Patent Publication Number: US-6981811-B2

Title: Lip product applicator

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/934,076, filed Aug. 21, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,323, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention is directed to improvements in applicators for applying lip products to the lips including lip stick or pomade type applicators. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   There are many lip cosmetic and other lip products on the market. These may include, for example, lip gloss, lip sticks, lip balm and others. While some lip products may be applied by a finger or a brush from a container, many more are dispensed through the use of a lip applicator. Lip sticks are usually applied through the use of a lip applicator that has a receptacle for the stick of a lip product. The receptacle is usually a recessed member designed to hold a portion of one end of the lip stick. The remainder of the stick extends from the receptacle. The receptacle reposes in a mechanism for extending and retracting the lip stick from the applicator as product is to be used or to store the delicate stick when it is not being applied. There is also a cover over the applicator for further protecting the stick. In some instances the cover may be made of a clear material to permit the purchaser to be able to view the color of the stick. 
   One of the problems with lip sticks is that the stick can easily be damaged or break off if the proper care is not taken. Another problem with lip sticks arises when the user fails to return the stick to a recessed position after use. In these situations, the stick can become smudged, smashed or lose its shape if the cap is placed on the extended lip stick. When a lip stick is initially purchased, the stick is pre-shaped to a point or the stick is angled to permit the user to apply the lip stick in the desired manner. As time goes on, however, the lip stick, because it is relatively soft, has a tendency to lose the crisp point or angle it arrived with. As a result, it becomes more difficult for the user to obtain the clean lines that are usually sought. One effect of such abrasion is that the user either disposes of the product before it is completely used or attempts to reshape the tip. 
   Another issue with respect to lip sticks or pomades relates to color selection. Many consumers are very particular in selecting the color of their lipstick. Color is important for a number of reasons. One important factor in color selection is each person&#39;s individual tastes. People have preferences for certain colors over others. One person may like one color more than another. A person may think that one color looks better than another on them. Skin coloring can also enter into the equation. One color may look better with one person&#39;s skin tone but not another&#39;s. Also, a fashion sense also becomes a factor. There are some colors that may be “in” at one point of time but not another. 
   Cosmetic companies try to inform the consumer of the color that a lipstick may have in a number of ways. One approach is to provide the lipstick applicator with a clear cover that permits the consumer to view the lipstick through the cover. Because lip stick applicators are not only a product dispenser but also can be a fashion accessory, a clear cover is not always desired by the manufacturer or the purchaser for many reasons including aesthetic or styling reasons. Another approach is to use a color sample on the package, on the applicator or elsewhere. While this gives the consumer some color information there are issues with the color card or sample. First, the color is printed on paper. Paper while reproducing the color to a certain extent does not identically match the color in the applicator. The difference caused by the paper can also be exacerbated depending on the type of paper the color is reproduced on. Depending on whether the paper has a matte finish or a glossy finish and what the background color is that the color swatch has around it the eye may perceive a difference between the color on the paper and the actual color of the product in the package. Some manufacturers attempt to avoid this discrepancy by permitting the user to remove the cap and see the actual product contained therein. While this solves the color selection concern there are other sometimes more serious issues caused by this approach. The manufacturer runs the risk that the consumer does more than just view the product and actually samples it by applying it to the lips. For some reason, many consumers after sampling the product in this manner do not purchase the specific item sampled but rather pick an unused one to purchase. Permitting the consumer to have access to the product can raise very serious safety concerns due to the risk of product tampering. Also, when the consumer has access to the product in the store, there is also the possibility that the product can become contaminated from the use. Even apart from these issues, when the product is available in this manner, the consumer is not always careful in replacing the cap, retracting the product into the applicator prior to replacing the cap, etc. 
   OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
   It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved lip applicator. 
   It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved lip applicator that has an applicator portion that provides accurate application of lip product to the lips. 
   It is also an object of the invention to provide a lip applicator in which the applicator portion retains its shape over use. 
