GB2248549A

GB2248549A - Liquid hair cosmetic applicator

Info

Publication number: GB2248549A
Application number: GB9120985A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Nobuyuki Nakazima
Original assignee: Mitsubishi Pencil Co Ltd
Current assignee: Mitsubishi Pencil Co Ltd
Priority date: 1990-10-03
Filing date: 1991-10-03
Publication date: 1992-04-15
Anticipated expiration: 2011-10-03
Also published as: DE4132829A1; JPH0819Y2; FR2667489A1; JPH0460117U; GB9120985D0; DE4132829C2; GB2248549B; IT1251599B; ITMI912633A0; ITMI912633A1

Abstract

In order to prevent applicator cores (3) which apply the liquid hair cosmetic from being damaged when an outer cap (24) is screwed onto a main body shaft (1), a separate inner cap (7) is provided which does not rotate with the outer cap (24). As the outer cap (24) is screwed on, the inner cap (7) is forced to compress a spring (8) and retract axially into the outer cap (24). <IMAGE>

Description

LIQUID HAIR COSMETIC APPLICATOR --i.. ? The present invention relates to

an applicator of various kinds of hair cosmetic liquids such as hair dyes, hair set lotions, permanent wave preparations, hair treatment liquids, etc.

Heretofore, there are known applicators of hair cosmetic liquids such that a cosmetic supplier, usually called "a wad of cotton", impregnated with a cosmetic liquid is housed within the interior of the shaft with said wad of cotton being connected with the core member having capillary action for applying said cosmetic liquid, and by designing in such a way that the front end poriton of said core member is made to project from said shaft and a comb is annexed to both sides of said core member, it is rendered possible that a cap is fitted on the front end of said shaft so that it covers both the core member and the comb.

In applicators of this sort, for the purpose of preventing drying of the front end portion of the core member in order to prevent the deposition of pigments, or the like, contained in the cosmetic and also to prevent the stressing of the core member, the front end receiver for the core member which is made of felt, or the like, and brought in contact with the front end of the core member, is sometimes mounted in the interior of the cap. In such a case, however, a plurality of core members are usually employed, and in most cases arranged - 2 in straight rows, so that it has been necessary to elongate the shape of the above-described front end receiver for core member, and further in order to ensure the contact of the core member with the front end receiver for core member within the interior of the cap it has also been necessary to make the direction of the front end receiver for core member and direction of the rows of the core member coincide. Accordingly, in the case of the structure such that the cap is fixed by screwing it against the shaft, since the cap rotates against the shaft, it is difficult to -make the directions of the above described front end receiver for core member and the rows of the core member coincide, and thus the method of fixing the cap against the shaft has had to be changed into any method other than the screwing.

According to the present invention, there is provided a liquid hair cosmetic applicator comprising: a shaft; a reservoir within the shaft for storing liquid hair cosmetic; a plurality of substantially straight rows of capillary action applicator cores mounted on the front end of the shaft, the rear ends of the applicator cores communicating with the cosmetic reservoir, whilst the front ends of the applicator cores project forwards from the shaft; first and second combs provided along respective sides of the rows of applicator cores; an outer cap screwable onto the front end of the shaft; an inner cap located within the outer cap, rotatable relative to the outer cap and axially slidable against the biassing force of biassing means from an advanced position adjacent to the opening of the outer cap to a retracted position spaced from the opening of the outer cap; and an elongate seal located within the inner cap for sealing the ends of the applicator cores; wherein the inner cap has a recess along each side of the elongate seal for receiving a respective one of the combs when the applicator cores are abutting against the seal, and the arrangement is such that, when the inner cap is in its advanced position and is fitted over the cores and combs, the inner cap is unable to rotate relative to the cores and combs but the outer cap remains free to rotate and advance axially relative to the inner cap so as to permit the outer cap to be screwed onto the shaft.

Thus, the cores are not stressed when the outer cap is screwed on.

Preferably, the shaft and inner cap each have engagement means which engage together, when the inner cap is in its advanced position and is fitted over the cores and combs, to prevent rotation of the inner cap relative to the cores and combs. This ensures that the combs are not stressed when the outer cap is screwed on. In one embodiment, the engagement means of the shaft is at least one rib and the engagement means of the inner cap is at least one groove.

