Abstract:
The present invention relates to a fingertip toothbrush for a pet, and more particularly, to a fingertip toothbrush for a pet that is configured to allow bristles to vibrate and reciprocally slide up and down, so that toothbrushing can be carefully and precisely achieved, which is effective in improving the teeth health of the pet.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0079862, filed on Jun. 27, 2016 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
       TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to a fingertip toothbrush for a pet, and more particularly, to a fingertip toothbrush for a pet that is configured to allow bristles to vibrate and reciprocally slide up and down, so that toothbrushing can be carefully and precisely achieved, which is effective in improving the teeth health of the pet. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
       [0003]    A large family in a modern society has been transformed to a nuclear family, and further, the number of one-person households has been recently increased. Under such a social atmosphere, households of the owners who care for pets have been expanded. 
         [0004]    A lot of cares for pets such as periodical washing, vaccination, and so on should be needed, but the cares for their teeth are not actually taken well. 
         [0005]    If their teeth are not brushed, serious mouth odor and periodontitis may be easily generated. If the periodontitis is left untreated for a long period of time, it is developed to a gum disease, which undesirably causes decayed teeth, gum bleeding, and even teeth losing. 
         [0006]    If bacteria living on the teeth enter their body, further, they have bad influences on their heart, lung, kidney and so on, which undesirably causes other diseases. 
         [0007]    So as to solve such problems, recently, toothbrushes only for pet animals, especially, pet dogs have been proposed and purchased easily by users. 
         [0008]    In a similar manner to toothbrushes for people, the toothbrushes for pets are provided with bristles formed on the end portion of a stick, but in case of small dogs, their mouth is small so that it is hard to brush their teeth carefully and precisely and damages on their gum may be further caused. 
         [0009]    So as to avoid such problems, accordingly, a fingertip toothbrush for a pet has been proposed wherein the fingertip toothbrush is fitted to a user&#39;s finger to brush the pet&#39;s teeth, and in this case, the fingertip toothbrush has a cylindrical body made of a soft silicone material and a plurality of bristles formed on the end portion of the cylindrical body. 
         [0010]    As the conventional fingertip toothbrush for the pet is fitted to the user&#39;s finger, the pet&#39;s teeth can be more perfectly brushed than the stick type toothbrush as mentioned above, but while the pet&#39;s teeth is being brushed, the user&#39;s finger should be kept carefully moving, thereby making it inconvenient to use. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a fingertip toothbrush for a pet that is configured to allow bristles to reciprocally slide up and down or vibrate while the fingertip toothbrush is being used in the state of being fitted to a user&#39;s finger, so that the pet&#39;s teeth can be carefully and accurately brushed and since there is no need to move his or her finger during toothbrushing, it is very convenient to use. 
         [0012]    To accomplish the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, there is provided a fingertip toothbrush for a pet including: a cylindrical body open on one side thereof and having a slide groove formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof; a motion panel seated on the slide groove and having bristles formed on top thereof and a cam insertion groove formed on underside thereof; a motor having a shaft and fixed to the slide groove formed on the body; and a cam fastened to the shaft of the motor in such a manner as to be inserted into the cam insertion groove of the motion panel seated on the slide groove, wherein as the cam rotates by means of the driving of the motor, the motion panel reciprocally slides along the slide groove. 
         [0013]    According to the present invention, desirably, water resistant films made of a soft material are formed on the edges of the slide groove and on the edges of the motion panel, thereby preventing the pet&#39;s saliva or water from being permeated into the slide groove and the motion panel. 
         [0014]    According to the present invention, desirably, a vibrator is disposed at the interior of the motion panel to generate vibrations so that the motion panel slides up and down and vibrates. 
         [0015]    According to the present invention, desirably, a switch is disposed at the end portion of the interior of the body, so that if a user&#39;s finger is fitted to the body, the finger touches the switch to automatically drive the motion panel. 
         [0016]    According to the present invention, desirably, a control knob is disposed on the body to turn on/off the reciprocating sliding motion and vibrations of the motion panel, so that any one of the reciprocating sliding motion of the motion panel, the vibrations of the motion panel, and the vibrations and reciprocating sliding motion of the motion panel is selected. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]    The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0018]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a fingertip toothbrush for a pet according to the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 2  is a sectional view showing a structure of a motion panel of the fingertip toothbrush for a pet according to the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 3  is a view showing a location of a cam before power is supplied to a motor in the fingertip toothbrush for a pet according to the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIGS. 4 and 5  are views showing the up-and-down reciprocating sliding motions of the motion panel of the fingertip toothbrush for a pet according to the present invention through the rotation of the cam after the power is supplied to the motor; 
           [0022]      FIG. 6  is a side view showing a driving switch disposed at the interior of the fingertip toothbrush for a pet according to the present invention; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view showing a state wherein the fingertip toothbrush for a pet according to the present invention is worn on a user&#39;s finger. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0024]    Hereinafter, the present invention is disclosed with reference to the attached drawings wherein the corresponding parts in the embodiments of the present invention are indicated by corresponding reference numerals and the repeated explanation on the corresponding parts will be avoided. 