   It is another object of the invention to provide a lip applicator that has a viewing window in the cap to permit the purchaser to view the contents of the product without opening the product. 
   It is a still further object of the invention to provide a lip applicator that has a unique dispensing system. 
   It is an object of the invention to provide a lip applicator with a unique tip for applying lip product. 
   It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an improved applicator surface that permits the lip product to be applied in a smooth manner as if it were a traditional stick of lip product or a pomade. 
   It is also an object of the invention to provide a lip applicator that permits the consumer to see the quantity of lip product present in the applicator at the time of purchase and during use. 
   It is another object of the invention to provide an improved lip product applicator that provides more complete removal of the lip product from the dispenser. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention is directed to an improved lip applicator that has a body and a cap for protecting the lip product in the applicator. The cap may be provided with one or more windows to permit viewing of the color of the lip applicator. If desired, the window may be on one side of the cap, on two opposite sides of the cap or in other areas as desired. For those instances where the window is on both sides of the cap the two window sections may be individual windows or the windows may be joined by a top window portion that extends across the top surface of the cap. The window may be made of any suitable material such as a clear plastic such as a glycol modified polyethylene-terephthalate polymer material (PETG) or other clear material. The applicator of the present invention may be used to dispense lip products or any other products that have a creamy or pasty consistency including but not limited to concealer and eye shadow. 
   The base of the body may be provided with an opening to receive a top portion of a fragrance container. The fragrance container is secured into the base by a cap member that receives the top of the perfume dispenser and seals the perfume container. Other cosmetic or other containers can be substituted for the perfume container. For example, there may be a bottle of nail polish, face cream, lip gloss, eye shadow, eye liner, powder, cream and others. 
   The body of the applicator may be a hollow tube, open at both ends. An open end on the bottom of the body conveniently permits insertion of the remainder of the lip applicator into the body as well as permitting filling of the applicator with lip product through that end. An end piece may be applied over the open end when assembly or filling is completed. 
   A product reservoir is positioned within the body and is preferably a generally hollow member having a round side wall and a tip. At the open end of the reservoir there is positioned a drive means for driving product from the applicator to be applied to the user&#39;s lips. The drive means may be a disk that is usually outside of the reservoir and preferably secured within the body of the applicator. Extending from one side of the disk is a support member that extends from the side of the disk that is opposite the base of the body. The support member can either be integral with the disk or a separate member therefrom. If it is a separate member, it should be secured to the disk in some fashion. The support member is inserted into the open end of the reservoir. 
   The support member provides an anchoring means for the screw means. The screw means is a threaded rod that has one end embedded in or secured to the support member and the other end free within the reservoir. Riding on the screw means is a driving member which is a round disk-like member that has the screw means pass through generally the center thereof. The driving member receives the threads of the screw means and rides upwardly or downwardly on the threads as the body of the applicator is turned. To prevent the driving member from merely turning in response to the motion of the body and not traveling in the reservoir, the interior wall is preferably provided with a guide member that extends from the wall of the reservoir along at least a portion of its length and mates with a recess along the edge of the driving member. The travel of the driving member upwardly forces product within the reservoir to be dispensed. 
   Adhered to a portion of the circumference of the reservoir is a turning collar or A-shell which is connected to the reservoir by a suitable means and provides an area where the user of the lip product holds the applicator to prevent the reservoir from turning as the body is being turned. The turning collar or A-shell may be provided with a window permitting the purchaser to view the product&#39;s color and to also determine the amount of product remaining in the reservoir. The window may be a strip of clear material such as PETG or other clear material. 
   The reservoir has a tip that is preferably tapered and is provided with a tear drop shaped face. The face is also preferably slightly concave along both the vertical and horizontal axes to permit lip product to be retained on the face when it is discharged from the reservoir. The face is preferably provided with a plurality of canals or channels for receiving lip product. In a preferred embodiment the channels or canals are arranged such that there is perimeter canal that traces the edge of the face, a first vertical canal that extends downwardly from the orifice. The first vertical canal may be crossed by first and second horizontal canals. The perimeter canal keeps applicator clean and prevents lip product from spilling down the sides. 
