US20090317169A1

US20090317169A1 - Dispenser Of A Product In Stick Form

Info

Publication number: US20090317169A1
Application number: US12/490,421
Authority: US
Inventors: Michel Limongi
Original assignee: Alcan Packaging Beauty Services SAS
Current assignee: Albea Services SAS
Priority date: 2008-06-24
Filing date: 2009-06-24
Publication date: 2009-12-24
Also published as: DE202009003423U1; CN201468364U

Abstract

The dispenser for a product (1), typically a cosmetic product, comprises a body with a tubular skirt (2) forming a typically cylindrical cavity for said product and equipped in its upper section with an upper opening, a support for said product able to move in an axial direction inside said tubular skirt and thereby to make said product emerge through said upper opening to be used, a cap (4) able to seal said upper opening by working jointly with said tubular skirt, a bottom (3) interdependent with said tubular skirt and said support and a means to manually ensure an axial displacement of said support in relation to said tubular skirt by relative manual rotation of said tubular skirt (2) in relation to said bottom (3) around said axial direction, characterized in which said bottom (3) and said cap (4) are elements of identical shape.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of dispensers of products in stick form, such as lipsticks, sticks of deodorants, sticks of adhesive, etc, or of typically rigid products, which run out under force, such as creams, pastes, etc.

BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART

Traditionally, cosmetic products used as lipsticks form solid products, usually placed in dispensers called lipstick tubes, which appear as sticks and which are applied to the lips as one would with a brush, which results in depositing a varying amount of lipstick according to the pressure exerted on the tube.
Many lipstick dispensers or tubes are already known, as described for example in European applications No 96500011, 98500016, 98500088, 99420027, 99420072, including a cap and a body housing said stick and a mechanism to move said stick manually.
The body of these lipstick tubes typically includes three coaxial parts, with, from the outside to the inside, an external body forming a tube skirt and typically bearing two spiral grooves on its interior surface, a tubular element interdependent with the bottom of the tube and bearing two diametrically opposite axial openings, a support for the stick equipped with two diametrically opposite pins, said pins passing through said axial openings and working in conjunction with the spiral grooves, so that the relative rotation of said body in relation to that of said bottom leads to an axial displacement of said support and therefore of said stick.
Deodorant dispensers are also known, such as described for example in French patent No 2.573.734. These dispensers typically include a body equipped with a side skirt and a bottom, a piston forming a support for the deodorant stick, working in conjunction with a central screw that is rotated by the bottom.
The dispensers known in related art pose various kinds of problems which result mainly from the many requirements to be satisfied in order to have a valid dispenser from the commercial or marketing standpoint.
Firstly, these dispensers are relatively complex assemblies of different parts, given their number and the precision necessary to assemble them, so that the production costs of such dispensers are relatively high. Secondly, in the field of cosmetic packaging in particular, there is a permanent demand for the development and launch of new products, in order to substantially stand out from already known products. The average lifespan of packaging, which can be extremely long in the case of bottles of perfumes, is generally very short in the case of dispensers of less prestigious products than perfumes, products typically under consideration in the present invention. In addition, it was observed that younger consumers are not attracted by lipstick whose packaging, generally appearing too conventional, of the cylindrical type, has an ageing image. The invention aims at providing a solution to all of these problems.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, the dispenser of a product, typically a cosmetic product, includes a body with a tubular skirt forming a typically cylindrical cavity for said product and equipped in its upper section with an upper opening, a support for said product able to move in an axial direction inside said tubular skirt and thereby to make said product emerge through said upper opening to be used and typically applied on an application surface, a cap able to seal said upper opening by working jointly with said tubular skirt, a bottom interdependent with said tubular skirt and said support, and a means to manually ensure an axial displacement of said support in relation to said tubular skirt by relative manual rotation of said tubular skirt in relation to said bottom around said axial direction, wherein said bottom and said cap are elements of identical shape.
Consequently, this bottom and this cap can be manufactured for example by molding a thermoplastic on the same mold, thus reducing the manufacturing costs because of the need for only one mold for two elements generally manufactured on two different molds. This leads to savings at various levels: the manufacture of the molds, time lost to change the molds, setting the machines, the use of two different molding stations, handling the parts to assemble them, etc.
In addition, the use of an identical bottom and a cap endows the lipstick tube with an original and agreeable appearance.
The cap works in conjunction more particularly with the tubular skirt by encircling. The bottom is more particularly interdependent with said tubular skirt and said support via a free interdependence part free to rotate inside the tubular skirt, the bottom working in conjunction with the interdependence part by encircling.
The interdependence part can moreover extend axially beyond a lower opening in the tubular skirt, protruding radially very slightly beyond the external surface of the tubular skirt so that the fixing between the bottom and the interdependence part is stronger than between the cap and the tubular skirt. The friction coefficients between the different materials used to manufacture the cap-bottom, the interdependence part and the tubular skirt can be designed to accentuate still further this holding characteristic.
In addition, means of fixing of the male/female type or by clipping can be used to make the bottom interdependent with the interdependence part for rotation around said axial direction and/or translation along said axial direction. The means of fixing also present on the cap finds no related means of fixing on the tubular skirt at the level of the upper opening and does not obstruct closure by encircling between the cap and the tubular skirt.
The means for manually making an axial displacement of said support in relation to said tubular skirt by relative manual rotation of said tubular skirt in relation to said bottom are of the conventional type. For example, the interior surface of the tubular skirt bears two spiral grooves, the interdependence part is a tubular element bearing two diametrically opposite axial openings with stops. The support for the stick is equipped with two diametrically opposite pins, said pins passing through said axial openings and working in conjunction with the spiral grooves, so that said relative rotation of said tubular skirt in relation to said interdependence part and thus to said bottom causes an axial displacement of said support and therefore of said stick.
According to the invention, the bottoms and caps are not cylindrical and have side external walls which extend radially beyond the external surface of the tubular skirt. The bottoms and caps are more particularly in the shape of a ball, an olive, or a hollow cube, cut to reveal an open cavity, inside which can be encircled the upper end of the tubular skirt or one end of the interdependence part.
Also according to the invention, the cap/bottom comprises a means of fixing for a link designed to connect the cap and the bottom of the lipstick tube. The link may, for example, be a ribbon or a chain and additionally include a plate on which can be marked, for example, a brand name, a logo, a first name, or a color. The link also makes it possible to hold the cap when the latter is removed during use of the lipstick, freeing the hands of the user. It can also be used to suspend the lipstick tube, for example on a display unit, the tube not being designed to stand up vertically.
Such a cosmetic product dispenser meets perfectly with expectations by offering a neat and original appearance and decreased production costs, making it possible to lower the consumer price of the product and to encourage young consumers to purchase it.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a perspective view for a first embodiment of a lipstick tube according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-section of the lipstick tube in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views from above and below of the bottom/cap of the lipstick tube in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view for a second embodiment for a lipstick tube according to the invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-section of the lipstick tube in FIG. 5.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are perspective views from above and below of the bottom/cap of the lipstick tube in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the lipstick tube 1 according to the invention is of a totally innovative type. For example it does not comprise a flat bottom that would allow it to stand up vertically.
The lipstick tube 1 consists of a tubular skirt 2, typically cylindrical, a bottom 3 and a cap 4 of identical outward appearance, here in the shape of a cut ball, laid out at each end of the tubular skirt 2 along an axial direction to close a lower opening and an upper opening respectively of the tubular skirt 2, bottom 3 and cap 4 being connected together by means of a chain 5 bearing more particularly a plate 6.
Chain 5 is attached to cap 4 (to bottom 3 respectively) by means of a ring 7 closed onto a loop 8 marked in cap 4 (bottom 3 respectively).
Tube 1 is of minimalist design, making it economical to manufacture. The bottom and the cap are perfectly identical and can be manufactured by injection molding on the same mold. The internal mechanism for the outlet of the stick is of conventional type and is made up, as can be seen in FIG. 2, of a tubular skirt 2 typically bearing two spiral grooves 9 on its interior surface, a tubular element 10 interdependent with bottom 3 of tube 1 and bearing two diametrically opposite axial openings 11, and a support for the stick (not shown) equipped with two diametrically opposite pins, said pins passing through said axial openings and working in conjunction with the spiral grooves so that said relative rotation of the tubular skirt in relation to said bottom causes an axial displacement of said support and therefore of said stick which can then emerge through an upper opening 12 in the tubular skirt 2. The tubular element 10 also known as an interdependence part makes tubular skirt 2, support and bottom 3 interdependent.
The bottom/cap comprises an internal cavity with an internal wall. This internal wall is adapted to encircle the external surface of the tubular skirt 3 at the level of the upper opening. This internal wall is also adapted to encircle an external surface of the tubular element 10 which protrudes axially in relation to the lower opening of the tubular skirt 2. As can be seen in FIGS. 2 and 4, a projection 13 can be provided in the internal cavity of the bottom/cap so as to engage a groove arranged in the tubular element 10 so that said tubular element 10 is perfectly interdependent with bottom 3 for rotation. This projection 13 has no function when one considers the cap, or may possibly act as a stop. Bottom 3 and cap 4 only slightly overlap the tubular skirt 4, so that a smaller amount of plastic is used to manufacture tube 1 according to the invention than to manufacture an ordinary lipstick tube, which has a positive effect in terms of material cost and ecological balance.
Still according to the invention, the cap and the bottom protrude radially by more than 3 mm in relation to the tubular skirt, which gives an appearance of volume to the tube and facilitates gripping of the cap or the bottom to be turned. An effect of symmetry emerges from this lipstick tube according to the invention formed from a cap and an identical bottom, like a pair of atoms connected by a strand or a pair of dumbbells.
FIGS. 5 to 8 show a lipstick tube 1′ according to the invention virtually identical to that shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 and different from it in that the bottom 3′/cap 4′ are slightly lengthened, in the shape of an olive, and that the chain 5′ fixing system is different. The chain 5′ fixing system is more particularly made up by an opening 14′ in bottom 3′/cap 4′ through which a fastener 15′ is forced comprising a back draft 16′ preventing the chain 5′ from being withdrawn.
Other known mechanisms of axial displacement of the support by rotating the bottom may be used.
It is obviously possible to consider various means of male/female fixing, of the rib/groove type, or clipping between the bottom and the tubular element without the means formed on the cap obstructing the encircling of the cap onto the tubular skirt.
For example a tubular rib can advantageously be provided on the internal wall of the bottom/cap which works in conjunction, for the bottom, with a tubular groove made in the tubular or interdependence element to form a means of fixing and, for the cap, with the external surface of the tubular skirt to form a means of sealing, for example against volatile solvents in the composition of the stick.
The invention, presented with reference to a lipstick tube also extends to other dispensers of cosmetic products, for example eyelid cream, blusher, lip-care cream, anti-wrinkle cream, etc.

