Artist Paint Tube Cap

Abstract

A two-piece paint tube cap having a somewhat hollow base piece which is intended to be attached to an artist's paint tube that allows extrusion of paint from the paint tube, and a cap piece which is to be attached to the base piece, each piece has a separate gripping element to facilitate removing and replacing the cap piece to the base piece without damage to the paint tube or a loss of paint.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a two-piece paint tube cap with a gripping elements to reduce or eliminate damage to the paint tube and loss of paint, however the invention also relates to any high viscosity liquid tube, such as paint tubes, construction adhesives, caulk, silicone, axle grease, paste wax, and craft glue. The original containers for the high viscosity liquids, such as paint tubes or glue tubes, are designed to collapse as the high viscosity liquid is extruded from the tube. Over time, the collapsing and bending of the tube can sometimes cause the tube wall to crack, allowing air into the tube. This can cause the product to cure and become unusable.

Paint tubes are widely used in the art industry, for storing and dispensing various types of paints, adhesive and other materials. The paint tubes generally have an opening at one end that is sealed with a cap. The cap is usually made of plastic, rubber, or other materials, and can be screwed onto the opening of the paint tube to ensure airtight sealing.

Artists have been known to have problems with paint tubes and caps. The way that paint tubes are made currently, the threads for the paint tube caps get filled with paint when the paint is extracted. When the cap is affixed to the tube again, this excess paint cures and fuses the cap to the tube. It becomes very difficult to remove the cap from the tube. Sometimes when the user tries to remove the cap the user ends up tearing or otherwise damaging the aluminum tube. The torn aluminum tube leads to more paint curing and wasted paint. These problems are especially pronounced with oil paints.

Additionally problematic, artists must deal with lost or broken caps. Most paint manufacturers do not sell replacement caps for their paint tubes. If an artist breaks or loses a cap, the paint at the top of the tube will cure, and the artist will have to pick out the cured paint, again wasting more of it, to get to the “fresh” paint. They must do this for the life of the paint tube unless they are able to locate a replacement cap

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a two-piece paint tube cap with a base piece to be attached to a paint tube that allows extrusion of paint from the paint tube, and a cap piece to be attached to the base piece, each piece has a gripping element to facilitate removing and replacing the cap piece to the base piece without damage to the paint tube or a loss of paint.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view from the extrusion end of the base piece.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the base piece from the threaded end.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view from the top of the cap piece.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the cap piece from the bottom.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cap piece and base piece attached together.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Describing the preferred embodiment, referring first to FIG. 1, the base piece 1 has a cylindrical base inner surface 3, a base outer surface 4, a male base threads 5, the cylindrical base inner surface 3 comprising a cylindrical tube 6, a cylindrical paint tube extension 7, the cylindrical tube 6 extending through the base piece 1 thus forming the cylindrical paint tube extension 7, allowing paint in the paint tube to be extruded from the paint tube through the base piece. A thumb rest 8 is disposed on the base outer surface 4 to provide a leverage spot to prevent twisting or tearing of the paint tube when the cap is placed onto or removed from the base piece 1. A wrench gripping element 9 comprises two flat surfaces disposed on two sides of the base outer surface 4 of the base piece 1 to provide an area for a wrench to be used if the cap piece gets stuck too tightly to the base piece 1 making any torque applied using the thumb rest 8 inadequate to remove the cap from the base piece 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the cylindrical base inner surface 3 of base piece 1 has a sufficient diameter to match the male threads on a paint tube and the female threads 10 disposed within the cylindrical base inner surface 3 which are configured to engage with the corresponding threads on a paint tube such that the base piece 1 can be screwed on to and off the paint tube. The base piece 1 is preferably screwed on to the paint tube once when first used on the paint tube and left on the paint tube until all the paint has been extruded or used.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the male base threads 5 has a plurality of male threads disposed on the base outer surface 4 which are configured to engage with corresponding female threads on the cap piece, as will be shown on subsequent Figures.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the flat surfaces of the wrench gripping element 9 of the base piece 1 are disposed on the base outer surface 4 near the female threads 10 of the base piece 1, the base outer surface 4 having a generally circular outer edge with two flat surfaces of the wrench gripping element 9 disposed opposite and parallel to each other.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the cap piece 2 has a cap shape with an open end section 11 with sufficient dimensions to allow the cylindrical paint tube extension 7 of the base piece 1 to fit within the cap piece open end section 11, a cap inner surface 12 within the open end section 11, a cap outer surface 13, and a closed cap end section 14.

The open end section 11 of the cap piece 2 has a plurality of female threads 15 disposed within the cap inner surface 12 configured to engage with corresponding male threads 5 on the base outer surface 4 allowing the cap piece 2 to be screwed onto the male threads 5 of the base piece 1 thus providing a seal preventing paint from drying out.

