DE20204988U1 - Cotton pad made of natural and / or synthetic fibers - Google Patents

Description

BEETZ & PARTNER · ^: ·· ^: ·· ^{: *} : « ^: *·· ^: g«eii5nrt&i926von

&pgr; * * * Dipl.-Ing. R. BEETZ sen. (1897-1991)'

Patent attorneys Dr.-Ing. R. BEETZ jun. (1969-2000)

European Patent Attorneys
European Trade Mark Attorneys Dipl.-Ing. J. SIEGFRIED

Prof. Dr.rer.nat. W. SCHMITT-FUMIAN

Steinsdorfstraße 10 - D-80538 Munich Dipl.-Phys. Dr.rer.nat. C-M. MAYR

Telephone +49 89 21689100/Fax +49 89 21689200 Dipl.-Ing. A. PFEIFFER

Dipl.-Ing. B. MATIAS

Attorney P. KOTSCH . 147-57.968G/Sd 2^. March 2002

W. PELZ GmbH & Co. Wahlstedt

Cotton wool disc made of natural and/or synthetic fibres

The invention relates to cotton wool discs made of natural and/or synthetic fibers, in particular bleached cotton fibers, whose surface layers are solidified by water jet needling and whose at least one surface layer contains a substance with special, e.g. cosmetic, properties.

In addition to soft, flap-shaped structures, such cotton wool discs include the widely used cotton pads, which are used in cosmetics to remove pasty or liquid products, for example for removing make-up, and in medicine as so-called

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Swabs as well as in laboratories and in the home for wiping and absorbing liquid and lubricating media.

Cotton pads are available in circular, rectangular or oval shapes with a diameter of around 4 to 8 cm and a thickness of around 2 to 4 mm. They are usually made of a single or multi-layered random fiber fleece, usually cotton, viscose or cellulose fibers, possibly with certain proportions of other types of fiber. To achieve or promote certain effects, the cotton pads can be provided with particularly suitable additives, for example with solvents for make-up, with anti-inflammatory and/or hemostatic substances or the like.

The main criteria for cotton pads are the highest possible absorbency and absorption capacity for liquids, so that sufficient amounts of liquid can be drawn from any surface, especially from the skin, into the fleece by dabbing or wiping, and are kept there without dripping. Good adhesion properties in the surface areas to liquid and pasty substances are also important. For example, when removing make-up, as large a quantity of make-up, cream or the like as possible should stick to the respective surface of the cotton pad, so that the make-up removal process can be carried out quickly and with as few cotton pads as possible. Furthermore, the cotton pads, which are essentially made of a relatively loose fiber fleece, should have sufficient tear resistance to be usable at all and to prevent cracks in the

A criterion that users consider to be particularly important is that the product should be as lint-free as possible, so that when a liquid or pasty substance (make-up) is wiped off a relatively rough surface, such as hairy skin, no fibres or tufts of fibres are pulled out of the fibre composite and remain stuck to this surface.

EP 1 106 223 A1 discloses cotton wool discs made of hydrophilic cotton for skin care which have a relatively high tear resistance when dry. The two outer sides of these cotton wool discs have different structures, with one outer side containing parallel fine grooves at a distance of 0.4 to 1.2 mm between them, which have been formed in the conventional way by water jet needling. The other outer side has recessed grooves at a distance of 1.0 to 8.0 mm between them and a groove depth of more than 0.25 mm. At least 50% of the cotton fibres of a cotton wool disc should be connected to one another. However, sufficient strengthening of the surface layer with the coarser grooves can only be achieved if the distance between the grooves is significantly smaller than the average length of the fibres used and is in the range of about 2.5 to 4.0 mm. If the grooves are spaced further apart, more fibres will be pulled out of the non-solidified areas between neighbouring grooves during use, e.g. when removing make-up. These well-known cotton pads can be impregnated with substances on their outside, which has the coarser grooves, which delay the absorption of aqueous products for cosmetic use.

These products are preferably wax emulsions that are applied to the surfaces by spraying, printing or coating. By impregnating one outer side with substances that preferably contain beeswax, the aim is to ensure that care products such as cleansing milk or make-up remover are not absorbed by the cotton pads or are absorbed only slowly.