Claims

1. A dispenser for a product, typically a cosmetic product, including a body with a tubular skirt forming a typically cylindrical cavity for said product and equipped in its upper section with an upper opening, a support for said product able to move in an axial direction inside said tubular skirt and thereby to make said product emerge through said upper opening to be used, a cap able to seal said upper opening by working jointly with said tubular skirt, a bottom interdependent with said tubular skirt and said support, and a means to manually ensure an axial displacement of said support in relation to said tubular skirt by relative manual rotation of said tubular skirt in relation to said bottom around said axial direction, wherein said bottom and said cap are elements of identical shape.

2. A dispenser according to claim 1, in which the bottom and the cap are in the shape of a ball.

3. A dispenser according to claim 1, in which the bottom and the cap are in the shape of an olive.

4. A dispenser according to claim 1, in which the bottom and the cap are in the shape of a cube.

5. A dispenser according to claim 1, in which the bottom and the cap are connected by a chain.

6. A dispenser according to claim 5, in which the chain comprises a plate able to be marked

7. A dispenser according to claim 1, in which the cap works in conjunction with the tubular skirt by encircling.

8. A dispenser according to claim 7, in which the bottom is interdependent of the tubular skirt and the support via an interdependence part free to rotate inside the tubular skirt, and in which the bottom works in conjunction with the interdependence part by encircling.

9. A dispenser according to claim 8 in which the interdependence part can extend axially beyond a lower opening in the tubular skirt, protruding radially beyond the external surface of the tubular skirt so that the fixing between the bottom and the interdependence part is stronger than between the cap and the tubular skirt.

10. A dispenser according to claim 9, in which the bottom and the interdependence part are made interdependent for rotation in the axial direction and/or for translation in the axial direction by means of fixing of the male/female type.

11. A dispenser according to claim 10, in which the bottom and the cap have a side external wall which extends radially beyond the external surface of the tubular skirt.

12. A dispenser according to claim 11, in which the cap and the bottom comprise a means of fixing for a link designed to connect the cap and the bottom.

13. A dispenser according to claim 12, in which the link is a chain.

14. A dispenser according to claim 13, in which the link carries a plate.

15. A dispenser according to claim 14, in which the bottom and the cap are in the shape of a ball.