Patent Application
20150230585
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a cosmetic capsule container typically used in a state being set in a compact type cosmetic case and, more particularly, to a cosmetic capsule container which is configured such that a receiving chamber of the container can form enough surplus space by virtue of an expandable bottom of the container, so the container can be easily and quickly charged with a sufficient amount of liquid cosmetic composition even when a porous pad having the same size and thickness as a conventional porous pad is contained in the receiving chamber, and, when the cosmetic capsule container is set in an empty cosmetic case, the expanded bottom of the container is contracted and raised up, so the porous pad can be more efficiently impregnated with the liquid cosmetic composition, thereby allowing a user to easily apply make-up using the liquid cosmetic composition impregnated in the porous pad, and which is also configured to be easily removed from a cosmetic case having no ejection hole.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a variety of cosmetic compositions have been marketed in the form of refill products in which cosmetic compositions are put in refill containers or refill cases, instead of being directly put in cosmetic cases. Further, according to the demands of the times and the requirements of consumers, cosmetic compositions are preferably used in the form of mixed compositions in which the cosmetic compositions are mixed with water or oil instead of being directly used in the form of their original states, such as solid, semisolid, gel or liquid compositions. Particularly, in recent years, a cosmetic product that is produced by impregnating a porous pad (a so-called “carrier,” and typically made of a nonwoven fabric, sponge or etc.) with a liquid cosmetic composition is widely and preferably used. To meet the above-mentioned recent trends of cosmetic products, refill cases having a variety of shapes and structures have been developed in the cosmetic industrial field.
In the related art, a conventional refill case, particularly, a refill case, in which a porous pad impregnated with a liquid cosmetic composition is contained, is designed in consideration of only the size and thickness of the porous pad that will be contained in the refill case. Here, the sizes and thicknesses of conventional porous pads produced and distributed by many cosmetic manufacturers differ slightly from each other. However, the range of different thicknesses of the conventional porous pads is limited to 10 mm-30 mm, and the range of different sizes (diameters) of the pads is also limited to 10 mm-30 mm, in consideration of economical efficiency, usability and treatment efficiency of the pads. In other words, the design factors of conventional refill cases are focused to only the use of specific refill cases which are intended to receive porous pads therein.
As described above, the design factors of the conventional refill case are focused to only the use of the specific refill case which is intended to receive therein a porous pad that has been impregnated with a liquid cosmetic composition by a separate impregnation process, so the conventional refill case may not allow direct impregnation of the porous pad with the liquid cosmetic composition after the pad is set in the refill case. Further, even when trying to charge the liquid cosmetic composition into the porous pad after setting the pad in the refill case, the liquid cosmetic composition may overflow the refill case due to the limited volume of the receiving chamber of the refill case, so a user should slowly and carefully charge the porous pad with the liquid cosmetic composition while viewing the charged level of the liquid cosmetic composition in the refill case. Accordingly, the conventional refill case is problematic in that the refill case may not allow direct impregnation of the porous pad with the liquid cosmetic composition after setting the pad in the refill case or may require an excessively lengthy period of time to charge the porous pad with the liquid cosmetic composition in the refill case, so the conventional refill case reduces work efficiency during a process of charging the porous pad with the liquid cosmetic composition. Of course, to solve the above-mentioned problems of conventional refill cases, the receiving chamber of the refill case may be designed to have a volume large enough to accommodate both the size and thickness of the porous pad and the volume of a space required to contain the liquid cosmetic composition. However, the increase in the volume of the receiving chamber of the refill case causes a structural problem in that the porous pad may undesirably move inside the receiving chamber, so it is required to separately produce an additional holding ring and install the ring in the refill case such that the ring can hold the pad in the refill case.
Another problem of the conventional refill case resides in that the refill case is configured such that the refill case uses a pad which has been separately produced prior to being set in the refill case, so the refill case should be provided with a sealing structure and necessarily have a complex construction including: a hard plastic case body having a pad receiving chamber, a hard plastic cap that is openably mounted to the case body, and a means for preventing the pad from being undesirably removed from the receiving chamber. Further, the conventional refill case has a multi-piece structure (comprising two or more pieces), so, to produce the multi-piece refill case, it is required to produce the pieces using a plurality of molds and assemble the molded pieces with each other into a refill case, thereby reducing the productivity and increasing the production cost of cosmetic products (see Patent Document 1).
