WO2014170175A1

WO2014170175A1 - Packaging device for degassing cosmetic product

Info

Publication number: WO2014170175A1
Application number: PCT/EP2014/057121
Authority: WO
Inventors: Patrick Charnay
Original assignee: L'oreal
Priority date: 2013-04-16
Filing date: 2014-04-09
Publication date: 2014-10-23
Also published as: FR3004319B1; FR3004319A1

Abstract

The device comprises: - a sealed container (3); and - an initial dose (11) of a cosmetic product which is packaged in the container (3). The device comprises: - a tube (13) secured to the container (3) placing the internal volume (15) in constant communication with an atmosphere external to the container (3); - the tube (13) having an internal orifice (41) opening into the internal volume (15) at a position in which the said internal orifice (41) is not immersed in the cosmetic product (11) whatever the position of the container (3).

Description

Packaging device for a degassing cosmetic product

The invention generally relates to packaging devices for cosmetic products, especially for degassing cosmetic products.

More specifically, the invention relates to a device for packaging a cosmetic product, the device being of the type comprising:

a sealed tank, comprising a tubular side wall having a central axis, a bottom bottom closing a first axial end of the side wall, an upper bottom closing a second axial end of the side wall opposite to the first, the side wall, the bottom bottom and the upper bottom defining together an internal volume of the tank,

an initial dose of a cosmetic product, packaged in the reservoir

In the known packaging devices, it is possible to provide a vent, which allows the evacuation of the gas evolved by the cosmetic product accumulating in the tank, when the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the tank exceeds a determined value. The packaging device is normally stored in an orientation where it rests on its lower bottom. The vent is typically placed on the upper bottom. However, it may happen that by mistake, it is placed with the bottom bottom up, or that it spills during transport. When the cosmetic product is liquid or semi-liquid, evacuation of the gas is then no longer possible because the vent is embedded in the cosmetic product.

In this context, the invention aims to provide a conditioning device that can degas, even if not standing, resting on a support through the lower bottom.

To this end, the invention relates to a packaging device of the aforementioned type, characterized in that it comprises:

a tube integral with the reservoir, permanently communicating the internal volume with an atmosphere external to the reservoir;

the tube having an internal orifice opening into the internal volume at a position where said orifice is not immersed in the cosmetic product whatever the position of the reservoir.

Thus, the gas which is possibly degassed by the cosmetic product can always escape through the tube, whatever the position of the reservoir. The inner port is typically located in a central area of the internal volume, i.e., away from the bottom bottom, the top bottom and the side wall. The initial dose of cosmetic product is chosen so that the orifice is never embedded. When the device is placed with the bottom bottom down, the cosmetic product accumulates on the bottom bottom. The orifice is then placed above the free surface of the cosmetic product.

Conversely, when the packaging device is placed upside down, with the upper bottom turned downwards, the cosmetic product accumulates on the upper bottom. The orifice is placed at such a distance from the upper bottom that it is located above the free surface of the cosmetic product.

In the same way, the conditioning device is placed with the tubular side wall facing down, the cosmetic product accumulates on the side wall. The orifice is placed at such a distance from this side wall that it is not immersed in the cosmetic product. The shape of the reservoir, and the amount of cosmetic product, are chosen for this to be verified regardless of the angular position of the reservoir around the central axis.

The gas degassed by the cosmetic product then accumulates in the sky of the tank, above the cosmetic product. It flows from the sky of the tank to the outside atmosphere, via the tube, as soon as the gas pressure in the sky of the tank is higher than the external pressure.

By cosmetic products is meant here a product as defined in Council Directive 93/35 EC of 14 June 1993.

The cosmetic product is a pasty product, for example in the form of a cream, a gel, an emulsion, a paste, or in any other form. Alternatively, the cosmetic product is a liquid product.

The cosmetic product may be a care product, for the face or the body, a makeup product, a styling product such as a hair gel, a hair mask, a hygiene product, etc. Typically, the cosmetic product is an oxidizing formula for hair treatment.

The cosmetic product is typically a degassing product, in the sense that chemical reactions continuously occur within the cosmetic product, leading to a gas emission.

The gas released by the cosmetic product is of any type. For example, this gas is oxygen or C0 ₂ .

Alternatively, this cosmetic product is not degassing. In this case, the tube makes it possible to permanently balance the pressures inside and outside the tube. This is advantageous if the cosmetic product is conditioned at a first altitude, then transported to a very different altitude. The reservoir is typically a bottle whose side wall has at least one deformable zone. Typically, the reservoir has a fully deformable sidewall.

The reservoir is typically made of plastic. It is impervious to the gas evolved by the cosmetic product, and impervious to the cosmetic product itself. For example, it is made of polyethylene or polypropylene, or it is made of a multilayer material comprising at least one layer of polyethylene or polypropylene.

