Implement For Applying Flase Eyelashes To A Human Eyelid

Abstract

A false-eyelash applicator constituting a pair of substantially parallel elongated shanks integral with a pair of elongated tips, at least one tip is flexible and the tips are at such angles with respect to their associated shanks that when the shanks are manipulated to force the tips into contact with one another, the tips engage on opposite sides of a plane which is at an angle to the plane between the shanks.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

An applicator for false eyelashes.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A feminine cosmetic adjunct that is coming into increasingly great use is the artificial eyelash which originally was employed principally by show people only, to create a more natural appearance when viewed from a distance with stage lighting cast on them. The lighting was so intense and the distance from which they were viewed was so great that the delicate strands of a natural lash became almost invisible, hence, the necessity for the artificial lash. However, with the passage of years, and more so at the present time, feminine makeup demands have been increasingly emphasizing the utilization of false eyelashes to make up for the sparseness of many natural lashes, to provide a dark lash where the natural lash may be too light, to provide a longer lash where the natural lash may be too short, to avoid the necessity of using mascara and generally because with the increasing use of such adjunct, false eyelashes have become a more or less accepted standard of everyday feminine decor.

Essentially, a false eyelash consists of a flexible spine from which strands of natural or synthetic hair extend, an end of each strand being suitably secured in any of various manners to the spine. Usually, the spine, as supplied to retail outlets, has a curvature imparted thereto which roughly approximates the curvature of a human eyelid. Obviously, the curvatures of various eyelids are not identical so that, at best, the curvature of the spine is in approximation and, indeed, the curvature of the spine at the retail outlet generally is of a radius somewhat greater than any radius of curvature likely to be found in an eyelid so that, customarily, this radius of curvature of the spine must be reduced during the application of the spine to a human eyelid above the natural lashes. The spine is supplied with an adhesive coating, usually a pressure sensitive adhesive coating, which enables it to be adhered to an eyelid immediately above the lash line. In addition, adhesive fluids are available to apply to the spine when the initial adhesive becomes ineffective.

The basic problem with false eyelashes is that they are difficult to apply. One method of applying them is with the use of an individual's fingers. To do this, the individual closes the eyelid of her eye on which the eyelash is to be applied, looks into a mirror with her other eye and with her hands attempts to place the adhesive side of the spine along her eyelid immediately above the free edge of the eyelid which is immediately above her natural lashes. This operation is actually quite difficult to practice. One of the greatest difficulties is due to the monocular vision involved during the application of the false lash. As is well known, monocular vision creates an inaccurate perception of depth. The individual cannot tell exactly where her hand is, or where the artificial lash gripped by her hand is, in relation to her eyelid in a front to back direction, this, despite the fact that she is looking into a mirror. The difficulty of emplacement is enhanced by the fact that the curvature of the spine exceeds the curvature of her closed eyelid. Sometimes, she will place the center of the artificial lash at the center of her eyelid immediately above the natural eyelash and then try to force, first one side and then the other of the false eyelash up against her eyelid--at all times her accuracy of manipulation being lessened by her lack of accurate depth perception.

Frequently, the spine slips vertically and will tend to adhere to the eyelid in an improper vertical location. At other times she will touch an end of the spine near an end of her eyelid and gradually try to work her hands along the false eyelash and spine to successively press succeeding increments of the spine against her eyelid. Here too, she is hampered by her inaccurate perception of depth which frequently causes the spine to move up and down as it it being adhered to the lid. The results of a hasty application are almost ludicrous so that it is not uncommon to see a woman who is attempting to apply a false lash, rip the lash off time after time until she arrives at an application which, although not perfect, is to her then presently disgusted frame of mind sufficiently good to leave alone.

Recognizing the extreme difficulty of manual manipulation, it has been proposed to utilize implements to overcome the aforesaid drawbacks. One implement is an ordinary pair of tweezers which is essentially the same as a pair of hair removal tweezers. Sometimes such tweezers have somewhat flattened tips to increase their area of engagement with the false eyelash strands. To use these tweezers, a person manipulates the tweezers in such a fashion that the tips of the tweezers point directly toward the false eyelash parallel to the strands. The shanks of the tweezers are linear extensions of the tips and the shanks, therefore, likewise point parallel to the false eyelash strands. Then, the user once again looks into a mirror with the eyelid closed on the eye to which the false eyelash is to be applied so that she is confronted with the difficulty of monocular vision and its attendant disadvantage. The user will either apply the center or an end of the adhesive spine to the closed eyelid and then with her fingers attempt to force the rest of the spine into contact with the eyelid to which it hopefully adheres with sufficient force. The user will not customarily use the tweezers to force successive parts of the false eyelash against her eyelid because of fear of injuring her eye, inasmuch as the tips of the tweezers are pointed directly at the eye covered by the closed eyelid. This mode of application has been frowned upon and not widely used due to its inherent disadvantages above noted.