In addition, it has long been state of the art to impregnate cotton wool products or nonwoven fabrics layer by layer or even completely with certain substances in order to achieve certain cosmetic, therapeutic or other physical properties after drying (cf. DE 2 101 164 A, DE 2 120 616 A, FR 2 649 318 A).

All cotton wool discs known to date for cosmetic, therapeutic and other purposes can only be used when dry and have the property that if they accidentally get wet or if liquid is absorbed by rubbing, their tear resistance decreases and increased lint occurs. This property is particularly annoying when removing make-up, as the fine lint and fibers that remain on the skin have to be wiped off or removed in some other way.

The object of the invention is to create cotton wool discs of the type mentioned above, which can be used in dry and wet condition for the respective purpose and

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when wet, the desired effects are particularly effective.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the fibers are coated in at least one surface layer with a water-soluble substance which maintains a sufficiently strong bond between the fibers even when wet and whose active ingredients can be activated by wetting with water for transfer to the respective surface.

The cotton wool discs designed according to the invention are designed for use in a dry and water-soaked state. Since both surface layers are usually mechanically or hydraulically solidified, the cotton wool discs can be used in the dry state in the same way as conventional cotton wool pads for applying and removing liquid or pasty masses, in particular for removing make-up. The key feature is that they can now be used in a wet state, in which the cotton wool pad is at least partially soaked with water. Since a large number of cosmetic products are water-soluble to at least a certain extent, their removal from the skin is promoted and accelerated by an already soaked cotton wool pad. Another key effect of the cotton wool pad designed according to the invention is that at least parts of the substances contained in one surface layer are activated by wetting with water, i.e. when the cotton wool pad is soaked, and are thus transferred to the skin particularly effectively as an aqueous solution or emulsion.

In the dry applications that have been generally used up to now, the substances contained in the cotton pads could only be activated during or after the first contact with the skin, which may contain moisture, so that the desired properties of these substances could only be exploited to a limited extent.

A further effect of the cotton pad according to the invention which is essential for use in a wet state is that only the fibres contained in a surface layer of predetermined thickness are coated with the substance, whereby this substance maintains the fibre composite even in the wet state through adhesion in conjunction with the mechanical or hydraulic consolidation already achieved, and thus counteracts the undesirable fluffing and detachment of fibre balls from the composite.

In order to promote, on the one hand, sufficient adhesion of the individual fibres to one another to maintain a sufficiently strong fibre composite and, on the other hand, a release or activation of the active ingredients contained in the substance, the substances used to coat the cotton fibres in the surface layer can contain certain amounts of surfactants.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the cotton discs should have a certain size and a preferably elongated, e.g. elliptical, shape when used as cotton pads for cosmetic purposes. This enables handling in which only

a certain part of the surface is soaked with water and the rest of the pad remains dry. The wet part of the surface can be used to remove the pasty mass to be removed, i.e. the make-up, by dissolving it in a targeted manner. The remaining dry part of the surface can be used to wipe the affected area of skin dry.

For other purposes, the cotton wool discs can have a suitable shape, size and thickness, for example as large-area rags, small-area swabs, etc.

In addition, a variety of different active ingredients can be included in the coating substances, the effect of which only becomes sufficiently apparent after the cotton pad or its surface areas have been soaked. Examples include fragrances, haemostatic and/or antiseptic active ingredients, anti-irritant active ingredients, emulsion formers for dissolving various types of make-up, etc.

In the following, an embodiment of a cotton pad according to the invention is described in detail with reference to the drawing. Shown are:

Fig. 1 shows a cotton pad preferably used for removing make-up in a perspective top view;

Fig. 2 shows a greatly enlarged section of the cotton pad according to Fig. 1.

The cotton pad shown in Fig. 1 has an approximately elliptical shape with approximately 8 to 9 cm in the longitudinal axis and approximately 7 cm in the transverse axis. Its thickness in the dry, unloaded state is approximately 3 to 5 mm. As can be seen, the two surface layers 1, 2 are solidified by, for example, needling processes, whereby this solidification process can produce different contours such as raised ribs, knobs as well as geometric depressions, grooves, etc. in order to achieve specific properties, for example increased tear resistance, reduced lint properties or the like. The middle layer 3 is significantly thicker than the two surface layers 1, 2 and consists of a relatively loose composite of cotton fibers. The thickness of the two surface layers 1, 2 is each approximately 0.3 to 1.2 mm. In the cotton pad consisting entirely of bleached cotton fibers, the upper surface layer 1 contains a substance with, for example, cosmetic properties. The cotton fibers in this surface layer 1 are coated with this substance, whereby a certain degree of solidification can be achieved even in the dry state in addition to the solidification achieved by water jet needling. At least components of this coating substance are soluble in water to a certain extent. The substance contains surface-active substances as well as, for example, cosmetic active substances, which are largely inactive in the dry state. This means that the cotton pads according to the invention can be formed, packaged and stored in the conventional manner without losing their specific properties.

