Fingernail and toenail file/buffer

The present invention relates to a nail file/buffer which has a core with at least two layers of resilient material on at least one side of the core and has at least one abrasive surface. The device provides means for even and efficient natural and artificial nail filing and buffing regardless of the size and shape of the nail to be filed and/or buffed. The structure and configuration of the device provide sufficient flexibility so the device easily conforms to the size and shape of the nail to be filed or buffed and, therefore, maximizes the surface area of the nail worked on at any one time. In addition, the structure and configuration of the device provide sufficient rigidity so the device remains easy to manipulate.

FIELD OF INVENTION 
The present invention relates to fingernail and toenail tools, particularly 
fingernail and toenail files and buffers. 
BACKGROUND 
The most visible surface of a natural or artificial fingernail or toenail 
is its top surface. Many people enjoy accentuating their fingernails and 
toenails by filing and buffing these surfaces to shine them or to prepare 
them for decorating with colors, designs, or jewelry. Manicurists and 
others encounter many difficulties and inconveniences when attempting to 
evenly file or buff natural or artificial fingernails or toenails. These 
difficulties cannot be easily overcome by the current technology. 
Difficulties arise due to the fact that natural or artificial fingernails 
and toenails are, in general, curved and diversely shaped. Different 
people have differently shaped fingernails, toenails, and fingernail and 
toenail surfaces. The nail surfaces can be large or small, long or short, 
flat or rounded. Difficulties arise when people attempt to evenly and 
efficiently file and/or buff these differently shaped nail surfaces. 
Generally, the surface of a natural or artificial fingernail or toenail is 
filed or buffed by forcing an abrasive surface of a tool back and forth 
across the surface of the nail (each back and forth motion comprising a 
stroke). A certain amount of pressure must be applied to allow the 
abrasive surface of the tool to abrade the nail surface being filed or 
buffed. The area of the nail surface that the abrasive surface of the tool 
contacts depends upon the curvature of the nail surface, the amount of 
pressure applied in using the tool, and the physical features of the tool 
itself. 
Rigid nail tools, such as emery boards, are disclosed in the prior art. 
Abrasive surfaces of such tools contact only a small portion of a curved 
nail surface in any one stroke. These rigid tools work tangent to the 
curved nail surface and, therefore, the tool (or the nail being worked 
upon) must be manipulated further for the abrasive surface to contact the 
entire nail surface. Furthermore, these tools may not abrade the nail 
surface evenly and efficiently because only portions of the surface are 
worked on in any one stroke. 
Flexible nail tools, such as emery sheets, are disclosed in the prior art. 
Abrasive surfaces of such tools may be capable of contacting the entire 
surface of a nail in any one stroke. However, these tools are difficult to 
manipulate because they require excess pressure to force the abrasive 
surface to abrade the nail surface. In addition, depending on whether the 
pressure applied is balanced these tools may not abrade the nail surface 
evenly and efficiently. 
Therefore, a more even and efficient filing or buffing will occur if a nail 
tool is sufficiently flexible such that it encounters a greater area of 
the nail surface in any one stroke and the nail tool structure is 
sufficiently rigid such that it provides for balancing the pressure 
applied. 
Various rigid and flexible fingernail and toenail tools (files and buffers) 
are disclosed in the prior art. However, none of these prior art tools 
comprise a file or buffer which maximizes a combination of the benefits of 
both rigidity and flexibility. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The nail file/buffer of the present application comprises a tool for 
buffing or filing natural or artificial fingernails or toenails. The tool 
is of novel structure and design such that structural benefits of 
flexibility and rigidity are maximized in a single tool. The tool 
comprises a thin core layer having multiple layers (two or more) of 
resilient materials (which may have varying thicknesses and densities) 
laminated to at least one side of the core. The resilient material layers 
comprise at least one outer-most layer having at least one abrasive 
surface laminated to the outer-most layer. 
Accordingly, a principal object of this invention is to provide an improved 
natural and artificial fingernail and toenail file/buffer. Another object 
of this invention is to provide a natural and artificial nail file/buffer 
which has sufficient flexibility such that it easily conforms to the shape 
of a natural or artificial fingernail or toenail surface. 
It is also an object of this invention to provide a natural and artificial 
fingernail and toenail file/buffer which has sufficient rigidity such that 
it is easily manipulated to abrade natural or artificial fingernail and 
toenail surfaces. 
An additional object of this invention is to provide a natural and 
artificial fingernail and toenail tool which may be used to work on a 
maximum surface area of a natural or artificial fingernail or toenail at 
any one time regardless of the nail's size and shape. It is a further 
object of this invention to provide a natural and artificial fingernail 
and toenail file/buffer which may be used to provide an even and efficient 
abrasion on a natural or artificial fingernail or toenail surface. 
The present invention relates to a natural and artificial nail file/buffer 
which provides means for even and efficient nail filing and buffing 
regardless of the size and shape of the nail to be filed and/or buffed. 
The structure and configuration of the device provide sufficient 
flexibility so the device easily conforms to the size and shape of the 
nail to be filed or buffed and, therefore, maximizes the surface area of 
the nail worked on at any one time. In addition, the structure and 
configuration of the device provide sufficient rigidity so the device 
remains easy to manipulate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Turning now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the 
present invention in the form of a natural and artificial nail file/buffer 
device 10. The device 10 comprises three components: a core layer 12, 
resilient material layers 14, 16, 18, and 20, and outer abrasive surfaces 
22, 24, and 26. 