         [0025]    In the description or claims, terms, such as “comprise”, “include”, or ‘have”, are intended to designate those characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, elements, or parts which are described in the specification, or any combination of them that exist, and it should be understood that they do not preclude the possibility of the existence or possible addition of one or more additional characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, elements, or parts, or combinations thereof. 
         [0026]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , a fingertip toothbrush for a pet according to the present invention includes a motion panel  110  disposed on the outer peripheral surface of one side of a cylindrical body  101  and having a plurality of bristles  111  formed thereon and an insertion hole formed on the other side of the cylindrical body  101  to insert a user&#39;s finger thereinto. 
         [0027]    The fingertip toothbrush for a pet according to the present invention is configured wherein the motion panel  110  on which the bristles  111  are formed reciprocally slides up and down with respect to the body  101  or generates vibrations therefrom, thereby carefully brushing the pet&#39;s teeth and making the pet&#39;s gum healthy through gum massage. 
         [0028]    The motion panel  110  is molded to a shape of a flat plate on which the bristles  111  are formed, and as shown in  FIG. 2 , the motion panel  110  is seated on a slide groove  102  formed on top of the body  101 . 
         [0029]    A cam  116  is disposed on the slide groove  102  in such a manner as to be rotated by means of the driving of a motor  115 , and further, a cam insertion groove  113  is formed on the underside of the motion panel  110  so that when the motion panel  110  is seated on the slide groove  102 , the cam  116  is inserted into the cam insertion groove  113  of the motion panel  110 . 
         [0030]    The motion panel  110  thus reciprocally slides up and down by means of the cam  116  rotating through the driving of the motor  105  fastened to the slide groove  102  of the body  101 . 
         [0031]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the cam insertion groove  113  is formed on the underside of the motion panel  110  in such a manner as to be extended in a longitudinal (axial) direction of the body  101 , and in  FIG. 4 , hereinafter, the inner wall of the cam insertion groove  113  with which the cam  116  comes into contact is called ‘upper inner wall’, the inner wall of the cam insertion groove  113  facing the upper inner wall is called ‘lower inner wall’, and the inner walls of the cam insertion groove  113  formed on both sides of the cam  116  are called ‘side inner walls’. 
         [0032]    In the state where power is supplied to the motor  115 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , the end portion of the cam  116  is located toward the side inner wall of the cam insertion groove  113  formed to the shape of the long hole, and at this time, the end portion of the cam  116  does not come into contact with one side inner wall. 
         [0033]    If power is supplied to the motor  115  fixedly fastened to the body  101 , on the other hand, the cam  116  fastened to the shaft of the motor  115  rotates, and as the cam  116  rotates, the end portion of the cam  116  comes into contact with the upper inner wall of the cam insertion groove  113 . In this state, the cam  116  rotates, and as shown in  FIG. 4 , the cam  116  moves up the motion panel  110  up to the top portion of the slide groove  102 . 
         [0034]    If the cam  116  is kept rotating, further, the end portion of the cam  116  comes into contact with the lower inner wall of the cam insertion groove  113 . In this state, the cam  116  rotates, and as shown in  FIG. 5 , the cam  116  moves down the motion panel  110  up to the bottom portion of the slide groove  102 . 
         [0035]    As the above-mentioned processes are repeatedly carried out through the driving of the motor  115 , the motion panel  110  reciprocally slides up and down along the slide groove  102  of the body  101 . 
         [0036]    Accordingly, as shown in  FIG. 7 , if the bristles  111  just come into contact with the pet&#39;s teeth in the state where the fingertip toothbrush according to the present invention is fitted to the user&#39;s finger, the motion panel  110  reciprocally slides up and down to allow the bristles  111  formed thereon to carefully brush the pet&#39;s teeth. 
         [0037]    Further, as shown in  FIGS. 2 to 5 , a vibrator  114  is located at the interior of the motion panel  110  to generate vibrations through the supply of power. 