Further, the conventional refill case is configured such that a porous pad is set in the receiving chamber of the refill case after the porous pad has been charged with a liquid cosmetic composition by a separate process instead of directly charging the porous pad with the liquid cosmetic composition after the porous pad is set in the refill case, so an excessively lengthy period of time should be required to charge the porous pad with the liquid cosmetic composition, thereby reducing the productivity of refill cosmetic products and increasing the production cost of the products (see Patent Document 2).
Accordingly, the cosmetic industrial field in recent years requires development of a technique that can increase productivity and can remarkably reduce production costs by realizing a simple construction of a refill case and by providing an improved method of charging a porous pad with a liquid cosmetic composition.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.
(Patent Document 1) Korean Patent No. 10-1318467 (Patent Document 2) Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2012-0108509
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the related art, and the present invention is intended to propose a cosmetic capsule container which has a receiving chamber that can form enough surplus space by virtue of an expandable bottom of the container, so a porous pad and a sufficient amount of liquid cosmetic composition can be set and charged in the receiving chamber, and which can be marketed with the porous pad and the liquid cosmetic composition set and charged in the receiving chamber and with an open upper end of the container sealed by a sealing member, so the porous pad can be naturally impregnated with the liquid cosmetic composition during a distribution of the container, and, when the cosmetic capsule container is set in an empty cosmetic case so as to be used as a refill container, the expanded bottom of the container is contracted and raised up by a compression force applied from the bottom of the cosmetic case, so the liquid cosmetic composition can be charged again into the porous pad and the porous pad is raised up until the pad is stopped by a stop rim that is provided along the upper end of the receiving chamber, so a user may easily apply make-up using the liquid cosmetic composition charged in the porous pad, and which does not require an additional holding ring for holding the porous pad in the container so as to prevent the porous pad from being undesirably removed from the container or from undesirably moving in the container, so the present invention can easily produce a simple cosmetic capsule container having a one-piece structure.
The present invention is also intended to propose a cosmetic capsule container in which an ejection grip is provided on the upper end of the receiving chamber of the cosmetic capsule container, so, even when the cosmetic capsule container is used with a cosmetic case having no ejection hole in the bottom for removing the cosmetic capsule container from the cosmetic case after emptying the container, the cosmetic capsule container can be easily removed from the cosmetic case, thereby improving the usability of cosmetic products.
The present invention is further intended to propose a cosmetic capsule container in which an air vent groove is formed on the outer circumferential surface of a sidewall of the cosmetic capsule container, so the cosmetic capsule container can be easily set in or easily removed from the cosmetic case.
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cosmetic capsule container including: a receiving chamber in which a porous pad and a liquid cosmetic composition are set and charged; a sidewall connected to a bottom of the container and extending so as to form the receiving chamber that is open upward; a stop rim formed along an inner edge of an upper end of the sidewall so as to prevent the porous pad from being removed from the receiving chamber; a locking part provided on an upper portion of an outer circumferential surface of the sidewall so as to lock the container to a cosmetic case; and an expandable part connecting a lower boundary part of the sidewall to the bottom of the container in such a way that the expandable part allows the bottom to be raised upward relative to the sidewall.
In the present invention, the bottom of the container may be configured such that the bottom can be expanded downward from the lower boundary part of the sidewall by a predetermined height by virtue of the expandable part.
In the present invention, the expandable part may be a thin film bellows-shaped part, so an efficient rising movement of the bottom of the container can be realized.
In the present invention, the expandable part may be a thin film sheet extending between the lower boundary part of the sidewall and the bottom of the container, so the bottom can efficiently expand and contract by virtue of the expandable part.
In the present invention, the locking part may be configured as a locking protrusion or a locking groove.
In the present invention, the cosmetic capsule container may further include: a tearing step formed along an outer edge of the open upper end of the container so as to allow a sealing member to be removed from the container.
In the present invention, the cosmetic capsule container may further include: an ejection grip provided on the open upper end of the container, so, when the container is set in a cosmetic case having no ejection hole, the container can be easily removed from the cosmetic case.
In the present invention, the ejection grip may be provided with an antislip part.
In the present invention, at least one air vent groove may be formed on the outer circumferential surface of the sidewall of the container, so no vacuum is formed in the surface contact junction between the container and the cosmetic case, and it is easy to set or remove the container into or from the cosmetic case.
In the present invention, the cosmetic capsule container may further include: at least one support rib provided on an upper surface of the bottom of the container so as to prevent the porous pad from exceedingly sagging in the receiving chamber.
In the present invention, the cosmetic capsule container may further include: at least one reinforcing rib provided on an inner circumferential surface of the sidewall of the container at a location inside the lower boundary part of the sidewall so as to prevent the lower boundary part of the sidewall from moving upward during a rising movement of the expandable part.
