Abstract:
An applicator that causes a liquid applying material accumulated inside, for example, a cosmetic tool, such as an eye liner and an eyebrow pencil, or a gray-hair partially dyeing tool for hair, an eyebrow, or a similar part, to infiltrate into an application portion to use this liquid applying material for application or drawing from a distal end application portion.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to an applicator that causes a liquid applying material accumulated inside, for example, a cosmetic tool, such as an eye liner and an eyebrow pencil, or a gray-hair partially dyeing tool for hair, an eyebrow, or a similar part, to be infiltrate into an application portion to use this liquid applying material for application or drawing from a distal end application portion. 
       BACKGROUND ART 
       [0002]    Conventionally, there has been generally known an applicator (see  FIG. 4 ) such as an eye liner that internally accumulates a liquid applying material. The applicator includes an application member formed of a core material made of a fiber member or a similar member to absorb and infiltrate the liquid applying material. The applicator applies or draws the liquid applying material with a distal end application portion of this application portion. 
         [0003]    To adjust an amount of bulk output of the liquid applying material accumulated inside, these applicators usually include an absorbing body  7  to cover the core material. This absorbing body  7  has been made to be adjusted the amount of output of a liquid applying material  6  delivered to the core material. 
         [0004]    Conventionally, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , this absorbing body  7  is typically manufactured with a resin molded product whose outer peripheral surface is formed into an uneven surface in an accordion shape. Designing the resin molded product has required many adjustments and has required a high cost for the mold. 
         [0005]    A region of a storage  12  to internally accumulate the liquid applying material is fixed; therefore, this region was not able to be changed (see  FIG. 4 ). 
         [0006]    The liquid applying materials  6  have a large number of different viscosities and materials depending on an aspect for use. An amount of accumulation of the liquid applying material  6  accumulated in the storage  12  also variously differs. 
         [0007]    Accordingly, as described above, it has been regarded as difficult to use the applicator and the internal absorbing body  7  that handle the plurality of kinds of the liquid applying materials  6  and have a structure with identical shape and identical size including the cases of different amounts of accumulation. 
         [0008]    That is, the following problems occur. Separately manufacturing the absorbing bodies  7  made of the resin molded products whose length or a similar dimension is changed requires the high cost for the mold. Changing the amount of accumulation requires a change in the size of the applicator itself. 
         [0009]    The liquid applying materials  6  have a large number of different viscosities and materials depending on the aspect for use. The amount of accumulation of the liquid applying material  6  accumulated in the storage  12  also variously differs. 
         [0010]    Accordingly, as described above, it has been regarded as difficult to use the applicator and the internal absorbing body  7  that handle the plurality of kinds of the liquid applying materials  6  and have a structure with identical shape and identical size including the cases of different amounts of accumulation. 
         [0011]    That is, the following problems occur. Separately manufacturing the absorbing bodies  7  made of the resin molded products whose length or a similar dimension is changed requires the high cost for the mold. Changing the amount of accumulation requires the change in the size of the applicator itself. 
         [0012]    The region for the storage  12  to internally accumulate the liquid applying material is fixed; therefore, this region was not able to be changed (see  FIG. 4 ). 
         [0013]    Viscosity of the bulk differs depending on a kind of bulk liquid. Changing the shape of the applicator so as not to cause a liquid leakage according to the bulk liquid with different viscosities results in an extreme cost increase and is therefore utterly unacceptable. 
         [0014]    Accordingly, applicators that can employ an applicator of identical standard even if the viscosity of the bulk differs and are each configured so as not to cause the liquid leakage have been requested. 
