Patents Assigned to Michael Kossak
  • Patent number: 7082950
    Abstract: A dental flossing device is characterized by a flossing circuit comprised of a flossing supply spool and a take-up spool mounted to a housing. The floss feeds from the supply spool along a pair of prongs forming a fork extension of the handle and is stretched across the prongs and appropriately tensioned to be inserted into a users mouth for flossing. To maintain tension, a pair of ratchet pawls are jointly engageable with a ratchet mounted for co-rotation with the take-up spool. The pawls are offset relative to the ratchet teeth to ensure appropriate tension. Tension on the supply spool side of the flosser is achieved with a tension arm in constant engagement with tension teeth co-rotatably mounted with the spool. When a floss advancing trigger is not depressed, a brake pawl formed at one end of the trigger is spring biased into locking engagement with these teeth while the tension arm assures proper tension on the supply side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignee: Michael Kossak
    Inventors: Michael Kossak, Dalita Tomellini, Paul Kotowski
  • Patent number: 5947133
    Abstract: A dental flossing device is characterized by a flossing circuit comprising a floss supply spool and a take-up spool mounted to a housing containing a gear train assembly adapted to rotate the take-up spool in a winding direction. The floss feeds from the supply spool along a pair of prongs forming a forked extension of the handle and is stretched across the forked prongs and appropriately tensioned to be inserted into a user's mouth for flossing. To maintain hygiene, the take-up spool is mounted outside the housing. In a manually operated embodiment, a manually depressible trigger projecting from the housing is operable to rotate the take-up spool with reverse rotation thereof being prevented with a ratchet mechanism. Release of the manually depressible trigger reversely rotates the supply spool through a short arcuate interval to remove slack and then locks the supply spool against unwinding rotation through gear teeth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 7, 1999
    Assignee: Michael Kossak
    Inventors: Michael Kossak, Richard Daley, Ted Lubin, Douglas Schultheis, Paul Kotowski, Bernard A. Fitzmorris
  • Patent number: 5678578
    Abstract: A dental flossing device is characterized by a flossing circuit comprising a floss supply spool and a take-up spool mounted to a housing containing a gear train assembly adapted to rotate the take-up spool in a winding direction. The floss feeds from the supply spool along a pair of prongs forming a forked extension of the handle and is stretched across the forked prongs and appropriately tensioned to be inserted into a user's mouth for flossing. To maintain hygiene, the take-up spool is mounted outside the housing. In a manually operated embodiment, a manually depressible trigger projecting from the housing is operable to rotate the take-up spool with reverse rotation thereof being prevented with a ratchet mechanism. Release of the manually depressible trigger reversely rotates the supply spool through a short arcuate interval to remove slack and then locks the supply spool against unwinding rotation through gear teeth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 21, 1997
    Assignee: Michael Kossak
    Inventors: Michael Kossak, Richard Daley, Ted Lubin, Douglas Schultheis, Paul Kotowski, Bernard A. Fitzmorris