Patent ID: 6939360

Claim:
An appliance for ear cleaning comprising an elongated hollow tube defining a stem having at least one open end, a plurality of lengths of monofilament, each having an outboard end and an inboard end, a mass of thermoplastic bonding each of said outboard ends of said monofilaments to one another with the respective ones of said plurality of lengths of said monofilaments at locations disposed substantially 90 degrees apart about the periphery of said mass and with each of said lengths of monofilament extending laterally away from said mass of thermoplastic, said mass of thermoplastic extending laterally thereof onto each of said outboard ends of said lengths of monofilament thereby imparting enhanced resistance to bending of each of said plurality of lengths of monofilaments within that region adjacent their respective outboard ends which are bonded to said mass, leaving the unbonded remainder of each of said plurality of lengths of monofilaments free to bend along their unbonded lengths, each of said plurality of lengths of monofilaments being bent along its length to the extent that each of said inboard ends of each of said plurality of lengths of monofilament are gathered together in side-by-side, closely-packed, relationship, whereby each of said plurality of lengths of monofilament are bent toward a common location thereby causing said unbonded remainder of each length of monofilament to bend against the aforesaid resistance with concomitant outwardly bulging of said unbonded remainder of each length of monofilament, said gathered inboard ends of said lengths of monofilaments being received with said at least one open end of said stem, means bonding said gathered inboard ends of said lengths of monofilaments within said at least one open end of said stem, thereby defining a bulbous configuration of said plurality of lengths of monofilaments.