WO2007011239A1

WO2007011239A1 - Pad for applying liquid or creamy substances

Info

Publication number: WO2007011239A1
Application number: PCT/NO2006/000283
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dag H. Gundersen; Lennart Backlund
Original assignee: Padtech As
Priority date: 2005-07-20
Filing date: 2006-07-18
Publication date: 2007-01-25

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device for applying a liquid, cream or gel-like substance at a suitable spot, preferably in a controlled and appropriate amount. The invention further relates to a suitable storage material in such a device with several different embodiments and a top-layer material that has several functions but which acts primarily as a dosing and regulating layer for the amount of substance that is dosed from the storage material.

Description

PAD FOR APPLYING LIQUID OR CREAMY SUBSTANCES

In a number of different applications there is a need for a device that is adapted to applying a substance at a suitable spot, in a controlled and appropriate form and amount. This may, for example, involve the application of shoe cream, cosmetics, moisture creams, cleansing creams, self-tanning creams, various gel products for personal hygiene, or, for example, soap or other substances. Various liquids such as wound cleansing agents, special cleansing liquid for various purposes such as, for example, nail varnish, varnish remnants, glue remnants or the like also have to be applied in the right amount at the right place under controlled conditions.

The currently known technical solutions can substantially be divided into two basic concepts - absorbent and tissue. An absorbent containing a liquid or the like may be employed, where the absorbent can be caused to release a suitable amount of liquid at the desired spot. The function of absorbents, however, is to soak up the liquid or the substance and they have little capacity to release it. In addition, more often than not absorbents have an unsuitable surface and this surface is also moist from the substance contained by the absorbent. A further problem is that, when it has released the substance at a location, the absorbent will also attempt to reabsorb it unless it is removed before being released from, for example, compression. The result is that absorbents are often unsuitable, for example, for application of liquids for cleaning surfaces etc.

Alternatively, use is made of tissue, which is a kind of absorbent in thin form (paper or the like), saturated or heavily moistened with the substance that has to be applied. This offers no possibility of controlling the dosage since most of the substance is spread out in the early phase of application, after which the tissue releases less and less of the substance.

As regards the application of shoe cream, for example, absorbents (sponges) in particular have been employed, where they are connected with a container of shoe cream. When the container is squeezed, shoe cream is dosed to the absorbent, which is then used for applying shoe cream to a shoe. In order to bring the shoe cream out of the absorbent, the user must then press the absorbent against the shoe and when the correct amount of shoe cream has been applied, the absorbent is used to spread the shoe cream over the shoe. However, this absorbent does not have a dry surface suitable for polishing the shoe afterwards, i.e. for rubbing with a dry surface against the applied shoe cream. A similar problem can be found in many other areas where an absorbent is employed for such applications. In addition, it is difficult for a user to employ this kind of device since it requires several dosing operations; both dosing from container to absorbent and thereafter from absorbent to shoe. Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide a product that overcomes these drawbacks, where the product has the following characteristics:

- dosing from a store (depot) only once without the dosed amount being reabsorbed;

- the surface substantially does not remain moist after dosing is completed;

- the correct amount is dosed and the dosing can be repeated several times with substantially the same amount as a result.

This requires the liquid or the substance to be contained in a suitable material that soaks up the substance in the same way as an absorbent. Furthermore, this means that the substance must be transported to the application point and left there with a substantially dry surface. It further requires the existence of a dosing function or valve function.

This has been solved by the present invention through the provision of a material that can contain a substance as a storage material. This material is essentially a non- absorbent material. In an embodiment the material functions according to the opposite characteristics to an absorbent material, viz. that it can release but not absorb liquid or another substance. Furthermore, according to the present invention a top-layer material is provided that acts as a dosing material with a valve-like effect. This material doses a suitable amount of the substance from the storage material and acts as a transport layer which is subsequently substantially empty of substance. This top-layer material does not absorb substance to any significant extent. Moreover, it is provided in such a manner that it doses a desired amount, thereby portioning the substance contained in the store almost like a valve. Finally, a device is provided consisting of the two layers, with the result that a device is provided for applying a desired substance at the right place.

The invention will now be explained with reference to the three elements: the storage material, the top-layer material and the assembled device consisting of storage and top-layer.

