ARTIFICIAL HUMAN NAIL

ONGLES ARTIFICIELS

English Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An aesthetically pleasing, artificial human nail
includes a first or top and third layers formed of a
urethane, in particular an oil modified urethane or uralkyd,
a second thin metal layer sandwiched between the first and
third layers, and a fourth or bottom layer formed of an
acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) polymer for attaching
the nail to an existing nail.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. An artificial human nail comprising a top
layer of at least partially transparent plastic, a second
layer formed of a metal, and a third layer of plastic, the
metal of the second layer being adhered to said top and
third layers.
2. An artificial nail according to claim 1,
including a bottom layer of plastic compatible with and
adhered to said third layer.
3. An artificial nail according to claim 1,
wherein said top and third layers are formed of a urethane,
and the metal of said second layer is selected from the
group consisting of platinum, gold and silver.
4. An artificial nail according to claim 3,
including a bottom layer of an acrylonitrile-butadiene-
styrene polymer.
5. An artificial human nail comprising a top
layer of urethane, a second layer formed of a metal, a third
layer formed of urethane, and a bottom layer of a plastic
compatible with said third layer.
6. An artificial nail according to claim 5,
wherein said bottom layer is an acrylonitrile-butadiene-
styrene polymer.

7. An artificial nail according to claim 3, 4 or
5, wherein said urethane is an uralkyd.
8. An artificial nail according to claim 5,
wherein said top and third layers are formed of a urethane,
and the metal of said second layer is selected from the
group consisting of platinum, gold and silver.

Description

2009770
This invention relates to an artificial human
nail, and in particular to a multi-layered, artificial
fingernail.
Multi-layered, patterned or colored artificial
nails have been proposed in the past. An example of such a
nail is found in U.S. Patent No. 2,816,555, which issued to
C.A. Klump on December 17, 1957. Nails of this type are
used by people with short nails or to replace conventional
nail polish. In general, the patterns and colors available
of existing nail polishes are restricted to solid colors or
preformed patterns of the type described in ~.S. Patent No.
3,598,685, which issued to T. Lee et al on August 10, 1971.
The object of the present invention is to provide
an aesthetically pleasing, artificial nail of the type
having a precious metal appearance, i.e. a nail incorpora-
ting a precious metal.
Accordingly, the present invention relates to an
artificial human nail comprising a top layer of at least
partially transparent plastic, a second layer formed of a
metal, and a third layer of plastic, the metal of the second
layer being adhered to said top and third layers.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that
the artificial nail of the present invention is a multi-
layered product produced by depositing the bottom layer of a -~
first plastic in a mold, metallizing the bottom layer, and
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adding a top, protective layer of plastic to the metallized
bottom layer.
Preferably a precious metal is sandwiched between
two layers of a urethane, and a fourth or bottom layer of
plastic is provided beneath the lower layer of urethane.
The bottom layer is formed of acrylonitrile-butadiene-
styrene polymer, which receives an adhesive for attaching
the artificial nail to an existing fingernail. The
preferred material for the nail layers sandwiching the
precious metal, i.e. the top and third layers of the nail is
an oil modified urethane, which is also known as an uralkyd.
The bottom layer is an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene
polymer, which is compatible with the uralkyd, i.e. which
readily bonds to the uralkyd and does not react therewith.
The second metal layer which is sandwiched between the two
urethane layers is formed of a precious metal, namely -
platinum, gold or silver. The metal is deposited on the top
or third layer using conventional vacuum metallizing
techniques, in which a thin layer of the metal is deposited
on the urethane by vaporizing a metallic filament and -
condensing the metal under high vacuum. The thickness of
the metal layer is three to five millionths of an inch, and -
film appears as an opaque, shiny layer between the urethane
layers. In the absence of a thin top layer of urethane, the
metal layer will quickLy become damaged or removed. Of

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course, metallizing of the urethane third layer of the
artificial nail would be done in a batch process as would
the layering of pla~tics.
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