It also has been proposed to supply a pair of tweezers with tips in the form of arcuate jaws which present a concave edge toward the false eyelash strands to be engaged thereby. The planes of the arcuate jaws were coincidental with the planes of the shanks of the tweezer with which they were unitary. Such a modified form of tweezer was better in that is obtained a firm grip on the false eyelash strands. Nevertheless, it still did not prove to be a practical instrument for several reasons, among which were the fact that it necessitated the use of monocular vision during application of the false eyelash and the fact that it tended, during handling, to immobilize the curvature of the spine so that, remembering that the natural curvature of the spine did not match the curvature of most eyelids, the curved state of the spine held by such tweezers did not correspond to the curvature of the eyelid and it was still necessary to manually urge parts of the spine against the eyelid. A tweezer with these arcuate jaws was not useful for this subsequent urging step during which the spine had to be conformed to the eyelid curvature.

Ancillary disadvantages of the both aforementioned tweezers were that they did not obtain a good grip on the lashes and that if too great a force were exerted on the shanks to improve the grip, the tips or jaws of the tweezers tended to impart an angulation or a crimp to the strands of the false eyelash.

Accordingly, the present state of the art is such that there still is no good implement for convenient application of false eyelashes to a human eyelid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an implement for applying a false eyelash to a human eyelid which implement avoids all of the foregoing drawbacks.

It is another object of the invention to provide an implement of the character described which is so constructed as to permit binocular vision during application of a false eyelash, in other words an implement which is so constructed as to encourage stereoscopic viewing of the eyelash during its application whereby the user will have an accurate depth vision throughout the installation process.

It is another object of the invention to provide an implement of the character described which is so constructed that it minimizes the danger of pushing the tip of the implement against the eye inasmuch as the construction discourages handling of the implement in such a manner that the tip is directed toward the eye, rather the manipulation which is encouraged by such construction is one in which the tip is tangential to the eye.

It is another object of the invention to provide an implement of the character described which inherently will hold several strands of the eyelash rather than just a few so that better control of the eyelash can be maintained during its period of application.

It is another object of the invention to provide an implement of the character described which is of such construction that it can be readily manipulated to force against an eyelid those parts of the spine of the false eyelash which were not initially pressed against the eyelid during the period when the strands of the false eyelash were firmly gripped between the tips of the implement.

It is an ancillary object of the invention to provide an implement of the character described having a structure such that even when the tips of the implement forcefully squeeze the strands of the false eyelash, there is no tendency to impart an angular set or crimp to said strands.

It is another object of the invention to provide an implement of the character described through whose use women who have little manual dexterity can quickly, accurately and nicely emplace false eyelashes on their eyelids.

It is another object of the invention to provide an implement of the character described through the use of which the entire length of the spine can be firmly adhered to an eyelid so that during an evening there is little chance of a part, for instance an end, of a false eyelash becoming unanchored and springing away from the eyelid in which position it will lend a ludicrous appearance to the wearer.

It is another object of the invention to provide an implement of the character described which constitutes relatively few and simple parts, is capable of mass production and can be manufactured at a low cost.

It is another object of the invention to provide an implement of the character described, the use of which is immediately obvious upon mere inspection of the implement so that no elaborate set of instructions or training is necessary.

Other objects of the invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

In general, the implement constitutes a pair of shanks and a pair of jaws unitary with the shanks together with means for manipulating the shanks so as to force the tips of the jaws against one another, the tips in such position clamping many strands of a false eyelash between them. The implement is characterized by the fact that at least one of the tips is flexible and that the tips are disposed at such angle to the shanks that when the tips are moved into engagement by manipulation of the shanks, the tips will close upon opposite sides of a plane which is at an angle to the plane between the shanks. This in contradistinction to an implement wherein shanks have jaws, the tips of which close upon manipulation of the shanks, the jaws being at such angles with respect to the shanks that the tips, when closed, close upon opposite sides of a plane which is coplanar with the plane between the jaws. It is this special angulation of the tips of the new implement which permit its use in a fashion such that the jaws are tangential to an eyelid to which a false eyelash is being applied and further causes the implement to be out of the line of vision of the user so that the implement can be employed for its intended purpose with both eyelids raised so as to permit the user to enjoy binocular vision and accurate depth perception during the installation of the false eyelash.