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As shown in Fig. 1, the surface layer 1 is colored and the other two layers 2 and 3 are white. This informs users that both surface layers 1 and 3 have different properties. In Fig. 2, the surface layer 1 provided with the substance is shown with slightly thicker lines than the surface layer 2 which is only hydraulically compacted, in order to express that the fibers of this surface layer 1 are more or less coated with the substance. Fine grooves 4 are formed in both surface layers by the needling and consolidation process, the purpose and function of which is generally known.

The cotton pads designed according to the invention can be used dry or wet in the same way, e.g. for removing make-up and/or for cleaning the skin. For wet use, it is only necessary to immerse the cotton pad completely or partially in water or to soak it with water in some other way. As soon as the substance in the colored surface layer 1 comes into contact with water, its active ingredients are released and activated so that make-up or other cosmetic substances can be wiped off the skin. In Fig. 1, the hatched area 5 is wet with water and the remaining area 6 is dry. This enables economical and effective handling of this cotton pad by first wiping off the make-up with the wet area 5, at least partially dissolving its active ingredients, and then drying off the remaining wet area by wiping again with area 6 of the cotton pad.

As already explained above, in the cotton pad shown, only the surface layer, which has already been solidified by water jet needling and is finely grooved, is coated with the substance. This is important because only this surface layer comes into contact with the skin during wet application and therefore only the substances stored in it are effective. For economic reasons and in order to use as many active ingredients as possible, care must be taken when producing the pad according to the invention to ensure that the substances cannot penetrate the highly hydrophilic middle layer. For this purpose, the cotton pads shown as an example are produced as follows. After the conventional water jet needling of both sides of a continuous nonwoven web, a precisely measured amount of a liquid or emulsion containing the coating substance is sprayed onto one of the top sides of the web before or after drying. The amount of evenly sprayed emulsion is adjusted according to the suction properties of the solidified top layer, so that only the fibers in this relatively thin top layer are wetted with the liquid containing the substance. This coating process can also be carried out by so-called foam application, in which a prepared foam containing the coating substance is applied to the nonwoven web in a predetermined, even layer, and the subsequent "collapse" of the foam causes the substance to gradually and evenly penetrate into the surface layer 1. After this process, the web is

dried again, whereby the substance adheres firmly to the fibers and creates an additional bonding effect. After this drying process, the cotton pads are cut out of the web in the desired shape, e.g. punched out, and packaged in the usual way.

Claims (8)

1. Cotton wool disc made of natural or synthetic fibers, in particular of bleached cotton fibers, whose surface layers ( 1 , 3 ) are solidified and whose at least one surface layer ( 1 ) contains a substance with special properties, characterized in that the fibers in the at least one surface layer ( 1 ) are coated with a water-soluble substance which maintains the bond between the fibers when wet and whose active ingredients can be activated by wetting with water for transfer to the respective surface. 2. Cotton pad according to claim 1, characterized in that at least the surface layer ( 1 ) provided with the substance is provided with a distinctive profile of elevations and depressions, such as grooves ( 4 ), ribs, knobs or the like, produced by water jet needling. 3. Cotton pad according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the surface layer ( 1 ) provided with the substance has a special color compared to the other layers ( 2 , 3 ). 4. Cotton pad according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the substance is only introduced into the solidified surface layer ( 1 ) by foam application. 5. Cotton pad according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the substance is applied by spraying a liquid containing the substance onto the needled surface layer ( 1 ). 6. Cotton pad according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that both surface layers ( 1 , 2 ) contain a fiber coating, each with a water-soluble substance with different properties. 7. Cotton disc according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cotton disc as a cotton pad has an elongated, preferably elliptical shape. 8. Cotton pad according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the coating substance contains surfactants.