Fingernail Adhesive

EP 0 596 745 B1 Europaisches Patentamt (19) European Patent Office Office européen des brevets (11) EP 0 596 745 B1 (12) EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION (45) Date of publication and mention of the grant of the patent: 27.08.1997 Bulletin 1997/35 (51) Int. CL5: A61 K 7/04, A45D 31/00 (21) Application number: 93308853.6 (22) Date of filing: 05.11.1993 (54) Fingernail adhesive Klebstoff fiir kiinstliche Nagel Colle pour ongle artificiel (84) Designated Contracting States: AT BE CH DE DK ES FR GB GR IE IT LI LU MC NL PT SE - ltagaki, Yoshimi Loveland, Ohio 45140 (US) - Hirabayashi, Kazuhiro Cincinnati, Ohio 45241 (US) (30) Priority: 06.11.1992 US 972794 (74) Representative: Pendlebury, Anthony et al PAGE, WHITE & FARRER 54 Doughty Street London WC1 N 2LS (GB) (43) Date of publication of application: 11.05.1994 Bulletin 1994/19 (73) Proprietor: THREE BOND OF AMERICA, INC. Torrance, California 90501 (US) (56) References cited: EP-A- o 167 329 W0-A-89/06096 (72) lnventorsr FR-A- 2 415 455 US-A- 4 450 848 - Kishita, Kazutaka U3_A_ 4 515 348 Rancho Palos Verdes, California 90274 (US) Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to the European patent granted. Notice of opposition shall be filed in a written reasoned statement. It shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention). Printed by Flank Xerox (UK) Business Services 2.14.12/3.4 1 EP 0 596 745 B1 2 Description This invention relates to adhesives and particularly adhesives used for applying artificial fingernails. In recent years, it has become fashionable among women to have long, perfect painted fingernails. Such nails are commonly referred to as "Princess Nails". Since it is difficult to keep one's natural nails long and perfect, there has developed the practice of bonding artificial fingernails made from plastic and the like onto the natural nails. Various adhesives have been utilized to perform the bonding, but the best is cyanoacrylate adhesive. Such cyanoacrylates are commonly referred to as super glue. Since it is relatively expensive to replace the artifi- cial nails and shape them and repaint them, the artificial nails tend to be left on as long as possible until they are broken or marred. As a result, since the hands are exposed to moisture from dish washing, clothes wash- ing, etc., there has developed a problem with leaving the artificial nails in place over long periods of time. This problem that has developed is that a fungus will invade the area between the artificial nail and the natural nail and cause damage to the natural nail and cuticle. Presently, the prior art method of handling such fungus infections is to remove the artificial nail with a solvent for the adhesive and to treat the fungus directly utilizing some commercially available fungicide. Since the artificial nail must be removed and it generally takes some significant time for the fungus to be eliminated, the appearance of the wearer's nails is substantially and significantly reduced. Also, the mixing of additives into cyanoacrylate adhesive causes certain disadvantages and problems. In particular, it increases manufacturing costs and diffi- culties and has a significant detrimental effect upon the shelf life of the cyanoacrylate adhesive. According to the present invention, there is pro- vided a fingernail adhesive which includes less than one percent by weight halogen-nitropropane as a fungicide and a cyanoacrylate adhesive. Preferably the halogen- nitropropane is bromo-nitropropane, and the cyanoacr- ylate adhesive is selected from the group consisting of isopropyl, ethyl and methyl-cyanoacrylates and mix- tures thereof. The fingernail adhesive of the present invention is found to prevent or inhibit the growth of fungus, has a long shelf life and is easy to manufacture. The fingernail adhesive of the present invention which has fungicide properties is made by mixing less than one percent of