Dental floss applicator

A dental floss applicator comprising a fork having a pair of elongated legs projecting from an elongated handle, container means on the handle for storing a supply of dental floss, dispensing means on the handle for withdrawing a continuous string of dental floss from the container means under tension and pressing the dental floss from the container means, across the distance between end portions of the legs of the fork, the dispensing means including a rotatable reel around which the floss is wound so that rotation of the reel withdraws the floss from the supply means and passes it toward the legs of the fork, the dispensing means further including controlled differential tensioning means for controlling the tension of the dental floss continuously fed from the container means across said distance between the legs of the fork, and including means on the handle adjustably movable into contact with the continuous string of floss between the reel and supply means to apply a controlled amount of tension to the floss prior to the floss being wound on the reel.

A dental floss applicator comprising a fork having a pair of elongated legs projecting from an elongated handle, container means on the handle for storing a supply of dental floss, dispensing means on the handle for withdrawing a continuous string of dental floss from the container means under tension and passing the dental floss from the container means across the distance between end portions of the legs of the fork, the dispensing means including a rotatable reel on one side of the handle and around which the dental floss is wound so that rotation of the reel withdraws the floss from the supply means and passes it along the length of one leg and across said distance between the legs, and dispensing means further including a post on a side of the handle opposite from the reel, and in which the reel and post are rotatable in unison so that dental floss extending across said distance between the legs then passes along the length of the other leg and is wound on the post so that rotation of the reel and post in unison applies tension to the portion of the floss extending across said distance, including means on the handle adjustably movable into contact with the continuous string of floss between the reel and supply means to apply a controlled amount of tension to the floss before the floss is wound on the reel.