Oral care implement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9538836-B2
Application number	US-201113979631-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2011
Priority date	Jan 12, 2011
Publication date	Jan 10, 2017
Grant date	Jan 10, 2017

Abstract

A toothbrush comprising a tapered bristle having a cross-sectional profile with a major axis and a minor axis. In one embodiment, the invention can be an oral care implement comprising: a head; a handle; and at least one tapered bristle extending from a face of the head, the tapered bristle having a longitudinal axis and a transverse cross-sectional profile having a major axis and a minor axis, the major axis being longer than the minor axis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An oral care implement comprising:
a head having a face with a tuft hole therein;
a handle coupled to the head;
a plurality of tapered bristles disposed within the tuft hole and arranged in a bristle tuft that extends from the face of the head, the bristle tuft comprising a first subset of the tapered bristles and a second subset of the tapered bristles;
wherein each of the tapered bristles comprises a longitudinal axis and a transverse cross-sectional profile having a major axis and a minor axis, the major axes of the tapered bristles being longer than the minor axes of the tapered bristles;
wherein the major axes of the tapered bristles of the first subset are non-parallel to the major axes of the tapered bristles of the second subset; and
wherein the first and second subsets of the tapered bristles are arranged in an alternating configuration of columns or rows.

2. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein the transverse cross-sectional profile of each of the tapered bristles is a diamond.

3. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein for each of the tapered bristles a ratio of the major axis to the minor axis is greater than or equal to 1.2:1.

4. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein for each of the tapered bristles a ratio of the major axis to the minor axis is between 1.5:1 to 3:1.

5. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein a free end of each of the tapered bristles deflects a first distance from the longitudinal axis when a transverse force is applied to the free end of the tapered bristle in a direction parallel to the minor axis, and wherein the free end of each of the tapered bristles deflects a second distance from the longitudinal axis when the transverse force is applied to the free end of the tapered bristle in a direction parallel to the major axis, the second distance being less than the first distance.

6. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein each of the tapered bristles comprises a tapered longitudinal section and a non-tapered longitudinal section.

7. The oral care implement of claim 6 wherein the non-tapered longitudinal section of each of the tapered bristles extends from the face of the head to a transition point of the tapered bristle and the tapered longitudinal section of each of the tapered bristles extends from the transition point to a free end of the tapered bristle, the tapered longitudinal section of each of the tapered bristles extending at least one-third of the length of the tapered bristle, the length of each of the tapered bristles measured from the face of the head to the free end of the tapered bristle along the longitudinal axis of the tapered bristle.

8. The oral care implement of claim 7 wherein the tapered longitudinal section of each of the tapered bristles extends at least one-half the length of the tapered bristle.

9. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein the tapered bristles of the first subset are aligned along a first axis and wherein the tapered bristles of the second subset are aligned along a second axis that is parallel to and spaced apart from the first axis, and wherein the major axes of the tapered bristles of the first subset are perpendicular to the major axes of the tapered bristles of the second subset.

10. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein the transverse cross-sectional profile of the tapered bristles of the first subset of the tapered bristles has a first shape, and wherein the transverse cross-sectional profile of the tapered bristles of the second subset of the tapered bristles has a second shape that is different than the first shape.

11. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein the tuft hole has a non-oval transverse cross-sectional profile.

12. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein the head further comprises a tuft plate, the tuft hole extending from an upper surface of the tuft plate to a lower surface of the tuft plate, the bristle tuft mounted to the tuft plate by a melted portion of the bristle tuft protruding from the lower surface of the tuft plate, the bristle tuft extending from the upper surface of the tuft plate, and the tuft plate mounted to a body of the head.

13. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein the tapered bristles of the first subset have major axes that extend substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the head and the tapered bristles of the second subset have major axes that extend substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the head.

14. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein each of the tapered bristles is formed of polybutylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate, or nylon.

15. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein for each of the tapered bristles, the major axis is substantially perpendicular to the minor axis.

16. The oral care implement of claim 15 wherein for each of the tapered bristles, the major axis and the minor axis intersect at a center point of the transverse cross-sectional profile.

17. The oral care implement of claim 16 wherein for each of the tapered bristles, the major axis extends between a first pair of opposing apexes of the transverse cross-sectional profile and the minor axis extends between a second pair of opposing apexes of the transverse cross-sectional profile.

18. The oral care implement of claim 1 wherein the major axes of each of the tapered bristles of the first subset are parallel to one another and wherein the major axes of each of the tapered bristles of the second subset are parallel to one another.

19. The oral care implement of claim 18 wherein the major axes of each of the tapered bristles of the first subset are perpendicular to the major axes of each of the tapered bristles of the second subset.

20. An oral care implement comprising:
a head having a face with at least one tuft hole therein;
a handle coupled to the head;
a plurality of tapered bristles disposed within the tuft hole and arranged in a bristle tuft that extends from the face of the head, each of the tapered bristles having a longitudinal axis and a transverse cross-sectional profile having a major axis and a minor axis, the major axis being longer than the minor axis;
wherein the plurality of tapered bristles of the bristle tuft comprises a first one of the tapered bristles and a second one of the tapered bristles, wherein the major axis of the first one of the tapered bristles is non-parallel to the major axis of the second one of the tapered bristles; and
wherein the transverse cross-sectional profile of the first and second ones of the tapered bristles is a diamond.

Assignees

• Mintel Thomas
• Hohlbein Douglas
• Colgate Palmolive Co

Inventors

• Mintel Thomas
• Hohlbein Douglas

Classifications

• B01L3/502761

  specially adapted for handling suspended solids or molecules independently from the bulk fluid flow, e.g. for trapping or sorting beads or physically stretching molecules · CPC title

• B01L2200/027

  for microfluidic devices · CPC title

• B01L2400/0478

  pistons · CPC title

• B01L3/527

  for a plurality of reagents · CPC title

• B01L2200/04

  Exchange or ejection of cartridges, containers or reservoirs · CPC title