Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Implements – Brush or broom
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-14
2002-11-12
Graham, Gary K. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Implements
Brush or broom
C015S203000, C132S121000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06477732
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to personal grooming devices and in particular to hairbrushes. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to an improved hairbrush with folding bristles for compact storage when not in use.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been numerous attempts to manufacture a thin, inexpensive, reliable, and foldable hairbrush. With current hair styles, both women and men are using the contemporary plastic bristle brushes to groom and style their hair. Women typically utilize handbags to carry hairbrushes. Men, however, when away from home are typically forced to rely on a pocket comb to groom their hair. The reason for this is that typical hairbrushes are much too bulky to be easily carries in a man
s pockets, and because a truly functional, reliable, extremely low profile, and foldable hairbrush has yet to be manufactured where the brush can be comfortably stored in a trouser pocket.
To address this problem, several attempts have been made to introduce a hairbrush that can be folded or manipulated into a compact package to be easily stored or carried. Many of these prior art solutions rely on a sliding action to retract and extend a multiplicity of bristles into and out of a base member. Generally, this action requires the use of two hands; one hand is needed to support the brush, while the other hand is used to operate the sliding mechanism. The bristles are more often than not extended and retracted through various shape apertures, which can become clogged with debris such as dust, lint, dirt, hair, and hair gel. The sliding action also creates friction, which is detrimental to a smooth and repeatable operation. Several of these prior-art solutions, and the disadvantages of each, are discussed below. It will be easily seen that none of the prior art designs provide an acceptable solution.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,877 to Heneveld (Oct. 6, 1998) relies on a sliding handle member to retract and extend a multiplicity of bristles into and out of an array of openings. The bristles slide and bear against the walls of the openings which creates sliding friction. Any mis-shaped bristle or debris would increase the sliding friction, and perhaps jam a bristle. The bristles in their fully retracted state will still remain somewhat exposed, which increases the opportunity to damage the ends of the bristles. The brush is not equipped with an integral cover member. This results in a potential to collect debris, which would create additional friction when trying to retract and extend the multiplicity of bristles. Also, the brush under normal daily usage, will subject the bristles to repeated bending. After usage, the bristles might take on a permanent set which would interfere with the sliding feature, increasing the friction and hindering the folding and unfolding operation of the brush. Heneveld's design is therefore unacceptable for any extended use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,390 to Chen (Aug. 9, 1994) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,902 to Fong (Feb. 16, 1993) disclose a multiplicity of bristles which are attached to a flexible membrane. The bristles are stowed by pushing on the flexible membrane which takes advantage of the reversible nature of the membrane position to collapse the bristles into a stowed position. This still results in a fairly thick brush, making back-pocket storage rather uncomfortable, as evidenced by the fact that they still have not yet replaced a pocket comb in popularity for trouser pocket storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,633 to Heneveld (Jan. 29, 1991) utilizes a handle to retract a plurality of bristles into a base cavity. However, Heneveld's bristles do not fold over, which results in a very thick brush unsuitable for back-pocket storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,937 to Gorski (Jul. 18, 1989) relies on a sliding and rotating action to extend and collapse a multiplicity of bristles. According to Gorski's design, the user must use a hand to collapse the bristles into a stowed position. The bristles are affixed to an arcuately shaped bristle bar. The arcuately shaped bristle bar will tend to be rather thick making pocket storage impractical and uncomfortable. Like many of its predecessors, it is not equipped with an integral cover, which results in the potential to damage the bristles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,818 to Perdiz (Apr. 2, 1985), discloses two embodiments. Both of these embodiments utilize a shifting plate, and a shifting projection to articulate a plurality of bristles into a position of use. The shifting plate translates within grooved side margins offering the potential to collect debris and become jammed. The shifting projections are small protrusions and do not offer much mechanical advantage in articulating the biased-shaft bristles. This type of mechanism requires that the user hold the base in one hand, and slide the shifting projection with the other hand to rotate the bristles into an operational position. These brushes are excessively thick for comfortable pocket storage due to the stack-up height of the handle, which slides underneath the bristle supporting plates, the bristle supporting plates themselves, and the removable cover. According to Perdiz's first embodiment, the combined width of the brush body, the length of the bristle in the outside row while in the stowed position, and the cover, results in a very wide brush, which is also impractical for pocket storage. Perdiz's second embodiment discloses a brush where the bristles fold in a longitudinal direction. The second embodiment, however, still presents an excessive overall height of the brush, making pocket storage impractical. A separate cover is required for both embodiments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,211 to Bottolfson (Feb. 12, 1985) discloses another sliding and retracting bristle brush. A plurality of bristles retract into and out of small apertures. The sliding action urges the bristles to bear against the aperture walls during operation, which creates the same sliding friction problems as discussed above with regard to Heneveld's '877 patent. The bristles are urged through the aperture into the position of use. If the apertures become clogged, or a bristle is bent in any way, the operation will become unacceptably difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,269 to Makabe (Jan. 22, 1985) also relies on a sliding and bearing action to fold a plurality of bristles into a stowed and operational position. A plurality of bristle bars and a movable flat board translate longitudinally, forcing the bristles against a plurality of guide-hole walls. This results in a bearing action which in turn rotates the bristles from the stowed position to the operational position, and back again. The bearing and sliding actions would tend to accelerate the wearing of individual components. Any debris will hinder the smooth operation and tend to jam the sliding and bearing components. As hair becomes entangled in the bristles, it would tend to lift the bristle bars, possibly unseating them from the movable flat board. The brush also requires a separate cover member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,723 to Kortick (Mar. 30, 1982) discloses a travel hairbrush having a plurality of bristle bars, with each bristle bar having an upper and lower pivot point A plurality of bristles articulates using a sliding motion of a slotted side bar member which is affixed to a thumb tab. Sliding the thumb tab forward engages the side-bar slot walls with the upper pins, which results in the rotation of the bristle bar about the lower fixed pivot point. One of the problems with this approach is the resulting overall thickness of the brush assembly. It is too cumbersome to carry this style brush comfortably in the back pocket of trouser pants. To obtain the amount of bristle rotation required, the slots in the side bar member tend to be rather long, which directly increases the overall brush thickness. There is also the potential to collect debris in the side-bar slots which would make the brush difficult to operate. Actuating the side bar from only
Cline Kevin W.
McCurdy John A.
Anderson Matthew S.
Graham Gary K.
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