Patent Application
20180160795
The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art nor material to the presently described or claimed inventions, nor that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
The present invention relates generally to the field of brushes and more specifically relates to toothbrush art.
Brushing teeth is a common health maintenance task in addition to a socially acceptable act of hygiene. The task involves using a tooth brush where the bristles are ‘loaded’ with toothpaste. The tooth brush and toothpaste are common items in bathroom toiletries as well as portable for remote use. Carrying both a tooth brush and toothpaste separately is space consuming and prone to leaving one or the other item behind. A suitable solution is required.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,496,393 to Martin and Erb relates to a refillable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush. The described a refillable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush includes a toothpaste containing capsule for dispensing toothpaste through the bristle head of the toothbrush.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known toothbrush art, the present disclosure provides a novel disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system and method. The general purpose of the present disclosure, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system and method.
Disclosed is a device that combines a toothbrush with a changeable head assembly connected to a body assembly that is filled with toothpaste for single or multi use. The user simply fills the hollow chamber with his/her favorite toothpaste, inserts the twist cap, gives it a twist or two and the paste is pushed up through a plurality of holes at the base of the bristles in the head of the brush. Tooth paste is pushed up onto the bristles and ready for teeth cleaning through the action of twisting the twist cap. In the single use embodiment, the hollow chamber in the toothpaste comes filled with toothpaste and ready to use. In the multi-use embodiment, toothpaste may be refillable from a tube of toothpaste or as a prepackaged, insertable cartridge.
A disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system and method is disclosed herein. The disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system includes a head assembly, a body, and a twist cap together in functional combination. According to this embodiment, the head assembly and the body are removably couplable via a receptacle and a connection mechanism. The body assembly and twist cap are removably couplable via a locking mechanism and a locking receiver. The head assembly includes a toothpaste chamber, a plurality of bristles, a plurality of openings, and a neck assembly together in functional combination. The neck assembly includes: the receptacle, and a hollow passageway together in functional combination. The body assembly preferably has at least one sealed, transparent viewing window, connection mechanism, a hollow chamber, a rotating assembly and a locking receiver together in functional combination.
Toothpaste is stored in the hollow chamber. Toothpaste passes from the hollow chamber in the body assembly to the head assembly toothpaste chamber via the hollow passageway when the user turns the twist cap. Toothpaste is inserted into and stored within the hollow chamber via an opening in the body assembly connection mechanism. The opening is sealed with the twist cap which is held in place by the locking mechanism on the twist cap and locking receiver within the body assembly.
The rotating assembly includes a screw gear having a driven mechanism and a plunger. A user activates the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system by twisting the twist cap. The twist cap rotates freely within the locking receptacle. A driving mechanism that is affixed to the twist cap drives the driven mechanism which in turn rotates the screw gear thrusting the plunger along the axial length of the screw gear. The plunger is sealed against the walls of the hollow chamber. The combination of the sealing action and the movement of the plunger axially along the screw gear forces toothpaste through the hollow chamber into the toothpaste chamber and finally out the plurality of openings where the toothpaste is distributed along the plurality of bristles. In one embodiment, the plurality of bristles are affixed to the head assembly and the plurality of openings are separate from the bristles.
In alternate embodiments, the body assembly may include a plurality of sealed, transparent viewing windows offering the advantage of backlighting the contents for determining the amount of available toothpaste.
In another embodiment of the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system the plurality of openings comprise a flexible gate for enabling toothpaste to pass and venting to occur when pressure is applied from within the toothpaste chamber while returning to a sealed state for keeping toothpaste from drying and/or hardening once pressure equalizes.
According to another embodiments of the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system, the plurality of bristles protrude through the plurality of openings and the plurality of bristles are affixed to a floating bar that floats on the toothpaste within the toothpaste chamber. The floating bar is sealed against the walls of the toothpaste chamber by toothpaste pressure within the toothpaste. The sealing action keeps air from drying out the toothpaste thus preventing hardening during periods of non-use. The action of pressing the bristles against the teeth moves the bristles into the toothpaste chamber which in turn moves the floating bar breaking the seal with the head assembly and forcing toothpaste to flow through the plurality of openings onto the bristles. This feature offers a further advantage by allowing venting of the toothpaste chamber when filling the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system by pushing on the bristles to break the seal and thus allow air to escape the toothpaste chamber as it is filled.
According to another embodiment the floating bar is forced against the plurality of openings by compression springs for the purposes of forming a seal between the floating bar and the plurality of openings.
According to yet another embodiment of the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system, the floating bar is sealed against the walls of the toothpaste chamber via o rings on the bristles.
According to another embodiment of the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system the hollow chamber may accommodate a toothpaste cartridge.
In the preferred embodiment, the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system is a complete, non-refillable assembly intended for one-time use. According to another embodiment, the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system has a head assembly that is sold separately for replacing due to wear or for health and cleanliness reasons.
For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.
The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and methods of use for the present disclosure, a disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system and method, constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present disclosure.
The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements.
As discussed above, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to brushes with reservoir or other means for applying substances and more specifically relates to toothbrush art as used to improve the convenience of brushing teeth.
Generally speaking, disclosed is a device that combines a toothbrush with a changeable head and body that fills with toothpaste for single or multi use. The disclosure offers advantages in dispensing toothpaste as well as sealing the toothpaste from becoming hard or drying out.
Referring now more specifically to the drawings by numerals of reference, there is shown in
According to one embodiment, the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system 100 may be arranged as a kit 105. In particular, the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system 100 may further include a set of instructions 155. The instructions 155 may detail functional relationships in relation to the structure of the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system 100 (such that the disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system 100 can be used, maintained, or the like, in a preferred manner).
Method of use 500 for disposable toothpaste dispensing toothbrush system 100 may further comprise the steps of: step five 505 refilling the hollow chamber 160 with toothpaste and step six 506 replacing the head assembly 120 when worn or for cleanliness.
It should be noted that steps 505 and 506 are an optional steps and may not be implemented in all cases. Optional steps of method of use 500 are illustrated using dotted lines in
The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.
