Patent Application
20160015163
The present disclosure is concerned with an oral-care implement, and in particular with an oral-care implement that communicates to a consumer, by coordinated color pattern(s), information pertaining to functional characteristics of its cleaning elements.
Oral-care implements, such as manual toothbrushes and refills for power/electrical toothbrushes, comprising a plurality of cleaning filaments, or bristles, are well known in the art. Typically, the filaments are arranged in tufts and are attached to a mounting surface of a portion of the oral-care implement's plastic body (also known as a “head”) intended for insertion into a user's mouth. Typically, the tuft has an outer lateral surface having, overall, either a substantially cylindrical shape or a substantially rectangular shape. The filaments' free ends can be end-rounded or otherwise treated to eliminate sharp edges at the filaments' tips and hence their potential harmful effect on gums during brushing.
The oral-care implement's working surface, comprising a “surface” formed by the combined field of the filaments' tips, can be profiled to comprise any suitable shape, including, e.g. and without limitation, concave, convex, wavy, and the like shapes. A grip handle may be either removably attached to the head or made integral with the head. The former configuration is typical for a power brush, while the latter is for a manual brush.
Conventional cylindrical filaments have been used in a variety of oral-care implements. While some toothbrushes comprising cylindrical filaments can adequately clean the outer buccal face of teeth, they may have certain limitations with respect to providing effective removal of plaque and debris from the gingival margins, interproximal areas, lingual surfaces, and other hard-to-reach areas of the mouth. Smooth cylindrical surfaces and/or smooth tips of the conventional filaments are not effective for picking up and utilizing the particles in dentifrice. Nor can they have effective abrasion efficiency against dental plaque.
Therefore, toothbrush manufactures, in addition to conventional cylindrical filaments, have begun using filaments having a variety of shapes, including cross-sectional shapes, and a variety of surfaces, including textured surfaces. Non-cylindrical filaments and/or filaments having textured or roughened surface may provide a better plaque-removal and/or stain-removal efficacy. Non-limiting examples of non-cylindrical filaments include filaments having spiral or helical shapes, filaments having elliptical cross-sectional shapes, filaments having rectangular cross-sectional shapes, filaments having triangular cross-sectional shapes, filaments comprising X-shaped or cross-shaped cross-sections, filaments comprising star-shaped cross-section, filaments comprising bi-lobal and multi-lobal cross-sections, and the like. Oral-care implements having composite filaments, i.e., filaments comprising more than one material, are also known in the art.
Multiple attempts to design more effective filaments have been made. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,314 is directed to a toothbrush having an improved cleaning and abrasion efficiency. The bristles in that toothbrush contain longitudinal channels having a depth sufficient to entrap a quantity of abrasive particles such that during brushing with toothpaste, contact between the channel-entrapped abrasive particles and the surfaces of the teeth is improved. U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,143 is directed to a toothbrushes having abrasive impregnated bristles of two cross-section designs, i.e., to generally circular and polygon with the latter described as having longitudinal groove arrangements. U.S. Pat. No. 4,167,794 is directed to rounded bristles having shovel-like distal ends for more effective plaque removal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,402 is directed to fiber-flocking synthetic bristles that can retain and more effectively distributing a substance on the surface to be treated. U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,230 is directed to bristles having a polygon cross-section having at least two acute angles that impart a “scraping” effect on the teeth. U.S. Pat. No. 3,214,777 is directed to bristles having a rectangular cross-sectional area.
A variety of shapes of filaments and/or filament surfaces used in today's advanced oral-care implements creates a need to easily communicate, to a consumer, specific information pertaining to a particular type or types of filaments used in a given oral-care implement—and thus advantages provided thereby. A typical toothbrush can have from about 400 to about 1000 cleaning filaments. For example, in a basic brush having 36 tuft holes and an average number of filaments 24, there are 864 filaments altogether, tightly packed in tufts. If the filaments are stapled, i.e., bent in half, the number of their free ends is 1728. A typical cleaning filament's equivalent diameter, or an average cross-sectional dimension, is from about 0.1 mm to about 0.21 mm. Such a small size of an individual filament makes it virtually impossible for a naked human eye to see, much less assess, the individual filament's geometry, including the shape of the individual filament's tip or cross-section.
A commonly assigned application CM04051FQ, EP14158836.8, which is incorporated herein by reference, is directed to providing an oral-care implement's head comprising a plurality of filaments arranged in a tuft having a scaled-up shape with respect to the shape of the cross-sectional area of the individual filament.
