DE29618136U1 - Shaped piece, in particular soap piece - Google Patents

Description

Moulded piece, especially soap bar

The invention relates to a molded part made of a substance intended for consumption by removal. This particularly concerns bars of soap.

From a geometric point of view, conventional bars of soap represent a body that is limited by an essentially convexly curved surface. The geometric bodies of conventional, commercially available bars of soap can be roughly characterized as a hybrid between a flat cuboid with rounded edges and corners on the one hand and an ellipsoid on the other. This is only a rough characterization, however; bars of soap are also known in which the cross-sections along a main axis are all circular.

15 However, all known soap bars and similar shaped pieces made of a substance intended for consumption by removal have in common that any part of the surface of this geometric body is convexly curved, i.e. the respective centre of curvature lies on the side applied to the outside, i.e.

20 either inside the fitting or - in the case of flat bends -

Please reply to:

Brunswick:

Theodor-Heuss-Straße 1 D-3S122 Braunschweig Federal Republic of Germany Telephone 0531 / 28 14 0-0 Fax 0531 / 28 140 28

Hanover:

Koblenzer Straße 21 D-30173 Hannover Federal Republic of Germany Telephone 0511 / 988 75 07 Fax 0511 / 988 75 09

- beyond the molded part and the surface intended for consumption. Singularities such as embossed lettering with the brand name of the soap, etc. are of course not taken into account.
5

Such soap bars have the disadvantage that with increasing use, especially when washing hands with the addition of water, very small residual pieces are created which are very difficult to handle, especially since wet soap is known to have a very low coefficient of friction due to the soap/water film surrounding it.

In practice, the problems described have often led to the resulting leftover pieces not being used up but being thrown away. The consumer goods industry has subsequently developed liquid soaps that are made available in so-called dispensers that can be dosed. The dispensers required for storing and transporting the liquid soap were usually disposable products, which on the one hand made the soap more expensive, and on the other hand are often no longer accepted by consumers due to increased environmental awareness.

The invention is therefore based on the object of improving a molded part of the generic type in such a way that the handling and, accordingly, the consumption of the resulting residual piece are simplified.

The solution to the problem is characterized in a generic molded part with an essentially convex curved surface in that the surface is concave in one area, forming a depression. The solution is based on the knowledge that despite different shapes, bars of soap take on essentially the same shape when washing hands due to the process of rubbing the molded part between the user's two hands and the influence of the water dissolving the soap in the outer layers, which has a certain similarity to an ellipsoid with a strongly tapered outer peripheral edge.

a ·« · «e It* **

a a i " · βgr; βgr; �iacgr; c- 9 4βgr;

&bgr; " » &ogr; » e » oC

If such a moist leftover piece is placed in the appropriately shaped cavity of a fresh molded piece or soap bar, the moist outer soap layer of the leftover piece causes it to stick to the new molded piece, filling the cavity provided according to the invention so that the old leftover piece and the new molded piece together form a soap bar, which in turn essentially only has convexly curved surfaces.

Preferably, the surface of the trough is a partial surface of an ellipsoid. However, other geometric shapes are also conceivable within the scope of the invention.

Preferably, it is provided in particular that a bar of soap is made from two different colored substances, i.e. differently colored soaps, whereby an inner core area, the shape of which corresponds to the remaining piece resulting from the removal, is at least partially made in one color, while the surrounding shell area has a different color. In this way, a kind of wear indicator is created, which gives the user an indication of when the optimal shape of the remaining piece for the above-described bonding of the remaining piece to the new molded piece has been achieved.

It is particularly preferred that the inner core area is completely in a different color, i.e. in a differently colored soap substance, which is preferably a signal color. Children in particular love the resulting surprise effect that occurs sooner or later when using the bar of soap and are thus playfully encouraged to wash their hands.

The invention is explained in more detail below using an embodiment shown in the drawing. The drawing shows
35

Figure 1 - a shaped part according to the invention and a resulting remaining piece before assembly in section,

In particular, it can be provided that in a branded product the core areas of different soap bars are designed with randomly determined colors, so that a surprise effect is created for the consumer, especially children, since they do not know in advance what color the core area 22 will have.

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of a molded part 10 according to the invention with a remaining piece 22'.

Fu/ro

GRAMM, LINS & PARTNER

Patent and law firm

GRAMM, UNS & PARTNERS, Theodor-Heuss-Str. 1, D-38122 Braunschweig

Mr

Burkhard Rathert Fuhrenweg 14

38518 Gifhorn/Kästorf

Brunswick:

Patent attorney Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Werner Gramm* ⁰ Patent attorney DipL-Phys. Dr. jur. Edgar Lins* ⁰ Attorney Hanns-Peter Schrammek Patent attorney Dipl.-Ing. Thorsten Rehmann* ⁰ Patent attorney Dipl.-Ing. Justus E. Funke* ⁰ Attorney Martin Henningsen

Hanover:

Patient lawyer DipL-Chem. Dr. Martina Läufer* ⁰

* European Patent Attorney ♦ US Registered Patent Agent ° European Trade Mark Attorney

Our ref.:

2113-002 EN-2

Date

17 October 1996

Protection claims

1. Moulded piece made of a substance intended for consumption by removal, in particular a bar of soap (10), delimited by a substantially convexly curved surface, characterized in that the surface is concavely curved in one region, forming a depression (18).

Moulded piece according to claim 1, characterized in that the surface (19) of the trough (18) has a curvature which is complementary to the curvature of a residual piece (22) resulting from removal during consumption of a similar moulded piece (10).

Moulding according to claim 2, characterised in that the surface (19) of the trough (18) is a partial surface of an ellipsoid.

4. Moulding according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is made of two different coloured substances, wherein an inner core region (22) whose

Please reply to:

Brunswick:

Theodor-Heuss-Straße 1 D-38122 Braunschweig Federal Republic of Germany Telephone 0531 / 28 14 0-0 Fax 0531 / 28 140 28

Hanover:

Koblenzer Straße 21 D-30173 Hannover Federal Republic of Germany Telephone 0511 / 988 75 07 Fax 0511 / 988 75 09

Claims (1)

.; i &iacgr; ·» # i is « 4 -, i . i a Shape corresponds to a residual piece (22') resulting from removal, at least partially one color and the surrounding envelope area (24) a different color. 5. Moulded piece according to claim 4, characterized in that the inner core region (22) of a soap bar (10) is coloured in a signal colour. Fu/ro &Lgr;* ·&idiag; Wy. 2 -ir I^