Abstract:
There is provided a make-up kit having a plurality of containers having top surfaces made up of different integer numbers of substantially identically shaped units and bottom surfaces made up of corresponding numbers of substantially identically shaped units, peripheral areas of the top surface units being of complementary shape to peripheral areas of the bottom surface units, so that each container is separably interengageable with at least one other of the containers above or below, by interengagement of the complementary shaped unit peripheral areas. In this way, large or small numbers of identical or different units may be connected together in a large number of different configurations; each differently shaped container effectively forming a differently shaped, but mutually compatible, building block.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to Great Britain Patent Application No. GB0910732.7 filed with the United Kingdom Patent Office on Jun. 22, 2009, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
       RELATED FIELDS 
       [0002]    Embodiments of this invention relate to a kit for storing and organising cosmetic products, make-up application tools and other small personal items, such as personal grooming tools and jewellery, as are commonly found on or around a dressing table. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Such kits are known, for storing and organising cosmetic products such as eye shadow, blusher and face powder, nail varnish, lipsticks, lip gloss, mascara and eyeliner pencils. They may also contain applicator tools such as makeup brushes, puffs and sponges, and personal grooming tools such as mirrors, tweezers, combs and manicure sets. The stored items may be provided as an integral part of the kit, or as “loose” products either supplied with the kit or purchased separately. The kit may therefore include drawers and storage compartments specially adapted to contain products and tools included in the kit as purchased, e.g. godets containing pressed solid cosmetics, such as face powder and the like, or holders of a special shape to removably store tools supplied as part of the kit. Additionally or alternatively the kit as supplied may include empty drawers, storage compartments or similar, for storing makeup, makeup applicator tools and the like, or for storing other small personal items such as jewellery, all acquired separately. 
         [0004]    Known storage and organiser kits of this kind generally comprise a main base, tray, cabinet or container, to which are fitted smaller drawers, shelves, racks, bins or similar storage compartments. These are either permanently fixed, or can only be rearranged to a limited extent, typically being confined to the main base, container or the like, or selectively insertable into/removable therefrom. The present invention aims to provide a more flexible or adaptable makeup storage and organiser kit, which can therefore be “personalised” in a wide variety of ways, and which also provides the user with greater novelty interest. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide a make-up kit comprising a plurality of containers having top surfaces made up of different integer numbers of substantially identically shaped units and bottom surfaces made up of corresponding numbers of substantially identically shaped units, peripheral areas of the top surface units being of complementary shape to peripheral areas of the bottom surface units, so that each container is separably interengageable with at least one other of the containers above or below, by interengagement of the complementary shaped unit peripheral areas. In this way large or small numbers of identical or different units may be connected together in a large number of different configurations; each differently shaped container effectively forming a differently shaped, but mutually compatible, building block. The size of the assembled storage kit is therefore limited substantially only by the number of storage containers used, and its shape is limited only by the relative configurations in which each container may be assembled with others in the kit. 
         [0006]    The complementary shapes may comprise for example a raised rim on one or other of the top or bottom surface units, and a recessed rim on the other one of the top or bottom surface unit. 
         [0007]    The different container top and bottom surfaces in the kit may be made up of two or more of: one unit, two or more units side by side or four or more units in a rectangular array. 
         [0008]    The storage containers may be open topped, e.g. to form a tray for reception of a godet, direct reception of solid or pasty cosmetic substances, or an “empty” tray for storage of loose items. The central portion(s) of the top surface units may be recessed to form the tray; the peripheries of the top surface units forming the top edge of the tray walls. 
         [0009]    Additionally or alternatively, the storage containers may comprise openable drawers. 
         [0010]    Additionally or alternatively, the storage containers may comprise openable lids, either separable from a base part of the container or hingedly or otherwise attached thereto. 
