CN1949998B - Toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

A toothbrush head comprises a flexible bristle carrier such as an elastomer or gel pad or flexibly linked segments, on which bristles are mounted, with a support which supports the carrier at its base near the handle and at the opposite tip part, leaving the carrier unsupported thereby in a region longitudinally between these parts, the carrier being flexible such that it can deform under the forces of toothbrushing so that both its longitudinal and widthways sections become distorted. Preferably the support is also flexible.

Description

toothbrush

technical field

The present invention relates to toothbrushes, in particular to toothbrushes with soft pack bristles.

Background technique

Typically, toothbrushes include a head and a handle arranged in a head-handle longitudinal direction, optionally with a neck between the head and handle longitudinal directions. Typically, the brush head extends in a straight line in a longitudinal direction and has an end longitudinally remote from the handle, and a longitudinally opposite base end closest to the handle. Typically, the brush head has a surface that projects bristles in a bristle direction, the "bristle face", and an opposite rear face, which is transverse to, and generally perpendicular to, the longitudinal direction. Typically, the brush head has a width direction that is transverse, generally perpendicular to both the longitudinal direction and the direction of the bristles.

It is generally known to make brush heads flexible so that the brush head can respond to pressure exerted on the bristles by resiliently flexible deformation, thereby cushioning excessive scrubbing pressure and allowing the bristles to adapt themselves to the contours of the teeth. For example, DE-U-201 09 123 discloses a toothbrush head with bristles: the bristles are assembled in a plurality of longitudinally arranged segments of plastic material flexibly connected to each other and traverse the concave surface of the supporting "arch". JP-A-13025411 discloses a toothbrush head with bristles mounted on a flexible plate across the concave surface, backwards and through holes in the guide plate.

In various known toothbrushes, the bristles, usually in tufts, are mounted on a flexible bristle carrier. For example, US-A-2,706,825 discloses a toothbrush with a concavely curved head whose two longitudinally arranged ends support a detachable bristle carrier which straddles said curved surface and Made of elastic material. For example, US-A-5,373,602 discloses a toothbrush in which the bristles are terminated with resiliently flexible tips extending to the brush head.

Various means are known for securing the ends of toothbrush bristles to elastomeric bristle carriers. For example, WO-A-98/35584 discloses a toothbrush head in which the bristle ends are mounted in rigid holes provided in an elastomeric material. WO-A-98/43514 discloses a toothbrush head in which the bristles in bundles are mounted on cup-shaped holders embedded in a soft elastic material. WO-A-00/60980 discloses a toothbrush head in which the ends of the bristles in bundles are connected by a mesh embedded in a soft elastic material. The disclosure of WO-A-05013762 is hereby incorporated by reference, which discloses a toothbrush head comprising a gel material, preferably a polyurethane gel, with the bristle ends embedded in the substance, and which also discloses a toothbrush head having a support for the Substance hard plastic material frames the toothbrush head. Forms a good bond between polyurethane and polyamide from which toothbrush bristles are commonly made.

WO-A-04/020238 discloses a toothbrush head in which the ends of the bristles in bundles are fused to a thickening mass and embedded in an elastomeric bristle carrier and passed through a ring of plastic material embedded in an elastomeric spacer .

This kind of toothbrush head in the prior art is not preferred, because the flexible movement direction of the soft-coated bristles on the brush head is limited, so the adaptation of the bristles to the shape of the teeth is also limited.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a toothbrush in which the bristles are soft-packed on the head, thereby at least partially overcoming the above-mentioned problems encountered with prior art toothbrushes, and also to provide an alternative structure for the head of the toothbrush.

Contents of the invention

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a toothbrush head is provided, which is connected or can be connected to a toothbrush grip handle to define a brush head-handle length direction and a width direction perpendicular to the length direction, and the toothbrush head includes flexible bristles a carrier on which bristles are mounted and having a base portion closest to the toothbrush handle when attached and a longitudinally opposite tip portion, and a support frame supporting the carrier;

characterized in that the carrier comprises a flexible spacer of elastic material and that the support frame supports the carrier at the base and at the tip, leaving an unsupported carrier in the region between these parts longitudinally, the carrier being flexible, It can thus be deformed under the action of scrubbing forces so that its longitudinal and transverse sections are distorted, and said support is elastically distorted about a generally longitudinal torsion axis.