The invention consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the implements hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown various possible embodiments of the invention,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the manner of use of the new applicator;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross section through a pair of tips of an applicator embodying a modified form of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing another modified form of the tip construction;

FIG. 5 is a side, partially sectioned, enlarged view of the applicator shown in FIG. 1, the shanks and jaws of the applicator being shown in solid lines in open position and one of the shanks and the associated jaw being shown in dot-and-dash lines in closed position;

FIG. 6 is a side, axial sectional view of another modified form of applicator, the solid lines indicating the open position of the jaws and shank and the dot-and-dash lines illustrating the closed position of one of the jaws and its associated shank; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary longitudinal view of still another modified form of applicator wherein the modification resides in a different structure of the means for closing of the shanks and jaws.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring now in detail to the FIGS., and, more particularly, to FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, the reference numeral 10 denotes an applicator constituting a preferred embodiment of the invention. The applicator includes (see FIG. 5) a handle 12 in the shape of an elongated cylindrical hollow tube having an open front end 14 which, for the sake of appearance, may be beveled, and a rear closed end 16 which, again for the sake of appearance, may be rounded. The handle can be made of any self-form-maintaining material, e.g., metal or plastic.

The handle mounts a pair of shanks 18, 20, the shank 18 being fixed to the handle and the shank 20 being slidable with respect to the handle. The shanks 18, 20 likewise may be made from any self-form-maintaining material, the material employed being one which when sufficiently thin is flexible and resilient. Satisfactory materials are metal and plastic. The shank 18 includes a portion which extends deeply into the tubular handle and is fixed rigidly thereto. The shank 20 likewise includes a portion which extends well into the handle; however, this portion is slidable relative to the handle. The shanks are elongated and their axes of elongation are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle. As illustrated, the shanks are of semicircular cross section, the cross sections of the two shanks meeting adjacent and in the handle to form a complete circle. The flats of the semicircular cross sections are in planar juxtaposition and the movable shank 20 has its flat in bearing engagement against the corresponding flat of the fixed shank 18.

The movable shank 20 has secured thereto a manipulating knob 22 which is carried by that portion of the shank 20 which is disposed within the tubular handle 12. The knob 20 is located within a cutout or slot 24 formed in the handle to permit the knob 22 to protrude therethrough for convenient manipulation of the shank whereby by having a finger engaged on the knob 22, the shank 20 can be shifted axially so as to move longitudinally with respect to the fixed shank 18. The foregoing arrangement constitutes a means for causing relative movement of the two shanks and, as soon will be seen, relative movement of the jaws and tips of the shanks into and out of mutual interengagement. The forward and rear edges of the slot 24 constitute stop means for abutment of the knob thereagainst to delimit movement of the shank 20 between a foremost extended position shown in full lines in FIG. 5 and a rearmost retracted position shown in dot-and-dash lines in the same FIG.

To enhance flexibility of the shanks, although this is not necessary, and particularly to enhance flexibility of the forward portions of the shanks, these forward portions may be of gradually diminishing thickness in a direction perpendicular to the flats. The same can be accomplished by flaring the flats slightly away from one another as clearly indicated in FIG. 5.

Each shank carries a different jaw 26, 28, the jaw being stationary and the jaw 28 being movable. It is a characteristic of the invention that the jaws are at angles to their affiliated shanks. The angulation is special. Specifically the orientation, i.e., the plane of the angulation, is a feature of the present invention. The angulation is such that when the jaws are moved into engagement by manipulation of the shanks they close upon opposite sides of a plane which forms a dihedral angle with the plane between the shanks. This is to be contrasted, for instance, to a construction wherein the jaws close upon one another on opposite sides of a plane which is parallel to or coplanar with the plane between the shanks, even if the tips happen to be angled in or parallel to such a plane or planes. The degree of angulation, as distinguished from the presence of a dihedral plane between the jaws and shanks is of minor importance. Both jaws may be at the same angle to their shanks; but in the preferred form of the invention the angles between the jaws and shanks are almost but not quite the same. Specifically, the jaw 26 is at an angle of 29.degree. to the longitudinal axis of the shank 18 and the jaw 28 is at an angle of 32.degree. to the longitudinal axis of the shank 20. Hence, the two jaws converge slightly toward one another in a direction toward their tips. Typically the angle of conveyance is about 1.degree. to about 5.degree. .

The thickness of the jaws, as seen in FIG. 5, tapers from the shanks toward the tips so as to enhance flexibility of the tips. Moreover, the width of the jaws tapers from the shanks toward the tips as can be seen in FIG. 1 to further enhance flexibility of the tips. Neither of these taperings is critical.