Storage material

A storage material according to the present invention is substantially provided by a fibre structure with intersecting fibres in the form of a mat. The intersecting fibres may be located in the same plane or cross several planes. In different embodiments several such fibre planes may be connected or located above one another, thereby forming a fibre structure mat. These fibres form cavities of a size and shape that enable them to contain the specific substance that has to be stored. The size of the cavities, i.e. the density of the mat, will vary depending on the viscosity of the substance to be contained. The thicker and stickier the substance, the larger the cavity that can be employed. However, the mat is not an absorbent and therefore has to be dosed with or be supplied in another way with the substance it has to contain. One of the reasons for this is that the fibre material will not absorb the substance to any significant extent through capillary forces. Moreover, if the material is compressed so that the air is evacuated, the material will only be capable of absorbing the substance to a small extent or not at all, since the material will absorb air from other directions.

The material will release substance when it is compressed but will not necessarily release all the substance. When the pressure is relieved, remaining substance will be distributed in the material. In different embodiments of the material, the substance will substantially be distributed in the fibre direction. When the pressure is applied, the substance moves between the fibres towards the surface.

Top-layer material

The object of a top-layer material according to the present invention is to be a "valve" that admits substance from the underlying storage material. This top-layer material consists of a substantially and in the preferred embodiment preferably non- absorbent material, which rather has the ability to retain the liquid or substance that has to pass through the layer. In other words the material is essentially hydrophobic. The material furthermore has an open-work surface either by being perforated or by being provided with a naturally open surface. The proportion of the surface that is perforated or provided with openings will vary depending on how much substance requires to be dosed at a time. The size of the perforation, moreover, will vary with the thickness and flow properties of the substance that is to be dosed through the layer.

Furthermore, this top-layer material may be perforated only in a specific area or have different perforation or openings in different areas in order to dose different amounts in, e.g. the centre and along the edges of a device with this material.

Since the top-layer material is essentially non-absorbent (plastic or the like) and preferably has properties that make it a barrier to the substance contained in the storage material below, it acts as a transport layer and a dosing/valve layer.

The top-layer material, moreover, has a suitable surface that is selected according to the application for which it is to be used. If the top-layer material is to be used for shoe cream, this material has a surface that is suited for polishing and spreading out shoe cream. If the top-layer material is to be used for cleansing skin with sterile cleansing liquid, the material must be soft against the skin and preferably have a desired degree of roughness to enable it to remove dirt etc. from the wound site. In such cases the material must be sterile during use and may therefore be protected by a separate flap that is torn off before use (tear-off). Furthermore, the material may, e.g. have different properties in different areas, so that one side (for example the right) side of a product is employed for rough cleansing while the other side is employed for fine cleansing. The material's perforation etc. may, moreover, be different in the two areas, for example by the area for rough cleansing having larger or more perforations in order to admit larger amounts of cleansing liquid during use.

The top-layer material may be made of a number of different materials such as, for example, plastic or the like. This is primarily a non- woven material. The top-layer material may furthermore be composed of several different layers with different properties such as, for example, a hydrophobic layer against the storage material and a hydrophilic layer at the top against the application point to soak up any excess liquid. Device for applying substance

According to the present invention a device is further provided comprising a storage material according to the present invention and a top-layer material according to the present invention.

The device consists of a storage material which is filled with a suitable amount of a desired substance such as, for example, liquid, cream or gel. Various products may be envisaged here such as cosmetic creams and liquids, cleansing liquids and creams and various gel products, for example containing local anaesthetic agents or the like. As mentioned above, the storage material is essentially non-absorbent.

The device further consists of a top-layer as indicated above. This top-layer is placed as a covering layer over one of the device's large sides and completely or partly covers this side. In an embodiment the top-layer may be sealingly arranged along the edges against the storage material, or in a second embodiment it may be loosely arranged over the storage material. In certain cases the top-layer may also be envisaged designed as an integrated part of the storage material, e.g. by applying a layer of hot-melt adhesive or by partial melting of the upper layer of the storage material.

In the preferred embodiment the device is further designed so that the side of storage material opposite the top-layer is provided with a liquid-impermeable cover such as plastic. Furthermore, on the side of the device where a liquid-impermeable cover is provided, various holding devices for the device are mounted, such as, for example a pocket in which to insert one or more fingers or a whole hand. A strap or the like may also be provided for holding the device in one hand or the like.

In the preferred embodiment the device according to the invention is essentially impermeable along its outer edges. One or more through-going seals may moreover divide the device up into several areas which may also contain different substances. Some of these substances may also be capable of reacting with each other such as, for example, two-component adhesive.