The tubular side wall has all kinds of sections. For example, the side wall has perpendicular to the central axis a circular section, or an oval section, or any other type of section.

The term "initial dose" of the cosmetic product here refers to the quantity of cosmetic product packaged in the reservoir at the time of manufacture of the packaging device. In other words, it is the maximum amount of cosmetic product intended to be packaged in the device.

The tube has a free internal channel, which creates a continuous flow path for the gas, from the internal volume of the tank to the atmosphere external to the tank. This internal channel is of small section.

The tube passes through the tank, in the sense that it has an outer end opening directly into the atmosphere external to the tank. The outer end stops for example flush with the tank, for aesthetic reasons. In a variant, it projects from the reservoir.

Typically, the outer end passes through the upper bottom of the tank. Alternatively, it passes through the side wall or bottom bottom of the tank.

According to an advantageous characteristic of the invention, the upper bottom has a tapered tip tapering from an open end opening into the internal volume at a blind end, the tube passing through said blind end.

The tapered tip thus provides some guiding of the tube, which prevents the orifice from departing to near the side wall of the tank.

According to an advantageous characteristic of the invention, the blind end is breakable. Thus, to take the cosmetic product from the reservoir, the user detaches the blind end of the upper bottom, thus creating a dispensing orifice of the cosmetic product. It then suffices to press on the side wall of the tank, or, if the cosmetic product is sufficiently liquid, to maintain the upper bottom to the bottom, to make out the cosmetic product out of the tank.

The tube is separated from the tank with the blind end. When the blind end of the upper bottom is removed, after having detached it, the tube is extracted from the reservoir, which clears a passage for the cosmetic product along the neck, to the dispensing orifice.

The blind end is made typically breakable by providing a line of lesser thickness of material in the tip or in any other suitable manner.

According to an advantageous characteristic of the invention, the tube is fixed by tight clamping in the blind end.

Thus, there is no leakage of gas or cosmetics between the tube and the blind end of the tank.

The tightness is for example obtained by forcibly engaging one end of the tube inside a conduit formed in the blind end. Alternatively, the blind end is injected around the end of the tube.

According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, the tube comprises an internal passage channel of the gas degassed by the cosmetic product, communicating with the internal orifice, the internal channel having a restriction downstream and close to the orifice.

Thus, the internal channel has a smaller passage section at the restriction than in the rest of the internal channel. The passage section is smaller than the average passage section of the internal channel.

For example, this restriction is achieved by pinching the tube, a short distance downstream of the orifice. The term downstream is here understood relative to the direction of flow of gas along the tube from the internal orifice to the outside of the tank.

Alternatively, the internal channel has an even lower cross section, and is free of restrictions.

The fact of providing a restriction, or a very small passage section for the internal channel, makes it possible to prevent the cosmetic product from flowing from the inside of the reservoir to the outside through the tube. This also limits the penetration of air inside the tank.

According to an advantageous characteristic of the invention, the cosmetic product has first, second and third free surfaces respectively when the bottom bottom is facing down, when the side wall is facing down and when the upper bottom is turned towards the bottom. bottom, the first, second and third free surfaces defining together a free volume in which is disposed the inner hole.

In other words, the internal orifice is disposed in a central volume of the reservoir, which is never occupied by the cosmetic product. The second free surface is a tubular surface, corresponding to all the positions occupied by the free surface of the cosmetic product when the reservoir is lying with its horizontal central axis, and that this reservoir is rotated about its axis, over at least 360 °. The free surface then moves along the side wall, over a complete turn.

Viewed in another way, when one makes a complete revolution of the reservoir around its central axis, with the horizontal central axis, the level of cosmetic product with respect to the central axis can vary if the lateral wall is not not symmetrical of revolution around the central axis. The internal hole, if it is not placed on the central axis, passes through positions where it is located above the central axis and positions where it is located below the central axis. According to the invention, the internal orifice never plunges into the cosmetic product, regardless of the angular position of the reservoir around the central axis.

According to another aspect of the invention, the internal orifice is located radially close to the central axis, for example at a distance of a few millimeters from the central axis.

Thus, when the reservoir is held with its horizontal central axis, the internal orifice is sufficiently close to the central axis to never be immersed in the cosmetic product.

According to another aspect of the invention, the tube comprises a first end section emerging outside the reservoir and extending substantially along the central axis, and second end section in which the internal orifice is formed. , the second end section forming a reduced angle relative to the central axis, for example a maximum angle of less than 30 °.

In other words, the curvature of the second end portion is small so that the internal orifice does not deviate much from the central axis, and is never immersed in the cosmetic product when the reservoir is held in its horizontal central axis.

