WO1997037563A1 - Toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

A toothbrush (110) is disclosed having combined brush (120) and dentifrice (128). The dentifrice (128) is contained in the cap of the toothbrush (110) and may, for example, be in the form of a substantially solid block (150). To use the toothbrush (110), a user removes the brush (120) and scrapes off an amount of dentifrice (128) from inside the cap. The toothbrush (110) has the advantage that separate toothbrush and dentifrice need not be carried, for example when travelling, the toothbrush (110) need not be assembled before use, and the toothbrush (110) is not messy to use.

Description

TOOTHBRUSH

This invention relates to a toothbrush. In particular it relates to a toothbrush and dentifrice combined.

Conventionally, toothbrushes and dentifrices, such as toothpaste or powder, are available separately. To clean their teeth, a user must first apply the dentifrice from its container to the toothbrush. The conventional arrangement has the associated problem that the user must carry and/or store two separate items, namely the toothbrush and the dentifrice (normally toothpaste in a tube). The items are often of an awkward size or shape, for example not suitable to be carried in a pocket, purse or handbag when travelling. Another disadvantage with the known arrangement is that the toothbrush head is unprotected and therefore difficult to keep clean and hygienic.

Attempts have been made to overcome the above problems by providing disposable toothbrushes each having a covering portion which contains an amount of dentifrice. Examples are disclosed in Patent documents GB 1527544, GB 0811195 and US 5003658. However these toothbrushes have the disadvantage that they may only conveniently be suitable for a single use. In addition they require the brush heads to be "dipped" into a toothpaste then removed for use (sometimes by assembling a two-part brush) . This is messy and unpleasant for an end user, and assembling the brush is time consuming and may be awkward. A further disadvantage is that the covers do not protect the whole brush head and so hygiene problems with the brush head may develop.

Further attempts have been made to overcome the hygiene problems by immersing the toothbrush in aseptic liquid, in a cap, when not in use. An example is disclosed in Patent document EP 0051047 Al . However, this has the disadvantage that the whole brush head must be immersed and then the excess removed from the rest of the brush before use. This may be unpleasant and time consuming for the user, and if mechanisms are included for removing the excess, these make manufacture complicated and expensive.

According to the present invention there is provided a toothbrush comprising a handle, a brush and a cap adapted to be releasably secured over the brush and in which the cap contains a dentifrice transferable by a user ro the brush, characterised in that said dentifrice is in substantially solid form' and an amount of the dentifrice is transferable to the brush by means of a scraping action.

The cap may fit around the brush; it may be provided as a sheath which fits over the brush; it may be provided with ventilation holes. The cap may be releasably attachable to the handle. The cap may be a friction fit to the handle; the cap may have a releasable fastener which co-operates with a portion of the handle.

The dentifrice may be a paste; it may be in the form of a block. The dentifrice may be arranged partially or substantially around the interior surface of the cap. It may be provided in a compartment on, in, or at the cap. The dentifrice may be provided as a lining around the insider perimeter of the cap. Replacement blocks of dentifrice may be provided. The replacement blocks may be stored in a compartment on or in the toothbrush, for example, in the handle.

The toothbrush may be a multi-use toothbrush. The cap may conrain sufficient dentifrice for the toothbrush to be used, for example, between 40 and 60 times. By using a replacement block, the number of uses may be increased.

The toothbrush may have an external attachment means, for example a clip. Said attachment means may be provided on the cap.

The handle and/or the cap may be of plastics material. The toothbrush or parts thereof may be attractively coloured and/or bear selected wording or patterns.

Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Fig 1 is a side view of a toothbrush in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

Fig 2 is a side view of the toothbrush of Fig 1 with the cap removed; Fig 3 is a side view in cross-section of the cap of the toothbrush of Fig 1;

Fig 4 is a side view in perspective of a toothbrush in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

Fig 5 is a side view in perspective of the toothbrush of Fig 4 with the cap partially removed;

Fig 6 is a side view in perspective of the toothbrush of Fig 4 with interior detail shown;

and

Fig 7 is a dentifrice block for use in the toothbrush of Fig 4.

