TINTING BOWL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a tinting bowl, and in particular, a tinting bowl suitable for use as a disposable or partly disposable bowl.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

It is common, in the interests of fashion, for people to have their hair coloured, and more particularly to have "highlights" added to their hair. Such highlights are typically in the form of one or more colours which are different to the natural colour of the hair.

Typically, highlights are added to the hair by applying suitable colouring chemicals to thin strips of material, which are then wrapped around the portion of the hair which is to be coloured, and secured in place. The chemicals typically contain dye for actively colouring the hair, or bleach for bleaching the hair to create blonde streaks. After these strips have been left in the hair for a sufficient period time, the hair becomes coloured by the chemicals, which become transferred to the hair.

The chemicals typically need to be mixed or prepared before application to the hair, and this is usually done in small tinting bowls. The number of bowls used will usually correspond to the number of different colours required.

There are usually quantities of the chemicals left over, in their respective tinting bowls, after the strips have been secured to the hair. These bowls are usually washed in a sink in a similar manner to that in which dishes and cutlery are washed. This involves the use of water for rinsing the chemicals from the bowls and flushing these down the drain.

A disadvantage of the above-mentioned use of bowls is that, firstly, copious quantities of water are used, and the chemicals are flushed into the waterways and sewage systems. This is disadvantageous due to the wastage of water which is involved (which is especially detrimental in times of water shortages)

and to the potentially harmful effects that the chemicals may have from an environmental point of view. Second, washing such bowls is inconvenient as well as time-consuming, which can, for example in the hairdressing industry, result in lost revenue.

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or ameliorate one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art, or to provide an alternative.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION, there is provided a tinting bowl device including: a base bowl defining a bowl interior and having a rim extending around the interior; and at least one liner shaped complementarity with respect to, and nested within, said interior, the liner being detachably fixed in relation to the base bowl at or adjacent the rim.

In a preferred embodiment, the device includes a plurality of nested liners, each liner being detachably joined to a remainder of the device, preferably adjacent the rim.

In this case, preferably, the device includes an elongate anchor element extending around, and joined to, the base bowl adjacent the rim, each of the liners being detachably joined to the anchor element. Preferably, each of the liners is detachably joined to a remainder of the device at a line of weakness. The line of weakness is preferably constituted by a series of perforations in the material forming the liners.

In a preferred embodiment, the base bowl includes a bowl lip extending radially outwards relative to the interior, the lip defining said rim.

Then, preferably, each liner includes a liner lip which is disposed over the bowl lip.

In a preferred embodiment, the device includes a handle, which is preferably substantially flat, and which preferably is integrally joined to, and protrudes from, the base bowl. In one preferred form of this embodiment, the base bowl and handle are formed as a single integral unit.

Preferably, each liner includes a tab that extends radially outwards relative to the interior, so as to be disposed over the handle, with the tabs extending one over another. Preferably, each tab that has another tab extending over it is longer than that tab so as to protrude beyond the end of that tab.

In a preferred embodiment, the base bowl is of a biodegradable material, which is preferably cardboard or stiff paper. In this case, the bowl interior is preferably covered with a wax coating.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is schematic perspective view of a tinting bowl device, shown partly cut away, according to an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic cross-section though the tinting bowl device of Figure 1 along the line M-Il that figure;

Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of a base bowl of the tinting bowl device of Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a schematic perspective view of the tinting bowl device according to another embodiment of the invention;

Figure 5 is a schematic side view of the device of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a schematic perspective view of the tinting bowl device according to yet another embodiment of the invention, shown partly cut away;

Figure 7 is a schematic side view of the device of Figure 6; and

Figure 8 is a schematic plan view of the device of Figure 6 shown partly cut away so as to indicate hidden detail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown a tinting bowl device 10 which includes a base bowl 12. The base bowl 12 is formed of paper, preferably recycled, or rigid cardboard. In one preferred embodiment, the base bowl 12 is double-walled to provide it with suitable rigidity.

The base bowl 12 has an interior 14, the surface 15 of which (see Figure 3) is covered with a wax coating (not shown). The base bowl 12 also has a lip 16 which projects radially outwards relative to the interior 14, and extends around the interior.

