US3750214A

US3750214A - Bottlecleaner

Info

Publication number: US3750214A
Application number: US00175960A
Authority: US
Inventors: H Caliendo; P Puglia
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-08-30
Filing date: 1971-08-30
Publication date: 1973-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 1990-08-07

Abstract

A brush for cleaning the inside of a narrow bottle, the brush in one form of the invention consisting of a tube with outwardly sideward extending brush bristle along one end thereof, the other end of the tube being enlarged to form a handle, and a rod inserted through the tube, one end of the rod having end-wise extending brush bristles and the other end having a hand controlable knob for pushing or pulling the rod so to selectively expose or retract the rod end bristles into the tube; the device in another form of the invention being screw fitted in a bottle cap so that the unit can rotate when it is moved longitudinally respective to the bottle.

Description

United States Patent 1 Caliendo et al.

[ Aug. 7, 1973 BOTTLECLEANER [22] Filed: Aug. 30, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 175,960

757,703 I 10/1933 France.... 15/165 Primary Examiner-Edward L. Roberts [57] ABSTRACT A brush for cleaning the inside of a narrow bottle, the brush in one form of the invention consisting of a tube with outwardly sideward extending brush bristle along one end thereof, the other end of the tube being enlarged to form a handle, and a rod inserted through the tube, one end of the rod having end-wise extending brush bristles and the other end having a hand controlable knob for pushing or pulling the rod so to selectively expose or retract the rod end bristles into the tube; the device in another form of the invention being screw fitted in a bottle cap so that the unit can rotate when it is moved longitudinally respective to the bottle.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures BOTTLECLEANER This invention relates generally to bottle brushes.

It is generally well known that conventional bottle brushes do not adequately clean out the bottle bottom particularly at the inside corner and this is of course objectionable.

Accordingly it is a principle object of the present invention to provide an improved bottle cleaner that overcomes this objection so to more thoroughly cleanall the interior surface of the bottle, including the gen erally difficult-to-clean corners.

Another object is to provide a bottle cleaner which is adaptable particularly for any narrow bottle especially such as have narrow necks so that it is hard to reach inside.

Still another object is to provide a bottle cleaner that is suitable for cleaning a standard Evenflo plastic baby bottle.

Still another object is to provide a bottle cleaner which can by screw rotated in a bottle by pushing the bottle cleaner in and out of a bottle. I

Still another object is to provide a bottle cleaner which can be electric motor driven so to push the bottle cleaner in and out of the bottle.

Other objects are to provide a bottle cleaner which is simple in design, inexpensive to manufacture, rugged in construction, easy to operate and efficient in operation.

These and other objects will be readily evident upon a study of the following specification and the accompanying drawing wherein:

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the reference numeral represents a bottle cleaner according to the present invention wherein there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2' a bottle cleaner that comprises a stiff tube 11 which along one end has a series of sidewardly extending brush bristles 12, the other end of the tube being sidewardly bulged to form a handle 13. A stiff rod 14 is fitted through the tube 11, the lower end of the rod being slit to form several stiff arms 15 which are pivotable outwardly respective to the rest of the rod and the arm ends have brush bristles 16. The other end of the rod 14 has a knob 17.

In operative use, the bottle cleaner 10 is inserted in a bottle and when the handle 13 is rotated the inner side wall of the bottle is cleaned. In order to clean the bottom of the bottle, downward bristles 18 from the lower end of the tube brush the bottom wall of. In order to thoroughly clean into the comer formed between the bottom wall and side wall of the bottom, the knob 17 is pushed down so to spread the arms 15 as shown in FIG. 2, so that the bristles 16 get deep into the corner,

andthe knob 17 is then rotated.

Thus there is an improved bottle cleaner.

It is to be noted that the lower end of the tube 11 is outwardly flared slightly so to contain the arms 15 when in a retracted position as shown in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 3, a modified design 20 the invention includes all the above described features except that the tube includes a spiral screw thread 21 which threadingly engages a threaded opening 22 in a bottle cap 23 associated with the bottle cleaner 20 and which is removable from the bottle together with the bottle cleaner. The spiral screw thread permits the tube to rotate when the handle is pulled and pushed, so that the rotating bristles l2 clean the side of the bottle while the bristles l8 clean the bottom.

In a further mosified design, instead of using brush bristles, any one of the above forms of the invention could employ brushes of foam rubber pad type.

While various other changes may be made in the detail construction, it is understood that such changes will be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. We claim: 1

l. A brush for cleaning the interior of a bottle comprising a tube with a handle at its outer end and a first brush at its inner end, in combination with a second auxiliary brush mounted axially movable within said tube, said second brush being movable from a closed position within said tube encompassed by the first brush, to an open position extending outside of said tube axially and radially beyond said first brush, including means external of said tube for moving the second brush from the closed to open position.

2. A brush as in claim 1 wherein the said means comprises a rod slidably mounted in said tube having a portion extending axially through and beyond said handle and wherein the second brush has bristles mounted at the ends of resilient arms which are biased to a radially expanded position when moved to the open position and which are squeezed into the tube in response to axial movement of said rod to said closed position.

3. A brush as in claim 2 wherein the inner end of said tube is flared outwardly adjacent the resilient arms of the second brush whereby the said arms will gradually diverge radially as the rod is moved from closed to open position.

4. A brush as in claim 3 in combination with a bottle wherein said bottle and brush have coacting means for causing brush'rotation responsive to relative axial motion.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein the said means comprises a bottle cap with a threaded bore and a coacting external spiral screw thereof on said tube.

Claims

1. A brush for cleaning the interior of a bottle comprising a tube with a handle at its outer end and a first brush at its inner end, in combination with a second auxiliary brush mounted axially movable within said tube, said second brush being movable from a closed position within said tube encompassed by the first brush, to an open position extending outside of said tube axially and radially beyond said first brush, including means external of said tube for moving the second brush from the closed to open position.

4. A brush as in claim 3 in combination with a bottle wherein said bottle and brush have coacting means for causing brush rotation responsive to relative axial motion.