Patent Application
20180220783
The field of the present invention is brushes, more specifically brushes used to wash devices, and still more specifically, brushes used to wash items having different shapes and sizes.
Dishes and other items washed by hand can be found in different shapes and sizes. For example, plates, saucers, and baking sheets are flat or relatively flat. Other dishes are curved or have walls and bottoms such as cups, drinking glasses, and goblets as well as pots and measuring cups.
Brushes are often useful in hand washing dishes. Brushes can make cleaning dishes easier, especially pots, pans, plates, etc. that have baked on residue from cooking or previous improper cleaning. However, brushes have a straight handle with the brush extending straight from the end of the handle in a roughly coaxial orientation. Due to the shape of some dishes, it can be awkward to wash some dishes using a brush with the usual coaxial orientation. Conversely, brushes at a different angle relative to the handle will not be efficient in washing other types of dishes. In both cases, whether full force of the brush cannot be applied to the residue or the brush cannot reach all the residue, the full efficiency of the brush is lost due to the specific angle orientation of the brush relative to its handle. While two brushes with different orientations can be used, it is often awkward and inefficient to use two brushes during a particular dishing washing session and two brushes will obviously occupy more storage space than a single brush.
Thus, there is a need in the filed for a brush that can be used with maximum efficiency when washing dishes or other items with different shapes and sizes.
The present invention broadly comprises a brush with a rotating head that includes a handle having a first end and a second end; a fixed pivot head fixedly attached to said second end of said handle; a rotating head in rotational attachment to said fixed pivot head; a brush head attached to said rotating head; and, a trigger functionally attached to said rotation head. The rotating head rotates on a noncoaxial axis relative to said handle.
In one embodiment, the second end of the handle is provided with a flat cap to enable the brush to be placed so as to keep the brush head off a counter or other surface.
In a preferred embodiment, the brush head can be released from the rotating head and replaced.
One object of the invention is to supply a dish brush in which the angle between the handle and the brush head can be changed.
A second object of the invention is to provide a brush that can be efficiently used on both flat items and vessels such as glasses and cups.
The nature and mode of the operation of the present invention will now be more fully described in the following detailed description of the invention taken with the accompanying drawing Figures, in which:
At the outset, it should be appreciated that like drawing numbers on different drawing views identify identical structural elements of the invention. It also should be appreciated that figure proportions and angles are not always to scale in order to clearly portray the attributes of the present invention.
While the present invention is described with respect to what is presently considered to be the preferred embodiments, it is understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. The present invention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Furthermore, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the particular methodology, materials and modifications described and as such may, of course, vary. It is also understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular aspects only, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, which is limited only by the appended claims.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It should be appreciated that the term “substantially” is synonymous with terms such as “nearly”, “very nearly”, “about”, “approximately”, “around”, “bordering on”, “close to”, “essentially”, “in the neighborhood of”, “in the vicinity of”, etc., and such terms may be used interchangeably as appearing in the specification and claims. It should be appreciated that the term “proximate” is synonymous with terms such as “nearby”, “close”, “adjacent”, “neighboring”, “immediate”, “adjoining”, etc., and such terms may be used interchangeably as appearing in the specification and claims. Although any methods, devices or materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the invention, the preferred methods, devices, and materials are now described. Persons of skill in the art will recognize that embodiments described below may be fabricated from injection molding processes among other suitable processes.
Rotation pin 168 extends into rotation pin shaft 138 to hold rotation head 160 in a rotation attachment with pivot head 120 meaning that rotation head 160 remains attached to pivot head 160 while still being able to rotate around the axis provided by rotation pin 168. In this context, by rotating attachment is meant that a first item is attached to a second item in such a manner as to allow the first item to rotate relative to the second while remaining attached to the second item through an infinite number of rotations. It can be readily seen that the rotation axis N of rotation head 160 is noncoaxial with the longitudinal or length-wise axis A of handle 103.
Brush head 180 is attached to the bottom of rotating head 160. Bristles 182 extend from brush head 180. A locking structure on rotation head 160 locks onto brush head 180. In this context, brush head receiver ring 170 (“receiver ring 170”) is a ring that extends from the inner surface of rotation head wall 162 to form a continuous ring that receives and holds, preferably releasably holds, brush lock circle 184 (“lock circle 184”). The releasable connection between ring 170 and circle 184 enables the replacement of one brush head 180 for another.
Rotation pin 168 extends through an angled ceiling (not shown) of receiving head 160 to attach rotating head 160 to fixed pivot head 120. Clearly seen is locking ring 164 defining two lock slots 166. It will be recognized that the two lock slots 166 provide stopping points for the rotation of rotating head 160 around axis N when trigger lock stem 126b extends into one of lock slots 166. Persons of skill in the art will recognize that more lock slots may be defined by locking ring 164.
As explained above, rotating head 160 is attached to fixed pivot head 120 by attachment pin 168. Trigger 126 is placed into trigger slot 128 with trigger spring stem 126a positioned to receive trigger spring 134. Attachment pin housing 108 will be placed over and around attachment pin 130. In a preferred embodiment, flat cap 104 is affixed to the top of handle 102 to support brush 100 when it is placed with brush head 180 up on a supporting surface.
Thus it is seen that the objects of the invention are efficiently obtained. Although changes and modifications to the invention should be readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, such changes would not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.
