Toilet – Toothpick
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-06
2001-02-27
Philogene, Pedro (Department: 3732)
Toilet
Toothpick
C132S200000, C132S323000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06192896
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The field of the invention is dental floss.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Tooth decay and dental disease can be caused by bacterial action resulting from plaque formation around the teeth and/or the entrapment of food particles in interstices between teeth. Removal of plaque and entrapped food particles reduces the incidence of caries, gingivitis, and mouth odors as well as generally improving oral hygiene. Conventional brushing has been found to be inadequate for removing all entrapped food particles and plaque. Therefore, to supplement brushing, dental flosses and tapes are often employed.
Traditional flosses have been fabricated from yarns of natural fibers, such as linen, silk, and cotton as well as various synthetic fibers, such as nylon. In order to improve the ability of floss to be inserted into the interstices between teeth, flosses have been coated with a variety of materials, such as waxes. In addition to improving floss lubricity during use, wax coatings have also been used as carrier materials for floss modification agents, such as flavoring oils, medicaments, texturants and the like.
Traditional flosses are not entirely satisfactory for a number of reasons, including their limited ability to assume thinner or thicker shapes to accommodate different sized spaces between teeth, their tendency to fray under conditions of normal use, and their lack of comfort for the user.
In order to overcome these problems with traditional flosses, efforts have been made to prepare ‘new generation’ flosses of polymeric elastomeric materials. Among other advantages, flosses prepared from such materials have the potential to assume a number of different thicknesses depending on the stress to which they are subjected, and therefor can be readily tailored to a user's individual needs.
Despite the potential of such ‘new generation’ flosses, problems have been encountered in the modification of such flosses with flavorants or other modification agents. Traditional wax carrier materials do not work with elastomeric flosses as the wax is not itself sufficiently elastic and therefore tends to crack under stress. Other problems found when attempts are made to modify elastomeric flosses with traditional flavor oils include inefficient use of such flavor oils, solvation of the floss material by the flavor oil, and the like.
Accordingly, there is interest in the development of new methods of modifying polymeric elastomeric floss materials. Ideally such methods should be relatively simple to perform, adaptable to large scale production needs and provide for efficient use of the modification agent.
Relevant Literature
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,677,443; 2,748,781; 3,699,979; 3,771,536; 3,800,812; 3,830,246; 3,897,795; 3,943,949; 4,033,365; 4,414,990; 4,911,927; 4,974,614; 5,076,300; 5,353,820; 5,433,226; as well as EP 0 292,673 all describe floss designs.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,526,039; 2,369,847; 2,700,636; 2,886,440; 2,886,445; 2,886,446; 2,886,449; 3,991,766; 4,276,312; 4,528,226; 4,678,814; 4,828,955 describe different methods of flavoring polymeric materials, as well as the production of encapsulated agents such as flavoring agents. The preparation of flavor products is also reviewed in “Flavor Technology,” ACS Symposium Series 610 (Ho, Tan & Tong eds., 1995).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Elastomeric flosses comprising particulate modification agents stably associated with their surface, as well as methods for their fabrication, are provided. The particulate modification agents may be either embedded in, or adsorbed on, the surface of the floss, where such agents may be flavorants, medicaments, texturants and the like. In preparing the subject flosses, the surface of the to be modified floss is contacted with the particulate modification agents under conditions sufficient to provide for the stable association. Thus, with flosses having sufficiently tacky surfaces, it is sufficient to contact the floss with the modification agent with no further action being necessary. Alternatively, the surface of the floss may be softened, molten or quasi-molten prior to contact with the particulate modification agents, such that the particulate modification agents become embedded in the floss surface.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1526039 (1925-02-01), Arkell et al.
patent: 2369847 (1945-02-01), Olsen et al.
patent: 2667443 (1954-01-01), Ashton
patent: 2700636 (1955-01-01), Ashton
patent: 2748781 (1956-06-01), Collat
patent: 2886440 (1959-05-01), Kramer et al.
patent: 2886445 (1959-05-01), Rosenthal et al.
patent: 2886446 (1959-05-01), Kramer et al.
patent: 2886449 (1959-05-01), Rosenthal et al.
patent: 3699979 (1972-10-01), Muhler et al.
patent: 3771536 (1973-11-01), Dragan
patent: 3800812 (1974-04-01), Jaffe
patent: 3830246 (1974-08-01), Gillings
patent: 3838702 (1974-10-01), Standish et al.
patent: 3860013 (1975-01-01), Czapor
patent: 3897795 (1975-08-01), Engel
patent: 3943949 (1976-03-01), Ashton et al.
patent: 3991766 (1976-11-01), Schmitt et al.
patent: 4033365 (1977-07-01), Klepak et al.
patent: 4175326 (1979-11-01), Goodson
patent: 4276312 (1981-06-01), Merritt
patent: 4360514 (1982-11-01), Buck
patent: 4362712 (1982-12-01), Buck
patent: 4403089 (1983-09-01), Buck
patent: 4414990 (1983-11-01), Yost
patent: 4528226 (1985-07-01), Sweeny
patent: 4627975 (1986-12-01), Lynch
patent: 4678814 (1987-07-01), Rembaum
patent: 4764377 (1988-08-01), Goodson
patent: 4780320 (1988-10-01), Bakar
patent: 4828955 (1989-05-01), Kasai et al.
patent: 4892736 (1990-01-01), Goodson
patent: 4904479 (1990-02-01), Illum
patent: 4911927 (1990-03-01), Hill et al.
patent: 4952392 (1990-08-01), Thame
patent: 4959220 (1990-09-01), Yamamoto et al.
patent: 4974614 (1990-12-01), Selker
patent: 5037818 (1991-08-01), Sime
patent: 5076300 (1991-12-01), Mayfield
patent: 5353820 (1994-10-01), Suhonen et al.
patent: 5433226 (1995-07-01), Burch
patent: 5479952 (1996-01-01), Zachariades et al.
patent: 5508334 (1996-04-01), Chen
patent: 0 292 673 A2 (1988-11-01), None
“Kraton Thermoplastic Rubbers in oil gels,” Technical Bulletin Shell Chemical Company, Apr. 1989, pp. 3-11.
C.Chiang, “Sample Batch for Panel Evaluation,” Applied Elastomerics, Inc. Aug. 25, 1994, 11 pgs.
Chi-Tang Ho et al. “Flavor Technology, Physical Chemistry, Modification and Process,” ACS Symposium Series, Aug. 21-25, 1994, 10 pgs.
Angell-Atchison Alex
Desai Pranav
Destandau Pascal
Singh Pritpal
Tsao Belinda L.
Cekala Chester
Gillette Canada Company
Howley David A.
Philogene Pedro
LandOfFree
Particulate modified elastomeric flosses does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Particulate modified elastomeric flosses, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Particulate modified elastomeric flosses will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2594101