         [0011]    The above and other preferred features of the invention are further described below with reference to illustrative embodiments shown in the drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0012]      FIG. 1   a  shows a top plan view and side view of a first container, more specifically a storage tray forming a component of a kit embodying the invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 1   b  shows a top plan view, front view and side view of a second similar storage tray for use together with the tray of  FIG. 1   a , to form another component of the kit; 
           [0014]      FIG. 1   c  shows top plan, side and front views of a third storage tray for use together with the storage trays of  FIGS. 1   a  and/or  1   b  to form another component of the kit; 
           [0015]      FIGS. 2   a  and  2   b  are perspective views of the trays of  FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b  respectively; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2   c  is a perspective view showing one arrangement in which the trays of the preceding Figures may be stacked together or assembled to form a make-up kit; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a container with an openable lid, which may be used together with or instead of the tray of  FIGS. 1   b  and  2   b  in the kit; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  shows perspective views of three differently sized storage containers having openable drawers and which may be used in the kit instead of or as well as the trays or container of the preceding Figures; the three containers being shown with their drawers shut; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  corresponds to  FIG. 4 , but shows the drawers open; 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  shows two of the containers in  FIG. 4  being assembled; 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  shows the resulting assembly; 
           [0022]      FIG. 8  shows all three of the containers of  FIG. 4  assembled; 
           [0023]      FIG. 9  shows the assembly of  FIG. 8  with the drawers open; and 
           [0024]      FIG. 10  shows various possible assemblies comprising different combinations of the containers of  FIG. 4 , some with open drawers, and others not. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0025]    The storage tray  10  shown in  FIG. 1   a  is generally square in plan, with rounded corners. It is formed for example as a two part plastics injection moulding, with the parts joined along a circumferential line  12  to provide a high quality finish inside and out. The top surface of the tray is formed by an upstanding peripheral rim  14   a , defining an upwardly open, central recess a. The bottom surface of the tray  10  comprises an indented peripheral rim or area  16   a  of complementary shape to the rim  14   a . The outside dimension of the central part of the bottom surface is slightly undersized compared to the inside dimension of the recess a within the rim  14   a , so that the base of an upper tray  10  is a close sliding fit or easy push fit within the rim of a lower tray  10 . Two such trays may thus be assembled together, fixed one upon the other. The rim  14   a  and recess a together form a top surface unit  15   a  which is compatible with substantially identically shaped top surface units also found in other, differently sized and shaped, trays making up the kit. The peripheral indented rim and the central area of the tray base which it encloses, similarly form a bottom surface unit  17   a  of a shape substantially as found in and compatible with those other trays. 
         [0026]    Thus larger tray  20  of  FIGS. 1   b  and  2   b  is also made as a two part injection moulding but has two substantially identical rim portions  14   a  and  14   b  positioned side by side, each substantially identically shaped, and substantially identical in shape to the rim  14   a  of the smaller tray  10 . The rim portions  14   a ,  14   b  of the tray  20  define respective recesses a, b which are substantially identical to each other and to the recess a in the smaller tray  10 . The various recesses in the different trays may accommodate, for example, different shades of eyeliner or other compressed powder or pasty cosmetics. Alternatively, they can be left empty, for orderly storage of loose items. The base of the tray  20  similarly has indented rim portions  16   a ,  16   b  which are of substantially identical size and shape to each other and to peripheral base indent  16   a  of tray  10 . 
         [0027]    The still larger tray  30  of  FIG. 1   c  continues the pattern described above for the trays  10 ,  20 , being otherwise identical to these, but provided with four upwardly open recesses a, b, c, d, defined by four rim portions  14   a ,  14   b ,  14   c ,  14   d  respectively. The base of tray  30  comprises four indented rim portions  16   a ,  16   b ,  16   c ,  16   d  complementary to the rim portions  14   a - d . The rim portions  14   a - d  of tray  30  are likewise substantially identical to and compatible with the rim portion  14   a  of tray  10 ; the indented rim portions  16   a - d  of tray  30  also being substantially identical to and compatible with the indented rim portion  16   a  of tray  10 . Thus tray  10  has a single base surface unit  17   a  and a single top surface unit  15   a ; tray  20  has two such base surface units  17   a ,  17   b  side by side and two such top surface units  15   a ,  15   b  side by side; and tray  30  has a 2×2 array of such base surface units  17   a ,  17   b ,  17   c ,  17   d  and a similar array of such top surface units  15   a ,  15   b ,  15   c ,  15   d . It will be seen that other sizes of compatible trays can be produced, having m x n arrays of base and top units, where m and n are integers greater than zero. 
         [0028]      FIG. 2   c  shows a tray  20  with its base indented rim portions  16   a ,  16   b  engaged in the rim portions  14   a ,  14   b  of a tray  30 , and a tray  10  with its base indented rim portion  16   a  engaged in the rim portion  14   b  of the tray  20 . This leaves recesses c, d of tray  30  exposed for access, as well as the recesses a of trays  10  and  20 . If access to the currently obscured recesses is required, trays can be removed or reconfigured to engage over other recesses until the desired recesses are exposed. 
         [0029]      FIG. 3  shows a modified storage unit based on the tray of  FIGS. 1   b  and  2   b . The storage unit  20   a  comprises a lid  18  connected to a base part  22  by any suitable hinge mechanism. The projecting rim portions  14  on the top of the lid are schematically indicated in dotted lines. The complementary indented rim portions  16  at the bottom of the base part  22  are indicated likewise. Alternatively, the rim portions  14  may be provided on the bottom of the base part and the indented rim portions at the top of the lid. Other container shapes may be provided with other numbers and configurations of top and bottom surface units, e.g. corresponding to, but not limited to those of the trays  10 ,  20 ,  30 . The lid  18  may be otherwise connected to the base  22 , e.g. to slide open, or open by rotation about a vertical axis; or the lid may be opened by removal (complete separation) from the base. 
         [0030]      FIG. 4  shows drawer-type storage containers for use in a kit embodying the invention; in particular a 1 unit storage container  40 , a 2×1 unit storage container  50  and a 2×2 unit storage container  60 . Here the projecting rims  14  are provided on the bottom of each container and the complementary indented rim portions  16  at the top. 
         [0031]      FIG. 5  shows the storage units with their respective drawers  42 ,  52 ,  62  open. Drawer  62  is about twice as big as drawer  52  and may contain, for example, face powder. Drawer  52  is about twice as big as drawer  42  and may contain, for example, blusher. Drawer  42  may contain eye shadow, for example. The ends of the drawer fronts are curved as shown at  44 , to blend with the drawer housings when closed, and form curved corners matching those at the rear of the drawer housing. 
         [0032]      FIG. 6  shows the container  50  being offered up for engagement with the container  60 , with the protruding rim  14  on the bottom of container  50  directly above and in alignment with the right-hand half of the indented rim portion  16  at the top of the container  60 .  FIG. 7  shows the two containers  50 ,  60  in assembled engagement, with the rim  14  received in a corresponding part of the indented rim  16 .  FIG. 7  also shows a relieved area  46  on the drawer housing of container  60  immediately behind the end  44  of the drawer front when in its closed position, so that the drawer front may be more readily gripped for opening.  FIG. 8  shows a storage container  40  added to the assembly, and  FIG. 9  shows all three of the assembled containers with their drawers open. 
         [0033]      FIG. 10  shows various different assemblies of drawer-type storage containers as illustrated in  FIGS. 4-9 . Assembly  70  consists of a vertical stack of six containers  40 , the top three of which are shown arranged with their drawers opening in different directions. Clearly however, each container can be engaged with a neighbouring container in four different relative orientations about the vertical axis, including one in which their drawer opening directions are aligned. Assembly  80  consists of a stack of two containers  50 , the top drawer of which is open to reveal a mirror  82 . Assembly  90  has a bottom layer consisting of a container  60  whose drawer  62  is shown open, and a container  50  (or two containers  40 ) to the right of the container  60  as shown. Assembly  90  also has a top layer consisting of two containers  50 , one in front of the other at the right hand side, and two containers  40 , one in front of the other at the left hand side. The drawer of the rear container  50  is open to reveal two make up applicators  92 . The three further drawers shown open in this assembly contain compressed powder cosmetics. 
         [0034]    Numerous modifications will be readily apparent within the scope of the claims. For example the various features of the tray-type, lidded and drawer-type containers can be used in other combinations not illustrated. Although generally square shaped top and base units have been shown and described, other tessellatable base unit shapes (e.g. rectangular, triangular, hexagonal) can equally be used, either alone or in combination with others. The containers can be assembled and used together in a theoretically limitless number of combinations and configurations. A customer is therefore free to acquire and use any number and type of the kit components, and to use them in a multitude of different combinations and configurations, to customise her own make up kit and personal item storage unit/organiser.