Pomade stick applicator with resilient sealing features

A pomade stick applicator having a swiveling pomade advancing and retracting mechanism has a two-part base-cap container and virtually air-tight sealing features. These include an interfering snap fit between the container base and the longitudinally slotted inner body, and a resiliently deformable annular seal between the lower end of the helical internal cam and the inner body. This annular seal is urged into telescoping deformed sealed engagement by the container cap applied by the user. The interior of the cap seals the upper end of the shell fixed to the cam, and also provides an inner skirt interferingly telescoped with the upper end of the inner body, prevening swiveling. These seals enclose the pomade stick, blocking the escape of volatiles.

This invention relates to pomade stick applicators having swiveling pomade 
advancing and retracting mechanisms, and particularly to such applicators 
incorporating sealing features minimizing the evaporation of volatile 
ingredients from the pomade stick. 
Most such applicators for pomade sticks of lipstick, antiperspirants, 
insect repellents or adhesive pastes have separable two-part base-and-cap 
containers, and incorporate internal helical cam tracks co-acting with 
longitudinal slots in a base-mounted inner body to elevate and lower a 
pomade-supporting elevator cup upon relative rotation of the base and the 
cam by the user. 
Recently developed soft pomade formulations utilize volatile solvents to 
maintain the desired homogeneous distribution of active and inactive 
ingredients throughout the soft pomade stick. Such volatile solvents 
evaporate more readily than did conventional pomade ingredients in the 
past, producing undesirable shrinkage of the pomade sticks. This shrinkage 
has caused pomade sticks to detach themselves from their elevator cups, 
and drop out of the applicator, destroying the utility of the product 
before the pomade has been used up to the desired extent. 
Pomade applicator features to retard such evaporation of volatiles such as 
soft, flexible O-ring gaskets and the like have been proposed, in such 
U.S. Patents as Gueret U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,066; Gueret U.S. Pat. No. 
5,234,275; Ryder U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,251; Iwamoto U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,663; 
Ito U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,252; and Japanese patent 08019421. 
These proposals have produced incomplete sealing against evaporation of 
volatiles. The cooperating internal applicator-sealing features of the 
present invention, as well as those base-cap container sealing features 
disclosed in the co-pending Velicka-Pfrommer application, Serial No. 
09/148,387, filed Sep. 4, 1998 (WFVA Docket No. 3-351-16) have 
successfully achieved substantially airtight sealing of these pomade 
applicators. This sealing has minimized or virtually eliminated the 
undesired shrinkage of pomade sticks, even during extended periods of 
storage in inventory, or of non-use by the ultimate consumer. The useful 
life of these products and their value have thus been substantially 
increased by these sealing features. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In the pomade applicators of this invention, three different types of 
internal sealing features are incorporated, all of them hidden by the 
container cap or base and thus not easily examined by inspection. 
The longitudinally slotted inner body has its lower or proximal end 
anchored in torque transmitting engagement inside the container base by an 
annular rib and groove, providing a tight snap fit, substantially 
eliminating the escape of volatiles from inside the inner body via the 
interior of the container base. 
In addition, the lower or proximal end of the tubular cam, encircling a 
shoulder protruding from the inner body near its proximal end, is forced 
into tight telescoping engagement with the shoulder when the container cap 
is firmly closed. Both cam and inner body are preferably molded of a 
material having significant resiliency. Their tight telescoping engagement 
deforms both components sufficiently to ensure their virtually airtight 
sealing engagement, substantially eliminating the escape of volatiles from 
inside the tubular cam. 
The cam is anchored inside a tubular "A"-shell, normally of metal. The 
upper or distal end of this shell is enclosed by the container cap, which 
is provided with a flexible internal cap insert having a depending annular 
wall-flange anchored inside the cap's distal end, and also having an 
inwardly spaced depending skirt. This skirt extends downward inside the 
shell's distal end into interferingly deformed telescoping engagement 
inside the distal end of the inner body, resisting relative rotation of 
inner body and cam after the container cap is firmly installed in its 
closed position. This prevents undesired advance of the pomade stick 
inside the closed cap, protecting the stick from damage. At the same time 
the cap insert urges the shell-cam assembly firmly downward, assuring the 
desired tight telescoping proximal engagement of cam and inner body, 
producing the desired airtight seal, and the cap insert also seals the 
distal end of the shell against the escape of volatiles. 
It is thus a principal object of the invention to minimize or eliminate 
evaporative escape of volatile components from the pomade stick enclosed 
inside the advance-retract mechanism of these pomade applicators. 
Another object of the invention is to combine the torque transmitting 
anchoring of the inner body inside the container base with a snap fit 
airtight seal. 
A further object of the invention is to provide an airtight seal between 
the cam's proximal end and the inner body by resiliently deformed 
telescoping engagement, which is assured by downward force applied by the 
container cap to the cam when the cap is firmly closed on the applicator. 
Still another object of the invention is to provide an airtight seal 
preventing the escape of volatiles from inside the cap's distal end while 
also firmly resisting undesired advance of the pomade stick, whenever the 
cap is firmly closed. 
