WO2009065562A2

WO2009065562A2 - Brush for applying liquid or pasty means

Info

Publication number: WO2009065562A2
Application number: PCT/EP2008/009762
Authority: WO
Inventors: Joachim Jäger
Original assignee: Friedrich Sanner Gmbh & Co. Kg
Priority date: 2007-11-20
Filing date: 2008-11-19
Publication date: 2009-05-28
Also published as: WO2009065562A3; DE102007055269A1; WO2009065562A8

Abstract

The invention relates to a brush (10) for applying liquid or pasty means, in particular decorative cosmetics, such as mascara. Said brush comprises a plastic rod-shaped support (11) that is provided with a plurality of projections (14) on the outside thereof. Said projections are plastic, protrude radially in the outward direction and are arranged at a mutual distance in relation to each other. A reinforcing structure (16) is provided in the region of the intermediate area between the projections (14). According to the invention, said reinforcing structure (16) has several longitudinal ribs (17) that extend in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped support (11). A longitudinal slot (18) is respectively formed between adjacent longitudinal ribs (17), and the projections (14) are supported by the longitudinal ribs (17) on two opposite sides in the base area thereof and traverse at least one of the longitudinal slots (18).

Description

Brush for the transfer of liquid or pasty media

The invention relates to a brush for the transfer of liquid or pasty media, in particular of decorative cosmetics such as mascara, with a plastic carrier rod-shaped carrier having on its outer side a plurality of plastic, radially outwardly projecting, spaced fingers , And with a stiffening structure, which is arranged in the area of the spaces between the fingers.

A brush of the type mentioned is known, for example, from DE 101 30 863 A1 (FIG. 9) and can be used in many different fields of application. The following is an example of the order of mascara, so-called mascara be assumed, however, the invention is not limited thereto and a brush can also for applying other cosmetics or in the pharmaceutical-medical field as an applicator for medical products, as a smear brush or also be used as a cleaning brush. In addition, a corresponding brush can be used to apply adhesives, paints or shoe care products.

A brush of said construction has a rod-shaped support which is curved straight or unidirectionally curved.

BESTÄT1GUNGSK0PIE can be forms. The carrier has a trim of a plurality of radially outwardly projecting fingers, wherein each finger is integrally formed on its lower foot portion of the carrier. The fingers can have any shape and are preferably designed in the form of a circular cone or a circular truncated cone, ie they taper towards their outer free end. Away from the finger trim, the wearer has a handle portion or he can be attached to a corresponding handle portion on which a user can grasp the brush and hold it during handling.

Usually, the rod-shaped carrier and the fingers made of a relatively soft plastic, such as an elastomer. In order to increase the rigidity of the brush and in particular of the rod-shaped carrier, it is provided in the known brush to surround the rod-shaped carrier with a tube made of a harder plastic, which has a plurality of radial passage holes through which each one finger extends through it. A corresponding brush is made by first the stiffening sleeve is made, in which then the soft plastic is introduced under pressure. The plastic penetrates the sleeve at the through holes, thus forming outwardly projecting fingers. In this way, each finger is surrounded in its foot by the stiffening sleeve and supported on all sides.

When a liquid or pasty medium, for example mascara, is to be applied with the brush, the mascara is in a storage container which has an insertion opening through which the brush is placed in the storage space. container can be introduced. The insertion opening is covered by a flexible, flap-like scraper, which is intended to strip an excessive amount of adherent mascara during withdrawal of the brush from the storage container. After removing the brush from the reservoir, the brush is brought into contact with the eyelashes in combing motion in a known manner, wherein the mascara is transferred to the eyelashes and at the same time the eyelashes are also combed.

In order to achieve a good combing effect and to ensure sufficient transfer of the mascara to the eyelashes, the fingers of the brush must have sufficient flexural rigidity, i. they must not dodge excessively during the combing and application movement. However, the necessary bending stiffness of the fingers is so high that the extraction of the brush from the reservoir and the resulting stripping excess mascara is difficult. If the fingers are formed to solve this problem with a low bending stiffness, although the brush can be easily inserted into the reservoir and pulled out of this, but a good order of mascara on the eyelashes is no longer given because the fingers too light dodge.

For the application of the brush, it is advantageous if this has at least in the area of the finger or bristle trim increased resilience, that is, when the brush at loads that occur perpendicular to its longitudinal extent, can deform sufficiently to contact with an irregularly curved Surface, for example, in the oral cavity of a patient, an adaptation of the brush shape to the contours of the surface is possible. At a very rigid brush, as given by the tubular stiffening sleeve according to DE 101 30 863 Al, a corresponding adjustment is not possible and there is also an improper handling increased accident and injury.