In addition, information pertaining to functional characteristics of the filaments, including their geometry and cross-sectional shapes, can be communicated by using color forming certain shapes on the working surface of the oral-care implement. Likewise, information regarding the superior efficacy of the oral-care product, having those filaments, can be communicated to the consumer. The present disclosure is directed to accomplishing these tasks.
An oral-care implement comprises a mounting surface having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and a plurality of filaments outwardly extending from the mounting surface in at least one direction not parallel to either one of the longitudinal axis and the transverse axis, each filament having a free end terminating with a tip. At least some of the filaments possess at least one functional characteristic selected from the group consisting of filament's structure, composition, cross-sectional shape, tip geometry, and any combination thereof. A plurality of filament tips comprises a working surface that includes at least a first color and a second color different from the first color. The at least first forms at least one scaled-up image graphically replicating the at least one functional characteristic, thereby visually communicating to a consumer that the oral-care implement includes filaments having certain functional characteristic(s).
The at least one functional characteristic may include the filament's shape, such as, e.g., a rectangular or other non-circular shape of the filament's cross-section perpendicular to the filament's longitudinal axis. In that instance, the at least one image comprises a rectangular having the first color and a background having a second color. If the filament has a cylindrical shape, and therefore a circular cross-section, the at least one image comprises a circle having the first color and a background having a second color.
In another exemplary embodiment, the at least one functional characteristic comprises a rectangular cross-section of a filament, and the at least one image comprises a rectangular having the first color and a background having the second color.
In still another exemplary embodiment, the at least one functional characteristic comprises a triangular cross-section of a filament, and the at least one image comprises a triangular having the first color and a background having the second color.
In yet another exemplary embodiment, the at least one functional characteristic comprises an elliptical cross-section of a filament, and the at least one image comprises an ellipse having the first color and a background having the second color.
In one particular exemplary embodiment, the at least one functional characteristic comprises an X-shaped, or cross-shaped, cross-section of a filament, and the at least one image comprises an X-shaped, or cross-shaped, area having the first color and a background having the second color.
In a further exemplary embodiment, the at least one functional characteristic comprises a star-shaped cross-section of a filament, and the at least one image comprises a star-shaped area having the first color and a background having the second color.
In an exemplary embodiment in which the at least one functional characteristic comprises a multi-lobal cross-section of a filament, the at least one image comprises a multi-lobal area having the first color and a background having the second color.
In another exemplary embodiment of the oral-care implement, the at least one functional characteristic comprises a tapered tip of a filament, and the at least one image comprises a triangle having the first color and a background having the second color, wherein the triangle proportionally approximates relative dimensions of the tapered tip.
The at least one functional characteristic may comprise a filament's tip surface that includes one or more islands, formed by one or more protrusions or one or more craters. Then, the at least one image comprises one or more areas having the first color and a background having the second color.
In an exemplary embodiment in which the at least one functional characteristic comprises a multi-component composition of a filament, the at least one image comprises at least one area having the first color circumferentially encompassed by at least one ring having the second color. In a further embodiment, the working surface may optionally include a third color, different from the first color and the second color, the third color forming a background.
In another exemplary embodiment, the oral-care implement may comprise a first plurality of filaments and a second plurality of filaments, the first plurality of filaments having a first functional characteristic, and the second plurality of filaments having a second functional characteristic, wherein the first functional characteristic is different from the second functional characteristic. In a further embodiment, the first plurality of filaments may comprise the first color and the second plurality of filaments may comprise the second color.
In an exemplary embodiment of the oral-care implement comprising three pluralities of filaments: a first plurality of filaments, a second plurality of filaments, and a third plurality of filaments. The first plurality of filaments may have a first functional characteristic, the second plurality of filaments may have a second functional characteristic, and the third plurality of filaments may have a third functional characteristic. The first functional characteristic and/or the second functional characteristic and/or the third functional characteristic can be selected from the group consisting of filament's structure, composition, cross-sectional shape, tip geometry, and any combination thereof.
In one embodiment of the oral-care implement of the disclosure, the at least one functional characteristic may comprise a roughened area of a portion of the filament's surface, such as, e.g., the filament's free end and an area adjacent thereto. Then, the at least one image may comprises a graphic outline including the first color and comprising a broken line, selected from the group consisting of a dotted line, dashed line, and any combination thereof.
In a further embodiment, some of the filaments can be arranged in one or more tufts having a shape comprising a scaled-up image graphically replicating a shape of the cross-section of the filaments forming this of these tuft or tufts.
