CA2040222A1 - Toothbrushes colour coded to identify different characteristics - Google Patents
Toothbrushes colour coded to identify different characteristicsInfo
- Publication number
- CA2040222A1 CA2040222A1 CA 2040222 CA2040222A CA2040222A1 CA 2040222 A1 CA2040222 A1 CA 2040222A1 CA 2040222 CA2040222 CA 2040222 CA 2040222 A CA2040222 A CA 2040222A CA 2040222 A1 CA2040222 A1 CA 2040222A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- toothbrush
- bristles
- bristle
- color
- toothbrushes
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Abandoned
Links
Abstract
ABSTRACT
This invention provides toothbrushes with bristles color coded to indicate critical characteristics of the toothbrush such as bristle stiffness which provide more assurance and convenience in the dental care field that the toothbrush selected by the purchaser or user or sold is that prescribed for a given dental care program.
This invention provides toothbrushes with bristles color coded to indicate critical characteristics of the toothbrush such as bristle stiffness which provide more assurance and convenience in the dental care field that the toothbrush selected by the purchaser or user or sold is that prescribed for a given dental care program.
Description
DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS
TECHNICAL FIELD:
This invention relates to toothbrushes, and more par-ticularly it relates to identifiaction of characteristicsof the toothbrushes in a manner which assures conformance with a prescribed dental care program.
BACKGR0UND ART:
There has been no known system in the prior art suit-able for standardizing toothbrushes with identificationcodes that signify different toothbrush characteristics such as bristle firmnesses, bristle cut or contour, etc.
which are critical to prescribed dental care. Without unmistakable identification indicia, it is difficult to immediately and unmistakably select a toothbrush having the right combination of features such as may be described by a dentist. For example simply to distinguish the stiffness or firmness of the bristles is difficult, since different fiber materials may look alike or be of the same diameters and yet have drastically different stiffnesses. A bristle diameter of .007 in. (.018 cm.) may be ultra-soft, soft, medium or hard in stiffness rating, for example.
The problem of being mistaken or deceived as to the bristle stiffness is even more pronounced in the case of ~-~ 25 the layman toothbrush purchaser or user. Perhaps the toothbrush handle, box or inserted paper may have a printed fine print legend somewhere depending upon manufacturer's preference and styling indicating "firm", "soft" or such legend or describing some other toothbrush feature. With-out a more prominent identification, this is not an assur-ance against mistakes in purchase or use of the brushes in critical situations where a particular toothbrush is prescribed.
If bristle firmness is a critical feature, for ex-ample, there is no feasible prior art way to look at orfeel a bristle to determine accurately its firmness rating "'`,., ',.,. , ~,' , , ' ' .'. ' ' ' .. ' ' .''.. ' ' '' ' ~ 204022~
without a sensitive stiffness gage. This process is even more difficult since a casual inspection of bristles cannot easily determine soft, medium or hard bristle firmness.
Bristles of differing diameters and stiffnesses may even be intermixed in a pattern across the brush or a tuft to make detection of firmness more difficult.
Accordingly significant problems are presented in the toothbrush arts relating to the identification, standard-ization and quality control of toothbrush features, for example, bristle firmness encountered in the manufacturing process and extending through the purchase transaction and into the use of the toothbrush to preclude the chance of mistake in the purchase or use of a toothbrush.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to solve those problems and to provide a simple and immediate method of recognition of particular toothbrush characteristics including bristle stiffness.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION:
This invention therefore provides improved manufactur-ing methods of processing toothbrushes to identify criticalfeatures with assurance that such critical dental care features such as bristle firmness ratings are immediately recognizable to the salesman, purchaser and user.
By means of novel toothbrush identification structure one can unmistakingly identify the firmness of toothbrush bristles or other critical feature at any time, so that the possibility of errors in a dental care program are con-siderably reduced. Accordingly, the invention provides a comprehensive method of identification of different tooth-brush features including firmness, namely the provision ofcolor coding of the toothbrush bristles during manufacture with at least two colors.
