Toothbrushes
First Claim
1. A brush including a handle at one end and a brush head at the opposite end, said brush head including a plurality of bristle holders and spring means normally urging at least some of the bristle holders outwardly but permitting their inward movement during use of the brush head;
- characterized in that said spring means comprises;
a planar strip of elastic material formed with a plurality of spirally-extending slits at spaced locations of the planar strip underlying each of said bristle holders, to define a spirally-extending element integrally formed with said strip at each of said locations and in the same plane as said strip;
each of said spirally-extending elements being pressed out of the plane of said strip to produce a helically extending spring element underlying each of said bristle holders and decreasing in diameter from said strip to the bristle holder.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A toothbrush includes a plurality of bristle holders spring-urged outwardly from the brush head. In one described embodiment, the springs are produced by a planar strip of elastic material stamped with a plurality of spirally-extending slits pressed out of the plane of the strip to produce a plurality of helically-extending springs underlying each of the bristle holders. In a second described embodiment, the springs are in deformable bellows-shaped elements each underlying one of the bristle holders. In some described embodiments, the brush head is pivotally mounted to the handle.
-
Citations
10 Claims
-
1. A brush including a handle at one end and a brush head at the opposite end, said brush head including a plurality of bristle holders and spring means normally urging at least some of the bristle holders outwardly but permitting their inward movement during use of the brush head;
- characterized in that said spring means comprises;
a planar strip of elastic material formed with a plurality of spirally-extending slits at spaced locations of the planar strip underlying each of said bristle holders, to define a spirally-extending element integrally formed with said strip at each of said locations and in the same plane as said strip;
each of said spirally-extending elements being pressed out of the plane of said strip to produce a helically extending spring element underlying each of said bristle holders and decreasing in diameter from said strip to the bristle holder. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
- characterized in that said spring means comprises;
Specification