US20040020505A1

US20040020505A1 - Eyelash curler

Info

Publication number: US20040020505A1
Application number: US10/382,234
Authority: US
Inventors: Mikitoshi Sugiyama
Original assignee: Green Bell Co Ltd
Current assignee: Green Bell Co Ltd
Priority date: 2002-07-30
Filing date: 2003-03-05
Publication date: 2004-02-05
Also published as: JP2004057580A

Abstract

An eyelash curler includes a handle, a frame member provided to an upper side of the handle, and a slide member movable up and down within the frame member, and eyelashes are received between the slide member and an upper part of the frame member to be curled. The slide member including hooks at back sides near its left and right ends thereof is attached to the frame member in a manner that a left part of the frame member is fitted into between the left hook and a left end part of the slide member, and a right part of the frame member is fitted between the right hook and a right end part of the slide member. This eyelash curler requires less cost of producing molds, forming parts and putting the parts together. In this eyelash curler, the left and right part of the frame member will not hinder curling eyelashes near a top and a tail part of a user's eye.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an eyelash curler used for curling eyelashes.

2. Description of the Prior Art

There has been an eyelash curler as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. The eyelash curler includes a

handle

1, a frame member 2 provided on an upper side of the handle 1, and a slide member 3 which can move up and down within the frame member 2. Eyelashes are received between the slide member 3 and an upper part 2 a of the frame member 2 of the known eyelash curler to be curled.

This type of conventional eyelash curler further includes a

longitudinal ditch

19 on each of the inner sides of a left part 2 c and a right part 2 d of the frame member 2, and a left end part 3 a and a right end part 3 b of the slide member 3 can respectively be slidably fitted into the ditches 19.

The

frame member

2 of this eyelash curler is made up with two parts; i.e. a front part A and a back part B. When attaching the slide member 3 to the frame member 2, both the parts A and B are welded together after the left end part 3 a and the right end part 3 b of the slide member 3 are put between the parts A and B in a separate state.

Moreover, the

handle

1 is also made up with two parts; a front part C and a back part D. When attaching a control member 4 to the handle 1, both the parts C and D are welded together after a bottom part of the control member 4 is put between the parts C and D in a separate state.

This structure requires a large cost to produce molds, to form parts and to put the parts together. And the structure in which the

left end part

3 a and the right end part 3 b of the slide member 3 are fitted into the ditches 19 causes the left part 2 c and the right part 2 d of the frame member 2 to swell out forward and hinder a user from easy curling of eyelashes near a top and a tail part of his or her eye.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is hence an object of the present invention to provide an eyelash curler which can reduce costs of producing molds, forming parts and putting the parts together.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an eyelash curler in which a left and a right part of a frame member of the eyelash curler will not hinder effective curling of eyelashes near a top part and a tail part of a user's eye.

To solve the foregoing problems, this invention takes some technical steps, which are described next in detail.

An eyelash curler according to the present invention has a handle, a frame member provided on an upper part of the handle, and a slide member which can move up and down within the frame member. The eyelash curler can curl eyelashes by receiving them between the slide member and an upper part of the frame member. The slide member, having two left and right hooks in the backsides near its left and right ends, are attached to the frame member by receiving a left part of the frame member between the left hook and a left end part of the slide member and also receiving a right part of frame member between the right hook and a right end part of the slide member.

Also, in the eyelash curler according to the present invention, the slide member may be movable up and down in a manner that the left and right end parts of the slide member are respectively positioned in front of the left and right parts of the frame member.

