Method for making nail files

Nail files are made in a manner which permits ease of dispensing. A tube is continuously fed into a milling machine where grooves are formed in predetermined segments of the tube. These grooves are roughened by adhesively applying abrasive particles or by milling the groove surfaces. The tubes are stamped so as to form alternating long grooved areas and short smooth areas. The thus-prepared tubes are divided into sections of desired lengths containing a plurality of nail files which may be easily detached from the remainder of the files in the section. Another method comprises providing a solid or hollow rod which has any of a variety of geometric cross-sections, providing the rod with grooves having varying sizes, roughening the surfaces of the grooves as above, and weakening the rods at predetermined lengths to produce sections containing a series of easily detached segments. The hollow files may be fitted with closures at each end. At least one of these closures is removable and replaceable. In this way, the hollow portion may be used for carrying additional manicure equipment. Another alternative is the preparation of a series of individual nail files. Each file has a rough upper surface, a smooth lower surface, and a ring-like opening attached to the lower surface. These files are attached to each other in a series by light adhesive bonding of one lower surface to the next adjacent lower surface. Extremely little waste is produced by the methods of manufacture of the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention is concerned with the manufacture of nail files having 
grooves containing roughened sides. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
Manicure instruments including nail files are well known. U.S. Pat. No. 
1,473,717 to Atkinson, U.S. Pat. No. 1,529,321 to Pearson, and U.S. Pat. 
No. 1,597,589 to Ferrari are examples of such instruments which may be 
worn as rings. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 58,210 to Beauregard, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 
290,533 to Kadaja, U.S. Pat. No. 1,707,879 to Schwartzman, U.S. Pat. No. 
2,019,580 to Poux, U.S. Pat. No. 2,573,310 to Collier, U.S. Pat. No. 
2,233,438 to Troya, U.S. Pat. No. 2,566,688 to West, and U.S. Pat. No. 
4,292,987 to Alley describe nail files having grooves which contain filing 
surfaces. It is evident from an examination of these patents that the 
devices either could not be made from a single piece of stock material, or 
if such a type of manufacture was attempted, a large quantity of waste 
would be produced. Additionally, these products must be dispensed as 
units. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to introduce methods of manufacturing 
nail files which demonstrate at least one of the desirable qualities of 
permitting continuous manufacture from a single source of stock material, 
the absence of waste material, and the preparation of a plurality of units 
in a convenient assembly wherein one unit may be easily separated. 
In one embodiment of the present invention, a single tube of plastic or 
metal is passed through a milling machine which prepares a plurality of 
grooves of selected lengths along the top and bottom outer surfaces of the 
tube. These grooves are provided with a roughened surface in the milling 
machine. Preferably the preparation of the grooves and the roughened 
surfaces occurs as a single step. The tubes are then stamped to provide 
outlines of segments which can be easily snapped off to provide a series 
of easily transported segments or a single segment ready for use. In a 
second embodiment of the present invention, a single hollow or solid 
plastic or metal rod having any of several geometric shapes is passed 
through a milling machine where grooves having roughened surfaces are 
applied to the surfaces along the entire lengths of the surfaces. The rods 
are stamped so as to allow for the easy separation of a series of segments 
or a single segment. In a third embodiment of this invention, a solid bar 
of plastic or metal is passed through a machine to provide the top surface 
with a roughened surface and to cut the bar into uniform predetermined 
sections. The roughened surfaces are achieved by milling or by adhesively 
applying abrasive particles. Horseshoe-shaped open holders are attached to 
the lower surfaces of the thus-formed sections. These sections are then 
aligned bottom surface to bottom surface and held together by a weak 
adhesive which is sufficient to prevent accidental separation, but capable 
of being loosened by a sharp snapping motion. In all of these methods, 
there is no waste produced, which is an improvement which is not suggested 
by the prior art. The segments of nail files may be carried by an 
individual as a series of segments or as a single segment, thus allowing 
for versatility in marketing and use. Grooves may be of different sizes so 
as to have a varying range of utility.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a ring nail file 1 is 
manufactured. This nail file 1 is circular in cross-section. From the 
side, this nail file 1 has a narrow, smooth, centrally located lower band 
2 and a broad upper section 3 suitable for use as a nail file. The upper 
section 3 contains a plurality of grooves 4 containing side surfaces 5 and 
bottom surfaces 6. At least the side surfaces 5 of these grooves 4 are 
roughened so as to form a surface capable of shaping nails. 