Referring firstly to Figs 1, 2 and 3 there is shown a toothbrush, generally denoted by 10, in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention. The toothbrush 10 essentially consists of two main parts, namely a cap 12 and a main body 14.

The toothbrush 10 in this example is roughly cylindrical in cross-section having diameter of approximately 2cm. The cap 12 has a length of approximately 9.5cm and the portion of the main body 14 that is visible in Fig 1 is of length approximately 6cm. When closed as shown in Fig 1, the toothbrush 10 is of a convenient size for carrying, for example in a pocket or handbag.

In this example, the toothbrush 10 is fitted with a clip 16, such as a pen clip, being fitted to the cap 12 of the toothbrush 10.

As can be seen m Fig 2, the mam body 14 s maαe up of a handle 18 and a brush portion 20. The brush portion 20 is in the form of a conventional toothbrush, having a shaft portion 22 and a plurality of nylon bristles 24 at its distal end 26. The distal end 26 of the brush portion has a vertical cross-section of approximately 1cm.

As can be seen in Fig 3, the cap 12 is in the form of a hollow cylinder, closed at one end. Around the interior wall of the cylinder is provided a measured coating of dentifrice 28. In this example, the dentifrice 28 is toothpaste in a se i-soliα state. Before use, there is a hollow 30 inside the cap 12 of diameter approximately 1cm.

The cap 12 is releasably attachable to the main body 14 by means of screw thread co-operation. As can be seen in Figs 2 and 3, the main body 14 is provided with a wide male screw thread 32 at the top of the handle 18, and the cap 12 is provided with a co-operating female screw thread 34. Fig 1 shows the toothbrush 10 m the closed position.

To use the toothbrush 10, a user unscrews the ma body 14 from the cap 12, by turning the handle 18. The bristles 24 contact the dentifrice lining 28 and thus a small amount of dentifrice 28 is transferred to the bristles 24 by a scraping or wiping action. The nrush portion 20 is then ready for use in a similar way to use of a conventional toothbrush.

The toothbrush 10 of this embodiment may have sufficient dentifrice for approximately 40 to 60 uses. The handle 18 and cap 12 may be manufactured from plastics material, for example by injection moulding, and may be attractively coloured or bear wording and/or promotional logos.

Referring now to Fig 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the accompanying drawings, a toothbrush 110 according to a second embodiment of the invention has a cap 112 and a main body 114. The toothbrush 110 is roughly oval-shaped in cross-section and is of a suitable overall size to enable it to be conveniently portable, for example 15cm long x 3cm high x 1.8cm wide.

The toothbrush 110 is of plastics material and may be coloured. The cap 112 and/or body 114 may be available in various colours, for example so as to identify the owner out of a group of users such as a family.

The cap 112 is oval in cross-section and is divided internally into a brush compartment 130, a dentifrice compartment 150 and an air space 152, as can be seen in Fig 6. A dentifrice block 128, as shown (on an enlarged scale) in Fig 7, is removably fitted in the dentifrice compartment 150. In this example, the dentifrice block 128 is flat on the top surface and curve-shaped to fit the cap 112 on the bottom surface, and has approximate dimensions 5cm long x 1.5cm wide x 1cm high.

The cap 112 is closed at one end by a removable end cap 154. By removal of the end cap 154 a user can gain access to the dentifrice block 128. The end cap 154 is provided with, in this case four, vent holes 156. The vent holes 156 allow air to circulate within the cap 112. The main body 114 has a handle 118 and a brush portion 120. The brush portion 120 is roughly similar to a conventional toothbrush. The nandle 118 is provided with two storage compartments 158 in which spare dentifrice blocks 160 may be stored. Each spare dentifrice block 160 is of similar size and shape to the original block 128. Access is gained to the storage compartments 158 by means of a removable handle cap 164 at the end of the handle 118. The handle cap 164 may bear a brand name or logo for the toothbrush 110.

