This application claims priority to French Application Serial No. 1456848, filed Jul. 16, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The invention relates to a wiper for a cosmetic product container, to a container comprising such a wiper and to an applicator assembly comprising such a container.
Applicator assemblies for cosmetic products, in particular for cosmetic products to be applied to the eyelashes, such as mascara, comprising a container containing the cosmetic product and an applicator sub-assembly which can be removably fixed to the receptacle, are known. The container generally comprises a body, the body having walls which delimit a cavity which contains the cosmetic product, and a collar defining an opening through which the cosmetic product can be removed, the collar comprising a neck.
The applicator sub-assembly generally comprises a cap which can be fixed to the neck, a rod extending from the cap and an applicator fixed to a free end of the rod. The applicator comprises a core and a plurality of protrusions or bristles extending from the core. When the cap is fixed to the neck, the rod and the applicator extend within the container. The applicator is immersed in the cosmetic product contained in the container.
To use the applicator, the user detaches the cap from the neck and removes the applicator from the container.
To prevent the applicator from being overloaded with cosmetic product, the container generally comprises a wiper, fixed within the neck. When the user removes the applicator from the container, the applicator and the rod slide within the wiper. The wiper scrapes off excess cosmetic product on the rod and on the applicator. The wiper thus makes it possible to control the amount of product which is on the applicator and prevents an excessive amount of cosmetic product from being applied to the eyelashes.
Known applicator assemblies have the drawback of only retrieving some of the cosmetic product that they contain. This is because, when the user removes the applicator sub-assembly from the container, some of the cosmetic product on the rod and on the applicator becomes stuck under the collar of the container, within said container. It has been noted that the cosmetic product accumulates at this point, therefore becoming inaccessible to the user. It is thus lost.
One problem addressed by the invention is to increase the cosmetic product retrieval capacity of applicator assemblies.
Therefore, the invention relates to a wiper for a cosmetic product container, said container comprising a body forming a cavity which is intended to receive the cosmetic product.
According to the invention, the wiper comprises:
said flexible part being integral with said fixing part or attached to said fixing part.
The wiper from the invention has the advantage of preventing any stagnation of cosmetic product under the shoulder of said body. This makes it possible to increase the cosmetic product retrieval capacity of applicator assemblies comprising a container provided with such a wiper.
Moreover, the flexible part of the wiper is integral with the fixing part, or attached thereto. This has the advantage of making easier the assembly of the wiper on the body of the container.
According to different embodiments of the invention, which may be taken together or separately:
The invention also relates to a container comprising a wiper as described above.
According to different embodiments of the invention, which may be taken together or separately:
0.25≦h/H≦0.45,
The invention also relates to a cosmetic product applicator assembly, comprising:
According to different embodiments of the invention, which may be taken together or separately:
The invention will be better understood, and its other aims, details, features and advantages will become more clearly apparent in the following detailed explanatory description of at least one embodiment of the invention given by way of purely illustrative and non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, in which:
As shown in
The wipers 10 shown within the context of these two embodiments can be fixed, by a fixing part 12, to a body 22 of said container 20. This body forms a cavity 24 within which a second part of the wiper 10, referred to as the flexible part 14 in the following, extends. The cavity 24 is intended to contain the cosmetic product, which is essentially viscous, in particular mascara.
According to the invention, the flexible part 14 of the wiper 10 is designed to prevent the cosmetic product from coming into contact with a shoulder 25 of said body 22.
Within the context of the example shown in
Said main axis of the wiper is provided with reference sign Y in the following; it is preferably combined with the main direction of longitudinal extension of said wiper 10.
The material outgrowth is advantageously in the form of a washer 17 which is movable relative to said body 22, in particular along said main axis Y.
When it is under stress, the bellows 15 is compressed so that said washer 17 is brought closer to the shoulder 25, while preventing the cosmetic product contained in the cavity 24 from coming into contact therewith. This situation corresponds in particular to that of removing the applicator from the container 20, said applicator being wiped at the level of said wiping orifice 16.
A second embodiment is set out here, in particular on the basis of
This design in petals 13 which extend between two slits 18 has the advantage of making easier the assembly of said wiper 10 on the cosmetic product container 20. Indeed, as shown in
Once inside the cavity 24, as shown in
Once opened out within the cavity 24 of said body 22, the petals 13 are oriented along the main axis Y, in a direction which is opposite the shoulder 25. Therefore, said petals 13 prevent the cosmetic product from coming into contact with said shoulder 25. In other words, once opened out within the cavity 24, the petals 13 form a dome. More specifically, the petals 13 are oriented in a direction forming an angle of between 0° and 90° relative to the axis X, Y. Moreover, each petal 13 is curved, the concave part of the petal 13 being oriented towards the cavity 24 (the convex part being oriented towards the shoulder 25). This dome shape improves the retrieval rate since it delimits a portion of the inner wall of the cavity 24, said portion which is inclined relative to the axis X, Y. This inclination makes it easier to retrieve mascara using the applicator.