According to an advantageous aspect of the invention, the orifice is defined by one end of the tube.

Alternatively, the orifice is drilled in the wall of the tube, away from the inner end of the tube. It is possible in this case that the end of the tube is closed and immersed in the cosmetic product. On the contrary, the orifice is never immersed in the cosmetic product.

According to another advantageous characteristic of the invention, the tip is attached to the reservoir.

This allows in particular an easy manufacture of the device. The tip and the tube are first secured to one another. Then, the tip is attached to the rest of the tank, by any suitable means. For example, the tip is fixed by its open end on the upper bottom. Alternatively, it is welded or bonded to the upper bottom by a bayonet connection, or engaged in force around a skirt carried by the upper bottom etc. In this case, the side wall, the inner bottom and the remainder of the upper bottom are typically made of material, a plastic material.

Alternatively, the tank is entirely made of material, made of a plastic material.

Other features and advantages of the invention will emerge from the detailed description which is given below, for information and also limiting, with reference to the appended figures, among which:

- Figure 1 is an axial sectional view of a packaging device according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a detail of FIG. 1; and

- Figure 3 is a partial view, in section, of the device of Figure 1, after the tank has been opened, and the tube out of the tank.

The packaging device 1 shown in FIG. 1 is intended for packaging a cosmetic product capable of degassing a gas. Typically, the cosmetic product is an oxidizing formula for hair treatment. The cosmetic product is in the form of a viscous cream.

The cosmetic product releases gas permanently, typically oxygen. The conditioning device 1 comprises:

a sealed reservoir 3, itself comprising a tubular side wall 5 having a central axis X, a lower bottom 7 closing a first axial end of the side wall 5, and an upper bottom 9 closing a second axial end of the side wall 5 opposed to the first;

an initial dose of 1 1 of a degassing cosmetic product packaged in the reservoir;

a tube 13 integral with the reservoir 3, permanently communicating the internal volume of the reservoir with an atmosphere external to the reservoir.

In the example shown, the side wall 5 is cylindrical.

The side wall 5, the bottom bottom 7 and the upper bottom 9 together define the internal volume 15 in which the cosmetic product 1 1 is housed.

The upper base 9 has a circumferential portion 17 and a tapered tip 19.

The side wall 5, the lower bottom 7 and the circumferential portion 17 of the upper bottom are made of material and more precisely come from injection with each other. It together constitutes a bottle, made for example of polyethylene or polypropylene.

The tip is typically made of polypropylene or polyethylene.

The portion 17 forms a neck 21 internally defining an opening 23. The tip

19 tapers from a base 25 to a blind end 27. The base 25 is an open end of the tip opening into the internal volume 15. It has a generally cylindrical shape, and carries an internal thread 29 cooperating with an external thread 31 formed on the neck 21. Thus, the tip is sealed on the tank.

Once mounted on the reservoir, the tip 19 extends substantially along the central axis X from the base 25 to the blind end 27. More specifically, the tip 19 comprises, between the base 25 and the blind end 27, an intermediate portion 33, coaxial with the X axis, whose cross section narrows from the base 25 to the blind end 27.

As can be seen in particular in FIG. 2, the blind end 27 is connected to the intermediate portion 33 by a line of lesser thickness of material 35, allowing the user to separate the blind end 27 from the intermediate portion 33, for example under the effect of a twist.

The tube 13 dives inside the tank. It has an outer end 35, passing through the blind end of the tip. This end 35 is engaged in a passage 37 through the blind end 27. The outer end 35 is engaged tightly in the passage 37, and is therefore integral with the blind end 27. The passage 37 passes axially through the blind end 27 , the entire length of this end 27. The tube 13 is integral only with the blind end 27, so that when it is detached from the rest of the tip, the tube can be removed from the tank, as illustrated in Figure 3.

The tube 13 has an internal channel 38, to allow the passage of the gas released by the cosmetic product from the internal volume to the outside of the tank. The inner end 39 of the tube 13, opposite the outer end 35, defines an orifice 41 through which the inner channel 38 opens into the internal volume of the reservoir. The internal channel 38, at the outer end 35 of the tube, opens out of the tank.

The inner channel 38 has a restriction 43 at its inner end 39. The restriction 43 is positioned near the orifice 41, immediately downstream thereof. The passage section of the internal channel at the restriction 43 is smaller than the average passage section along the internal channel.

The internal orifice 41, as shown in FIG. 1, is not immersed in the cosmetic product, whatever the position of the reservoir.

The volume occupied by the cosmetic product in different positions of the reservoir is shown schematically in FIG. When the reservoir is oriented with the bottom bottom downwards, the cosmetic product accumulates on the lower bottom 7, the free surface 45 of the cosmetic product then being substantially perpendicular to the axis X.