In one preferred embodiment, the lip 16 is 8 mm from its radially inner extremity to its radially outer extremity.

The lip 16 forms a rim 18 of the bowl 12 (see Figure 3).

The device 10 also includes a number of liners 20 - preferably seven - (only three of which are shown in Figure 2). Each liner 20 is of thin, flexible waterproof material, for example plastics or aluminium foil, which is formed to be of a complementary shape to the interior 14. The liners 20 are disposed on top of one another in a stack, and are nested within one another, within the interior 14.

Each liner has a lip 22 which extends over the lip 16 of the base bowl 12. Because the liners 20 are stacked on top of one another, so too are the liner lips 22. Thus, each liner lip 22 other than the lowermost one extends over the lip of the liner immediately below. Although shown to an exaggerated scale in Figures 2 and 3, in a preferred embodiment each of these liner lips 22 overlaps the liner lip immediately below by 1 mm.

There is provided a substantially flat handle 24, which is formed integrally with the base bowl 12 so that the handle and bowl form a single integral unit. The handle 24 protrudes from the base bowl, radially outwards from the interior 14. In one preferred embodiment, the handle 24 has a width of 20 mm and a length,

from the radially inner extremity of the lip 16 to the radially outer extremity of the handle, of 32 mm.

There is also provided an elongate anchor element 26 which is bonded to the upper surface of the lip 16 by suitable adhesive. The anchor element 26 extends around the entire perimeter of the interior 14 except, as shown in Figure 1 , at a region 28 adjacent to the handle 24.

Each of the liners 20 is secured to the anchor element 26. For each liner 20 there is provided a line of perforations 30 which extends around the entire perimeter of the interior 14 except adjacent to the position 28. These perforations 30 enable the liners 20 to be torn, and hence separated, from the anchor element 26, as described in more detail below. Each line of perforations 30 thus serves as a line of weakness in relation to the respective liner 20, by which the liner is detachably joined to the base bowl 12 and to the other liners. In Figure 2, the device 10 is shown with a number of the uppermost liners 20 removed as described, with the perforations 30 exposed.

Each liner 20 has a tab 34 that extends radially outwards relative to the interior 14, so as to be disposed over the handle 24. Because of the stacking of the liners 20 as described above, the tabs 34 are also stacked on one another. However, the lowermost tab 34, that is, the tab in contact with the handle 24, extends the furthest from the interior 14, with each successive one of the tabs above that lowermost tab extending a shorter distance from the interior. Thus, an end portion 36 of each tab 34 (except the uppermost one) protrudes beyond the end of the tab immediately above it.

The device 10 can be used by hairdressers, for holding chemicals (not shown), including suitable dyes and bleach, which are used for colouring hair. These chemicals are placed in the interior 14 of the device 10, on the uppermost liner 20.

The waterproof nature of each liner 20 assists in preventing the chemicals from seeping or leaking through the uppermost liner into contact with the liners

below. The liner lip 22 of the uppermost liner 20 assists in preventing the chemicals from migrating into contact with the liners below via the outer edge of that uppermost liner.

When there is no further need for the particular chemicals that are held on the uppermost liner 20, for example when a hair-colouring operation has been completed, then the uppermost liner 20 can simply be torn away from the remainder of the device 10.

This is achieved by gripping the tab 34 of that uppermost liner 20 and pulling it away, causing the material forming that liner to tear along the line of perforations 30. The removed uppermost liner 20 can be suitably discarded, for example by placing it in a refuse bin or other suitable container for it to be disposed of.

Once that uppermost liner 20 has been removed as described, this exposes the liner that was immediately below that uppermost liner, so that the newly exposed liner becomes the new uppermost liner.

A new colouring operation can then begin, using the newly exposed uppermost liner 20 to hold the chemicals. As the previous uppermost liner 20 was removed as described, there should be no remnants of the previously used chemicals when the latest colouring operation begins. The removal of the previous uppermost liner 20 thus assists in minimising the chance of contamination of the chemicals to be used in the latest hair-colouring operation by chemicals used in the previous colouring operation.