Embodiments are contemplated in which the first color comprises a color-changing material or color-fading material. Such a material may cause the first color to gradually change or fade to eventually match the second color after a predetermined period of use of the oral-care implement.
In one particular embodiment, the first color may at least partially cover the second color, and the first color is structured to slowly worn away during the use of the oral-care implement to indicate an extent to which the filaments are worn. When the first color is substantially worn away after a predetermined period of use of the oral-care implement, the scaled-up image graphically replicating the functional characteristic is noticeably altered—and may even be largely destroyed. This can effectively signal to the user that the filaments no longer possess the desired functional characteristic(s) for effectively performing their intended function.
The invention is also directed to a manual toothbrush and/or a refill for an electrical toothbrush comprising the oral-care implement as described herein.
The embodiments set forth in the drawings are illustrative and exemplary in nature—and neither are intended to limit the subject matter defined by the claims nor should be interpreted to exclude embodiments not specifically illustrated by the drawings. The detailed description of the illustrative embodiments can be best understood when read in conjunction with the drawings, where like structures are indicated with like reference numerals.
As used herein, the following terms have the following meanings.
“Color” includes, all spectral qualities such as red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet, black, white, brown, gray, and so on. In addition, the term includes any aspect of the appearance of any components of an oral-care implement, such as, e.g., filaments, that may be described in terms of relative intensity, brightness, hue, lightness, saturation, as well as any specific combination of the above—as long as one color (e.g., a “first color”) is distinguishable from another color (i.e., a “second color”) or other colors in visible light. For example, a group of filaments having a dark-blue color and a group of filaments having a light-blue color are two groups of filaments having different colors for the purposes of this disclosure.
“Cross-section” of a filament is a filament's surface or shape that is or would be exposed by making a straight cut through the filament substantially perpendicularly to the filament's longitudinal axis. “Longitudinal cross-section” is a filament's surface or shape that is or would be exposed by making a straight cut through the filament substantially parallel to the filament's longitudinal axis.
“Filament's structure” includes, among other things, a roughened or textured surface of a filament. For example, a portion of the filament's surface can be roughened or otherwise textured to include surface irregularities that would increase the efficacy of stain and plaque removal from the teeth surface. Such a roughened/textured portion may include, e.g., the entire surface of the filament or only the filament's free end and an area adjacent thereto. The term also includes a side-view profile of a filament or the longitudinal cross-section of a filament. The term may also refer to such qualities of the filament as having an antimicrobial agent.
“Image” and “scaled-up image” refer to a visual representation of an object, such as, e.g., a shape of the filament's cross-section or a shape of the filament's free end, which visual representation can be easily observed by a human's naked eye in visible light. In the context of a filament, and particularly filament's cross-section, an “image” or a “scaled-up image” may beneficially have approximate likeness or resemblance to the filament's cross-section represented by the scaled-up image. The scaled-up image may, in some instances retain the essential proportions of the shape being emulated by that scaled-up image. One example of this comprises the scaled-up image of a cylindrical filament, having a round cross-section. In other instances, only a principal configuration need to be emulated by the scaled-up image, and the relative proportions of the corresponding elements do not need to be identical. If, for example, an X-shaped cross-section of a filament includes 90-degree angles formed between two mutually intersecting elements of the cross-section as viewed in plan view, the scaled-up image of such an X-shaped cross-section may have elements intersecting at angles from about 30 degrees to about 60 degrees—as long as the principal shape of the filament's X-shaped cross-section is effectively communicated to a consumer through the scaled-up image.
The terms “image” and “scaled-up image” also include visual representations made in accordance with the Gestault principles of perception, relying on similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, symmetry, common-region, focal-point, and related concepts. People tend to see the whole before they see the individual parts that make up that whole. Because a human eye differentiates an object from a surrounding area, people can perceive a shape/form/silhouette/outline as an image of a figure, while the surrounding area is perceived as a background. People also perceive similarly looking objects as a group of related objects, a pattern, or a single unit. When an object is incomplete but enough of the object's shape is indicated, people perceive the whole object by filling in the missing information. For example, a broken line comprising two, three, of four identically curved lines disposed in a shape of a circle will impart, as a whole, the perception of a complete circle even though the object itself is incomplete. Likewise, four straight lines disposed in a shape of a square but not touching one another at “corners” will be perceived as a square even though none of the lines is connected to any of the other line.