When the reservoir is oriented with the axis X substantially horizontal, the cosmetic product accumulates on the side wall 5. The free surface 47 of the cosmetic product is then substantially parallel to the axis X. When the tank is rotated around the X axis, the free surface 47 then delimits a substantially cylindrical surface around the X axis.

When the tank is oriented with the upper bottom down, the cosmetic product accumulates on the upper bottom. The free surface 49 of the cosmetic product is then substantially perpendicular to the axis X. In FIG. 1, there is shown the free surface 47 of the cosmetic product if the reservoir is held with the horizontal axis X and the tip 19 oriented towards the the left, and the free surface 47 of the cosmetic product if the reservoir is in an orientation with the horizontal axis X and the tip 19 to the right.

The surface 45, the surface 49 and the substantially cylindrical surface 47 together define a cylindrical volume 51 around the axis X. The internal orifice 41 is disposed in this volume 51.

With respect to the central axis X, the internal orifice is located radially at a distance of less than a few millimeters.

To do this, the tube 13 comprises a first section 53, defining the outer end 35 of the tube, and extending along the central axis X. It also comprises a second section 55, extending the first section 53 to the second. internal end 39. This section 55 extends in a direction forming an angle with respect to the axis X. This angle is substantially constant, and in any case, the maximum angle formed by the section 55, relative to the X axis is less than 30 ° for example.

The manufacture of the packaging device of the invention is as follows.

The tip is injected in a plastic material. Then, the tube is engaged in force in the passage 37 of the tip. The side wall, the bottom bottom and the circumferential portion 17 of the upper bottom are injected in a plastic material. Then, the cosmetic product is placed inside the reservoir and the tip 19 is screwed onto the reservoir.

The device is then typically stored in the upright position, with the bottom bottom resting on a support surface. The gas evolved by the cosmetic product escapes through the tube 13. If the reservoir is overturned or is held in another position, the orifice 41 never plunges into the cosmetic product, so that the gas can still escape through the tube 13.

When a user wants to use the cosmetic product, he separates the breakable blind end 27 from the remainder of the tip 19. For example, it exerts a twist on the blind end 27 relative to the intermediate portion 33, which leads to breaking the tip 19 along the line of material thickness 35. It then pulls the blind end 27 and the tube 13, which is attached to this end 27, axially, until the tube 13 completely out of the tank. This creates an opening at the end of the intermediate portion 33 of the nozzle through which it is possible to get the cosmetic product out of the reservoir.

Claims

1. - Device for packaging a cosmetic product, the device (1) comprising:

a sealed tank (3), comprising a tubular side wall (5) having a central axis (X), a lower bottom (7) closing a first axial end of the side wall (5), a top bottom (9) closing a second axial end of the side wall (5) opposite the first, the side wall (5), the bottom bottom (7) and the upper bottom (9) together defining an internal volume (15) of the tank;

an initial dose (1 1) of a cosmetic product, packaged in the reservoir

(3);

characterized in that the device comprises:

- a tube (13) integral with the reservoir (3) permanently communicating the internal volume (15) with an external atmosphere of the reservoir (3);

the tube (13) having an internal orifice (41) opening into the internal volume (15) at a position where said internal orifice (41) is not immersed in the cosmetic product (1 1) whatever the position of the tank (3).

2. - Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the upper bottom (9) has a tapered end piece (19) tapering from an open base (25) opening into the internal volume (15) to a blind end (27), the tube (13) passing through said blind end (27).

3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the blind end

(27) is breakable.

4. - Device according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the tip (19) is attached to the reservoir (3).

5. - Device according to any one of claims 3 to 4, characterized in that the tube (13) is fixed by sealing in the blind end (27).

6. - Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tube (13) comprises an inner channel (37) for passage of a gas degassed by the cosmetic product (1 1), communicating with the orifice internal (41), the inner channel (37) having a restriction (43) downstream and near the internal orifice (41).

7.- Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cosmetic product has first, second and third surfaces free (45, 47, 49) respectively when the lower bottom (7) is facing downwards, when the side wall (5) is facing downwards and when the upper bottom (9) is facing downwards, the first second and third free surfaces (45, 47, 49) defining together a free volume (51) in which the internal orifice (41) is disposed.

8. - Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inner hole (41) is located radially close to the central axis (X).

9. - Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tube (13) comprises a first section (53) opening out of the tank (3) and extending substantially along the central axis ( X) and a second section (55) in which is formed the inner hole (41) forming in the vicinity of the central axis (X) a reduced angle, for example a maximum angle of less than 30 °.

10. - Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inner orifice (41) is defined by one end of the tube (13).

1 1. - Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cosmetic product is degassing.