When the colouring operation using the chemicals held by the newly exposed uppermost liner 20 has been completed, that liner can be removed in the same manner as the previous liner, thus exposing the next liner which then becomes the latest uppermost liner. In this manner, numerous colouring operations using different chemicals can be performed using the one device 10.

It will be appreciated that, as each liner 20 is torn away and removed as described above, that portion of the material forming the liner on the opposite

side of the line of perforations 30, together with the anchor element 26 to which it is attached, constitutes a stub, similar to the stub of a cheque book.

Once all the liners 20, including the lowermost liner, have been used and removed in the manner described above, then all that remains is the base bowl 12 and the stub that is formed by the anchor element 26 and the remaining portions of material that formed the respective liners.

However, the wax coating which covers the surface 15 of the interior 14 assists in rendering the interior waterproof. Thus, further chemicals, for use in a further colouring operation, can be placed directly in the base bowl 12 without the use of liners 20. Accordingly where the device 10 is initially provided with seven liners, it can be used for eight separate colouring operations.

Once this latest colouring operation (using the base bowl 12 itself to hold the chemicals) is complete, that is, when the latest chemicals are no longer required, then the entire base bowl 12 and stub can simply be discarded or otherwise suitably disposed of.

The fact that the base bowl 12 is made from cardboard means that it may be a relatively cheap item to manufacture and therefore discarding it should not be detrimental from a cost point of view, as might be the case if more expensive materials were used. In addition, the fact that the base bowl 12 is made from paper or cardboard which is biodegradable, means that disposing of it as refuse should not be detrimental to the environment.

The tabs 34 provide a useful means for gripping and removing each liner 20. The end portion 36 of each tab 34 that protrudes beyond the tab above, enables a user to quickly determine the number of liners 20 remaining, and hence the number of times that the particular device 10 can be used for future hair- colouring operations. The end portions 36 also provide a convenient space to suitably mark the tabs, for example for numbering the tabs sequentially.

Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, there is shown another embodiment of the device 10, designated 10.1. Features of the device 10.1 that correspond to

features of the device 10 have similar reference numerals to those features, but with the suffix ".1".

The base bowl 12.1 of the device 10.1 includes a bowl tab 38 disposed at an opposite side of the rim 18.1 to the handle 24.1. Each liner 20.1 includes a corresponding additional liner tab 40, these liner tabs being disposed one on top of another, on top the bowl tab 38. The bowl tab 38 provides a further grip in addition to the handle 24.1 , for holding the base bowl 12.1. Similarly, the additional liner tabs 40 provide further means for gripping the individual liners

20.1 and tearing these away from the remaining liners and the base bowl 12.1 as described above.

In one preferred embodiment, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, the handle 24.1 of the device 10.1 also includes a finger-grip portion 42 which extends downwards from the remainder of the handle. The finger-grip portion 42 is to facilitate more secure and comfortable supporting of the device 10.1 by hand. In the preferred form of this embodiment as shown, the finger-grip portion 42 is provided with finger recesses 44 for further enhancing grip and for assisting to make the device 10.1 more comfortable to hold.

Reference is now made to Figures 6 to 8. There is shown another embodiment of the devices 10 and 10.1 , and this is designated 10.2. Features of the device 10.2 that correspond to features of the devices 10 and 10.1 have similar reference numerals to those features, but with the suffix ".2" (with the suffix ".2" replacing the suffix ".1" as it appears in relation to the device 10.1).

The base bowl 12.2 of the device 10.2 is essentially the same as that of the device 10.1 , except that the handle 24.1 is replaced by a further bowl tab 46 which is similar to the bowl tab 38.2.

Each liner 20.2 includes a corresponding additional liner tab 48, these liner tabs being disposed one on top of another, on top the further bowl tab 46. The further bowl tab 46 and liner tabs 48 are similar to the bowl tab 38.2 and liner tabs 40.2.

While the invention is described in relation to specific embodiments above, it will be appreciated that it is not limited to those embodiments, but may embodied in many other forms.