U.S. patent application number 12/828690 was filed with the patent office on 2010-10-21 for toothbrush.
Invention is credited to Kathi Ballmaier, Soeren Wasow, Tilmann Winkler.
Application Number | 20100263149 12/828690 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40512237 |
Filed Date | 2010-10-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100263149 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ballmaier; Kathi ; et
al. |
October 21, 2010 |
TOOTHBRUSH
Abstract
A toothbrush having a top side, an opposite bottom side, a head
on which tooth cleaning elements are provided, a handle having
walls and a recess, and a neck which connects the head to the
handle. The recess is located on the side of the handle opposite
the side having the tooth-cleaning elements and is open only toward
the bottom side so that the handle walls bordering the recess form
an inverted u-shaped cross-section.
Inventors: |
Ballmaier; Kathi; (Wehrheim,
DE) ; Winkler; Tilmann; (Kronberg/Taunus, DE)
; Wasow; Soeren; (Freigericht, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY;Global Legal Department - IP
Sycamore Building - 4th Floor, 299 East Sixth Street
CINCINNATI
OH
45202
US
|
Family ID: |
40512237 |
Appl. No.: |
12/828690 |
Filed: |
July 1, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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PCT/IB2009/054791 |
Oct 28, 2009 |
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12828690 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
15/167.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A46B 2200/1066 20130101;
A46B 5/021 20130101; A46B 5/02 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
15/167.1 |
International
Class: |
A46B 9/04 20060101
A46B009/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 28, 2008 |
EP |
08 018 786.7 |
Claims
1. A toothbrush having a top side; an opposite bottom side; a head
on which tooth cleaning elements are provided; a handle having
walls and a recess; and a neck which connects the head to the
handle, wherein the recess is located on the side of the handle
opposite the side having the tooth-cleaning elements, the recess
being open only toward the bottom side so that the handle walls
bordering the recess form an inverted u-shaped cross-section.
2. The toothbrush of claim 1, wherein the walls of the handle form
a taper.
3. The toothbrush of claim 1, wherein the handle has a thumb rest
on both the top side and the bottom side, each adjacent to the
neck.
4. The toothbrush of claim 1 wherein the top side of the handle has
at least one indentation that is a finger's width in size.
5. The toothbrush of claim 1, wherein the bottom side of the handle
forms a conical curvature.
6. The toothbrush of claim 1, wherein the sides of the inverted
u-shaped handle walls are thinner than the top.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part application of
prior copending International Application No. PCT/IB2009/054791,
filed Oct. 28, 2009, designating the United States.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a toothbrush.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] Toothbrushes are well known and are often made from plastic.
However, it would be advantageous to provide a toothbrush, which
can be manufactured at a low cost using less plastic material. It
would also be advantageous to provide a toothbrush that can be used
conveniently and ergonomically by humans for the various types of
toothbrush handling which vary greatly in different cultures around
the globe.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] A toothbrush that has a top side, an opposite bottom side, a
head on which tooth cleaning elements are provided, a handle having
walls and a recess and a neck which connects the head to the
handle. The recess is located on the side of the handle opposite
the side having the tooth-cleaning elements. The recess is open
only toward the bottom side so that the handle walls bordering the
recess form an inverted u-shaped cross-section.
[0005] These and other features are described in more detail in the
following description and the respective drawings, where the
features, either alone or in any combination, may constitute the
subject matter of the invention independently of how they are
combined with one another in the claims.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] FIG. 1 shows a perspective diagram of the top side of a
toothbrush according to the invention,
[0007] FIG. 2 shows a top view of the top side of the toothbrush
according to FIG. 1,
[0008] FIG. 3 shows a side diagram of the toothbrush according to
FIG. 1,
[0009] FIG. 4 shows a longitudinal sectional diagram through the
toothbrush according to FIG. 1 along the line of intersection A-A
in FIG. 2,
[0010] FIG. 5 shows a top view of the bottom side of the toothbrush
according to FIG. 1, and
[0011] FIG. 6 shows a perspective diagram of the bottom side of the
toothbrush according to FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0012] FIG. 1 shows a perspective diagram of the top side of a
toothbrush having a head 1, a neck 2 connected thereto and a handle
3 which is in turn connected to the neck. The top side of the
toothbrush has tooth-cleaning elements in the form of bristle
clusters 4 in the area of the head 1. The top side of the handle 3
may include a thumb rest 5 designed as an indentation in the
surface structure. The thumb rest 5 has a supporting shoulder 6 in
particular in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush toward
the head and a supporting shoulder 7 in the longitudinal direction
of the toothbrush toward the free end 8 of the handle. The thumb
rest may be designed with an elliptical shape, as shown in
particular by the top view of the toothbrush in FIG. 2, and may be
provided with concentric elliptical fluting, which additionally
increase the grip in the area of the thumb rest.
