Manual toothbrush with movable head
A manual toothbrush including a handle that reciprocates into and out of a channel within a head of the toothbrush. The head includes a plurality of fixed first bristles and a first movable base that has a plurality of second bristles extending outwardly therefrom. A first end of the handle is non-releasably connected to the first movable base within the channel in the head. The first movable base is mounted for arcuate movement in response to the reciprocation of the handle when the first and second bristles frictionally engage the teeth of the user.
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This is a Continuation Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/592,908, filed Nov. 3, 2006, the entire specification of which is incorporated herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to oral implements. More particularly, the invention relates to a toothbrush. Specifically, the invention relates to a manual toothbrush having a handle that reciprocates within a channel formed in the head of the toothbrush and thereby causes arcuate movement of some of the bristles on the toothbrush head.
2. Background Information
Many people brush their teeth with a manually operated toothbrush. These brushes are ideally used by positioning the bristles at a 45-degree angle to the gum line and applying a reciprocating back and forth motion to cause the tips of the bristles to move over the surfaces of the teeth. This motion causes the bristle tips to travel across the surface of the teeth in a substantially linear fashion and to remove plaque and particulate material as they do so.
Many dentists, however, believe that moving the tips of the bristles in a rotary motion over the surface of the teeth is far better for removing plaque and particulate material from the teeth. This may be achieved by moving the entire toothbrush head in a rotating or oscillating fashion across the teeth or by rotating or oscillating the bristles.
The prior art includes a number of powered and manual toothbrushes that incorporate a rotary motion of some or all of their bristles. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 1,557,244, issued to Domingue discloses a manual toothbrush that has a handle that reciprocates in and out of the head of the brush. The interior walls of the handle are provided with a rack, while the head is provided with a number of independently rotatable brushes, each of which is provided with a toothed pinion. The toothbrush is used by holding the head of the brush stationary with one hand and then reciprocating the handle back and forth within the head. The rack and pinion mechanism causes the brushes to rotate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,068,939 to Holland, discloses a manual toothbrush comprising an integrally formed handle and head. The head is provided with a plurality of individually rotatable or oscillating bristle clusters. Each cluster of bristles includes a crank mechanism for connecting the cluster to a rod that extends through the interior of the head and handle of the toothbrush. The rod is operationally geared to a weight in the handle. As the toothbrush is reciprocated, the weight travels back and forth within the handle, causing the gears to rotate and thereby causing the rod to reciprocate within the interior of the handle and head. The reciprocating rod rotates the individual bristle clusters within the head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,627, issued to Amit et al, discloses a manual toothbrush that has base with a plurality of fixed bristles and one rotatable member that also includes a set of bristles. The base is positioned over a front portion of the handle and a cover is provided around the sides of the base and front portion. The front portion of the handle includes a toothed rack and the lowermost surface of the rotatable member includes a pinion. The cover and base are longer than the front portion of the handle. Consequently, as the handle is moved back and forth during brushing, the front portion of the handle moves back and forth within the cover and the interlocking rack and pinion forces the rotatable member on the base to rotate.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,870 issued to Stollman also discloses a toothbrush having an integrally formed head and handle. The head includes a frame having a cavity therein and in which a carriage travels back and forth. The frame is also provided with a toothed rack. The carriage is provided with a plurality of bristles thereon, and a number of those bristles have gears provided at their lower ends. As the carriage slides within the frame during brushing, the rack engages the gears causing the geared bristles to rotate.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,932 issued to Byrd discloses a toothbrush including one or more rotatable bristle members that are geared to a thumb-actuated member. As the thumb-actuated member is engaged in a first direction, the rotatable bristles rotate in a first direction. When the thumb-actuated member is engaged in a second direction, the rotatable bristles rotate in a second direction.
The devices disclosed in the prior art have a variety of different mechanisms for causing rotation of some of the bristles in the head. In every instance mentioned above, however, the mechanism has required some form of geared interaction between the various components. The geared mechanisms are reasonably complicated and therefore relatively more expensive to manufacture. There is therefore still a need in the art for a manually operable toothbrush that imparts both linear and rotational motion to bristles mounted on its head without the use of gears and which effectively clears plaque and particulate material from the surface of the teeth.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe device of the present invention comprises a manual toothbrush including a handle that reciprocates into and out of a channel within a head of the toothbrush. The head includes a plurality of fixed first bristles and a movable base that includes a plurality of second bristles extending outwardly therefrom. The movable base is mounted for arcuate movement relative to the outer surface of the head of the toothbrush. A first end of the handle is non-releasably connected to the movable base within the channel in the interior of the head. A movement of the handle in a first direction causes the movable base and therefore the second bristles to move in a first direction. Movement of the handle in the opposite direction causes the movable base and therefore the second bristles to move in a second direction. The rotational motion of the movable base is caused when the friction generated as the bristles move over the surface of the teeth is sufficiently large enough to overcome the internal friction of the moving components within the toothbrush head. If the internal friction in the toothbrush head is greater than the drag or friction experienced by the tips of the bristles, then the movable base will not oscillate or rotate. The total movement of the moving components within the brush head is very limited.
