US20150181999A1

US20150181999A1 - Eyebrow tool with integrated tweezers

Info

Publication number: US20150181999A1
Application number: US14/146,698
Authority: US
Inventors: Oliver Albers
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-01-02
Filing date: 2014-01-02
Publication date: 2015-07-02

Abstract

The present eyebrow grooming tool provides a system to keep complementary eyebrow grooming tools together in one compact and convenient package. Several eyebrow grooming tools can be managed and integrated by lining a hollow interior of a hair styling tool with a resiliently deformable insert to form an accessory pocket configured to receive a tweezing tool therewithin, where the tweezing tool deforms the resiliently deformable insert to from a frictional and interference engagement between the tweezing tool and the resiliently deformable insert to prevent unintended withdrawal of the tweezing tool. Yet, the engagement between the accessory pocket and the tweezing tool can be easily overcome by the user applying a removing force.

Description

BACKGROUND

The embodiments herein relate generally to health and beauty tools. And more particularly, the embodiments herein relate to tools for use in grooming eyebrows and other facial hair.
When grooming eyebrows and other facial hair, one generally must use multiple tools to pluck, shape, comb, and brush the hair. When grooming the eyebrows, the person may switch repeatedly between tools to achieve the desired results. Further, since the plucking process can quickly go astray, in general, the person frequently checks the results of the plucking to insure only the desired hair is removed and the desired shape is achieved. For example, the person may first comb the eyebrow to determine which hairs require plucking Then, the person may pluck several hairs, and comb to see the results. Thereafter, the person may brush the eyebrow, and then pluck once again. Thus, in this manner, the person may switch between these common tools to constantly check the progress of the eyebrow grooming.
When looking at the average person's grooming bag, bin, drawer, or similar grooming receptacles, there are generally a multitude of tools arranged in a jumbled pile. The person must sift through the many items to find the desired grooming tool, wasting time and testing patience. An additional sense of urgency may exacerbate frustration when the misplacement of grooming tools occurs while preparing for work in the morning or other important event.
Moreover, the person may want to carry various grooming tools while traveling or even within a handbag during daily errands. As space is limited and organization key, the person must carefully choose which tools should be carried. Upon discovering a stray eyebrow hair which escaped notice at home, many would immediately attempt to groom the eyebrow in a public location, where a large number of grooming tools may be impractical to carry.
Thus, what is needed is a system to keep like or complementary tools in close proximity, where groups of tools can be easily identified. What is also needed, is a set of grooming tools that are compact and easy to transport, yet are unobtrusive when not needed.

SUMMARY

The present eyebrow grooming tool provides a system to keep complementary eyebrow grooming tools together in one convenient package. Further, present eyebrow grooming tool is compact and can be easily transported in a purse or pocket. Thus, the problem of managing the several eyebrow grooming tools is solved by lining a hollow interior of a hair styling tool with a resiliently deformable insert to form an accessory pocket configured to receive a tweezing tool therewithin, with the tweezing tool deforming the resiliently deformable insert to from a gripping engagement between the tweezing tool and the resiliently deformable insert to prevent unintended withdrawal of the tweezing tool.
The eyebrow grooming tool includes an elongate handle with a hollow interior, a resiliently deformable insert that lines the walls of the hollow interior to form an accessory pocket, a head attached to the handle with a hair styling tool, and a tweezing tool configured to be inserted into the accessory pocket. The elongate handle has a connecting portion and a terminus opposite the connecting portion, Further, the elongate handle has a hollow interior and an accessory opening at the terminus, The accessory opening communicates between the hollow interior and an exterior, with the hollow interior having an interior wall. A head is attached to the handle at the connecting portion, where the head includes a hair styling tool.
A resiliently deformable insert lines the interior wall of the hollow interior to form an accessory pocket. The resiliently deformable insert is attached to a portion of the elongate handle to substantially prevent extraction of the resiliently deformable insert from the hollow interior. A tweezing tool is provided with a pair of opposing spring jaws attached at a first end and a tip opposite the first end. The opposing spring jaws are configured to be forced together at the tip for plucking The tweezing tool is configured to be removably inserted into the accessory pocket of the handle through the accessory opening when in an inserted configuration, where the resiliently deformable insert is compressed by the tweezing tool when inserted so that the resiliently deformable insert grips the tweezing tool. The styling tool on the head of the eyebrow grooming tool may be a comb, a brush, or a comb arranged on the head opposite the brush.
Optionally, the tip of the tweezing tool is sufficiently wide to cause the resiliently deformable insert to deform when in the inserted configuration, such that the tip of the tweezing tool is configured to grip the resiliently deformable insert to resist unintended removal of the tweezing tool. Again optionally, the tweezing tool has a necked portion inwardly located from the tip and a wide portion between the first end and the necked portion, such that both the tip and the wide portion of the tweezing tool are configured to grip the resiliently deformable insert to resist unintended removal of the tweezing tool and the necked portion is configured to not substantially deform the resiliently deformable insert.
Optionally, the pair of opposing spring jaws are configured to slide into the accessory pocket of the resiliently deformable insert when in a closed configuration where the pair of opposing spring jaws are forced together against an open configuration bias, and the opposing spring jaws are configured to spring apart within the accessory pocket to deform and to grip the resiliently deformable insert to resist unintended removal of the tweezing tool.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The detailed description of some embodiments of the invention will be is made below with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals represent corresponding parts of the figures.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of one embodiment of the present invention, showing the comb oriented in the upward direction;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1, showing the brush oriented in the upward direction;