The bristles can be made from conventional bristle materials such as the aforementioned polyamide materials such as nylon from Tynex ^™ (DuPont), or polyester. For example, monofilament nylons made from Nylon 512, such as these commercially available from DuPont under the name DuPont Tynex, may be used. Usually, these bristles are combined conventionally into bundles comprising a plurality of bristles.

Generally, the bristles can be arranged in tufts having a conventional number of bristles and generally conventional shapes and sizes. For example, each tuft may contain 5-100 bristles, preferably 10-75, such as 30-60 bristles. For example, such bristle tufts may be circular or non-circular, such as longitudinally or transversely elongated in cross-section, and have typical dimensions of 0.75-5 mm in length. The bristle tufts of circular cross-section typically have a diameter of about 0.9-1.5 mm and are embedded in a substance of elastomeric material 0.5-5 mm deep, such as typically about 0.7-1.5 mm, so that they are close to the end of the brush head and thus away from the bristle surface by a thickness of the substance Set close to the end. Alternatively, the bristles may be embedded individually rather than in bundles.

In one embodiment, the flexible bristle carrier may comprise a spacer of resilient material. This material may be an elastomeric material, preferably a thermoplastic elastomeric material ("TPE"), as this material can be easily injection molded and can bond to most plastic materials used in toothbrush construction. Various TPE materials for toothbrushes are known. Preferred elastomeric materials have a Shore A hardness of 10-40, preferably 20+/-10, more preferably 20+/-5. For example, some suitable materials are available from the company Kraiburg Gummiwerk (DE) under reference numbers RTF8778, 8728, 8722 and 8725. For example, the thickness of the spacer, ie the dimension along the direction of the bristles, may be 2.5-5mm, usually 3+/-0.5mm.

An alternative type of elastic material is a viscoelastic material such as a gel, preferably a polyurethane gel, such as the polyurethane gel material disclosed in WO-A-05013762, available under the name Technogel ^™ .

The bristles, preferably assembled in bundles, can be mounted on such elastomeric spacers in various ways.

In one approach, the ends of the bristles can be embedded directly into the spacer.

In another method, the installation of the bristles onto the spacers of elastomeric material can be accomplished by using holders of plastic material such as polypropylene material, as described above in WO-A-97/20484, WO-A-98/35584 and The holder disclosed in WO-A-98/43514 is used to hold tufts of bristles, which holder can be firmly bonded to a spacer of elastomeric material and holds the bristles in the spacer. Each holder may hold an individual tuft of bristles or may hold a plurality of tufts of bristles, so that the holder comprises connecting means between the tufts of bristles. The holders may only be connected together with the elastomeric material between them, so the holders are isolated islands in the elastomeric material.

In another method, the bristle tufts can have their ends fused into the thickening mass and embedded in the elastomeric bristle carrier, and threaded, for example, with a thread through a ring of plastic material embedded in the elastomeric spacer, this method Disclosed in the aforementioned WO-A-04/020238, and as disclosed in the applicant's pending European patent application EP 04010962.1, filed 7 May 2004, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Such a ring may be in the form of an open-ended tube surrounding a tuft of bristles which extends through the ring and is disposed in an elastomeric material and permits reciprocating movement of the tuft of bristles in the direction of the bristles. The ends of the individual bristle tufts can be melted by heating so they can fuse together and then allowed to cool and solidify to form the extensions, which can be embedded in the elastomeric material. Techniques for fusing the ends of toothbrush bristle tufts are known in the art.

