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EP-3937724-B1 - BRUSH ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A BRUSH

EP3937724B1EP 3937724 B1EP3937724 B1EP 3937724B1EP-3937724-B1

Inventors

  • BORSARI, Mark
  • TARLING, Chris

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20200313

Claims (15)

  1. A brush (10), comprising: a core wire section (12) having a proximal end and a distal end, and at least one bend intermediate the proximal end and the distal end; and a plurality of discs (18) received on the core wire section and trimmed on the core wire section (12) to a desired shape, the plurality of discs (18) defining a trimmed brush head; wherein the at least one bend of the core wire section imparts a corresponding bend to the trimmed brush head.
  2. The brush of claim 1, wherein: the trimmed brush head has one of a bullet shape, an hourglass shape, a prolate spheroid shape and a power slide shape.
  3. The brush of claim 1, wherein: the trimmed brush head is shaped by bending a portion of the core section at an angle, in particular wherein: the angle is between about 0 degrees and about 90 degrees.
  4. The brush of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of discs are formed from a polymer or elastomeric material.
  5. The brush of claim 1, further comprising: an integral tip formed on the distal end, the integral tip and the core wire section being unitary and homogeneous; wherein the integral tip forms as a position stop preventing the plurality of discs from sliding off the distal end of the core section.
  6. The brush of claim 1, wherein: the core section includes at least two leg members twisted about one another in a helical configuration.
  7. The brush of claim 6, further comprising: a plurality of bristles extending from the core section, wherein the bristles are fibre bristles that are retained within the core section.
  8. The brush of claim 5, wherein: the integral tip has a diameter that is greater than a diameter of the core section.
  9. A method of manufacturing a brush, comprising the steps of: providing a core section having a proximal end and a distal end; positioning a plurality of bristle elements each having a throughbore on the core section such that the core section is received through the throughbore of the plurality of bristle elements; and trimming the plurality of bristle elements to shape after positioning the plurality of bristle elements on the core section.
  10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: the plurality of bristle elements include a plurality of discs, and the trimming includes trimming the plurality of discs on the core section to form a trimmed brush head.
  11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: the plurality of discs are trimmed to one of an hourglass shape, a bullet shape, a prolate spheroid shape and a power slide shape.
  12. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: bending the core section after the trimming of the plurality of bristle elements, wherein the core section is bent to an angle between about 0 degrees and about 90 degrees.
  13. The method according to claim 9, wherein: the core section includes a plurality of leg portions twisted in a helical configuration, and a plurality of fiber bristles anchored between the plurality of leg portions.
  14. The method according to claim 9, wherein: the core section includes an enlarged, distal tip.
  15. The method according to claim 9, wherein: the at least one bristle element is formed via an additive manufacturing process.

Description

FIELD Of THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to brushes and, more particularly, to a brush having a twisted wire core and a method of shaping or forming a brush having a twisted wire core. BACKGROUND OE THE INVENTION Brushes have long been used for a variety of purposes including, for example, cleaning the inferior surfaces of vessels and tubular bodies, collecting biological specimens or samples and applying personal care product compositions such as mascara. With particular respect to brushes used for the application of mascara to a user's eyelashes, such a brush must be capable of picking up and transporting a supply of mascara from a reservoir and depositing it on a user's eyelashes. In addition, such a brush must also be capable of combing out clumps of excess mascara and separating lashes so that the mascara may be applied evenly. One known type of mascara brush is the twisted in wire brush, which typically comprises a core formed from a single metallic wire folded in a generally u-shaped configuration to provide a pair of parallel wire segments. Bristles (also referred to as filaments or fibers), usually comprised of strands of nylon, are disposed between a portion of a length of the wire segments. The wire segments are then twisted, or rotated, about each other to form a helical core (also known as a twisted wire core) which holds the filaments substantially at their midpoints so as to clamp them. In this way, a bristle portion or bristle head is formed with radially extending bristles secured in the twisted wire core in a helical or spiral manner. This construction method is well suited for forming a typical bristle type of applicator (i.e., a twisted wire core brush) having uniform bristle characteristics along the length of the brush. However, it is not well suited for consistently forming brushes with bristle characteristics that vary at regular or irregular intervals along the length of the brush. Another known type of mascara brush is the disc-array or stacked-disc applicator brush, which typically includes an array of flexible discs that are disposed in an axial array along a rod-like wand or central shaft. The discs can be formed individually in a variety of configurations, and assembled in a variety of combinations to yield applicators having different characteristics. The central shaft of such brushes is typically formed from a polymer or plastic, such as by molding. Such disc-array applicator brushes, however, cannot be shaped or trimmed after assembly in the manner that traditional fiber brushes can, thereby limiting the ability for brush customization. US 2009/194128 A1 describes an instrument for applying a product to superficial epidermal derivatives comprising an elongated core and at least one nucleus supporting an applicator of the product. The core, which is twisted, passes through the nucleus, and the core and nucleus are connected to prevent the nucleus from pivoting freely on the core. US 10 111 516 B1 describes a cosmetic applicator brush comprising a plurality of discs assembled relative to one another with each disc having a body with a plurality of bristles or combs extending radially therefrom, a conical, and a plurality of wires, where the plurality of wires pass through a wire passage of each of the plurality of discs, and the plurality of discs are stacked or linked without any angular offset or with a uniform angular offset so that alignment of bristles for the stacked discs is uniform. The conical is injection molded with the plurality of wires, and a top portion of the cosmetic applicator brush has the conical. After the plurality of discs are stacked or linked, the plurality of wires are twisted at a bottom portion of the cosmetic applicator brush so that the discs are securely linked or stacked. US 2018/008028 A1 describes a method for manufacturing a cosmetic applicator brush, where the cosmetic applicator brush comprises a plurality of discs assembled relative to one another, each disc having a body with a plurality of bristles extending radially therefrom, comprises the step of forming the cosmetic applicator brush by a mono-injection molding, wherein adjacent discs are maintained at an angular relationship with respect to one another independent of a disc specific keying element. EP 2 896 315 A1 describes a mascara wand assembly including a wand, multiple brush units and a cylindrical brush unit. The wand has a cap and a handle on two ends thereof. The cylindrical brush unit is connected to the cap. The multiple brush units are mounted to the wand and each brush unit has multiple first brush hairs extending radially and outward therefrom. The first brush hairs have different thicknesses. Each first brush hair has multiple sub-brush hairs extending therefrom. Each brush unit has a notch and a block respectively on the top and underside thereof. A 90-degree angle is defined between the notch and block of each brush unit. The block of one brush u