The invention will now be described by way of a non-limiting embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Fig. 1 is a longitudinal - sectional view of a liquid hair cosmetic applicator in accordance with the present. invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal-sectional view of the applicator of Fig. 1 rotated through 90 0 from the cross section in Fig. 1; Fig.

Fig.

Fig. for core bars; Fig.

Fig.

Fig. a side view, Fig line of Fig.

Fig. Fig. 9b; Fig. 10a through Fig. 10c are respectively a front view, a side view, and a back view of the inner cap; Fig. 10d is a sectional view taken along C - C line of Fig. 10a7 3 is a longitudinal-sectional view of the cap; 4 shows the open end of the cap; is an oblique view of the front end receiver 6 is a front view of the shaft; 7 is a plan view of the shaft; 8 is a side view of the shaft; 9a. through Fig. 9d are respectively a front view, a rear view, and a plan view of the front shaft; 9e is a semi-sectional view taken along A - A 9d; 9f is a sectional view taken along B - B line of Fig. 10e is a sectional view taken along D - D line of Fig. lOb:

Fig. lla through Fig. lle are respectively a front view, a side view, a rear view, a plan view and a bottom view of the comb; and Fig. llf is a sectional view taken along E - E line of Fig. lld.

Shaf t (1) comprises outer shaft (11), inner shaft (12), and front shaft (13), and inner shaft (12) houses cosmetic supplier (2) therein, and front shaft (13) has pedestal (14) fitted into the central portion. thereof, through which pedestal core bars (3) penetrate. on the external surface portion of said inner shaft (12) there is provided threaded poriton (15), on which cap main body as later described is screwed. The cosmetic supplier (2) housed within the interior of inner shaft (12) has the structure which is obtained by gathering filaments (16) into the cylindrical shape and then coating the peripheral side face of said cylindrical shape body with synthetic resin film (17), and stores the hair cosmetic liquid impregnated therein.

The core bars penetrated through pedestal (14) fitted into front shaft (13) are obtained by shaping the resin-treated felt into the form of thin bars. The rear end portion of each core bar is tapered to a point and inserted into the interior of the above-described cosmetic liquid supplier (2) from the front end face thereof, and the front end portion of each core bar in the form of curved suface projects forward beyond pedestal (14).

Core bars (3) are denser than cosmetic supplier (2) and induce the cosmetic liquid from the cosmetic supplier (2) by the aid of capillary aciton. The core bars (3) are mounted in pedestal (14) with two groups of six core bars each being arranged in two rectlinear rows. Combs (4) are fitted over front shaft (13) as an annex on both sides of core bars (3). As shown in Fig. llc and Fig. lle combs (4) have hook pieces (18) on both sides in the rear end portion and as shown in Fig. 9a and Fig.

9b front shaft (13) also has hook-like projections (19) length wise on both sides in the front end portion. Said hook pieces (18) are intended to engage with said hook-like projecitons (19). In the positions between hook-like projecitons (19) of front shaft (13) there are provided ribs (9) protrusively.

Next, as shown in Fig. 3, cap main body (24) comprises threaded portion (20) capable of being screwed on the threaded pornon (15) of the above-described inner shaft (12) on the inside surface portion of the open end thereof, with projections (21) being provided on the peripheral inside surface further in than said threaded portion (20). Inner cap (7) is arranged in the interior of cap main body (24) in such a manner that it can be freely shifted along the axial direction as well as freely rotated, and between inner cap (7) and cap main body (24) there is interposed spring ( 8) whose restoring force pushes inner cap (7) toward the opening of cap main body (24). On the peripheral outer surface of inner cap (7) there are provided projections (22), which can engage with the above described projections (21) of cap main body (24), so that as shown in Fig. 3 escaping of inner cap (7) from cap main body (24) is prevented. As shown in Fig. 10d, inner cap (7) is also provided with clamping plates (23) in the central front end portion thereof, and further depressed portions (6) in the positions on both sides of said clamping plates (23). Front end receiver (5) for core bars is made of felt, and as shown in Fig. 5, it has a shape like a square column having a projection on the side face, and is fixed by said clamping plates (23) of inner cap (7). In inner cap (7) there are formed grooves (10) into which ribs (9) provided on the above-described front shaft (13) can fit in the fashion that the front end portions of all the above-described core bars (3) can come in contact with the side face of front end receiver (5) for core bars, that is to say, in the state that the direction of the rows of core bars (3) and the direction of front end receiver (5) for core bars coincide. In the state before the time at which cap main body (24) is screwed on inner shaft (12), as shown in Fig. 3 inner cap (7) is positioned a little closer to the open end of cap main body (24) by virtue of spring (8), so that at any rate after the inner cap (7) has been shifted a little to the inner part in the state that the front end portions of core bars (3) are brought in contact with the side face of front end receiver (5) for core bars by fitting ribs (9) of front shaft (13) into grooves (10) of inner cap (7) and moreover the front end portions of combs (4) are lodged in depressed portions (6), the threaded portion (20) of cap main body (24) and the threaded portion (15) of inner shaft (12) can engage each other.

