U.S. patent application number 11/098375 was filed with the patent office on 2005-10-06 for method for manufacturing artificial nail.
This patent application is currently assigned to BIG PLUS CRE INC. JUN-HEE LEE. Invention is credited to Lee, Jun-Hee.
Application Number | 20050217686 11/098375 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34910085 |
Filed Date | 2005-10-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050217686 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lee, Jun-Hee |
October 6, 2005 |
Method for manufacturing artificial nail
Abstract
Disclosed is a method for manufacturing an artificial nail. In
the method for manufacturing an artificial nail according to the
present invention, a flat sheet is molded to have a plurality of
artificial nails by means of vacuum molding and is then cut into
individual artificial nails by means of press cutting. According to
the present invention, a plurality of artificial nails can be
manufactured through a single molding operation so that artificial
nails can be mass-produced. Further, the present invention provides
a method for manufacturing an artificial nail, wherein patterns can
be variously and delicately printed on the artificial nails and the
artificial nails can be made of a variety of materials including
PET resin as well as ABS resin.
Inventors: |
Lee, Jun-Hee; (Seoul,
KR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LOWE HAUPTMAN GILMAN AND BERNER, LLP
1700 DIAGONAL ROAD
SUITE 300 /310
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
US
|
Assignee: |
BIG PLUS CRE INC. JUN-HEE
LEE
Seoul
KR
Lee, Jun-Hee
Seoul
KR
|
Family ID: |
34910085 |
Appl. No.: |
11/098375 |
Filed: |
April 5, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
132/200 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B29L 2031/7532 20130101;
A45D 31/00 20130101; B29K 2055/02 20130101; B29C 2791/006 20130101;
B29L 2031/702 20130101; B29C 2795/002 20130101; B29C 2793/0009
20130101; B29C 51/428 20130101; B29L 2031/718 20130101; B29C
2035/1616 20130101; B29C 51/10 20130101; A45D 2029/005 20130101;
B29C 2793/009 20130101; B29K 2067/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
132/200 |
International
Class: |
A45D 029/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 6, 2004 |
KR |
10-2004-23469 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for manufacturing an artificial nail, comprising: a
forming step of forming a flat sheet; a printing step of printing
patterns on the flat sheet; a heating step of heating the flat
sheet with the patterns printed thereon; a sucking step of sucking
the heated flat sheet so that the flat sheet is brought into
contact with a vacuum mold having features of a plurality of
artificial nails; a cooling step of cooling the sucked flat sheet;
and a cutting step of cutting the cooled flat sheet into individual
artificial nails.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cutting step is
performed by means of press cutting.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the flat sheet is
formed of PET resin.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing
an artificial nail, and more particularly, to a method for
manufacturing an artificial nail by means of vacuum molding.
[0003] 2. Description of the Background Art
[0004] Most women apply make-up for beauty and also manicure their
nails. However, the operation of manicuring one's nail is very
cumbersome and there is inconvenience in that it takes a great deal
of time until the manicure is hardened. To solve such
cumbersomeness and inconvenience, there has been developed an
artificial nail. An artificial nail is fixedly bonded to the
surface of a nail using double-sided tape, instant adhesive, or the
like. Such an artificial nail has a variety of patterns and colors
and can be replaced with another artificial nail at any time
according to the user's taste, thereby reducing time required for a
nail beauty operation.
[0005] Generally, such an artificial nail is manufactured by means
of injection molding. Although an artificial nail can be
manufactured from a variety of resin materials, acrylonitrile
butadiene styrene (ABS) resin is used as the material of the
artificial nail if the artificial nail is manufactured by means of
injection molding. ABS resin has been widely used as molded
products made of ABS resin can be easily separated from an
injection-molded stem after they have been injection-molded and
there is no burr that produces a rough edge generated through
cutting.