   The cap prevents contamination of the product when the applicator is not in use. Where the cap meets the body there may be a skirt or trim ring. The interior of the cap is provided with a plug which is inserted into the orifice in the tip to prevent product from being expelled during storage and to protect the product from contamination when not in use. The plug may be tapered. The plug may also keep the product applicator airtight to prevent damage to the product. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a side view of a representative lip stick applicator of the present invention with a perfume dispenser present. 
       FIG. 1A  is a partial top view of the cap of FIG.  1 . 
       FIG. 2  is a cut away view of the lip stick applicator of FIG.  1 . 
       FIG. 3  is a side view of the reservoir and tip. 
       FIG. 4  is a front view of the reservoir and tip showing the face of the applicator. 
       FIG. 5  is a detailed view of the face of the tip. 
       FIG. 6A  is a front view of the driving member. 
       FIG. 6B  is a side view of the wall of the reservoir with a driving member in the reservoir. 
       FIG. 6C  is a side view of the driving member. 
       FIG. 7A  is a front view of the drive means disk. 
       FIG. 7B  is a side view of one embodiment of the drive means. 
       FIG. 7C  is side view of another embodiment of the drive means. 
       FIGS. 8A and 8B  are side views of the cap of a container and the base of the body prior to insertion. 
       FIG. 9  is a side view of an alternative embodiment where an end piece is present at the base of the body. 
       FIG. 10A  is an end view of the end piece. 
       FIG. 10B  is a side view of the end piece. 
       FIG. 11A  is a side view of the collar or A-shell of the applicator. 
       FIG. 11B  is a side view of the reservoir for the applicator without the collar. 
       FIG. 11C  is a side view of the reservoir of the applicator with the collar in place. 
       FIG. 11D  is an alternative embodiment of the face of the applicator. 
       FIG. 12A  is a side view of the collar or A-shell of the applicator with a window present. 
       FIG. 12B  is a side view of the reservoir for the applicator without the collar. 
       FIG. 12C  is a side view of the reservoir of the applicator with the collar in place showing the window. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   As seen in  FIG. 1  there is a lip applicator  10  that has a body  11 , and a cap  12  for protecting the lip product contained in the applicator when the lip applicator is not in use. The cap  12  may be provided with one or more windows  13  to permit the purchaser to view the color of the contents contained therein. This feature helps eliminate the guess work that a consumer must perform to ascertain the color of the lip product in lip applicators that do not have the traditional clear cap. The window may have a first edge  17 , a second edge  18  and a base edge  19 . If desired, the window may be on one side of the cap, on two opposite sides of the cap or more as desired. For those instances where the window may be on both sides of the cap, the two window sections may be individual windows or the windows may be joined by a top window portion  20  that extends across a portion of the cap. The window may be made of any suitable material such as a clear plastic or other material that permits viewing of the product contained therein. Although the window is shown as generally rectangular it will be appreciated that the window may be round or given any shape desired. 
   The lip applicator of the present invention may be any shape although traditionally, these applicators are generally long and slender, i.e., have a length greater than their width. The applicator body and cap can have a round cross section, rectangular cross section or any other cross sectional shape desired. In one embodiment, the cross sectional shape may be a polygon such as a hexagon, heptagon or octagon. The body  11  of the applicator may end in a base  14  that is preferably flat to permit the applicator to stand in a vertical orientation. 