The invention has for its object to provide a brush of the type mentioned, which is adjusted in terms of their flexural rigidity and in terms of flexural rigidity of the finger to different handling operations.

This object is achieved by a brush with the features of claim 1. It is provided that the stiffening structure has a plurality of longitudinal ribs extending in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped carrier, wherein a longitudinal slot is formed between adjacent longitudinal ribs, and that the fingers penetrate at least one of the longitudinal slots and supported in their foot region by the longitudinal ribs on two opposite sides are.

The invention is based on the basic idea of forming the stiffening structure not in the form of a tubular sleeve but only in the form of a plurality of longitudinal ribs extending in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped carrier and thus of the brush. The longitudinal ribs have a substantially lower flexural rigidity than the closed tubular sleeve, so that the brush has an increased deformability, especially in the region of its bristle or finger trimming, for radial loads, that is to say perpendicular to its longitudinal extension. In this way, the brush conforms in shape to the surface with which the brush is brought into contact. The longitudinal ribs have the further advantage that the fingers in their foot region are not completely surrounded by the stiffening structure, but that the longitudinal ribs only on two opposite sides, ie on the transverse to the longitudinal direction of the brush and thus in the circumferential direction facing sides are supported by the longitudinal ribs, while in the foot area of the fingers on the two sides pointing in the longitudinal direction of the brush sides no support is given. This has the consequence that the fingers have lower stability and thus greater deformability for loads which extend in the longitudinal direction of the brush than for loads which occur perpendicular thereto, ie transversely to the longitudinal extent of the brush or in its circumferential direction. When pulling out the brush from the

Reservoir of the mascara, the fingers are relatively strongly deformed in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped carrier, since they have a lower bending stiffness in this direction. Thus, the insertion of the brush into the reservoir and the withdrawal is made easier. When applying the mascara to the eyelashes, the fingers become perpendicular thereto, i. deformed in the circumferential direction of the rod-shaped carrier, and they have a higher flexural rigidity for this load due to the support in their foot region by the arranged there longitudinal ribs.

The fingers may have any cross-sectional shape, but it is preferred that the fingers taper to their free end. The cross section of the fingers may be triangular, quadrangular or polygonal or even circular or elliptical. The tip of the fingers may be flattened or concave or convex. In addition, the fingers can with depending on the application Grooves and / or ribs be equipped to improve the uptake or release behavior for each medium.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention it is provided that the rod-shaped carrier and the fingers, which are integrally connected to one another and preferably produced in a single injection molding process, consist of a soft 1st plastic material and the longitudinal ribs of a harder second plastic material. The soft first plastic material may be, for example, a thermoplastic, in particular a thermoplastic elastomer (PTE), for example urethane sorbent (PTU), or a silicone. The harder second plastic material may be a thermoplastic material, for example polypropylene (PP), polyoxymethylene (POM) or polyethylene (PE) or else a thermosetting plastic. Optionally, the second plastic material can also be replaced by another injectable material, for example a sprayable metal.

The longitudinal ribs, which preferably extend in a straight line axially and thus parallel to the longitudinal axis of the brush, can be connected to one another in a further development of the invention at their rear end facing a gripping part of the brush via an annular element, for example. This embodiment is advantageous in terms of manufacturing technology. Starting from the base part, the longitudinal ribs can protrude in the longitudinal direction of the brush, ie, apart from the rear base part, no connection of the longitudinal ribs to one another is provided. Alternatively, however, it is also possible for the longitudinal ribs to be connected together at their front end facing away from the handle part of the brush via a holding part are. In this case, the longitudinal ribs are connected together at their respective ends via the base part and the holding part, respectively. As an alternative to the front holding part or in addition to this, it can be provided that the longitudinal ribs are additionally connected to each other in their middle region via at least one preferably annular connecting part. The bending stiffness of the stiffening structure formed by the longitudinal ribs can be adjusted and adjusted in accordance with the fields of application of the brush via the arrangement and the number of connecting parts or via the design of the head-side holding part.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention it is provided that the stiffening structure of four to eight and in particular of six parallel spaced, longitudinally extending longitudinal ribs is formed, which are preferably evenly distributed over the circumference of the brush, so that between the longitudinal ribs four to eight and preferably six equally spaced longitudinal slots are formed. In each of these longitudinal slots, a row of spaced-apart fingers is arranged, the row of fingers extending in the longitudinal direction of the brush and preferably parallel to its longitudinal axis. Each finger of a row of fingers is supported by the two laterally adjoining longitudinal ribs in the foot area.

