U.S. patent application number 10/620034 was filed with the patent office on 2004-02-05 for disposable toilet brush.
Invention is credited to Singer, Cheryl.
Application Number | 20040019996 10/620034 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 31191286 |
Filed Date | 2004-02-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040019996 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Singer, Cheryl |
February 5, 2004 |
Disposable toilet brush
Abstract
A fully disposable toilet brush can have a cardboard tube handle
on the end of which a open cell plastic or foam sponge can be
mounted. After use the entire brush including the handle and the
sponge is discarded.
Inventors: |
Singer, Cheryl; (West Palm
Beach, FL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
THE FIRM OF KARL F ROSS
5676 RIVERDALE AVENUE
PO BOX 900
RIVERDALE (BRONX)
NY
10471-0900
US
|
Family ID: |
31191286 |
Appl. No.: |
10/620034 |
Filed: |
July 15, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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60399631 |
Jul 30, 2002 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
15/244.1 ;
15/210.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47K 11/10 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
15/244.1 ;
15/210.1 |
International
Class: |
A47K 011/10 |
Claims
We claim:
1. A fully disposable toilet brush comprising: a cardboard tube;
and a open-cell sponge formed with a plurality of ribs fitted on an
end of said cardboard tube.
2. The toilet brush defined in claim 1 wherein said ribs are
angularly offset about the sponge in a regular pattern.
3. The toilet brush defined in claim 2 wherein said sponge has a
central hole and said cardboard tube is fitted into said hole.
4. The toilet brush defined in claim 3, further comprising an
adhesive bonding said sponge to said cardboard tube.
5. The toilet brush defined in claim 4 wherein said ribs have
outwardly convex rounded contours.
6. The toilet brush defined in claim 5 wherein said sponge has
V-section grooves between said ribs.
7. A package comprising a pouch of a packaging material and two
fully disposable toilet brushes in said pouch, each of said fully
disposable toilet brushes consisting of a cardboard tube, and a
open-cell sponge formed with a plurality of ribs fitted on an end
of said cardboard tube.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a nonprovisional application
corresponding to Ser. No. 60/399,731 filed July 30, 2002.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Our present invention relates to a disposable toilet brush
and, more particularly, to a toilet brush intended for a single use
and which can be disposed of entirely after such use.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] There are a variety of toilet cleaner implements, e.g. those
described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,010,615, 5,373,599, 5,488,748,
5,630,243 and 5,888,002 in which handle structures or the like have
cleaning portions fitted to them and which are intended to be used
to clean the toilet bowl and/or the rim of the toilet. As far as we
are aware, none of those brushes or any other toilet cleaning brush
in common use is intended as a single use implement or is capable
of being disposed of completely without problems. Where the handle
is of plastic, recycling of that handle is required and in most
instances, the handle is so costly that multiple use is intended.
While a cleaning portion of the implement may be disposed of, the
handle is retained and usually fitted to another cleaning
member.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The principal object of the present invention is to provide
a toilet brush which is fully disposable and hence capable of
single use and can then be disposed of in an environmentally sound
manner.
[0005] Another object of the invention is to provide a toilet brush
which is more sanitary in use than conventional toilet brushes and
solves problems detailed previously.
[0006] It is also an object of the invention to provide a package
which includes an improved toilet cleaning implement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] These objects and others which will become apparent
hereinafter are attained, in accordance with the invention in a
toilet brush which comprises:
[0008] a cardboard tube; and
[0009] a open-cell sponge formed with a plurality of ribs fitted on
an end of the cardboard tube.
[0010] In accordance with the invention, the entire brush is
disposable in that the handle consists of a cardboard tube which is
fitted into the cleaning sponge of the open-cell plastic type and
which is formed with a multiplicity of angularly-spaced ribs. The
sponge itself may be formed on a hollow tube adapted to receive the
brush and can either hug the tube with sufficient strength to
prevent the sponge from pulling loose during single use or is
attached to the tube by an adhesive.
[0011] The package of the invention comprises a pouch of a
packaging material and two fully disposable toilet brushes in the
pouch, each of the fully disposable toilet brushes consisting of a
cardboard tube, and a open-cell sponge formed with a plurality of
ribs fitted on an end of the cardboard tube.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0012] The above and other objects, features, and advantages will
become more readily apparent from the following description,
reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:
[0013] FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a toilet brush in
accordance with the invention;
[0014] FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along the
line II-II of FIG. 1;
[0015] FIG. 3 is an enlarged elevational view of the brush end of
the implement; and
[0016] FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of a package according
to the invention.
SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION
[0017] A brush according to the invention is shown in the
accompanying drawing and comprises the cardboard tube 10 which is
fitted into the open cell sponge 11 which has a hole 12 for that
purpose. The sponge is formed with a plurality, e.g. 6 or 8 ribs
with V-section grooves 14 between these ribs and preferably so
shaped that the flanks of the ribs are parallel to one another.
[0018] The overall length of the toilet-cleaning implement may be
say 13 to 16 inches and the sponge may have a length of say 11/2 to
2 inches and a diameter of 21/2 to 3 inches. The rib height may be
about 1 inch and the tube can be of a diameter say of 1/2 inch.
[0019] Two such implements can be provided in a marketing package
and, for sanitary reasons, the cardboard of the handle can be
designed to deteriorate after the single use, e.g. by losing its
integrity in contact with the water of the toilet bowl so that
reuse is impossible.
[0020] A layer of adhesive 15 may be provided, if desired, between
the cardboard tube and the wall of the hole 12.
[0021] In FIG. 4 we have shown a package 16 which may be a pouch of
a transparent plastic material 17, with or without a supporting
card, containing two brushes 18 and 19 as shown in FIGS. 1-3. The
pouch may have a tear-off region 20 to facilitate opening. As each
toilet brush is used, it may be disposed of simply by throwing it
into a waste container for normal trash pickup.
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