PAINT BRUSH

Abstract

A paintbrush constructed in an environmentally conscious manner. In one embodiment, a paintbrush is constructed from a bamboo handle, stainless steel ferrule and a mixture of natural and artificial bristle. This mixture of materials results in substantially less environmental impact than conventional paintbrush materials.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority of the U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/045,379 filed Apr. 16, 2008 entitled “Paintbrush.”

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to paint brushes and, more specifically, to a paintbrush and method of construction that is more environmentally friendly than a conventional paintbrush.

2. Background of the Invention

Generally, paintbrushes are constructed with little to no consideration for the impact their construction will have on the environment. Materials such as the handle, ferrule and bristles are selected with no consideration for the scarcity of the materials, the energy expended in transporting the materials to the construction facility, or the impact the paintbrush will have on the environment when discarded.

As one example, the handles of prior art paintbrushes are typically constructed out of either a hardwood or a plastic. The use of hardwood handles encourages logging of trees that take decades to reach maturity. In addition, they are inferior to plastic handles because they are heavier and not as durable. However, plastic handles are not biodegradable and require a plethora of caustic chemical treatments to prepare and mold. What is needed is a lightweight, durable handle material that can be harvested from a quickly renewing resource with a minimum of chemical treatment.

Similarly, prior art paintbrush ferrules are frequently constructed of plastic. These plastic ferrules suffer from the same flaws as plastic paintbrush handles. In addition, frequently plastic is not durable enough for the rough conditions encountered by paintbrushes in industrial use. What is needed is a lightweight yet durable ferrule material that can be produced with a minimum of environmental impact and chemical treatment.

Prior art paintbrushes were also not environmentally conscious in their bristle selection. Typically, paintbrushes in the prior art used either all natural or all artificial bristles. This led to premature brush aging, because all the bristles were composed of a homogenous material. What is needed to improve brush longevity (and thus reduce the waste created by discarded paintbrushes) is a paintbrush composed of both natural and artificial bristles.

Furthermore, prior art paintbrushes generally include simple, non-beveled hang-up holes. This leads to inconvenience for the user, because the hole is frequently so small a user must actively look at the hang-up hole to hang up the paintbrush. What is needed is a beveled hang-up hole, so that the hole may be wide enough to be easily hung up even if the user is focusing on something else, without unnecessarily weakening the handle with an oversize hole.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved paintbrush with a bamboo handle that is lighter and more durable than the prior art and is more environmentally friendly than the prior art because it does not encourage excessive hardwood logging or chemical treatments.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved paintbrush with an unpainted stainless steel ferrule that is lightweight, durable, and environmentally friendly.

It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide a paintbrush that is longer lasting than prior art paintbrushes because it uses a mixture of natural and artificial bristles.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide an improved beveled hang-up hole that does not weaken the handle of the paintbrush but may still be easily hung up even if the user is focusing on something else.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a preferred embodiment, the improved paintbrush of the present invention is composed of a bamboo handle, stainless steel, unpainted ferrule, bristles composed of natural and artificial fibers and a beveled hang-up hole.

The handle of a preferred embodiment is composed of bamboo wood. Bamboo wood is a superior material because it is lightweight, durable and is harvested from quickly renewing bamboo. In addition, bamboo is biodegradable and non-toxic, and will not have a negative environmental impact when the paintbrush is eventually disposed of.

The hang-up hole of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is beveled. This provides a larger area for a user to engage the hang-up hole, even if not looking while hanging up the paintbrush. On the other hand, the hole does not greatly weaken the handle of the brush, because the actual hole is relatively small. The beveled segments of the hang-up hole continue to provide structural support to the handle.

The ferrule of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is composed of unpainted, stainless steel. Unpainted, stainless steel provides advantages over the prior art because it is lightweight and durable without requiring the environmentally unfriendly chemical processing of a painted or plastic ferrule.

The bristles of a preferred embodiment of the present invention are a mixture of natural and artificial bristles. This provides overall brush longevity, because certain paints will age the natural bristles faster than the artificial ones, and vice versa. By extending the life of the brush, mixed bristles reduce paintbrush waste.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a plan view of one embodiment of the improved paintbrush 10 of the present invention is demonstrated. The handle 11 of the paintbrush is composed of bamboo. The handle 11 contains a beveled hang-up hole 12 near the top of the handle 11.

The handle 11 is formed from laminated bamboo. The handle 11 is prepared by super heating the bamboo in water, pressurizing the bamboo and then forming it into laminated sheets using glue. Further details of the lamination process are well known to those skilled in the art. Forming the handle 11 of laminated bamboo confers several advantages on the paintbrush 10. The paintbrush 10 with a laminated bamboo handle 11 is lighter and stronger than paintbrushes composed of conventional wood materials. Additionally, bamboo replenishes itself over a period of months, whereas the trees that produce wood for conventional handles take decades to replenish themselves. Therefore, bamboo handled paintbrushes 10 exert a significantly reduced ecological footprint compared to wooden handled paintbrushes.

The paintbrush 10 has a stainless steel ferrule 14 which attaches bristles 16 to the bamboo handle 11 of the paintbrush 10. The bristles 16 of a preferred embodiment are composed of a mixture of natural and artificial bristles. In the preferred embodiment, the bristles 16 are composed of 10% white hog bristle and 90% solid round tapered polyester bristle. Furthermore, all the bristles are of various lengths and the polyester bristles are of various taper ratios.

Although the invention has been described in connection with various specific exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciated that numerous adaptations and modifications may be made thereto. The following claims present a non-exhaustive list of embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A paintbrush comprising:

a one piece handle made from bamboo sheets, laminated into a solid material, shaped and adapted for a paint brush;

a stainless steel ferrule surrounding at least a portion of said handle; and

bristles composed of a mixture of natural and artificial bristles, a portion of said bristles being surrounded by and retained by said ferrule.

2. (canceled)

3. The paintbrush of claim 1 wherein said bristles are composed of 10% white hog bristles of varying lengths and 90% solid round tapered polyester bristles of varying lengths and various taper ratios.

4. The paintbrush of claim 3 wherein said handle incorporates a hang-up hole with beveled edges.

5. The paintbrush of claim 1 wherein said handle incorporates a hang-up hole with beveled edges.

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)