In one possible embodiment of the invention, it is provided that the longitudinal ribs are exposed on the outside of the rod-shaped carrier. Alternatively it can be provided that the longitudinal ribs are provided on the outside with a coating of the first plastic material of the rod-shaped carrier. In a modification of the invention can be provided that the fingers penetrate only a single longitudinal slot and are arranged in a single, extending in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped carrier and thus the brush row, wherein the fingers are arranged within the row at a distance and in their foot in mentioned manner is supported on opposite sides by the stiffening structure.

A brush according to the invention is preferably produced in a two-component injection molding process. In a first method step, the reinforcing structure with the longitudinal ribs and optionally the base part and / or the head-side holding part or the at least one connecting part made of the harder second plastic material. In a subsequent second method step, the stiffening structure is filled on the inside to form the rod-shaped carrier with the soft first plastic material and at the same time the fingers penetrating the stiffening structure at the longitudinal slots are formed.

Further details and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments with reference to the drawings. Show it:

1 is a perspective view of a brush according to the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the brush according to FIG. 1, FIG.

3 is an enlarged view of the section III-III in Figure 2, 4 is a perspective view of the stiffening structure of the brush prior to formation of the fingers,

5 is a side view of the stiffening structure according to Figure 4,

6 is an enlarged view of the section VI-VI in Figure 5,

7 shows a longitudinal section through the stiffening structure in the region of the longitudinal slots,

8 shows a longitudinal section through the stiffening structure in the region of the longitudinal ribs,

Fig. 9 is a longitudinal section through the brush according to

FIG. 1 in the region of the longitudinal slots,

10 is a longitudinal section through the brush of Figure 1 in the region of the longitudinal ribs,

11 shows a perspective view of a modified embodiment of the stiffening structure according to FIG. 4,

12 shows a modification of the stiffening structure according to FIG. 11,

13 is a perspective view of an alternative embodiment of the brush according to the invention, 14 is a side view of the brush according to Figure 13 and

Fig. 15 is an enlarged view of the section

XV-XV in FIG. 14.

Figures 1 to 3 show a brush 10 according to the invention with a rod-shaped, straight support 11 (see Figure 3), which carries on its outer side a trimming 12 of a plurality of radially extending from the rod-shaped support 11 outwardly extending fingers 14, the fingers 14th are evenly distributed over the circumference of the rod-shaped carrier 11. The inner rod-shaped carrier 11 and the fingers 14 are integrally connected to each other and consist of a soft 1st plastic material, in particular an elastomer. The rod-shaped carrier 11 is surrounded on the outside by a stiffening structure 16 which has a plurality of longitudinal ribs 17 extending in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped carrier 11 and thus of the brush 10, which are aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis of the brush 10 and the rod-shaped carrier 11. Between two adjacent longitudinal ribs 17, t, a longitudinal slot 18 is formed in each case. At the longitudinal slots 18, the fingers 14 penetrate the stiffening structure 16, wherein in each longitudinal slot 18 a single, in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped support 11 extending row of spaced fingers 14 is arranged and wherein the fingers 14 on opposite, in the circumferential direction of the brush pointing sides are supported in their Fußbe- rich of the adjacent longitudinal ribs 17.

At the front end of the brush, a plug-like head part 22 is formed, which preferably consists of the soft 1. Kunst- Fabric material of the rod-shaped carrier 11 and the fingers 14 is made.

The longitudinal ribs 17 are connected at their rear, the front head portion 22 opposite end via an annular base portion 19 with each other. The base part 19 can be connected to a grip part 13, on which a user can grasp the brush 10, or can be integrally connected to the grip part 13.

The stiffening structure 16 is shown without the rod-shaped carrier and without the fingers in FIGS. 4 to 8. In the illustrated embodiment, the handle portion 13 and the stiffening structure 16 are formed as a one-piece plastic part, wherein six are provided in the longitudinal direction of the brush extending longitudinal ribs 17 which are evenly distributed over the circumference (see Figure 6) and between each of the longitudinal slots 18th form. In the illustrated embodiment, the longitudinal ribs 17 are connected only at their rear, the handle portion 13 facing the end of the base member 19 with each other and collar of this to the front end of the brush freely.

The grip part 13 is preferably produced in a first method step by injection molding together with the stiffening structure 16. The defined by the longitudinal ribs 17 in the interior space is then injected in a second step with the soft first plastic material, wherein the first plastic material also penetrates the longitudinal slots 18 formed between the longitudinal ribs 18 to form the tapered finger 14 to its free end , As shown in particular in FIG. 3, the longitudinal ribs 17 each support the space between them. Neten finger 14 in the foot area, but this support is only on the two arranged in the circumferential direction of the brush 10 pages, while the fingers 14 in the longitudinal direction of the longitudinal slot 18 have no corresponding support, as can be seen for example in FIG , In this way, the fingers 14 on the one hand in the longitudinal direction of the brush 10 and on the other hand in the circumferential direction of the brush 10 different Biegestei- capabilities, the flexural rigidity in the circumferential direction of the brush 10 is increased due to the lateral support by the longitudinal ribs 17.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show further developments of the stiffening structure 16 according to FIG. 4. While the longitudinal ribs 17 are connected to one another only at their rear end facing the gripping part 13 via the base part 19, according to FIG front, free end of the longitudinal ribs 17, an annular holding part 20 integrally formed, so that the longitudinal ribs 17 are connected at their two ends in each case.

