Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Implements – Combined
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-26
2001-11-06
Chin, Randall E. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Implements
Combined
C015S167100, C015S188000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311358
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a toothbrush including gum-massaging rods.
The invention relates more particularly to a toothbrush, of the type including a head which is placed at a front longitudinal end of a handle and which is equipped, on an upper face, with a bunch of parallel brushing filaments and of the type in which the brush includes a series of massaging rods made from elastomer material which each extend substantially parallel to the filaments and which are placed substantially in two longitudinal rows with one row on each side of the bunch of filaments.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A brush of this type is disclosed in Document WO-A-97/16995. In this document, the toothbrush includes, on each of the longitudinal edges of the head, massaging filaments made from thermoplastic elastomer material which have the same height as that of the brushing filaments made from non-elastomeric plastic.
With this arrangement, it has been noticed that the action of massaging the gums could be insufficient, particularly when the elastomeric filaments are relatively flexible, either owing to the material from which they are made or owing to their diameter. Thus, when the filaments made from elastomer material flex, the filaments made from non-elastomer material are immediately in contact with the gum. In point of fact, as they are more rigid, these non-elastomeric filaments risk damaging the gum.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the invention is therefore to propose a new design for a toothbrush which makes it possible both to carry out effective brushing of the teeth and massaging of the gums, whilst limiting the possibility of contact pressure between the filaments made from non-elastomer material and the gum on the one hand, but also while limiting the contact pressure of these filaments on the teeth.
To this end, the invention proposes a toothbrush of the type described above, characterized in that each row of rods includes tall rods which are arranged longitudinally substantially in the centre of the row and the length of which is longer than the length of the adjacent filaments, and short rods which are arranged at the ends of the row and the length of which is shorter than the length of the adjacent filaments.
According to further characteristics of the invention:
the toothbrush includes tall rods of various lengths and short rods of various lengths;
the tallest rods have a height which is greater than the height of the adjacent filaments by less than 25%;
the shortest rods have a height which is less than the height of the adjacent filaments by at least 10%;
over a row, the upper ends of the rods are arranged in a curve, the concave surface of which faces downwards;
the rods are cylindrical in shape;
the rods have a diameter which is substantially between 1 and 2.5 millimeters;
the rows of rods extend towards the front beyond the bunch of filaments;
the brush includes at least one short rod arranged in the longitudinal extension of the bunch of filaments;
each rod is fastened to the head by means of a loweranchoring foot which is received in an anchoring hole made in a head body, the anchoring hole opens out at both its ends in upper and lower faces of the head body and the anchoring foot of the rod extends even with the lower face of the head body and is shaped so as to interact with the lower face in order for it to be impossible for the rod to be extracted upwards;
upper and lower ends of the anchoring foot are arranged above and even with the upper and lower faces, respectively, of the head body, the ends of the anchoring foot are connected by a bridge of material which extends outside the anchoring hole around an outer lateral edge of the head body and, at the lower and upper ends of the anchoring foot, the bridge of material bears against the lower and upper faces of the head body to fasten the rod onto the head;
the group of rods is produced by molding as a single component and the linking bridges of the rods form a protective bead made from elastomer material around the outer lateral edge of the head body;
the protective bead is formed in a hollowed-out impression made in the head body so that the bead is flush with the level of the outer faces of the head body;
the lower face of the head body is covered by a web of elastomer material which is produced as a single component together with the rods;
the rods are produced from elastomeric silicone.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5040260 (1991-08-01), Michaels
patent: 5628082 (1997-05-01), Moskovich
patent: 90 12 603 (1992-01-01), None
patent: 295 12 817 (1995-12-01), None
patent: 0 360 766 (1990-03-01), None
patent: 02 098310 (1990-04-01), None
patent: WO 95/07036 (1995-03-01), None
Beaugendre Lydie
Soetewey Lode
Chin Randall E.
Sanofi-Synthelabo
Young & Thompson
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