Patent Application
20090078278
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This improved manicuring device as set forth in this disclosure relates to an improvement in manicuring devices, and more particularly to an improved nipper which functions not only as a trimmer, but as a cuticle pusher, a nail cleaner, and an applicator for applying various patterns on fingernails such as, but not limited to, flower patterns, dots, hearts, raindrops, and the like.
The fingernail is an important skin appendage. It covers the dorsal surface of the terminal phalanges; i.e., the most distal bones of each finger and toe. Fingernails serve to protect the tips of the fingers and to assist in picking up small objects. They may be decorated or plain.
Fingernails are composed of laminated layers of a protein called keratin, which is also found in one's hair and skin. As a result, fingernails should be kept in good condition and clipped regularly in a rounded or squared shape.
Most of the fingernail is pink because of the underlying vascular tissue. The crescent-shaped half-moon-like white area at the bottom of the fingernail is the lunula. The lunula has a white-ish appearance because the vascular tissue under it does not show through. The lunula is the area in which new nail growth occurs.
The cuticle is just below the lunula and the nail body is above the lunula and is basically pinkish in color. The cuticle is the tissue that overlaps the lunula at the base of the fingernail. It serves as a barrier to keep bacteria from entering one's body and protects the new keratin cells that slowly emerge as the fingernail grows. Consequently, it is best to keep the cuticle where it is; but it also should be regularly groomed.
As the fingernail grows, it will extend beyond the fingertip. The part of the fingernail which extends beyond the fingertip is referred to as the free edge and it also is white-ish in color, or pinkish but not as pink as the nail body.
Basic care of the fingernail generally requires trimming of the free edge, cleaning under the free edge, and trimming of the cuticle. Before the cuticles may be properly trimmed, they first may generally be softened with a specialized cuticle cream, and then they should be slightly pushed back such that old or dead cuticle tissue will gather and then be more easy to cut. After this preliminary preparation, the cuticle is then trimmed carefully with a cuticle nipper.
Nail care devices for the proper trimming/grooming of the fingernail and cuticle generally include a [1] cuticle nipper; [2] a cuticle pusher; and [3] a nail cleaner for cleaning from under the free edge. In essence three separate devices which requires placing one device down to use another. Given the nature of the procedure, a user may have to alternate between pusher and trimmer several times and between cleaner and trimmer several times to ensure proper grooming has been realized.
A cuticle nipper is a scissor-like device with two opposing knife-like blades which, when pressed together, serve to cut and trim the cuticles and dead skin around the nails.
A cuticle pusher should first be used on the cuticle to push back and gather the distal cuticle. Pushers generally tend to be made of wood, plastic, or metal. They may also be used to push, but not cut, the cuticle back for a more even appearance. By pushing the skin back, one also reveals more of the half-moon shape of the lunula.
The nail cleaner is a device having a handle at one end and the cleaner portion at the other end. The cleaner portion can be flat and slightly pointed, may be flat and straight as a screwdriver head, may be flat and curved at the end, or may be pointed and have a rounded ball-like head or a rounded flat head, each of varying sizes, at the end of the distal point.
In any event, the cleaner portion is placed into the underside of the free edge, adjacent to the fingertip, pressed on the underside of the free edge, and translated from one side to the other to scrape and remove dirt and debris from the underside. The process may be repeated as necessary until the underside of the free edge is clean and white-like. The cleaner having the rounded end also may be used to create various patterns and designs on the fingernail [such as, but not limited to, flower patterns, dots, hearts, raindrops, and the like], as desired, when first dipped in a suitable polish, a water-based paint, or other solution before dabbing onto the polished nails.
The device of this present disclosure combines the elements of all these stand-alone prior art devices into a single device to thereby permit the user to be more effective and more efficient in the nail and cuticle trimming and grooming process. The single device eliminates the need to switch back and forth between the multiple devices. All the user needs to do with the device of this present disclosure is to rotate [or flip] it from one desired element to the next desired element.