The preferred embodiments of the invention, illustrative of the best mode in which applicant has contemplated applying the principles, are set forth in the following description and are shown in the drawings and are particularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appended claims.
Referring to
Handle 12 is ergonomically designed to enable the toothbrush 10 to be easily held and manipulated. Handle 12 comprises a gripping section 18 and a first end that extends outwardly away therefrom. First end comprises an actuating shaft 20 that is fixed to gripping section 18 and extends outwardly away therefrom. Shaft 20 further includes an extension 22 that is both thinner and narrower than shaft 20. Extension 22 is also fixedly mounted to shaft 20, thus, gripping section 18, shaft 20 and extension 22 all move together as a single unit when toothbrush 10 is moved back and forth across the teeth. Handle 12 is therefore a longitudinally elongated member that has a longitudinal axis “X” (
In accordance with one of the specific features of the present invention, extension 22 includes two spaced apart pairs of gripping fingers 24, 26 that extend laterally outwardly away from the sides 22a, 22b of extension 22. The first pair of fingers 24 extends laterally outwardly away from the side 22a of shaft extension 22 in a first direction, while the second pair of fingers 26 extends outwardly away from the side 22b of shaft extension 22 in a second direction (
Head 14 of toothbrush 10 is shown in detail in
Front cover 30 is formed so as to include two spaced apart recesses 34, 36 in the inner surface 30c thereof (
Head 14 further includes a bristle assembly 50 and two movable bases 52, 54. Bristle assembly 50 comprises a flexible skirt 56 with a plurality of bristle tufts 58 extending outwardly away therefrom. These bristles 58 constitute the fixed, nonmovable bristles 16 of head 14. The layout, number and relative sizes of said bristles 58 can be of any desired configuration without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Skirt 56 is designed to snap fit around outer surface 30d of front cover 30 and a lip 59 (
Referring to
The exterior surface 60b of member 60 includes a shaped, and preferably diamond-shaped, region 72 that extends outwardly away therefrom. Region 72 is formed inwardly of the outer edge 65 of member 60. A plurality of fixed bristles or bristle tufts 74 extend outwardly away from region 72. The number, size and configuration of bristles 74 can be of any suitable desired design without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Region 72 at least partially abuts that portion of the wall of front cover 30 that surrounds and defines apertures 38, 40. The arcuate travel of mounting bases 52, 54 is at least partially guided by the interaction between region 72 and the edges 39, 41 (
In accordance with one of the features of the present invention, member 60 is sized to be received within recess 34 of front cover 30, but as shown in
Referring to
Toothbrush 10 is positioned in the mouth of the use so that the tips of bristles 74 and 58 engage the surface of the teeth, preferably at 45 degrees to the gum line. The brush 10 may start out in the first position shown in
When handle 12 of toothbrush 10 is pulled in the direction of arrow “A” (
When handle 12 is pulled in the direction of arrow “A” and head 14 initially remains essentially stationary, a gap opens up between end 46 of head 14 and leading end 48 of handle 12. This gap is illustrated at 82 in
The handle 12 of toothbrush 10 is then pushed in the opposite direction as indicated by arrow “D” (
Thus, as the handle 12 is moved reciprocally back and forth along the longitudinal axis “X” of toothbrush 10 between direction “A” and “D”, the movable bases 52 and 54 and therefore the bristles 74 extending outwardly therefrom are caused to oscillate reciprocally between the position shown in
Toothbrush 10 therefore includes a first plurality of fixed bristles that move reciprocally across the teeth in a linear fashion and a second plurality of bristles that are moved reciprocally across the teeth in an arcuate fashion. The arcuate motion of the second plurality of bristles is caused by the reciprocal motion of the handle in conjunction with the friction of the tips of the bristles on the surface of the teeth.
While the above disclosure has shown two movable bases 52, 54 that move arcuately in opposite directions to each other during reciprocation of the handle, it will be understood that the first and second pairs of gripping fingers 24, 26 could be provided a spaced distance apart on the same side of the extension 22. This would cause the two movable bases 52, 54 to rotate or oscillate in the same direction as each other.
In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed.
Moreover, the description and illustration of the invention are an example and the invention is not limited to the exact details shown or described.