[0013] In another embodiment of the invention, the handle has one
thumb rest each on the top side and on the bottom side adjacent to
the neck. In the present case, the thumb rest on the bottom side is
formed by the depression in the recess in the handle. The thumb
rest has an elevated supporting structure in its edge areas, in
particular in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush, so that
the user's thumb rests securely on both sides of the toothbrush
between these elevated flanks or supporting structures or shoulders
and does not slip off or slip into the recess during use.
[0014] The top side of the handle 3 may include additional
indentations 9, 10, 11 and 12, which extend only a few millimeters
into the structure of the surface of the handle and are connected
to the thumb rest toward the free end 13 and are designed like the
thumb rest to be as wide as a finger's width in the longitudinal
direction. The indentations 9, 10, 11 and 12 may also be
essentially elliptical in design, so that inclined supporting
shoulders for the fingers are formed around the recesses. In
deviation from the elliptical design of the indentations presented
here, they may also have a different geometric shape.
[0015] The top view of the toothbrush according to FIG. 2 also
shows a taper 14 of the handle 3. The taper 14 is thus provided in
a plane approximately parallel to the bristle embedding plane 17 of
the head 1. In this plane an enlarged outline cross section 15 is
provided around the thumb rest 5 and at the other end of the handle
next to the free end 13 there is an enlarged cross section of the
handle 16.
[0016] As shown in FIG. 3, which shows a side view of the
toothbrush, the taper is also slightly pronounced in the side view
of the toothbrush approximately in the central area. The toothbrush
may have an approximately s-shaped basic shape from its free end 13
on the handle end up to the free end 20 on the head end. The top
side 18 of the toothbrush may include several supporting shoulders
and/or high points which delineate the individual ellipses and/or
the finger indentations 5, 9, 10, 11, 12 therein from one
another.
[0017] The bottom side 19 of the toothbrush may include a concave
and/or bow-shaped curvature in the handle area toward the center of
the handle. Thus, in a side view of the toothbrush, a deeper
section 21 is formed opposite the thumb rest 5 on the end of the
handle next to the neck 2 and at the other end of the handle next
to the free end 13, another deeper section 22 is formed. This
greater curvature of the bottom side of the handle toward the
inside is reproduced less markedly by the top side of the handle
toward the outside as seen in a side view.
[0018] The bottom side of the handle not only has a concave
curvature toward the interior of the toothbrush but it may also be
designed to have a slightly wavy structure, as seen in a side view.
This wavy shape 23 is also determined by the various handle
depressions on the bottom side 19 of the handle 3 because the
handle depressions on the bottom side are delineated from one
another by flanks and/or shoulders and ultimately by high points.
Here again, plastic material is thus saved in the handle area
because the basic shape of the bottom side of the handle is
designed so that the only handle walls provided there are those
considered necessary for ergonomic reasons.
[0019] A first handle depression is also formed on the bottom side
19 next to the neck on the same end but opposite the thumb rest 5
on the top side. The thumb or index finger may thus be held in the
handle depression 24 on the bottom side 19 next to the neck. The
handle depression 24 has two elevated flanks 29, 30 arranged
opposite one another in the longitudinal direction of the
toothbrush, in particular along the longitudinal axis A-A in FIG.
2. The one flank 29 of the handle depression 24 is thus arranged
next to the neck and prevents the finger accommodated in the handle
depression from slipping off toward the neck, and the other
shoulder or flank 30 of the handle depression 24 is arranged facing
the free end 13. Similarly, additional handle depressions 25, 26,
27 and 28 may be formed on the bottom side 19 of the handle 3. On
the whole, this handle thus provides up to five finger indentations
on the top side of the handle and up to five corresponding handle
depressions on the bottom side of the handle. Alternatively, fewer
indentations or handle depressions may be formed. An especially
good grip of the toothbrush and good handling are provided due to
the plurality of handle depressions and the resulting wavy-shaped
outline structure along the bottom side of the handle. FIG. 4 shows
a longitudinal sectional diagram through the toothbrush along line
A-A in FIG. 2. In the non-hatched area on the bottom side 19 of the
handle 3, there are recesses 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35, which in this
embodiment are not separated from one another by partitions and
thus form a large common recess. These recesses 31 to 35 are
bordered in the transverse direction by three walls, namely side
walls 36 and 37 (see FIG. 5) and the inner rear side 38 of the top
side of the handle area 3. These three walls form an inverted U in
the cross-sectional plane that runs perpendicular to and across the
sectional line A-A in FIG. 2. The recesses thus extend over the
entire handle area of the toothbrush. Only one transitional area of
the handle toward the free end 13 and a transitional area of the
handle toward the neck are not provided with this recess. The inlet
area of the recess 31 is bordered by a wall section 39 of this
recess 31, which forms a border toward the outside. These wall
sections 39 of the recess 31 which form a border toward the outside
form the supporting surface for a handle depression 24 the width of
a finger. The recess along with this thumb rest area may be
designed to be essentially elliptical. The recesses and the other
handle depressions on the bottom side of the handle may be designed
similarly.