At least one of the jaws must be flexible in order that when the jaws, which converge toward one another toward their tips, are brought into mutual engagement by manipulation of the shanks the jaws can bend sufficiently for the engaged parts to flex into parallelism as shown in dot-and-dash lines in FIG. 5 whereby to assure a substantial area of gripping. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention both jaws are flexible.

In the operation of the applicator 10 the knob 32 is manipulated to thrust the shank 20 forward so as to separate the jaws 26, 28 as shown in solid lines in FIG. 5, then the opened jaws are approached to an artificial eyelash, preferably to the center of the eyelash. The applicator is so positioned with respect to the artificial eyelash, which at this time may be in a carrier box, that the jaws extend in a line perpendicular to the central lashes and are located near the tips of these strands or about midway of the lengths of the strands.

Because the spine of the artificial eyelash is curved the jaws will extend over many of the strands of the eyelash but less than all, specifically over the central strands but not over the endmost strands so that the endmost strands are left free of the applicator. This location of the applicator with respect to the false eyelash is the preferred mode of operation but is not to be construed as limitive of the invention.

Next, the applicator is manipulated so as to move the shanks in a fashion such as to cause the jaws to mutually approach one another and thereby clamp the aforesaid strands of the eyelash, particularly at the center of the eyelash which they overlie. Thus, there is at this time a firm engagement between the applicator and the false eyelash.

Thereupon the eyelash can be lifted out of its carrier case. It will be understood, of course, that the applicator can be caused to engage the false eyelash even if it is not disposed within a carrier case.

It will be appreciated that with the applicator so grasping the false eyelash, the plane defined by the longitudinal axes of the shanks and the elongated jaws is perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the eyelash strands. Hence the applicator extends laterally away from the false eyelash, that is to say, to the side of the false eyelash. Moreover, due to the angulation, the handle at this time is below the false eyelash if the eyelash is held horizontally with the handle generally disposed downwardly as shown in FIG. 1.

Now the false eyelash is applied to an eyelid. Application of one of the eyelashes to one eyelid is illustrated in FIG. 1. At this time, the applicator is held in the right hand of the user and it is her left eyelid to which the false eyelash in being applied. The shanks of the applicator cross over the bridge of the user's nose at a rather high level depending, of course, upon the particular configuration of the user's face. However, the plane defined by the longitudinal axes of the jaws and shanks is roughly parallel to the front of the user's face. Hence, the entire applicator as well as the false eyelash about to be applied is located out of the line of vision of the user who, at this time, can have stereoscopic viewing and good depth perception of the applicator and the eyelash applied by looking in a mirror. It will be seen from inspection of FIG. 1 and from an appreciation of the construction of the applicator that the shanks after crossing the bridge of the user's nose descend down below the right eye so as to be out of the right eye's line of vision and that the jaws are above the open eyelid of the left eye to which the false eyelash is being applied so that both eyes are free to look into the mirror. The same will hold true of application of a false eyelash to the right eye, except that there, of course, the shanks will not cross the bridge of the user's nose.

The instrument is symmetrical so that a left handed woman can use it in the same manner but with her left hand holding the handle.

The user with the applicator held as shown in FIG. 1 approaches the false eyelash, specifically the spine of the false eyelash, and even more specifically the pressure sensitive adhesive side of the spine, to her eyelid with the center of the spine at the center of her eyelid just above her lash line. It will be seen that at this time the longitudinal axes of the jaws are substantially tangential to her eyelid so that she will not be afraid of touching her eye or eyelid with the somewhat narrow tips of the jaws. She then presses the spine against her eyelid, actually the center of her eyelid, which will cause the spine to adhere at this area to the eyelid. Then she releases the false eyelash by moving the knob 22 rearwardly of the handle. It will be noted that with the specified degree of angulation the forearm and elbow of the user will be naturally positioned and not give rise to muscular stress or fatigue.

Next, either with the jaws opened or with the jaws closed, by further manipulation of the knob 22, she approaches the manipulator to parts of the false eyelash between the now adhered center and the ends of the eyelash so as to press successive parts of the pressure sensitive area of the spine against her eyelid. She continues to do this with the applicator until the false eyelash adheres along its full length to the eyelid. It will be appreciated that she has not had to use her hands at all, although she can if she wishes, and that because of the unique construction of the applicator, particularly the special angulation above referred to, the applicator will not interfere with her line of vision while she is thus adhering the remainder of the eyelash to her eyelid. All in all, the operation is so rapid that it will be accomplished in far less time than the reading of this segment of this specificaton.

