GB2035073A

GB2035073A - Tooth brush

Info

Publication number: GB2035073A
Application number: GB7845001A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1978-11-17
Filing date: 1978-11-17
Publication date: 1980-06-18
Also published as: GB2035073B

Abstract

A tooth brush comprises an elongate handle (20) with a head portion (22) attached to the handle (20) the head portion (22) being provided with lines of tufts (27) of bristle extending at least substantially at right angles to the axis of the handle (20), the handle being detachably fitted to the head portion (by the tongue in slot type connection shown) to prevent relative sliding. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Tooth brush This invention relates to tooth brushes.

Modern dentistry appears to be of the opinion that for the utmost effect, the teeth should be brushed up and down rather than from side to side, as most people do with standard type tooth brushes. Moreover, many people continue brushing with tooth brushes which are worn past their maximum effectiveness and thus fail to brush their teeth properly.

This is due in many cases to a laziness about taking the trouble to purchase a new tooth brush.

The invention seeks to provide a tooth brush which can be used with greater efficiency as far as cleaning the teeth is concerned than the standard form of tooth brush.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a tooth brush comprises an elongate handle, a head portion attached to the handle and provided with a plurality of lines of tufts of bristle, the lines of tufts of bristle extending at least substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the handle.

Preferably the head of the tooth brush is removable so that, when worn, the tooth brush can be replaced by a new head, thus avoiding the expense of the purchase of an entirely new tooth brush and also, where the head replacements are sold in packets of a certain number, the user is encouraged not to continue to use the tooth brush after the bristles have been worn down to a reduced efficiency.

The connection between the head and the brush handle may suitable be of a tongue and slot type connection, the connection being arranged to prevent sliding movement in a direction to detach the brush head.

The invention will now be described in greater detail by way of example, with reference to the drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first form of tooth brush in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a sectional view through the head and handle of the tooth brush in accordance with the invention showing a first form of connection; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a brush head showing the position of the slot therein; Figure 4 is a sectional view of a second form of tooth brush with a replacable head in accordance with the invention and Figure 5 is a plan view of the brush shown in Fig.4.

Referring firstly to Fig. 1, there is shown a moulded plastics tooth brush 1 which comprises a handle 2 of usual design connected to a head portion 3 which, instead of extending in longitudinally as in normal tooth brushes extends crosswise relative thereto.

Thus the rows 4 of bristle tufts 5 extend transversely to the direction of the handle 2.

With this type of tooth brush, it is much easier to brush the teeth in an up and down movement than it is will with the normal type of tooth brush and in fact, by virtue of the very shape of the tooth brush, such an up and down movement will come more naturally and thus will be encouraged.

Fig. 2 and 3 show a typical form of moulded plastics tooth brush in accordance with the invention having a removable head.

This tooth brush comprises a handle portion 10 having extending from the brush end 11 thereof a tongue 1 2 which cooperates with a slot or recess 1 3 in a tooth brush head 14, the tooth brush head being pushed over the tongue 1 2 so as to click into place and be retained with the tongue 1 2 in the slot 1 3.

The bristles on the head 11 are shown at 1 4.

With this arrangement a relatively strong connection between the handle and head is achieved which should withstand the pressures applied to it during normal brushing operations but which can, due to the flexibility of the material making up the head 11 of the tooth brush and by virtue of the shape of the slot 1 3 can be readily clicked on to or clicked off the tongue 12.

Figs. 4 and 5 show a second form of moulded plastics tooth brush having a removable head. In this arrangement the handle 20 is provided with an inverted wedge shaped tongue 21 which cooperates with a corresponding slot 22 extending the length of the brush head 23 and being open at one or both ends. The brush head 23 can therefore be slid onto the tongue 21 of the tooth brush handle sideways. However, in order to avoid the tooth brush head 23 sliding sideways once it is in position, it will be seen that the handle is provided with a projecting portion 24 approached by smooth curves 25. This portion 24 may be provided either to one side of the tongue or to both sides of the tongue and this cooperates with a suitably shaped "dimple" 26 in the tooth brush head 23. The bristles on the head 23 are indicated at 27.Thus, due to the inherent flexibility which is present in the plastics material of the tooth brush head 23, the tooth brush head 23 can be slid readily along the tongue 21 but will be located in position, by the cooperation of the? projection 25 and the dimple 26 sufficiently to avoid the brush head 23 becoming detached from the brush handle 20 when the teeth are being brushed.

With the arrangement of replacable tooth brush heads, it is envisaged that these would be sold in packs of a certain number, so that each tooth brush owner would have a number of spare heads to fall back on once the first is worn. Thus the necessity of separately purchasing heads can be reduced considerably and will promote the changing of the heads when the bristles are worn past the point of reasonable efficiency.

It is to be understood that while two particular forms of removable tooth brush heads have been described, any other suitable form of attachment of the tooth brush head to the tooth brush handle may be used. Also, the provision of the tongues and groove may be reversed if desired, although, since there are to be more tooth brush heads than there are to be tooth brush handies, the provision of the tongue on the tooth brush handle is more economically sound as far as expenditure of material is concerned.

Furthermore, it is not necessary for the tooth brush handle to have the shape shown but could if desired have a more standardised shape following on the shape of the handle of a normal tooth brush, i.e. similar to the brush shown in Fig. 1.

It will be seen that the above described embodiments provide a tooth brush of novel design which is intended to assist in more complete cleaning of the teeth and to encourage the user to throw away brushes, (or at least the heads of brushes) which become inefficient through wear.

Claims

1. A tooth brush comprising an elongate handle, a head portion attached to the handle and provided with a plurality of lines of tufts of bristle, the lines of tufts of bristle extending at least substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the handle.

2. A tooth brush as claimed in claim 1 wherein the head portion is detachable from the handle.

3. A tooth brush as claimed in claim 2, wherein the connection between the handle and the head portion is a tongue and slot type connection which is so arranged as to prevent sliding movement in a direction to detach the brush head.

4. A tooth brush as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the brush is T-shaped with the head portion extending at right angles to the handle to form the top of the 'T'.

5. A tooth brush substantially as described with reference to the drawings.