Abstract:
A low cost and manufacturable toothbrush with bristles that light up at the tips is provided for brushing teeth and entertaining children. The toothbrush includes a body with a handle and a head. Bristles are attached to the head and include transparent filaments fused to the head. A light source is disposed in the body of the toothbrush and light emanating from the light source is directed into the transparent filaments and is visible a tips of the transparent filaments that face away from the head.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The present application claims the benefit of provisional application No. 61/754,968, filed on Jan. 21, 2013. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a manual toothbrush for brushing teeth having toothbrush bristles that light up at the tips, designed to get kids excited about brushing their teeth by creating an enchanting ‘Pixie Dust’ effect. 
         [0004]    2. Background 
         [0005]    Current toothbrushes designed to get kids excited about brushing their teeth include toothbrushes with handles that light up and toothbrushes that play music. The toothbrush of the present invention has bristles that light up at the tips and is arguably more magical and thereby more exciting to children than current toothbrushes. The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems identified above. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The aforementioned deficiencies are addressed, and an advance is made in the art, by a low cost manufacturable toothbrush with bristles that light up at the tips to get children excited about brushing. 
         [0007]    Toothbrushes are bristled by either the Staple Set method or the less common Fused Bristling method. In the Staple Set method a small group of toothbrush filaments are folded over a nickel staple and forced into a cylindrical hole in the brush head. This forms a tuft. Placing a light source behind a Staple Set bristled tuft of transparent toothbrush filaments will not result in a fiber optic effect as both ends of each filament in the tuft are facing away from the light source. The light source only shines on the folded portion of the filament. However, in the Fused Bristling method, the bristles are not folded. Instead, they are fused straight with heat. The resulting tuft is placed into a molding machine with others and the molding machine makes the toothbrush handle body head and tufts into one. So, by placing a light source behind a Fusion bristled tuft of transparent toothbrush filaments one can achieve the desired fiber optic effect. 
         [0008]    To get a clean visual effect, the face of the head must be opaque to force the light to appear substantially at the tips of the bristles. I found it very confusing if the head face is transparent or even translucent—too much light noise to see the desired effect. Toothbrush filaments of varying diameters are also used to achieve lit bristle tips of varying sizes, creating the visual effect of distance. The filaments should have square cut ends for best lighting results. Different sized filaments can be mixed together in a bushy pattern as opposed to the highly structured and segmented bristle sections found on many of today&#39;s toothbrushes for a more organic look and galactic aesthetic. The goal is to create lit bristles tips that look like bright stars of varying sizes with the illusion of being at varying distances all mixed together. The bristles may be cut flat or with a topological pattern designed for improved brushing. 
         [0009]    To achieve a toothbrush having bristles with tips that light up with the desired dynamic ‘pixie dust’ effect, transparent nylon toothbrush bristle filaments (such as the bristles filaments made by Dupont) are attached to the toothbrush head using an anchorless bristling process such the fusion process employed to form the Eco-DenT replacement brush heads. The typical stapling method used to bristle most toothbrushes does so by folding the filament in half and stapling it into the bristle hole in the head of the body with a steel wire. Even if you used transparent bristles with a light source in the head you would not be able to achieve a fiber optic effect as you would be aiming the light source at the fold and not at the base of the bristle filaments. In the stapled fold-over method used today, both ends of the filament are up. Fusion anchorless bristling however is not folded over and can be bristled straight into a thru-hole bristle hole. One can then place a light source behind the bristles. 
         [0010]    In accordance with the first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the toothbrush is a manual toothbrush with transparent (clear) toothbrush bristle filaments attached to an opaque body by way of fusion bristling or other form of anchorless bristling process. A light source is placed behind the bristles that shines through the bristles to the tips of the bristles. 
         [0011]    An object of the present invention is to provide a low cost manufacturable toothbrush with bristles that light up at the tips. 
         [0012]    An further object of the present invention is to provide a low cost manufacturable toothbrush with normal toothbrush filament bristles that light up at the tips and that has a handle with a thin head and neck so as not to detract from the toothbrushing experience. 
         [0013]    An object of the present invention is to provide a low cost toothbrush with bristles that light up at the tips and with a thin neck and head to allow for very easy access in the mouth and increased comfort when brushing. 
         [0014]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush that can display a lit starry pattern on the brush. 
         [0015]    Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush with dynamically lit bristle tips. 
         [0016]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush with dynamically lit bristle tips of varying sizes. 
         [0017]    Another object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush with dynamically lit bristle tips that has fused bristles, which eliminates spaces between the bristles where harmful bacteria hide and breed. 
         [0018]    A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of lighting up the bristle tips while still leaving room in the handle to add a vibrating motor for a pulsating head power toothbrush. 