The problem of identifying stiffness accurately even in the prese~ce of various bristle materials and diameters and different bristle patterns is resolved to make this invention universally adapted to identify those tooth-brushes with particular features in lines of toothbrushes : . . . . .
- ,. . ~ ., , - . , . . -.
... , -:
. ~ . .. ~ .. ,, , , . , . " ,~ -.. : . - , , .
. -. .. . . .
-- 20~0222 providing various features, such as bristle materials, firmness, cut and shape. This identification starts with the factory level of toothbrush manufacturing, where exact specifications may be assured and identified simultaneously to avoid any future mistakes in selection of a brush with specified features, configuration, etc.
The problem of identifying toothbrush bristle stiff-ness, for example, should be easily recognized by purchas-ing laymen at the time of purchase and at the time of use of the toothbrush in a manner that is not likely to lead to erroneous choices, and consistent with professional dentist prescription.
The foregoing problems are overcome in a novel, fool-proof and simple manner by this invention by adopting at the manufacturing level a set of standard identification codes coordinated with critical toothbrush features for meeting the needs of both the professional dentists and the layman users. More specifically, the color coding of bristles serves to indicate such characteristics of a toothbrush as bristle firmness with a specific color coded designation as an accepted standard of assurance that spe-cifications are established and met in this specialty toothbrush industry. This color coding is to be isolated from other color schemes used by manufacturers for styling or users for personal identification such as common in different handle colors, is thus confined to the bristle color itself. Thus, a toothbrush of specified firmness characteristic is immediately recognizable at the time of purchase and at the time of use and can be prescribed solely by its color, such as a "silver" "qreen tipped" or "blue diagonal striped" bristle color toothbrush.
Other objects, features and advantages of the inven-tion are found throughout the following description, and accompanying drawings and claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 to 3 are plan view sketches looking into the . ... , , ,.. ,: .: . .
,, .. ~ ... : : , ., ............... - . - - ,. . ~.: . .
. ~ ;. . ~ . . . .: - .: . :, . . . ~.
bristles of typical toothbrush configurations afforded in accordance with this invention, and Figures 4 and 5 are fragmental portion sketahes of further toothbrush configurations showing the bristle tuft construction and color coding in accordance with this invention.
'rHE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:
As may be visualized from the drawing, a toothbrush 15 is made with a series of tufts 16 of diverging bristles which form a brush body. The tufts 16 are embedded in a generally plastic body portion 17 terminating from a handle 18. The stiffness of the bristles is a critical feature of toothbrushes and dental care and toothbrushes may be made in various ways to control the brush stiffness character-istics, as will be made more clear in the following des-cription.
In the Figure 1 configuration, the inner two rows of tufts are lined for the color "silver". The outer rim of tufts is not lined for color and thus identifies standard white bristles conventionally used for toothbrushes. Thus a bristle color code is provided for identification of the bristle stiffness characteristics of the toothbrush or other critical dental care feature in accordance with this invention. In a simple example of color coding, the silver color coded bristles could be stiff bristles and the white color code (when used in color combination, thus distin-guishing for conventional white bristles) could be soft bristles. Thus, the bristle appearance immediately identi-fies the bristle characteristics of the toothbrush, which in this case could be a brush with stiffer inner bristles and softer outer bristles, for example.
'rhus, it is readily seen that a specified range of stiffnesses may be identified and standardized such as gentle, soft, medium and stiff, each being identifiable by a respective color of the bristle. Solid bristle color patterns adopted to specify bristle firmness standards then would identify unmistakably those toothbrushes having all ... : . . . ... . .
. ., : . . . : . .. : ~ - - .
.. : .. . ; ~ ~ . . .- . . .
. ~ . ..... - . . .
. . . .. : .
---` 2040222 s bristles within a specified stiffness range. This color coding pattern carefully quality controlled in manufacture would then permit dentist, salesman and user to assure that prescribed toothbrushes are chosed and used. The conveni-ence, accuracy and assurance of following prescribed dentalcare conditions by specifying a bristle color is thus made available to sellers, buyers, users and dental care tech-nicians alike.