FIG. 12 shows a development of the stiffening structure 16 according to FIG. 11, wherein, in addition to the front annular holding part 20, a connecting part 21 is also formed in the middle area of the longitudinal ribs 17, which is either a ring or individual, adjacent guide ribs 17 can act together connecting webs.

As shown particularly in FIGS. 2 and 3, the fingers 14 are arranged on the rod-shaped carrier 11 so as to form a multiplicity of finger rings K1, K2, K3 .... which extend in the longitudinal direction of the carrier 11 and thus the Brush 10 are arranged one behind the other at the same distance. Each finger ring comprises, for example, six fingers 14 (see FIG. 3) which each lie in a plane extending perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the carrier 11 and are equally distributed over the circumference of the carrier 11 at the same angular spacing. The number of finger rings, the number of fingers per finger wreath and the arrangement of the fingers and finger rings are different depending on the application and adjusted accordingly.

FIGS. 13 to 15 show a further, specific embodiment of the brush 10 according to the invention. In this case, a plurality of longitudinal slots 18 are provided in the stiffening structure 16, of which only a single longitudinal slot 18 is provided by a single row 15 of fingers 14 arranged at a distance is penetrated. The row 15 extends axially parallel in the longitudinal direction of the brush 10. As already explained, each finger 14 is supported by the stiffening structure 16 in its foot on two opposite sides (see Figure 15), while on the other two, pointing in the longitudinal direction of the brush 10 Pages no corresponding support is provided, whereby different bending stiffness of the fingers in the longitudinal direction of the brush and are achieved perpendicular thereto.

Claims

claims

1. Brush for the transfer of liquid or pasty media, in particular of decorative cosmetics such as mascara, with an existing plastic rod-shaped carrier (H), on its outside a variety of

Plastic, radially outwardly projecting, spaced fingers (14) and with a stiffening structure (16), which is in the region of the spaces between the fingers (14), characterized in that the stiffening structure (16) a plurality in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped carrier (11) extending longitudinal ribs (17), wherein between adjacent longitudinal ribs (17) each having a longitudinal slot (18) is formed, and that the fingers (14) penetrate at least one of the longitudinal slots (18) and in their Foot area of the longitudinal ribs (17) are supported on two opposite sides.

2. Brush according to claim 1, characterized in that the rod-shaped carrier (11) and the fingers (14) made of a soft 1st plastic material and the longitudinal ribs (17) consist of a harder second plastic material.

3. Brush according to claim 2, characterized in that the soft first plastic material is a thermoplastic, in particular a thermoplastic elastomer.

IA or a silicone is.

4. Brush according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the harder second plastic material is a thermoplastic plastic, in particular polypropylene, polyoxymethylene or polyethylene, or a thermosetting plastic.

5. Brush according to one of claims 1 to 4, character- ized in that the longitudinal ribs (17) at its rear, a handle part (13) of the brush (10) facing the end to a base part (19) are interconnected.

6. Brush according to claim 5, characterized in that the longitudinal ribs (17) projecting from the base part (19) in the longitudinal direction.

7. Brush according to one of claims 1 to 6, character- ized in that the longitudinal ribs (17) at its front, a handle part (13) of the brush (10) facing away from the end to a holding part (20) are interconnected.

8. Brush according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the longitudinal ribs (17) in its central portion via at least one connecting part (21) are interconnected.

9. Brush according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the stiffening structure (16) four to eight parallel spaced, in longitudinal Direction extending longitudinal ribs (17).

10. Brush according to claim 9, characterized in that the stiffening structure (16) has six parallel arranged at a distance, extending in the longitudinal direction longitudinal ribs (17).

11. Brush according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the longitudinal ribs (17) on the outer surface of the rod-shaped carrier (11) are exposed.

12. Brush according to one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the longitudinal ribs (17) on the outside with a coating (23) of the first plastic material of the rod-shaped carrier (11) are provided.

13. Brush according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that the fingers (14) penetrate only a single longitudinal slot (18) and in a single, in the longitudinal direction of the rod-shaped carrier (11) extending row (15) are arranged.