         [0019]    A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method of lighting up the bristle tips while still leaving room in the handle to add a power fountain such as that found in the Rinser Toothbrush to creating a Pixie Rinser—a toothbrush with light-up fiber optic bristles and built-in power fountain for rinsing after brushing. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0020]    The various features, functions and advantages characterizing the invention will be better understood by reference to the detailed description which follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0021]      FIG. 1A  is a cross-sectional side view of a toothbrush constructed in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 1B  is a plan view of the back of the body of a toothbrush constructed in accordance with the present invention. Once the components are placed into the cavities in the head and the handle and the wire is placed into the groove connecting the two cavities, TPE is over-moulded to fill and seal. 
           [0023]      FIG. 2  is a plan view of the inner components of the toothbrush of  FIG. 1A . 
           [0024]      FIG. 3  is a detailed plan view of the secondary PCB located behind the fused bristles in the head of the toothbrush of  FIG. 1A , illustrating the layout and placement of the LED&#39;s. 
           [0025]      FIG. 4A  is a cross-sectional side view of a toothbrush constructed in accordance with the secondary embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0026]      FIG. 4B  is a plan view of the inner components in the toothbrush of  FIG. 4A . 
           [0027]      FIG. 5A  is a cross-sectional side view of a toothbrush constructed in accordance with the tertiary embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0028]      FIG. 5B  is a plan view of the inner components in the toothbrush of  FIG. 5A . 
           [0029]      FIG. 6A  is a cross-sectional side view of a toothbrush constructed in accordance with the fourth embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0030]      FIG. 6B  is a plan view of the inner electrical components in the toothbrush of  FIG. 6A . 
           [0031]      FIG. 6C  is a side view of the optical element  602  in the toothbrush of  FIG. 6A . 
           [0032]      FIG. 6D  is a plan view of the back of the optical element  602  in the toothbrush as constructed in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention shown in  FIG. 6A  and  FIG. 6B . 
           [0033]      FIG. 7  is a side view of a toothbrush constructed in accordance with a fifth embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0034]      FIG. 1A  illustrates a toothbrush constructed in accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, shown generally at  100 . An opaque toothbrush body  101  houses three LR44 coin batteries  114 , a main PCB (Printed Circuit Board)  110  and a secondary PCB  103 . The main PCB  110  holds a capacitor  113 , a tactile switch  111  and a uC  112 . The secondary PCB  103  holds seven 0805 surface mount LED&#39;s  104  each with a wide viewing angle of &gt;100 degrees. Smaller SMD LED&#39;s can also be used such as the 0603 and 0402 size packages. Transparent toothbrush filaments  102  are attached the head of the toothbrush body  101  in thru holes by way of fused anchorless bristling such as that used on the TerrADent Replacement Heads sold under the Bradn Eco-Dent and manufactured by Frisetta Gmbh (Schoenau, Germany) and distributed by Lotus Brands, Inc. (P.O. Box 325, Twin Lakes, Wis. 53181 USA—1-888-ECO-DENT or www.eco-dent.com. In fusion bristling, the bristles are fused with heat and the resulting tuft is placed into a molding machine with other tufts and the molding machine makes the handle, head and the tufts into one. This thermo-welding process eliminates spaces between the bristles where harmful bacteria hide and breed. In tests conducted at a leading Dental School, Terr-A-Dent demonstrated the lowest bacterial load of all brands tested. 
         [0035]      FIG. 1B  shows the back of the toothbrush body  101  and illustrates the light path through the thru-hole bristle holes  180  of the body  101  into the transparent fused bristles. It also shows the small step that supports and separates the secondary PCB  103  from the back of the head giving the light from the LED&#39;s  104  some space to spread (0.5 mm to 1.5 mm has proven to be enough space). A diffuser filter part or light spreader lens can placed between the secondary PCB&#39;s  103  (with LED&#39;s  104 ) and the back of the head of the body  101  to help the light to spread in a smaller space—to make the head thinner. 
         [0036]      FIG. 2  illustrates the internal components in the toothbrush of  FIG. 1A . A primary PCB  203  holds a tactile switch  206  to turn the LED&#39;s ON/OFF, a uC  205  to control the timing of the different color light patterns and to turn itself OFF after a pre-determined time interval so that the device can&#39;t be left ON continuously, and a capacitor  207 . A positive spring battery contact  208  mounted to the primary PCB  203  makes forcible contact with the cathode face of the three LR44 coin batteries  204  placed in series. A negative leaf battery contact  209  makes contact with the anode surface of the three LR44 coin batteries  204  placed in series. A wire  210  connects the anode battery contact  209  to the primary PCB  203 . Four wires connect the primary PCB  203  to the secondary PCB  201  thru the neck. It is also within the scope of the present invention to include the uC  205 , and capacitor  207  on the secondary PCB  201 . 