FIG. 3 shows an exploded perspective view of the embodiment of FIG. 1, with the tweezer tool removed from the handle;

FIG. 4 shows an assembled cross sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 2 taken at 4-4, with the tweezer tool shown inserted within the handle; and

FIG. 5 shows an exploded cross sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 3 taken at 5-5, with the tweezer tool shown removed from the handle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

By way of example, and referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, one embodiment of the present eyebrow grooming tool (10) comprises a elongate handle (22) connected to a head (15) though a connecting portion (24). The head (15) has a brush (14) made of a multiplicity of artificial or natural bristles. The head further includes a comb (16) portion opposite the brush (14). Preferably, the elongate handle (22) and the head (15) with the comb (16) tines are integrally injection molded. Bristle holes can be provided to receive the brush (14) bristles, as is well known in the art. The elongate handle (22) has a hollow interior (28), either milled after molding or created as part of the mold. In the present example embodiment, the depth of the hollow interior (28) extends the majority of the length of the elongate handle (22). An accessory opening (30) is provided at the terminus (26) of the elongate handle (22) to provide an opening between the hollow interior (28) and the exterior.
The interior wall (20) of the hollow interior (28) is lined with a resiliently deformable insert (12). Preferably, the resiliently deformable insert (12) is made of a soft, resilient material, so that it deforms when pressed, yet rebounds to its original shape when released. The material should provide a coefficient of friction sufficient to grip the tweezing tool (18) as described further below. The resiliently deformable insert (12) lines the interior wall (20) and thus provides an accessory pocket (32).
A tweezing tool (18) is provided, and is configured to removably nest within the elongate handle (22), as seen in FIG. 3. The tweezing tool (18), as known as a pair of tweezers, has a pair of opposing spring jaws (34) attached at a first end (36), usually by tack welding, brazing, or the like. Each spring jaw (34) has a tip (38) shaped for clamping together for plucking or grasping hair or other small object. In this example, the tip (38) is slanted for ergonomic plucking However, the tip (38) may be of any shape, such as a fine point or the like. Normally, the spring jaws (34) are biased to the open configuration, where the opposing tips (38) are separated. Upon applying a pinching pressure to the spring jaws (34), the tips (38) are brought together for gripping a hair, splinter, or other object.
Looking now at FIGS. 4 and 5, the tweezing tool (18) is shown inserted into the accessory pocket (32) within the elongate handle (22). FIG. 4 shows that the width of the tip (38) is sufficiently wide to deform the resiliently deformable insert (12). Further, in this example, a necked portion (40) of the tweezing tool (18) is shown within the accessory pocket (32), but does not deform the resiliently deformable insert (12). A widened portion (42) again is sufficiently wide to press into the resiliently deformable insert (12), causing it to deform. Essentially, portions of the tweezing tool (18) are slightly larger than the accessory pocket (32), so that the tweezing tool (18) presses against the resiliently deformable insert (12) such that a frictional engagement is created to prevent unintentional removal of the tweezing tool (18). However, a user can easily exert a removing force to separate the tweezing tool (18) and the resiliently deformable insert (12) by overcoming the frictional engagement.
The tweezing tool (18) may also be held within the resiliently deformable insert (12) by the expanding force of the opposing spring jaws (34) of the tweezing tool. In this example, the opposing spring jaws (34) are normally open and, as a result, cannot fit into the accessory pocket (32) of the resiliently deformable insert (12). To insert the tweezing tool (18), the user pinches the opposing spring jaws (34) together, then insert closed tweezing tool (18) into the accessory pocket (32). The user releases the opposing spring jaws (34), so that they press against the resiliently deformable insert (12) to create a frictional engagement.
Compressing the resiliently deformable insert (12) also creates an interference-type fit along with a frictional engagement. For example, the resiliently deformable insert (12) is compressed by the tip (38) and the area inward from the tip is necked (40). Thus the shape of the tweezing tool (18) permits the resiliently deformable insert (12) to remain expanded at the necked portion (40), causing an interference fit, where the resiliently deformable insert (12) material adjacent the necked portion (40) prevents removal by blocking the tip (38). Of course, one gripping method or a combination a combination of gripping methods may be used to removably secure the tweezing tool (18) within the accessory pocket (32).
Persons of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that numerous design configurations may be possible to enjoy the functional benefits of the inventive systems. Thus, given the wide variety of configurations and arrangements of embodiments of the present invention the scope of the invention is reflected by the breadth of the claims below rather than narrowed by the embodiments described above.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An eyebrow grooming tool, comprising:

