US 5,497,526 A · Tooth brushing device

Abstract

The device is a straddle-type device in which the handle thereof has a pair of elongated arms and a cowling on the distal end thereof. The arms extend from the handle in generally parallel relationship to one another, with a slot therebetween, and the cowling is made of plastic resin material and supported on the arms at the distal end portions thereof. The cowling also bridges the slot and has an inverted U-shaped body, which in turn has endmost sections and a midsection therebetween. The endmost sections are encircled about the distal end portions of the arms in intimate contact with the opposing relatively inwardly directed surfaces thereof, as well as the relatively outwardly directed surfaces thereof and the relatively upper, lower and forward peripheral edges thereof. The midsection is flexibly interconnected with and between the endmost sections to form an articulated linkage across the slot, and yieldable bias is built into the arms which tends to pinch the distal end portions of the arms and thus the endmost sections of the cowling together. Meanwhile, fields of bristles that are monolithically upstanding on the relatively inwardly directed surfaces of the endmost sections, form brushes which engage the relatively inside and outside faces of the teeth when the device is straddled about a row of teeth at the cowling, and then translated along the length of the row while the brushes grip the teeth under the bias on the distal end portions of the arms, and the linkage serves to preserve that bias when the diameter of the teeth varies from one tooth to another.

A straddle type tooth brushing device comprising:

means including a pair of elongated arms having tooth-brushing means on distal end portions thereof forming a head for straddling about a row of teeth to be cleaned, elongated support means including a handle for supporting the head adjacent the row of teeth, and leveraging means acting on the tooth brushing means from within the head to yieldably bias the tooth-brushing means into engagement with the inside and outside faces of the teeth when the head is straddled about the row thereof,
said support means having a distal end,
said arms having longitudinal axes and being rigidly interconnected with the support means at, the distal end of the support means so as to form relatively rigid longitudinal extensions of the support means which project from the distal end of the support means in generally spaced parallel relationship to one another and have an elongated slot in the space therebetween which is coextensive with the arms and opens to the outside of the device between the distal end of the support means and the distal end portions of the arms in a central plane of the slot extending between the longitudinal axes of the arms generally parallel thereto,
the distal end portions of the arms having pairs of generally laterally inwardly and outwardly directed surfaces thereon, the laterally inwardly directed surfaces of which are relatively opposed to one another across the central plane of the slot, extend in planes generally parallel to the longitudinal axes of the arms, and have relatively upper, lower and forward edges formed about the peripheries thereof, which are interconnected with one another by the laterally outwardly directed surfaces of the distal end portions of the arms at the outsides thereof, and are disposed relatively remote from, and adjacent to the gum lines of the respective row of teeth being brushed, and forwardly of the surfaces, respectively, when in an operational mode of the device, the head is straddled about the row of teeth so that the central plane of the slot is aligned with the row of teeth, the arms are generally parallel to the row, and the laterally inwardly directed surfaces of the distal end portions of the arms are generally opposed to the inside and outside faces of the teeth in the row,
the tooth brushing means comprising a monolithic cowling of plastic resin material which has an operatively inverted U-shaped body extending crosswise the plane of the slot and is comprised of a pair of relatively endmost sections that are spaced apart from one another and each encircle the distal end portion of a respective one of the arms in intimate contact with the laterally inwardly and outwardly directed surfaces and the relatively upper and lower peripheral edges of the distal end portions of the arms to form brush-forming members thereon that oppose one another across the central plane of the slot and are yieldably biased by the leveraging means to engage the faces of the teeth when the head of the device is straddled about the row of teeth in the operational mode of the device, and a mid-section which is interconnected with and between the endmost sections of the cowling and flexibly interposed in the slot between the relatively upper peripheral edges of the distal end portions of the arms to form an articulated linkage between the brush-forming members which is spaced apart from the distal end of the support means by the openings of the slot to the outside of the device and operable to preserve the bias on the brush forming members when the head adjusts to the varying diameters of the teeth crosswise the central plane of the slot in the operational mode of the device,
the brush-forming members having oppositely disposed fields of bristles thereon, the bristles of which are formed by strands of the plastic resin material that upstand monolithically on the brush forming members and are so individually spaced apart from one another on the brush forming members as to be individually laterally deflectable in relation to one another, yet collectively operable to form brushes for the faces of the teeth.

3 more elements

Tooth brushing device

Life of this patent

Tooth brushing device

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16