“Plan view” of an oral-care implement refers to an appearance of the oral-care implement as seen from above, wherein the observer's line of vision is substantially perpendicular to a fiber-mounting surface of the implement.
“Polygon” includes geometric figures comprising triangles, rectangles, rhombuses, trapezoids, squares, tetragons, and the like, as well as regular and irregular polygons having five, six, seven, eight, and more sides.
This invention is particularly beneficial for the purposes of communicating functional characteristics of filaments having cross-sections comprising non-circular shapes. Two exemplary embodiments of devices that include an oral-care implement 10 of the disclosure are schematically shown in
The oral care-implement 10 comprises a mounting surface 20 having a longitudinal axis LX and a transverse axis TX perpendicular to the longitudinal axis LX. A plurality of filaments 30 outwardly extends from the mounting surface 20 in at least one direction not parallel to either one of the longitudinal axis LX and the transverse axis TX. One skilled in the art will readily understand that the filaments 30 may have different orientations relative to the mounting surface 20 and to one another. Thus, the individual filaments 30, or tufts of the filaments 30, may have differential angles relative to the mounting surface 20—and consequently may extend therefrom in more than one direction not parallel to either of the axes LX, TX.
Each of the filaments 30 has a free end 40 terminating with a tip 50,
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The working surface 60 includes at least a first color 61 and a second color 62 different from the first color. Depending on the application, the first and second colors 61, 62 may be chosen to comprise contrasting colors, such as, e.g., black and white, or red and green. The first and second colors 61, 62 may also be chosen to comprise somewhat related but at the same time definitely distinguishable colors—particularly when these colors are mutually juxtaposed on a product and the difference therebetween can be easily observed. Non-limiting examples of the latter include a first color 61 comprising light-blue color and a second color 62 comprising dark-blue color, or a first color 61 comprising red (warm) violet/purple color and a second color 62 comprising blue (cool) violet/purple color.
Any suitable method known in the art can be used to produce the plurality of filaments having the at least first and second colors 61, 62. For example, the filaments can be made from a material having a desired color. Additionally or alternatively, the filaments can be colored during an extrusion process. For example, colored filaments can be made by first mixing colorant into base resin, melting the mixture, and then extruding the molten mixture through the capillary die. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,255, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a ring dyeing process wherein a filament is contacted with a dye for a time sufficient to at least color surface and preferably to also penetrate into a portion of cross-sectional area to provide a degree of dye penetration.
The filaments can be colored in their entirety—or, alternatively, only free ends and, optionally, surfaces areas adjacent thereto can have a requisite color. The tips of the filaments can be dyed as a post-process, after the filaments have been cut, stapled into a brush head, and trimmed and/or end-rounded. The filament tip can then be soaked into a liquid dye for a specific period of time. To selectively dye a specific area of the filaments on a brush, one can use, e.g., a cover with a cut-out hole of the shape of the area that needs to be dyed. When the cover shields a top portion of the brush head, only the filament tips exposed through the cut-out hole on the brush head (and having length of approximately 1 mm-2 mm) can be dyed, by e.g., being dipped into a dye for a period of time.
Another example includes coextruding a filament having two materials and two different colorants such as, e.g., the one disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,834, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, and which is directed to sustained-release matrices for dental application including either an anti-microbial agent or a colorant that is released from the matrix when the matrix contacts water. The preferred matrices include a water-soluble polymer and a water-insoluble support resin.
In a further example, free ends of a plurality of bi-component or multi-component filaments, each comprising at least one core having a first color and a sheath having a second color, can be treated to remove, mechanically or chemically, the second material from the filaments' free ends (e.g., from about 1 mm to about 2 mm) This would cause the core material, having the first color, being exposed—and will result in the filament with a tip or tips (and areas adjacent thereto) having the first color and the rest of the filament's body having the second color.
The first color forms at least one scaled-up image 70 (
Each of the first color 61 and the second color 62, and a color of the mounting surface 20 can be coordinated as desired. Such an arrangement may be particularly beneficial in embodiments where the mounting surface is largely visible in a plan view, through the plurality of filaments 30. For example, one of the first and second colors 61, 62 can be selected to complement, or coincide with, the color of the mounting surface 20, while the other one of the first and second colors 61, 62 can be selected to contrast the color of the mounting surface 20.
