JP2010184733A - Cotton swab case - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cotton swab case which improves the handling property of a cotton swab. <P>SOLUTION: As means for improving the handling property of the cotton swab, the cotton swab case includes a means which makes the cotton ball section of the cotton swab deformed in order to improve the handling property of the cotton swab in one method. In another method, an internal case is attached to be slidable on the inside of an external case, and a hinge which vertically extends to the sliding direction is formed on the bottom surface of a housing section of the internal case. When the top surface on the front end side of the housing section is exposed from the external case by sliding the inner case to the front end direction, a part on the front end side of the housing section can be bent to the bottom surface side by the hinge. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a swab case for storing a swab so that it can be removed.

  The cotton ball part provided at the end of the shaft of a cotton swab used at home every day has an oval shape. Cotton swabs are used for various purposes such as removal of dirt such as earwax, application of medicine in wounds, and application of medicine in ears, nose and mouth. Thus, although a cotton swab is used for various purposes, it is provided with an egg-shaped cotton ball part, and it may not be easy to handle depending on the purpose of use. For example, when a cotton swab is used for an earpick, the earwax is not scraped off like a bamboo earpick, but the earwax is traced from above with a cotton ball and peeled off from the skin using friction. In order to peel off the earwax stuck to the ear canal, strong pressure is required, and there is a risk of damaging the skin by the frictional force. Therefore, in order not to damage the ear canal, the earwax cannot be scraped out casually as when using a bamboo earpick, so it must be handled with care compared to a bamboo earpick. Is not good. When cleaning the earwax with a cotton swab, if a spiral groove is formed in the cotton ball so that the earwax can be easily scratched, it will be scraped off while hooking the earwax, so it will not damage the skin and collect the earwax in the groove to ensure It can be taken out.

  Further, since the cotton swab is used by applying the cotton ball portion provided at the end of the shaft to the skin, it is required to handle the cotton swab so that the fingertip does not touch the cotton ball portion for hygiene purposes. In particular, when removing a swab from a swab case, the swab must be handled with care from a sanitary aspect.

  When picking up a single swab from a plurality of stored swabs, the shaft is picked with a fingertip, but the swab case is small, so it is difficult to pick a single swab, and it exists near the swab. Your fingertips touch other cotton swabs. A plurality of swabs are stored in the swab case, and the swabs other than the taken-out swabs are stored in the case as they are. Therefore, it is not unlikely that many swabs with fingertips touching the shaft are stored. Therefore, when taking out the swab, even if the fingertip touches the shaft of the swab other than the swab to be taken out, it is desirable to reduce the number as much as possible.

  In addition, a cotton swab case that opens and closes a lid in the form of a hinge has conventionally existed. Since a normal swab is a little less than 8 cm long and the swab itself is small, a large number of swabs can be stored in the case even if the swab case is not so large. Cotton swabs purchased from drug stores and the like have a lot of cotton swabs stored in a cotton swab case, and there are small cases that take out a small amount from the case and transfer it for carrying.

  When taking out one swab from the above-described swab case, it is necessary to put two fingertips of the thumb and forefinger in the case and pick the shaft of the swab. Since the case main body is small in the case of a swab case with a hinged lid or a small case for transfer, the fingertip hits the side wall of the case main body when two fingertips are put into the case main body and the cotton swab is picked up. Also, the area of the cotton swab take-out port itself is small. For this reason, the distance between the two fingertips cannot be sufficiently widened. Therefore, when picking up a cotton swab, the other swab around the swab to be taken out is pressed with the fingertip and the target swab is removed. Pick it after raising the position higher than other swabs. Because of this, many other swab shafts touch the fingertips and are not hygienic. This is because the cotton swab in the conventional cotton swab case is not easy to handle.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-26386

  The problem to be solved is that when one cotton swab is taken out from the case, it is not easy to handle when the other swab is touched as much as possible, or when the swab is used for various purposes. It is a point that handling may not be good.

  Claim 1 of the present invention is a cotton swab case provided with a storage portion for removably storing a cotton swab, and is provided with means for deforming the cotton ball portion of the cotton swab in order to improve the handling of the cotton swab.

  In the second aspect, the means for deforming the cotton ball part has a contact part that contacts the cotton ball part and deforms the cotton ball part, and the contact part is exposed or covered. An element having means that can also be configured is added to claim 1.

