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US 12,745,835 B2Granted
Toothbrush head and part thereof
AssigneeThe Procter & Gamble Company
InventorsJochen Ganninger, Ulrich Störkel, Holger Schulz, Niclas Altmann, Uwe Tretrop, Stefan Triebig, Stefan Scheurich
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A toothbrush head includes a cleaning element carrier and one or more bristle tufts, each consisting of a plurality of bristle filaments connected to one another via a fuse ball. The fuse balls are embedded in the cleaning element carrier such that the balls are completely enclosed and the bristle filaments protrude from the carrier's front surface. At least two fuse balls are located at different levels in the carrier.
Claims18
A toothbrush head (12, 16), comprising:
- at least two bristle tufts (20), each consisting of a plurality of bristle filaments (22) connected at their respective ends to a fuse ball (24) formed by molten filament material connecting the bristle filaments (22) in a single bristle tuft (20), wherein each fuse ball (24) is associated with only one bristle tuft (20);
- a cleaning element carrier (30) comprising a front surface (31), a back surface (32) opposite to the front surface, and a thickness (T) therebetween, wherein each fuse ball (24) is overmolded by and embedded in a plastic material of the cleaning element carrier (30) such that each fuse ball (24) is completely enclosed by the overmolded plastic material and the bristle filaments (22) protrude from the front surface (31) of the cleaning element carrier (30);
- wherein at least two fuse balls (24) are located at different levels in the cleaning element carrier (30);
- wherein the cleaning element carrier (30) comprises at least two voids (38) structured and configured to receive at least one elastomeric element (40);
- wherein the back surface (32) comprises at least one groove (39) that connects the at least two voids (38) to one another;
- wherein the cleaning element carrier (30) comprises a first central depression (35) having a depth of from 1.0 mm to 3.0 mm in the back surface (32),
- wherein the cleaning element carrier (30) comprises a second central depression (36), in the middle of the first central depression (35), the second central depression (36) having a depth of from 0.1 mm to 2.0 mm in the back surface (32);
- and
- wherein the depth of the first central depression is greater than the depth of the second central depression.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.