GB2541378A - A toothbrush that has bristles made of woven or spun graphene - Google Patents

Abstract

A tooth brush incorporates graphene that is woven or spun to form the bristles. The bristles may be made by rolling graphene into tubes and weaving into fibres, or weaving graphene strips. The graphene may be mixed with other elements or compounds to improve rigidity. The bristles may be formed in the conventional manner, or fixed to form loops.

Description

A toothbrush that has bristles made of woven or spun graphene.

Description:

The present invention relates to tooth brushes that are commonly used to clean teeth. These consist of a handle and some brush part that holds the bristles (normally at a right angle to the handle) which are used to create the scrubbing action on the teeth. These bristles are usually made of nylon. Such bristles are not ideally suited for this purpose as they have a very limited life in this application as the nylon deforms and deteriorates and as a result these brushes need to be replaced regularly and as they are seldom recycled this creates a cost for both the individual and the environment.

In this invention Graphene Is suggested as an alternative to other forms of bristles as Graphene has the potential to be very resistant to wear and tear and (possibly in combination with other chemicals) produce significantly longer lasting bristles and therefore significantly less polluting toothbrushes. In this invention the fragility of small graphene tubes, made of what is essential a flat single atom, sheet rolled up, (or even simply strips of graphene), Is overcome by weaving in a manner akin to rope weaving where relatively weak individual strands are wound (spun) or woven together to form something relatively strong that nevertheless retains some flexibility, which in the case of graphene may be difficult to achieve in other ways given that an extruded block of graphene is akin to a block of graphite. In Figure 1, a rough indication of this weaving (Or spinning/winding) is shown but no claims are made here about its precise nature as many variants are possible. In figure 1 both a closed (loop) and open ended bristles are depicted. Unlike the current state of the art in which single extruded strands of nylon are used this weaving is relatively cumbersome in manufacture but the advantage in the durability of graphene outweighs any such consideration. In Figure 1 a traditional toothbrush is shown, but this invention applies equally to electronic ones since the invention relates only to the bristles. What is also not shown in the diagram is that since a woven strand will tend to flop along its longest axis (traditionally because of micro-differences in rigidity) some kind of interweaving to add vertical rigidity may be required. This, however, is unlikely to be a major issue in this case because of the inherent strength of graphene, the relative uniformity of the fibres, and the fact that tubes of graphene rather than strips may be used if required since tubing adds strength in and of itself (particularly along the length of the tubes which are likely to lie -more or less-along the long axis of the bristles).

Claims (6)

Claims:

1- A toothbrush in which the bristles are made of, or incorporate, Graphene.

2. The device in the preceding claim in which the bristles are made of tubes of rolled graphene woven together.

3. The device in the preceding claim in which the bristles are made of graphene that is wound (spun) together.

4. The device in the preceding claim in which the bristles are made of tubes of roiled graphene woven or wound together and looped over rather than terminating . at the brushing surface.

5. The device in the preceding claim in which the bristles are made of graphene that is woven or spun from sheet (strips) of graphene.

6. The device in the preceding claims in which the graphene is mixed with other elements or compounds.