BACKGROUND
1. Field
The disclosure of the present patent application relates to nail polish removal, and particularly to a kit for minimizing skin exposure to solvent when removing nail polish from finger and toe nails.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional methods of removing nail polish are generally messy and often expose the skin to excessive amounts of the nail polish remover. A strong solvent, e.g., acetone, is generally used as a nail polish remover to dissolve the hardened film left on the nails by the ingredients in nail polish. The nail polish remover is typically dispensed from a bottle onto a sponge or pad which then can be used to wipe the nails. This process, often results in spillage or splashing of the nail polish remover solution onto the user's fingertips, skin, and/or clothes, or other inadvertent exposure of the skin to the solution. For example, while removing nail polish on the toenails, a user may ruin nail polish already applied to the fingers by splashing or spilling solvent, or by merely holding a sponge or pad saturated in solvent. Also, such methods often require resorting to a nail file or other tool to scrape the last traces of nail polish from the edges of the nails.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a product that can remove nail polish from the nails that minimizes the user's exposure to the nail polish remover solution. Thus, a nail polish remover kit solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
SUMMARY
A nail polish removal kit includes a bottle, a removable lid on the bottle, a wand extending from the lid into the bottle, and one or more flexible daubers. The bottle has an upper portion having a first diameter, a lower portion having a second diameter that is larger than the first diameter, and a neck portion between the upper portion and the lower portion. The lower portion is configured to hold a volume of nail polish remover solution. The neck portion has a diameter that is less than the diameter of the upper portion and the diameter of the lower portion. A tubular passageway with a constant diameter is provided within the neck portion. The wand has a free end with an opening extending therethrough.
A user can insert one of the daubers within the opening of the wand and use the wand to immerse the dauber in the nail polish remover in the lower portion. After immersing the dauber in the nail polish remover, the user can lift the wand and, thereby, force the dauber through the passageway to squeeze out excess solvent retained therein. In this manner, the user can apply the nail polish remover to the nails without handling the dauber directly and with minimal risk of exposing the skin to the nail polish remover. In addition, the user will avoid accidental spills and splashing since nail polish remover will not need to be poured out of the container.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the nail polish removal kit showing the wand and dauber extending into the lower reservoir portion of the bottle.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the nail polish removal kit showing the dauber being pulled through the neck portion of the bottle by the wand.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the first embodiment of the nail polish removal kit showing the wand and dauber extending into the upper containment portion of the bottle.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of the nail polish removal kit showing the dauber being pulled through the neck portion of the bottle by the wand.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a kit for nail polish removal with detached wand.
FIGS. 6A-6D show different embodiments of the wand.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a lid with attached wand.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a lid having an upper compartment with an attached wand.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
An embodiment of the nail polish removal kit 100 is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the nail polish removal kit 100 can include a bottle 5, a removable lid 12 on the bottle, a wand 14 extending from the lid 12 into the bottle 5, and one or more flexible daubers 16. The bottle 5 has a generally hourglass shape with an upper, open end and an opposing lower, closed end. The bottle 5 has an upper portion 10c having a first diameter, a lower portion 10a having a second diameter that is larger than the first diameter, and a neck portion 10b between the upper portion 10c and the lower portion 10a. The neck portion 10b has a third diameter that is less than the first diameter and the second diameter. A tubular passageway 18 with a constant diameter is provided within the neck portion 10b. The wand 14 can have a free end 13 with an opening extending therethrough. One of the daubers 16 can be supported within the opening at the free end 13 of the wand 14. The lower portion 10a houses nail polish remover solution 11. While lid 12 is in the closed position over the bottle 5, the dauber 16 supported by the wand 14 is immersed in the nail polish remover solution 11. The remaining daubers 16 can be stored in the upper portion 10c. Preferably, the daubers include a compressible absorbent, e.g., a foam or a sponge material.