  The cotton swab case includes an inner case and an outer case that covers at least a part of the upper surface of the inner case, and the inner case is slidably attached to the outer case inside the outer case, An element that can make the contact portion exposed or covered by sliding of the inner case is added to claim 2.

  When the inner case is in a neutral position before sliding with respect to the outer case, the stored swab cannot be taken out and the means for deforming the swab portion of the swab cannot be used. When the inner case is slid in the direction of one end from the neutral position, the cotton swab can be taken out from the storage portion, and when the inner case is slid in the direction of the other end, The element that enables the means for deforming is added to the third aspect.

  Claim 5 includes an inner case and an outer case that covers at least part of the upper surface of the inner case, the inner case is slidably attached to the outer case inside the outer case, and the inner case is A housing portion, and the housing portion has at least a peripheral surface and a bottom surface, and a hinge extending in a lateral direction with respect to the sliding direction is formed on the bottom surface of the housing portion; The upper portion of the side portion is open, and when the inner case is slid in the front end direction and the upper surface on the front end side of the storage portion is exposed from the outer case, the front end portion of the storage portion is bottomed by the hinge. It is the structure which can be bent to the side.

A first aspect of the present invention is a cotton swab case having a storage portion for removably storing a cotton swab, and includes a means for deforming the cotton ball portion of the cotton swab in order to improve handling of the cotton swab. Therefore, the cotton ball part which is usually formed in an oval shape can be deformed into a shape suitable for the purpose. Moreover, since the means for deforming the cotton ball portion is provided in the swab case, the swab can be easily and quickly deformed whenever the swab is used.

  In the second aspect, the means for deforming the cotton ball part has a contact part that contacts the cotton ball part and deforms the cotton ball part, and the contact part is exposed or covered. It has means that can also. Therefore, since the contact portion can be covered when not in use, it is possible to prevent dust and the like from adhering to the contact portion. Since the cotton ball part of the cotton swab is used in direct contact with the skin, it must be hygienic, and hygiene can be maintained in the process of deforming the cotton ball part by the means of the present invention.

  The cotton swab case includes an outer case that covers at least a part of the upper surface of the inner case and the inner case, and the inner case is slidably attached to the outer case inside the outer case. By sliding the inner case, the contact portion can be either exposed or covered. Therefore, since the contact portion for deforming the cotton ball portion is exposed only by sliding the inner case, it is possible to quickly move to the operation of deforming the cotton ball portion with a simple operation.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the inner case is slid in the direction of one end from the neutral position before the inner case is slid with respect to the outer case, the cotton swab can be taken out from the storage portion. A means for deforming the cotton ball portion of the cotton swab when it is slid in the direction of the end portion can be used. Therefore, since the swab can be taken out and the cotton ball portion of the swab can be deformed simply by sliding the inner case, the handling is easy and convenient.

