Toothbrush
A toothbrush comprises a brush body with a brush head and a carrier platelet attached to the brush head. A plurality of bristle bundles consisting of a thermoplastic material are attached anchor-less to the platelet. The brush head in addition has: bores, recesses or holes which have bristle bundles inserted and affixed with anchors or loops; and/or bores, recesses or holes which have knobs, pegs, pointed bristles or pointed cones inserted therein; and/or knobs, pegs, pointed bristles or pointed cones attached to the brush head.
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The present invention relates to a toothbrush.
Several methods of making brushes are known. Conventionally, a brush body is provided with an array of holes corresponding to the desired array of bristles. Bundles or tufts of bristles are then inserted into the holes of the brush body and anchored therein by means of pressed-in small metallic anchors or by means of loops.
In an alternative method of making brushes, which has gained acceptance within just a few years and is referred to as AFT method (Anchor Free Tufting), the tufts of bristles are attached to a carrier platelet without loops or anchors, and the carrier platelet is then installed in or attached to a brush body. The carrier platelet may be connected with the brush body by injection molding or welding. The carrier platelet is provided with holes corresponding to the desired hole pattern. The tufts of bristles are inserted into the holes, with the bristle tufts projecting from a surface of the carrier. The bristles have attachment ends that slightly project on the opposite surface of the carrier. A heated stamp is pressed against the projecting attachment ends of the bristle tufts, the stamp causing the ends of the bristle tufts to be fused together and shaped to form a thickened knob, if desired. The ends of the bristles on the useful side may be pre-rounded or chemically provided with a point in advance. A suitable device for the attachment of tufts of bristles to carrier platelets for making brushes using the AFT method is disclosed in particular in EP 1 136 017 B1.
However, not all types of bristles can be processed using the AFT method. It is not possible to process, e.g., natural bristles or bristles made of or coated with TPE, specially structured bodies such as knobs or pegs, pointed cones made of TPE and the like, since these are not fusible.
The AFT method is also practically not suitable for processing chemically pointed bristles since the points of these bristles are so thin that because of their low inherent stiffness they tend to bend or buckle when they are inserted into the holes of the carrier platelet.
The present invention allows to make use of the advantages of the AFT method while nevertheless allowing to process natural bristles or specially structured bodies such as knobs, pegs or pointed cones as well as pointed bristles.
According to a first approach, the invention provides a toothbrush which comprises a brush body with a brush head and a carrier platelet attached to the brush head. A plurality of bristle bundles consisting of a thermoplastic material are attached anchor-less to the platelet. The brush head in addition has: bores, recesses or holes which have bristle bundles inserted and affixed with anchors or loops; and/or bores, recesses or holes which have knobs, pegs, pointed bristles or pointed cones inserted therein; and/or knobs, pegs, pointed bristles or pointed cones attached to the brush head.
According to a second approach, the invention provides a toothbrush comprising a brush body including a brush head having a plurality of recesses or deepened or raised mounting surfaces which each have one carrier platelet inserted therein or applied thereto and attached thereto, the carrier platelet having bristle bundles made of a thermoplastic material attached thereto without anchor, the bristle bundles of the different carrier platelets jointly constituting an array of bristles.
According to a third approach, the invention provides a toothbrush comprising a brush body including a brush head having at least one recess or a deepened or raised mounting surface having a carrier platelet inserted therein or applied thereto and attached thereto, the carrier platelet having bristle bundles made up of pre-pointed bristles made of a thermoplastic material attached thereto without anchor, which, following their attachment, having been given a completed pointed shape by means of a post-treatment.
Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below and from the accompanying drawings to which reference is made and in which:
In the first embodiment of a toothbrush, shown in
Applying the same principle, structured bodies, in particular made of an elastomer material, in the form of knobs, pegs or pointed cones may be attached in holes or recesses of the brush body 10. In this way, it is possible to make use of the advantages of the AFT method while at the same time arranging natural bristles or structured bodies having any desired shape in the space for the bristles, which do not lend themselves to processing using the AFT method.
In the embodiment shown in
Claims
1. A toothbrush comprising a brush body with a brush head and at least one carrier platelet attached to said brush head, a plurality of bristle bundles consisting of a thermoplastic material being attached anchor-less to said platelet, the brush head in addition having at least one of
- bores, recesses or holes which have bristle bundles inserted and affixed with anchors or loops,
- bores, recesses or holes which have knobs, pegs, pointed bristles or pointed cones inserted therein, and
- knobs, pegs, pointed bristles or pointed cones attached to said brush head.
2. The toothbrush according to claim 1, in which the bristle bundles, knobs, pegs or pointed cones consist of a material that is not fusible.
3. The toothbrush according to claim 1, in which the cones or bristles each have an elongate body with such a low inherent stiffness that the pointed end prevents an introduction into a hole by bending or yielding transversely to the elongate body.
4. The toothbrush according to claim 1, in which the bores or holes have bundles of natural bristles inserted therein.
5. The toothbrush according to claim 1, in which the bores or holes have knobs, pegs or pointed cones made of an elastomer material inserted therein.
6. The toothbrush according to claim 1, in which the knobs, pegs or pointed cones are molded from an elastomer material, the brush body is molded from a relatively hard plastics material and the brush body is molded with the knobs, pegs or pointed cones in a two-component injection molding process.
7. The toothbrush according to claim 1, in which the carrier platelet has bristle bundles consisting of pre-pointed bristles attached to the platelet.
8. The toothbrush according to claim 7, wherein the pre-pointed bristles after attachment to the platelet are given a completed pointed shape by means of a post-treatment.
9. A toothbrush comprising a brush body including a brush head having a plurality of recesses or deepened or raised mounting surfaces which each have one carrier platelet inserted therein or applied thereto and attached thereto, the carrier platelet having bristle bundles made of a thermoplastic material anchor-less attached thereto, the bristle bundles of different carrier platelets jointly constituting an array of bristles.
10. The toothbrush according to claim 9, in which at least two of the carrier platelets have different shapes.
11. A toothbrush comprising a brush body including a brush head having at least one recess or a deepened or raised mounting surface having a carrier platelet inserted therein or applied thereto and attached thereto, the carrier platelet having bristle bundles made up of pre-pointed bristles made of a thermoplastic material anchor-less attached thereto, the bristles, following their attachment, being given a completed pointed shape by means of a post-treatment.
12. A method of making a toothbrush comprising a brush body including a brush head having at least one recess or a deepened or raised mounting surface having a carrier platelet inserted therein or applied thereto and attached thereto, comprising the steps of:
- a) anchor-less attaching to the carrier platelet bristle bundles made up of prepointed bristles made of a thermoplastic material; and
- b) following attachment, post-treating the pre-pointed bristles to give them a completed pointed shape.
13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the post-treatment is grinding.
14. A method according to claim 12, wherein the pre-pointed bristles are not so pointed that they bend, due to insufficient inherent stiffness, when inserted into a carrier platelet.
15. A method according to claim 12, wherein the pre-pointed bristles are pre-pointed by chemical or mechanical pre-treatment.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 16, 2005
Publication Date: May 25, 2006
Applicant: Firma G.B. Boucherie N.V. (Izegem)
Inventor: Bart Boucherie (Izegem)
Application Number: 11/280,471
International Classification: A46B 9/04 (20060101);