U.S. patent application number 10/868545 was filed with the patent office on 2005-12-15 for brush with sliding collar.
Invention is credited to Dillon, John J..
Application Number | 20050273962 10/868545 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 35458967 |
Filed Date | 2005-12-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050273962 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Dillon, John J. |
December 15, 2005 |
Brush with sliding collar
Abstract
A brush has a slidable collar that effectively shortens the
bristles to a desired plurality of lengths. The collar preferably
slides with respect to a support in a manner that effectively locks
the collar in predetermined positions. The locking mechanism can be
purely frictional, but preferably also used a detent, or any other
suitable device that provides discrete stops. Such stops are
preferably no more than 2 cm apart, and can advantageously be
spaced no more than 1 cm apart. Contemplated devices can have 2, 3,
4, 5, or more stops. Collared brushes can advantageously be
marketed specifically with respect to the slidable collar feature,
and more specifically with respect to the applicability of such
brushes to automotive use.
Inventors: |
Dillon, John J.; (Carlsbad,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ROBERT D. FISH
RUTAN & TUCKER LLP
611 ANTON BLVD 14TH FLOOR
COSTA MESA
CA
92626-1931
US
|
Family ID: |
35458967 |
Appl. No.: |
10/868545 |
Filed: |
June 14, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
15/169 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A46B 9/10 20130101; A46B
2200/202 20130101; A46B 2200/3046 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
015/169 |
International
Class: |
A46B 009/10 |
Claims
1. A brush, comprising: a handle, a heel form which extend a
plurality of bristles, and a support piece disposed between the
handle and the bristles; a substantially flattened collar slidable
along the support piece between a fully retracted position in which
the bristles have an effective length, and a fully extended
position that restricts the plurality of bristles in a manner that
effectively shortens the bristles, the collar having a
circumferentially continuous cross-section that passes through the
bristles, and includes a member that cooperates with the support
piece to provide a plurality of discreet stop positions between the
fully retracted and fully extended positions; and wherein the
plurality of discreet stop positions are disposed on the support
piece.
2. The brash of claim 1 wherein the collar restricts the bristles
at least in part by surrounding the bristles.
3. The brush of claim 1 wherein the member comprises a detent.
4. The brush of claim 3 wherein at least two of the positions
provide stops that are no more than 2 cm apart.
5. The brush of claim 3 wherein at least two of the positions
provide stops that are no more than 1 cm apart.
6. The brush of claim 1 having at least three stops.
7. The brush of claim 1 having at least 4 stops.
8. The brush of claim 1 wherein the plurality of bristles have an
average effective length of at least 6 cm when the collar is in a
home position.
9. The brush of claim 1 wherein the collar can be moved to restrict
the effective length of the plurality of bristles by at least
50%.
10. The brush of claim 1 wherein the collar can be moved to
restrict the effective length of the plurality of bristles by at
least 75%.
11. The brush of claim 1 wherein the plurality of bristles are
arranged to provide an unrestricted brush width of at least 5
cm.
12. The brush of claim 11 wherein the collar serves to effectively
reduce the brush width to less than 4 cm.
13. (canceled)
14. The brush of claim 1 wherein the handle includes at least one
ergonomic adaptation.
15. The brush of claim 14 wherein the at least one ergonomic
adaptation comprises a soft tough material.
16. A method of marketing a brush having a plurality of bristles,
comprising: providing the brush with a slidable collar that alters
a length of the bristles; advertising the brush as being useful in
caring for an automotive vehicle.
17. The method of claim 14 further comprising a packaging depicting
the collar as being slidable.
18. The method of claim 14 further comprising including an image of
a portion of the automotive vehicle on the packaging.
19. The method of claim 14 further comprising depicting the
slidable collar as a device for effectively altering a stiffness of
the bristles.
20. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of advertising includes
carrying a print ad depicting the brush in an advertising medium.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] A wide variety of brushes are known, for painting, dusting,
and cleaning of a variety of objects from teeth, to sinks,
flooring, and clothing. Different sizes of brushes are better
adapted for different uses, as are different lengths and types of
bristles. Although a given household may have numerous brushes, it
is sometimes desirable to utilize a single brush for considerably
different applications.
[0002] It is desirable, for example, to use a relatively soft brush
for cleaning soft plastics, leather and the like, and a relatively
harder bristled brush for cleaning among crevices in a tire rim or
wheel, or along the rim of an automobile trunk. Since the perceived
hardness (flexibility) of the bristles relates in part to the
effective length of the bristles, it would be desirable to have a
single brush in which the length can be adjusted.
[0003] British patent 614241 ("Improvements in Dabbing Brushes for
Woolen Combs" addressed the problem of bristles being worn down
during use. There, however, the brushes were carried by a
mechanical carriage rather than being hand-held, and the solution
was to clip the worn tips of the bristles, and to rotate in backup
brushes.
