Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – Brushing
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-11
2001-05-29
Graham, Gary K. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
Brushing
C015S028000, C015SDIG005
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237178
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a toothbrush comprising a grip member and a brush member connected to the grip member, which brush member has a longitudinal axis and whose end remote from the grip member carries a bristle holder which is movable beyond a center position, which bristle holder is mounted on the brush member so as to be movable with respect to a holder axis which extends transversely to the longitudinal axis and which bristle holder has a holder surface which extends substantially transversely to the holder axis and from which, in the area of the holder surface, bristles project transversely to the holder surface, which bristles together form a bristle field and are arranged around the holder axis and of which the peripheral bristles situated at the periphery of the bristle field are longer than the bristles situated in the inner part of the bristle field.
The invention further relates to a brush member for a toothbrush, which brush member can be coupled detachably to a grip member of the toothbrush, which brush member has a longitudinal axis and at one end carries a bristle holder which is movable beyond a center position, which bristle holder is mounted on the brush member so as to be movable with respect to a holder axis which extends transversely to the longitudinal axis and which bristle holder has a holder surface which extends substantially transversely to the holder axis and from which, in the area of the holder surface, bristles project transversely to the holder surface, which bristles together form a bristle field and are arranged around the holder axis and of which the peripheral bristles situated at the periphery of the bristle field are longer than the bristles situated in the inner part of the bristle field.
Such a toothbrush of the type defined in the first paragraph and such a brush member of the type defined in the second paragraph are known, for example from the document DE 43 09 035 A1. This known toothbrush and this known brush member comprise a substantially circular disc-shaped bristle holder carrying a bristle field which can be enveloped by a tangential surface formed by a cylindrical surface. The bristle filed comprises tufts of bristles arranged in an outer ring, the bristles of all the tufts arranged in the outer ring have the same length. Inside the outer ring of tufts further tufts of bristles are disposed, of which all the bristles also have the same length but the length of the bristles of the inner tufts being smaller than the length of the bristles of the tufts disposed in the outer ring. Owing to the bristle field configuration described above, in which there is a stepped transition between the tufts in the outer ring and the tufts inside the bristle field, comparatively good cleaning results are attainable with the known toothbrush and the known brush member, but tests have revealed that in many cases the cleaning results are not wholly satisfactory.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to further improve a toothbrush of the type defined in the first paragraph and a brush member of the type defined in the second paragraph and to obtain a higher cleaning performance and improved cleaning results.
According to the invention, in order to achieve this object in a toothbrush of the type defined in the first paragraph, the free ends of at least a part of the bristles of the bristle field arranged around the holder axis are bounded by two non-stepped enveloping surfaces which are inclined continuously with respect to the holder surface of the bristle holder, which enveloping surfaces are arranged substantially in a V-shape and intersect one another along a line of intersection at the location of the holder axis, and the line of intersection of the two enveloping surfaces extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brush member. Thus, it is achieved that the variation in level of the free ends of the bristles of the bristle field of a toothbrush in accordance with the invention can be without steps and the free ends of the bristles can be formed so as to be situated at a continuously varying level and the continuous variation in level of the free ends of the bristles of the bristle field is essentially mirror-symmetrical with respect to the holder axis and the line of intersection of the two enveloping surfaces, which line extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brush member. This has proved to be favorable for a correct positioning of the bristle field with respect to the curved tooth surfaces, which surfaces are essentially mirror-symmetrical relative to a surface tangent which is also oriented transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brush member, and consequently for a satisfactory cleaning action of the bristles of the bristle field. Furthermore, it is to be noted that a construction in accordance with the invention has also proved to be advantageous in view of a simple implementation of the level variation of the bristle ends, i.e. of the bristle field topography.
It is to be noted that from the document U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,582 A a toothbrush in several variants is known, including one variant comprising a bristle holder and a bristle field arranged on this bristle holder, which both essentially have the shape of an “eight” and whose longitudinal directions extend transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brush member. In this bristle field the free ends of the bristles are bounded by two enveloping surfaces which are inclined continuously with respect to the holder surface of the bristle holder but which do not intersect one another at the location of a holder axis and whose line of intersection does not extend transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brush member but exactly parallel to the longitudinal axis of the brush member. The form of the bristle field of the variant of the known toothbrush inter alia has the advantage, described in the document U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,582 A, that both the upper row of teeth and the lower row of teeth of a user can be cleaned at the same time and that partly a comparatively good access to hard-to-get-at areas can be obtained. However, particularly on account of the orientation of the line of intersection of the two enveloping surfaces parallel to the longitudinal axis of the brush member the variant known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,582 A is in no way suitable for a correct positioning of the bristle field with respect to a tooth to be cleaned, in contradistinction to a toothbrush in accordance with the invention which is very suitable for this owing to the characteristic features of the invention.
Moreover, it is to be noted that a toothbrush in several variants is known from the document DE 44 38 731 A1. In this known toothbrush the brush member end which is remote from the grip member does not carry one bristle holder but it carries two bristle holders which are each adjustable with respect to the holder axis which extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brush member. In a variant of this known toothbrush, shown in FIG. 9b of the document DE 44 38 731 A1, a part the bristles of each of the two bristle fields arranged around the holder axis has free ends bounded by two non-stepped enveloping surfaces which are steadily inclined with respect to the holder surface of each bristle holder but which do not intersect one another at the location of the holder axis but along a line of intersection in an area laterally offset from the holder axis. Furthermore, in this variant of the known toothbrush the line of intersection of the two enveloping surfaces does not extend transversely to the longitudinal axis of the brush member but parallel to the longitudinal of the brush member. In this variant of the known toothbrush, which merely because of the fact that the brush member has two bristle holders is of a totally different construction than the toothbrush in accordance with the invention, it is to be noted also that the fact that the free ends of the bristles of both bristle fields are bounded by two enveloping sur
Krammer Michael
Sturm Dieter
Bartlett Ernestine C.
Graham Gary K.
U.S. Philips Corporation
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