Claims
1. A manual toothbrush comprising:
- an elongated handle having a gripping end; a first end remote from said gripping end and a longitudinal axis running through the gripping end and first end;
- a head having an outer wall and an internal channel into which the first end of the handle is slidingly received, said first end of the handle being adapted to reciprocate into and out of said channel during a brushing motion;
- a first aperture defined in said outer wall;
- a plurality of first bristles extending outwardly away from the outer wall of the head,
- a first movable base disposed in the channel and being at least partially complementary shaped to the first aperture;
- a first pivot pin extending outwardly from said first movable base and into the channel; said pivot pin engaging the first end of the handle; and
- wherein said first movable base pivots about the first pivot pin in response to the reciprocal motion of the handle; and
- a plurality of second bristles mounted on the first movable base and extending outwardly away therefrom and outwardly through the first aperture in the head; and wherein said plurality of second bristles move relative to the first bristles in response to the reciprocal motion of the handle.
2. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 1, wherein a region of the outer wall defines a peripheral edge of the aperture and that peripheral edge is arcuately shaped.
3. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of said first movable base is housed within the through-aperture.
4. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 3, further comprising:
- a second aperture defined in the outer wall of the head and a spaced distance from the first aperture;
- a second movable base disposed in the channel and being at least partially complementary shaped to the second aperture;
- a second pivot pin extending outwardly from said second movable base and into the channel; said second pivot pin engaging the first end of the handle; and wherein said second movable base pivots about the second pivot pin in response to the reciprocal motion of the handle; and
- a plurality of third bristles mounted on the second movable base and extending outwardly away therefrom and outwardly through the second aperture in the head; and wherein said plurality of third bristles move relative to the first bristles in response to the reciprocal motion of the handle.
5. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 4, wherein the second movable base pivots in the opposite direction to the first movable base.
6. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 1, wherein the head comprises:
- a front cover;
- a back cover that is complementary shaped to the front cover and is securable thereto; said front cover and back cover defining the internal channel of the head therebetween and wherein the said outer wall of the head constitutes a portion of the front cover.
7. A manual toothbrush comprising:
- a longitudinally elongated handle that has a gripping end; a first end and a longitudinal axis running through the gripping end and first end;
- a first pair of gripping fingers extending outwardly away from said first end of the handle;
- a head having an outer wall and an internal channel into which the first end of the handle is slidingly received; said first end of the handle being adapted to reciprocate into and out of said channel during the brushing motion;
- a curved aperture defined through said outer wall and into said internal channel;
- a plurality of first bristles fixedly mounted to the outer wall of the head and extending outwardly away therefrom;
- a first movable base mounted within the head; said first movable base having an interior surface that extends into the channel;
- a first drive pin extending outwardly away from the interior surface of the first movable base and into the channel; said first drive pin being non-releasably captured by the first pair of gripping fingers; whereby the first movable base is arcuately movable relative to the outer wall of the head in response to reciprocation of the handle during brushing; and
- a plurality of second bristles mounted on an exterior surface of the first movable base and extending through the aperture and outwardly away from the outer wall of the head; whereby the arcuate movement of the first movable base during brushing causes the second bristles to move arcuately relative to the outer wall of the head.
8. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 7, wherein the gripping end and first end of the handle are unitary.
9. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 8, wherein the gripping end of the handle terminates in a leading end; and wherein the first end of the handle originates at the leading end of the gripping end.
10. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 7, wherein the first pair of gripping fingers are immovable relative to the first end of the handle.
11. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 7, wherein the first pair of gripping fingers extends outwardly at an angle from a first side edge of the first end of the handle; and that angle remains constant during reciprocation of the handle.
12. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 11, wherein the angle of the gripping fingers relative to the first side edge of first end of the handle is ninety degrees.
13. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 7, further comprising:
- a second pair of gripping fingers extending outwardly away from said first end of the handle and a spaced distance away from the first pair of gripping fingers;
- a second movable base rotatably mounted on the head; said second movable base having an interior surface that extends into the channel;
- a second drive pin extending outwardly away from the interior surface of the second movable base and into the channel; said second drive pin being non-releasably captured by the second pair of gripping fingers; whereby the second movable base is arcuately movable relative to the outer wall of the head in response to reciprocation of the handle during brushing;
- a second plurality of second bristles mounted on an exterior surface of the second movable base and extending outwardly away from the outer wall of the head; whereby the arcuate movement of the second movable base during brushing causes the second plurality of second bristles to move arcuately relative to the outer wall of the head.
14. The manual toothbrush as defined in claim 13, wherein the second pair of gripping fingers extend outwardly away from a second side edge of the first end of the handle and at a fixed angle thereto;
- whereby the first and second movable bases oscillate in opposite directions to each other upon reciprocation of the handle during brushing.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 7, 2008
Publication Date: Feb 12, 2009
Applicant: (Burlington)
Inventors: Christopher Denney (Burlington), Robert G. Dickie (King City)
Application Number: 12/287,233
International Classification: A46B 9/04 (20060101);