[0020] Due to the recess on the bottom side of the toothbrush,
which is surrounded by walls on three sides as seen in cross
section, good unmoldability of the toothbrush from the injection
mold is ensured with no change. Furthermore, the U-shaped structure
forms a mechanically rigid structure in the cross section of the
wall sections around the recess, so the overall strength of the
toothbrush is adequate. For example, in the case of recesses which
form a passage through the toothbrush head on both sides, the
flexural rigidity is much worse if material is to be saved in the
handle area to the same extent as in the present case.
[0021] As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the depressions 24 to 28 on
the bottom side of the handle not only form a wavy shape with flank
high points and concave indentations in the respective depressions
in the handle around the recess, but may also form a wavy shape as
seen in a view from above onto the recesses 31 to 35 due to the
respective elliptical shape of the cavity of the recesses. An
elliptical recess in the area of the thumb rest may be aligned with
the next recess up to the end of the handle, so that the wall
sections bordering the recess toward the outside, i.e., the
transitional area between the inside of the recess and the outside,
forms the finger rest areas and thus the depressions in the handle.
There is thus a delineation of the depressions in the handle in two
dimensions, namely in both the longitudinal direction and the
transverse direction of the toothbrush, which is illustrated by the
wavy shapes along the depressions in the bottom side of the handle
according to the side view in FIG. 3 and the wavy shape in the view
from above onto the bottom side of the toothbrush according to FIG.
5. The resulting deflection out of the bottom side of the handle
due to the shape of the recesses is transferred from the bottom
side of the handle, so that the bordering wall sections toward the
outside form depressions of finger width in the handle.
[0022] Finger width in this case means approximately at least 1 cm
wide in the longitudinal direction of the depression the handle of
the toothbrush. The length of the depression in the handle from one
flank high point to the next flank high point of the adjacent
depression in the handle in the longitudinal direction of the
handle varies between 10 millimeters and 40 millimeters for the
different depressions in the handle. Each depression in the bottom
side of the handle may be designed to be of a different size
because this requires different amounts of space for the different
fingers and the taper of the toothbrush handle influences the width
and length of the depressions in the handle anyway.
[0023] The wall thickness of the top side of the handle which
corresponds to the side of the tooth-cleaning elements may be
designed to be thinner in this variant than the wall thickness of
the side walls 36 and 37 of the handle, resulting in a certain
flexibility of the handle and the brush body in the plane through
the section A-A in FIG. 2 and permitting a reduced flexibility of
the toothbrush in the lateral direction. Furthermore, the thinner
design of the top side of the handle allows the implementation of
other decorative structures, which appear with a lighter density
than the other walls of the toothbrush when using a transparent or
translucent plastic as the primary material for the toothbrush
body.
[0024] In another embodiment, the side walls of the handle form a
taper. The taper in combination with the handle depressions thus
forms another improvement in the ergonomic design of the toothbrush
and in the variability of the possibilities for use of the
toothbrush for Asian users in particular. In addition, the taper
ensures further savings of material even in the outside area of the
handle because a widening of the cross section is provided only in
the end areas of the handle, i.e., at the locations where the
enlarged outside cross section of the handle contributes toward an
ergonomic improvement.
[0025] As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the toothbrush may also have
a tongue cleaner 40 formed by ribs on the bottom side of the head.
However, the handle structure shown here can be combined with any
bristle pattern or tongue-cleaning pattern or even without a
tongue-cleaning pattern on the back side of the head. Furthermore,
as an alternative, fewer depressions may be formed in the bottom
side of the handle. In another variant, openings are also provided
on the top side of the handle if the associated destabilization of
the handle structure is desired.
[0026] The toothbrush may be made of polypropylene or any other
plastic material. The toothbrush may be produced by an injection
molding process. Certain plastic components, in particular
elastomer plastics may be formed on the head, the neck or handle
area in single or multi-component injection molding processes.
[0027] The dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be
understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values
recited. Instead, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension
is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally
equivalent range surrounding that value. For example, a dimension
disclosed as "40 mm" is intended to mean "about 40 mm."
[0028] Every document cited herein, including any cross referenced
or related patent or application, is hereby incorporated herein by
reference in its entirety unless expressly excluded or otherwise
limited. The citation of any document is not an admission that it
is prior art with respect to any invention disclosed or claimed
herein or that it alone, or in any combination with any other
reference or references, teaches, suggests or discloses any such
invention. Further, to the extent that any meaning or definition of
a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of
the same term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning
or definition assigned to that term in this document shall
govern.
[0029] While particular embodiments of the present invention have
been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those
skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can
be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims
all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of
this invention.
* * * * *