an elongate handle having a connecting portion and a terminus opposite the connecting portion, the elongate handle having a hollow interior and an accessory opening at the terminus, the accessory opening communicating between the hollow interior and an exterior, the hollow interior having an interior wall;

a resiliently deformable insert that lines the interior wall of the hollow interior to form an accessory pocket, the resiliently deformable insert being attached to a portion of the elongate handle to substantially prevent extraction of the resiliently deformable insert from the hollow interior;

a head attached to the handle at the connecting portion, the head including a hair styling tool; and

a tweezing tool with a pair of opposing spring jaws attached at a first end and a tip opposite the first end, the opposing spring jaws configured to be forced together at the tip for plucking;

wherein the tweezing tool is configured to be removably inserted into the accessory pocket of the handle through the accessory opening when in an inserted configuration;

and wherein the resiliently deformable insert is compressed by the tweezing tool when inserted so that the resiliently deformable insert grips the tweezing tool.

2. The eyebrow grooming tool of claim 1, wherein the tip of the tweezing tool is sufficiently wide to cause the resiliently deformable insert to deform when in the inserted configuration, such that the tip of the tweezing tool is configured to grip the resiliently deformable insert to resist unintended removal of the tweezing tool.

3. The eyebrow grooming tool of claim 2, wherein the tweezing tool has a necked portion inwardly located from the tip and a wide portion between the first end and the necked portion, such that both the tip and the wide portion of the tweezing tool are configured to grip the resiliently deformable insert to resist unintended removal of the tweezing tool and the necked portion is configured to not substantially deform the resiliently deformable insert.

4. The eyebrow grooming tool of claim 3, wherein the pair of opposing spring jaws are configured to slide into the accessory pocket of the resiliently deformable insert when in a closed configuration where the pair of opposing spring jaws are forced together against an open configuration bias, and the opposing spring jaws are configured to spring apart within the accessory pocket to deform and to grip the resiliently deformable insert to resist unintended removal of the tweezing tool.

5. The eyebrow grooming tool of claim 1, wherein the hair styling tool is a comb.

6. The eyebrow grooming tool of claim 1, wherein the hair styling tool is a brush.

7. The eyebrow grooming tool of claim 1, wherein the head further includes a second hair styling tool, the hair styling tool is a brush and the second hair styling tool is a comb arranged opposite the brush.

8. An eyebrow grooming tool, comprising:

a head attached to the handle at the connecting portion, the head including a brush and a comb arranged opposite the brush; and

and wherein the pair of opposing spring jaws are configured to slide into the accessory pocket of the resiliently deformable insert when the opposing spring jaws are in a closed configuration where the pair of opposing spring jaws are forced together against an open configuration bias, and the opposing spring jaws are configured to spring apart within the accessory pocket to deform and to grip the resiliently deformable insert to resist unintended removal of the tweezing tool.

9. The eyebrow grooming tool of claim 8, wherein the tip of the tweezing tool is sufficiently wide to cause the resiliently deformable insert to deform when in the inserted configuration, such that the tip of the tweezing tool is configured to grip the resiliently deformable insert to resist unintended removal of the tweezing tool.

10. The eyebrow grooming tool of claim 9, wherein the tweezing tool has a necked portion inwardly located from the tip and a wide portion between the first end and the necked portion, such that both the tip and the wide portion of the tweezing tool are configured to grip the resiliently deformable insert to resist unintended removal of the tweezing tool and the necked portion is configured to not substantially deform the resiliently deformable insert.