The passageway 18 of the neck portion 10b is narrower than a length and/or width of the dauber 16. To attach the dauber 16 to the wand 14, a first end of the dauber 16 is compressed and threaded through the hole in the scraper 22 (as best seen in FIG. 7) until the wand 14 is in the center of the dauber 16. When the wand 14 is lowered into or lifted out of the lower portion 10a, the dauber 16 is folded and/or compressed to pass through the passageway 18. For example, once the dauber 16 absorbs the nail polish remover 11 in the lower portion 10a, the dauber 16 is compressed in the passageway 18 to squeeze out excess solvent. The size of the passageway 18 is configured to remove enough solvent from the dauber 16 so that solvent is not dripping from the dauber 16 once the dauber 16 has passed through the neck portion 10b but enough solvent is retained for removing nail polish. Accordingly, the size and diameter of the passageway 18 of the neck portion 10b and size of the dauber 16 may be optimized for the desired solvent retention of the dauber 16. For example, an increase in length of the passageway 18 and/or a decrease in the diameter of the passageway 18 will increase the amount of solvent removed from the dauber.
A wall thickness of the bottle 5 may vary. As seen in FIG. 4, and also FIGS. 1-3, a wall thickness of the neck portion 10b can be greater than wall thicknesses of the upper and lower bottle portions. In some embodiments, the thickness of wall in the neck portion 10b may be in the range of 1.5 to 10 times greater than the thickness of the bottle 5 wall in the other portions 10a, 10c. The thickness of the wall at ends of the neck portion 10b may be thicker than the thickness of the wall in the center of the neck portion 10b to provide a constant diameter passageway 18, while maintaining the outer hourglass shape of the bottle 5. In this way, the passageway 18 can be generally tubular, having a constant diameter, while a corresponding portion of the outer surface of the bottle 5 can be generally curved. As seen in FIG. 4, the constant diameter cylindrical passageway 18 may gradually taper out at its ends to match the outer wall curves of the adjacent lower and upper portions 10a, 10c. The gradual taper will allow the dauber 16 to pass into and out of the neck portion 10b more smoothly and without risking damage to the walls of the bottle 5.
FIGS. 1-3 show the process of removing the dauber 16 from the bottle 5. In FIG. 1, when the dauber 16 (supported by the wand 14) is lowered into the lower reservoir portion 10a, the dauber 16 is submerged in the solvent and absorbs the solvent. When the dauber 16 is initially lifted from the solvent, it is saturated with solvent. This fully saturated state is undesirable for the user because solvent will drip out of the dauber 16 and end up in undesirable locations such as on the user's skin or clothes. In addition, a fully saturated dauber 16 will hold much more solvent than is necessary to remove the nail polish. Thus, as shown in FIG. 2, as the dauber 16 moves through the passageway 18, the ends of the dauber are folded and the dauber 16 is compressed to release excess solvent from the dauber 16 back into the reservoir portion 10a. When the dauber 16 is removed from the neck portion 10b, additional solvent droplets can be released from the dauber 16 as the dauber 16 unfolds to its expanded, original state. As such, the upper containment portion 10c of the bottle 5 is configured to allow the dauber 16 to fully expand therein so that these additional solvent droplets can be retained within the bottle rather than escaping out of the bottle (FIG. 3). By allowing the dauber 16 to fully expand within the upper containment portion 10c, splatter or droplets released from the dauber 16 rebounding to its expanded configuration will be contained by the bottle 5 walls. The upper containment portion 10c can also be used to store additional daubers for later use (see FIG. 5), as the passageway 18 of the central compression portion 10b is too small for the daubers to fall there-through.
FIG. 5 shows an alternate embodiment of the nail polish removal kit 200 in a storage state. As seen in FIG. 5, the lid 12 is tightly screwed onto the bottle 5 to create an air and liquid tight seal. In this embodiment, the wand 15 is not attached to the lid 12. The lower end of the wand 15 rests on the bottom end of the bottle 5 while the handle rests near the upper opening for easy access by a user. Extra daubers 16 are stored in the upper containment portion 10c, allowing for multiple polish removals without the need for additional items.