The wiping orifice is provided with reference numeral 19 in this embodiment. It is located at the border between said fixing part 12 and said flexible part 14.
It should be noted that the wiper 10 is a plastics part, whatever the embodiment envisaged. The wiper 10 is advantageously obtained by moulding, for example from a material based on LDPE (low-density polyethylene). Other materials can be used, namely the material “EXACT” from ExxonMobil or the material “HYTREL” from Dupont, or a mixture of these materials.
It should also be noted that the fixing part 12 is rigid, whatever the embodiment envisaged. “Rigid” means a part which has a rigidity which is sufficient to ensure that the wiper 10 is held in the body 22 of the container 20 and to ensure the sealing between said container 20 and the outside. Advantageously, said rigid part 12 is not split. In this case, it has a cylindrical design.
Additionally, the fixing part 12 is assembled to the body 22 of the container 20, in the region of a collar 23. This collar 23 is shown in
It can also be seen from
More specifically, said collar 23 comprises a neck 27 and the shoulder 25 from which the flexible part 14 of the wiper 10 extends within the cavity 24 of the container 20. The fixing part 12 is in fact fixed within the neck 27. This fixing is advantageously produced by formfitting. More specifically, the fixing part 12 has beads of material serving as stops for keeping said wiper 10 in position after being assembled within the neck 27.
The body 22 has, in addition, a side wall 26 (see
Therefore, the above-described flexible part 14 extends within the cavity 24, towards the bottom 28 along the main axis X, Y.
A dimensional ratio allows a maximum amount of product to be retrieved from the container 20. This dimensional ratio is given by way of non-limiting example, and in particular in the first embodiment shown in
This dimensional ratio is a ratio between the height H of the container 20, measured along the main axis X, Y between the bottom 28 and the free end of the collar 27, and the height h of the wiper 10, when the bellows 15 is at rest, also measured along the main axis X, Y. This ratio is shown in
0.25≦h/H≦0.45.
For example, the height H of the container 20 is approximately 100 mm, preferably substantially equal to 105 mm, and the height h is approximately 40 mm, preferably substantially equal to 39 mm.
In order to retrieve the maximum amount of product from the container 20, it is also advantageous to provide the washer 17 with a shape which is complementary to an internal section of the cavity 24. Said section may be constant along said main axis X, Y; for example it may be circular, without this being limiting. It may also vary along said main axis X,Y, such that said washer has a bevelled edge, without departing from the scope of the invention.
The dimensions of the periphery of the washer 17 are advantageously at most equal to the dimensions of the internal section of the cavity 27 so as to brush against said inner wall 26 and to thus ensure that the cosmetic product does not come into contact with the shoulder 25, or in order to ensure that said product is scraped towards the bottom 28 of said container 10 owing to said bellows 15 returning to its rest position.
Indeed, the bellows 15 has an intrinsic resilience which allows it to be compressed under low axial stress, which is exerted for example along the main axis X, Y towards the free end of the collar 23, and to return to its initial rest position without the aid of any external force.
Therefore, said wiper 10, owing to its bellows 15, can push the cosmetic product which may have adhered to the side wall 26 back towards the bottom 28 of said body 22.
Additionally, a volume of a height h2 will be left free between the mascara 40 contained in the cavity 24 and said washer 17 (see
For example, the mascara 40 may occupy a volume of a height h3 of approximately 60 mm, while the height h2 of said free volume is approximately 6 mm.
An applicator sub-assembly is intended to be fixed to the container 20 from the invention.
Said applicator sub-assembly can be fixed to said container 20, such that at least part of said applicator sub-assembly is housed within said container 20. An example of such an applicator sub-assembly is shown in
In
It should be noted that the embodiments set out above make it possible to retrieve a greater amount of cosmetic product when the sub-assembly comprises an applicator 32 having a rod 33 which is curved in part (see
Indeed, in these two cases, the applicator 32 easily comes into contact with the cosmetic product which is close to the bottom 28 of the container 20, in particular with the cosmetic product which is close to the connection between said bottom 28 and the side wall 26.
It should also be noted that variants are of course possible. In particular, the curved core shown in
The retrieval rate of the cosmetic product is optimal—for example close to 67%—when the wiper 10 from the first embodiment is used in combination with the applicator 32 having a curved core. In other words, on one hand, 67% of the mascara 40 contained within the cavity 24 of the container 20 may be removed from said container 20 when it comprises a wiper 10 from the invention, and on the other hand, when it is used in combination with an applicator 32 having a curved core, or an applicator 32 having a curved rod 33.
Moreover, the wiper 10 from the first embodiment has the advantage of reducing the amount of parasitic air in the cavity 24 of the container 20, and therefore of reducing any pumping action which may exist when manipulating the applicator sub-assembly relative to the container 20, in particular when removing said applicator 32 from the container 20 or when reinserting it into the container 20.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1456848 | Jul 2014 | FR | national |