Toothbrush with toothpaste autodispenser

United States Patent Application 20080304900

An oral hygiene device is disclosed. A toothbrush attached to a case or cartridge that works as a handle and contains toothpaste in its interior. To allow inner, fast and automatic toothpaste flow on the toothbrush bristles, a button (stopcock) located on the top of the case or cartridge has to be pushed down. Upon releasing the stopcock, toothpaste flow stops. The longer the stopcock is held down, the larger amount of toothpaste will flow on the bristles.

Chunga Chavez, Luis Miguel (San Isidro, PE)

12/156413

12/11/2008

05/30/2008

Click for automatic bibliography generation

401/270

15/167.1, 401/190

A46B11/04; A46B9/04; A46B11/02; A47L13/22

Download PDF 20080304900  

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OLIVER, BRADLEY S

John Dodds (Washington, DC, US)

What is claimed is:

1. A toothpaste dispensing toothbrush comprising: a container unit, a stopcock unit, and a brush unit; said container unit having a cartridge containing pressurized toothpaste; said cartridge further having a first end and a second end; said first end being sealed with a cover having an opening and said second end being closed with an adjusting cap; said adjusting cap consisting of a bottom, a top and a conical spring in between of the bottom and the top; and said spring being in a compressed state when the container is full of toothpaste and being in rest state when the container is empty; the stopcock unit comprising a case, a vertical hatch, a conical spring, and two horizontal ducts, said case having four vertical walls and two horizontal walls; said vertical hatch having an upper end, a lower end and a central part; said upper end protruding out of a horizontal wall of the case and forming a button, and said lower end standing on the conic spring; said hatch further having an opening in the central part; said horizontal ducts having same diameter as the opening of the hatch, and said ducts having first ends and second ends; said first ends locating at the hatch below the opening, and said second ends protruding out of two opposite vertical walls of the case; the brush unit comprising a toothbrush with a horizontal duct; said duct having a first end and a second end; the first end leading to bristles of the brush and the second end having a diameter similar as the ducts of the stopcock unit; said brush unit being attachable to one vertical wall of the case of the stopcock unit where one of the horizontal ducts protrudes the wall, and said container unit being attachable from its first end to the opposite vertical wall of the case of the stopcock unit where the second duct protrudes; said button providing a means to lineate the horizontal ducts and the hatch opening in the cockstop unit by compression of the conic spring, whereby the pressurized toothpaste freely flows from the cartridge via the opening of the cartridge cover, through the cockstop ducts into the duct of the brush unit.

2. The toothbrush of claim 1, wherein the cartridge has a window showing the level of toothpaste.

3. A method to dispense toothpaste onto toothbrush bristle, by pressing a button on a toothpaste dispensing toothbrush, wherein said toothbrush comprises: a container unit, a stopcock unit, and a brush unit; said container unit having a cartridge containing pressurized toothpaste; said cartridge further having a first end and a second end; said first end being sealed with a cover having an opening and said second end being closed with an adjusting cap; said adjusting cap consisting of a bottom, a top and a conical spring in between of the bottom and the top; and said spring being in a compressed state when the container is full of toothpaste and being in rest state when the container is empty; the stopcock unit comprising a case, a vertical hatch, a conical spring, and two horizontal ducts, said case having four vertical walls and two horizontal walls; said vertical hatch having an upper end, a lower end and a central part; said upper end protruding out of a horizontal wall of the case and forming a button, and said lower end standing on the conic spring; said hatch further having an opening in the central part; said horizontal ducts having same diameter as the opening of the hatch, and said ducts having first ends and second ends; said first ends locating at the hatch below the opening, and said second ends protruding out of two opposite vertical walls of the case; the brush unit comprising a toothbrush with a horizontal duct; said duct having a first end and a second end; the first end leading to bristles of the brush and the second end having a diameter similar as the ducts of the stopcock unit; said brush unit being attachable to one vertical wall of the case of the stopcock unit where one of the horizontal ducts protrudes the wall, and said container unit being attachable from its first end to the opposite vertical wall of the case of the stopcock unit where the second duct protrudes; said button providing a means to lineate the horizontal ducts and the hatch opening in the cockstop unit by compression of the conic spring, whereby the pressurized toothpaste freely flows from the cartridge via the opening of the cartridge cover, through the cockstop ducts into the duct of the brush unit

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of oral hygiene. More specifically the invention relates to toothbrushes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Toothbrushes with combined toothpaste container are known in the art. There are several patents describing such combination. For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,375 describes a toothpaste-dispensing toothbrush, where a toothpaste injecting piston is operated by sliding the outer surface of the toothpaste container. U.S. Pat. No. 7,293,928 describes a brush where a toothpaste container is attachable and the toothpaste is released by squeezing the container wall.

