Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Implements – Bladed spreader
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-09
2001-10-30
Chin, Randall E. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Implements
Bladed spreader
C015S188000, C015S425000, C132S320000, C401S199000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06308371
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of devices for paint application and manipulation of paint upon a substrate by artists. In particular, the present invention relates to applicators and manipulators having an impermeable, paint contacting surface on their working tip, as opposed to traditional brushes having a bristled tip. The present invention also relates to a method of attaching impermeable working tips to handles to form a painting device.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Since prehistoric times, artists have applied and manipulated paint on substrates. Very early artists might have used their bare hands and fingers, as do children and even artists today, but the use of tools for painting became common very early. Some of the earliest of such tools were likely mere sticks. However, bristled brushes have been known and in use for much of modern history. Traditionally, bristled brushes were formed from natural materials such as the hair of animals attached to a wooden handle. With the development of modern synthetic plastics, artificial bristles have become available also. Bristle tipped brushes are characterized by a tendency to draw or wick a supply of paint into the intersticial spaces between the bristles and subsequently release a portion of such paint when the bristles are applied to a substrate. This may be viewed as somewhat wasteful of paint and moreover results in a significant cleanup problem. Cleaning of a bristle brush in order to apply or manipulate a different paint color can slow down an artist and truly interrupt and impede the creative process. Further, failure to promptly and appropriately clean a brush after use often times renders the brush useless for any future use because the intersticial paint irreversibly dries within the body of the brush. The cost of good natural bristle brushes is generally rising and the cost of synthetic bristle substitutes, while often less costly than the natural variety, also is generally rising.
As an alternative to bristled brushes, artists have also used stiff, spring-like metal spatulas for application and manipulation of paint. U.S. Pat. No. 2,861,371 to Leshik discloses some exemplary steel spatulas. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,099,030 and 2,147,310 to Morrison disclose some exemplary rubber spatulas for liquid and dry color painting, respectively. While spatula-like tools provide some advantages over traditional bristle brushes in terms of longevity and cleaning, the fact that the working portions of these tools are primarily flat, two-dimensional surface effectively limits the manner in which an artist can use these tools for applying paint to a surface to more of a trowel-like action. Consequently, artists generally regard spatula-like tools as a separate type of paint applicator with it's own limited style of marks that has a different manner in which paint is applied to a surface, rather than as a replacement for the more versatile bristle brush.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,609,051 to Braun discloses a rotatable brush having a rotatable tip made of a porous resilient material. Using the rolling application techniques of longer, conventional paint rollers for coating walls and the like, this tool provides another alternative to a conventional bristle brush. Again, because of the different manner in which this tool applies paint to a surface, artists generally would not regard this tool as a replacement for the more versatile bristle brushes. In addition, due to the porous nature of the rolling tip, this tool also has problems with cleaning and longevity of the tool.
Although alternatives to conventional bristle brushes for artists have been developed, these tools typically have a more limited range of marks and manners of applying paint to a surface that are not as versatile as bristle brushes. Consequently, these tools have generally not been regarded by artists as replacements for a conventional bristle brush in the sense that the use of these tools would replace many of the characteristic functions of the more versatile bristle brush in terms of the marks and manner in which such marks can be made, but instead these tools have been seen as alternative types of paint applicators. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an artist's tool that has improved longevity and cleaning characteristics, but otherwise could be accepted as an effective replacement for traditional bristle brushes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a silicone paint brush artist's tool that includes a handle and a novel painting tip. The painting tip is made of a resilient silicone having a generally three-dimensional paint contacting working surface that has a maximum cross-sectional diameter no larger than a maximum cross-sectional diameter of the handle. The tip is preferably attached to the handle using a ferrule and expansively locking the tip into a cavity of the ferrule by insertion of an insert. Because the painting tip has dimensional characteristics similar to those of conventional bristle brushes, the operation of the artist's tool more closely simulates that of a conventional bristle brush than does a spatula-type tool. Because the painting tip is made of a resilient, nonporous silicone, the tool is more durable and easier to clean than a conventional bristle brush. In this way, the present invention is a unique hybrid of the cleaning and longevity characteristics of spatula-type tools with the versatility and functional characteristics of a bristle-type brush.
In a first embodiment, the present invention is a device for application and manipulation of paint on a substrate. Such a device offers a paint artist many useful advantages as will be discussed subsequently. The device includes three primary components: a handle, a ferrule, and a silicone tip for contacting paint. The handle has a distal end and a proximal end. The ferrule is rigid and is attached to the distal end of the handle and projects from the distal end of the handle to define a cavity adjacent the distal end of the handle. This cavity has an interior surface which carries the tip. The tip is provided with a generally three-dimensional working surface having a maximum cross-sectional diameter that is preferably no larger than the maximum diameter of the handle. The tip is formed of a resilient silicone material and, therefore, has a paint contacting portion with a nonporous surface. The tip also has a ferrule connecting portion. The ferrule connecting portion is expanded into locking contact within the interior surface of the cavity of the ferrule. Preferably, the expansion of the ferrule connecting portion results from an insert installed within the ferrule connecting portion. In one embodiment, the insert has screw threads and most preferably may be a common screw. In another embodiment, the insert includes at least one barb, preferably a plurality of barbs, interacting with the ferrule connecting portion of the tip to resist longitudinal extraction of the insert with respect to the ferrule connecting portion of the tip. In a most preferred embodiment, the insert is an extension of a plastic handle. Preferably, the tip also includes an insert cavity, longitudinally oriented within the ferrule connecting portion of the tip. In such an embodiment, the insert has a shape generally complementary to the insert cavity and transversely oversized relative to the insert cavity so as to expand the ferrule connecting portion of the tip against the interior surface of the cavity of the ferrule. Preferably, the insert, if not threaded, has a shape which resists rotation of the insert relative to the tip. In such an embodiment, it is most preferred to also have a complementary shape in the insert cavity. For example, the insert cavity and the insert may have one or more complementary longitudinally extending flutes. Four flutes are a most particularly preferred embodiment.
One advantage of the device of the present invention is the ability to provide a variety of shapes to the artist wishing to apply or manipulate paint on a substra
Chin Randall E.
Patterson Thuente, Skaar & Christensen, PA
Royal Sovereign Limited
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