Another method of mounting the tufts of bristles to a spacer of elastomeric material is that disclosed in WO-A-00/60980, or a method similar thereto. In its disclosure, at least some of the bristles are joined together at their ends close to the brush head by meshes which are incorporated into a spacer of elastic elastomeric material. In this configuration, the ends of the bristles or tufts of bristles can be attached to the mesh. Such meshes generally comprise a substantially flexible two-dimensional structure to which the ends of the bristles or tufts of bristles are attached. There may be a single mesh connecting all bristles or bristle bundles, or a plurality of separate meshes connecting independent groups of bristle bundles. For example, the mesh may comprise a thin, flexible sheet, grid, mesh or mesh of material attached to the ends of the bristles. Alternatively, the mesh can be integrally manufactured from the same material as the bristles.

In an alternative embodiment, the above-mentioned flexible bristle carrier may comprise a plurality of flexibly connected plastics material parts, so that the carrier is flexible so that it can be deformed under scrubbing forces so that its longitudinal and transverse cross-sections are distorted. There can be two or more parts. Such sections may be arranged longitudinally in succession in order to obtain distortions in their longitudinal section in order to obtain deformation under scrubbing forces. Such sections may be arranged in succession transversely in order to obtain distortions in their transverse section in order to obtain deformation under scrubbing forces. Preferably, such a carrier comprises both a continuous longitudinal arrangement of sections and a continuous transverse arrangement of sections. For example, the carrier may be divided by flexible links along a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction crossing the longitudinal direction, thus allowing the longitudinal and transverse sections to flex under these forces.

The flexible link between each part may comprise a bridge of flexible plastic material thinner than the thickness of the parts it connects, or a composite structure of bridges of flexible plastic material and elastomeric material thinner than the thickness of the parts it connects, for example by Elastomeric material surrounds one or more sides of the bridge, such as embedding the elastomeric material, or the flexible link may consist entirely of elastomeric material between the parts it connects. Preferably, such connectors are constructed so as to allow stretching of the carrier in the longitudinal direction under longitudinal tension.

In such a brush head comprising several parts of plastics material, the bristles or bristle tufts can be mounted in the parts in the conventional manner used in known toothbrushes with brush heads with flexible connecting parts.

A carrier such as a spacer of elastomeric material or a segmented carrier typically has a bristle surface and an opposite surface, the "back" away from the bristle front in the thickness direction transverse to the longitudinal direction. There is an edge surface between the bristle surface and the back surface. Such pads may have flat bristle faces and backs and have a uniform thickness, optionally, for example, both or one of the bristle faces and/or backs may have transversely aligned ridges or grooves to concentrate in a predetermined direction. flex.

The support frame supports the carrier at the base near the base and at the tip near the apex, leaving the carrier unsupported in the longitudinal region between these parts. For example, between the base and tip longitudinal directions, the support frame can be bent away from the back of the carrier in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction in a curved or angled arc so that the carrier extends in the direction of the chord between the ends of the arch . In this configuration, a space is left between the back of the carrier and the support frame in which the carrier can deform. Typically, the length of the unsupported area of the spacer may represent 50% or more, preferably 75% or more, of the total length between the longitudinal extremes of the bristle pattern on the carrier. For example, up to about 25% of the length of the spacer near the tip and up to about 25% of the length of the spacer near the base are supported by the support frame. In this configuration, the sides of the carrier between the longitudinal direction of the carrier support members may be unsupported. Typically, the bristle pattern on a toothbrush head has a length of about 20-30 mm. Between the back of the carrier and the support frame, the size of the space left in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is 0.5-7 mm, such as 4+/-1 mm.

The support frame is preferably flexible, for example elastically deformable in the longitudinal direction, so that under the force encountered in scrubbing, the tip of the carrier can move elastically to follow the direction in a plane perpendicular to the width direction. arcuate, and/or capable of elastic twisting deformation about a generally longitudinal twist axis. The plane perpendicular to the width direction may be a plane parallel to the longitudinal direction, and a plane parallel to the direction in which the bristles extend from the front of the bristles. A flexible support frame with such a deformation mode facilitates the flexible deformation of the bristle carrier. The bending deformation of the support frame in the longitudinal direction can longitudinally compress the carrier, shorten the bristle front of the carrier so that the bristles can be pressed more closely and carefully, and can make the bristle front of the carrier adopt a longitudinally concave shape. Optionally, the bending deformation of the support frame in the longitudinal direction can stretch the carrier in the longitudinal direction to lengthen the bristle front, or make the bristle front of the carrier adopt the shape of longitudinal protrusions with splayed bristles. The twisting of the support frame about the generally longitudinal twisting axis helps the bristle fronts of the carrier to more easily adapt to the shape of the user's teeth and the spaces between them.

