Patent Application
20240389731
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates to artificial nail tip, and more particularly to a utility nail tip to be adhered on the natural nail of a user for specific utility function for professional personnel.
Artists, musicians, renovation workers, painters, potters, makeup artists, chefs, pastry chefs, hairstylists, tailors, and the like are hand crafters who usually use their hands and even finger nails to perform hand works. However, some handheld tools are still required to be picked and held by fingers to assist some specific functions that the fingernails are not shaped or strengthen enough to accomplish.
For example, handheld instruments, such as picks for guitar, lute, zither and etc., and painting knife, pen and trim, are tools for the user to hold with fingers for specific purposes. However, although such handheld tools are held to be adjacent to the fingernails, it is still not as usual and practical as to use the fingernails to execute such purposes, such as oil painting on canvas and playing the stringed instruments. Some professional artists would rather keep long nails and shape the nail for specific functions.
However, to amateur artists who have other daily works, it is a kind of awkward and weird to have fingernail with unusual shape or being too long. Some artists just do not have fingernails hard enough to perform specific functions such as picking and strumming the strings of the music instruments. Users such as oil painters may require to keep changing handheld knives or pens for different painting purposes. It is troublesome and not effective. It is a long felt need for artists and professionals to be able to use their bare hands to perform their talents and artworks without holding a handheld tool.
The invention is advantageous in that it provides a utility nail tip configured to be detachably attached on natural nail of a user to perform one or more specific utility functions for the user, such that the user may use the utility portion of the function nail tip as a tool to perform the desired utility function.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a utility nail tip which comprises a nail portion configured to be detachably attached on a user's natural nail and a utility portion configured to be used to perform one or more specific utility functions.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a utility nail tip configured to be detachably attached on a user's natural nail, wherein the user may use the utility nail tip to function as a pick for playing guitar, lute, zither or the like.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a utility nail tip configured to be detachably attached on a user's natural nail, wherein the user may use the utility nail tip to function as a painting knife, pen, trim or the like.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide utility nail tips each of which comprises a nail portion configured to be detachably attached on a user's natural nail and a utility portion configured to perform a specific utility function, such that a user may attach various utility nail tips with different functionalities on finger nails of one hand or both hands of the user so as to allow the user to perform specific hand tasks, such as playing musical instrument, making ceramics, painting an artwork, and etc., with different fingers at the same time.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a utility nail tip specifically configured for hand crafters such as artists, musicians, renovation workers, painters, potters, makeup artists, chefs, pastry chefs, hairstylists, tailors, and etc.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a utility nail tip configured to be attached on a user's natural nail in a quick and secure manner and detached from the user's natural nail simply by applying a remover agent such as acetone and popping off.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a utility nail tip which comprises a nail portion configured to be detachably attached on a user's natural nail and a utility portion which allows the user to configure and shape to perform a desired function as a functional tool attached to the natural nail to perform one or more specific utility functions.
Additional advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows and may be realized by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particular point out in the appended claims.
According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by a utility nail tip for attaching on a natural nail of a user by a bonding agent, comprising:
In one embodiment, a rough affixing surface is provided on at least a portion of the underside contact surface of the nail portion of the utility nail tip and configured for increasing a contacting surface area of the rough affixing surface to pick up the bonding agent applied between the underside contact surface of the nail portion of the utility nail tip and the top surface of the natural nail of the user, while reducing a thickness of the bonding agent applied between the underside contact surface of the nail portion of the utility nail tip and the top surface of the natural nail of the user.
In one embodiment, the rough affixing surface is a coarse surface formed on the underside contact surface.
In one embodiment, a plurality of indented grooves is formed on the rough affixing surface making the rough affixing surface a coarse surface. In another embodiment, a plurality of indented/protruded dots is formed on the rough affixing surface making the rough affixing surface a coarse surface.
In one embodiment, the nail portion has the same size of the natural nail to be attached thereon and the utility portion has a predetermined shape and size extended from a distal edge of the nail portion to form a utility tool having a specific function extended from the natural nail tip of the natural nail of the user after the nail portion is securely attached to the natural nail of the user.
