US2796620A - Brush - Google Patents

Description

June 25, 1957 L. R. BRESSLER 2,796,620

7 I BRUSH Filed Jan. 17, 1955 A I N V EN TOR. fimzs'jzjzwz United States Patent BRUSH Louis R. Bressler, Southampton, lass.

Application January 17, 1955, Serial No. 482,094 2 Claims. (Cl. 15201) My inventionrelates to new and useful improvements in brushes and is directed more particularly to brushes of the .type having relatively flexible bristle-carrying sections. 7

It is the principal object of my'invention to provide a novel and improved construction of thesaid type in which the brush has 'a'bn'stle-supporting head portion which is flexible, whereby the bristles may conform to the contour of the head or other parts of the body when the brush is in use, and which is distinctive in its appearance, simple in its construction, and reliable in its operation.

Brushes have heretofore been made in which bristlesupporting heads have included a plurality of bristlecarrying sections connected by means of metallic springs for relative flexing of the sections. Such brushes have not been satisfactory and are objectionable for numerous reasons. There is a faulty bond between the metal spring and the plastic of the head sections and the metal is subject to corrosion as well as to fatigue. Furthermore, the metal sets so as to rupture with normal use and the tufts of bristles are not properly secured in the sections because the securing means, usually comprising staples, may not extend into the plastic material to the required depth. That is, the staples cannot extend through the metal spring which results in inadequate bristle securement.

According to my invention, a brush is provided which includes bristle-carrying sections flexibly connected together by relatively fiat and thin non-metallic spring-like members which are formed from a plastic material such as nylon or the like.

Such a construction overcomes the difficulties experienced with prior art brushes and has many advantages thereover in that the plastic spring members are ade quately bonded or secured to the bristle sections, are resistant to corrosion, and have a much longer life than metallic springs as they are capable of many times the flexing movements of metal springs and the staples may impinge or extend through the nylon spring thereby to secure the sections together.

A representative example of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one form of the improved brush;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevational view on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of one of the spring-like members of the brush; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through one of the bristle sections.

Referring now to the drawing more in detail'and refer ring more particularly to the preferred form of my invention, I have shown in Fig. l a brush which includes a handle member and a head or bristle portion generally indicated by 12.

The bristle portion 12 includes a plurality of elongated bristle supporting sections 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22. These sections are spaced apart transversely as shown so as to be movable relative to each other as will subsequently appear. It will be noted that the section 22 is, a continuation'of and an integral part of the handle portion 10.

The handle member and the bristle supporting sections are preferably formed from suitable plasticmaterial by an appropriate moulding operation.

From these various supporting sections extend tufts 26 of bristles which may be of any length or shape. The tufts are represented by dotted lines 26 in Fig. 1.

The sockets or holes S for the tufts 26 are provided in the sections as by moulding or by drilling and may have any relative spacing and arrangement desired, the arrangement shown being merely for illustrative purposes.

The tufts 26 of bristles 27 are secured in the sockets provided in the sections of the head portion by means of small wire staples of usual form 28 which engage intermediate portions of the bristles and are driven or pressed into the plastic or other material at the bottoms of the sockets in a manner well known in the art.

As above stated the bristle sockets may be provided in a moulding operation or they may be formed by drilling into the bristle sections in the usual manner.

Additionally, I provide spring-like resilient members 30. It will be understood that any number of such members may be provided, the invention not being necessarily limited to the employment of a pair or any other number of such members.

Members 30 are generally elongated and flat and relatively thin and are disposed in spaced parallelism longitudinally of the sections as shown in Fig. 1. These members are preferably made of nylon so as to be flexible and yieldable, yet resilient, for the purposes of the invention.

During the moulding of the brush sections and handle, the preformed spring members 30 may be inserted into the mould and the brush sections and handle formed therearound, whereby the resulting product is a unitary brush including several flexibly connected separate elongated sections instead of a single large section as in the case of ordinary brushes. The separate sections are connected together by means of the spring members 30, whereby the separate sections may be freely flexed relative to each other.

In some manufacturing procedures, sockets for the bristle tufts are provided in the moulding operation. In others, sockets will be formed by the drilling of same into the moulded sections.

The bristle sockets extend into the bristle sections and preferably they extend not only in the bristle sections but into and through the spring members 30 as Well. That is, preferably suitable apertures are provided both in the bristle supporting sections and through or into the members 30 also, whereby the tufts 26 may be inserted thereinto and held by means of the staples.

The bristle tufts being secured in the members 30 hold and connect the bristle section in spaced relation along the said members against shifting and allow flexing of said members.

The members 30 are preformed as to dimensions for inserting in the mould for the moulding operation. They may be provided with holes or apertures to coincide with the sockets to be drilled in the sections for the bristle tufts. Or when moulded in the sections the members 30 and sections may be drilled for the bristle tufts, all to the end that the bristle tufts may be stapled in the sockets.

As one feature of the invention adjacent sides of adjacent bristle sections relatively diverge upwardly and downwardly from points intermediate upper and lower sides of the bristle sections as shown in Fig. 2. In this way the elongated slots or spaces between adjacent bristle sections are relatively narrow and yet the sections may flex relative to one another. Hair and the like is not likely to be caught in narrow spaces as would be the case with wide spaces. So long as the sides of the sections are diverging the spaces between the sections at the point of flexing of the members 30 maybe very narrow and yet the sections are relatively flexible.

Nylon has been mentioned as suitable for the spring members, due to its strength and flexibility with resiliency but any other nonmetallic plastic material having the desired characteristics will be adequate. That is, plastic material adapted to withstand repeated flexing without fatigue and rupture.

V The invention maybe embodied in other specific forms without departing from the 'essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects merely as being illustrative and not asflbeing restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description and all modifications and variations as fall within the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appended claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What it is desired to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Brush construction of the type having a transversely flexible elongated bristle head comprising in combination, a handle having an elongated relatively narrow central bristle section extending from an end thereof and other relatively narrow elongated side bristle sections at opposite longitudinal sides of said central section, means flexibly connecting said sections in longitudinal parallel nonseparable relation, adjacent longitudinal side faces of adjacent sections being out of contact and in slightly spaced relation for relative flexing of said sections transversely of said head, said connecting means including separate elongated relatively thin and flat flexible resilient members embedded in said sections intermediate upper and lower faces thereof and disposed transversely in spaced relationship longitudinally of said sections, tufts of bristles having inner ends stapled in said sections with bristles thereof extending outwardly from lower sides of said sections.

2. Brush construction set forth in claim 1 wherein the slightly spaced adjacent side faces of adjacent bristle sec tions relatively diverge upwardly and downwardly from said resilient members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 52,833 Eagle Feb. 27, 1866 805,431 Fetters N0v.'2l, 1905 1,110,406 Schreck -Sept. 15, 1914 7 1,928,328 Carpentier Sept. 26, 1933 2,676,350 Bressler Apr. 27, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 4,624 Great Britain 'Mar. 6, 1905

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