In preparing the file 1 of this embodiment, a cylindrical metal or plastic 
tube 101 is provided. This may be in the form of a tube 101 of a 
predetermined length or the tube 101 may be endless, such as the product 
of an extrusion process. The material is not critical. Known plastic 
materials capable of being milled and retaining their shape are suitable 
for this invention. Stainless steel is the preferred metal. 
The tube 101 is passed through a milling machine. The milling machine 
produces grooves 4 in the outer surface of the top 7 and bottom 8 of the 
tube 101. The surface covered by grooves 4 on the top 7 is equal to the 
surface covered by grooves 4 on the bottom 8. This can be accomplished by 
a milling wheel 102 having peaks 103 and valleys 104 over predetermined 
portions of its surface while the remainder of its surface is smooth. When 
applied with pressure to the tube 101, grooves 4 in the tube 101 
corresponding to the peaks 103 in the milling wheel 102 are produced The 
area of the tube 101 covered by grooves 4 is not critical, but from 
one-quarter to one-third of the circumference is preferred for each of the 
top 7 and bottom 8 surfaces. The milling wheel 102 contains alternating 
areas which contain peaks 103 and valleys 104 and areas which are smooth. 
In this way the resulting tube 101 contains grooves 4 which are not 
continuous. The milling machine contains a milling wheel 102 for 
contacting and milling the bottom of the tube 101 and another milling 
wheel 102 for contacting and milling the top of the tube 101. In this way, 
the milling process results in alternating grooved and smooth surfaces on 
both the top 7 and bottom 8. While not critical, it is preferred that the 
length of a grooved segment be approximately ten times the length of a 
smooth segment. 
The grooves 4 have side surfaces 5 and bottom surfaces 6. In the milling 
machine, at least the side surfaces 5 of the grooves 4 are provided with a 
roughened surface 9. This may be accomplished by stamping the grooves 4 by 
the machine. This may be accomplished by applying a mixture of adhesive 
and abrasive particles to the grooves 4. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 
13, the milling wheel 102 contains peaks 103 and valleys 104 and roughened 
surfaces 105. Treatment of the tube 101 with such a milling wheel 102 
results in a tube 10 having roughened grooves 4. The grooves 4 may be of 
the same width or have different widths. 
The resulting tubes 10 which have top 7 and bottom 8 alternating grooved 
and smooth sections are then stamped to produce in outline, mirror image 
top and bottom segments 11 wherein each segment 11 has a long grooved 
section and a centrally located smooth section connecting the sides of the 
grooved section. The stamping process is performed by a milling apparatus 
which is well known in the art for weakening articles at prespecified 
areas. The stamping process is carried with insufficient force to separate 
the segments, but with sufficient force to weaken the abutment lines 12 
between the segments 11. A series of segments 11 is then separated from 
the remainder of the tube 10 by applying an upward or downward snapping 
force. A series of a predetermined number of segments is then inspected 
and packaged. Since the top and bottom segments 11 are mirror images, each 
top segment 11 nests perfectly with the two abutting bottom segments 11, 
and no waste is produced except for the inconsequential amount at the 
beginning of the process. 
The thus-prepared segment 1 is used as a ring to be held in place on one 
hand while nails of the other hand are shaped by moving the nails along 
the sides or bottoms of grooves. 
In a second embodiment of the present invention, a nail file 21 is prepared 
using a rod 106 or tube 101 of plastic or metal material as the starting 
material. The rod 106 or tube 101 may be of a predetermined length or of 
endless length as a result of an extrusion process. The rod 106 may be in 
the form of a hollow tube or a solid bar having an axis 22 and any of a 
variety of geometric cross-sections. Preferred cross-sectional shapes are 
triangle, square, and circle. "L"-shaped sections are particularly 
preferred. 