Claim 5 includes an inner case and an outer case that covers at least part of the upper surface of the inner case, the inner case is slidably attached to the outer case inside the outer case, and the inner case is The storage unit includes a storage unit, and the storage unit has at least a peripheral surface and a bottom surface, and a hinge extending in a lateral direction with respect to the sliding direction is formed on the bottom surface of the storage unit. The upper surface of the portion is open, and when the inner case is slid in the front end direction and the upper surface on the front end side of the storage portion is exposed from the outer case, the front end portion of the storage portion is placed on the bottom side by the hinge. It is the structure which can be bent in.
When the cotton swab is stored in the storage portion, the cotton swab is surrounded by the peripheral surface and the bottom surface of the storage portion. Therefore, when a single swab is taken out with the swabs surrounded in this way, the peripheral surfaces on both sides of the storage unit hit the fingertips in particular, which is inconvenient, and the handling at the time of taking out is poor. Therefore, in this section, when the inner case is slid in the front end direction and the upper surface on the front end side of the storage portion is exposed from the outer case, the front end side portion of the storage portion is brought to the bottom side by the hinge formed in the storage portion. It was set as the structure which can be bent. By folding the front end side of the storage part, the peripheral surface and bottom surface of the storage part surrounding the cotton swab are separated from the cotton swab, so when trying to pick one cotton swab with the fingertip, the peripheral surface does not get in the way Does not hit the surface. Therefore, since the swab to be taken out can be easily picked with a fingertip, it is easy to handle when taking out the swab, and it is hygienic without touching several other swabs.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention in a state where a cotton ball part is deformed. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the present invention with the swab taken out. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the present invention with the inner case closed. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inner case. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the outer case as viewed from below. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the cotton ball part deforming means provided in the inner case.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The cotton swab case 1 includes an inner case 2 and an outer case 3. Both the inner case 2 and the outer case 3 are integrally formed of synthetic resin. As the synthetic resin, for example, a polypropylene resin is used. However, the inner case 2 and the outer case 3 are not limited to synthetic resin and integral molding. The inner case 2 is fitted to the outer case 3 so as to be slidable inside the outer case 3. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the inner case 2 is in a neutral position, and one end side portion of the inner case 2 is exposed from the outer case 3 by sliding the inner case 2 in one direction from the neutral position. Then, the other end side portion of the inner case 2 is exposed from the outer case 3 by sliding the inner case 2 in the other direction from the neutral position. The case is provided with means for fixing at the respective positions when the inner case 2 is in the neutral position, on one end side, and on the other end side.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the inner case 2 is formed in a vertically long rectangle. The inner case 2 has a storage part 4 whose upper surface is open. The cotton swab 35 is stored while being laid down in the length direction of the storage portion 4. A hinge 6 extending perpendicularly to the length direction is formed on the bottom surface portion 5 of the storage portion 4. The extending direction of the hinge 6 may not be perpendicular to the length direction and may be an oblique lateral direction. Further, slits 8, 8 connected to the hinge 6 are provided on both side surface portions 7, 7 of the inner case 2. The upper ends of both slits 8, 8 are open. By means of the hinge 6 and the slits 8, 8, the front half 9 of the storage portion, which is the front end side of the storage portion 4 relative to the hinge 6, can be bent downward. The front half 9 of the storage part can be bent up to 180 °. The bending angle may be less than this, but is preferably 45 ° or more. It may be 10 ° to 45 °.

  The inner case 2 is provided with a molding portion 10 adjacent to the rear end of the storage portion 4 for deforming the cotton ball portion 36 of the cotton swab 35 to be molded into a predetermined shape. The forming part 10 is provided with two mold holes 11 and 12 for press-fitting the cotton ball part 36 of the cotton swab 35 to form the cotton ball part 36 into a predetermined shape. As shown in FIG. 6, the inside of the molding part 10 is a hollow part 17, but the inside may be filled with a material.

As shown in FIG. 6, one mold cavity 11 is an inverted conical hole. This inverted conical shape has a slightly swollen peripheral surface, and a protrusion 13 is formed in a spiral shape on the inner surface of the mold cavity 11. When the cotton ball portion 36 is press-fitted into the mold cavity 11 while the cotton swab 35 is rotated, the tip half of the cotton ball portion 36 is formed in a substantially conical shape and a spiral groove is formed on the surface. For example, when a drug having semi-fluidity is applied to the skin, the drug can be accumulated in the groove without being soaked into the cotton ball part 36, so that the drug does not adhere to the cotton ball part 36 many times. However, the drug can be applied sufficiently. A mark 24 attached in the vicinity of the mold cavity 11 indicates the shape of the cotton ball part 36 after being molded by the mold cavity 11. A mark 25 attached in the vicinity of the mold cavity 12 indicates the shape of the cotton ball part 36 after being molded by the mold cavity 12. Further, a circumferential arrow 28 attached in the vicinity of the periphery of the opening of the mold cavity 12 indicates that the cotton ball portion 36 is rotated to be molded. When forming the cotton ball part 36, the cotton ball part is press-fitted into the mold cavity 12 while rotating the cotton ball part clockwise. When the cotton ball part 36 is taken out from the mold cavity 12, it can be taken out by rotating the cotton ball part 36 counterclockwise.

The inner surface of the other mold cavity 12 is formed as a female screw. When the cotton ball part 36 is press-fitted into the mold cavity 12 while rotating the cotton swab 35, the cotton ball part 36 is formed into a male screw shape. For example, it can be said that this male thread-like cotton ball has a shape suitable for removing ear wax. In other words, the earwax stuck to the ear canal is scraped off while the screw thread is hooked, so that the earwax can be easily peeled off from the ear canal without being felt. The mold cavities 11 and 12 are both bottomed and dead ends, but the bottoms may be penetrated. Of course, the shape of the mold cavities 11 and 12 is not limited to a conical shape or a female screw.

