Twisted wire mascara brush with mixed long and short bristles

Abstract

A mascara brush has long and short bristles extending from a twisted wire core. The short bristles may be provided in more than one length. The tips of the long bristles form an outer surface of the brush, and the tips of the short bristles form at least one subsurface of the brush. The mascara brush is made by placing long and short fibers between the parallel wires of a “U” shaped wire form, and twisting the wire form. The wires are supported for placement in the wire form by a pick bar, the notches of which are partially filled with long fibers and partially filled with short fibers. The long and short fibers are provided from at least two fiber feed towers. A metering plate under one feed tower partially restricts the volume of the notches of the pick bar, so that the tower only partially fills the notches. A lift cam under the other fiber feed tower selectively supports fibers from entering the notches of the pick bar, so that the pick bar can be passed under the tower to the other tower for partial filling.

1 . A mascara brush comprising: 
 A) a twisted wire core;    B) first and second pluralities of interspersed fibers secured in the twisted wire core, each fiber forming two bristles extending outwardly from the twisted wire core to respective bristle tips; and    C) the bristles including long bristles formed by the first plurality of fibers and short bristles formed by the second plurality of fibers, the tips of the long bristles forming an outer surface of the brush and the tips of the short bristles forming at least one subsurface of the brush.    
   
   
       2 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the first and second pluralities of interspersed fibers are substantially the same length and are respectively offset with respect to the twisted wire core such that each fiber forms a long and a short bristle.  
   
   
       3 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of fibers forms the long bristles of the mascara brush and the second plurality of fibers are shorter than the first plurality of fibers and form the short bristles of the mascara brush.  
   
   
       4 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 3 , wherein the second plurality of shorter fibers is centered with respect to the twisted wire core.  
   
   
       5 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 3 , wherein the second plurality of shorter bristles is offset with respect to the twisted wire core, wherein the brush includes a first set of short bristles having tips forming a first subsurface of the mascara brush and a second set of short bristles having tips forming a second subsurface of the mascara brush.  
   
   
       6 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 1 , and further comprising a third plurality of fibers interspersed with the first and second pluralities of fibers, each fiber of the third plurality of fibers also forming two bristles extending outwardly from the twisted wire core to respective bristle tips.  
   
   
       7 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 6 , wherein the first plurality of fibers forms the long bristles of the mascara brush, and the second and third pluralities of fibers are shorter fibers of different lengths and form the short bristles of the mascara brush.  
   
   
       8 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 7 , wherein the second and third pluralities of short bristles are centered with respect to the twisted wire core.  
   
   
       9 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 7 , wherein at least one of the second and third pluralities of fibers is offset from the twisted wire core and thereby forms short bristles of different lengths.  
   
   
       10 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 7 , wherein there are at least four pluralities of fibers, each plurality of fibers forming bristles extending outwardly from the twisted wire core to bristle tips, wherein the bristle tips form an outer surface and multiple subsurfaces of the mascara brush.  
   
   
       11 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the short bristles have lengths in the range of 30% to 80% of the lengths of the long bristles.  
   
   
       12 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 1 , wherein at least two of the pluralities of fibers are formed of different material.  
   
   
       13 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 1 , wherein at least two of the pluralities of fibers have different diameters.  
   
   
       14 . A mascara brush as defined in  claim 1 , wherein at least two of the pluralities of fibers have different cross-sectional configurations.  
   
   
       15 . A method of making a mascara brush comprising the steps of: 
 A) providing two substantially parallel wires;    B) positioning a first plurality of fibers between the two wires;    C) positioning a second plurality of fibers between the two wires and interspersed with the first plurality of fibers;    D) twisting the two wires to form a twisted wire core with each fiber forming two bristles extending from the twisted wire core to respective tips; and    E) the fibers being positioned between the two wires such that the bristles extending from the twisted wire core include long bristles the tips of which form an outer surface of the mascara brush and short bristles the tips of which form at least one subsurface of the mascara brush.    
   
   
       16 . A method of making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 15  and further comprising positioning first and second pluralities of fibers of substantially the same length offset with respect to each other and the two substantially parallel wires.  
   
   
       17 . A method of making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 15 , wherein the first plurality of fibers are longer than the second plurality of fibers.  
   
   
       18 . A method of making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 17 , wherein the first and second pluralities of fibers are positioned centered with respect to the two substantially parallel wires.  
   
   
       19 . A method of making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 15  and further comprising the step of positioning a third plurality of fibers between the two substantially parallel wires, wherein the first plurality of fibers are long fibers, the second plurality of fibers are short fibers, and the third plurality of fibers are short fibers shorter than the second plurality of fibers.  
   
   
       20 . A method of making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 17 , wherein all the pluralities of fibers are positioned centered with respect to the two substantially parallel wires.  
   
   
       21 . A method of making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 19  wherein at least one of the pluralities of short fibers is offset with respect to the two substantially parallel wires.  
   
   
       22 . A method of making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 15 , wherein positioning the pluralities of fibers between the two substantially parallel wires comprised of supporting the fibers in a pick bar and introducing the two substantially parallel wires respectively above and below the pluralities of fibers supported in the pick bar.  
   
   
       23 . A method of making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 22 , wherein the two substantially parallel wires are a “U” shaped wire form and the step of twisting the two substantially parallel wires includes clamping the “U” in a twisting apparatus.  
   
   
       24 . A method of making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 15 , wherein the respective pluralities of fibers have different physical characteristics.  
   
   
       25 . Apparatus for making mascara brushes comprising: 
 A) A first fiber tower for dispensing fibers;    B) A second fiber tower for dispensing fibers different than the fibers dispensed by the first fiber tower;    C) a pick bar having notches for receiving fibers, and means for sequentially positioning the pick bar under the first and second fiber towers;    D) a metering plate positioned under the first and second fiber tower and adjacent the pick bar when the pick bar is positioned under first the fiber tower, the metering plate positioned to permit fibers to partially fill the notches of the pick bar, wherein the pick bar is partially filled with fibers from the first fiber tower and is further partially filled with different fibers when positioned under the second fiber tower;    E) means for introducing two substantially parallel wires respectively above and below the fibers in the pick bar; and    F) means for twisting the two substantially parallel wires to form a brush.    
   
   
       26 . Apparatus for making a mascara brush as defined in  claim 25  and further comprising: 
 G) a fiber lift cam for lifting fibers being dispensed from the second fiber tower, wherein the fiber lift cam is operable to prevent the pick bar from receiving fibers from the second fiber tower until it has received fibers from the first fiber tower.