Brush with retractable bristles

A compact, self-cleaning brush having minimal number of components and being easier to assemble which makes the design more cost effective. The bristles of the brush are mounted between a base and a sliding actuating member which are constructed so that as the sliding member is moved along the base, the bristle components are extended and spread so as to be fanned out.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a brush having bristles wherein the 
bristles are retracted into the housing formed by two members slidable one 
with respect to the other. More particularly, the bristles of the brush 
are also spread and fan out upon relative sliding movement of the members. 
The prior art discloses a number of retractable brushes such as the 
retractable brushes of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,498,211 and 4,987,633. However, 
the prior art brushes have been constructed of a large number of 
components and parts and are complicated to assemble. Further, many of the 
prior art retractable brushes do not provide for spreading or fanning out 
the bristles which is preferred because of the natural way a brush is used 
to rotating of the wrist. 
I have observed that retractable brushes made up of a large number of 
moving parts are expensive to manufacture and assemble and have found 
substantially no commercial success or limited commercial success because 
of the cost involved in the manufacture of the parts and the assembly 
thereof and because of the inferior design relative to a conventional 
brush. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
According to the present invention, a simple, and less costly retractable 
brush is disclosed that is made up of a minimum number of parts that are 
easily assembled and can be used like a conventional brush. This cost 
effective design provides for three basic components including two 
elongated moldable bodies and a plurality of bristle components. The 
bodies form a housing in which the bristle components are located for 
pivotal movement from a retracted position to an extended position. The 
bristle components are pivotally mounted on one of the bodies and the 
bristles of the bristle component extend through slots in the other of the 
bodies. The bodies are relatively slidable with respect to each other and 
such slidable movement causes retraction and/or extension of the bristles 
as the bristle components pivot. Each bristle component includes a lower 
spindle and an upper bristle support bar supported in spaced relationship 
above the spindles. The upper bar member supports a plurality of bristles 
extending upwardly therefrom. 
In accordance with my invention, one of the bodies pivotally support the 
spindles of the bristle component and the other body has slots through 
which the bristles of the bristle components extend. The body having slots 
includes a cam surface which engages the ends of the flexible bars causing 
the bars to flex when the bristles are extended through the openings so as 
to spread or fan out the bristles. 
The present invention provides for a flat hair brush design easily storable 
in a purse, other carrying case, or any place the brush is stored when the 
bristles are retracted and the bristles are easily extended by a simple 
sliding movement of one of the bodies. The retracting bristles also 
provide the function of removing hair from the bristles thus making the 
brush self-cleaning. 
All of the above structure and advantages of my invention will become 
obvious upon reading the following description in conjunction with the 
appended drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to the drawings, FIGS. 1-8 disclose my assembled brush designated 
by the reference numeral I. Brush 1 comprises three major components 
including the base 10, more specifically disclosed in FIGS. 9-13; the 
sliding actuator member 20, more specifically disclosed in FIGS. 14-21; 
and the bristle components 30, more specifically disclosed in FIGS. 22-24. 
The sliding actuator member is slidable within the base 10 and bristles 30 
are rotatably held between the floor of the base 10 and bottom edge of 
sliding actuator so as to be contained within base 10 between the bottom 
or floor 11 of the base and the slotted top wall 21 of the sliding 
actuating member 20. The bristle components 30 are rotatably mounted 
within the recesses 12 formed by the ribs 13 in the bottom or floor of the 
base 10. The bristles 31 of the bristle components 30 extend through the 
slots 22 in the top wall 21 of the sliding actuating member 20. In the 
position of FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, the bristles extend upwardly through the 
slots 22 and are spread or fanned as specifically disclosed in FIGS. 2 and 
7. In the second position of the sliding actuating member 20, bristles 31 
are retracted to the position as disclosed in FIGS. 3, 4, and 6. 