A flexible support frame may be realized by a support frame comprising longitudinally spaced support members supporting the base and tip of the carrier respectively, the support members being integrally longitudinally connected by one or more flexible plastic material connectors. The support member may be used to support the carrier, for example may include a cavity into which the carrier may be mounted, and may be provided with engagement features to enhance the bond between the carrier and the support frame. The one or more connectors may define the arcuate shape of the support frame, that is, approach and preferably contact the carrier at opposite longitudinal ends of the support frame, but at a longitudinally intermediate position between these longitudinally opposite ends, at a distance from the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush. relatively away from the back of the carrier in the vertical direction. Such connectors may be in the form of thin plastics material ribs extending substantially longitudinally. For example, a plurality, preferably two, of the connectors are arranged on transversely opposite sides of the central longitudinal axis of the brush head and converge in the direction from the handle to the brush head, such as substantially V-shaped pointing away from the handle, or substantially Y-shaped , with its stem pointing away from the handle.

However, when the scaffold comprises a viscoelastic material as described above such as a gel, preferably a polyurethane gel such as that disclosed in WO-A-05013762, the scaffold may be rigid, ie not flexible as described above.

Therefore, in a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toothbrush head, connected or connectable to a toothbrush handle, having bristles protruding in the direction of the bristles, each bristle having an end close to the head and an end far away from the head. One end of the brush head comprising a substance of a gel material or a substance of a polyurethane material, preferably a polyurethane gel material, and at least a portion of the bristles are embedded in the substance of the gel material at the end close to the brush head, including supporting the substance A frame of hard plastic material, wherein said substance is preferably in the form of a spacer having a bristle surface, supported by the frame at a support point near the tip and a support point near the base end, but at two longitudinally spaced supports Points are not vertically supported.

The support frame, i.e. support members, connectors, etc., may be manufactured from plastic materials as commonly used in toothbrush production, such as polypropylene ("PP"), polyamide ("PA"), acrylonitrile-butadiene Acrylic-styrene ("ABS"), etc., can be manufactured integrally with the toothbrush handle. A support member made of this material can easily be made thin enough to have the flexibility described.

Other components of the toothbrush, such as the toothbrush handle, can be of generally conventional construction. For example, as disclosed in EP-A-0 336 641, the handle may exhibit one or more "S" shaped bends. Additionally or alternatively, the toothbrush may include flexible connectors elsewhere in its structure, such as between its head and the portion abutting the handle, ie the neck, as in WO-A-92/17092 Or as disclosed in WO-A-97/24949.

In the prior art of making toothbrushes, it is well known how to connect the above-mentioned bristle carrier to a support frame made of the above-mentioned plastic material.

For example, the toothbrush head of the present invention as well as the entire toothbrush can be produced by the known two-component injection molding method, wherein, according to the known method, the plastic material part of the toothbrush is first produced, and then the formed plastic material part is encapsulated in a second A mold cavity and an elastomeric material is injected into the mold cavity to bond it to the plastic material. The bristles may be provided in a carrier in a generally known manner, as disclosed in the aforementioned WO-A-04/080238. For example, the bristle tufts may be threaded through a loop of plastic material (which may be the same plastic material as the rest of the toothbrush) bonded to the elastomeric material, the ends of the bristle tufts being disposed in the head where they are fused to form the extensions , the tip can be loaded into a molding cavity and injected with elastomeric material to bond to the plastic material.

For example, the above-mentioned WO-A-05013762 discloses methods of attaching a gel, such as a polyurethane gel, to a support such as a frame.

It has been found that elastomeric materials such as thermoplastic elastomeric materials, the aforementioned gels and the aforementioned polyurethane materials, especially polyurethane gels such as the Technogel ^™ polyurethane gel material, adhere well to plastic materials commonly used in toothbrush manufacture, in particular PA and ABS.