       CITATION LIST 
     Patent Literature 
       [0000]    
       
         Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-48678 
         Patent Literature 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-102910 
         Patent Literature 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-344858 
       
     
       Technical Problem 
       [0018]    Thus, an applicator according to the present invention has been invented to solve the conventional problems and an object of the present invention is to provide an applicator configured as follows. Even if a plurality of kinds of liquid applying materials of different viscosities and materials accumulated inside are present or amounts of accumulation of the liquid applying material accumulated in the storage variously differ, the applicator can handle the plurality of kinds of liquid applying materials. Moreover, the applicator with identical shape and identical size can handle the plurality of kinds of the liquid applying materials including the case of different amount of accumulation. Further, the object of the present invention is to provide an applicator configured as follows. Even if a plurality of kinds of the liquid applying materials, namely, bulk liquid, of different viscosities and materials accumulated inside are present or the amounts of accumulation of the liquid applying material accumulated in the storage variously differ, the applicator can handle the plurality of kinds of bulk liquid. Further, even if respective viscosities of the bulk liquid differ, an applicator of identical standard can be used so as not to cause a liquid leakage. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
       [0019]    An applicator includes an approximately cylindrical-shaped body, an application member, a storage, and a liquid applying material absorbing body. The application member is housed inside the body. The storage accumulates a liquid applying material impregnated into the application member. The liquid applying material absorbing body adjusts an amount of the impregnation of the liquid applying material to the application member. The storage is configured to increase and reduce an accumulation region for the liquid applying material. 
         [0020]    Alternatively, an applicator according to the present invention includes an approximately cylindrical-shaped body, an application member, a storage, and a liquid applying material absorbing body. The application member is housed inside the body. The storage accumulates a liquid applying material impregnated into the application member. The liquid applying material absorbing body adjusts an amount of the impregnation of the liquid applying material to the application member. The liquid applying material absorbing body has a changeable size to ensure increasing and reducing the amount of impregnation of the liquid applying material. 
         [0021]    Alternatively, an applicator includes a tube-shaped body, an application member, a storage, a liquid applying material absorbing body, and a compression member. The application member is housed inside the body. The storage accumulates a liquid applying material impregnated into the application member. The liquid applying material absorbing body adjusts an amount of the impregnation of the liquid applying material to the application member. The compression member compresses the liquid applying material absorbing body disposed inside the body in the body. 
         [0022]    The compression member has a structure by which a degree of the compression of the liquid applying material absorbing body inside the body is changeable and the amount of impregnation of the liquid applying material impregnated into the application member is adjustable. 
         [0023]    Alternatively, the liquid applying material absorbing body is constituted of a foam material internally having an open cell structure. 
         [0024]    Alternatively, the storage internally includes a ball for stirring. 
       Advantageous Effects of Invention 
       [0025]    With the applicator according to the present invention, even if a plurality of kinds of liquid applying materials of different viscosities and materials accumulated inside are present or the amounts of accumulation of the liquid applying material accumulated in the storage variously differ, the applicator can handle the plurality of kinds of liquid applying materials. Moreover, the applicator with identical shape and identical size can handle the plurality of kinds of the liquid applying materials including the case of different amount of accumulation. Further, even if a plurality of kinds of the liquid applying materials of different viscosities and materials accumulated inside are present or the amounts of accumulation of the liquid applying material accumulated in the storage variously differ, the applicator can handle the plurality of kinds of liquid applying materials. Further, even if respective viscosities of bulk liquid differ, an applicator of identical standard can be used so as not to cause the liquid leakage. Thus, the present invention can provide the excellent effects. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0026]      FIG. 1  is an explanatory view ( 1 ) describing a configuration of an applicator according to a first embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0027]      FIG. 2  is an explanatory view ( 2 ) describing the configuration of the applicator according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0028]      FIGS. 3A and 3B  are an explanatory views describing a configuration of a plug; 
           [0029]      FIG. 4  is an explanatory view describing a configuration of a conventional applicator; 
           [0030]      FIG. 5  is an explanatory view describing a configuration of a conventional absorbing body; 
           [0031]      FIG. 6  is an explanatory view ( 1 ) describing a configuration of an applicator according to a second embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0032]      FIG. 7  is an explanatory view ( 2 ) describing the configuration of the applicator according to the second embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0033]      FIGS. 8A and 8B  are tables describing results of a swing inspection after liquid filling. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       [0034]    The following describes the present invention based on embodiments illustrated in the drawings. 
         [0035]      FIG. 1  is a configuration explanatory view describing a configuration of an applicator  1  according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0036]    The applicator  1  according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes an approximately cylindrical-shaped body  2 . 
         [0037]    The applicator  1  also includes a cap  3  and an inner cap  4 . 
         [0038]    The body  2  internally holds a core-like application member  5 . 
