CA2612499A1

CA2612499A1 - Toothbrush head and method for producing the same

Info

Publication number: CA2612499A1
Application number: CA002612499A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Uwe Bielfeldt; Silvia Olt; Ulrich Stoerkel; Frank Gliemroth; Ralph Macho
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Braun GmbH
Priority date: 2005-06-16
Filing date: 2006-06-07
Publication date: 2006-12-21
Also published as: RU2007146774A; WO2006133832A3; DE102005027981A1; CN101198265A; DK1890570T3; ES2386459T3; WO2006133832A2; EP1890570B1; US20090151101A1; EP1890570A2; BRPI0612044A2

Abstract

The invention relates to a toothbrush head comprising a plurality of substantially peduncular, elastic cleaning elements that are fastened on a cleaning element support, preferably combined to tufts, and project from the support. The invention also relates to a method for producing such a toothbrush head. The invention is characterized by not using conventional bristles or filaments as the cleaning elements, which bristles or filaments are always produced from individual plastic fibers which are shortened to the required length of the bristles and combined to tufts. The invention allows to replace the aforementioned bristles or filaments having nondirectional mechanical properties, i.e. properties that are identical in all directions at an angle to the longitudinal axis, with film strips as the cleaning elements, said strips being produced from a sheet of film by suitable methods of separation. The required mechanical, especially directional properties are conferred on the film strips by suitably choosing the starting film, especially in terms of its thickness and composition, and by suitably choosing the geometry thereof. The invention allows to confer on the film strips, in a simple manner, different mechanical properties such as flexural strength, elasticity, recovery, bending deflection in different directions at an angle to their longitudinal axis.

Description

TOOTHBRUSH HEAD AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME
The present invention relates to a toothbrush head having a variety of essentially bristle-shaped elastic cleaning elements that are mounted on a cleaning element holder, preferably combined in clusters and protruding away from the holder. The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing such a toothbrush head.

With traditional toothbrush heads, individual filaments and/or bristles are usually combined into clusters and attached to the cleaning element holder of the toothbrush head in the form of bristle clusters. This may be accomplished either by a so-called anchor tamping method in which the bristles are arranged in a U shape, with an anchor plate inserted between the legs of the bristles. The cluster of bristles is then tamped into a hole in the cleaning element holder, with the anchor plate being inserted across the bristles extending into the recess so that it is anchored on the walls thereof and holds the bristles in the recess. As an alternative to this, it has become known that the bristles, which are combined into a cluster, may be cast in the cleaning element holder, which is produced by injection molding of plastic, the bristle clusters with their ends that are to be encased in plastic being introduced into the injection mold so that they are cast there in injection molding of the cleaning element holder.

With these traditional toothbrush heads, however, it is difficult to impart directional mechanical properties to the bristles, i.e., the clusters of bristles. For example, it may be desirable to impart a lower stiffness to the bristles and the clusters of bristles formed therefrom in one direction than in another direction, e.g., in order to be able to apply greater forces to the dental plaque, for example, in one direction when cleaning the teeth whereas with cleaning movements in another direction smaller forces are to be generated, e.g., to avoid injury to the gingiva and the oral mucosa but instead to merely massage them gently.
The bristle cluster heads can also be trimmed to only a limited number of shapes and/or complicated head shapes of the bristle clusters are difficult to achieve. As a rule, the heads of the bristles themselves can only be rounded.

3 Al discloses a toothbrush and a method of manufacturing same, wherein the filaments that function as bristles are first glued and/or welded by their base sections onto a strip in series one after the other. By rolling up the strip with the bristles attached to it, a bristle cluster is created and then attached to a bristle holder. It is advantageous here that by aligning solid fixed bristles of different lengths and/or different strengths one after the other, it is possible to achieve targeted properties of the resulting bristle cluster. However, here again it is difficult to achieve mechanical properties of the bristle cluster that are in fact directional, and in particular the mechanical properties of the bristles themselves cannot be altered in a directionally oriented manner as desired.

