Package For Dispensing A Personal Care Product

Abstract

A package for dispensing a liquid personal care product, the package comprising: a body for grasping with a user's hand; an applicator comprising an applicator base and a skin-contacting portion extending from the applicator base to a first height; a dispensing conduit through which a liquid personal care product is dispensable from the body, wherein the dispensing conduit comprises a proximal end and a distal end, wherein the proximal end comprises an inlet that is in fluid communication with the body, wherein the distal end extends from the applicator base to a second height that is less than the first height; and a flow-restricting member associated with the dispensing conduit.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 072,521, filed Mar. 31, 2008.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention is directed to packages for dispensing a liquid personal care product.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Liquid personal care products are available in a wide variety of packages, including bottles, jars, tubes, and cans. Liquid personal care products meant for application to the skin are traditionally dispensed from a container onto users' hands and then applied to the skin by hand. Examples of such products include lotion, facial cleanser, and shaving cream. This application method however can be messy, and that portion of the product that does not get transferred from users' fingers is wasted.[0004]Few liquid personal care products on the market have applicators or lathering aids. While patents relating to brush attachments for shaving cream in traditional aerosol cans do exist, there ar...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]A second exemplary embodiment comprises all of the elements of the first exemplary embodiment. In addition, the body comprises a horizontal plane defining a first cross-sectional shape and the skin-contacting portion comprises a horizontal plane defining a second cross-sectional shape. The distal end of the dispensing conduit extends from the applicator base to a second height that is about half the first height. The flow-restricting member is located at or near the distal end of the dispensing conduit. The flow-restricting member comprises at least two opposing members, wherein the members converge into a closed state and diverge into an open state, wherein the members are biased to the closed state to inhibit water from entering the dispensing conduit, and wherein the members may be forced into the open state when a volume of liquid personal care product is communicated from the body through the dispensing conduit. Each of the first cross-sectional shape and the second cross-sectional shape comprises a major dimension oriented along a first axis and a minor dimension oriented along a second axis, and wherein the major dimensions are greater than the minor dimensions.

Problems solved by technology

This application method however can be messy, and that portion of the product that does not get transferred from users' fingers is wasted.

Few liquid personal care products on the market have applicators or lathering aids.

While patents relating to brush attachments for shaving cream in traditional aerosol cans do exist, there are no well-known lathering aids for shaving cream currently available for consumer purchase.

This sort of applicator may not work well to lather product onto smaller skin areas, such as the space between the nose and upper lip; an applicator with a shape other than cylindrical may work better.

But, if the shape of the applicator is not cylindrical, it may be hard for the user to view the orientation of the applicator, particularly when the applicator contains foamed product and is placed against the skin.

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