GB2047100A

GB2047100A - Massaging applicator

Info

Publication number: GB2047100A
Application number: GB8011273A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: LOreal SA
Current assignee: LOreal SA
Priority date: 1979-04-19
Filing date: 1980-04-03
Publication date: 1980-11-26
Also published as: IT8053143V0; IT8067613A0; CA1146434A; ES250091U; CH636521A5; BE882858A; GB2047100B; FR2454297A1; DE3015064A1; ES250091Y; IT1128419B; FR2454297B1

Abstract

A massaging applicator includes a plurality of stumps 5a, 5b of smaller and larger cross-section, respectively. The thinner stumps 5a which bend more easily alternate regularly with the thicker stumps so that two of the thicker stumps are followed by two of the thinner stumps when considered along the direction of massaging; in the Figure this is perpendicular to the axis of handle 3. The stumps may be cylindrical or conical and may be arranged in straight rows or in concentric circles. The applicator may take the form of a brush or glove. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Massaging applicator There are already known various massage instruments for manual use to create a localised hyperaemia in the skin zones subjected to massage. This localised hyperaemia is formed by a congestion due to an activation of the underlying blood circulation and it may favour the penetration of appropriate substances. Thus this effect may be used to good advantage, especially in the cosmetic field to cause various treatment creams or lotions to penetrate into the zone of the hyperaemiated skin obtained by message.

Amongst the current massaging instruments, there may be cited the horsehair glove and the massage brush, the latter presenting on one active side, a multiplicity of tips or stumps which, in passing over the skin, produce a slight depression of the latter and, by way of reaction, a localised hyperaemia.

In British Patent Application No. 7914217 filed on 24April 1979 (Publication No. ) there are disclosed various forms of a massage brush whose active side has been provided with massaging projections.

In one embodiment, the projections are stumps each having a concave part and an opposite convex part. Thus, the stumps had the characteristic of presenting a resistance to bending which was higher if one pressed against their convex parts and a lower resistance when one pressed against their concave parts. Moreover, the stumps were arranged alternately head to tail, that is to say, that one stump whose concavity pointed in one direction, was adjacent a stump whose concavity was turned in the opposite direction. The advantage of the above applicator was twofo Id; firstly, the effectiveness of the cutaneous massage was improved to a notable extent in comparison with that which could be obtained by the previously known massaging instruments such as a horsehair glove for instance.In fact, rubbing against the skin with stumps having alternate zones whose resistance to bending in the direction of displacement of the applicator is high and zones whose resistance to bending in the same direction is lower, produces on the skin wavy or sinuous depressions which are displaced on the skin as the applicator advances. Moreover, since the stumps were made of a flexible elastically deformable material, such an applicator promoted an energetic massage of the cutaneous covering without the risk of lesions or abrasion of the epidermal layers, whilst being capable of perfect adaptation to the various morphological features of the users.

In a second embodiment of massaging brush disclosed in our said British PatentApplication No.

7914217 (Publication No. ) the asymmetrical stumps are replaced by continuous projections extending along a wave-shaped centre line, these projections having, like the stumps, a higher bending resistance when their convex part is acted on and a lower resistance when their concave part is acted on.

The object of the present invention is to provide a different arrangement in which the difference in flexibility of the stumps derives, not from the presence of concave or convex parts but from other characteristics of the stumps, the difference in cross-section between the stumps, the stumps of a small cross-section being, with an equal height, more flexible than the stumps with a greater crosssection.

Accordingly the present invention provides an applicator which may be used for massaging the cutaneous covering, having on at least one active side projecting stumps made of a flexible, elastically deformable material, there being at least two kinds of said stumps having substantially the same configuration but different dimensions, namely on the one hand stumps of a smaller cross-section and on the other hand stumps of a larger cross-section regularly alternating with the stumps having the smaller cross-section.

Thus, in the present invention, provision is made for at least two kinds of stumps with an identical configuration but with a different cross-section, these stumps being disposed on the active side of the applicator so as to procure substantially, the same massaging effect as that obtained by the applicator of the above-mentioned British Patent Application No.7914217. It may be noted that the stumps of smaller cross-section, which bend to a greater extent than the stumps of a greater crosssection, having a bending capability remaining the same, irrespective of the zone of the stump which is pressed, in contrast to the asymmetric stumps of the said British Patent Application No. 7914217 (Publication No. ) which have little flexibility in one direction and great flexibility in the opposite direction.

In a preferred embodiment, the set of stumps has substantially the same height; each stump is substantially derived by revolution around an axis; the stumps are substantially cylindrical or conical and have a rounded free tip; the stumps are made integrally with a support base in a flexible rubbery material.

In the present invention, the stumps may be disposed either along substantially parallel rows, or in opposite waves, or along concentric circles in which case the massage remains the same irrespective of the direction of the applicator over the cutaneous covering. In each case the different strengths of stumps may be varied in the rows or circles to obtain the desired massaging effect.