In Figs 4 and 6, the toothbrush 110 is shown in the closeα position. As can be seen in Fig 5, the cap 112 is releasably attachable to the main body 114 by resilient clip means 162 at the top of the handle 118 which co-operates with the clip portion on the cap (not shown). In the closed position, the cap 112 is clipped to the mam body with the brush in the position shown in Fig 6.

To use the toothbrush 110, a user simply pulls the handle 118 away from the cap 112 to release the clip means and then twists the handle, and thereby the bristles 124 of the brush portion 120 come into contact with the top surface of the dentifrice block 128. As the main body 114 is then pulled out of the cap 112, a small amount of dentifrice is scraped off the block 128 and onto the bristles 124. The mam body 114 can then be used to brush the user's teeth in the normal way,

The main body 114 can be returned to the cap 112 to scrape off more dentifrice if this s required during brushing.

Once the dentifrice block 128 has been used up, for example after 40 uses, the end cap 154 may be removed to allow a replacement block 160 to be inserted. The end cap 154 is then closed again and the toothbrush 110 is ready for further use. With two spare blocks 160 it is envisaged that more than 60 uses of the toothbrush 110 are possible.

The toothbrushes 10, 110 described have the advantages that they are compact, self-contained brushes-and- dentifrice combined, so are easily portable and allow for greater oral hygiene during work, travel or holiday, for example. The toothbrushes are ultimately disposable, after a number of uses, thereby decreasing the risk of infection from not replacing toothbrushes frequently enough.

Markets for the toothbrushes 10, 110 extend to work and leisure and cover all ages and uses. Examples are children's lunch boxes, vending machines, airline travel, corporate promotions, the armed forces, third world health care, hospitals and prisons.

The toothbrushes also have the advantage that they are less messy to use than conventional combined brushes- and-dentifrice.

Modifications and improvements may be made without departing from the intended scope of the invention. For example, the invention is intended to extend to replacement dentifrice blocks, caps and other components for use in the toothbrush.

Claims

1 A toothbrush comprising a nandle, a brush and a cap adapted to be releasably secured over the brush and in which the cap contains a dentifrice transferable by a user to the brush, characterised in that said dentifrice is in substantially solid form and an amount of the dentifrice is transferable to the brush by means of a scraping action.

2 A toothbrush in accordance with Claim 1 m wnich the cap is adapted to fit around the brush.

3 A toothbrush in accordance with Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the cap is provided as a sneath which fits over the brush.

4 A toothbrush in accordance with any one of Claims 1 to 3 in which the cap is provided with ventilation holes.

5 A toothbrush in accordance with any one of the preceding Claims in whicn the cap is aαapted to be releasably attachable to the handle.

6 A toothbrush m accordance with Claim 5 in which the cap is adapted to be releasably attachable to the nandle by means of a friction fit of the cap with respect to the handle.

7 A toothbrush in accordance with Claim 5 in which the cap is adapted to be releasably attachable to the nandle by means of a releasaole fastener wnich co-operates with a portion of the andle. 8 A toothbrush in accordance with any one of the preceding Claims in which the dentifrice is arranged at least partially around the interior of the cap.

9 A toothbrush in accordance with any one of the preceding Claims wherein the dentifrice is in the form of a block.

10 A toothbrush as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims in which the dentifrice is in a compartment provided in the cap.

11 A toothbrush in accordance with any one of Claims 1 to 9 in which the dentifrice is provided as a lining around an inside perimeter of the cap.

12 A toothbrush in accordance with Claim 9 or 10 in which a replacement block is provided.

13 A toothbrush in accordance with Claim 12 in which said replacement block is stored in a compartment in the handle.

14 A toothbrush in accordance with any one of the preceding Claims in which there is sufficient dentifrice for multiple use.

15 A toothbrush in accordance with any one of the preceding Claims in which the toothbrush has external attachment means.

16 A toothbrush in accordance with Claim 15 in which the external attachment means is a clip.

17 A toothbrush as substantially described herein with reference to one or more of the accompanying drawings.