Steven J Bourque

US Patent:

6547471, Apr 15, 2003

Filed:

Jul 20, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/620079

Inventors:

William E. Tucker - Attleboro MA
William T. OConnor - Londonderry NH
Timothy G. Kerrissey - Braintree MA
Steven M. Bourque - Bradford MA

Assignee:

The Gillette Company - Boston MA

International Classification:

B43K 500

US Classification:

401206, 401205, 401183

Abstract:

An applicator for local application of a liquid to a persons skin. The applicator includes a porous dome, a chamber under the dome, a squeeze bottle providing a reservoir containing the liquid, and a tube from the squeeze bottle to the chamber. The porous dome has pores sized to provide liquid transport therein by capillary action. The chamber provides a location for liquid in position to be transported into dome. Increased pressure in the reservoir from squeezing the bottle causes liquid to flow from the reservoir through the tube to the chamber, and decreased pressure in the reservoir from releasing the bottle causes excess liquid in the chamber to flow from the chamber through the tube to the reservoir. The applicator can include a squeeze bottle having a relatively rigid molded open-end portion connected to a porous dome and an integral flexible, blow-molded reservoir portion that can be squeezed to a reduced volume condition to deliver liquid to the dome and has memory to return to an unsqueezed volume condition.