In the embodiment of Figure 2, it may be seen that the two green hatched tufts 20 at the end of the brush are used as identifying color code markers characteristic of a property of the toothbrushes such as the bristle firmness.
It is evident however, that these tufts may be reserved as a color code indicator of another characteristic of the brush such as the style of the cut of the bristles or the particular bristle material, animal-synthetic or nylon-PBT, etc.
The Figure 3 embodiment has color coding to indicate blocks of blue bristles in a laterally striped pattern across the brush, whereas the Figure 5 embodiment has slanted blue stripe color coding. It is thus seen that in accordance with this invention a toothbrush having pre-scribed characteristics for a dental care program is color coded for identifi¢ation by color of the bristles. Mix-tures of bristle firmness or other quality within the tuftcould be identified by the configuration of Figure 4 where-in the core bristles of each tuft are color coded as green.
In establishing an appropriate color coding specifi-cation therefore the bristle color provides a rich and fertile environment for identifying a combination of fea-tures identifying brush characteristics, manufacturer and other pertinent dental care data. Thus bristle colors could typically indicate bristle firmness, striping codes other toothbrush characteristics such as bristle material or cut and the foremost two bristles 20 could indicate other features such as manufacturer's identity.
It is clear from the foregoing description that this invention has improved the nature of the art and provides ; ,, , .... .,: ., . ~ . . . . .
.:. ~ . - . . .
,.. ":. , - .
., ., ;. , ,.,, . . . . . ,, .. . .. , , . : .: .. . - , . : - ~ .
usefulness in the industry. Accordingly those novel fea-tures descriptive of the spirit and nature of the invention are set forth with particularity in the following claims.
.
:
. ;~ , . . - ... . . . . . ..
TECHNICAL FIELD:
This invention relates to toothbrushes, and more par-ticularly it relates to identifiaction of characteristicsof the toothbrushes in a manner which assures conformance with a prescribed dental care program.
BACKGR0UND ART:
There has been no known system in the prior art suit-able for standardizing toothbrushes with identificationcodes that signify different toothbrush characteristics such as bristle firmnesses, bristle cut or contour, etc.
which are critical to prescribed dental care. Without unmistakable identification indicia, it is difficult to immediately and unmistakably select a toothbrush having the right combination of features such as may be described by a dentist. For example simply to distinguish the stiffness or firmness of the bristles is difficult, since different fiber materials may look alike or be of the same diameters and yet have drastically different stiffnesses. A bristle diameter of .007 in. (.018 cm.) may be ultra-soft, soft, medium or hard in stiffness rating, for example.
The problem of being mistaken or deceived as to the bristle stiffness is even more pronounced in the case of ~-~ 25 the layman toothbrush purchaser or user. Perhaps the toothbrush handle, box or inserted paper may have a printed fine print legend somewhere depending upon manufacturer's preference and styling indicating "firm", "soft" or such legend or describing some other toothbrush feature. With-out a more prominent identification, this is not an assur-ance against mistakes in purchase or use of the brushes in critical situations where a particular toothbrush is prescribed.
If bristle firmness is a critical feature, for ex-ample, there is no feasible prior art way to look at orfeel a bristle to determine accurately its firmness rating "'`,., ',.,. , ~,' , , ' ' .'. ' ' ' .. ' ' .''.. ' ' '' ' ~ 204022~
without a sensitive stiffness gage. This process is even more difficult since a casual inspection of bristles cannot easily determine soft, medium or hard bristle firmness.
Bristles of differing diameters and stiffnesses may even be intermixed in a pattern across the brush or a tuft to make detection of firmness more difficult.
Accordingly significant problems are presented in the toothbrush arts relating to the identification, standard-ization and quality control of toothbrush features, for example, bristle firmness encountered in the manufacturing process and extending through the purchase transaction and into the use of the toothbrush to preclude the chance of mistake in the purchase or use of a toothbrush.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to solve those problems and to provide a simple and immediate method of recognition of particular toothbrush characteristics including bristle stiffness.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION:
This invention therefore provides improved manufactur-ing methods of processing toothbrushes to identify criticalfeatures with assurance that such critical dental care features such as bristle firmness ratings are immediately recognizable to the salesman, purchaser and user.
