its periphery and leaves an open area which may have a circular surface or may be composed of surfaces of the circle ring type, said bottom surfaces being machined in inner relief, preferably within the thickness or wall of the mantle, said opening allowing, with the particular shape of the container portion within which the stick is housed, projectionless and slitless, the pouring or injection of the stickforming material directly from the bottom of the container, so that the portion of the container within which the stick is housed forms a die for the stick.

10. Improvements in the containers, and particularly in containers for cosmetics according to one or more of the preceding Claims, substantially as described and illustrated.

11. The features herein described, or their equivalents, in any novel section.