[0004] Thus, there is still a need for brushes where the bristles
can be repeatedly effectively lengthened or shortened as needed by
the user.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The present invention provides apparatus, systems and
methods in which a brush has a slidable collar that effectively
shortens the bristles to a desired plurality of lengths.
[0006] The collar preferably slides with respect to a support in a
manner that effectively locks the collar in predetermined
positions. The locking mechanism can be purely frictional, but
preferably also used a detent, or any other suitable device that
provides discrete stops. Such stops are preferably no more than 2
cm apart, and can advantageously be spaced no more than 1 cm apart.
Contemplated devices can have 2, 3, 4, 5, or more stops.
[0007] Restricting of the bristles in this manner is thought to be
particularly useful where the effective length of the bristles is
reduced by at least 50%, and more preferably at least 75%. Thus, a
collar operating on a brush with bristles averaging about 10 cm in
length when the collar is in a home position could effectively
reduce the length of the bristles to only 5 cm, or even down to 2.5
cm or less.
[0008] Among the benefits is that the effective shortening of the
bristles increases the effective stiffness of the bristles. A
single brush could therefore be well adapted to both brushing dust
off of a GPS (Global Satellite Positioning) display screen, and
removing debris from around the rim of a tire.
[0009] The sliding collar can be used on a wide variety of brushes,
including brushes having widely different sizes. Particularly
contemplated brushes have standard brush width of 2" (.apprxeq.5
cm).
[0010] Preferred brushes have a handle that includes a least one
ergonomic adaptation. An exemplary ergonomic adaptation is a soft
touch material that improves the "feel" of the brush.
[0011] In yet other aspects of the invention, brushes can be
marketed specifically with respect to the slidable collar feature,
and focusing on the applicability to automotive use.
[0012] Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the
present invention will become more apparent from the following
detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention,
along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals
represent like components.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0013] FIG. 1 is a side view of a brush according to the present
invention, with the collar is in a home position.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the brush of FIG. 1, with the
collar is in a home position.
[0015] FIG. 3 is a plan view of the brush of FIGS. 1 and 2, where
the collar is positioned to effectively restrict the length of the
bristles.
[0016] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view through 3-3 of FIG. 3.
[0017] FIG. 5 is a packaging for a brush with a movable collar.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] In FIGS. 1 and 2 a brush 10 generally comprises a handle 20,
a heel portion (not shown) from which extend a plurality of
bristles 30, and a slidable collar 40 disposed in a home
position.
[0019] The handle 20 can comprise any suitable material, including
wood, metal and/or hard plastic. In this particular example, the
handle 20 is plastic about 1.5 cm thick, and has an ergonomically
desirable soft touch material 22 on top and bottom to improve the
"feel" of the brush. Handle 20 also has a hole 25 for hanging the
brush 10, and an advertising medallion 27.
[0020] Bristles 30 can comprise any suitable material, depending on
the application. For general automotive use the bristles are
preferably nylon. In these scale drawing figures, the bristles have
a longest effective length of about 2" (.apprxeq.5 cm).
[0021] Collar 40 is generally rhombohedral in shape, although it
has an indented portion 42 to facilitate gripping by a user. There
is also a medallion 44 that includes a logo or other trademark.
Collar 40 can also be made of any suitable material, but is
preferably made of the same hard plastic used for handle 20.
[0022] In FIG. 3 the collar 40 has been slid along a support 50 to
restrict the bristles 30. In addition to shortening the effective
length of the bristles 30 by more than half, the width of the
grouping of bristles has been reduced from about 2" (.apprxeq.5 cm)
to about 1.5" (.apprxeq.4 cm). Support 50 has numerous stops 52,
four of which are shown. A greater or lesser number of stops is
also contemplated.
[0023] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view through 3-3 of FIG. 3,
which shows how a detent 46 cooperates with the stops 52 to lock
the collar 40 in a particular position on the support 50. Those
skilled in the art will appreciate that as used herein the term
"lock" is used loosely to refer to a tendency of the mechanism to
retain a desired position. Thus, cooperation of the detent 46 with
any of the stops 52 constitutes locking of the collar 40 on the
support 50, even though the "lock" can be overcome simply by
pushing with sufficient force on the collar 40. An alternative
would be to have no stops at all, and to rely entirely on friction
between the collar 40 and the support 50 to establish the lock.
[0024] In FIG. 5 the brush of FIGS. 1-3 is packaged along with
marketing materials 60 emphasizing the slidable collar feature, and
advertising the brush for automotive use. The marketing materials
include an image 62 of the brush in a shortened bristle position,
and another image 64 of a person using the brush to clean an
automobile tire rim. Also shown is explanatory text 66.
[0025] Thus, specific embodiments and applications of a slide lock
brush have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those
skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those
already described are possible without departing from the inventive
concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to
be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.
Moreover, in interpreting both the specification and the claims,
all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner
consistent with the context. In particular, the terms "comprises"
and "comprising" should be interpreted as referring to elements,
components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the
referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or
utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps
that are not expressly referenced.
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