Against this background, the object of the present invention is to create an improved toothbrush head and an improved method for manufacturing same while avoiding the disadvantages of the state of the art and improving upon the latter in an advantageous manner. In particular, a toothbrush head that can be manufactured by a simple method is to be created such that it is possible to impart the desired mechanical properties that are different as a function of direction to the cleaning elements and cleaning element clusters in a simple manner.

This object is achieved according to this invention by a toothbrush head according to Claim 1. In terms of the process, the object defined above is achieved by a method according to Claim 20. Preferred embodiments of the invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

According to this invention, traditional bristles or filaments are not used as the cleaning elements; these traditional bristles or filaments regularly use individual plastic fibers as the starting shape which are then shortened to the required length of the bristles and combined into clusters. Instead of such bristles or filaments having non-directional mechanical properties, i.e., properties that are the same in all directions across the longitudinal axis, the present invention proposes using as the cleaning elements film strips that are manufactured from a film sheet by a suitable shaping method that separates the strips. The desired mechanical properties, in particular directional properties can be imparted to such film strips through a suitable choice of the starting film, in particular its thickness and material composition, as well as a suitable choice of the geometric shape. It is thus possible in a simple manner to impart different mechanical properties such as bending strength, elasticity, restoring force, bending curve, etc., to the film strips, so that the properties are different in different directions across the longitudinal axis of the strips.

In particular, a thin film material may be used as the starting material for manufacturing the film strips, and a cut shape may be imparted to the film strips so that the individual cleaning elements have a rectangular cross section the length of which preferably amounts to a multiple of its width. In particular, a film with a thickness in the range of pm to 500 pm, preferably approximately 50 pm to 250pm may be used as the starting material. The film strips are manufactured from such a film, preferably with a strip width, corresponding to at least ten times the thickness of the film, preferably at least fifty times the thickness of the film. For example, film strips with a strip width of 1 mm to 5 mm may be manufactured in this way.

Another advantage of such cleanings elements comprising film strips, or more specifically, their rectangular cross section having a high ratio of length to width is that in comparison with traditional bristles having a round cross section, they allow improved application of toothpaste to the teeth to be cleaned. In the case of bristle clusters of traditional filaments, the abrasive elements of the toothpaste are relatively quickly dispersed outside of the cleaning area of the cluster of bristles due to the convex base area of the traditional bristles, but the flat, i.e., sheet-shaped film strips allow the toothpaste and its abrasive elements to remain on the head of the cleaning element cluster better and for a longer period of time and thus to wipe over the tooth surface to be cleaned, thereby having a positive effect on the removal of dental plaque.

The fabrication of the film strips from a film sheet may rely on various cutting methods of shaping.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the film strips are punched out of the film sheet. In this way, high processing speeds can be achieved on the one hand while on the other hand there are practically no limits to the geometric variety of shapes possible for the film strips.

As an alternative or in addition, in the fabrication of the film strips, cutting methods such as laser cutting may also be used. With the help of cutting tools, it is possible here to make cuts in the starting film and in this way individual cleaning elements in the form of film strips are created from the film which is originally cohesive. The advantage of this method lies in the simple manufacturing process, but it does not allow the production of structures of any desired shape.

In particular through the aforementioned method of punching out film strips, a wide variety of shapes may be imparted to the cleaning elements at their heads which work on the dental surface. For example, according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the heads of the film strips may have several tips so that the cleaning effect of the individual cleaning elements can be improved to a not insignificant extent because their cleaning effect emanates mainly from their tips.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the cleaning elements are manufactured from a plastic film.
To allow better variations in the properties of the individual cleaning elements, they may be manufactured from a multilayer film. Combinations of different materials may also be used in particular here, e.g., different plastic layers may be joined together to form a multilayer laminated film. The cleaning elements may advantageously also be formed from a mixture of a plastic and another non-plastic material, in particular a mixed film of paper and plastic, a so-called plastic-paper blend laminate. When manufacturing the cleaning elements from such plastic-paper blends in which the paper component may be adjusted in a variety of ways, the ability of the paper to absorb different fluids, especially water, may be utilized in particular. Due to the higher liquid uptake capacity of paper, liquid or liquid-soluble applicator substances may be introduced into the paper so that they are released in the mouth during use. In particular, it is therefore possible to a better extent to introduce chemotherapeutic substances at the site where they should be active, namely directly on the tooth or on the gingiva. Various applicator substances, e.g., flavoring substances, antibacterial agents, circulation-enhancing applicators, etc., may be introduced here.