   In one embodiment of the invention, the base  14  of the body may be provided with an opening  15  to receive a top portion of a fragrance container  21  as described more fully in our U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/842372 filed Apr. 25, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The fragrance container is secured into the base by a cap member  16  that receives the top of the fragrance container and seals the container. In addition, the cap member  16  may be secured to the interior surface of the body  11  by an adhesive, or other means such as threading, a friction fit, etc. The cap member  16  maybe threaded on its interior surface  23  to receive the threaded top of the perfume container. A snap fit and other types of means to secure the container to the cap member may also be used as desired. Although the presence of a perfume container has been described herein, it will be appreciated that other cosmetic or other containers can be substituted for the perfume container shown herein. For example, there may be a bottle of nail polish, face cream, lip gloss, eye shadow, eye liner, powder, cream and others. 
   The applicator of the present invention is shown in more detail in FIG.  2 . The body  11  may be a hollow tube, open at both ends, a cup like member with a base section and sidewalls, etc. The hollow tube arrangement is particularly advantageous where there is a perfume or other container present in one end of the body. Also, a hollow tube is useful even when another container is not present extending from the body. In these instances, an open end on the bottom of the body conveniently permits insertion of the remainder of the lip applicator into the body as well as permitting filling of the applicator with lip product through that end. An end piece  71  may be applied over the open end when assembly or filling is completed. This end piece may be adhered to the body by a suitable adhesive or it may be secured by other conventional means. 
   Within the body  11  is positioned a product reservoir  30  which is preferably a generally hollow member having a side wall  31  and a tip  32 . The reservoir can be a round tubular member or have another shape for the cross section. The tip may be integral with the sidewall or may be a separate member. Where the tip is integral, the reservoir is usually open at the end  33  opposite the tip. This open end can be used to fill the reservoir with a lip product. The lip product is not the typical solid lip product that is usually found in most sticks of lip product but is preferably of a pasty or semi-soft consistency so that it will flow from the applicator upon an application of pressure. At the open end of the reservoir  33  there is positioned a drive means  34  for driving product from the applicator to be applied to the user&#39;s lips. 
   The drive means may be a disk  24  that is usually outside of the reservoir  30  and preferably secured within the body  11  of the applicator. One means of securing the disk in the body is by an adhesive. Another approach is to make the body slightly tapered and the diameter of the disk should be slightly larger than at least a portion of the inner diameter of the body. Although the term diameter is used herein to describe the distance from one inner wall of the body to the other, it will be appreciated that the inner wall need not be circular and the disk similarly need not be circular. As long as the disk can be secured to the body the disk and the body can be any shape. As seen in  FIG. 7A  the disk  24  has a polygonal perimeter and is not round. It has been found that such a design provides sufficient friction so that the disk is secure in the body. Extending from one side of the disk  24  is a support member  25 . The support member  25  extends from the side of the disk that is opposite the base  14  of the body. Support member  25  can either be integral with the disk  24  or a separate member therefrom. If it is a separate member, it should be secured to the disk in some fashion. Support member  25  is inserted into the open end  33  of the reservoir  30 . On top of support member  25  there may be a sponge type material  25 A to help seal the end of the reservoir but this sponge member is not necessary in most instances. 
   The support member  25  provides an anchoring means for the screw means  26 . The screw means  26  is generally in the center of one side of the support member. As seen in  FIG. 7B  the screw means  26  is a threaded rod that has one end embedded in or secured to the support member  25  and the other end preferably being free within the reservoir  30 . Alternatively, the screw means may be anchored at its end opposite to the support member in the underside of the tip  32 . Riding on the screw means  26  is driving member  27 . The driving member  27  is preferably a round disk-like member that has the screw means pass through generally the center thereof. Although the driving member may be generally parallel to the base of the body, in one embodiment the driving member may be angled as shown at  28 . Where the driving member is angled, the underside of the tip  32  should also be angled to permit the user to remove as much product as possible from the applicator. The driving member  27  receives the threads of the screw means  26  and rides upwardly or downwardly on the threads as the body of the applicator is turned. To prevent the driving member  27  from merely turning in response to the motion of the body  11  and not traveling in the reservoir, the interior wall is preferably provided with a guide member  41  that extends from the wall of the reservoir along at least a portion of its length. The driving member has a recess along its edge  43  for receiving the guide member  41 . Alternatively, the driving member  27  may be provided with the guide member and the inside wall surface of the reservoir has a recess for receiving the guide member on the driving member. The travel of the driving member  27  upwardly forces product within the reservoir to be dispensed. 