According to the present invention, it is possible to produce a cosmetic capsule container having a one-piece structure by a simple process, and to efficiently impregnate a porous pad with a liquid cosmetic composition by virtue of a specific structure of the cosmetic capsule container, and to allow the porous pad to be naturally impregnated with the liquid cosmetic composition during the distribution of the cosmetic capsule container with the receiving chamber sealed at the upper end thereof by a sealing member, so the present invention can easily and efficiently produce the cosmetic product having the porous pad impregnated with the liquid cosmetic composition by the simple process, and can remarkably reduce the production cost of cosmetic products, thereby providing cosmetic products to consumers at reasonable low prices and realizing high competitiveness of the cosmetic products.
Further, when the cosmetic capsule container is set in an empty cosmetic case, the bottom of the cosmetic capsule container which has been expanded downward by virtue of an expandable part is contracted and naturally raised up, so the porous pad received in the receiving chamber of the container rises to an upper end of the receiving chamber and, at the same time, the liquid cosmetic composition contained in the receiving chamber is compressed again, thereby being evenly impregnated into the porous pad and allowing a user to easily apply make-up using the liquid cosmetic composition impregnated in the porous pad.
Further, the cosmetic capsule container of the present invention is provided with an ejection grip, so the cosmetic capsule container can be easily removed from a cosmetic case having no ejection hole, and a user is allowed to efficiently use the cosmetic capsule container with the cosmetic case having no ejection hole.
Further, according to the present invention, an air vent groove is formed on the outer circumferential surface of a sidewall of the cosmetic capsule container, so the cosmetic capsule container can be easily and quickly set in or removed from the cosmetic case.
The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinbelow, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, a cosmetic capsule container 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The cosmetic capsule container 100 includes a receiving chamber 110 in which a porous pad 120 and a liquid cosmetic composition 130 are set and charged. The receiving chamber 110 is configured to have enough surplus space P in consideration of the size of the porous pad and the amount of liquid cosmetic composition which will be set and charged in the chamber 110. Here, the shape of the receiving chamber 110 may be designed to have various shapes, such as a circular shape, an elliptical shape or etc., according to the shape of the porous pad 120 that will be set in the receiving chamber 110.
The receiving chamber 110 is defined by a sidewall 112 and a bottom 114 of the container 100, and the top of the receiving chamber 110 is open upward. Further, to prevent the porous pad from being removed from the receiving chamber when the porous pad is being raised up, a stop rim 113a is formed along the inner edge of an upper end 113 of the sidewall 112.
Further, to realize a firm setting of the cosmetic capsule container 100 in an empty cosmetic case 10, a locking part 116 is provided on an upper portion of the outer circumferential surface of the sidewall 112. Further, a portion extending from a lower boundary part 112a of the sidewall 112 to the bottom 114 is formed by an expandable part 118 that can allow flexible rising and lowering of the bottom 114 relative to the sidewall 112 when the bottom 114 contracts and expands.
According to the present invention, it is preferred that the bottom 114 is configured such that the bottom 114 can expand downward from the lower boundary part 112a of the sidewall 112 by a predetermined height H due to the expandable part 118. When the cosmetic capsule container 100 is set in the cosmetic case 10, the expanded bottom 114 rises upward by the height H until the bottom 114 is level with the lower boundary part 112a, so the central portion of the porous pad 120 which has sagged into the expanded bottom is moved upward.
Further, due to the expandable part 118, the surplus space P in which the liquid cosmetic composition may be charged can be formed in the lower part of the receiving chamber 110 by the height H. Accordingly, when the liquid cosmetic composition 130 is put into the receiving chamber 110 using a charging device (not shown) through a charging hole 122 of the porous pad 120 after the porous pad 120 is set in the receiving chamber 110 as shown in
According to the present invention, the expandable part 118 may be configured as a thin film bellows-shaped part, so the expansion and contraction of the bottom 114 can be easily and efficiently performed.
Of course, the expandable part 118 of the present invention may be configured as one of a variety of shapes that can be easily and efficiently expanded and contracted, in addition to the bellows shape.
As an example, the expandable part may be formed by providing a flexible thin film sheet 118a extending between the lower boundary part 112a of the sidewall 112 and the bottom 114, so the bottom 114 can be easily expanded and contracted, as shown in
In the present invention, to allow a user to easily remove a sealing member 150 from the cosmetic capsule container 100, a tearing step 113b may be formed along the outer edge of the upper end 113 of the sidewall 112 of the container 100, as shown in
According to the present invention, the locking part 116 may be configured in the form of a locking protrusion 116a or a locking groove 116b, as shown in
In the present invention, it is preferred that an ejection grip 140 is provided on the upper end 113 of the receiving chamber 110 of the cosmetic capsule container 100, so, when the cosmetic capsule container 100 is set in a cosmetic case 10 having no ejection hole as shown in
Here, it is preferred that the ejection grip 140 is integrally formed with the cosmetic capsule container 100 during a process of producing the container 100 and is configured such that a free end of the ejection grip 140 opposed to an end at which the ejection grip 140 is connected to the upper end 113 of the sidewall 112 has elasticity. The advantage of the ejection grip 140 having the elastic free end resides in that, when the upper end 113 of the sidewall 112 of the cosmetic capsule container 100 is sealed by the sealing member 150 after the porous pad and the liquid cosmetic composition are set and charged in the receiving chamber 110 of the cosmetic capsule container 100, the elastic free end of the ejection grip 140 is compressed downward, and when the sealing member 150 is removed from the cosmetic capsule container 100, the compressed free end of the ejection grip 140 elastically restores an original raised position, so that the ejection grip 140 can easily be held by a user's fingers.
As shown in the enlarged view of
Further, according to the present invention, it is preferred that at least one air vent groove 160 is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the sidewall 112 of the cosmetic capsule container 100 so that, when the cosmetic capsule container 100 is set in the cosmetic case 10, the junction between the cosmetic capsule container 100 and the cosmetic case 10 is free from a vacuum that may be formed in the junction by a close surface contact between the container 100 and the cosmetic case 10, thereby allowing a user to easily set and remove the cosmetic capsule container 100 into and from the cosmetic case 10.
Here, the air vent groove 160 is formed by paying attention to a problem that may be caused when the cosmetic capsule container 100 is closely set in a cosmetic case having no ejection hole and in that a vacuum may be formed in the surface contact junction between the cosmetic capsule container 100 and the cosmetic case, so it is not easy to set or remove the container 100 into or from the cosmetic case.
To more efficiently realize the function of the air vent groove 160, it is preferred that the air vent groove 160 is designed to extend over the expandable part 118, as shown in
Further, in the present invention, to prevent the porous pad 120 from exceedingly sagging in the receiving chamber 110, it is preferred that at least one support rib 170 is provided on the upper surface of the bottom 114 of the cosmetic capsule container 100, as shown in
Further, in the present invention, it is preferred that, to prevent the lower boundary part 112a of the sidewall 112 from moving upward during a rising movement of the expandable part 118, at least one reinforcing rib 180 is formed on the inner circumferential surface of the sidewall 112 of the cosmetic capsule container 100 at a location inside the lower boundary part 112a, as shown in
According to the present invention, the cosmetic capsule container 100 may be formed as a transparent body or an opaque body in various colors by an injection molding process or a blowing process. In addition, when considering the function of the expandable part 118 that realizes an efficient rising movement of the bottom 114 relative to the sidewall 112, the expandable part 118 may be made of a variety of materials, such as a plastic material, typically used in the cosmetic industrial field without being limited to specific materials.
Further, the material of the porous pad 120 may not be limited to specific materials if the material of the pad 120 has properties that can allow the pad 120 to be efficiently impregnated with the liquid cosmetic composition 130 at a high impregnation rate. For example, the pad 120 is preferably made of a porous material that has high air permeability, high elasticity and high flexibility. It is more preferred that the pad 120 is made of a porous material that has softness in addition to the above-mentioned properties. When the porous pad 120 is made of a material having high air permeability and high flexibility, the liquid cosmetic composition 130 can easily and quickly permeate into the porous pad 120, so the porous pad 120 can be quickly and efficiently impregnated with the liquid cosmetic composition 130 at a high impregnation rate. Further, when the porous pad 120 is made of a material having high elasticity, the original shape of the porous pad 120 may be elastically maintained regardless of repeated use of the cosmetic composition, thereby realizing improved usability of cosmetic products. As examples of good materials of the porous pad 120, a so-called sponge may be used most preferably since it has the best properties; however, nonwoven fabric, cotton and urethane foam having high moisture absorption may be additionally used.
Further, the material of the sealing member 150 that seals the upper end 113 of the cosmetic capsule container 100 may be selected from a synthetic resin film and an aluminum foil. The sealing member 150 that seals the cosmetic capsule container 100 can prevent a leakage of the liquid cosmetic composition 130 from the cosmetic capsule container 100 during a distribution of the cosmetic capsule container 100. The sealing member 150 may be attached to the upper end 113 of the container 100 in two types, in which the sealing member 150 cannot be reused to seal the container 100 again once the sealing member 150 is broken to open the container 100 or can be reused repeatedly to seal the container 100 after being opened. The reusable type sealing member 150 may be attached to the container 100 using a double-sided tape.
As shown in
When the cosmetic capsule container 100 of this invention is pressed and forcibly set in an empty cosmetic case 10 as shown in
Due to the stop rim 113a, the porous pad 120 can be prevented from being undesirably removed from the container 100, so a user can efficiently use the porous pad 120 impregnated with the composition 130. Further, in this case, the upper surface of the raised pad 120 is almost level with the upper end of the receiving chamber 110, so, after removing the sealing member 150 from the container 100, the user can easily apply make-up using the liquid cosmetic composition 130 impregnated in the porous pad 120 by applying a make-up device, such as a puff or a make-up brush, onto the pad 120 such that the make-up device can be covered with the liquid cosmetic composition 130 of the pad 120.
When some composition 130 remains in the container 100 after finishing the make-up using the composition 130 charged in the porous pad 120, the receiving chamber 110 of the container 100 may be sealed again by attaching the sealing member 150 to the upper end 113 of the container 100. However, when the liquid cosmetic composition 130 is completely used and the cosmetic capsule container 100 is emptied, the container 100 is removed from the cosmetic case 10, and a new one is set into the cosmetic case 10. Here, even when the cosmetic case 10 has no ejection hole in the bottom thereof, the empty cosmetic capsule container 100 can be easily removed from the cosmetic case 10 by holding the ejection grip 130 with fingers. Here, the ejection grip 130 has been elastically raised up by removing the sealing member 150 from the container 100.
When the cosmetic capsule container 100 is completely set in the cosmetic case 10, the locking part 116 formed on the outer circumferential surface of the sidewall 112 of the container 100 can be firmly engaged with the corresponding locking part that is formed in the cosmetic case 10 (see
Further, even when closely setting or removing the cosmetic capsule container 100 into or from the cosmetic case 10, it is easy to set or remove the container 100 into or from the cosmetic case 10 because air can freely flow through the air vent groove 160 that is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the sidewall 112 of the container 100 and no vacuum is formed in the surface contact junction between the container 100 and the cosmetic case 10.
Further, in the present invention, the support ribs 170 are formed on the upper surface of the bottom of the receiving chamber 110 of the cosmetic capsule container 100, so the porous pad 120 impregnated with the liquid cosmetic composition 130 can be stably held on the support ribs 170 in a balanced position without exceedingly sagging. In addition, when the bottom 114 has been fully raised upward, the support ribs 170 can further press the porous pad 120 upward, so the liquid cosmetic composition 130 can be evenly compressed and can be further efficiently impregnated in the porous pad 120. Further, even when applying a make-up device onto the raised porous pad 120 so as to cover the make-up device with the liquid cosmetic composition 130, the raised pad 120 can be prevented from sagging downward. Accordingly, a user can easily apply make-up by using the make-up device covered with the liquid cosmetic composition 130 of the pad 120.
Further, in the cosmetic capsule container 100 of the present invention, the reinforcing ribs 180 are formed on the inner circumferential surface of the sidewall 112 of the cosmetic capsule container 100 at respective locations inside the lower boundary part 112a, so the lower boundary part 112a of the sidewall 112 can be prevented from moving upward during a rising movement of the expandable part 118 of the bottom 114 relative to the sidewall 112. Therefore, the porous pad 120 that is set in the receiving chamber 110 can be more efficiently raised up.
In the above description, although the cosmetic capsule container 100 according to the present invention has been described as it is embodied as a refill cosmetic product that will be used as being set in a cosmetic case, it should be understood that the container 100 may be used independently from a cosmetic case.
As described above, the cosmetic capsule container according to the present invention is configured such that a liquid cosmetic composition may be charged in the container after a porous pad is set in the container, so the present invention can easily and quickly produce a cosmetic product having the porous pad is impregnated with the liquid cosmetic composition after being set in the container. Further, when the container is set in a cosmetic case, the bottom of the container having the expandable part is raised up and the central portion of the porous pad is also raised up to the upper end of the cosmetic capsule container, so a user can easily apply make-up using the liquid cosmetic composition impregnated in the pad.
Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