         [0039]    This application member  5  is usually made of a fiber member such that a liquid applying material  6 , which will be described later, can be gradually impregnated by, for example, capillarity. 
         [0040]    An absorbing body  7  is used. 
         [0041]    As understandable from  FIG. 1 , this absorbing body  7  is formed into a columnar shape whose outer peripheral surface has no concavo-convex shape. The absorbing body  7  includes an axially-extending through-hole  8  at a center in the axial direction. 
         [0042]    The application member  5  is inserted through and mounted to this through-hole  8 . 
         [0043]    Conventionally, as illustrated in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , this absorbing body  7  has been manufactured with a resin molded product whose outer periphery has been configured as an uneven surface in an accordion shape. However, as described above, the cost taken for the mold is high. Therefore, manufacturing the absorbing bodies  7  with a plurality of different kinds of forms resulted in the expensive cost of the applicator itself. 
         [0044]    Accordingly, the absorbing body  7  of the present invention is formed of a flexible member with impregnation force such as polyurethane. Easily cutting a size and a length of the absorbing body  7  can change the absorbing body  7 . 
         [0045]    A nose piece  9  is used. The nose piece  9  holds a distal end side of the core-like application member  5  and is fixedly secured to a tip end of the body  2 . 
         [0046]    A drawing member  10  is fitted onto and mounted to the distal end side of the application member  5 . This drawing member  10  performs a drawing or an application with the impregnated liquid applying material  6 . 
         [0047]    Next, a plug  11  is used. The plug  11  causes a rear end side of the application member  5  to be inserted through the inside of the body  2  and holds the application member  5 . The plug  11  causes a rear end portion of the application member  5  to be exposed to a storage  12 , which is formed adjacent to the plug  11 . 
         [0048]    As understood from  FIG. 3 , as described above, the plug  11  causes the rear end side of the application member  5  to be inserted through the inside of a through-hole  16  to hold the application member  5 . A shape of this through-hole  16  is formed into a different shape such as a square or a hexagonal shape. 
         [0049]    This configuration is made aiming to adjust a width of a clearance between the through-hole  16  and the application member  5 , which is inserted through the through-hole  16 , according to the viscosity and the material of the liquid applying material  6  and to adjust an amount of the liquid applying material  6  infiltrated to the absorbing body  7 . 
         [0050]    Here, the storage  12  accumulates the liquid applying material  6 . 
         [0051]    A stop plug  13  to form the storage  12  is used. 
         [0052]    Thus, this stop plug  13  is mountable to any position of the body  2  in a longitudinal direction; therefore, a region for the storage  12  can be easily changed. 
         [0053]    A ball  14  is used. After the storage  12  accumulates the liquid applying material  6 , putting this ball  14  into this storage  12  allows accelerating the impregnation of the liquid applying material  6  into the application member  5 ; thereby ensuring fully use of the liquid applying material  6  to the end. 
         [0054]    The applicator  1  without a ball  14  exists. 
         [0055]    With the above-described configuration, the following describes an assembly of the applicator  1 . First, the body  2  internally includes the drawing member  10  via the nose piece  9  at the distal end. The core-like application member  5  is mounted to the rear end side of the drawing member  10  to which the absorbing body  7 , which is cut to a desired length, and the plug  11  are mounted. 
         [0056]    Afterwards, the liquid applying material  6  is filled in the storage  12 , which is configured to be the desired region space, from a rear end opening  15  of the body  2 . The storage  12  is lidded with the stop plug  13  to accumulate the liquid applying material  6  in the storage  12 . 
         [0057]    Afterwards, the rear end of the body  2  is lidded with a tail plug  17  to terminate the assembly. 
         [0058]    Next, the following describes a second embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0059]      FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  are configuration explanatory views describing configurations of the applicator  1  according to the second embodiment. 
         [0060]    Similar to the applicator  1  of the first embodiment, the applicator  1  of the second embodiment also includes the approximately cylindrical-shaped body  2 , the cap  3 , and the inner cap  4 . 
         [0061]    The body  2  internally holds the core-like application member  5 . 
         [0062]    This application member  5  is usually made of a fiber member such that the liquid applying material  6 , which will be described later, can be gradually impregnated by, for example, capillarity. 