All these elements in a single device also eliminates the frustration associated with the very possibility of misplacing one prior art device and then searching for it or a suitable replacement while in the middle of a trimming and grooming session. Additionally, with all these eliminates incorporated into a single device renders the cost of manufacture and cost to purchase substantially less than the cost of buying several stand-alone prior art devices.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the improved manicuring device as set forth in this disclosure. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the improved manicuring device. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed improved manicuring device in a different manner or by modifying the improved manicuring device within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the improved manicuring device as set forth in this disclosure may be had by referring to the summary of the improved manicuring device and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the improved manicuring device defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The above-noted problems, among others, are overcome by the improved manicuring device as set forth in this disclosure. Briefly stated, the improved manicuring device contemplates a manicuring nipper having a cutting head with first blade and a second blade and a first handle affixed to the first blade and a second handle affixed to the second blade, each of which are pivotably attached to each other at a pivot connection for opening and closing the cutting head for cutting, and a cuticle pusher at a distal end of either handle and a nail cleaner at a distal end of the other handle.
Either or both handles are of a two-piece construction wherein the cuticle pusher or the nail cleaner or both are removable, inter-changeable, and replaceable with a like-fitting external object preferably with an object suited for nail care.
The foregoing has outlined the more pertinent and important features of the improved manicuring device as set forth in this disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood so the present contributions to the art may be more fully appreciated. Additional features of the improved manicuring device will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the disclosed specific embodiment may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures and methods for carrying out the same purposes of the improved manicuring device as set forth in this disclosure. It also should be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions and methods do not depart from the spirit and scope of the improved manicuring device as set forth in the appended claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the improved manicuring device as set forth in this disclosure, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring now to the drawings in detail and in particular to
A conventional prior-art manicuring nipper is generally not unlike the basic structure of the improved nipper 10 illustrated in
A conventional nipper also may have a biasing member 19 between the two handles 12, 13 exerting outward force on the handles 12, 13 to force the blades 11A, 11B of the cutting head 11 open after each cut has been made. A user typically would use the nipper to cut a person's cuticle and, either before of after such cut, would use another implement [a conventional cuticle pusher, not shown] to push the cuticle 71 downward from the lunula 61 to facilitate the initial cut or follow-on cuts or for greater exposure of the lunula 61. The distal end of a typical cuticle pusher is curved to accommodate the curvilinear nature of one's fingernails.
In a typical manicure the user would also clean the underside of a person's free edge 63 using yet another implement, a flat or rounded nail cleaner [similar to that shown in
The handles 12, 13 of this improved nipper 10 are unique and provide for the ease of use and flexibility of use necessary to eliminate the frustrations associated with using more than one manicuring device when performing a trimming/grooming function on a person's fingernails 60 or cuticles 71 or both.
The present improved nipper 10 is a multi-function nipper 10 having a cuticle pusher 21 integrally connected to a first handle 12 and a free edge cleaner 32 integrally, or removably, connected to the second handle 13. If removably connected, an end section 30A below a middle section of the second handle 13, is removable from the middle section.
As illustrated in
The rounded head 32, whether ball-like or flat, may also function as an applicator to apply a polish, a water-based paint, or other solution by dabbing onto a finished fingernail 60 to create a flower-like or other design on the fingernail 60. The size of the rounded head 32 would vary depending on the pattern, design, and size desired.
Referring to
In instances where one or both handles 12, 13 have removable end sections, such removable end section 30C may be a conventional corresponding threaded connection structure 46 [
The end section 30A of the snap-type fitting illustrated in
It must be understand that the location of the detents 54 and respective mating apertures 55 may be inverted; i.e., detents 54 on the end section 30A and apertures 55 in the recess 52 of the second handle 13. A channel 58 in the recess 52 eases the snapping on or off of the end section 30A with respect to the second handle 13.
It must also be noted and understood that though the removability of end sections related to the second handle 13, the first handle 12 may be structured similarly.
The present disclosure includes that contained in the present claims as well as that of the foregoing description. Although this improved manicuring device has been described in its preferred forms with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred forms has been made only by way of example and numerous changes in the details of construction and combination and arrangement of parts and method steps may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the improved manicuring device as set forth in this disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of the improved manicuring device should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
Applicant has attempted to disclose all the embodiments of the improved manicuring device that could be reasonably foreseen. It must be understood, however, that there may be unforeseeable insubstantial modifications to improved manicuring device as set forth in this disclosure that remain as equivalents and thereby falling within the scope of the improved manicuring device.