As an alternative or in addition, such applicator substances may also be applied to the film strips by means of a surface coating, which is simpler in the case of films as the starting material for the cleaning elements than when using individual filaments and/or bristles.

Essentially the film strips may be arranged individually on the cleaning element holder and attached thereto. Preferably, however, the cleaning elements comprising film strips are combined into clusters and attached in cluster form jointly to the cleaning element holder. Preferably at least some of the cleaning elements which are combined into a cluster here are joined together at their base, preferably being designed integrally in one piece with one another, whereby the cleaning elements with their interconnected base may then be attached to the cleaning element holder.

From the standpoint of the manufacturing technology, it is especially advantageous here if individual film strips are not cut out of the film sheet but instead a row of film strips arranged side-by-side is fabricated with the film strips being interconnected at their base by a ribbon-like strip. By folding and/or rolling up the ribbon-like base of this film blank, i.e., punched part, with the film strips arranged on it, it is possible to form a cluster of film strips which can then be attached to the cleaning element holder, optionally after being combined with other film strips or other film strip clusters.

In particular, the film strip clusters may be formed by stacking several such film strip clusters that are joined by a common base one on top of the other. By joining base sections stacked in this way by adhesive bonding, heating with infrared light or welding, a film cluster can be formed easily. It is especially advantageous here that film strips made of different starting films with different material properties can be stacked together to control the properties of the film strip cluster in a targeted manner. Film strips with different geometries and/or alignments may also be stacked to control the mechanical properties of the resulting film strip cluster. For example, film strip ribbons with film strips inclined to the left may be stacked in alternation above film strip ribbons with film strips inclined toward the right to result in a high flexural strength in both directions of cleaning.
Alternatively or additionally, the individual film strip rows may be arranged so they are offset with respect to rows stacked above them, resulting in a very dense arrangement of cleaning elements. Likewise, film strips of different heights and/or different widths and/or different thicknesses may be stacked one above the other.

The fastening of the film strips together to form film strip clusters on the cleaning element holder in particular may fundamentally be accomplished in various ways. According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the film strips may be tamped at the base into a recess in the cleaning element holder where they are anchored by means of an anchor element extending across the base section of the respective film strip.
To this end, the corresponding anchor element may be injected into the cleaning element holder so that its end sections extend into the walls of the cleaning element holder surrounding the recess and are secured there. This type of fastening may be advantageous in particular when film clusters with film strips aligned side by side, joined together integrally in one piece at the base, are used in the manner described above.
The respective anchor element may extend here across the strip-shaped base section of the film strip row.

As an alternative to the aforementioned anchor tamping method, the film strips may also be integrally bonded to the cleaning element holder, in particular being integrally cast therein. The film strips that are combined to form film strip clusters may preferably be introduced at their base sections into the corresponding injection mold before the cleaning element holder is produced by injection molding. The material introduced into the injection mold surrounds the base sections of the film strips so that they are integrally cast. It may be especially advantageous here if recesses are introduced into the base sections of the film strips that are to be integrally cast so that these recesses are filled with the casting material when casting in the cleaning element holder so that a formfitting connection is established in addition to the integral bond and/or the non-positive connection.

These features as well as others and the advantages of the invention are derived not only from the claims but also from the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments on the basis of the respective drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic side view of a toothbrush head according to a first embodiment of the invention, showing the arrangement of the cleaning strips in the form of film strips, Figure 2 shows a top view of the brush head from Figure 1, Figure 3 shows a schematic side view detail of a toothbrush head according to another preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrating the arrangement of the cleaning elements in the form of film strips, Figure 4 shows a top view of a toothbrush head from Figure 3, Figure 5 shows a schematic side view of a toothbrush head according to another embodiment of the invention, illustrating the arrangement of the cleaning strips in the form of film strips.