A support frame such as a frame and a bristle carrier such as an elastomeric material spacer or a gel substance or a polyurethane material may be provided with respective engagement features to maintain a reliable physical engagement of the carrier and the support frame, and/or the carrier and the support frame may be connected to each other by the frame. The substances are joined together by means of welding, adhesives or attachments. For example, the support frame may include components embedded in a spacer of elastomeric material or a gel substance such as polyurethane material to enhance the connection between the spacer of elastomeric material or gel substance such as polyurethane material and the support frame. Additionally or alternatively, the support frame, such as a frame, may be provided with one or more holes through the support frame from one surface of the support frame to the other surface of the support frame, through which a carrier material such as a gel or polyurethane substance passes. Holes traverse from one surface to the other, forming mushroom heads on the other surface to thereby engage the support frame.

The present invention also provides a toothbrush having a brush head as described above connected to a handle by which the toothbrush can be held in use. Such a toothbrush may be a manual toothbrush or a powered toothbrush, such as where the handle contains a power source and an electric motor.

Description of drawings

Now, the present invention will be described by way of example only in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 has shown the plan view of toothbrush brush head of the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a longitudinal sectional view of the toothbrush head of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a transverse sectional view of the toothbrush head of Figure 1;

Figures 4 and 5 show the support frame for the brush heads of Figures 1, 2 and 3;

Fig. 6, Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 have shown the deformation of Fig. 1-Fig. 5 brush head;

Fig. 9, Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 have shown the replacement structure of toothbrush brush head of the present invention;

Figures 12 and 13 show another alternative structure of the toothbrush head of the present invention, and Figure 13 also shows an alternative way of fixing the toothbrush bristles to the toothbrush head;

Figures 14 and 15 show the deflection of the brush heads of Figures 12 and 13 .

Detailed ways

Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3, a brush head 10 (as a whole) of the toothbrush of the present invention is shown. The brush head 10 is connected to a toothbrush holding handle 11, of which only the portion of the handle close to the head 10 is shown, thereby defining a head-handle longitudinal direction L-L and a vertical width direction W-W. To avoid uncertainty in the length direction L-L.

The brush head 10 comprises a flexible bristle carrier 12 on which are mounted a plurality of bundles of bristles 13 extending along the bristle direction B, only one of which is shown for clarity, but a plurality of bundles of bristles are arranged in a certain pattern on the bristle front of the carrier 12 14 and extend bristles 13 therefrom. The carrier 12 has a base 12B adjacent to the toothbrush handle 11 and a longitudinally opposite tip 12C.

The bristle carrier 12 comprises a spacer of thermoplastic elastic material ("TPE"), such as is available from Kraiburg Gummiwerk (DE) under the reference numbers RTF8778, 8728, 8722 or 8725. The spacer 12 has a thickness in the bristle direction B of approximately 3 mm.

The tufts of bristles 13 are mounted on the spacer 12 of elastomeric material by using holders 15 of plastic material, in each holder 15 an end of the tuft of bristle 13 is fixed and arranged in the spacer 12 of elastomeric material bonded thereto. The holders 15 are connected together only by the elastic material between them, so the holders 15 are isolated islands in the spacer 12 of elastomeric material.

公司，Gewerbegiet Alle 

37339 Berlingerode(DE)中获得，例如凝胶材料BTG 120)的大约5mm厚的垫片，即大约5mm厚聚氨酯薄膜涂覆薄片的形式。这种其中直接设有刷毛束的垫片，也就是没有固持器15，可以使用如WO-A-0513762中公开的IMC加工方法制造。有利的是，如WO-A-0513762中所公开，当使用聚酰胺材料时，刷毛材料充分与聚酰胺粘合，所以不需要固持器15。Alternatively, the carrier 12 may comprise a Technogel ^™ material (that is, a polyurethane gel covered with a polyurethane coating, which is available from Technogel

Company, Gewerbegiet Alle

Available in 37339 Berlinerode (DE), eg in the form of approx. 5 mm thick spacers of gel material BTG 120), ie in the form of approx. 5 mm thick polyurethane film-coated sheets. Such spacers in which the tufts of bristles are provided directly, ie without holders 15, can be produced using IMC machining methods as disclosed in WO-A-0513762. Advantageously, when polyamide material is used, as disclosed in WO-A-0513762, the bristle material is sufficiently bonded to the polyamide that no holder 15 is required.