In one embodiment, a thickness of the utility portion is thicker than a thickness of nail portion, wherein the thickness of the nail portion is determined according to the features and conditions of the natural nail of the user for having sufficient strength to securely attached on the top surface of the natural nail of the user, and the thickness of the utility portion is determined according to the specific functions to be performed for having sufficient stiffness and/or strength to perform the specific functions.
In one embodiment, a thickness of a base part of the utility portion is thicker than the distal edge of the nail portion inwardly to form a reinforcing step edge having a curvature and configuration adapted for resting on the free edge of the natural nail of the user.
In one embodiment, the nail portion is an artificial nail tip having an outer attaching surface opposing the underside contacting surface, and that the utility portion is an independent element having an attaching portion which has an inner attaching surface sized, shaped and configured to be adhered to outer attaching surface of the nail portion to form an integral utility nail tip.
In one embodiment the nail portion and the utility portion are made of different materials, wherein the material of the nail portion, such as soft gel material, hard gel material, acrylic material and the like, is adapted for detachably adhering on the natural nail of the user and the material of the utility portion is plastic or acrylic material, nylon, rubber, and the like, such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), mixture of fiberglass and resin, that is adapted for adhering on the nail portion and perform specific functions designed thereof.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the utility nail tip according to the present invention is adapted to be applied and cured on a predetermined natural nail of a user through an applying method comprising steps of:
In one embodiment, the step (c) is performed under light, such as UV or LED lamp.
In one embodiment, when there is no rough affixing surface preformed on the underside contact surface of the nail portion of the utility nail tip, before the step (b), the applying method further comprises a step of forming a rough affixing surface on the underside contact surface of the nail portion of the utility nail tip by filing and/or buffing at least a portion of the underside contact surface.
In one embodiment, before the step (c), the applying method further comprises a step of applying a layer of the bonding agent to the top surface of the natural nail of the user.
In one embodiment, the step (c) further comprises steps of:
In one embodiment, the step (c2) is executed while applying a UV or LED light to each of the gel nail tips.
In one embodiment, the step (c) further comprises a step of:
In one embodiment, the applying method further comprises a detaching step of detaching the utility nail tip by soaking the natural nail with the nail portion of the utility nail tip attached thereon with remover agent such as an acetone for relatively short period of time, and then the utility nail tip is capable of being popped off easily from the natural nail.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
The following description is disclosed to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. Preferred embodiments are provided in the following description only as examples and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The general principles defined in the following description would be applied to other embodiments, alternatives, modifications, equivalents, and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Referring to
The nail portion 10 has an underside contact surface 11 configured to fit size, shape and curvature of a top surface 31 of the natural nail 30 of the user 3 and is made of a material adapted for attaching on the top surface 31 of the natural nail 30, as shown in
The utility portion 20 is integrally extended from the nail portion 10 and supported by the nail portion 20, which is made of a material and configured to perform a specific function as a tool. The utility portion 20 can be shaped and configured as a pick for playing guitar, lute, zither or the like, a painting knife, pen, trim or the like. In other words, the utility portion is configured to perform a specific utility function such that the user 3 may attach various utility nail tips with different functionalities on natural nails 30 of one hand or both hands of the user 3, as shown in
The utility portion 20 and the nail portion 10 of the utility nail tip 1 can be made integrally in one piece as shown in
According to the preferred embodiment, the nail portion 10 and the utility portion 20 are preferred to be made in different materials, wherein the material of the nail portion 10, such as soft gel material, hard gel material, acrylic material and the like, is adapted for detachably adhering on the natural nail 30 of the user 3, and the material of the utility portion 20 is plastic or acrylic material, such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), mixture of fiberglass and resin, nylon, rubber, and the like, that is adapted for adhering on the nail portion 20 and perform specific functions designed thereof. In other words, when the utility nail tip 1 is an integral body, the two materials of the nail portion 10 and the utility portion 20 can be made by molding to form an integral piece. Alternatively, the nail portion 10 and the utility portion 20 can be made independently, which are integrally combined by, for example, adhering the utility portion 20 on the nail portion 10 by the manufacturer during production.