Figure 6 shows a top view of the brush head from Figure 5, Figure 7 shows a schematic side view of a toothbrush head according to another embodiment of the " CA 02612499 2007-12-17 invention, showing the arrangement of cleaning strips in the form of film strips.
Figure 8 shows a top view of the brush head from Figure 7, Figure 9 shows a schematic side view of a toothbrush head according to another embodiment of the invention, showing the arrangement of cleaning strips in the form of film strips.

Figure 10 shows a top view of the brush head from Figure 9, Figure 11 shows an overall perspective view of a toothbrush with cleaning elements in the form of film strips, where the arrangement of film strips is designed like that in Figure 1, Figure 12 shows a perspective view of a film strip blank for forming a cleaning element cluster of a toothbrush according to one of the preceding figures, Figure 13 shows a schematic perspective enlarged diagram of a cleaning element cluster formed from several film strip rows stacked one above the other, and Figure 14 shows an enlarged detail view from above of a toothbrush head of a preferred embodiment of the invention, showing the arrangement of the individual film strips in the cleaning element clusters.

The toothbrush heads 1 shown in the figures consist essentially of a cleaning element holder 2 which may be made of plastic by injection molding, and a number of elongated cleaning elements 3, shaped like bristles, roughly speaking, all of them being attached to the aforementioned cleaning element holder 2 and protruding away from them.

At least some of the aforementioned cleaning elements 3 consist of film strips 4 which are attached at their base to the cleaning element holder 2 and protrude away from it. The film strips 4 are all designed to be elastic but due to their geometric shape as well as their material structure they are advantageously designed with mechanical properties that are different in different directions.

The film strips 4 are combined to form cleaning element clusters in a manner essentially similar to that with traditional toothbrushes. In the embodiment according to Figures 1 and 2, one cleaning element cluster 5 is provided with film strips inclined toward the head of the toothbrush, a cleaning element cluster 6 arranged centrally is provided with film strips protruding at a right angle away from the cleaning element holder 2 and a cleaning element cluster 7 is provided with film strips inclined toward the rear toward the handle 8 of the toothbrush. As Figure 2 shows, a total of four rows of cleaning element clusters are provided, with each row 9, 10, 11 and 12 in the embodiment shown here consisting of the aforementioned three groups of cleaning element clusters having different angles of inclination.

The cleaning element clusters 5, 6 and 7 each comprise film strips stacked one above the other. More precisely each cleaning element cluster 5, 6, 7 comprises several film strip composites 13 stacked one above the other, as shown in Figure 12 as an example. A number of film strips 4 are arranged one after the other in rows and are joined together integrally in one piece with their base section 14. The film strip composite 13 forms a comb, so to speak, with a plurality of film strips 4 arranged one after the other in rows and protruding away from its base section 14. These film strip composites 13 may be manufactured in particular by punching or cutting a film sheet that serves as the starting material, whereby different films, e.g., multilayer laminated films comprising plastic layers and paper layers may be used in the manner described in the introduction. To form bristle clusters 5, 6 or 7, several of the film strip composites 13 shown in Figure 12 are stacked one above the other and joined together at the base section 14. This may be accomplished in a non-positive manner by adhesive bonding or by integral bonding through welding. As an alternative or in addition, the film strips 4 may also be stacked one above the other in such a way that the film strip composite 13 is folded or wound up as shown in Figure 12, so that several film strips come to lie one above the other. Then film strips 4 having the same geometric shapes may be placed one above the other in various ways so that they coincide and/or film strips having the same geometric shape may be stacked one above the other in such a way that they are offset in relation to one another in the longitudinal direction of the base section 14 and/or in the longitudinal direction of the film strips 4 and/or film strips 4 having different geometric shapes may be stacked one above the other. It is likewise possible to stack film strips 4 having different material properties to define the mechanical properties of the film strip cluster so they are different in different directions, if necessary.

After the film strips 4 have been stacked one above the other and joined together in the manner described above, they may be attached to the cleaning element holder 2 in the manner described above, in particular by integral casting, injection molding or by an essentially known traditional anchor tamping method.