The applicator of the present invention may consist of a massage brush whose flexible base for the stumps is inserted within a rigid head which may or may not be connected to a handle. It may instead consist of a massage glove, that is to say a flexible pocket having the stumps projecting from at least one of its sides. The applicator of the present invention may instead be used not only for massaging but also for simultaneous washing ofthe cutaneous covering; in this case, as in a third embodiment disclosed in our said British Patent Application No. 7914217 (Publication No. ),the flexible base on which the stumps are supported is provided with perforations and is connected to a receptacle capable of containing a soap tablet.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood one embodiment, represented on the attached drawing, will be described below by way of a purely illustrative and nonrestrictive example. In these drawings: Figure 7 represents a plan view of a brush according to the invention; and Figure 2 represents a partial cross-sectional view of the stumps of the brush taken along the line ll-ll of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawing, there will be seen a brush 1 intended for massaging the cutaneous covering. The head 2 of brush 1 is made integrally with handle 3. However, the head 2 and handle 3 may be made of any appropriate material, for instance of wood or by moulding of a plastics material. On one of the sides of head 2 is a cavity of elongate shape having a substantially elliptical longitudinal cross-section; within this cavity, there is mounted a flexible base 4 on which there are provided in relief thinner and thicker stumps Sa, Sb, respectively, serving to massage the cutaneous covering.

In this example, the flexible base 4 and stumps 5a, Sb are made of a single piece by moulding of a flexible rubbery material. The flexible base 4 consists of a plate of an elliptical periphery whose surface area is slightly greater than that of the substantially elliptical cavity in the head 2. It follows that, when positioned on the head 2, the flexible base 4 has a curved configuration whose convexity is directed away from the head of the brush.

Stumps Sa, Sb are disposed along parallel rows, interspaced from each other at substantially the same distance; the rows of stumps Sa, Sb extend perpendicularly to the major axis of the flexible base 4which is identical with the axis of handle 3. Two of the thinner stumps 5a regularly alternate with two of the thicker stumps Sb. The stumps 5a, 5b situated on the periphery of the flexible base 4 are arranged along an ellipse which is substantially homothetic with that formed by the cut out of flexible base 4.

The configuration of the thinner stumps 5a is strictly identical with that of the thicker stumps Sb.

Each stump Sa, Sb has the shape of a cylinder of revolution on a circular base, and the free tip of all the stumps 5a and sub is slightly rounded. Stumps 5a, 5b have the same height and the only difference between them derives from the fact that stumps 5a have a cross-section of a smaller diameter than stumps 5boas a result of this difference in crosssection, the thinner stumps 5a are more flexible than the thicker stumps Sb. Of course, the bending capability of the various stumps Sa, Sb depends not only on their diameter but also on other parameters, particularly on their height and the material of which they are made.Depending on the desired difference in flexibility and according to the massage effect looked for, the expert will therefore be able to determine easily by means of purely routine experiments the ratio of the cross-sections which must be adopted between the thinner and thicker stumps 5a and 5b in accordance with the nature of the material used and a given height of the stumps.

In this example the height of the stumps Sa, Sb is approximately 10 mm. The diameter of the thinner stumps 5a is approximately 3.5 mm; that of the thicker stumps 5b is approximately 5.5 mm. The stumps are made of an elastomerwhose "Shore" hardness is approximately 35".

As has been seen, by reason of their smaller diameter the stumps 5a are more flexible than stumps Sb. On contact with the skin stumps 5a therefore appear "softer" and stumps Sb "harder".

Because of this, when a rectilinear massage is effected by displacing the brush 1 parallel to its axis, the skin zone over which the brush is displaced is subjected to the action of a muitiplicity of alignments of low flexibility stumps and alternately, high flexibility stumps; the alignments of the stumps passing over the skin therefore creates a slight depression on the surface of the latter, this depression having the shape of an undulation or wave which, on the passing of the following alignment of stumps is reversed because two stumps 5a of one alignment follow two stumps 5b of the following alignment, and vice versa. The result is a very effective massage which produces, in the treated skin zone, a suitable hyperaemia promoting the penetration of various treatment creams or lotions.

It may be noted that, by reason of the flexible material of which the stumps Sa, Sb are made, and also because of the configuration which has been given to them, even with an energetic massage the brush 1 cannot cause either abrasion nor a destruction by friction of the epidermal layers.

Claims

1.An applicator which may be used for massaging the cutaneous covering, having on at least one active side projecting stumps made of a flexible, elastically deformable material, there being at least two kinds of said stumps having substantially the same configuration but different dimensions, namely on the one hand stumps of a smaller cross-section and on the other hand stumps of a larger cross-section regularly alternating with the stumps having the smaller cross-section.

2. An applicator according to claim 1, wherein all of said stumps have substantially the same height.

3. An applicator according to either of claims 1 and 2, wherein each of said stumps is substantially derived by revolution around an axis.

4. An applicator according to claim 3, wherein the stumps are substantially cylindrical and have a rounded free tip.

5. An applicator according to claim 3, wherein the stumps are substantially conical with a rounded apex.

6. An applicator according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the stumps are made integrally with a base, in a flexible rubbery material.

7. An applicator according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the stumps are disposed along substantially parallel rows on the said at lest one active side of the applicator.

8. An applicator according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the stumps are arranged along concen tric circles.

9. An applicator according to any one of claims 1 to 8, when in the form of a massage brush having the various stumps on a base which is disposed within a rigid head.

10. An applicator according to claim 9, wherein said base is connected to a handle.

11. An applicator according to any one of claims 1 to 8, when in the form of a massage glove in the shape of a flexible pocket having the stumps projecting from at least one side of the pocket.

12. An applicator according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein it constitutes a soap carrier, with the stumps mounted on a base which is provided with perforations and is associated with a receptacle capable of containing a tablet of soap.

13. An applicator which may be used for massaging the cutaneous covering, such applicator being constructed and adapted to be used substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawing.