The present invention relates to a hair applicator for applying a hair cosmetic such as a hair dye, which is attached to a container body to apply an application liquid (hair dye, hair styling agent, hair restorer, etc.) stored in the container, to hair (hair including humans and other pet animals) while combing the hair.
Conventionally, there has been known hair applicators for dyeing hair by leading a hair dye or the like contained in a container between the comb elements of a comb attached to the container and combing the hair with the comb.
As to such hair applicators, the following Patent Documents 1 to 4 disclose hair applicators which have a structure including a combing body joined with an applying part of a porous material such as a sponge to apply and infiltrate the application liquid to the hair while combing with the combing body.
However, Patent Documents 1 to 4 have the following problems.
First, in the hair applicator described in Patent Document 1, in order to fix an applying part, the applying part is pressed and fitted into a combing body. However, in this method, when a soft felt is used as the applying part, the applying part is easily displaced due to a dropped impact. On the other hand, use of a hard applying part can increase the fixing strength but lowers the porosity to narrow the fluid passage, so that it becomes impossible to secure a sufficient coating amount.
In the hair applicators of Patent Documents 2 and 3, the combing body is fixed by provision of a bridge to prevent the porous applying part from falling off. However, in this hair applicator, since the spacing between the comb elements is wide, the tips of the comb elements easily sink into the skin, so that the applying part easily touches and stains the skin. If a large clearance is secured between the combing body and the applying part in order to prevent the skin from being stained, there occurs a problem that the strength of contact of the applying part against the hair is weakened, so that the coating amount decreases.
Further, in the hair applicator disclosed in Patent Document 4, a non-infiltration member is integrally molded around the applying part (cosmetic penetrating member) to prevent the skin from being stained due to displacement of the applying part. However, the molding method is limited to extrusion molding, so that the manufacturing method and configuration lose flexibility. In addition, this method is easily expected to raise the costs required for, for example, the integral molding of the non-infiltration member and the grinding process after the integral molding.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 11 No. 169224
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-087068
[Patent Document 3]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-104482
[Patent Document 4]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-260137
The present invention has been devised in view of the above circumstances, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hair applicator which can fix an applying part to a comb with a sufficient fixing strength to prevent the applying part from being displaced even by an impact from a fall and also can dispense a sufficient coating amount.
The present invention resides in a hair applicator comprising: an applying part made of a porous material; and a comb having a plurality of comb elements provided with the applying part, to thereby apply a hair dye from a container through the applying part to the hair while combing hair with the comb, and is characterized in that the coating amount by the applying part is 0.090 g/m or greater (porosity is 80% or higher) and the hardness (ISO7619A) of the applying part is less than A70.
According to the hair applicator of the present invention, the applying part can be secured to the comb with a sufficient securing strength, so that it possible to prevent the applying part from being displaced even by an impact from a fall and obtain a sufficient coating amount.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
Detailedly, as shown in
[Front Barrel 14]
As shown in
The applying part 10 is arranged inside the comb 12 of the front barrel 14. The rear end of applying part 10 is inserted into the front portion of the absorbent fabric 20, so that the hair dye of the absorbent fabric 20 permeates the applying part 10.
As shown in
The recess 14i of the front barrel 14 mates with the locking rib 22a to prevent the front barrel 14 from rotating with respect to the rear barrel 22.
As shown in
The rear barrel 22 has an annular projected portion 22b on the inner surface in the front part thereof.
When the rear part of the front barrel 14 is pushed rearward into the front opening of the rear barrel 22 until the flange 14c abuts the rear barrel 22, the projected portion 22b inside the rear barrel 22 is engaged with the rib 14d so that the rear barrel 22 will not come off (fall out) from the front barrel 14.
In addition, projected portions 14e are formed inside the front end part 14a of the front barrel 14 to catch a step portion 10c of the applying part.
[Applying Part 10]
The applying part 10 is formed of a porous material, which dispenses a coating amount of 0.090 g/m or greater (porosity of 80% or higher) and has a hardness (ISO7619A) of less than A70.
Specifically, as shown in
The applying part 10 uses felt as the porous material in the embodiment. The dimensions of the applying part 10 are such that the thickness t is about 7 to 2 (mm), the width W1 of the front portion 10a is wider than the width W2 of the rear part 10b (W1>W2), and a step 10c is formed at the boundary between the front portion 10a and the rear portion 10b. The width W1 can be 15 to 10 (mm) and the width W2 can be 13 to 8 (mm). Further, the length of the front portion 10a can be 15 to 10 (mm) and the length of the rear portion 10b can be 13 to 8 (mm). The rear endface of the rear portion 10b contacts the absorbent fabric 20, but can be made flat.
As shown in
[Comb 12]
In the comb 12, as shown in
The front end part 14a has a rectangular opening, and holds the applying part 10 therein. The front end part 14a is configured such that the applying part 10 is held by the comb 12 on the front side with the tips of the comb elements 12a project forward beyond the front end of the applying part 10.
In the comb 12, as shown in
Therefore, even if the applying part 10 is made of a felt or the like that is softer than the applying part that is press-fitted in the conventional front barrel (Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 4), the applying part 10 is positioned and fixed on the front side by the beams 12b, and on the rear side by the projected portions 14e, so that the applying part 10 will not be displaced.
As described later, in the first embodiment, as shown in
As to the applying part 10, the higher the porosity, the greater the coating amount. When the coating amount is 0.090 g/m or greater (porosity of 80% or higher) while the hardness (ISO7619A) of the applying part 10 is less than A70, the hardness is sufficient, so that it is possible to prevent the applying part from coming off from the front end part 14a of the front barrel 14.
Therefore, according to the hair applicator according to the first embodiment, the applying part can be fixed to the comb elements with a sufficient fixing force, and prevented from being displaced even by an impact from a fall while an ample coating amount can be secured.
Yet, since the hardness of the applying part 10 may degrade when the porosity is increased, the beams 12b are provided between the comb elements 12a of the front end part 14a, as described above. As shown in detail in
(Hair Bundle Application Test)
With the hair applicator according to the embodiment, an evaluation test was performed on the applying part 10 that was specified so that the coating amount was 0.090 g/m or greater (porosity is 80% or higher) and the hardness (ISO7619A) of the applying part 10 was less than A70.
The felt cores for the evaluated applying parts are as shown in Table 1 below.
In Table 1, the applying parts of Examples 1 and 2 of the present invention were felt cores, and the coating amount was 0.115 (g) in Example 1 and 0.104 (g) in Example 2.
The applying parts of Comparative Examples 1 and 2 were felt cores, and the coating amount was 0.079 (g) in Comparative Example 1 and 0.069 (g) in Comparative Example 2.
The porosity of each of Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2 is an actual measurement value, which was obtained as the volume converted from the full filling weight of ethanol.
The hardness is also an actual measurement value, which was obtained by using a rubber hardness meter (conforming to ISO7619A).
The investigation of the amount of liquid applied in Examples 1 and 2 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2 was based on the measurement of the applied material by the following hair bundle application test.
The object to be coated:
Application speed: 10 cm/sec (second)
Preparation for application test: put a sponge in zipper bag on wall.
Application test procedures:
The results obtained by repeating (1) to (5) ten times are shown in Table 1.
As shown in Table 1, each coating amount was 0.115 (g) in Example 1 and 0.104 (g) in Example 2, whereas the coating amount was 0.079 (g) in Comparative Example 1, and coating amount of Comparative Example 2 was 0.069 (g). The applicators of Examples 1 and 2 have a coating amount of 10 to 12 times or more that of the applicators of Comparative Examples 1 and 2. Thus, according to the present invention, it has become clear that a markedly sufficient amount of coating (approximately an order of magnitude greater) can be applied to the hair.
Next, measures against skin stains in the hair applicator of the first embodiment will be described.
In
Because the comb 12 of the front barrel 14 has its front end located ahead of the applying part, if the front end of the comb 12 is formed flat as in the comparative example shown in
More specifically, the cosmetic (application liquid) applied to the hair transfers to the flat top surface of the comb 12 and the top surface touches the skin so that the hair cosmetic is transferred to adhere to and stain the skin.
To deal with this, in the variational example 1 shown in
Another countermeasure against staining will be described with reference to
In
In the hair applicator according to the first embodiment, the cosmetic is more likely to adhere to the skin than in the conventional product. That is, as the comb elements 12a of the comb 12 are reduced in number, the contact area is reduced, hence it became easier to sink into the skin, and the applying part 10 easily comes into direct contact with the skin.
To deal with this, though the comb 12 in the comparative example shown in
In addition, as shown in detail in
The step height of the hollow 12b1 in the preferred comb 12 was found to be 0.5 to 0.9 mm.
Next, a hair applicator according to a second embodiment will be described.
Corresponding to the formation and arrangement of the comb elements 12a with respect to the center axis of the front barrel 14, the applying part 10 is slanted forming a front part 10a of the facet inclined at the angle θ with respect to the center axis (indicated by the symbol “C” in
As to the other parts, the same components as those in the first embodiment are allotted with the same reference numerals.
According to the second embodiment, since the arrangement of the comb elements 12a of the comb 12 is slanted, the applicator can be obliquely applied to the hair unlike the first embodiment in which the applicator is applied vertically. It is hence suitable for application to the hairline and the like. Others are the same as in the first embodiment.
Next, a hair applicator according to a third embodiment will be described.
As shown in
The hair applicator also has a cap 16 that covers the applying part 10 and the comb 12, as shown in
Detailedly, as shown in
A rib 14g for stopping the rotation of the front barrel 14 relative to the rear barrel 22 is projectively formed on the rear side of the flange 14c. The projection 14f and the rib 14g are formed at the same position with respect to the circumferential direction of the front barrel 14. The rib 14g is formed as a projection on the inner surface of the front barrel so as to be engageable with a recess 22d to prevent the rear barrel 22 from rotating (see
As shown in
As shown in
According to the third embodiment, the projections 16c and 14f are formed on the cap 16 and the front barrel 14, respectively. Therefore, when the cap 16 is screw-fitted to the front barrel 14, the projections 16c ride over the projections 14f to create a clicking sensation when riding over.
The user can make sure from the click feeling that the cap 16 and the front barrel 14 have been fitted when the cap 16 is closed. Also, once the projections 16c and 14f ride over, the projections again need to ride over each other when turning in the removal direction, so that unintentional removal can be prevented.
Since the air replacement groove 14h is provided on the inner surface of the comb 12, air-liquid replacement can be smoothly performed in the applying part 10 and others. Thus, the air displacement from the applying part can be ensured, so that it is possible to prevent a supply shortage at the time of application.
In addition, the tail plug 18 abuts the inner surface 22c (bottom surface) at the rear end of the rear barrel 22, to reliably prevent the tail plug 18 from falling off inside the rear barrel 22, thereby making it possible to prevent the absorbent fabric 20 from falling from the applying part 10.
The hair applicator of the present invention can be used not only for human hair but also for animals.
10 applying part
12 comb
12
a comb element
12
b beam
12
b
1 hollow
14 front barrel
14
a front end part
14
b male thread
14
c flange
14
d rib
14
e projected portion
14
f projection
14
h groove
16 cap
16
b thread
16
c projection
20 absorbent fabric
22 rear barrel
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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JP2017-206103 | Oct 2017 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2018/039566 | 10/24/2018 | WO |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2019/082944 | 5/2/2019 | WO | A |
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20080060665 | Umeno | Mar 2008 | A1 |
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20080149133 | Fleischer et al. | Jun 2008 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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0734301973 | Mar 1975 | JP |
H05-104894 | Apr 1993 | JP |
H07-223396 | Aug 1995 | JP |
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2016-87068 | May 2016 | JP |
2017-104482 | Jun 2017 | JP |
2006006378 | Jan 2006 | WO |
Entry |
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English translation of the Japanese Patent No. 2016077686 A (Sep. 15, 2022). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20200260830 A1 | Aug 2020 | US |