This disclosure describes a novel, simple and practical toothbrush where the toothpaste is packed into a cartridge under pressure and the pressurized toothpaste is released on the brush bristles by pushing a button on the cartridge that forms also a handle of the toothbrush. The toothbrush according to this invention is simple to use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A toothbrush attached to a case or cartridge that works as a handle and contains pressurized toothpaste in its interior is disclosed here. To allow fast and automatic toothpaste flow on the toothbrush bristles, a button located on the top of the case is pushed down to lineate an opening in a hatch with horizontal ducts. Upon releasing the stopcock button, toothpaste flow stops. The longer the stopcock button is held down, the larger amount of toothpaste will flow on the bristles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. is a side elevation view of the toothbrush.

FIG. 2. is a side elevation view of the parts of the toothbrush.

FIG. 3. illustrates operation of hatch

FIG. 4. illustrates the structural parts of the toothpaste container or cartridge

FIG. 5 shows A) top view of the tooth brush unit, B) side view of the tooth brush unit and C) a case for the brush.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure describes a novel toothpaste dispensing toothbrush. The toothbrush contains a brush unit 1, a cockstop unit 2 and a cartridge or container unit 3. The cartridge or container contains toothpaste in pressurized form. The brush unit is attached to the cockstop unit which is attached to the cartridge or container unit. To allow toothpaste flow onto the toothbrush bristles, a button 4 located on the top of the cockstop case is pushed down. Upon releasing the button the toothpaste flow stops. The longer the button is held down, the larger amount of toothpaste is flowing onto the brush.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The toothbrush of the current invention includes four elements that bear direct relation between each other, since they are attached to each other thereby forming one device.

• • a) Container unit (solid case) 3: This unit works as a handle of the toothbrush and it contains pressurized toothpaste. One end of the unit is closed with a cover 5 having an opening 6. The stopcock unit 2 is attachable to this end of the container unit The other end of the container is closed with an adjusting cap 7 that consists of a bottom 8 and a top 9 and a conical spring 10 in between of the bottom 8 and the top 9. When the container is full of toothpaste the spring is in compressed state and once the volume of toothpaste in the container decreases the spring has more space to return to its rest position. The movement of the spring allows the bottom of the cap to move and keep the toothpaste in the container under pressure. The container unit may have a window 11, to show the level of the toothpaste.
  • b) A stopcock unit 2: This unit consists of a vertical hatch 12 with and opening 13 on its top central part and two horizontal ducts 14 with the same diameter than the opening of the hatch. One end of the ducts locate close to the hatch below the hatch opening and the other ends protrude out of the opposite walls of the stopcock unit 2 to joint to the container unit 3 and the brush unit 1. The hatch 12 stands on a conic spring 15 and the upper part of the hatch protrudes out from unit thereby forming a button 4. By pressing the button 4 the conic spring 15 is compressed and the opening 13 of the hatch lineates with the two horizontal ducts 14, thereby allowing the toothpaste flow from the container 3 via the opening 6 in the cover 5 through the ducts 14 in stopcock unit 2 to the brush unit 1. At the same time the container 3 becomes emptier and the spring 15 moves toward its rest state whereby the bottom 8 of the adjusting cap 7 moves inward and the rest of the toothpaste remains under pressure.
  • c) A brush unit 1: This brush unit comprises a toothbrush with a small horizontal duct 16 open at one end and leading to the bristles 17 at the other end.
  • d) A rectangular case 18 to cover the bristles of the toothbrush.

It would be clear to one skilled in the art that several modifications could be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.