The carrier 12 is supported on the base 12A and the tip 12B by the support frame 16 , leaving the carrier 12 unsupported in the region 12C longitudinally between these base 12A and tip 12B. For clarity, FIGS. 4 and 5 show the support frame 16 without the carrier 12 . The length of the unsupported area 12C of the spacer 12 is 75% or more of the total length between the longitudinal extremes of the pattern of bristles 13 on the carrier. It can be seen that up to about 25% of the length of the spacer 12 immediately adjacent the tip 12B and up to approximately 25% of the length of the spacer 12 immediately adjacent the base 12A are supported by the support frame 16 . The support frame 16 comprises longitudinally spaced support members 17 and 18, respectively supporting the base 12A and the tip 12B of the carrier 12, which are integrally connected longitudinally by a connector 19 of flexible plastic material, the connector (overall) having a generally longitudinal Extended plastic material in the form of thin ribs 19A, 19B and 19C.

The support frame 16 and the handle 11 are integrally formed of plastic materials commonly used in toothbrush manufacture such as polypropylene ("PP"), polyamide ("PA"), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene ("ABS"), etc. form.

Between the longitudinal direction of the base 12A and the tip 12B, the support frame 16 , ie the connecting piece 19 of the support frame 16 is bowed away from the back 110 of the carrier 12 in the opposite direction to the bristle direction B. There is therefore a space 111 of approximately 4+/-1 mm width between the back of the carrier 12 and the connector 19 part of the support frame 16, under the influence of pressure exerted on the bristles 13 during brushing, the carrier 12 can be deformed. The deformation of the carrier 12 under the influence of pressure applied in the direction of the thick arrow is shown more clearly in FIG. 6 . As shown more clearly in the transverse cross-sectional view of FIG. 3 , the side surfaces 12C and 12D of the carrier 12 between the support portions 12A and 12B of the carrier 12 longitudinally are not supported by the carrier 12 . The lack of support allows the carrier 12 to deform under the influence of pressure at the point indicated by the thick arrow shown in FIG. 7, which deformation may occur simultaneously with the deformation shown in FIG. The curved surface of a tooth.

The support frame 16, especially the connecting piece 19, is flexible and can be elastically deformed in its longitudinal direction, that is, it can be bent around a bending axis parallel to the width direction W-W, so the support member 18 can follow the A curved bow on a flat surface. In this deformation, the frame 16 may be bent into a more taut curved arch, thereby compressing the carrier 12 , or flattened into a less taut arch, thereby stretching the carrier 12 . As indicated by the bold dashed arrows, Fig. 6 also shows how the downward force acting on the tip 18 of the brush head can cause the support frame 16 to bend about a bending axis parallel to the width direction W-W relative to the support frame 16 parts close to the handle 11, The tip therefore moves downwards in the direction shown by the light dashed shear head. Pressure in opposite directions causes opposite bending deformations. Figure 8 shows the elastic twisting deformation of the link 19 about a twisting axis generally aligned with the longitudinal direction L-L following the twisting deformation of the carrier 12.

The carrier 12 is bonded to the support parts 17 and 18 by a known type of bonding between the plastic material of the support frame 16 and the thermoplastic material of the support frame 16 . However, as shown, the support members 17 and 18 are also fitted with wider engagement holes 112 on the outer surface of the support frame 16, so that the material of the gasket 12 passes through these holes 112 to form a "mushroom head" on the outer surface, The material of the spacer 12 is thus engaged with the support frame 16 . The support members 17 and 18 also define a cavity 113 in which the gasket 16 is placed, the sides of the cavity 113 providing an area for the elastic material of the gasket 16 to bond with the plastic material. The support members 17 and 18 may have additional or alternative structural features (not shown) to enhance the engagement and/or adhesion between the spacer 16 and the support members 17 and 18 .