The connecting corners of the top wall 20 and the sidewalls 24a and 24b are 
shaped to provide a cam surface 27 (FIGS. 8, 18 and 19) provided for the 
purpose of flexing the ends of the bristle support crosspiece 34 as will 
be explained hereinafter. 
Referring now to FIGS. 9-13, which discloses in more detail the base 10, it 
will be noted that base 10 is a U-shaped member having the sides 14a and 
14b and the end flanges 15a and 15b which provide surfaces on which the 
sliding actuating member 20 slides. Ribs 13 are provided along each of the 
sidewalls 14a and 14b on the bight portion bottom or floor 11 of base 10 
on which ribs the sliding actuator member 20 also slides. Recesses 12 are 
located between ribs 13 for receiving the pintles 32 of each of the 
bristle components so as to permit rotation of the bristle components 
within the recesses 12. Obviously there are the same number of recesses as 
bristle components. As shown, the number of recesses is 9, although this 
could be increased or decreased without departing from the spirit of the 
invention. The sidewalls 14a and 14b include inwardly extending flanges 
16a and 16b, respectively. As will be explained hereinafter, flanges 16a 
and 16b are provided for holding the sliding actuating member in the base. 
The sidewalls 14a and 14b are somewhat resilient to permit the assembly of 
sliding actuating member 20 as also will be explained hereinafter. 
FIGS. 14-20 disclose the details of the sliding actuator member 20. It will 
be noted that member 20 includes an inverted U-shaped section as disclosed 
in FIGS. 18 and 19. The top wall or bight portion 21 includes a plurality 
of slots 22 with adjacent ramps 23 inclined to the right as viewed in FIG. 
17. Ramps 23 provide for the bristles 31 to be inclined when the bristles 
are retracted as disclosed in FIGS. 3 and 6. The sliding member 20 
includes the downwardly extending sidewalls 24a and 24b, the outer 
surfaces of which are spaced to fit between the sidewalls 14a and 14b of 
base 10. Extending outwardly of sidewalls 24a and 24b are bosses 25a and 
25b, respectively. These bosses are provided to hold sliding member 20 
within base 10 by reason of the bosses sliding over the flanges 16a and 
16b as the sidewalls 14a and 14b are flexed outwardly after bosses 25a and 
25b are slid over flanges 16a and 16b, the sidewalls 14a and 14b flex 
inwardly to retain sliding member 20 within the base. 
In the design shown, sliding member 20 also includes the U-shaped handle 26 
extending from the inverted U-shaped section of the handle. Handle 26 can 
take many forms but for the sake of conserving material, its cross 
sectional shape is U-shaped as disclosed in FIG. 21. 
FIGS. 22-24 disclose in greater detail one of the bristle components 30. It 
includes a base including pintles 32 cylindrical in shape as disclosed in 
FIG. 23. A column 33 extends upwardly from the base or pintles 32 and 
supports at its upper end the bristle support crosspiece 34. Bristles 31 
extend upwardly from the bristle support crosspiece 34, each bristle 
terminating at a small spherical tip 35. Bristles 31 are evenly spaced 
along the bristle support crosspiece 34 which is a flexible member that 
will flex upon a force being exerted on the end bosses 35a and 35b (see 
FIG. 7). The bristle component is constructed of a plastic material and 
has sufficient flexibility to give the proper feel on the hair of a user. 
ASSEMBLY 
Having described the specific details of the components of my brush, the 
assembly will now be described. First, the sliding actuating member 20 is 
laid with the top wall 21 down (FIG. 16). Then bristle components 30 are 
dropped into place with the bristles 31 sliding through slots 22. The 
pintles 32 of the bristle components 30 rest on the sliding actuating 
member 20 sidewall edges 24c and 24d (labeled in FIG. 18). Next, the base 
10 is positioned over the sliding actuating member 20 and bristles 30 so 
the bristle pintles 32 will be in the proper recesses 12 of the base 10. 