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part 
appear hereinafter. 
The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, 
combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts which will be 
exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope of 
the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION 
The two preferred embodiments of the pomade stick applicators of this 
invention are shown in the two exploded view of FIGS. 1 and 4. These 
embodiments are generally similar, differing only in the shapes of the 
resilient, deformable cap inserts 21 and 22, shown in greatly enlarged 
detail in FIGS. 3 and 5 respectively. 
In FIGS. 1 and 4, the base-cap container 23-24 is comprised of a base 23 
formed as a right circular cylinder with a closed lower "proximal" end 26, 
and a cap 24 formed as a matching right circular cylinder with a closed 
upper "distal" end 27. Since pomade stick applicators are customarily held 
upright while being opened by the user, in the positions shown in FIGS. 1 
and 4, the terms "proximal" and "distal" identify the respective lower and 
upper portions of all components shown in these Figures. 
Rib-and-Groove Assembly 
As shown in FIG. 6, a rib-and-groove assembly 28-32 encircling the proximal 
end of an inner body 29 is comprised of a peripheral groove 31 formed in 
body 29, dimensioned for snap fit engagement with a mating rib protruding 
inward from the interior wall surface of base 23. Lowering insertion of 
inner body 29 into base 23 until the snap fit is achieved assures firm 
anchoring of a spherical weight, preferably a steel ball 25 between cap 23 
and inner body 29, for stability and applicator heft. Base Ribs may 
contact inner body to help transmit torque. Snap fit also provides a 
firmly anchored torque transmitting relationship between the base 23 and 
the inner body 29. This snap fit also produces a virtually air tight seal, 
substantially blocking the escape of any evaporated volatiles from the 
interior of base 23. 
Sealing Engagement of Cam and Inner Body 
A shell-cam assembly 33-34 extends distally upward above the lower proximal 
end of the inner body 29. This assembly comprises a tubular shell 33 
customarily of thin metal such as aluminum, having a tubular open-ended 
cam 34 whose outer surface is fixedly anchored to the inner surface of the 
shell 33. The cam 34 is customarily formed of a polymer such as 
polystyrene or the like, and its inner surface defines one or two shallow 
helical grooves 36, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4 and 7. 
Shell 33 is often termed an "A-shell" in the industry, and it extends 
distally beyond cam 34, as clearly shown in FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 5. The 
proximal end 37 of cam 34 extends downward beyond the proximal end 38 of 
shell 33, for contact with a bevelled shoulder 39 extending outward from 
the periphery of inner body 29 (FIG. 2). 
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, inner body 29 is provided with one or two 
longitudinal slots 41 extending downward to closed proximal ends near the 
level of shoulder 39 on inner body 29. One slot 41 may have an open distal 
end. 
A pomade elevator carrier or cup 42 is longitudinally movable inside inner 
body 29, from a proximal pomade-retracted position shown in FIG. 1 to a 
distal pomade-extended position shown in FIG. 4. The pomade stick 43 is 
shown in dashed lines in both of these Figures. 
Elevator cup 42 is provided with one or two radially extending short lugs 
or studs 44 protruding from cup 42 through a longitudinal slot 41 in inner 
body 29 into "cam-follower" engagement with the helical groove 36 formed 
on the inner surface of cam 34. 
Shell-cam assembly 33-34 is mounted for relative "swiveling" rotational 
movement on inner body 29, whose shoulder 39 and a radially protruding 
distal rim 46 (FIGS. 3 and 5) serve to limit longitudinal play between 
assembly 33-34 and inner body 29. 
Rotation of shell-cam assembly 33-34 relative to inner body 29 about their 
common longitudinal axis 47 causes lugs 44 to be guided upward by helical 
cam groove 36, elevating lugs 44 distally along longitudinal slots 41 in 
inner body 29 (FIGS. 1 and 4). Customarily two lugs 44 riding in two slots 
41 guided by two cam grooves 36 provide balanced longitudinal motion of 
cup 42, avoiding undesired rocking or jamming of cup 42 during advancing 
and retracting movement of pomade stick 43. 
The sealing engagement of proximal cam rim 37 with shoulder 39 (FIGS. 2, 7 
and 8) is assured by the action of cap 24 when it is installed by the user 
on the pomade-retracted base assembly shown in FIG. 1. Both of the 
different caps 24 shown in the Figures urge shell 33 downward, as 
described below. Shell-cam assembly 33-34 is thereby driven downward from 
the contact position with shoulder 39, shown in FIG. 7, to the fully 
telescoped, deformed position of FIG. 8. Both cam 34 and inner body 29 are 
generally formed of polystyrene or other polymers, and they are stiff but 
resiliently deformable, assuring tight sealing engagement. This virtually 
blocks the escape of volatiles, from the pomade carried in cup 42 inside 
inner body 29, past cam 34 to the space inside base 23 and thence to the 
surrounding atmosphere. 
In the preferred embodiments, the outer surface of shoulder 39 is bevelled 
or tapered to an angle A between about 9.degree. and about 15.degree. from 
the longitudinal axis 47 direction, and ideally falls between 10.degree. 
and 13.degree.. It is believed that angles A between about 5.degree. and 
about 20.degree. provide effective sealing telescoping deformed engagement 
and increase the force required for cup push back. 
