Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A46—BRUSHWARE
  • A46B—BRUSHES
  • A46B13/00—Brushes with driven brush bodies or carriers
  • A46B13/02—Brushes with driven brush bodies or carriers power-driven carriers
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A46—BRUSHWARE
  • A46B—BRUSHES
  • A46B13/00—Brushes with driven brush bodies or carriers
  • A46B13/008—Disc-shaped brush bodies
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A47—FURNITURE; DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES; COFFEE MILLS; SPICE MILLS; SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
  • A47K—SANITARY EQUIPMENT NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; TOILET ACCESSORIES
  • A47K7/00—Body washing or cleaning implements
  • A47K7/04—Mechanical washing or cleaning devices, hand or mechanically, i.e. power operated
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A46—BRUSHWARE
  • A46B—BRUSHES
  • A46B2200/00—Brushes characterized by their functions, uses or applications
  • A46B2200/10—For human or animal care
  • A46B2200/1006—Brushes for cleaning the hand or the human body

Definitions

• This invention relates generally to powered skin cleansing brushes and more specifically to bristle arrangements for use in such a skin cleansing brush.
• a number of factors are important for good cleansing action.
• the ability of the powered skin cleansing brush to effectively and safely function is significantly affected by the bristle morphology and bristle arrangement of the brush.
• the skin will be ineffectively cleansed, with little or no sense of cleansing by the user, while in other cases, the skin may be overly cleansed with a mild sensation of abrasion, which is undesirable.
• the present invention is a bristle arrangement for a powered skin cleaning brush, comprising: a first brush portion which includes a first set of bristles with the first brush portion remaining stationary in operation; a second brush portion which includes a second set of bristles, the second brush portion oscillating when the device is in operation, wherein the first and second sets of bristles are within the range of 3 to 5 mils in diameter and 0.3 to 0.5 inches in length, and wherein the first brush portion includes approximately 40 to 100 bristle tufts and the second set of bristles includes 40 to 120 bristle tufts, spaced over the area of the brushhead.
• Figure 1 is a top view of skin care appliance with a brushhead having bristles of selected characteristics.
• FIG. 1 shows an example of a hand held power skin care appliance 10 which is useful in facial skin care applications.
• the appliance includes a large brushhead 12, which in one embodiment is approximately 1.6 inches in diameter and a driving system 15.
• the brushhead includes two portions, an outer annular-shaped portion 14 comprising two concentric rings of bristle tufts and a circular inner portion 16 comprising a significant number of spaced bristle tufts, sufficient to cover the annular opening defined by the outer bristle portion.
• there is a gap or space between the inner and outer brushhead portions in the range of 0.125 - 0.050 inches, preferably 0.084 inches.
• outer bristle portion 14 In operation of the appliance, outer bristle portion 14 remains stationary, while inner bristle portion 16 oscillates through a specified angle. In one embodiment the angle is within the range of 8° to 26°, although this can be varied, depending upon the particular application.
• the structure of such a brushhead, apart from the bristles, is shown and described in co-pending application titled “Oscillating Brushhead Attachment System for Personal Care Appliance”.
• An example of an appliance, including a drive system for such a brushhead is shown and described in co- pending application titled "Motor Providing Oscillating Action for a Personal Care Appliance". Both of the above applications are owned by the same assignee as the present invention, and are hereby incorporated by reference.
• the brushhead bristle arrangement shown and described herein, used in the appliance/brushhead disclosed in the above applications is effective for skin cleaning applications, particularly facial skin.
• the present brushhead bristle arrangement can also be used in other skin care applications, however, as discussed in the above applications, including acne and black head treatment, athlete's foot treatment, callused skin and psoriasis, razor bumps and related skin applications, wound cleansing and treatment of slow or non-healing wounds, scalp cleaning, chemical peel procedures and shaving cream applications.
• Preferred bristle configurations and arrangements will differ somewhat depending upon the particular application.
• the following description concerns a brushhead/bristle arrangement for facial skin cleansing.
• the brushhead/bristle arrangement also takes into account the necessary time for the brush to dry, which must be fast enough to reduce microbial growth.
• the rate of drying is dependent upon both the number of bristles per tuft and the number of tufts in a given area.
• a brush may dry efficiently, but not have the ability to cleanse effectively, as well as cleanse effectively but not dry fast enough.
• the optimum ranges for the important bristle characteristics and tufting requirements in order to provide the best performance and cleansing feel/impression depend to an extent upon the energy generated by the appliance which depends in turn upon both frequency and amplitude of bristle movement.
• the frequency of brushhead movement will be within the range of 120 - 220 Hz.
• the length of the bristles using a Tynex (DuPont) type bristle will be between 0.3 inches and 0.425 inches with a desired diameter of approximately 3 mils.
• the diameter of the nylon bristles can be increased up to 5 mils, with the length remaining the same or slightly longer. It has been discovered that generally, bristles with diameters less than 3 mils are difficult to connect reliably into a bristle base element.
• bristles with a diameter greater than 5 mils produced discomfort in most users, although in some applications, a bristle diameter of greater than 5 mils, for particular applications such as aggressive foot cleansing, are appropriate.
• SuperSoft (DuPont) bristles the ranges are slightly different, with the length of the bristles again being approximately 0.3 to 0.425 inches, while the diameter of the bristles can vary between 3 and 4 mils.
• the length of the bristles is approximately the same, in some cases slightly shorter for more aggressive applications and slightly longer for gentler applications, while the diameter of the bristles can be between 3 and 5 mils.
• the general range for the number of tufts is 40-100 in the outer brushhead portion and 40-120 in the inner brushhead portion.
• the preferred range is 60-90 for the outer brushhead portion and 70-110 for the inner brushhead portion, with 80 and 96 being optimal.
• the tufts should be evenly spaced.
• particular characteristics of bristles are important (diameter and length) relative to effective skin cleansing, such as facial cleansing.
• the overall brush can dry sufficiently fast to reduce microbial growth while at the same time cleansing effectively without harm or discomfort to the user.

Landscapes

• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Public Health (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Epidemiology (AREA)
• General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Brushes (AREA)

Priority Applications (3)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (3)

Family

ID=35479016

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (6)

Cited By (5)

Families Citing this family (51)

Citations (1)

Family Cites Families (19)

• 2004
  • 2004-06-22 US US10/873,584 patent/US20050278877A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2005
  • 2005-06-21 EP EP05762349.8A patent/EP1765113B1/en active Active
  • 2005-06-21 CN CNB2005800205388A patent/CN100531618C/zh active Active
  • 2005-06-21 JP JP2007518187A patent/JP4944777B2/ja active Active
  • 2005-06-21 WO PCT/US2005/021831 patent/WO2006002109A2/en active Search and Examination
  • 2005-06-21 CA CA2586180A patent/CA2586180C/en active Active

Patent Citations (1)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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