Then the base 10 is forced downwardly over the sliding actuating member 20 
causing bosses 25a and 25b to contact flanges 16a and 16b. Sufficient 
force is applied downwardly to cause the sidewall 14a and 14b to flex 
slightly outwardly permitting the bosses 25a and 25b to be forced under 
flanges 16a and 16b. The sidewalls 14a and 14b, by virtue of their memory, 
close in over the bosses 25a and 25b to hold the sliding member 20 within 
the base 10, completing the assembly. 
OPERATION 
Having assembled the components, the operation of the brush should be quite 
evident. In the extended position of the bristles 31 as disclosed in FIGS. 
1, 2, 5, and 7, the brush can be utilized by the user in a conventional 
way by grasping handle 20 and brushing the hair or other object. The 
fanned bristles 31 provide a brush that can be utilized in a natural way, 
i.e., by rotating the wrist of the user. When the user desires to store 
the brush, he or she slides the sliding actuator member 20 to the position 
as disclosed in FIGS. 3, 4, 6, and 8. During this sliding motion, the 
bosses 35a at one side of each bristle component 30 is caused to be 
engaged by one side of the slot 22 in which it is positioned and bosses 
35b at the other side of each bristle is caused to be engaged by the other 
side of slot 22. This causes the bristle components 30 to rotate about the 
axis of the pintles and be withdrawn through the slots 22 substantially 
into the base 10 as illustrated by FIGS. 3 and 6. As the bristles are 
retracted to the position as disclosed in FIGS. 3 and 6 the outside bosses 
35a and 35b of the bristle component 30 move away from the cammed surfaces 
27 (FIG. 19) and are straightened by the ends of the slots 22 and the 
memory of the bristle crosspiece 34. The brush in the retracted position 
of the bristles as disclosed in FIG. 3 provides a compact brush that can 
be conveniently stored in a bag or other container. Also provided by the 
retracting bristles 31 is the function of the removal of any hair in the 
bristles 31, thus making the brush self-cleaning. 
When the user desires to use the brush, the bristles are extended by 
sliding actuator member 20 in the right direction as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 
6 which causes the bristles 31 of the bristle components 30 to slide 
through the slots 22 as the bristle components 30 rotate about their 
pintles 32. As the sliding member 20 is slid in base 10 in the direction 
to the right as viewed by FIGS. 3 and 6, the bristles 31 extend through 
the slots 22 until they reach a position perpendicular to the base 10. The 
flat portion of the bosses 35a and 35b of the bristle components 30 
promotes the proper perpendicular bristle 31 position. The bristles 31 are 
spread to the position as viewed by FIGS. 2 and 7 by the bristles support 
crosspiece 34 engaging the cam surfaces 27 causing the bristle support 
crosspiece 34 to flex as disclosed in FIG. 7. In other words, as the 
sliding member 20 is moved to extend bristles 31, the bosses 35a and 35b 
of the bristle components 30 come in contact with and are restricted by 
the cammed surfaces 27. During this restriction of the movement of the 
bosses of the bristle components 30, the bosses 35a and 35b of the bristle 
component 30 are caused to stay closer to the bottom or floor of base 10 
resulting in the flexing of the bristle support crosspiece 34 and 
subsequent spreading of the bristles 31. Using the bosses at the outside 
of the bristle components 30 provides an easy method of flexing the 
bristle support crosspiece 34 because of the greater leverage arm. 
It is evident from the above description, that I have provided a 
cost-effective design for a compact, self-cleaning brush because of the 
minimum number of parts and the ease of assembly. The compact, 
self-cleaning brush is not only more compact and easy to carry and store 
but provides for spreading of the bristles that is preferred because of 
the natural way a brush is used by rotating the wrist of the user. 
Further, the operation is simple and by providing a less number of parts 
reduces the possibilities of inoperability. 
Having described my invention, it should, however, be understood other 
forms, embodiments, and applications of the invention may occur to the 
those skilled in the art. It is intended by the appended claims that they 
cover all such modifications coming within the spirit of the invention.