As in the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the film strips 4 of each individual film strip cluster 5, 6 and 7 are each stacked one above the other so they coincide. Although the film strips 4 differ in their alignments of film strip cluster to film strip cluster, nevertheless the film strips 4 are designed to be geometrically the same as those in the same film strip cluster 5, 6 or 7 and are stacked one above the other so they coincide. As shown in Figure 2, three film strip composites 13 may be stacked one above the other per film strip cluster 5, 6 or 7. As shown in Figure 1, the film strips 4 may advantageously be punched and/or cut with two tips 15 and 16 on their free end, thus making it possible to tangibly improve the cleaning effect.

In the embodiment according to Figures 3 and 4, all the film strips 4 are combined into a single film strip cluster 5, whereby the film strips 4 are also manufactured here in the manner described above using punched and/or cut film strip composites 13 which are stacked one above the other. As Figures 3 and 4 show, however, film strips 4 of different geometries are stacked one above the other so they are offset in relation to one another. As Figure 3 shows, the film strips 4 differ in length in particular. Furthermore as Figure 4 shows, the film strips 4 are arranged so they are offset in relation to one another in the longitudinal direction of the film strip composites 13.

In the embodiment according to Figures 5 and 6, the toothbrush head 1 includes cleaning element clusters 5, 6 and 7 that are on the outside, each forming cleaning element cluster rows 9 and 10 (see Figure 6).
Traditional clusters of bristles 17 are attached to the cleaning element holder 2 between these two cleaning element cluster rows 9 and 10.

The cleaning element clusters 5, 6 and 7 comprised of film strips 4 are characterized in this embodiment by their different geometric shapes and optionally their different material properties. In the film strip cluster 5 which is situated at the head of the cleaning element holder 2, there are curved film strips 4 which are curved toward the head of the toothbrush. The film strip clusters 6 arranged at the center consist of film strips 4 of a small width which protrude at a right angle (see Figure 5). However, the film strips 4, which are arranged toward the handle of the toothbrush and form the film strip cluster 7, have a much greater width. Furthermore, they are each provided with multiple tips 15, 16.

In the embodiment shown in Figures 7 and 8, the film strip clusters 5 comprising film strips 4 are arranged in a star pattern on the cleaning element holder 2, each film strip cluster 5 having a rectangular cross section on the whole. Each film strip cluster 5 is composed of multiple film strip composites 13 with film strips arranged in rows one after the other in the manner described above, joined by a common base section 14 and stacked one above the other. For example, the film strips 4 may be arranged with an offset in relation to one another, resulting in a dense packing of film strips 4. A bristle cluster 17 of traditional bristles and/or filaments sits at the center of the star-shaped film cluster arrangement. As shown in Figure 7, the cleaning elements 3 formed by film strips 4 may have a considerably shorter length than the traditional bristle cluster 17.

Almost any shape may be imparted to the film strips 4 by punching the film strips 4 out of plastic or laminated film, as illustrated in Figure 9. The film strip cluster 5 situated at the head of the cleaning element holder 2 here consists of film strips 4 having a zigzag contour, while the film strip cluster 6 arranged facing the handle 8 is formed from film strips 4 having film strips 4 that taper toward the tip approximately in a volcano shape. Here again, as Figure shows, multiple film strip composites 13 are stacked one above the other.

Claims

1. A toothbrush head having a plurality of essentially bristle-shaped elastic cleaning elements (3) which are combined on a cleaning element holder (2), preferably to form clusters (5, 6, 7), and attached so that they protrude away from the head, characterized in that the cleaning elements (3) comprise film strips (4).

2. The toothbrush head according to the preceding claim, wherein the cleaning elements (3) have a rectangular cross section, the length of which amounts to a multiple of its width.

3. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the film strips (4) have a thickness between 10 µm and 500 µm, preferably between 50 µm and 250 .mum.

4. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the width of the film strips (4) amounts to at least ten times, preferably at least fifty times the thickness of the film strips (4).

5. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the cleaning elements (3) is made of plastic film.

6. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one cleaning element (3) is formed from a mixture of plastic and another non-plastic material, in particular a plastic-paper mixed film.

7. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one cleaning element (3) comprises a multilayer laminated film.

8. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one applicator substance, preferably a liquid or liquid-soluble applicator substance is introduced into the film strips (4), in particular into a paper component of the film strips (4).

9. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the film strips (4) have a surface coating containing at least one applicator substance.

10. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the cleaning elements (3) have directional mechanical properties, in particular stiffness, restoring forces and/or curvature properties that are different in different transverse directions.

11. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the cleaning elements (3) each have several tips (15, 16).

12. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein multiple cleaning elements (3) are joined together on base sections (14), preferably being designed integrally in one piece with one another.

13. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein multiple film strip composites (13) of multiple film strips (4) joined together are combined to form a film strip cluster (5, 6, 7) and attached to the cleaning element holder (3) and/or joined together at their base sections (14), in particular by adhesive bonding and/or welding.

14. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein multiple film strip composites (13) comprising film strips (4) aligned in rows side-by-side and joined together integrally in one piece at their base sections (14) are stacked one above the other and the layered layers of the resulting stack are joined together in a non-positive or integrally bonded manner at the base sections (14) of the film strip composites (13).

15. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein film strips (4) of different materials and/or different geometries and/or different alignments are combined in one film strip cluster (5, 6, 7).

16. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein cleaning elements of bristles and/or filaments are provided next to the cleaning elements (3) of film strips (4).

17. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least some of the film strips (4) are inserted into a recess in the cleaning element holder (2) and are anchored there by means of an anchoring element which extends across the sections of the film strips (4) arranged in the recess.

18. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least some of the film strips (4) are cast with their base sections (14) in the cleaning element holder (2).

19. The toothbrush head according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least some of the film strips (4) have base sections (14) with recesses which can be filled by the casting material that forms the cleaning element holder (2).

20. The method for manufacturing a toothbrush head (1) according to any one of the preceding claims in which a plurality of elongated elastic cleaning elements (3) are preferably combined into clusters and attached to a cleaning element holder (2) so that the cleaning elements (3) protrude away from the cleaning element holder (2), characterized in that film strips (4) which are cut from at least one film sheet as the starting material are used as the cleaning elements (3).

21. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein at least some of the film strips (4) are at least partially punched.

22. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least some of the film strips (4) are at least partially cut out of the film sheet by cutting, in particular by laser cutting.

23. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a surface coating containing at least one applicator substance is applied to the film sheet before it is divided into individual film strips (4).

24. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one applicator substance is introduced into the film sheets before they are cut into film strips, in particular into a paper component of the film sheet.

25. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein multiple film strips (4) are stacked one above the other and attached as cleaning element clusters (5) to the cleaning element holder (2).

26. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein the film strips (4) that are combined to form a stack are joined together at the base sections (14), in particular by adhesive bonding and/or welding.

27. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a film strip composite (13) having multiple film strips (4) that are arranged side-by-side and are joined to a common base section (14) are cut out of the film sheet.

28. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a film strip composite (13) having a cohesive base section (14) and multiple film strips (4) of different geometries integrally molded thereon is fabricated.

29. The method according to any one of the two preceding claims, wherein the film strip composite (13) is folded or rolled up to form a film strip stack and is then joined to the cleaning element holder (2).

30. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein multiple film strips (4) and/or film strip composites (13) are stacked one above the other and attached as film strip clusters (5, 6, 7) to the cleaning element holder (2).

31. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein film strip composites (13) stacked one above the other are joined together at their base sections (14), in particular by adhesive bonding and/or welding.

32. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a film strip cluster (5, 6, 7) is tamped into a recess in the cleaning element holder (2) to fasten the film strips (4) to the cleaning element holder (2), where they are anchored by an anchoring element extending crosswise and introduced into the recess lying over a section of the film strips and is anchored on the walls of the recess.

33. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the film strips (4) are attached to the cleaning element holder (2) in a non-positive and/or integrally bonded manner.

34. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein the film strips (4) are cast in the cleaning element holder (2), in particular being sheathed with the material forming the cleaning element holder (2) in the injection molding of the cleaning element holder (2).