         [0063]    As understandable from  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 , this absorbing body  7  is formed into a columnar shape whose outer peripheral surface has no concavo-convex shape. The absorbing body  7  includes the through-hole  8 , which is inserted through in the axial direction, at the center in the axial direction. 
         [0064]    The application member  5  is inserted through and mounted to this through-hole  8 . 
         [0065]    Thus, the absorbing body  7  is, for example, constituted of the flexible member with the impregnation force such as a foam material that internally has open cells. Easily cutting the size and the length of the absorbing body  7  can change the shape. 
         [0066]    The nose piece  9  is used. The nose piece  9  holds the distal end side of the core-like application member  5  and is fixedly secured to the tip end of the body  2 . 
         [0067]    The drawing member  10  is fitted onto and mounted to the distal end side of the application member  5 . This drawing member  10  performs the drawing or the application with the impregnated liquid applying material  6 . 
         [0068]    Next, the plug  11  is used. The plug  11  causes the rear end side of the application member  5  to be inserted through the inside of the body  2  and holds the application member  5 . The plug  11  causes the rear end portion of the application member  5  to be exposed to the storage  12 , which is formed adjacent to the plug  11 . 
         [0069]    As described above, the plug  11  causes the rear end side of the application member  5  to be inserted through the inside of the through-hole  16  to hold the application member  5 . The shape of this through-hole  16  is formed into the different shape such as the square or the hexagonal shape. 
         [0070]    This configuration is made aiming to adjust the width of the clearance between the through-hole  16  and the application member  5 , which is inserted through the through-hole  16 , according to the viscosity and the material of the liquid applying material  6  and to adjust the amount of the liquid applying material  6  infiltrated to the absorbing body  7 . 
         [0071]    Here, the storage  12  accumulates the liquid applying material  6 . 
         [0072]    The stop plug  13  to form the storage  12  is used. 
         [0073]    Thus, this stop plug  13  is mountable to any position of the body  2  in the longitudinal direction; therefore, the region for the storage  12  can be easily changed. 
         [0074]    The ball  14  is used. After the storage  12  accumulates the liquid applying material  6 , putting this ball  14  into this storage  12  allows accelerating the impregnation of the liquid applying material  6  into the application member  5 ; thereby ensuring fully use of the liquid applying material  6  to the end. 
         [0075]    The applicator  1  without the ball  14  exists. 
         [0076]    Next, with the second embodiment, the following describes the assembly of the applicator  1 . First, the body  2  internally includes the drawing member  10  via the nose piece  9  at the distal end. The core-like application member  5  is mounted to the rear end side of the drawing member  10  to which the absorbing body  7 , which is cut to a desired length, and the plug  11  are mounted. 
         [0077]    Afterwards, the liquid applying material  6  is filled in the storage  12 , which is configured to be the desired region space, from the rear end opening  15  of the body  2 . The storage  12  is lidded with the stop plug  13  to accumulate the liquid applying material  6  in the storage  12 . 
         [0078]    Afterwards, the rear end of the body  2  is lidded with the tail plug  17  to terminate the assembly. 
         [0079]    The viscosity of the liquid applying material  6  depends on the kind of the liquid applying material  6 ; therefore, with the liquid applying material  6  with small viscosity, a liquid leakage has possibly occurred from the drawing member  10  mounted to the distal end of the application member  5 . 
         [0080]    However, to prevent this liquid leakage, although the applicators have been configured by differentiating the length of the absorbing bodies  7  and differentiating the size of the storages  12 , only this configuration failed to finally solve the liquid leakage. 
         [0081]    Therefore, this embodiment has configured the following applicator  1  of the present invention. The applicators  1  can be constituted of the one kind of the applicators  1  that do not cause the liquid leakage according to the bulk viscosities of respective kinds even if the applicator  1  where the absorbing body  7  designed to be the identical size (length) and the storage  12  designed to be the identical size are incorporated. 
         [0082]    That is, the body  2  internally includes a compression member  20 . The compression member  20  compresses the absorbing body  7 , which is housed in the body  2  of the applicator  1 , to change the size (length) of the absorbing body  7 . 
         [0083]    The absorbing body  7  is, as described above, formed of the foam material that internally has open cells. 