In most embodiments the device in turn may be wrapped in an impermeable packaging to prevent the substance in the storage material from drying out. These wrappings may have different opening solutions such as, for example, tear lines or marks for tearing off with an initial weak point such as an incision or the like.

By exerting a pressure on the rear of the storage material (opposite the top-layer), substance in the storage material is pushed out through the top-layer. The top-layer doses the substance according to the size of the perforations and number of perforations on the surface where the substance is to be applied. The user does not come into contact with the substance since the rear (opposite) of the top-layer is covered by a liquid-impermeable material and preferably has a holding device for the user. Since the top-layer does not retain moisture but only doses, the surface will be substantially dry. This makes the product suitable, for example, for dosing shoe cream with subsequent polishing with the top-layer, or dosing wound- cleansing liquid with subsequent scrubbing of the wound with the top-layer. Alternatively, a top-layer may be selected with a greater degree of soft surface, for example for applying a cosmetic cream. In some cases the device for applying substance may be divided into several small areas that are individually sealed from one another, where the storage material contains, for example, anaesthetic cream or liquid. In this case a top-layer may also consist of a rough surface that scrapes the skin to enable the cream or liquid to penetrate the skin more easily.

The top-layer constantly monitors that a suitable amount is dosed and the content of the storage material can thereby be distributed over many applications. If the top- layer has large openings, only a few applications will be possible as opposed to when the top-layer has few or small openings, where application will be able to be repeated many times. This is particularly desirable where small amounts at a time have to be applied to a sizeable area and preferably distributed by the actual device, such as for example shoe cream, sun cream, other skin-care creams etc. This may also be advantageous if the device contains a cleansing agent for nail varnish, for example, where ten fingers or ten toes usually have to be cleaned at a time.

The common feature of all the embodiments is that a pressure is applied in order to bring the substance from the storage material through the top-layer to the outside thereof. Since the storage material is non-absorbent, the top-layer will not be pulled down towards the storage material after dosing (which could result in an undesirable extra amount leaking out), nor is the liquid reabsorbed through the perforations.

Based on the shortcomings of existing solutions and the features listed above a pad has been developed for applying a liquid, gel or creamy substance in an controlled manner and in a controlled amount onto a surface, which pad consists of a number of materials in layers including at least one storage layer of a storage material and at least one top layer of a top layer material over the storage material. The pad is characterized in that - the storage material is a substantially non-absorbing material consisting of one or more fiber structures located above one another, which fiber structures consists of intersecting fibers located in one or more planes, which fibers are placed forming cavities containing the liquid, gel or creamy substance to be applied, - the top layer material is a substantially non-absorbing material with a perforated surface enabling the substance in the storage material to be transported through the top layer material when the storage layer material is exposed to compression.

By applying a compressive force on the storage material of the pad the substance held in the cavities will be transported through the storage material and through the top layer. Once the compression is released, air will be sucked into the storage material filling the emptied cavities and the top layer will remain dry on the surface. Furthermore the top layer is also non-absorbing and do not hold substance transported through the cavities.

In various embodiments the fibers in the storage material is located so that the size of the cavities formed by the fibers is defined according to the substance to be applied. The size of the cavities formed by the fibers is defined according to the viscosity of the substance to be applied where the size of the cavities is larger the higher the viscosity of the substance to be applied.

Furthermore, as the storage material is non absorbing the cavities are filled through insertion of the substance to be applied. In most embodiments the substance is injected into the material in one or more locations.

In the preferred embodiment of the pad, the pad has an impervious layer surrounding all other sides of the storage material than the top layer. Furthermore the impervious layer may be sealed around the edges of the top layer.

In various embodiments the top layer may be placed over the storage layer or the top-layer may be in contact with the storage layer. The top-layer material may have natural openings acting as perforations or the top- layer material may have mechanically supplied perforations, i.e. be perforated mechanically.

The size of the perforations is defined according to the viscosity of the substance to be applied where the size of the perforations is larger the higher the viscosity of the substance to be applied. Furthermore the total perforated area is defined according to the amount of substance to be applied. The total area of the top-layer having perforations is furthermore dependent on the size of the application area to be covered by the pad and the shape of the perforated area of the top-layer is dependent on the shape of the application area to be covered by the pad.

The perforations may also be of different size in different areas of the top layer.