Accordingly, when cap main body (24) begins to rotate, inner cap (7) can no longer be in the state capable of rotation because of ribs (9) fitting into grooves (10), and as the result the direction of front end receiver (5) for core bars remains -constant without a change in spite of the rotation of 1 - 1 cap main body (24) and always maintains the state of contacting with the front end portions of core bars (3).

In addition, in the case where front shaft (13) and inner cap (7) are provided with no ribs (9) and grooves (10), combs (4) and depressed portions (6) act in their place, in which case, however, combs (4) may be stressed and therefore, in order to avoid it, the provision of ribs (9) and grooves (10) as described above is preferable.

In the case where cap main body (24) is screwed on shaft (1), said cap main body (24) rotates, but inner cap (7) does not rotate because of combs (4) being lodged indepressed poritons (6), so that the direction of front end receiver (5) for core bars remains unchanged, and as the result the front end receiver ( core bars (3).

Also, if shaft (1) is provided with ribs (9) and at the same time inner cap (7) is provided with grooves (10), the rotation of inner cap (7) is inhibited on account of fitting of ribs (9) and grooves (10), so that the load bearing on combs (4) can be removed entirely.

5) for core bars can maintain sure contact with Thus, in spite of the fact that the structure is such that the cap main body is fixed by being screwed on the shaft, the inner cap within the interior of the cap main body does not rotate even when the cap main body rotates, and thus the front end receiver for core bars can always be brought in contact with the.front end portions of a plurality of core bars maintaining the state in which the direction of the front end j 1 - k receiver for core bars and the direction of the rows of core bars are made to coincide. Therefore, the front end portions of the core bars can be prevented from drying, rendering it possible to prevent the deposition of pigments, or the like, contained in the cosmetic and avoid the stressing of the core bars.

Claims

1. A liquid hair cosmetic applicator comprising: a shaft; a reservoir within the shaft for storing liquid hair cosmetic; a plurality of substantially straight rows of capillary action applicator cores mounted on the front end of the shaft, the rear ends of the applicator cores communicating with the cosmetic reservoir, whilst the front ends of the applicator cores project forwards from the shaft; first and second combs provided along respective sides of the rows of applicator cores; an outer cap screwable onto the front end of the shaft; an inner cap located within the outer cap, rotatable relative to the outer cap and axially slidable against the biassing force of biassing means from an advanced position adjacent to the opening of the outer cap to a retracted position spaced from the opening of the outer cap; and an elongate seal located within the inner cap for sealing the ends of the applicator cores; wherein the inner cap has a recess along each side of the elongate seal for receiving a respective one of the combs when the applicator cores are abutting against the seal, and the arrangement is such that, when the inner cap is in its advanced position and is fitted over the cores and combs, the inner cap is unable to rotate relative to the cores and combs but the outer cap remains free to rotate and advance axially relative to the inner cap so as to permit the outer cap to be screwed onto the shaft.

2. An applicator according to claim 1, wherein the shaft and inner cap each have engagement means which engage together, when the inner cap is in its advanced position and is fitted over the cores and combs, to prevent rotation of the inner cap relative to the cores and combs.

3. An applicator according to claim 2, wherein the engagement means of the shaft is at least one rib and the engagement rneans of the inner cap is at least one groove.

4. A liquid hair cosmetic applicator substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

5. All novel features and combinations thereof.