         [0038]    The vibrator  114  is fixedly fastened to the interior of the motion panel  110 , and if the vibrator  114  is driven through the supply of power, the vibrations generated from the vibrator  114  are transferred to the bristles  111  formed on the motion panel  110 . 
         [0039]    If the bristles  111  are vibrated, the pet&#39;s teeth can be finely and carefully brushed, and further, vibration stimulations can be applied to the pet&#39;s gum, thereby making the gum healthy. 
         [0040]    The vibrator  114  can be operated at the same time when the motion panel  110  reciprocally slides up and down, and otherwise, it can be operated solely even when the motion panel  110  does not reciprocally slide up and down. 
         [0041]    The vibrator  114  is a well known technology, and therefore, a detailed explanation on the internal structure of the vibrator  114  will be avoided for the brevity of the description. 
         [0042]    The motor  115  adapted to allow the motion panel  110  to reciprocally slide up and down and a switch adapted to turn the vibrator  114  on/off may be configured to a variety of forms. According to the present invention, as shown in  FIG. 1 , a control knob  103  is disposed at the insertion hole of the fingertip toothbrush, and as shown in  FIG. 6 , a switch  106  and a battery  105  supplying power to the switch  106  are disposed at the interior of the fingertip toothbrush. 
         [0043]    According to the present invention, the reciprocating sliding motions and vibrations of the motion panel  110  can be turned on/off through the control knob  103  and the switch  106 . 
         [0044]    If the user&#39;s finger is inserted into the fingertip toothbrush according to the present invention, his or her finger comes into contact with the switch  106  disposed at the interior of the body  101  to allow the motion panel  110  to reciprocally slide in an automatic manner, so that the fingertip toothbrush according to the present invention can be conveniently used, without any separate switching manipulation. 
         [0045]    As the control knob  103  as shown in  FIG. 1  is turned, the vibrator  114  disposed at the interior of the motion panel  110  is turned on/off, and the reciprocating sliding motion of the motion panel  110  is turned on/off so as to drive the vibrator  114  solely. 
         [0046]    According to the present invention, the control knob  103  is configured to the form of a three-stage switch comprising three modes such as ‘vibrator OFF’, ‘vibrator ON’, and ‘motion panel reciprocating motion OFF and vibrator ON’. In the ‘vibrator OFF’ mode of the control knob  103 , only the reciprocating sliding motion of the motion panel  110  is generated, in the ‘vibrator ON’ mode of the control knob  103 , the reciprocating sliding motion of the motion panel  110  and the vibrations of the vibrator  114  are at the same time generated, and in the ‘motion panel reciprocating motion OFF and vibrator ON’ mode of the control knob  103 , the reciprocating sliding motion of the motion panel  110  stops and only the vibrator  114  is driven even if the user&#39;s finger comes into contact with the switch  106  disposed at the interior of the body  101 . 
         [0047]    At this time, the manipulation of the control knob  103  is desirably carried out only when the fingertip toothbrush is worn on the user&#39;s finger, that is, when his or her finger comes into contact with the switch  106  disposed at the interior of the body  101 . 
         [0048]    While the fingertip toothbrush is being used, further, the internal electric parts like the motor  115  may be malfunctioned by the pet&#39;s saliva or water introduced into the fingertip toothbrush, and so as to prevent such malfunction from occurring, as shown in  FIG. 2 , water resistant films  112  are formed on the edges of the motion panel  110  and on the edges of the slide groove  102  of the body  101  to seal them, so that no water cannot be desirably permeated into them. 
         [0049]    The water resistant films  112  are made of a tough material having excellent softness like silicone, so that while the motion panel  110  reciprocally slides, the water resistant films  112  are not folded or extended at all, thereby preventing their damage or breakage. 
         [0050]    As mentioned above, if the fingertip toothbrush for a pet according to the present invention is fitted to the user&#39;s finger, the motion panel  110  reciprocally slides up and down in the automatic manner or generates vibrations, so that the pet&#39;s teeth can be carefully and accurately brushed, and since there is no need to move his or her finger during toothbrushing, further, just the position of the toothbrushing is fixed, so that it is very convenient to use. 
         [0051]    The technical idea of the present invention has been explained with reference to the above-mentioned embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0052]    The present invention may be modified in various ways and may have several exemplary embodiments. Specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. However, this does not limit the invention within specific embodiments and it should be understood that the invention covers all the modifications, equivalents, and replacements within the idea and technical scope of the invention. 
         [0053]    While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.