US3234097A - Fingernail enamel containing finely ground chlorite mineral - Google Patents

Description

United States Patent 3,234,007 FIN GERNAIL ENMVIEL CONTAINING FIN ELY GROUND CHLORITE MINERAL David E. Loughran and Ellen E. Longhran, both of 4044 SE. Woodward St., Portland, Oreg. N0 Drawing. Filed Sept. 12, 1962, Ser. No. 223,242 1 Claim. (Cl. 167-85) This application is a continuation-in-part of our previous application Serial No. 24,235, filed under date of April 25, 1960, and bearing the same title, which previous application is now abandoned.

This invention relates to enamel compositions of the type designed specifically for use on fingernails for the purpose of producing an attractive polish surfacing, and also for producing a desirable protective coating for the fingernails.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved enamel of this nature which, when applied to the fingernails, will have greater durability, thus producing a coating which will resist wear over a longer period.

A related object of the invention is to provide an improved fingernail enamel which, during a prolonged period of wear, will not manifest any tendency to peel from the fingernail or to flake off in spots, which is a fault found with some fingernail enamels and which fault necessitates renewed applications of enamel more frequently since any such spots on the coated fingernails are very unsightly.

A similar object is to provide a fingernail enamel which will wear uniformly without peeling or chipping 01f at the tips or ends of the fingernails, which is another very common fault of other enamels of like nature. As is well known, any peeling of nail enamel from the tips of the nails permits other liquids gradually to enter in between the enarnel and the nail with further undesirable results.

Another object of this invention is to provide a greater wear-resisting fingernail enamel which will afford more protection to the fingernails during the longer period, particularly maintaining a coating serving as a protection against such chemicals or materials as are used by beauticians or used in the household and which have injurious effects on the fingernails, such injurious effects often being manifest in the splitting or breaking off of the ends of the fingernails.

A further object of the" invention is to provide a more durable and longer lasting fingernail enamel which will maintain a desirable polish luster throughout its prolonged Wear together with a surface coating which will remain smooth and thus present the initial attractive appearance of the coating for the duration of the coating.

An additional object is to provide an improved fingernail enamel which, in spite of its greater durability and greater resistance to wear, can nevertheless be removed from the fingernails with the use of ordinary fingernail polish remover as readily and as easily as other and less durable enamels.

Many attempts have been made heretofore to increase the durability of fingernail enamel or to improve the appearance of the same on the nails by adding different special ingredients to the enamel for this purpose. In our efforts to achieve the above mentioned objects we tested the results obtained with various ingredients previously suggested as well as others, including such substances as bentonite, talc, diatomaceous earth, mother of pearl, crystalline guanine, glass, bronze and aluminum in powdered or finely ground form. Our tests showed none of these ingredients to be satisfactory for our purpose. Some of these substances are entirely unsuitable for use as nail enamel ingredients. With some of the others we were able to obtain a slight increase in dura- 3,234,097 Patented Feb. 8, 1966 "ice bility of the enamel but as a rule this was obtained with sacrifice of polish luster or at the expense of a granular as Well as dull appearance, and with none of these did we achieve any appreciable increased resistance to the peeling or chipping of the enamel on the fingernail tips. Of the above mentioned ingredients crystalline guanine, also suggested by the prior art, proved to be the best since it gave a little increase in durability to the enamel without impairing the luster or otherwise affecting the appearance of the coating. However, it did not reduce the tendency of the enamel to chip or peel on the tips of the nails after a short period.

