Patent Application
20240225257
Dental hygiene is crucial for personal care. Conventional toothbrushes lack a mechanism for storing and dispensing a dental cleaning agent within the toothbrush. Travel cases for toothbrushes require multiple parts which limit or prevent convenient single hand usage. Furthermore, toothbrushes can become contaminated during storage and travel, which limits the effectiveness of the toothbrushes for a user.
In some embodiments, a toothbrush includes a deployable neck configured to support a cleaning head, wherein the deployable neck is deployable from a body including a brush storage compartment and a cleaning agent compartment. The brush storage compartment and the cleaning agent compartment are separated from one another such that water or other liquids from the brush cannot contact the stored cleaning agent in the cleaning agent compartment.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Additional features and advantages will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the teachings herein. Features and advantages of the disclosure may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. Features of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims or may be learned by the practice of the disclosure as set forth hereinafter.
In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and other features of the disclosure can be obtained, a more particular description will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings. For better understanding, the like elements have been designated by like reference numbers throughout the various accompanying figures. While some of the drawings may be schematic or exaggerated representations of concepts, at least some of the drawings may be drawn to scale. Understanding that the drawings depict some example embodiments, the embodiments will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
The present disclosure relates generally to personal care devices for dental hygiene purposes. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a portable personal care device that includes a cleaning agent compartment and/or dispenser. The portable personal care device allows the storage and transport of a toothbrush or other personal care article in a sanitary and convenient manner with a cleaning agent stored and available for dispensation in a separate compartment of the device. In some embodiments, the portable personal care device allows that user to dispense a cleaning agent from a body of the device, deploy a brush or other component from the body of the device, and use the brush or other component with a single hand and without disconnecting any parts of the device. Single-hand operation can make some embodiments of the portable personal care device described herein convenient and safe for use while performing other tasks of the user's day or schedule, such as walking, driving, working, or other personal care tasks.
Referring to
In some embodiments, the cleaning agent 118 is a solid cleaning agent, such as dry toothpaste powder compacted into tablets. In some embodiments, the cleaning agent 118 is a solid cleaning agent, such as dry toothpaste powder in a loose powder. In some embodiments, the cleaning agent 118 is a fluid cleaning agent, such as a gel toothpaste, a paste toothpaste, or a liquid mouthwash.
As described herein, a hinge 106 may allow the rotation of the neck 102, head 108, and/or bristles 110 relative to the body 104 to move the personal care device 100 between the open position and the closed position. In some embodiments, the personal care device 100 includes one or more detents 120. For example, a detent 120 may maintain the personal care device 100 in a closed position. In other examples, a detent 120 may maintain the personal care device 100 in an open position. In at least one example, a detent 120 may maintain the personal care device 100 in any position between the open position and the closed position, such as holding the neck 102 at a 900 angle to a top surface of the body 104.
In some embodiments, a detent 120 is located in the hinge 106 to selectively maintain the neck 102 and body 104 at a selected angle therebetween. In other embodiments, the hinge 106 is a friction hinge that resists movement of the neck 102 and body 104 relative to one another up to a threshold value. For example, the friction hinge may provide up to 1 newton-meter of torque to resist rotation of the neck 102 relative to the body 104 to hold the neck 102 and body 104 relative to one another, while still allowing a user to manipulate the hinge 106. In at least some embodiments, the hinge 106 includes a biasing element, such as a coil spring, a leaf spring, or a torsional spring that biases the hinge 106 toward a position. For example, a torsional spring may bias the hinge 106 toward an open position, allowing a user to open the personal care device 100 with a single hand. In another example, a hinge 106 with a leaf spring operably coupled to a cam at the end of the neck 102 may bias the neck 102 into both the open position and the closed position, while applying a torque to the neck 102 in an rotational position therebetween, Such a bistable hinge 106 biases the personal care device 100 towards both the open position and the closed position. In some embodiments, the hinge 106 is a motorized hinge including an electric motor that applies a torque between the neck 102 and the body 104. In some embodiments, the motorized hinge is powered by a battery in the body 104, as will be described herein.
While the embodiment of
In some embodiments, a personal care device may dispense fluid cleaning agents.
In addition to periodic changing of the head and/or bristles, some embodiments of a personal care device according to the present disclosure clean the bristles and/or head of the personal care device. For example, the personal care device may include a sterilization component that sterilizes one or more portions of the personal care device between uses by a user.
In some embodiments, the power source 844 is a battery. The battery may be rechargeable and/or replaceable. In some embodiments, the power source 844 may be a solar panel. In some embodiments, the power source 844 may include an electrical connection to allow an external power supply to charge the battery and/or provide power to the sterilization component 842. For example, the power source 844 may include an inductive charging coil that generates an electric current in the presence of a magnetic field to power the sterilization component 842. In at least one example, the user may place the personal care device 800 on a magnetic induction charging pad and the induced current in the power source 844 may power the sterilization component 842 to sterilize the bristles 810 while the personal care device 800 is positioned on the magnetic induction charging pad.
In other embodiments, the sterilization component 842 may be activated when the personal care device 800 is in a closed position, such as when the bristles 810 are proximate the sterilization component 842. In some example, the detent 820 includes or is a switch that activate the sterilization component 842. In other examples, the detent 820 or other switch activates the sterilization component 842, and the sterilization component remains active for a predetermined sterilization duration, such as 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, one hour, or other predetermined duration to sterilize at least a portion of the personal care device 800 while managing available energy in the power source 844. In other embodiments, the sterilization component is positioned in the cleaning agent compartment 814 and configured to sterilize the cleaning agent 818 and/or carrier 822.
The articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements in the preceding descriptions. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. For example, any element described in relation to an embodiment herein may be combinable with any element of any other embodiment described herein. Numbers, percentages, ratios, or other values stated herein are intended to include that value, and also other values that are “about” or “approximately” the stated value, as would be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art encompassed by embodiments of the present disclosure. A stated value should therefore be interpreted broadly enough to encompass values that are at least close enough to the stated value to perform a desired function or achieve a desired result. The stated values include at least the variation to be expected in a suitable manufacturing or production process, and may include values that are within 5%, within 1%, within 0.1%, or within 0.01% of a stated value.
A person having ordinary skill in the art should realize in view of the present disclosure that equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, and that various changes, substitutions, and alterations may be made to embodiments disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Equivalent constructions, including functional “means-plus-function” clauses are intended to cover the structures described herein as performing the recited function, including both structural equivalents that operate in the same manner, and equivalent structures that provide the same function. It is the express intention of the applicant not to invoke means-plus-function or other functional claiming for any claim except for those in which the words ‘means for’ appear together with an associated function. Each addition, deletion, and modification to the embodiments that falls within the meaning and scope of the claims is to be embraced by the claims.
It should be understood that any directions or reference frames in the preceding description are merely relative directions or movements. For example, any references to “front” and “back” or “top” and “bottom” or “left” and “right” are merely descriptive of the relative position or movement of the related elements.
The present disclosure may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the disclosure is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.
This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/437,400 entitled “SANITARY TRAVEL TOOTHBRUSH” filed Jan. 6, 2022, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63437400 | Jan 2023 | US |