Exemplary configurations of the free wand are depicted in FIGS. 6A-D. FIG. 6A shows the free wand 15 having a shaft 20a and a round or donut-shaped lower end 22a with an opening for receiving a dauber 16 therethrough. FIG. 6B shows the free wand 15 having a disk shaped handle 21b at one end and a scraper 22b with a straight edge at another end. The edge of the scraper 22b can be used for scraping off nail polish that may be difficult to remove with the dauber 16 alone. The scraper 22b can include a hole for holding the dauber 16. The free wand 15 depicted in FIG. 6C has a T shaped handle 21c and a diamond shaped hole in the scraper 22c. The diamond shaped hole may prevent axial rotation of a dauber 16 having a diamond or square cross section. FIG. 61) shows the free wand 15 having a J-shaped handle 21d. Various alternative combinations of handle and donut-shaped or scraper ends are also contemplated.
The attached wand 14, described previously, may also include the donut-shaped or scraper ends. FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a lid 12 with attached wand 14. The wand 14 includes a scraper lower end and a hole extending therethrough. The inner rim of the lid 12 is threaded for a threaded connection with the upper opening of the bottle 5. The lower surface of the top of the lid 12 may include an O-ring or sealing gasket to create an air and liquid tight seal between the upper rim of the bottle 5 and the lid 12.
FIG. 8 shows an alternative embodiment of a lid 30 with attached wand 14. In this embodiment, the lid 30 includes an upper removable cap 32 and an upper compartment for holding additional accessories, such as extra daubers 16. Since an air and liquid tight seal is not necessary between the cap 32 and the lid 30, snap on or threaded connections may be used to attach the cap 32 to the lid 30. The upper compartment also provides a storage area that is not exposed to solvent, unlike the upper containment portion of the container. As shown in FIG. 8, the dauber 16 is threaded through the hole in the wand 14.
The lower reservoir 10a can have a capacity ranging from about 6 ounces to about 16 ounces. A ratio of the dauber 16 width to the width of the passageway 18 may be in the range of 0.75:1 through 3:1. In embodiments where the width of the dauber 16 is less than or equal to the width of the passageway 18 but the length of the dauber 16 is greater than the width of the passage way, the dauber 16 can still be compressed when pulled through the passageway 18 because the two ends of the dauber 16 will be folded down by the walls of the passageway 18. A ratio of the inner width of the upper containment portion 10c to the length of the dauber 16 may be 1:1 to 1:2. A ratio of the width of the upper containment portion 10c to a width of the lower reservoir 10a may be in the range of 1:1.5 to 1:2.5. The ratio can be selected based on solvent capacity, which will increase or decrease with a width of the lower reservoir portion 10a, and storage capacity which will increase or decrease with a width of the upper containment portion 10c. The aforementioned ratios are merely examples and are not intended to be limiting.
An embodiment may include the following dimensions: a width of the dauber 16 may be ⅞ of an inch, a length of the dauber 16 may be 1 inch, a width of the passageway 18 in the neck portion 10b may be ½ of an inch, the length of the passageway 18 in the neck portion 10b may be ⅝ of an inch, a height of the hole in the wand 14 for receiving the dauber 16 may be 7/16 of an inch, a width of the hole in the wand 14 for receiving the dauber 16 may be 3/16 of an inch, a width of the scraper at the end of the wand 14 may be 6/16 of an inch, a diameter of the upper opening in the bottle 5 may be 1 and 10/16 of an inch, a height of the upper containment portion 10c may be 1 inch, and a diameter of the base of the bottle 5 may be 3 inches.
The dauber 16 may be made out of any resilient material that can absorb and redistribute solvent. For example, the dauber 16 may be a conventional sponge made out of polyester. The dauber 16 may be shaped as a cylinder, a triangular prism, or a rectangular prism. The bottle 5, lid 12, and wand 14 may be made out of a polymer, such as high density polyethylene, a metal, such as aluminum, glass, ceramic, or combinations thereof.
The solvent held within the bottle 5 may be acetone, ethyl acetate, isopropyl alcohol, or propylene carbonate. Other liquids known in the art for removal of nail polish or softening of cuticles, such as oils and emulsions, may also be used in the kit.
It is to be understood that the present subject matter is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the generic language of the following claims enabled by the embodiments described herein, or otherwise shown in the drawings or described above in terms sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the claimed subject matter.
Patent Application
20190216200