[0006] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a molded body of
artificial nails, which is injection-molded according to a prior
art. An injection molding method for manufacturing an artificial
nail will be briefly described with reference to FIG. 1. ABS resin
is input into an injection-molding machine with a pair of embossed
and depressed injection molds to manufacture artificial nails. The
artificial nails 2 molded through injection molding are attached to
an injection-molded stem 1. The artificial nails 2 are then
separated from the injection-molded stem 1 and decorated with
predetermined colors or patterns by means of various methods such
as curved surface printing or spray printing.
[0007] The artificial nail manufactured by means of the
conventional method is attached to a user's nail using an instant
adhesive or double-sided tape. If the artificial nail is attached
using an instant adhesive, the artificial nail made of ABS resin is
attached to the surface of the user's natural nail while the entire
attachment surface of the artificial nail is fully dissolved by the
instant adhesive. If the user's natural nail is grown after a lapse
of a predetermined period of time, for example, about one week, the
artificial nail should be removed. Upon removal of the artificial
nail, the user's natural nail with the artificial nail attached
thereto is dipped into chemicals such as acetone for a certain
period of time and the artificial nail is then removed. Since the
artificial nail made of ABS resin is securely attached to the
entire surface of the user's natural nail as described above, it
generally takes about 10 minutes or more to remove the artificial
nail made of ABS resin.
[0008] Since the artificial nail is manufactured through injection
molding in the conventional method for manufacturing the artificial
nail, a limitation exists on the number of cavities in the
injection molds, and thus, there is a problem in that the yield of
artificial nails which can be produced at one time is lowered. When
the surface of an artificial nail is decorated after the artificial
nail has been molded, a printing method applicable thereto is
limited to the spray printing or the curved surface printing.
Therefore, there is a disadvantage in that delicate patterns cannot
be printed. Further, since the artificial nail is manufactured by
means of injection molding, there is a problem in that the
artificial nail cannot be manufactured from materials other than
ABS resin.
[0009] Meanwhile, since the artificial nail made of ABS resin is
attached to the entire surface of a user's natural nail while the
attachment surface of the artificial nail is fully dissolved by the
instant adhesive, the artificial nail is removed in such a manner
that the user's natural nail with the artificial nail attached
thereto should be dipped into chemicals such as acetone for a long
time and the surface of the natural nail should be scraped with a
manicure stick to completely remove foreign substances. Thus, there
is a disadvantage in that it takes a great deal of time to remove
the artificial nail. Moreover, since the user's finger should be
dipped into acetone for a long time, there is a disadvantage in
that the user's skin may become damaged.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] Accordingly, the present invention is conceived to solve the
aforementioned problems in the prior art. An object of the present
invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an artificial
nail, wherein the artificial nail can be rapidly mass-produced
without increase in production costs.
[0011] Another object of the present invention is to provide a
method for manufacturing an artificial nail, wherein the surface of
the artificial nail can be decorated variously and delicately.
[0012] A further object of the present invention is to provide a
method for manufacturing an artificial nail from a variety of
materials in addition to ABS resin.
[0013] A still further object of the present invention is to
provide a method for manufacturing an artificial nail that is not
harmful to the user's skin and can be quickly and conveniently
removed upon removal of the artificial nail from a user's natural
nail.
[0014] According to the present invention for achieving these
objects, there is provided a method for manufacturing an artificial
nail, comprising a forming step of forming a flat sheet; a printing
step of printing patterns on the flat sheet; a heating step of
heating the flat sheet with the patterns printed thereon; a sucking
step of sucking the heated flat sheet so that the flat sheet is
brought into contact with a vacuum mold having features of a
plurality of artificial nails; a cooling step of cooling the sucked
flat sheet; and a cutting step of cutting the cooled flat sheet
into individual artificial nails.
