Patent ID: 7644466

Claim:
A bristle for mounting in or to a bristle support, in particular for a cleaning brush, a toothbrush, or an application brush, the bristle comprising: a lower root region, said root region for mounting in or to the bristle support or for forming a part of the bristle support; a lower shaft base section bordering said root region; a shaft section disposed adjacent to and above said lower shaft base section, said lower shaft base section and said shaft section forming a shaft region; a lower active flexing section bordering above said shaft region; a tip section disposed above and adjacent to said lower active flexing section and defining a free end of the bristle, said lower active flexing section and said tip section constituting a flexing region, said flexing region and said shaft region constituting a free length of the bristle lying outside of the bristle support and being disposed above said root region, wherein the bristle has a continuous, depression free jacket in said shaft base section and in said shaft section, and at least portions of a jacket in said flexing region have a profiling defining elevations and/or depressions disposed within a peripheral surface of the bristle; wherein said profiling comprises at least one groove which extends about the bristle, and wherein said shaft region comprises 15% to 85% of said free length of the bristle; and wherein at least section of said free length of an outer surface of the bristle have a conical or a truncated conical envelope.