Orthodontic flosser
OwnerN. Michelle Borg, John O. H. Niswongerinventors
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Abstract
A flosser is described that includes a take-up spool for winding a plurality of layers of used floss, a shell for forming a chamber around the take-up spool and enclosing the plurality of layers of used floss windings within the chamber, and helical grooves disposed in an inner surface of the shell for preventing jamming of the take-up spool by accumulated floss windings. The flosser further includes a retie assembly having a groove disposed in a fin for trapping floss against a take-up aperture upon alignment of the groove and aperture, and for urging floss into take-up aperture and wrapping the floss around the take-up spool as the fin rotates further.
Claims13
A retiable flosser comprising:
- a shaft including a head for supporting floss, the shaft further including spring forks;
- a source spool disposed on the shaft, the source spool for dispensing floss to the head;
- a take-up assembly disposed on the shaft, the take-up assembly including:
- a take-up spool for collecting used floss;
- a knob coupled to the take-up spool and configured to rotate the take-up spool for advancing used floss, the knob and spring forks forming a ratchet assembly for biasing direction of rotation of the take-up assembly, and
- a retie assembly disposed between the knob and the take-up spool and coupled to the take-up spool and knob, the retie assembly comprising:
- a first and second fin, and
- a retie groove disposed in the first and second fins, the retie groove configured for wrapping and securing an end of broken floss about the first fin;
- and
- a cylindrical shell for enclosing the source spool and the take-up spool, the shell including a take-up aperture adjacent the second fin and proximate the take-up spool, while the end of the floss is secured to the first fin, the second fin and retie groove being configured to urge a portion of the secured floss into the take-up aperture as the knob rotates the retie groove into alignment with the take-up aperture, and as the knob continues to rotate the retie assembly, the take-up aperture being further configured bend the portion of the secured floss around the second fin at the retie groove and wrap the floss around the take-up spool.
A flosser comprising:
- a take-up spool for winding a plurality of layers of used floss;
- a shell for forming a chamber around the take-up spool and enclosing the plurality of layers of used floss windings around the take-up spool within the chamber;
- and
- helical grooves disposed in an inner surface of the shell, the helical grooves configured for urging a top layer of the floss windings along the take-up spool as the take-up spool rotates with respect to the shell, thereby preventing jamming of the take-up spool by the floss windings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.