   Around the reservoir  30  and generally in the vicinity of the open end  33  may be a turning collar or A-shell  35 . Turning collar  35  is between the body  11  and the reservoir  30 . In this preferred embodiment, the collar  35  is adhered to a portion of the circumference of the reservoir  30 . The collar acts as a finger hold to provide an area where the user of the lip product can place their fingers to prevent the reservoir from turning as the body is being turned to drive the driving member  28  to dispense or retract product. The collar is connected to the reservoir by a suitable means. The collar  35  preferably has one end slightly within the end of the body primarily for aesthetic reasons. The finger hold may preferably be either entirely made of a clear material or the hand hold may be provided with a slit or window  37  permitting the purchaser to view the product&#39;s color with the cap removed and to also determine the amount of product remaining in the reservoir. When a slit is present it may extend from the edge of the turning collar  35  and have a pair of side edges  73  and  74  as well as a base portion  75 . In another embodiment the slit does not extend to the edge of the collar  72 . When a window is present the window preferably does not extend to the edge of the collar and has a top edge  76 , side edges  73  and  74  and base portion  75 . The window may be a strip of clear material such as PETG or other clear material. As discussed above, the window and or slit is depicted generally rectangularly but any number of shapes are satisfactory as long as the amount of product or the color can be viewed through the window or slit. 
   As noted above, the reservoir  30  has a tip  32 . This tip is preferably tapered in the manner shown in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The tip is provided with a tear drop shape. More specifically, the tip  32  has a face  50  that in addition to the teardrop shape is also preferably slightly concave along both the vertical and horizontal axes to permit lip product to be retained on the face when it is discharged from the reservoir  30  through tube  51  and out of orifice  52 . The orifice  52  may be larger in diameter than the tube  51  or the orifice may be angled and then the orifice will appear to be larger due to the angle of the face  50 . The face  50  is preferably provided with a plurality of canals or channels  53  for receiving lip product. In a preferred embodiment the canals are arranged such that there is a perimeter canal  54  that traces the edge of the face, a first vertical canal  55  that extends from the orifice  52 . The first vertical canal  55  may be bisected by first and second horizontal canals  56  and  57 . An alternative embodiment of the face is shown in FIG.  11 D. Although it has been found that the arrangement of the canals permits the user to apply lip product in a manner similar to the traditional lip stick there are other arrangements that may be used. One of the advantages of the present invention is that the applicator tip maintains its shape and provides an angle far applying the lip product that is similar to the angle of the traditional lip stick without wearing away from use or having its shape distorted. In a preferred embodiment, the tip of the lip applicator is clear or translucent so that the color of the product shows through it. In another embodiment, the tip maybe colored to mask the color of the lip material. 
   The cap  12  fits over the applicator tip to prevent contamination of the product when the applicator is not in use. Where the cap  12  meets the body  11  there is provided a skirt  58  which aids in disguising any minor differences in the size of the cap compared to the size of the body. The interior of the cap is provided with plug  59  which is inserted into the orifice  52  to prevent product from being expelled during storage and to protect the product from contamination when not in use. In a preferred embodiment, the plug  59  is tapered, i.e., is narrower at the tip  60  than it is at its base  61 . The base  61  of the plug  59  is secured to the cap by any convenient means. One preferred means that is particularly suitable where the window in the cap extends over the top portion of the cap is to provide the interior surface of the cap with a protruding member  62  having a head  63  that is larger than its stem  64 . This head is inserted in a recess  65  in plug  59  and secures the plug to the cap.