Patent Application
20180255914
The present invention relates generally to a hand-operated rotatable toothbrush which is designed in a small size for an infant or a person who cannot use a large-sized toothbrush, and more specifically to a hand-operated rotatable toothbrush which is capable of significantly reducing the size of a toothbrush, particularly the size of the head of a toothbrush on which toothbrush bristles are planted.
A typical toothbrush is configured such that toothbrush bristles are fastened onto the head of the toothbrush. Accordingly, there is no method capable of moving the toothbrush bristles a lot while slightly moving a toothbrush body, and thus a hand and a wrist are used a lot during tooth brushing.
An electric toothbrush is configured to brush teeth by means of an electric motor. When a toothbrush body is placed at an appropriate location, toothbrush bristles brush teeth while being automatically rotated, and thus it is not necessary to use a hand and a wrist a lot. Accordingly, an electric toothbrush is convenient in a case where it is necessary to easily brush teeth, such as a case where an arm or hand cannot be freely moved, a case where complex braces have been attached to teeth, or the like. However, an electric toothbrush requires that electronic parts, such as a battery, a motor, etc., need to be mounted on a toothbrush, and thus the price of the electric toothbrush is expensive. Furthermore, when moisture permeates the electric toothbrush, the electric toothbrush breaks down, and thus the management of the electric toothbrush is cumbersome.
A hand-operated rotatable toothbrush has an intermediate form between a typical toothbrush and an electric toothbrush. In the case where a user brushes his or her teeth while moving toothbrush bristles in a circular form, when the user places a toothbrush body on teeth and pushes it as he or her rotates it, the toothbrush body is rarely moved, and toothbrush bristles are rotated, thereby enabling gaps between teeth and between teeth and gums to be desirably cleaned. For the Fones brushing technique of brushing teeth in a circular form while occluding upper teeth and lower teeth, which is recommended as a correct tooth brushing method, the use of a hand-operated rotatable toothbrush is effective. Furthermore, a hand-operated rotatable toothbrush is manually operated, and thus electronic parts, such as a battery, a motor, etc. are not required. Accordingly, the use of the hand-operated rotatable toothbrush is convenient, and the price of the hand-operated rotatable toothbrush is relatively inexpensive.
Korean Patent Nos. 10-1464244 and 10-1697536 issued to the present applicant disclose such hand-operated rotatable toothbrushes. Since such a hand-operated rotatable toothbrush requires that toothbrush bristles are rotated separately from a toothbrush body, separate toothbrush bristles are rotatably mounted on a toothbrush head. Meanwhile, the toothbrushes disclosed in the above patents are configured such that two sets of toothbrush bristles are mounted on each of the toothbrushes and a portion where toothbrush bristles and a toothbrush head are coupled to each other is formed in a height direction rather than the circumferential direction of a toothbrush bristle base. Accordingly, the length and thickness of the toothbrush head are long and large, and thus it is difficult to apply these toothbrushes in the case where it is necessary to use a small toothbrush.
An object of the present invention is to provide a hand-operated rotatable toothbrush which is capable of significantly reducing the size of a toothbrush, particularly the thickness of the head of a toothbrush, so that it can be used in a case where a small-sized toothbrush is required, such as a case where it is difficult to open a mouth wide due to a small mouth or a particular situation in an oral cavity, as in the case of an infant.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a hand-operated rotatable toothbrush which is convenient when a person brushes the teeth of another person.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hand-operated rotatable toothbrush in which toothbrush bristles are mounted on a toothbrush body and which is rotatable by a hand, the hand-operated rotatable toothbrush including: a toothbrush body including a toothbrush head configured to have a hollow toothbrush bristle accommodation portion; and a toothbrush bristle body including a toothbrush bristle base configured to have a fastening means formed along the center of the side surface of the toothbrush bristle base in a circumferential direction; wherein a fastening means configured to engage with the fastening means of the toothbrush bristle base is formed along the center of the side surface of the inside of the toothbrush bristle accommodation portion in a circumferential direction; and wherein an elongated groove is formed to extend downward from the toothbrush bristle accommodation portion toward a toothbrush neck in order to ensure a space for the attachment and detachment of toothbrush bristles.
The fastening means of the toothbrush bristle accommodation portion may be a coupling protrusion, and the fastening means of the toothbrush bristle base may be a coupling groove.
The fastening means of the toothbrush bristle accommodation portion may be a coupling groove, and the fastening means of the toothbrush bristle base may be a coupling protrusion.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hand-operated rotatable toothbrush in which toothbrush bristles are mounted on a toothbrush body and which is rotatable by a hand, the hand-operated rotatable toothbrush including: a toothbrush body including a toothbrush head configured to have a hollow toothbrush bristle accommodation portion so that toothbrush bristles are mounted in a direction identical to that of the toothbrush body in order to enable a person to conveniently brush the teeth of another human; and a toothbrush bristle body including a fastening means formed along the center of the side surface of a toothbrush bristle base in a circumferential direction; wherein a fastening means configured to engage with the fastening means of the toothbrush bristle base is formed along the center of the side surface of the inside of the toothbrush bristle accommodation portion in a circumferential direction; and wherein a part of the toothbrush bristle accommodation portion is cut out and an elongated groove is formed through a toothbrush neck in order to ensure a space for the attachment and detachment of toothbrush bristles.
The fastening means of the toothbrush bristle accommodation portion and the fastening means of the toothbrush bristle base may be a coupling protrusion and a coupling groove, or a coupling groove and a coupling protrusion.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The present invention is intended for a small-sized toothbrush, and thus the following description will be given with a focus on a configuration on which a single circular toothbrush bristle body rotatable around 360 degrees is mounted. However, it will be apparent that the configuration of the present invention may be applied to a general size toothbrush, for example, a toothbrush on which two toothbrush bristle bodies are mounted.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
According to the present invention, the size of the toothbrush head, particularly the thickness of the toothbrush head, is significantly reduced, and thus an effect can be achieved in that the toothbrush can be conveniently used when an infant or a person who cannot open his or her mouth wide due to a poor situation in an oral cavity directly brushes his or her teeth or when a guardian brushes the teeth of another person.
Although the specific embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2017-0029840 | Mar 2017 | KR | national |