Finally the pad may be fitted with a holding device for one or more fingers on a human hand and the holding device is normally fitted on the opposite side of the pad for the top layer. A pad of this kind therefore overcomes problems encountered in the use of absorbents. The device, moreover, is substantially "clean" for the user and overcomes problems of tissue which are limited to substances which are safe for users to get on their hands.

An example of a pad according to the present invention is presented in the accompanying drawing containing figure 1-3.

Figure 1 displays in perspective an example of the pad.

Figure 2 displays in cross section the build up of the pad in figure 1.

Figure 3 shows the pad in figure 1 from one side.

In figures 1,2 and 3 a pad 1 is displayed with a top layer 4 with perforations 5. Furthermore the storage material 3 (figure 2) is surrounded by an impervious layer 7 on all sides except on the top layer. According to one embodiment listed above the impervious layer 7 may be sealed along the perimeter of the top layer 4. Further more a holding device, here displayed as a strap on the underside of the pad, i.e. opposite side of the top layer, may be used for the user to hold and use the pad 1. In figure 3 an example is shown where three fingers of a human hand is placed in the strap, holding the pad. By applying a compressive force with the fingers towards the pad an amount of substance contained in the storage material may be transported out from the storage material 3, through the perforations 5 in the top layer 4 and is applied onto a surface of choice. The substance to be applied is contained in cavities 8 between the fibers 6 in the storage material 3. As the storage material is non-absorbing the substance will have to be injected into the storage material 3 and when transported out through the perforations it will not be drawn back into the storage material when the compressive force is released on the pad and the storage material is allowed to expand.

Claims

1. Pad for applying a liquid, gel or creamy substance in an controlled manner and in a controlled amount onto a surface, which pad (1) consists of a number of materials in layers including at least one storage layer (3) of a storage material and at least one top layer (4) of a top layer material over the storage material (3), characterized in that

- the storage material (3) is a substantially non-absorbing material consisting of one or more fiber structures (6) located above one another, which fiber structures (6) consists of intersecting fibers located in one or more planes, which fibers are placed forming cavities (8) containing the liquid, gel or creamy substance to be applied,

- the top layer material (4) is a substantially non-absorbing material with a perforated surface (5) enabling the substance in the storage material (3) to be transported through the top layer material (4) when the storage layer material (3) is exposed to compression.

2. Pad according to claim 1 , characterized in that the fibers (6) in the storage material (3) are located so that the size of the cavities (8) formed by the fibers (6) is defined according to the substance to be applied.

3. Pad according to claim 2, characterized in that the size of the cavities (8) formed by the fibers (6) is defined according to the viscosity of the substance to be applied.

4. Pad according to claim 3, characterized in that the size of the cavities (8) is larger the higher the viscosity of the substance to be applied.

5. Pad according to claim 1-4, characterized in that the cavities (8) are filled through insertion of the substance to be applied.

6. Pad according to claim 1-5, characterized in that the pad has an impervious layer (7) surrounding all other sides of the storage material (3) than the top layer (4).

7. Pad according to claim 6, characterized in that the impervious layer (7) is sealed around the edges of the top layer (4).

8. Pad according to claim 1-7, characterized in that the top-layer (4) is in contact with the storage layer (3).

9. Pad according to claim 1-8, characterized in that the top-layer material (4) has natural openings acting as perforations (5).

10. Pad according to claim 1-8, characterized in that the top-layer material (4) has mechanically supplied perforations (5).

11. Pad according to claim 1-10, characterized in that the size of the perforations (5) is defined according to the viscosity of the substance to be applied where the size of the perforations (5) is larger the higher the viscosity of the substance to be applied.

12. Pad according to claim 1-11, characterized in that the total perforated area (5) is defined according to the amount of substance to be applied.

13. Pad according to claim 1-12, characterized in that the total area of the top-layer (4) having perforations (5) is dependent on the size of the application area to be covered by the pad (1).

14. Pad according to claim 1-13, characterized in that the shape of the perforated area of the top-layer is dependent on the shape of the application area to be covered by the pad.

15. Pad according to claim 1-14, characterized in that the perforations (5) have different size in different areas of the top layer (4).

16. Pad according to claim 1-15, characterized in that the pad (1) is fitted with a holding device (2) for one or more fingers (10) on a human hand.

17. Pad according to claim 1-16, characterized in that the holding device (2) is fitted on the opposite side of the pad (1) for the top layer (4).