By means of novel toothbrush identification structure one can unmistakingly identify the firmness of toothbrush bristles or other critical feature at any time, so that the possibility of errors in a dental care program are con-siderably reduced. Accordingly, the invention provides a comprehensive method of identification of different tooth-brush features including firmness, namely the provision ofcolor coding of the toothbrush bristles during manufacture with at least two colors.
The problem of identifying stiffness accurately even in the prese~ce of various bristle materials and diameters and different bristle patterns is resolved to make this invention universally adapted to identify those tooth-brushes with particular features in lines of toothbrushes : . . . . .
- ,. . ~ ., , - . , . . -.
... , -:
. ~ . .. ~ .. ,, , , . , . " ,~ -.. : . - , , .
. -. .. . . .
-- 20~0222 providing various features, such as bristle materials, firmness, cut and shape. This identification starts with the factory level of toothbrush manufacturing, where exact specifications may be assured and identified simultaneously to avoid any future mistakes in selection of a brush with specified features, configuration, etc.
The problem of identifying toothbrush bristle stiff-ness, for example, should be easily recognized by purchas-ing laymen at the time of purchase and at the time of use of the toothbrush in a manner that is not likely to lead to erroneous choices, and consistent with professional dentist prescription.
The foregoing problems are overcome in a novel, fool-proof and simple manner by this invention by adopting at the manufacturing level a set of standard identification codes coordinated with critical toothbrush features for meeting the needs of both the professional dentists and the layman users. More specifically, the color coding of bristles serves to indicate such characteristics of a toothbrush as bristle firmness with a specific color coded designation as an accepted standard of assurance that spe-cifications are established and met in this specialty toothbrush industry. This color coding is to be isolated from other color schemes used by manufacturers for styling or users for personal identification such as common in different handle colors, is thus confined to the bristle color itself. Thus, a toothbrush of specified firmness characteristic is immediately recognizable at the time of purchase and at the time of use and can be prescribed solely by its color, such as a "silver" "qreen tipped" or "blue diagonal striped" bristle color toothbrush.
Other objects, features and advantages of the inven-tion are found throughout the following description, and accompanying drawings and claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:
In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 to 3 are plan view sketches looking into the . ... , , ,.. ,: .: . .
,, .. ~ ... : : , ., ............... - . - - ,. . ~.: . .
. ~ ;. . ~ . . . .: - .: . :, . . . ~.
bristles of typical toothbrush configurations afforded in accordance with this invention, and Figures 4 and 5 are fragmental portion sketahes of further toothbrush configurations showing the bristle tuft construction and color coding in accordance with this invention.
'rHE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:
As may be visualized from the drawing, a toothbrush 15 is made with a series of tufts 16 of diverging bristles which form a brush body. The tufts 16 are embedded in a generally plastic body portion 17 terminating from a handle 18. The stiffness of the bristles is a critical feature of toothbrushes and dental care and toothbrushes may be made in various ways to control the brush stiffness character-istics, as will be made more clear in the following des-cription.
In the Figure 1 configuration, the inner two rows of tufts are lined for the color "silver". The outer rim of tufts is not lined for color and thus identifies standard white bristles conventionally used for toothbrushes. Thus a bristle color code is provided for identification of the bristle stiffness characteristics of the toothbrush or other critical dental care feature in accordance with this invention. In a simple example of color coding, the silver color coded bristles could be stiff bristles and the white color code (when used in color combination, thus distin-guishing for conventional white bristles) could be soft bristles. Thus, the bristle appearance immediately identi-fies the bristle characteristics of the toothbrush, which in this case could be a brush with stiffer inner bristles and softer outer bristles, for example.
'rhus, it is readily seen that a specified range of stiffnesses may be identified and standardized such as gentle, soft, medium and stiff, each being identifiable by a respective color of the bristle. Solid bristle color patterns adopted to specify bristle firmness standards then would identify unmistakably those toothbrushes having all ... : . . . ... . .
