Souvenir toiletry article, including a toothbrush, flosser, hair comb or hair brush
A souvenir toothbrush includes a head part of the toothbrush with extruded and end-rounded bristles, a handle part made with clear thermoplastic material, a molded pocket inside the clear handle for placement inside of this pocket with a flat or shaped insert having printing or an image on one or both side images, a clear or opaque molded insert placed inside the molded pocket on the top of the printed insert and a soft spongy part of the toothbrush molded to the handle of the toothbrush for convenient gripping of the handle by a user. A hair comb, brush, flosser, and other toiletry articles are also considered that have a similar handle design.
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The present invention is directed to a toothbrush or other toiletry article that provides a unique combination of utility and aesthetics. Existing methods of applying applications on such article handles includes the use of decals, ink imprinting, laser imprinting, and labels applications. Concerning toothbrushes, since toothpaste is an aggressive and abrasive substance, it is common that after using the toothbrush several times, the applications come off partially or entirely. It is desirable to provide applications, such as images and or text/logos, that will durably remain on the toothbrush despite heavy use around abrasive substances. Although a flosser, hair comb or brush is not normally surrounded by or used in conjunction with such abrasive substances, repeated use and contact by oily skin can produce a similar wearing of any applications that may be provided
SUMMARYThe present design for a toothbrush, flosser, hair comb or brush provides a unique combinations of materials, applications, and colors that create very attractive and vivid products. Advantageously, the multi-color application stays inside of the handles and never comes into contact with aggressive toothpastes products or skin oils remains at the original quality for the duration of the product's usage. This is achieved by a toothbrush comprising: a head portion comprising extruded and end-rounded bristles; a handle part comprising a thermoplastic material and further comprising an image pocket; an image insert comprising text or an image on one or both sides that is located within the image pocket; a pocket insert placed inside of the image pocket on top of the image insert; and a soft rubber-like material molded to the handle.
Various embodiments of the invention include those having an interchangeable insert of different colors with different messages molded on the top of the insert. Space between the letters of the insert and pockets on the surface of the toothbrushes may filled with a soft rubber-like material for a comfortable grip users of these products. Toothbrushes or other toiletry articles of this design can deliver many messages to the users, improve mood in the morning with images such as cats, dogs or pictures of favorite places such as parks, buildings, mountings, rivers, sports and games and so on and decorate the bathroom with high quality colorful products. They can also be used for advertisement purposes.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSVarious embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the following drawing figures.
According to an embodiment of the invention illustrated in the Figures,
A pocket bridge 7 is filled with the soft rubber-like material that lies between the plastic insert 4 area and a ribbed area 8, 9. The ribbed area 8, 9 has a portion on a top part 8, and a ribbed area on a bottom part 9 of the toothbrush 1 for contact with a user's thumb that is filled with the soft rubber-like material.
The image area 10 is present on the bottom part of the toothbrush 1 and is clear so that the picture insert 6 can be seen when viewing the brush from the bottom side.
Various cross-sectional shapes of the clear handle 3 may be provided to enhance the picture 6 in various ways.
Similarly, an embodiment applied to a souvenir hair brush 80 is illustrated in
For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference has been made to the preferred embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language has been used to describe these embodiments. However, no limitation of the scope of the invention is intended by this specific language, and the invention should be construed to encompass all embodiments that would normally occur to one of ordinary skill in the art. The particular implementations shown and described herein are illustrative examples of the invention and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the invention in any way.
For the sake of brevity, conventional aspects (and components) may not be described in detail. Furthermore, the connecting lines, or connectors shown in the various figures presented are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical or logical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships, physical connections or logical connections may be present in a practical device. Moreover, no item or component is essential to the practice of the invention unless the element is specifically described as “essential”. Numerous modifications and adaptations will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A toiletry article comprising:
- a head portion comprising extruded and end-rounded bristles;
- a handle part comprising a thermoplastic material and further comprising an image pocket;
- an image insert comprising text or an image on one or both sides that is located within the image pocket;
- a pocket insert placed inside of the image pocket on top of the image insert; and
- a soft rubber-like material molded to the handle.
2. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the image insert is flat.
3. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the image insert is shaped so that it is not flat.
4. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the molded insert is made of a clear material.
5. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the molded insert is made of an opaque material.
6. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the molded insert is made of a translucent material.
7. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the soft rubber-like material is thermoplastic elastomer (TPE).
8. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the handle comprises a clear thermoplastic material.
9. The toiletry article according to claim 1, further comprising:
- rib pockets comprising soft rubber-like material pieces configures as ribs;
- a gap between top and bottom portions of the pocket insert to serve as a passage for soft rubber-like material; and
- a gate pocket for soft rubber-like material with its bottom placed above and on a side from the bottom of the image pocket.
10. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the image pocket has a symmetrical shape, and the image insert and pocket insert have a corresponding symmetrical shape.
11. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the image pocket has a non-symmetrical shape, and the image insert and pocket insert have a corresponding non-symmetrical shape.
12. The toiletry article according to claim 11, wherein the non-symmetry of the image pocket shape corresponds to non-symmetry about an axis defining a length of the toiletry article.
13. The toiletry article according to claim 11, wherein the non-symmetry of the image pocket shape corresponds to non-symmetry about an axis defining a with of the toiletry article.
14. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the handle part comprises a clear thermoplastic material and has a bottom flat cross-sectional shape.
15. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the handle part comprises a clear thermoplastic material and has a bottom concave cross-sectional shape.
16. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the handle part comprises a clear thermoplastic material and has a bottom convex cross-sectional shape.
17. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the pocket insert comprises text or an image, and various interchangeable pocket inserts with differing text or images can be placed in the image pocket of the toiletry article.
18. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the text or image on the pocket insert is raised.
19. The toiletry article according to claim 15, wherein the text or image on the pocket insert is surrounded by a soft rubber-like material.
20. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the pocket insert comprises a latching mechanism configured to engage a corresponding latching mechanism in the image pocket to prevent the pocket insert from falling out after it has been inserted into the image pocket.
21. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the toiletry article is a toothbrush.
22. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the toiletry article is a flosser.
23. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the toiletry article is a comb.
24. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the toiletry article is a hair brush.
25. The toiletry article according to claim 1, wherein the handle part comprises a finger grip of which a portion is on a top part of the handle part, and another portion is on a bottom part of the handle part, the finger grip portion comprising the soft rubber-like material.
26. The toiletry article according to claim 25, wherein the finger grip comprises a plurality of protrusions of the soft rubber-like material.
27. The toiletry article according to claim 26, wherein a length of at least some of the protrusions is greater than a distance separating center points of the protrusions.
28. The toiletry article according to claim 25, wherein a length of the protrusions on a top side of the toiletry article differ from a length of the protrusions on a bottom side of the toiletry article.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 2, 2004
Publication Date: Jun 8, 2006
Applicant:
Inventors: Gary Little (West Dundee, IL), Samuel Gomon (Glenview, IL)
Application Number: 11/002,020
International Classification: A45D 24/00 (20060101);