The closed cap end section 14 has a sealed cap surface with a coin slot 16 disposed on the sealed cap surface to provide a way to open a stuck cap piece.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a cap piece gripping element 17 of the cap piece 2 is an even sided polygonal shape disposed on the cap outer surface 13 at the open end section 11 of the cap piece 2 near the female threads 15. The cap piece 2 may have one or more projections 18 formed on the cap outer surface 13 of the cap piece 2 and extending outwards from the cap outer surface 13 of the cap piece 2 to facilitate screwing the cap piece 2 to the base piece 1 and, once attached to the base piece 1, securing the cap piece 2 and base piece 1 to the paint tube. The wrench gripping element 9 and cap piece gripping element 17 allow the use of wrenches to facilitate the removal of the cap piece from the base piece without the exertion of torque force on the paint tube, thus eliminating damage to the paint tube. The projections 18 attached to the cap outer surface 13 of the cap piece 2 allow the user of the paint tube to secure the base piece 1 while turning the cap piece 2 when removing or replacing the cap piece 2.

Referring once again to FIGS. 3 and 4, a hanging organizer rail indentation 19 disposed around the cap outer surface 13 near the closed cap end section 14 to allow the paint tube cap to be hung on an accessory wall hanging organizer or similar such accessory used to organize paint tubes. A palette organizer clip 20 comprising a raised ring disposed around the outer cap surface 13 allows the paint tube cap to be inserted into an accessory tabletop mounted organizer situated near the artist's palette for organizing paint tubes, thus allowing the artist to unscrew the paint tube once placed into the organizer.

Referring to FIG. 5, the cap piece 2 is shown attached to the base piece 1. Also shown are the thumb rest 8, the wrench gripping element 9, the coin slot 16, the polygonal shaped cap piece gripping element 17, the cap piece projection 18, the organizer rail indentation 19, and the palette organizer clip 20.

The base piece 1 and the cap piece 2 form the paint tube cap when screwed together and can be made of any suitable material, such as plastic, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or the like. The paint tube cap can be formed using conventional manufacturing techniques such as injection molding. Due to the variety of paint tube sizes and differing sizes of the paint tube threads the paint tube cap can also be molded in parts, with the base piece of the paint tube cap that would fit most paint tubes molded separately and inserts that may be needed to conform to the thread and diameter differences of paint tubes could be molded separately and fixably inserted into the base piece.

The cap piece projections can be molded with the cap piece or formed separately and attached to the cap piece using adhesive or other suitable ways to attach. A further embodiment would have the basic form of a paint cap created, and have a set of inserts created to provide the variation necessary to convert the manufacturers'tube end to a standard universal paint cap.

A preferred embodiment of the invention and its use is to take the original paint cap off the paint tube and set it aside. The user screws the base piece on the paint tube while holding the front of the paint tube to prevent twisting the paint tube while connecting the base piece. The thumb rest may be used to screw the base piece on and ensure a secure connection. Once the base piece is connected the cap piece can be attached. The cap piece twists on and the user can put his or her thumb on the base piece thumb rest to prevent the twisting of the paint tube itself. Once the cap piece is fastened the paint will stay in perfect condition.

In the event the cap piece for some reason gets stuck onto the base piece, the user may hold his or her thumb on the thumb rest and twist with the cap piece gripping element of the cap piece to facilitate an easy and effortless removal of the cap piece. The coin slot at the top of the cap piece is also intended to be used with either a screwdriver or a coin for the application of extra leverage. The user rests his or her thumb on the thumb rest to prevent twisting the paint tube. Doing so provides stability to the base piece for the cap piece to open easily. In using the two-piece paint tube cap, when the paint is being pushed or squeezed out the paint tube, the cylindrical tube will keep the paint away from the threads as the user applies paint to the palette. This keeps the threads nice and clean and won't result in the caps being stuck or locked on.

Claims

1. A two-piece paint tube cap comprising:

a cylindrical body comprising a base piece and a cap piece;

the base piece comprising a cylindrical base inner surface, a base outer surface, a plurality of female threads disposed on the cylindrical base inner surface and configured to engage with corresponding threads on a paint tube, a plurality of male threads disposed on the base outer surface, and a cylindrical tube extending from the female threads and beyond the male threads to form a paint tube extension;

the cap piece comprising a cap shape with a cap inner surface and a cap outer surface, an open end section and a closed cap end section;

the open end section comprising a plurality of female threads disposed within the cap inner surface configured to engage with corresponding male threads on the base outer surface allowing the cap piece to screw onto the male threads of the base piece;

the closed cap end section comprising a coin slot disposed on the closed cap end section;

and the base piece and cap piece each comprising a gripping element.

2. The two-piece paint tube cap as in claim 1 wherein the gripping element of the base piece is a wrench gripping element disposed on the base outer surface near the female threads and comprises a generally circular outer edge with two straight outer edge areas disposed opposite and parallel to each other and wherein the gripping element of the cap piece comprises a cap piece gripping element of an even sided polygonal shape disposed on the cap outer surface at the open end section of the cap piece.

3. The two-piece paint tube cap as in claim 2 wherein the cap piece further comprises one or more projections on the outer surface of the cap piece and extending outward from the outer surface to facilitate screwing the cap piece to the base piece.

4. The two-piece paint tube cap as in claim 3 further comprising a hanging organizer rail indentation disposed around the cap outer surface near the closed cap end section to allow the paint tube cap to be hung on an accessory used to organize paint tubes.

5. The two-piece paint tube cap as in claim 4 further comprising a palette organizer clip comprising a raised ring disposed around the outer cap surface to allow the paint tube cap to be inserted into an accessory tabletop mounted organizer situated near the artist's palette for organizing paint tubes, thus allowing the artist to unscrew the paint tube once placed into the organizer.