In the course of our experimenting to obtain better results we made tests with other silicate minerals as added ingredients for the enamel and finally we discovered that a particular type of a certain hydrous silicate mineral, known in general as chlorite, when added in finely ground form to ordinary fingernail enamel, produced quite remarkable results, increasing the durability of the enamel three to four times, reducing the tendency to peel or chip during the period of wear, and causing no sacrifice of the desirable luster or smoothness of the surface coating. Specifically the particular type of the chlorite mineral with which we discovered these surprising results could be obtained is a chlorite selected from the chlorite group or sub-class, which sub-class comprises penninite, clinochlore, and prochlorite. The somewhat unique characteristics and properties of this particular type of chlorite, which, in our opinion, contribute largely to the unexpected results obtained with its use as an added ingredient in fingernail enamel, in addition to the fact that it is substantially colorless, are its softness (having a hardness of from 1 to 2.5 on the Mohs scale), its flexibility, inelasticity and toughness. It breaks down into very thin laminae. For example, a sheet approximately one inch square of this particular chlorite can have a sheet thickness of from 0.0005 to 0.0007 of an inch with a relatively high tensile strength. Presumably when this particular chlorite is reduced to the fineness as subsequently specified the resulting laminae will have even less thickness. The thin laminae are mirror-like in their reflection of light when viewed at an angle but are transparent when viewed normal to their surface. They have indices of refraction ranging from 1.562 to 1.650. The laminae assume a parallel orientation when immersed in a liquid and allowed to settle on a surface and they attach theniselves with considerable cohesion to such surface upon being brought to dryness. This material does not react chemically with the other ingredients in fingernail enamel, it is inactive chemically, and of itself has no harmful effect on the fingernails.

Thus we discovered that the previously mentioned objects could be attained by adding this particular type of chlorite mineral to ordinary fingernail enamel. There are several known fingernail enamels with which we found this could be done entirely satisfactorily. One of these is the Fingernail Enamel Composition described in US. Patent No. 2,195,791, issued under date of April 2, 1940, to Richard C. Peter. Another is theNail Polish as described in US. Patent No. 2,215,898 issued September 24, 1940, to Robert J. Anderson. In fact, as far as we have been able to determine, it can be used satisfactorily with any of the standard fingernail enamels now on the market.

However, it is essential in the carrying out of the invention and properly achieving the desired objects that this particular chlorite first be reduced to the proper fineness before being added as an ingredient to the fingernail enamel. We have found that this fineness should be such that the particles will pass through a screen of from to 200 mesh. When this chlorite is ground to a fineness in which the particles will not pass through a screen of at least 100 mesh and is mixed with the other ingredients in-fingernail enamel'the resulting coating on the fingernails will have a tendency to appear slightly rough or grainy, and while the resulting coating will nevertheless retain a high polish and gloss, the grainyappear-- ance somewhat mars the effect of the coating and causes it. to 'be .less attractive. For optimum results We have found that this chlorite should be so ground that the particles will pass through a screen of approximately 150 mesh. Consequently we consider this the preferred fineness to which this chlorite should be reduced preparatory to being combined'with the other ingredients in. our improved fingernail enamel.

As a typical and satisfactory fingernail enamel containing the customary fundamental ingredients and this, particular type of chlorite, the following is given as an:example. We have found that the invention can be carried out very satisfactorily with the employment of this simple fingernail enamel formula.

Percent by weight Nitrocellulose 14.4 Aryl-sulfonamide-formaldehyde resin 7.2' Dibutyl phthalate 3.6

Butyl acetate 28.18 Ethyl alcohol 6.14 Butyl alcohol Toluene 35.42 Chlorite selected from the sub-class which consists of penninite, clinochlore and prochlorite and ground to a fineness so that it will pass through a screen of approximately 150 mesh 4.00

While the use-of this particular chlorite as an ingredi-' ent in the fingernail enamel increases the durability, maintains the polish luster, and prevents any tendency for the enamel coating to peeljfrom the fingernail, nevertheless,

on the other handthe use of this chlorite does not render the coating difi'icult to remove from the fingernails. The

r 4 use of ordinary fingernail polish remover as. commonly employed for removingt oldenamel from 2 the fingernails, will remove fingernail enamel containing this chlorite just as in the case of enamel without this chlorite ingredient.

Thus the improvements in fingernaiLena-mel herein described can be obtained bycombining this particular type of chlorite with the other enamel ingredients without any possible disadvantagesas far as we have been able to ascertain.

We claim:

A fingernail enamelhaving approximately the follow-. ing composition:

Finely ground vchlorite selected from the group consisting of penninite, clinochloreand prochlorite l 4.00

References Cited by the Examiner t UNITED STATES 'PATENTS 2,814,570 11/1957 Sloan 167-85 OTHER REFERENCES 3 Websters Newlnternational Dictionary, 2nd'Ed., C."

and G. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass, 1944, pp. 472, 503,151, 1811 and1973u Sagarin; Cosmetics Science and Technology, Inter science Publishers, New York, N.Y. (1957), pp; 678-686.

JULIAN S. LEV'ITT, Primary Examiner.