[0015] In the method for manufacturing the artificial nail, the
cutting step is preferably performed by means of press cutting. The
flat sheet is preferably formed of PET resin.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the
present invention will become apparent from the following
description of a preferred embodiment in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings, in which:
[0017] FIG. 1 is a view showing the structure of a molded body that
is injection-molded by means of a conventional method for
manufacturing an artificial nail;
[0018] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for
manufacturing an artificial nail according to the present
invention;
[0019] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a flat sheet with
patterns printed in a printing step of the method for manufacturing
an artificial nail according to the present invention;
[0020] FIG. 4 is a view showing processes in a sucking step of the
method for manufacturing an artificial nail according to the
present invention;
[0021] FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the flat sheet molded
through the sucking step of the method for manufacturing an
artificial nail according to the present invention;
[0022] FIG. 6 is a view showing processes in a cutting step of the
method for manufacturing an artificial nail according to the
present invention; and
[0023] FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state where an
artificial nail manufactured by the method for manufacturing the
artificial nail according to the present invention is used.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0024] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a method for
manufacturing an artificial nail according to the present invention
will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0025] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the method for
manufacturing an artificial nail according to the present
invention. Referring to FIG. 2, an artificial nail is manufactured
by sequentially performing the steps of forming a flat sheet (S10),
performing printing on the flat sheet (S20), heating the flat sheet
(S30), sucking the heated planar-sheet (S40), cooling the sheet
molded by the suction (S50), and cutting the molded sheet
(S60).
[0026] The flat sheet in the present invention can be molded out of
the same ABS resin as has been used in the prior art. According to
the present invention, the flat sheet can also be extruded using
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin that has not been used as a
material of the artificial nail in a conventional method since it
is difficult to separate a molded body made of PET resin from an
injection-molded stem as described above.
[0027] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the flat sheet with
patterns printed in the printing step of the method for
manufacturing an artificial nail according to the present
invention. Referring to the figure, a plurality of patterns 11a and
11b are printed on the flat sheet 10 at predetermined intervals in
the printing step (S20). Since the printing is performed directly
on the plane of the flat sheet 10, a variety printing methods such
as offset printing, screen printing, gravure printing and pad
printing can be employed, contrary to the prior art in which a
pattern is printed on the surface of a curved artificial nail
molded through injection molding. Therefore, time required for the
printing step is greatly reduced and a variety of printing methods
can be employed. Accordingly, the present invention enables various
and delicate patterns to be printed on the artificial nail.
[0028] In the heating step (S30), the flat sheet 10 has fluidity
due to heating. The flat sheet 10 with the patterns 11 printed
thereon is placed on a vacuum mold (20 in FIG. 4) and then heated
by a heater (not shown) installed above the flat sheet 10. Although
the present invention has been described in connection with the
embodiment in which the flat sheet 10 is placed on the vacuum mold
20 and heated from above, the flat sheet 10 may be placed on and
heated by a heating plate.
[0029] FIG. 4 is a view showing processes in the sucking step of
the method for manufacturing an artificial nail according to the
present invention, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the
flat sheet molded through the sucking step. Referring to FIGS. 4
and 5, in the sucking step (S40), the flat sheet 10 that has been
heated to a predetermined temperature is sucked in the vacuum mold
20 that is embossed in the form of a plurality of artificial nails,
thereby molding artificial nails. The vacuum mold 20 comprises an
installation stand 21 on which the flat sheet 10 is installed,
artificial nail-shaped protrusions 22 embossed on an upper surface
of the vacuum mold, vacuum pipes 23 installed within the vacuum
mold 20, and a vacuum pump 24 connected to the vacuum pipes. The
flat sheet 10 is installed on the installation stand 21 at a
predetermined distance from the protrusions 22. The vacuum pipes 23
communicate with the upper surface of the vacuum mold 20, and the
vacuum pump 24 sucks air, which exists between the flat sheet 10
and the upper surface of the vacuum mold 20, through the vacuum
pipes 23. As the air is sucked, the flat sheet 10 is brought into
contact with the upper surface of the vacuum mold 20 due to vacuum
generated by the vacuum pump. The flat sheet 10 that has been
heated to have fluidity in the heating step (S30) is brought into
contact with the artificial nail-shaped protrusions 22 formed on
the vacuum mold 20 due to vacuum. Accordingly, the flat sheet is
molded to have a plurality of artificial nails therein. Contrary to
conventional injection molding, such vacuum molding enables
artificial nails to be more rapidly mass-produced at one time since
a desired number of artificial nail-shaped protrusions 22 can be
formed on the vacuum mold 20.