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The oral-care implement 10 may have more than one plurality of filaments 30. In
In a further exemplary embodiment, schematically illustrated in
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If, for example, the oral-care implement comprises a first plurality of cylindrical filaments, a second plurality of rectangular filaments, and a third plurality of X-shaped filaments, the scaled-up X-shaped image may be formed by (a) the cylindrical filaments, (b) the rectangular filaments, and (c) the X-shaped filaments, or any combination thereof. Likewise, the scaled-up rectangular image may be formed by (a) the cylindrical filaments, (b) the rectangular filaments, and (c) the X-shaped filaments, or any combination thereof. Of course, an embodiment is contemplated in which the scaled-up X-shaped image is formed only by the X-shaped filaments, and the scaled-up rectangular image is formed by only the rectangular filaments.
In some embodiments, any of the pluralities of filaments may comprise an individual tuft or a plurality of tufts. In the exemplary embodiment of
Embodiments are contemplated in which any of the pluralities of filaments may comprise any tuft or plurality of tufts. If, for example, the oral-care implement comprises a first plurality of cylindrical filaments, a second plurality of rectangular filaments, and a third plurality of X-shaped filaments, an X-shaped tuft or plurality of tufts may be formed by (a) the cylindrical filaments, (b) the rectangular filaments, and (c) the X-shaped filaments, or any combination thereof. Likewise, a rectangular tuft or plurality of tufts may be formed by (a) the cylindrical filaments, (b) the rectangular filaments, and (c) the X-shaped filaments, or any combination thereof. Of course, an embodiment is contemplated in which the X-shaped tuft or plurality of tufts is formed only by the X-shaped filaments, and the rectangular tuft or plurality of tufts is formed by only the rectangular filaments. Regardless of whether or not the shape of any of the first, second, and third tuft or plurality of tufts has a scaled-up shape of the filaments forming that tuft or plurality of tufts, any of the first, second, and third tufts or plurality of tufts can be colored to comprise a scaled-up image or scaled-up images as described herein.
In further exemplary embodiments of the oral-care implement 10, schematically illustrated in
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In further embodiments of the oral-care implement 10, one of the colors can be designed to change with the passage of time—to indicated to a user an extent to which the filaments are worn—and eventually that the oral-care implement needs to be replaced with a new one. This can be done using a variety of methods. For example, the first color may comprise a color-changing material that would causes the first color to gradually change—to eventually match the second color after a predetermined period of use of the oral-care implement. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,909, directed to wear-indicating filaments, is incorporated by reference herein.
In another embodiment, the first color may be structured to slowly wear away during the use of the oral-care implement. If the first color covers a portion or portions of the second color, the incremental wearing away of the first color would be incrementally exposing the second color covered by the first color. This, too, would indicate to a user an extent to which the filaments are worn. Eventually the first color will substantially wear away after a predetermined period of use of the oral-care implement, and that scaled-up image graphically replicating the functional characteristic will be noticeably altered or altogether erased. This will indicate to a user that the oral-care implement needs to be replaced.
One skilled in the art should realize that many more embodiments encompassing the claimed invention can be constructed based on the principles of the present disclosure. For example, an oral-care implement 10t may have a scaled-up image 70t comprising a plurality of triangles representing the functional characteristic of a filament 30t having a trimmed tip, as is shown in
Some of the filaments may include an antimicrobial agent. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,834, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an antimicrobial agent comprising chlorhexidine digluconate, which is well-known for its gingivitis-prevention properties. The amount of chlorhexidine included may depend, among other things, on the level of the desired dosage, and may comprise between 1 percent and 30 percent of chlorhexidine digluconate by weight.
While particular embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, various other changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Moreover, although various aspects of the invention have been described herein, such aspects need not be utilized in combination. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of the invention.
The terms “substantially,” “essentially,” “about,” “approximately,” and the like, as may be used herein, represent the inherent degree of uncertainty that may be attributed to any quantitative comparison, value, measurement, or other representation. These terms also represent the degree by which a quantitative representation may vary from a stated reference without resulting in a change in the basic function of the subject matter at issue. Further, the dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. Instead, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. For example, values disclosed as “0.1 mm” or “90 degrees” are intended to mean, respectively, “about 0.1 mm” or “about 90 degrees.”
The disclosure of every document cited herein, including any cross-referenced or related patent or application, and any patent application or patent to which this application claims priority or benefit thereof, is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety unless expressly excluded or otherwise limited. The citation of any document is not an admission that it is prior art with respect to any invention disclosed or claimed herein—or that it alone, or in any combination with any other reference or references, teaches, suggests, or discloses any such invention. Further, to the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the same or similar term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to or contextually implied by that term in this document shall govern.