Moreover, the eyelash curer according to the present invention has a control member having a forked shape at a bottom part and protuberances at a right and left side of the bottom part. The bottom part is pressed to deform to narrow a distance between the protuberances and the protuberances are fitted into holes provided on a right and left side face of a hollow formed in the handle, so that the control member is fixed with the handle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an eyelash curler according to an embodiment of the present invention. [0015]
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the eyelash curler according to the present invention, in which a handle is unfolded. [0016]
FIG. 3 is a transversal sectional view of the eyelash curler according to the present invention, taken along a plane below an upper part of a frame member. [0017]
FIG. 4 is a top view of a slide member and a control member of the eyelash curler according to the present invention, in which an elastic member of the slide member is removed. [0018]
FIG. 5 is a side view of the slide member and the control member of the eyelash curler according to the present invention, in which the elastic member of the slide member is removed. [0019]
FIG. 6 is a front view of the slide member and the control member of the eyelash curler according to the present invention, in which the elastic member of the slide member is removed. [0020]
FIG. 7 is a diagram of the eyelash curler according to the present invention to show how the control member is attached to the handle in a state that a lower part of the handle is detached from the handle and an upper part of the handle is transversely severed near its bottom end. [0021]
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a conventional eyelash curler. [0022]
FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the conventional eyelash curler, taken along a transverse plane below an upper part of a frame member.[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the accompanying drawings, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail hereinafter. [0024]
An eyelash curler according to the present invention includes a [0025] handle 1, a frame member 2 provided on an upper part of the handle 1 and a slide member 3 which are movable up and down within the frame member 2. This eyelash curler curls eyelashes by receiving them between the slide member 3 and an upper part 2 a of the frame member 2. The slide member 3, having two left and right hooks 3 c and 3 d in the back sides near its left and right ends, is attached to the frame member by receiving a left part 2 c of the frame member 2 between the left hook 3 c and a left end part 3 a of the slide member 3 and by receiving a right part 2 d of the frame member 2 between the right hook 3 d and a right end part 3 b.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the eyelash curler according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view in which the [0026] handle 1 is unfolded. FIG. 3 is a transversal sectional view taken along a plane under the upper part 2 a of the frame member 2. FIG. 4 is a top view of the slide member 3 and a control member 4 without an elastic member 11 of the slide member 3, FIG. 5 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 6 is a front view thereof. FIG. 7 is a diagram to show how the control member 3 is attached to the handle 1 in a state that a lower part 1 b of the handle 1 is removed and an upper part 1 a of the handle 1 is transversely severed near the bottom end of an upper part 1 a.
This eyelash curler is composed of parts mainly made of plastic, however not limitative thereto, and these parts can be made of many other materials. [0027]
The [0028] handle 1 includes the upper part 1 a and the lower part 1 b which are connected together to mutually rotate so that the handle 1 can be folded in two. The handle 1 is formed with a hollow 5 for containing the control member 4. The hollow 5 is big enough to house almost the entire control member 4.
The [0029] frame member 2 in a four-sided shape including the upper part 2 a, a lower part 2 b, the left part 2 c and the right part 2 d, may be made in one body with the handle 1. Both the upper part 2 a and the lower part 2 b are curved backward, while the left part 2 c and the right part 2 d are almost straight.
The [0030] slide member 3 is formed in a strip shape curved backward like the foregoing upper and lower parts 2 a and 2 b of the frame member 2. An elastic member 11, such as made of silicone rubber, is fitted into a groove 10 formed in an upper end of the slide member 3. Furthermore, the lower part 1 b of the handle 1 is formed with a groove of the same-shape as the elastic member 11 for storing a spare elastic member 11′.
The [0031] slide member 3 is elastic so that, by both ends of the slide member 3 being pressed to get a bigger curvature, the slide member 3 can be forced to fit in the frame member 2. The left part 2 c of the frame member 2 is fitted between the left end part 3 a and the left hook 3 c of the slide member 3 and also the right part 2 d of the frame member 2 is fitted between the right end part 3 b and the right hook 3 d of the slide member 3.
Moreover, the eyelash curler includes the [0032] control member 4 to make the slide member 3 slide up and down. The control member 4, provided with a bent part 4 a in a middle part, is connected with the slide member 3 at its upper end and with the handle 1 at its lower end so that the control member 4 is being forced to bend out forwardly.
The [0033] control member 4 forms a T-shape with the slide member 3, and may be made in one body with the slide member 3. The upper end of the control member 4 is attached to the middle of the lower end of the slide member 3 through a flexible thin part 12. The bottom part of the control member 4, which has protuberances 13 at both left and right sides, is attached to the handle 1 by rotatably fitting the protuberances 13 into holes 16 which are formed on a left and a right side faces near the lower end of the hollow 5.