A pair of grooves 16 is formed over the entire length of both side surface portions 15 of the front half portion 9 of the storage portion. The end of the groove 16 is released. Further, a pair of grooves 18 having a predetermined length are formed from the rear ends of the side surface portions 7 of the inner case 2 toward the front of the inner case 2. The rear end of the groove 18 is open, but the front end is a dead end.

  As described above, the inner case 2 is fitted to the outer case 3 so as to be slidable inside the outer case 3. Therefore, means for fitting them into the inner case 2 and the outer case 3 are provided. The fitting means of the inner case 2 is a concave guide 19 that extends in the length direction of the lower edge of the side surface portions 7 of the inner case 2. The guide 19 extends in a series from the position near the front end of the inner case 2 to the vicinity of the rear end of the inner case 2 through the slit 8. Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, protrusion sliding guides 20 and 20 are formed along the guides 19 and 19 above the guides 19 and 19. The protrusion sliding guides 20 and 20 do not exist in the front half 9 of the storage portion, and extend to a portion closer to the rear end than the hinge 6 of the inner case 2. The protrusions 30 formed on the outer case 3 slide on the surfaces of the protrusion sliding guides 20 and 20. The projection sliding guides 20 and 20 are formed with three small recesses 21, 22 and 23, respectively. These recesses 21, 22, and 23 are for fixing the inner case 2 to the outer case 3 at predetermined positions.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the outer case 3 as viewed from below. As shown in FIG. 5, the outer case 3 includes a top plate 26 and side portions 27 and 27. As shown in FIG. 1, the inner case 2 is slidably fitted back and forth inside the top plate 26 and both side surface portions 27, 27 of the outer case 3. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, fitting protrusions 29, 29 having a predetermined length extend on the inner surfaces of the lower edges of the both side surface portions 27, 27 of the outer case 3. The protrusions 29 and 29 are fitted into the guides 19 and 19 of the inner case 2, and the inner case 2 slides in the front-rear direction with respect to the outer case 3. A protrusion 30 is formed at the rear end of each of the protrusions 29 and 29. When the inner case 2 is sliding, the protrusion 30 slides on the surface of the protrusion sliding guide 20. When the protrusion 30 comes to any one of the recesses 21, 22, and 23, the protrusion 30 engages with any of the recesses 21, 22, and 23 of the inner case 2 and the inner case 2 is fixed. Therefore, the inner case 2 can be fixed at three positions. Further, a front projection 31 and a rear projection 32 are formed on the inner surfaces of both end portions 27 of the outer case 3. The front protrusion 31 is slidably fitted in the groove 16 of the inner case 2. The rear protrusion 32 is slidably fitted into the groove 18 of the inner case 2.

  Next, the usage method of this invention is demonstrated. The inner case 2 is in a neutral position shown in FIG. 3 in a normal state when not in use. At this time, the protrusion 30 of the outer case 3 is engaged with the middle concave portion 22 among the three concave portions of the inner case 2. When the cotton swab 35 is newly stored in the storage portion 4 of the inner case 2, the inner case 2 is slid forward as shown in FIG. 2 and the front half 9 of the storage portion is pushed out from the outer case 3. The amount of movement of the inner case 2 at this time is about 32 mm. At this time, the protrusion 30 of the outer case slides on the surface of the protrusion sliding guide 20 and engages with the rear recess 23 in the three recesses of the inner case 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the groove 16 is inclined so as to rise toward the slit 8, and the front half 9 of the storage portion pushed out from the outer case 3 by the action of the groove 16 and the front protrusion 31 of the outer case 3. Falls diagonally. Next, the front half 9 of the storage unit is further bent downward, and a cotton swab 35 is inserted into the rear half 33 of the storage unit. At this time, if the cotton swab case 1 is held upright so that the front end portion of the cotton swab case 1 is positioned above, the cotton swab 35 can be stored smoothly. Next, the bent first half 9 of the storage portion is returned to the original position, and the inner case 2 is pushed into the outer case 3. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the inner case 2 is returned to the neutral position.

  When the swab 35 stored in the swab case 1 is taken out, an operation opposite to the operation for storing the swab 35 described above may be performed. That is, the inner case 2 is pushed forward from the neutral position of the inner case 2 shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the front half 9 of the storage portion is bent downward. At this time, it is preferable to hold the cotton swab case 1 upright so that the cotton swab 35 faces upward. By folding the front half 9 of the storage portion, the bottom surface portion 5 and the side surface portions 15, 15 of the front half 9 of the storage portion surrounding the cotton swab 35 are separated from the cotton swab 35. You can pick it up with your finger from any direction. Therefore, by picking the shaft 34 of the cotton swab 35 at the extreme end of the swab 35 accommodated, the target swab can be taken out almost without touching other swabs.