FIGS. 9 and 10 are schematic diagrams of an inverted pair of interferingly 
telescoping annular components, with the descending upper rim having an 
outward facing conical bevel 48 at an angle A, and the lower "shoulder" 49 
having a contact face 49 defining a cylindrical surface whose generatrix 
is parallel to longitudinal axis 47, spaced at a contact radius R.sub.3 
therefrom. Radius R.sub.3 falls between the maximum radius R.sub.1 and the 
minimum radius R.sub.2 of the conical bevelled surface 48, assuring that 
contact of surface 49 with bevel 48 will produce telescoping sealing 
deformation of both components, as shown in FIG. 10. 
The schematic diagrams of FIGS. 11 and 13 illustrate similar engagement of 
telescoping surfaces both having conical bevelled engaging surfaces of two 
different angles. In each case the surface having the steeper slope and 
smaller angle B engages the less steeply bevelled surface at a contact 
radius R.sub.3 falling between maximum radius R.sub.1 and minimum radius 
R.sub.2 of the contacted surface having the greater angle A, assuring the 
desired telescoping deformation of both components. 
In FIGS. 7 and 9, there is no angle B because it is zero; in FIGS. 11 and 
13, the difference between angles A and B determines the extent of the 
consequent resilient deformation, indicated in engaged diagrams 12 and 14. 
In all of these diagrams of FIGS. 7 through 14, if the maximum radius 
R.sub.1 occurs at a radial ledge or shoulder, this abutment limits the 
telescoping engagement and also the extent of resilient deformation. 
Container Cap and Internal Cap Insert 
Both forms of the container cap 24 are provided with internal cap inserts 
21 or 22. These inserts are similar, but perform their sealing function in 
different ways. 
They are fabricated of high density polyethylene or polypropylene or other 
similar polymers, and they are therefore notably more flexible and less 
rigid than the caps, which are customarily made of medium impact styrene, 
styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). 
Inserts 21 and 22 may be anchored inside caps 24 by adhesive or a 
ring-and-groove snap-fit assembly like 28-32, but they are customarily 
made oversize, with an outside diameter several thousandths of an inch 
larger than the inside diameter of the cap in which they are mounted. 
In the cap insert 21 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the outer rim 51 of the insert 
depends from the distal end of the insert to form a tapered outer skirt, 
whose narrower proximal end 52 extends between the interior wall of cap 24 
and the outer surface of shell 33. The thickness of proximal end 52 of 
outer rim 51 is slightly greater than the radial clearance between cap 24 
and shell 33. This results in a resiliently compressed airtight seal 
blocking the escape of volatiles from the interior of shell-cam assembly 
33-34 past cap 24. 
Cap insert 21 also presents an inwardly spaced inner skirt 53, depending 
from a distal deck 54, whose outer surface extends into interfering 
frictional engagement with the interior of distal rim 46 of inner body 29, 
over a frictional engagement zone 56, serving to act as a friction brake 
preventing rotation of shell-cam assembly 33-34 relative to base-inner 
body assembly 23-29 when cap 24 is firmly in place, and thus assuring that 
pomade stick 43 will not be advanced inadvertently into damaging contact 
with insert 21. 
Cap insert 22 (FIGS. 4 and 5) is provided with an oversize outer rim 57 
interferingly fitted into the distal interior of cap 24. An annular outer 
distal deck 58 connects rim 57 to an inwardly spaced depending skirt 59 
having no deck at its distal end, but rather a central deck 61 spanning 
the interior of skirt 59. Deck 61 is positioned at a level corresponding, 
when cap 24 is firmly mounted, to that of the inturned distal rim 62 of 
shell 33, and the outside diameter of skirt 59 at this level is slightly 
greater than the inside diameter of rim 62, producing interfering 
frictional engagement sealing the interior of shell 33 from the interior 
of cap 24 and the outside atmosphere. The relative rigidity of central 
deck 61 stiffens inner skirt 59 and assures firm sealing engagement of 
skirt 59 with rim 62 of shell 33. 
Below deck 61, the inner and outer diameters of the internal skirt are 
slightly reduced, producing an inwardly stepped sub-skirt 63, whose outer 
diameter interferingly engages the interior surface of distal rim 46 of 
inner body 29. This produces interfering frictional engagement with inner 
body 29 over a zone 56, with the same effect as that produced by skirt 53 
of insert 21, for the same purposes. 
Thus each of these cap inserts 21 and 22 seals the distal interior end of 
the shell and the proximal interior end of the cam to produce a virtually 
airtight sealed enclosure around the pomade stick, while also providing 
with its inner skirt an "anti-free-wheeling" friction brake blocking 
undesired relative rotation of the shell and the base, maintaining the 
pomade stick in its retracted position. 
It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, and those made 
apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, 
since certain changes may be made in the above construction without 
departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter 
contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings 
shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. 
It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover 
all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein 
described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a 
matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.