Referring to Fig. 9, Fig. 10 and Fig. 11, the toothbrush head 20 is shown in views similar to Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, Fig. 10 shows a longitudinal section along line A-A, and corresponding parts are marked with corresponding reference numerals . However, in this toothbrush the flexible bristle carrier 21 comprises a plurality of plastics material parts 21A, 21B, 21C and 21D. The carrier 21 is divided along the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction intersecting the longitudinal direction by the flexible connectors 22 arranged crosswise with the brush head 20 and the connectors 23 arranged longitudinally, and the carrier includes one of the parts 21A, 21B, 21C and 21D. An elastic material filling between them allows the carrier to be flexible and thus deformable under scrubbing forces so that its longitudinal and transverse sections become distorted. Each pair of sections 21A and 21D, 21B and 21C is aligned longitudinally, and each pair of sections 21A and 21B, 21C and 21D is aligned transversely. Although only two sections arranged longitudinally are shown in the drawings, three or more sections are possible. Although only two parts arranged laterally are shown in the figure, three or more parts are also possible. Each flexible link 22 may comprise a thin flexible link of plastic material connecting and integral with adjacent parts 21A, 21B, 21C and 21D and embedded in a resilient material. Alternatively, such attachments may be other attachments known in toothbrush heads. The bristle tufts 24 (shown only in section 21A for clarity) are conventionally mounted. The support frame 16 includes connectors 19 that are similarly flexible to the connectors 19 of FIGS. The deformation of the transverse section of the carrier 21 and the distortion of the flexible connection 19 are shown in FIG. 11 .

Referring to FIGS. 12 and 13 , an alternative form of toothbrush head 60 is shown in views similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 . For the sake of clarity, the bristle carrier 64 is not fully shown in FIG. 12 , only its outer contour edge line is shown in dashed lines. Figure 12 shows a plan view looking down on the front of the bristles, while Figure 13 shows a longitudinal section around the longitudinal line L-L of Figure 12, viewed from the transverse direction W-W of Figure 12 . 12 and 13 show the toothbrush head 60 and the portion of the handle 61 next to the brush head 60 . The brush head 60 and the handle 61 are arranged along the brush head-handle longitudinal direction L-L. The brush head 60 is linearly elongated in the longitudinal direction, and has a tip 62 longitudinally farther from the handle 61 and a longitudinally opposite base end 63 closest to the handle 61 .

The thermoplastic elastomer spacer 64 comprises a spacer having a surface 65, the "bristle front", and an opposite surface 66, the "back", which is in the "thickness direction" across the longitudinal direction L-L 65 away from the front of the bristles. There is also an edge surface (not shown) between the front face 65 and the back face 66 of the bristles. Typically the surface 65 is on a plane parallel to the longitudinal direction L-L of the brush head 60 . The bristles 67 seen in FIG. 13 extend from the bristle front in a bristle direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction L-L.

The brush head 60 includes a frame 68 integrally manufactured with the handle 61 using a plastic material such as polypropylene. As shown in the plan view of Figure 12, the frame has two thin elastic flexible connectors 69 and 610 approximately in the shape of a "V", and on the laterally opposite symmetrical sides in the longitudinal direction L-L, the "V" is directed toward the brush head the tip of. Similar to the structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the frame 68 supports the spacer 64 at a support point 611 near the tip 62 and a support point 612 near the base end 63 .

The part 613 of each connector 69 and 610 between the support points 611 and 612 longitudinally is bowed from the back side 66 of the pad 64 in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction L-L in the direction opposite to the bristles, A space 614 is thus left between the back 66 and the part 611 of the frame 68 . As can be seen in FIGS. 12 and 13 , approximately 25% of the length of spacer 64 adjacent to tip 62 and base 63 is supported by frame 68 . As shown in FIG. 13 , between these supported components, ie adjacent to component 613 , spacer 64 is unsupported.