Some users prefer to attach and secure utility portion 20 onto the nail portion 10 by themselves. Since a user may always like to use one or more particular fingers to wear different functional utility portions to perform different works from time to time, then the user may select the same size, shape and configuration of the nail portion 10 to be attached on the particular natural nail 30 each time. Accordingly, according to a first alternative mode of the preferred embodiment as illustrated in
The user may attach and secure the elected utility portion 20 onto the nail portion 10 first and then apply and cure the entire utility nail tip 1 on the natural nail 30 by means of an applying method to be described below. Or, alternatively, the user 3 may attach the independent nail portion 10 on the desired natural nail 30 first by means of the applying method, and then attach and secure the utility portion 20 on the nail portion 10 after the attachment of the nail portion 10 on the natural nail 30 has been cured.
One essential factor for using the utility portion 20 to perform its specific function nicely and firmly enough is the attachment between the nail portion 10 and the natural nail 30 of the user 3. Referring to
According to the preferred embodiment, the rough affixing surface 111 is a coarse surface formed on the underside contact surface 11. As shown in
The presence of the rough affixing surface 111 on the underside contact surface 11 of the nail portion 10 of the utility nail tip 1 substantially increases a contacting surface area of the rough affixing surface 111, as shown in
The utility portion 20, according to the utility nail tip 1 as illustrated in
It is appreciated that a user may wear and attach one utility nail tip 1 with its utility portion 20 functioned as pick with a round tip 22′ onto one finger's natural nail 30 and another utility nail tip 1 with its utility portion 20 functioned as pick with a sharper tip 22′ onto another finger's natural nail 30 so that the user 3 may perform precision playing and play both smoother sound with the same hand. The user 3 may also wear and attach different utility nail tips 1 with various sizes onto different fingers' natural nails 30 on the same hand to play the musical instrument.
As a pick-type utility portion 20 of the utility nail tip 1, the utility portion 20 is preferred to be made from a variety of materials, each with its own unique characteristics, such as plastic (such as celluloid or nylon), rubber, metal, felt, or even exotic materials like bone or tortoiseshell alternatives, wherein different materials can produce variations in tone, grip, durability, and feel. Also, its thickness also affects the flexibility, attack, and tone of the pick, wherein thicker picks produce a heavier tone and are less flexible, while thinner picks offer more flexibility and a lighter tone.
Preferably, the nail portion 10 has the same size of the natural nail 30 to be attached thereon and the utility portion 20 has a predetermined shape and size extended from a distal edge 13 of the nail portion 10 to form the utility tool having the specific function extended from the natural nail tip of the natural nail 30 of the user 3 after the nail portion 10 is securely attached to the natural nail 30 of the user 3.
According to the preferred embodiment, as shown in
It is appreciated that a reinforcing step edge 23 is formed inwardly at a base part of the utility portion 20 which is thicker than the distal edge 13 of the nail portion 10, which has a curvature and configuration adapted for resting on a free edge of the natural nail 30 of the user 3, as shown in
It is worth mentioning that, as shown in
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It is appreciated that the shapes of the utility portion 20 of the utility nail tip 1 as illustrated in
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the utility nail tip 1 according to the present invention is adapted to be applied and cured on a predetermined natural nail 30 of a user 3 through an applying method comprising steps of:
Preferably, the step (c) is performed under light, such as UV or LED lamp.
Preferably, when there is no built-in rough affixing surface 111 preformed on the underside contact surface 11 of the nail portion 10 of the utility nail tip 1, before the step (b), the applying method further comprises a step of forming a rough affixing surface 111 on the underside contact surface 11 of the nail portion 10 of the utility nail tip 1 by filing at least a portion of the underside contact surface 11.
Preferably, before the step (c), the applying method further comprises a step of applying a layer of the bonding agent 40 to the top surface 31 of the natural nail 30 of the user 3.
Preferably, the step (c) further comprises steps of:
Preferably, the step (c2) is executed while applying a UV or LED light to each of the gel nail tips 1.
Preferably, the step (c) further comprises a step of:
Preferably, the applying method further comprises a detaching step of detaching the utility nail tip by soaking the natural nail 30 with the nail portion 10 of the utility nail tip 1 attached thereon with remover agent such as an acetone for relatively short period of time, and then the utility nail tip 1 is capable of being popped off easily from the natural nail 30.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
