Improvements in and Connected with Appliances for Cleaning and Polishing the Teeth.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Jan., 1888.
Specification Accepted, 10th Feb., 1888
Improvements in and Connected with Appliances for Cleaning and
Polishing the Teeth.
I, JOHN ALEXANDER MCCLELLAND. residing in the City of Louisville in the
County of Jefferson, and State of Kentucky, United States of America, gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in dental appliances,
the object of the same being to provide a cheap, effective and cleanly means for
cleansing, polishing and removing tartar or discoloration from the teeth, and my
invention consists in enclosing or attaching a dentifrice or composition in or upon a
rigid support so that it may be applied to the teeth; also in the combination of the
ingredients which form the dentifrice as will be hereinafter fully set forth and
specifically pointed out in the claim.
In the accompanying drawings:
-
Figure, 1, is a perspective view of a dental pencil constructed in accordance with
my invention and
Figure, 2, is a perspective view of a modification showing the composition applied
to one side of the support.
A, refers to the body of the pencil which may be made up of two parts, one of said
parts having a longitudinal recess which is adapted to contain the cleansing composition
which is placed therein before the parts are secured to each other.
The configuration of the body, A, may be either oval or round, and the central
opening therein can be square, rectangular round or oblong, the latter being the
preferred shape.
The body, A, is preferably composed of soft wood though other materials may be
substituted therefor with advantage.
The composition which is attached to the support consists of gum shellac, two
parts; balsam fir, one part; pulverized pumice stone, six parts, and a sufficient
quantity of flavoring substance as balsam tolu to the composition it is sometimes
desirable to add a small quantity of borax or other cleansing ingredient which will
exert a chemical or dissolving action upon the tartar upon the teeth.
The borax may be added to the composition at any stage in the mixing or compounding
of the same.
To prepare the above composition the gum shellac is melted in a suitable vessel and
the balsams added and thoroughly incorporated therewith. The pulverized pumice
is then added with a flavoring ingredient and the borax, after which the whole is

page_text: worked or rolled into a homogeneous mass.
While the composition is still warm it
is rolled or cut into thin sheets or bars of a convenient size to be incased in the wood
which is to form the covering or support..
The wood is prepared in the form of thin boards of convenient length and width
and prior to having the composition placed thereon they are heated above the melting
point of the composition which they are to receive.
While the boards are heated a thin sheet of the composition is placed upon one of
the boards and another board is placed thereon.
If desirable, one of these boards may be provided with a groove or both boards may
be grooved or have flat surfaces.
After the composition is placed between the boards they are pressed together and
the shellac in the composition will firmly unite them.
Instead of heating the boards, the composition may be placed upon the same in a
heated condition which will attain the same end.
Pencils are then cut from the board and are finished in the usual manner for the
market.
Instead of placing the composition in the center of the pencil I may place it on
either one or both sides of a strip of wood or other suitable support.
I do not wish to limit myself to the use of the exact ingredients herein described,
but I may employ other gums than shellac, as rosin, and in place of the powdered
pumice stone I may use emery or silex.
The device herein described is either adapted for use by dentists or toilet use and
forms a cleanly and convenient means for cleaning and polishing the teeth, and to
prepare the same for use it is only necessary to cut away a portion of the wood to
expose the composition.
The composition is of such a nature that it can be effectively employed for removing
stains from the teeth which are too colierent to be removed by ordinary means and it
can be applied to such particular points as the stains exist, and it possesses sufficient
hardness and toughness to admit it being formed in thin bars which will withstand
moderate pressure when formed into bars or disks and the same is not readily soluble
and will not separate from the wood when wet.
The use of the composition is not limited to its application in the form of a pencil
but it may be formed or cut into disks with or without an intermediate lamina of
paper wood or cloth which will contribute to its strength when it may be used in a
disk form as a polishing or cleansing agent in connection with a suitable holder or
dental instrument.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. In combination with a wooden support or covering as set forth, a cleansing
composition for the teeth composed of balsam fir and an abrading material the same
heing incorporated with each other and applied to the support in a heated condition
so that the parts will adhere to each other, substantially as shown and described.
2. A hard or rigid composition for cleaning and polishing teeth composed of
soluble gum balsam, an abrading substance and borax the several ingredients being
combined, substantially in the proportions and manner set forth.
Ted him 2nd day of T
1000