[0030] The sucked flat sheet 10 is then cooled in the cooling step
(S50). In the cooling step (S50), the flat sheet 10 is cooled by
circulating cooling water through general cooling water passages
formed in the vacuum mold 20 in the state where the heated flat
sheet 10 is sucked and brought into contact with the upper surface
of the vacuum mold 20.
[0031] FIG. 6 is a view showing processes in the cutting step of
the method for manufacturing an artificial nail according to the
present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, the flat sheet 10 with the
plurality of artificial nails formed therein as shown in FIG. 5 is
cut into individual artificial nails (12 in FIG. 7) in the cutting
step (S60). In this embodiment, the flat sheet 10 is cut by mans of
a press cutting machine. The press cutting machine comprises a pair
of upper and lower dies 30 and 40. The upper die 30 has cutting
edges 31 for cutting the flat sheet 10 into the individual
artificial nails, and the lower die 40 has supports 41 taking the
shape of a plurality of artificial nails corresponding to the shape
of the flat sheet 10. Recesses 42 for avoiding interference with
the cutting edges 31 are formed on both sides of each of the
supports 41. To cut the flat sheet 10, the molded flat sheet 10 is
first placed on the lower die 40 to conform to the respective
supports 41. Then, the upper die 30 is lowered and the flat sheet
10 is cut into individual artificial nails 12 by the cutting edges
31. Since the flat sheet 10 is cut by means of press cutting, there
is no burr, which is a rough edge generated due to cutting, on the
artificial nails 12 after the cutting operation, and a single
cutting operation enables a plurality of artificial nails 12 to be
manufactured at one time. Thus, artificial nails can be
mass-produced in a short period of time. Although the press cutting
machine is used in the cutting step (S60) in this embodiment, it
will be apparent that other cutting means may be used.
[0032] Next, the operation of the artificial nail manufactured by
the method for manufacturing the artificial nail according to the
present invention will be described.
[0033] FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state where the
artificial nail manufactured by the method for manufacturing the
artificial nail according to the present invention is used. With
the method for manufacturing the artificial nail according to the
present invention, the artificial nail 12 can be easily molded out
of PET resin. In the case where the artificial nail 12 is made of
PET resin, the degree of dissolution of the attachment surface of
the artificial nail 12 by an adhesive is remarkably lower than that
of an artificial nail made of ABS resin. As such, when the
artificial nail 12 is removed after a lapse of a certain period of
time, the time required for removal of the artificial nail is
greatly reduced compared with the removal of a conventional
artificial nail molded out of ABS resin. Since the artificial nail
12 can be removed even though the user's natural nail with the
artificial nail 12 attached thereto is dipped into chemicals such
as acetone for a very short period of time, time required for
removal of the artificial nail 12 is shortened. Further, since it
is necessary to dip the finger into the chemicals such as acetone
only for a short period of time, there is little damage to the
user's skin.
[0034] As described above, the method for manufacturing the
artificial nail according to the present invention has an advantage
in that the artificial nail can be rapidly mass-produced without an
increase in production costs.
[0035] Further, since patterns are printed on the flat sheet prior
to the suction step, there is an advantage in that various and
delicate patterns or designs can be printed on the surface of the
artificial nail, thereby manufacturing a beautiful artificial
nail.
[0036] In particular, the artificial nail can be manufactured from
a variety of materials including PET resin. Since the artificial
nail can be removed without dipping a user's hand into chemicals
such as acetone for a long time, there is no damage to the user's
skin. Moreover, there is an advantage in that the artificial nail
can be conveniently and rapidly removed in a short period of
time
[0037] The aforementioned embodiment of the present invention is
only an example of the method for manufacturing the artificial nail
according to the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the
present invention is not limited to the embodiment. Those skilled
in the art can make various changes, modifications and
substitutions within the technical spirit and scope of the present
invention defined by the appended claims. Such embodiments and
changes should be construed as falling within the scope of the
present invention.
* * * * *