. ., : . . . : . .. : ~ - - .
.. : .. . ; ~ ~ . . .- . . .
. ~ . ..... - . . .
. . . .. : .
---` 2040222 s bristles within a specified stiffness range. This color coding pattern carefully quality controlled in manufacture would then permit dentist, salesman and user to assure that prescribed toothbrushes are chosed and used. The conveni-ence, accuracy and assurance of following prescribed dentalcare conditions by specifying a bristle color is thus made available to sellers, buyers, users and dental care tech-nicians alike.
In the embodiment of Figure 2, it may be seen that the two green hatched tufts 20 at the end of the brush are used as identifying color code markers characteristic of a property of the toothbrushes such as the bristle firmness.
It is evident however, that these tufts may be reserved as a color code indicator of another characteristic of the brush such as the style of the cut of the bristles or the particular bristle material, animal-synthetic or nylon-PBT, etc.
The Figure 3 embodiment has color coding to indicate blocks of blue bristles in a laterally striped pattern across the brush, whereas the Figure 5 embodiment has slanted blue stripe color coding. It is thus seen that in accordance with this invention a toothbrush having pre-scribed characteristics for a dental care program is color coded for identifi¢ation by color of the bristles. Mix-tures of bristle firmness or other quality within the tuftcould be identified by the configuration of Figure 4 where-in the core bristles of each tuft are color coded as green.
In establishing an appropriate color coding specifi-cation therefore the bristle color provides a rich and fertile environment for identifying a combination of fea-tures identifying brush characteristics, manufacturer and other pertinent dental care data. Thus bristle colors could typically indicate bristle firmness, striping codes other toothbrush characteristics such as bristle material or cut and the foremost two bristles 20 could indicate other features such as manufacturer's identity.
It is clear from the foregoing description that this invention has improved the nature of the art and provides ; ,, , .... .,: ., . ~ . . . . .
.:. ~ . - . . .
,.. ":. , - .
., ., ;. , ,.,, . . . . . ,, .. . .. , , . : .: .. . - , . : - ~ .
usefulness in the industry. Accordingly those novel fea-tures descriptive of the spirit and nature of the invention are set forth with particularity in the following claims.
.
:
. ;~ , . . - ... . . . . . ..
Claims (12)
1. The method of controlling the manufacture of tooth-brushes to provide and identify a choice of different toothbrush configurations, comprising in combination the steps of:
establishing specifications for a plurality of dif-ferent toothbrush configurations in a line of toothbrushes, isolating bristle stock of specified colors, and forming bristle color patterns for identifying the specifications for each of the toothbrush configurations in the line while producing a toothbrush therefrom.
establishing specifications for a plurality of dif-ferent toothbrush configurations in a line of toothbrushes, isolating bristle stock of specified colors, and forming bristle color patterns for identifying the specifications for each of the toothbrush configurations in the line while producing a toothbrush therefrom.
2. The manufacturing method of Claim 1 further com-prising the step of selecting bristles of predetermined colors for the identification of toothbrush bristles of a plurality of stiffness ratings.
3. The manufacturing method of Claim 1 further com-prising the step of arranging bristles of different colors in a predetermined color code pattern in the toothbrush for identification of a specified toothbrush configuration.
4. The manufacturing method of Claim 3 further com-prising the step of arranging the bristles in a striped color pattern.
5. The manufacturing method of Claim 3 further com-prising the step of arranging bristles within a tuft of bristles in a color coded pattern.
6. The method of identifying the stiffness of a tooth-brush comprising the steps of coloring tooth brush bristles of different bristle firmnesses within predetermined firm-ness ranges with different identification colors represent-ative of different firmnesses.
7. The method of identifying toothbrush character-istics of toothbrushes in a line of toothbrushes offering a choice of features by a color code pattern of the tooth-brush bristles.
8. A line of toothbrushes providing a choice of a plurality of bristle stiffness configurations separately identified by a color code pattern of the bristles.
