Patent ID: 7374360

Claim:
A personal care dispenser/applicator apparatus comprising: a barrel having: a bottom end; a top end; and a sidewall extending between the bottom end and the top end; a piston upwardly moveable within the barrel from a first position to a second position; a body of a personal care composition at least partially within the barrel between the piston and the top end; and an actuator coupled to the piston to shift the piston upward and comprising: a user-engagable element; a screw member having: a threaded first portion engaged to the piston for relative rotation about a first axis; and a second portion engaged to the user-engagable element to permit a user-induced rotation of the user-engageable element about the first axis to, in turn, rotate the first portion while accommodating a shift of the screw member relative to the user-engageable element along the first axis; and a spring, separately formed from the user-engageable element and the screw member and coupled to the screw member and user engageable member to bias the screw member from a relatively raised first position to a relatively lowered second position, wherein: interfitting portions of the user-engageable member and the barrel cooperate to retain the user-engageable member against translation along the first axis but hold the user engageable member for rotation around the first axis.