The bottom part of the [0034] control member 4 has a cut to provide a forked shape. As shown in FIG. 7, pressing both the forked portions of the control member 4 to deform to narrow the distance therebetween (i.e., to narrow the distance between the left and right protuberances 13), pushing the deformed bottom part into the hollow 5 of the upper part of the handle 1 and finally fitting the respective protuberances 13 into the foregoing holes 16 results in fixing of the control member 4 and the handle 1.
The right and left sides of the hollow [0035] 5 are formed with inclined faces 18. The inclined faces 18 incline from the front side to the holes 6 to come closer toward each other, so that the protuberances 13 can be pushed to slide on the inclined faces 18 toward the holes 6 with gradually narrowing the distance therebetween and, when reaching at the holes 6, the protuberances 13 fit into the holes 6 as well as the bottom part of the control member 4 returns to its original shape. Therefore, the control member 4 is attached quite easily to the handle 1.
The [0036] bendable part 4 a is a thin part formed in the middle of the control member 4. The control member 4 is being forced to bend forward with a pressing member 14. The pressing member 14 is here a metal coil spring. One side of the pressing member 14 is fixed to the backside of a press part 4 b provided just under the bendable part 4 a, while the other side is fixed to the bottom of the hollow 5 of the upper part 1 a of the handle 1.
The [0037] press part 4 b is provided just under the bendable part 4 a of the control member 4 and formed with a recess on its front side. The recess is shaped well fit to a thumb or a finger of a user. The user presses this press part 4 b with his or her thumb or finger to enlarge an angle at the bendable part 4 a. Then the control member 4 is widened and flatter and the slide member 3 moves up. On the other hand removing the user's thumb or finger from the press part 4 b allows the control member 4 to return to its previous bent state.
In the eyelash curler with the above mentioned structure, the [0038] left part 2 c of the frame member 2 is fitted between the left end part 3 a and the left hook 3 c of the slide member 3 and the right part 2 d of the frame member 2 is fitted between the right end part 3 b and the right hook 3 d of the slide member 3. Therefore, the left and right parts 2 c and 2 d of the frame member 2 are not required to be made by welding two parts (i.e. respective front side parts and rear side parts) together. Consequently, this structure reduces the costs of producing molds, forming parts and putting the parts together.
Furthermore, the [0039] slide member 3 is movable up and down in a manner that the left end part 3 a and the right end part 3 b thereof are respectively located in front of the left part 2 c and the right part 2 d of the frame member 2, not in a manner that the left and right parts 2 c and 2 d swell out forwardly, so that the left and right parts 2 c and 2 d will not hinder curling eyelashes near the top and tail parts of a user's eye.
Moreover, the [0040] handle 1 of the present invention can be made as one body without two front and back parts being welded together. Specifically, the control member 4 has the forked shape at its bottom part and the protuberances 13 on the right and left sides of the bottom part. And deforming the bottom part of the control member 4 to narrow the distance between the left and right protuberances 13 and fitting the protuberances 13 into the holes 16 provided on the respective right and left side face of the hollow 5 of the handle member 1 allows the control member 4 and the handle 1 to join together. As a result, less cost for producing molds, forming parts and putting the parts together is required.
The eyelash curler according to the present invention, with the structure as stated above, allows to reduce costs of producing molds, forming parts and putting the parts together. And further in the eyelash curler, the [0041] left part 2 c and the right part 2 d of the frame member 2 will not prevent eyelashes near a top and tail parts of a user's eye from being curled.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An eyelash curler comprising:

a handle;

a frame member provided on an upper part of the handle;

a slide member movable up and down within the frame member, the slide member and an upper part of the frame member receiving eyelashes therebetween to curl them; and

the slide member being provided with left and right hooks on back sides near a right and a left end thereof, wherein a left part of the frame member is fitted between the left hook and a left end part of the slide member and a right part of the frame member is fitted between the right hook and a right end part of the slide member.

2. An eyelash curler according to claim 1, wherein the slide member is movable up and down in a manner of positioning the left end part and the right end part respectively in front of the left part and the right part of the frame member.

3. An eyelash curler according to claim 1 further comprising a control member with a forked shape at its bottom part and protuberances at a right and left side of the bottom part, wherein, at attaching the control member to the handle, the bottom part is pressed to deform to narrow a distance between the protuberances and the protuberances are fitted into respective holes provided on a right and left side face of a hollow formed in the handle.

4. An eyelash curler according to claim 2 further comprising a control member with a forked shape at its bottom part and protuberances at a right and left side of the bottom part, wherein, at attaching the control member to the handle, the bottom part is pressed to deform to narrow a distance between the protuberances and the protuberances are fitted into respective holes provided on a right and left side face of a hollow formed in the handle.