Grooves 23 having different sizes are put into the outer surfaces of the 
rod 106 by the milling wheel 102. Each groove 23 has a bottom 24 and two 
sides 25 and has a uniform width and depth throughout the length of the 
rod 106. The grooves 23 may be imparted during an extrusion process or may 
be imparted by a milling wheel 102 in the milling machine. Roughening is 
provided to at least the sides 25 of the grooves 23. This is done by a 
milling wheel 102 having roughened surfaces 105 milling in this area or by 
applying a combination of adhesive and abrasive particles. 
Following the formation and roughening of the grooves 23, the milling 
machine provides stamping pressure around the rod 106 at predetermined 
lengths. This stamping process divides the rod into segments 26 of 
predetermined uniform length. The stamping pressure is not great enough to 
physically separate the segments, but is sufficient to weaken the abutting 
lines 27 so as to enable separation by snapping. Machines with this 
capacity are well known in the art. 
Following milling a series of segments 26 is removed, inspected, packaged, 
and marketed as a series of segments. The user then snaps individual 
segments 26 from the series and uses that segment to shape nails. This is 
done by a back and forth curved motion of the nail against a roughened 
groove 23. 
As is clear from the above description, no waste is produced by the 
production process, a variety of sized and shaped grooves 23 may be 
produced, and one or several of the files 21 may be purchased by the user. 
An extended use of a hollow file as just described is as a carrier for 
additional manicure equipment 28, such as clipping scissors, devices for 
cleaning under nails, and devices for pushing back cuticles. Such a device 
contains a hollow central portion and has a longitudinal axis. The outer 
surface has grooves 23 containing roughened surfaces 36. Each end of the 
carrier has a closure 29, at least one of which may be removed and 
replaced. Snap-in closures are preferred for this purpose. The material 
used for these closures is preferably pliable in nature, such as vinyl 
plastic. The hollow central portion serves as a carrier for the additional 
manicure equipment. While the cross-sectional shape is not critical, 
carriers having a circular cross-section are preferred. 
In a third embodiment of the present invention, a file 31 comprising a 
segment 32 having a roughened upper surface 33, a smooth lower surface 34, 
and a horseshoe-shaped attachment 35 on the lower surface 34 for forming 
an opening for a holding finger is prepared. A flat bar of metal or 
plastic having a lower surface 34 and an upper surface 33 is introduced 
into the manufacturing machine wherein the upper surface 33 is provided 
with a roughened surface 36. This may be accomplished by stamping the 
upper surface 33 so as to provide a hard roughened surface 36 or applying 
a mixture of adhesive and abrasive particles. The treated bar is then 
divided into segments 32 by cutting or stamping. These blocks are 
conveniently small in size. Although size is not critical, a block having 
side dimensions of approximately 5 cm by 2 cm is preferred. A 
horseshoe-shaped band 35 is attached to the lower surface 34 of the 
segment 32 to form an opening which fits over a finger to hold the segment 
32 into place during use. This attachment 35 may be in any convenient 
manner. Spot welding and application of adhesive are preferred methods. 
Following construction, the segments 32 are aligned in series, lower 
surface 34 abutting lower surface 34. An adhesive which is strong enough 
to prevent the accidental separation of segments of the series, but weak 
enough to allow separation upon the application of a snapping motion is 
applied between the several lower surfaces 34. The series of segments 32 
may be broken into convenient lengths for packaging and selling. The end 
user may easily separate a segment 32 from the remainder of a series. 
It will be appreciated that no waste is generated during the manufacture of 
the nail files 31 of this embodiment. 
The several embodiments of the invention are useful in that the amount of 
wasted stock products are dramatically reduced or entirely eliminated; a 
series of nail files may be manufactured, packaged, and displayed for ease 
of selling; a wide variety of materials, shapes and sizes of products are 
useful; and a wide variety of sizes and shapes of grooves is available. 
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the 
invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily 
occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the 
invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and 
accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted 
to, falling within the scope of the claimed invention.