For the purpose of identification, in FIG. 2 the strands of the false eyelash have been denoted by the reference numeral 30, the spine by the reference numeral 32 and the adhesive coating by the reference numeral 34. This FIG. also shows how the jaws of the applicator clamp the strands between them.

If desired, the jaws 28 may be coated with a material which is softer than the material of the jaws, such for instance as a thin coating 36 (see FIG. 3) of rubber or polyvinyl chloride. This minimizes any crimping or damage to the artificial strands 30 although there is very little danger of such damage because of the flexibility of the jaws 26, 28.

Furthermore, if desired, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, the jaws 26, 28 may have their confronting surfaces configured to minimize slippage of the jaws on an artificial eyelash when they grasp the same (which is an additional purpose of the soft coating 36 as shown in FIG. 3). As shown in FIG. 4, such configuration constitutes a series of ribs 38 on the otherwise flat surfaces of each of the jaws, i.e., facing surfaces, which ribs run longitudinally of the jaws so that they appear as a series of ripples in cross section, this being the view illustrated in FIG. 4.

In the applicator 10 described with respect to FIG. 1 through 5, a specific means has been illustrated for manipulation of the shanks in a fashion such as to move the jaws into and out of engagement with one another under control of the user of the applicator. Alternate means can be employed for the same purpose, two constructions with different such means being disclosed in FIGS. 6 and 7.

Referring to FIG. 6 the shank 18' which is made of metal has a portion thereof which is located internally of the handle 12' welded thereto. A portion of the shank 20' which extends within the handle 12' likewise is welded to the interior of the handle. The welded portion of the shank 20' is located deep within the handle so as to form a cantilever support for the shank 20'. The shank 20' has fixed thereto a button 40 which extends through an opening 42 in the handle 12'. The shank 20' in released, i.e., idle, condition, occupies a position in which it presses against an interior sidewall of the handle 12'. However, by pressing the button 40 inwardly to the dot-and-dash line position, it will cause the flexible resilient shank 20' to swing toward the shank 18', as shown in dot-and-dash lines, and this movement will close the jaw 28' onto the jaw 26', as shown in dot-and-dash lines, for clamping engagement with the strands of a false eyelash which thereupon will be manipulated in the fashion previously described.

In FIG. 7 both the flexible resilient shank 18" and the flexible resilient shank 20" extend into the handle 12" where, as in the case of the shank 20" in FIG. 6, they are welded at their free ends deep within the handle so that each has a cantilever support permitting the shanks to be flexed away from idle position in which they are separated. The shanks 18" and 20" are embraced near the handle 12" by a collar 44 which is a snug slidable fit on the shanks. The portions of the shank somewhat forward of the handle flare outwardly at a small angle, as shown in FIG. 7. Thereby when the collar is slid forwardly on the shanks it will cause the shanks to flex toward one another and this action will make the jaws (not shown) interengage as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

It thus will be seen that there are provided applicators which achieve the several objects of this invention and which are well adopted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention and as various changes might be made for the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter described herein or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Claims

I claim:

1. An applicator for applying a false eyelash to a human eyelid in a manner such that vision of the user in both eyes is substantially unobstructed to permit the user to have stereoscopic vision and good depth perception during the application of the eyelash, said applicator comprising a pair of elongated straight flexible resilient coextensive members, means joining said members at one common pair of ends thereof to permit said members to be flexed toward one another from an idle position in which they are separated, each of said members having integral therewith at the other end thereof an elongated flexible resilient jaw which constitutes an extension of the member and which tapers in width from the width of the member at said end to the tip of the jaw, said jaws being flat from side to side, each said jaw being disposed at an obtuse angle with respect to the member of which it is an extension, said jaws having facing surfaces of substantially matching configuration whereby the same are approximately parallel in idle position of the members, the jaws being spaced apart in idle position of the members, the longitudinal axes of one member and its associated jaw defining one plane, the longitudinal axes of the other member and its associated jaw defining a second plane, said two planes being coincident, the central plane between the members and the central plane between the jaws being inclined to one another at said obtuse angle, so that when the jaws are moved into engagement with one another by manual manipulation of the members, the tips of the jaws will close upon opposite sides of the common plane between the jaws to clamp the strands of a false eyelash between them in order that the members, during application of a false eyelash to an eyelid, will be in a plane perpendicular to the length of the false eyelash strands and out of the line of vision of the user, and the lengths of the jaws will be tangential to the eyelid.