Toothbrush stem attachment

• US 3,927,435 A
• Filed: 12/20/1972
• Issued: 12/23/1975
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Jean-Pierre Musy, Michel A. Moret
• Original Assignee: Jean-Pierre Musy, Michel A. Moret
• Inventors: Moret, Michel A., Musy, Jean-Pierre
• Primary Examiner(s): Hornsby, Harvey C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Niegowski, James A.
• Application Number:
  US05/316,980
• Time in Patent Office: 1,098 Days
• Field of Search: 15/176,145,22 128/50,66 403/315,321,326,330,377,322
• US Class Current: 15/176.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/222 Brush body details, e.g. the shape thereof or connection to handle
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/32 reciprocating or oscillating
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 403/591 having operating mechanism

Abstract

A molded plastic toothbrush stem attachment for a power hand appliance comprises a stem having an integral coupling at one end and laterally-extending bristles forming a brush at the other end. The coupling includes a flared section, a driving socket section and a pair of detent fingers. The fingers are disposed at rotational angles 90* from that of the brush, and their free ends have internal arcuate grooves and external arcuate projections. A portion of the flared section overlaps the socket section in spaced relationship and the socket is deeper than the overlap region, to facilitate one-piece molding. Tip portions of the flared section adjacent one finger are flat and non-symmetrical to the tip portions adjacent the other finger to enable proper orientation for automatic bristle insertion.

Claims

1. A toothbrush stem attachment adapted to be attached to and driven by a hand appliance having an opening for receiving said toothbrush stem and an annular projection for retaining the toothbrush stem to said appliance, which attachment comprises a. a molded stem having an integral coupling at the rear end thereof and laterally-extending bristles forming a brush at the front end thereof, b. said coupling including a flared section flaring threedimensionally outwardly and rearwardly, a driving socket section extending rearwardly beyond said flared section, and a pair of narrow longitudinally-extending resilient cantilever detent fingers radially spaced from the socket section and terminating between the rearward ends of the flared and socket sections, c. said socket section having a rotationally symmetrical exterior surface and an interior surface which is cylindrical at the open end thereof and is of non-circular cross-section deeper in the socket, d. a portion of said flared section overlapping a portion of said socket section in spaced relationship therewith and the inside of the socket section extending into the stem beyond the region of said overlapping, e. said resilient fingers being on opposite sides of the stem with the fixed ends of the fingers integral with said flared section and forward of the rear end of the flared section, f. the sides of said fingers being spaced from the adjacent portions of the flared section, g. the free ends of said fingers having respective detent grooves on the inside thereof which are curved in arcs which are rotationally symmetrical about the axis of said socket section, said fingers being adapted to extend over said annular projection, and h. the free ends of said fingers having respective outward projections opposite said detent grooves with the outer faces curved in arcs which are rotationally symmetrical about the axis of said socket section.

2. A toothbrush attachment according to claim 1 in which said resilient cantilever detent fingers are at respective rotational angles approximately 90* from the rotational angle of said brush.

3. A toothbrush attachment according to claim 1 in which the tip portions of said flared section adjacent one of said fingers are flat and non-symmetrical with respect to the tip portions adjacent the other finger.