a halogen-nitropropane with a cyanoacrylate adhesive. The mixing can be performed by any manner commonly used in the art and by those skilled in the art and does not require any special mix- ing. Such halogen-nitropropanes include bromo-nitro- propane, chloro-nitropropane and flouro-nitropropane. While any halogen-nitropropane is suitable for the present invention, the preferred halogen-nitropropane is bromo-nitropropane which is made by Augus Chemical 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 Company under the brand name BROMOPOL. The general chemical formula for BROMOPOL is HOCH2C(BR)(NO2)CH2OH and its C.A.S. Registry Number is 52-51 -7. While any cyanoacrylate adhesive is suitable for the present invention, the preferred types of cyanoacrylates are isopropyl-cyanoacrylate, ethyl-cyanoacrylate, methyl-cyanoacrylate and mixtures thereof. In addition, while the halogen-nitropropane may be utilized in an amount of less than one percent by weight, the pre- ferred amount is 0.01 to 0.10 % by weight of the mixture. Tests have been performed utilizing the above described fingernail adhesive and it has been found to have good adhesive properties, good fungicide proper- ties and an acceptably long shelf life (more than a year). Claims 1. A fingernail adhesive comprising a mixture of less than one percent by weight of a halogen-nitropro- pane and a cyanoacrylate adhesive. 2. Afingernail adhesive according to Claim 1, wherein said cyanoacrylate adhesive is selected from the group consisting of isopropyl cyanoacrylate, ethyl cyanoacrylate, methyl cyanoacrylate and mixtures thereof. 3. A fingernail adhesive according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein said halogen-nitropropane is selected from the group consisting of bromo-nitropropane, chloro- nitropropane and fluoro-nitropropane. 4. A fingernail adhesive according to Claim 3, wherein the halogen-nitropropane is bromo-nitropropane. 5. A fingernail adhesive according to Claim 4, wherein said bromo-nitropropane is mixed with the cyanoacrylate adhesive in an amount of 0.01 to 0.10 % by weight. Patentanspriiche 1. Ein Klebstoff fiir Fingernagel, enthaltend ein Gemisch von weniger als 1 Gewichtsprozent Halo- gennitropropan und von Cyanacrylat-Klebstoff. 2. Ein Klebstoff fiir Fingernagel nach Anspruch 1, wobei besagter Cyanacrylat-Klebstofi aus der Klasse, bestehend aus lsopropylcyanacrylat, Ethyl- cyanacrylat, Methylcyanacrylat und deren Gemi- schen, ausgewahlt ist. 3. Ein Klebstofffiir Fingernagel nach Anspruch 1 oder 2, wobei besagtes Halogennitropropan aus der Klasse, bestehend aus Bromnitropropan, Chlorni- tropropan und Fluornitropropan, ausgewahlt ist. 4. Ein Klebstoff fiir Fingernagel nach Anspruch 3, 3 EP 0 596 745 B1 wobei das Halogennitropropan Bromnitropropan ist. 5. Ein Klebstoff fur Fingernéigel nach Anspruch 4, wobei besagtes Bromnitropropan mit einem Anteil 5 von 0,01 bis 0,1 Gewichtsprozent mit dem Cya- nacrylat-K|ebs1off vermischt ist. Revendications 10 1. Colle pour ongle artificiel comprenant un mélange d‘un nitropropane halogéne de moins de 1 % en poids et d'une colle cyanoacry|a1e. 2. Colle pour ongle artificiel selon la revendication 1, 15 caractérisée en ce que ladite colle cyanoacrylate est choisie parmi le groupe comprenant le cyanoa- crylate isopropylique, le cyanoacrylate ethylique, le cyanoacrylate methylique et des mélanges de ces produits. 20 3. Colle pour ongle artificiel selon la revendication 1 ou 2, caractérisée en ce le dit nitopropane halogéne est choisi parmi le groupe comprenant le bromo-nitropropane, le chloro-nitropropane et le 25 fluoro-nitropropane. 4. Colle pour ongle artificiel selon la revendication 3, caractérisée en ce le nitropropane halogéne est Ie bromo-nitropropane. so 5. Colle pour ongle artificiel selon la revendication 4, caractérisée en ce le di1 bromo-nitropropane est mélangé, dans une proportion de 0.01 a 0.1 % en poids, avec la colle cyanoacrylate. 35 40 45 50 55