As shown in FIG. 2, the device 10 is used to file/buff a natural or 
artificial fingernail 28 by forcing the device 10 down upon the fingernail 
28 such that an abrasive surface 22, 24, or 26 is in contact with the 
surface of the nail 28. The device 10 could also be used by forcing the 
surface of the nail 28 down upon the device 10. 
Turning to the preferred embodiment of the device 10 in more detail, as 
shown in FIG. 1, the device 10 comprises a core layer 12 having at least 
two layers of resilient material 14, 16, 18, or 20 laminated to each other 
and to at least one side of said core 12. (FIG. 1 shows the device 10 with 
two layers of resilient material 14 and 16, and 18 and 20, on each side of 
the core 12.) The resilient material layers 14, 16, 18, and 20 comprise at 
least one inner layer 16 or 18 and one outer layer 14 or 20 laminated to 
each other. The outer resilient material layer 14 or 20 has laminated 
thereon one or more abrasive surfaces 22, 24, or 26 of the type used to 
file and/or buff natural and/or artificial fingernails and toenails. The 
resilient material layers 14, 16, 18, and 20 may comprise two or more 
layers on one or more sides of the core 12. For example, the device 10 of 
the present invention could comprise a core 12 with two or more resilient 
material layers (e.g. 14 and 16) laminated to each other and to one side 
of the core 12. In addition, the resilient material layers 14, 16, 18, and 
20 may comprise resilient materials of various thicknesses and densities. 
Materials suitable to be used as the core layer 12 include plastic, wood, 
and metal, with the core 12 preferably made from polystyrene plastic. The 
core 12 may have a thickness of between one one-hundredth of an inch and 
one inch thick and is preferably six one-hundredths of an inch thick. 
Materials suitable to be used as the resilient material layers 14, 16, 18, 
and 20 include foam such as Volara.RTM. extruded radiation cross-linked 
polyethylene closed cell foam available from Voltek Division of Sekisui 
America Corp., Lawrence, Massachusetts, and rubber such as Natural Rubber 
available from Monroe Rubber & Plastics, Inc., Monroe, Michigan. The 
resilient material layers 14, 16, 18, and 20 may be of the same or 
different thicknesses between one thirty-second of an inch to one inch 
thick, and are preferably about an eighth of an inch thick each. In 
addition, the resilient material layers 14, 16, 18, and 20 may be of the 
same or different densities. For example, the Volara.RTM. foam described 
above is available in nominal densities between one and a half to six 
pounds per cubic foot. In addition, the Natural Rubber described above is 
available with a density of about sixty pounds per cubic foot. The 
resilient material used in the preferred embodiment of the present 
invention 10 is foam with one layer having a density of two pounds per 
cubic foot and a thickness of one-eighth of an inch and another layer 
having a density of four pounds per cubic foot and a thickness of 
one-eighth of an inch (both available from the Voltek Division of Sekisui 
America Corp. described above). 
Materials suitable to be used as the abrasive surfaces 22, 24, and 26 
include those abrasive surfaces for abrading natural and artificial 
fingernails and toenails which are well known in the art. 
The resilient material layers 14, 16, 18, and 20 are laminated or glued to 
the core layer 12 by methods well known in the art. It is an important 
feature of the present invention that at least two resilient material 
layers 14, 16, 18, and 20 are laminated together because the glue or other 
adhesive used to laminate the layers together provides additional 
structural support which enhances the rigidity of the device 10 and, 
therefore, its ease of manipulation and ability to provide balanced 
abrasion. In addition, the abrasive surface layers 22, 24, and 26 are 
laminated or glued to outer-most resilient material layers 14 and 20 by 
methods well known in the art. 
Combining a core 12 with multiple layers of resilient material 14, 16, 18, 
and 20 (e.g. two or more layers) allows the device 10 to have sufficient 
flexibility to conform to the surface of a natural or artificial nail 28 
and yet retain sufficient rigidity to allow ease of manipulation. As shown 
in FIG. 2, when the device 10 is used the multiple layers of resilient 
material 14, 16, 18, and 20 offer flexibility in that the device 10 easily 
conforms to the shape of the natural or artificial fingernail 28 worked 
upon, and sufficient rigidity in that the device 10 maintains its shape 
sufficient to allow ease of manipulation and balanced abrasion. It is the 
combination of multiple layers of resilient material 14, 16, 18, and 20 
which provides these unique properties of flexibility and rigidity. 
Although the preferred embodiment of the device 10, as shown in FIGS. 1 
and 2, comprises two layers of resilient material 14, 16, 18, and 20 which 
have differing densities on each of two sides of a core layer 12, the 
present application also covers a device 10 having two or more layers of 
resilient material (e.g. 14 and 16 or 18 and 20) which are of the same or 
different densities on only one side of a core layer 12 (or on more sides 
of a differently shaped core layer 12). 
As shown in FIG. 1, the device 10 comprises abrasive material surfaces 22, 
24, and 26. Although the preferred embodiment of the device 10 comprises 
three such abrasive surfaces 22, 24, and 26, the device 10 could comprise 
more or fewer such surfaces. 
While embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, 
various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the 
present invention, and all such modifications and equivalents are intended 
to be covered.