Connectors 69 and 610 are flexible members with elastic force, so that frame 68 can be distorted and deformed under the action of scrubbing force, for example, support member 69 can move according to the arch on the plane of Figure 13, such as shown by the arrow, and/or can twist about a twist axis parallel to the longitudinal direction L-L. Figures 14 and 15 are cross-sectional views of the brush head of Figures 12 and 13, and show the flexible deformation of the gasket 64 under the force encountered during scrubbing. In Fig. 15 is shown the elastically flexible deformation of the two links 69 and 610 when the part 614 is twisted about a twist axis generally parallel to the longitudinal direction L-L.

The supporting points 611 and 612 comprise respective parts 615 and 616 which are embedded in the spacer 64 of elastic material to strengthen the fixing of the spacer 64 and the frame 68, and part 615 has a hole 617 through which the elastic material passes.

Referring to Figure 13, an alternative way of providing tufts of bristles 67 in a TPE spacer 64 is shown. A tube ring 30 made of plastic material, eg the same material as the handle 61 and support frame 68, with a cylindrical axis perpendicular to the surface 65, has one end embedded in the spacer 64 and the opposite end protruding from the surface. These rings 30 surround the tufts of bristles 67 which pass through them and melt their ends so as to form the extensions 31 and are set in the elastic material of the gasket 64 . This configuration allows the bristle tufts 67 to reciprocate in the direction of the bristles, sliding within the ring 30 . This way of arranging the bristles 67 is disclosed in the applicant's pending European patent application EP 04010962.1 filed on May 7, 2004. A method of embedding such a ring 30 in such a spacer 64 is disclosed in WO-A-04080238.

Claims (9)

1. toothbrush head, can connect toothbrush grip handle, with limit brush-handle vertically with described vertically vertical width, toothbrush head comprises flexible brush carrier and supports the bracing frame of described brush carrier, bristle is installed on described brush carrier and has when connecting the base portion of the most close toothbrush handle and vertical opposite tip;

It is characterized in that, described brush carrier comprises the flexible gasket of elastomeric material, described elastomeric material is a Thermoplastic Elastic Material Used, the bristle that is pencil is fixed in the flexible gasket, their end is fused in the thickening material and embeds described brush carrier, and passes the plastic material ring that is embedded in the flexible gasket; And bracing frame brush carrier at described base portion and tip upper support, thereby in the zone between vertically of described base portion and tip, stay not supported brush carrier, support frame as described above is flexible, therefore it can be out of shape under the effect of the power of scrubbing, so that its vertical and horizontal cross section distortion, flexibly move the tip of described brush carrier, to follow arc in the plane vertical with width; And

Support frame as described above carries out the elastic distortion distortion around twisting axis usually longitudinally.

2. toothbrush head as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described base portion and tip vertically between, support frame as described above back side away from brush carrier on the direction vertical with longitudinal direction bends to curve or angled arc.

3. toothbrush head as claimed in claim 1 or 2, it is characterized in that support frame as described above can elastic bending deflection, so that under the effect of the power that runs in scrubbing, the tip of described brush carrier can flexibly be moved, to follow arc in the plane vertical with width.

4. toothbrush head as claimed in claim 1 or 2, it is characterized in that, bracing frame comprises the support component of the longitudinal separation of the base portion that supports brush carrier respectively and tip, and described support component vertically connects on the whole by one or more flexible plastic material connector.

5. toothbrush head as claimed in claim 4 is characterized in that, the flexible plastic material connector is the form of the plastic material rib that extends in the vertical usually.

6. toothbrush head as claimed in claim 5 is characterized in that, many flexible plastic material connectors are arranged on the horizontal opposite flank of brush central longitudinal axis.

7. toothbrush head as claimed in claim 6 is characterized in that, two plastic material connectors compile on the brush direction at handle.

8. toothbrush head as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that described ring is the tubular form of open port, surrounds bristle tuft, and described bristle tuft is passed the ring extension, and is arranged in the elastomeric material, and allows bristle tuft to move back and forth along bristle direction.

9. toothbrush head as claimed in claim 1 is characterized in that, described elastomeric material is the visco-elasticity polyurethane gel.

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