9. A toothbrush comprising color coding identification means formed by bristles of at least two colors.
10. The toothbrush of Claim 9 further comprising colored bristles formed in a striped pattern.
11. The toothbrush of Claim 9 further comprising bristle tufts formed of differently colored bristles.
12. The toothbrush of Claim 9 further comprising color coding of critical dental care characteristics of the toothbrush.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US67152091A | 1991-03-19 | 1991-03-19 | |
| US07/671,520 | 1991-03-19 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2040222A1 true CA2040222A1 (en) | 1992-09-20 |
Family
ID=24694850
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA 2040222 Abandoned CA2040222A1 (en) | 1991-03-19 | 1991-04-11 | Toothbrushes colour coded to identify different characteristics |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2040222A1 (en) |
Cited By (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO1997031555A1 (en) * | 1996-02-29 | 1997-09-04 | Mcneil-Ppc, Inc. | Toothbrush |
| US5839148A (en) * | 1997-04-17 | 1998-11-24 | The Procter & Gamble Company | Toothbrush with both stationary and moving tufts |
| USD413728S (en) | 1997-12-17 | 1999-09-14 | Colgate-Palmolive Company | Toothbrush |
| US6601257B1 (en) * | 1998-10-14 | 2003-08-05 | Connoisseur Products Corp. | Jewelry brush with cleaning zones |
| CN106470917A (en) * | 2014-06-12 | 2017-03-01 | 高露洁-棕榄公司 | The system of the oral care implement of packaging |
-
1991
- 1991-04-11 CA CA 2040222 patent/CA2040222A1/en not_active Abandoned
Cited By (8)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WO1997031555A1 (en) * | 1996-02-29 | 1997-09-04 | Mcneil-Ppc, Inc. | Toothbrush |
| GB2325619A (en) * | 1996-02-29 | 1998-12-02 | Mcneil Ppc Inc | Toothbrush |
| GB2325619B (en) * | 1996-02-29 | 2000-03-15 | Mcneil Ppc Inc | Toothbrush |
| US5839148A (en) * | 1997-04-17 | 1998-11-24 | The Procter & Gamble Company | Toothbrush with both stationary and moving tufts |
| USD413728S (en) | 1997-12-17 | 1999-09-14 | Colgate-Palmolive Company | Toothbrush |
| US6601257B1 (en) * | 1998-10-14 | 2003-08-05 | Connoisseur Products Corp. | Jewelry brush with cleaning zones |
| CN106470917A (en) * | 2014-06-12 | 2017-03-01 | 高露洁-棕榄公司 | The system of the oral care implement of packaging |
| US10737860B2 (en) | 2014-06-12 | 2020-08-11 | Colgate-Palmolive Company | System of packaged oral care implements |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| US10856646B2 (en) | Oral-care implement having color-communicative element | |
| US4263691A (en) | Brush | |
| TW400218B (en) | Method for the manufacture of brushware and brushware produced according to the same | |
| CN100512713C (en) | Toothbrush with single embedded bristles | |
| CZ314298A3 (en) | Method of determining approximative patency of interproximate space | |
| JP4429471B2 (en) | toothbrush | |
| GB2325401A (en) | Toothbrush bristles | |
| US5622502A (en) | Tooth brush with helical bristles and method | |
| CA2040222A1 (en) | Toothbrushes colour coded to identify different characteristics | |
| US20230148744A1 (en) | Head for an oral care implement and oral care implement | |
| KR100514898B1 (en) | Hair styling method | |
| JP6899882B2 (en) | How to determine tooth color | |
| EP0680707B2 (en) | Interdental toothbrush | |
| US20230143342A1 (en) | Head for an oral care implement and oral care implement | |
| JP3718264B2 (en) | Interdental brush with interdental gauge function | |
| WO2002094058A1 (en) | Polyurethane bristles | |
| Chong et al. | Characteristics of toothbrushes | |
| US6382978B1 (en) | Gum health guide | |
| JPH10502279A (en) | Tool labeling methods and labeled tools | |
| JP2021178113A (en) | toothbrush |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
| FZDE | Dead |