         [0084]    As understood from the drawing, this absorbing body  7  has the through-hole  8  through which the application member  5  axially passes. 
         [0085]    As illustrated in  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 , mediating the compression member  20  on one side of the absorbing body  7  compresses the absorbing body  7  in the longitudinal direction by the length of the mediated compression member  20 . 
         [0086]    That is, with the absorbing body  7  with a length of 20 mm, mediating the compression member  20  with a length of 4 mm compresses the absorbing body  7  to the length of 16 mm, thus shortening the absorbing body  7 . 
         [0087]    Compressing the absorbing body  7 , which is formed of the foam material internally having open cells, increases adhesiveness with the application member  5  inserted through the through-hole  8 . This suctions up the liquid applying material  6  penetrated to the application member  5  by capillarity. 
         [0088]    Accordingly, the extra liquid applying material  6  is not impregnated into the application member  5  and the drawing member  10 , thereby ensuring preventing the liquid leakage of the liquid applying material  6 . 
         [0089]      FIG. 8  illustrates the experimental results. 
         [0090]    In  FIG. 8 , the three applicators  1  with similar configuration were created as a sample  1 , a sample  2 , and a sample  3 . A swing inspection test was conducted on the respective samples with no compression member  20 , with the compression member  20  with a length of 4 mm, and the compression member  20  with the length of 5.5 mm after the liquid applying material  6  was filled. 
         [0091]    The swing inspection is an inspection that holds the applicator  1  and vertically swings the held applicator  1  several times. 
         [0092]    This inspection inspected the number of swings at which the liquid leakage occurred. 
         [0093]    The viscosity of the liquid applying material  6  was designed to be 6.0 CP (centipoise). 
         [0094]    Then, as shown in  FIG. 8 , among the samples with no compression member  20 , swinging the sample  1  and the sample  2  six times caused the liquid leakage, and swinging the sample  3  five times caused the liquid leakage. 
         [0095]    In the case where the samples included the 4-mm compression member  20  inside the body  2  and the absorbing body  7  was compressed, swinging the sample  1  eight times caused the liquid leakage, swinging the sample  2  seven times caused the liquid leakage, and swinging the sample  3  nine times caused the liquid leakage. 
         [0096]    Furthermore, in the case where the samples included the compression member  20  with the length of 5.5 mm and the absorbing body  7  was compressed, swinging the sample  1  twelve times caused the liquid leakage, swinging the sample  2  eleven times caused the liquid leakage, and swinging the sample  3  thirteen times caused the liquid leakage. 
         [0097]    Next, the viscosity of the liquid applying material  6  was changed to 5.0 CP (centipoise) and the test was conducted again. 
         [0098]    In the samples with no compression member  20 , swinging the sample  1 , the sample  2 , and the sample  3  four times caused the liquid leakage. 
         [0099]    In the case where the samples included the compression member  20  with the length of 4 mm and the absorbing body  7  was compressed, swinging the sample  1  six times caused the liquid leakage, swinging the sample  2  seven times caused the liquid leakage, and swinging the sample  3  six times caused the liquid leakage. 
         [0100]    Furthermore, in the case where the samples included the compression member  20  with the length of 5.5 mm and the absorbing body  7  was compressed, swinging the sample  1  and the sample  2  ninth times caused the liquid leakage, and swinging the sample  3  ten times caused the liquid leakage. 
         [0101]    Thus, compressing the absorbing body  7  in the longitudinal direction with the compression member  20  to increase the adhesiveness with the application member  5  does not penetrate the extra liquid applying material  6  to the application member  5  and the absorbing body  7  absorbs the extra liquid applying material  6 . 
         [0102]    Consequently, it has proved that the applicator  1  of the present invention does not cause the liquid leakage. 
       REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 
       [0000]    
       
           1  applicator 
           2  body 
           3  cap 
           4  inner cap 
           5  application member 
           6  liquid applying material 
           7  absorbing body 
           8  through-hole 
           9  nose piece 
           10  drawing member 
           11  plug 
           12  storage 
           13  stop plug 
           14  ball 
           15  rear end opening 
           16  through-hole 
           17  tail plug 
           20  compression member