  Next, a method of forming the cotton ball part of the taken-out cotton swab into a predetermined shape will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the inner case 2 is pushed from the front side to push out the molding part 10. The amount of movement of the inner case 2 at this time is about 14 mm. At this time, the protrusion 30 of the outer case slides on the surface of the protrusion sliding guide 20 and engages with the front recess 21 in the three recesses of the inner case 2. Next, the cotton ball portion 36 of the cotton swab 35 is pushed into one of the mold cavities 11 and 12 while rotating. When the cotton ball portion 36 is fully pushed in and molding is completed, the cotton ball portion 36 is removed from the mold holes 11 and 12 while rotating in the reverse direction.

  Next, the size of this embodiment will be described. The outer case 3 has a vertical length of about 97 mm, a horizontal length of about 35 mm, and a height of about 15 mm. Moreover, the vertical length of the storage part 4 is about 82 mm, and the horizontal width is about 27 mm. The diameter of the upper surface opening of the mold cavity 11 is about 8 mm, and the diameter of the upper surface opening of the mold cavity 12 is about 5 mm. The sizes are as described above, but the present invention is of course not limited to these numerical values.

  In addition, this invention can take a various aspect based on the structure mentioned above. For example, a configuration may be adopted in which a bottom portion facing the top plate is formed in the outer case 3 and the upper surface, the lower surface, and both side surfaces of the inner case 2 are surrounded. Further, the inner case 2 and the outer case 3 may be transparent. The mold cavities 11 and 12 may be formed separately from the molding part 10 so as to be detachably attached, and mold cavities having various shapes may be prepared and selected according to the purpose.

  Both the handling of the swab when removing the swab from the swab case and the handling of the swab when using the swab can provide a swab case that is easy to handle the swab.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cotton swab case 2 Inner case 3 Outer case 4 Storage part 5 Bottom face part 6 Hinge 7 Side face part 8 Slit 9 Front half part 10 of a storage part Molding part 11 Mold hole 12 Mold hole 13 Projection 14 Female thread 15 Side face part 16 Groove 17 Cavity Portion 18 Groove 19 Guide 20 Protrusion sliding guide 21 Recess 22 Recess 23 Recess 24 Mark 25 Mark 26 Top plate 27 Side surface 28 Arrow 29 Projection 30 Projection 31 Front projection 32 Rear projection 33 Rear part 34 of storage unit Axis 35 Cotton swab 36 Cotton Sphere

Claims (5)

  A swab case having a storage portion for removably storing a swab, wherein the swab case includes means for deforming the swab portion of the swab to improve handling of the swab.   The means for deforming the cotton ball portion has a contact portion that contacts the cotton ball portion and deforms the cotton ball portion, and the contact portion can be in an exposed state or a covered state. 2. A swab case according to claim 1, comprising means.   The swab case includes an inner case and an outer case that covers at least a part of the upper surface of the inner case. The inner case is slidably attached to the outer case inside the outer case. The swab case according to claim 2, wherein the swab case can be brought into a state where the contact portion is exposed or covered by movement.   When the inner case is in a neutral position before sliding with respect to the outer case, the stored cotton swab cannot be taken out, and the means for deforming the cotton ball portion of the cotton swab cannot be used. When the inner case is slid in the direction of one end, the swab can be taken out of the storage part, and when the inner case is slid in the direction of the other end, a means for deforming the cotton ball part of the swab is used. The swab case according to claim 3 which becomes possible.   An inner case and an outer case that covers at least a part of the upper surface of the inner case, the inner case is slidably attached to the outer case inside the outer case, and the inner case includes a storage portion; The storage portion has at least a peripheral surface and a bottom surface, and a hinge extending in a lateral direction with respect to the sliding direction is formed on the bottom surface of the storage portion, and at least a front end side portion of the upper surface of the storage portion is an upper surface When the inner case is slid in the front end direction and the upper surface on the front end side of the storage portion is exposed from the outer case, the front end side portion of the storage portion may be bent to the bottom side by the hinge. A cotton swab case that can be made.

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