         [0037]    The secondary PCB  201  holds seven 0805 SMD LED&#39;s with wide viewing angles greater than 100 degrees and is placed in the head of the toothbrush body behind the thru-hole fused transparent toothbrush filament bristles. With reference to  FIG. 3  one can see the layout of the seven LED&#39;s to provide the best light exposure for a standard shaped toothbrush bristle pattern. It is preferred to have Red, Blue and Green LED&#39;s for best visual effect. One Red LED  301  is positioned at the tip. Two Blue LED&#39;s  302  and  305  are position below the Red LED  301 . Four Green LED&#39;s  303 ,  306 ,  304  and  307  are placed below the two Blue LED&#39;s  302  and  305 . Two Green LED&#39;s can be used instead of four Green LED&#39;s for a total of 5 LED&#39;s. Four wires connect this secondary PCB  201  to the primary PCB  203 ; one common wire  214 , one wire  213  for the red LED  301 , one wire  212  for the two Blue LEDs  302  and  305 , and one wire  211  for the four Green LEDs  303 ,  306 ,  304  and  307 . By turning the red, green and blue LED&#39;s on and off in a smooth fade sequence, one can create the enchanting illusion of ‘pixie dust’. This dynamic Pixie Dust effect has proven extremely exciting to children. The sequence is as follows. Red fades ON, then Green fades ON, then blue Fades ON, Then Red fades OFF, then Green fades OFF then Red fades ON then Blue Fades OFF, then Green Fades ON, then Blue Fades ON, repeating this sequence, 
         [0038]      FIG. 4A  illustrates a toothbrush constructed in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, shown generally at  400 . In this version there is no secondary PCB. Instead, three LED&#39;s  420  (one Red, one Blue and one Green) are attached to the edge of the primary PCB  203 . The three LED&#39;s can be replaced by one single bi or tri colored LED to save on waste. Transparent toothbrush filaments  490  run through the holes in the head section of the front half of toothbrush body  401   a  and down the neck into a collector  403 . All of the electronic components are located in the lower handle. The collector  403  can be a piece of tape holding the strands together or a plastic donut part. The collector  403  is just meant to hold all of the filaments together so that each of their ends is facing the LED light source. The light runs up through the filaments like a fiber optic wand and lights up the tips of the bristles. TPE rubber or the like can be placed in the inside of the bristle thru-holes in the head  401   a  to keep the filaments from sliding. The bristle holes can also be angled to help keep the bristles perpendicular to the toothbrush head face. The LED(s)  420  in this version should have a small viewing angle to have most of the light aimed at the collected filaments above.  FIG. 4B  is included to illustrate the internal light source components. The front toothbrush body  401   a  does not need to be opaque for best visual effect on this version. 
         [0039]      FIG. 5A  illustrates a toothbrush constructed in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention, shown generally at  500 . This version shares the internal light source components of the second embodiment shown in  FIG. 4A  and  FIG. 4B . Transparent toothbrush filaments are attached to the head of the toothbrush body  501   a  in thru holes by way of fused bristling as in the preferred embodiment shown in  FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B . The light is redirected into the transparent toothbrush bristle filaments  503  by an angled mirror surface  502  located on the inside of the rear toothbrush body housing  501   b.  The mirrored surface can either be painted directly onto the surface of the inside of the rear toothbrush body housing  501   b,  or it can be a discrete mirror surface part secured in place at that location.  FIG. 5B  is included to illustrate the internal light source components. The toothbrush body front half  501   a  is opaque for best visual effect. The three LED&#39;s can be replaced by a single bi or tri color LED to save on waste. 
         [0040]      FIG. 6A  illustrates a toothbrush constructed in accordance with a fourth embodiment of the present invention, shown generally at  600 . This version shares the internal light source components of the second and third embodiment shown in  FIG. 4A ,  FIG. 4B ,  FIG. 5A  and  FIG. 5B  and the straight fused transparent toothbrush filaments of the first embodiment shown in  FIG. 1A . In this the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the light is redirected into the base of the transparent toothbrush bristle filaments by an transparent optical part  602  sandwiched between the front  601   a  and rear  601   b  toothbrush body housings. With reference to  FIG. 6C  and  FIG. 6D  one can see that the optic part is nothing more that a block of transparent plastic with an angled face  602  at the top. The light travels up the optical part and is reflected off of the inside of the angled face and into the fused transparent toothbrush filaments. This optical part can be refined to have a thinner base and to make it easier to manufacture and offer a smaller neck.  FIG. 6B  is included to illustrate the internal light source components. The toothbrush body  601   a  is opaque for best visual effect of light up bristles. The three LED&#39;s can be replaced with a single bi or tri color LED to save on waste. 
         [0041]      FIG. 7  is included to illustrate how a toothbrush can be formed entirely from a group of long transparent toothbrush filaments. The group of long strands of toothbrush filaments can be over-molded with clear PP or clear ABS to help strengthen and form a comfortable toothbrush handle shape and keep the bristles perpendicular to the toothbrush handle. The bristle filaments can extend the entire length of the toothbrush. If placed over a light source in the upright position, the tips of the bristles would light up. If the filaments were to run the length of half of the toothbrush, a light source can be included in the lower half of the toothbrush handle. In this case, as was the case in the second embodiment, the face of the head of the toothbrush body can be transparent for best visual effect.