Patent ID: 8517187

Claim:
A sanitary toothbrush holder for holding at least one toothbrush while not in use, said tooth brush having a handle portion and a brush portion including a bristle portion, said handle portion including a grip segment having a respective contour and a further segment having a respective contour, in close proximity to the brush portion, comprising: (a) a toothbrush drying rack for securing at least a first toothbrush; (b) said rack having a top portion, a base portion, a left side and a right side; (c) said base portion of said rack having a left arm and a right arm extending along a respective longitudinal axis a spaced distance forward of said base portion, said left arm being positioned adjacent said left side of said rack, and said right arm being positioned adjacent said right side of said rack, said left arm and said right arm being positioned substantially parallel to each other; (d) said left arm and said right arm having means for securing at least the first toothbrush; (e) said toothbrush securing means being comprised of at least one slot in a top surface of both said left arm and said right arm, each one of said slots being directly opposite one another in said left arm and said right arm so as to form a pair of slots for securing a toothbrush, a first slot of each one of said pair of slots having a deeper cut in comparison to a cut forming the oppositely positioned second slot of said pair of slots, whereby the toothbrush when in place on the holder pivots downward from a point of contact in said second slot such that the toothbrush is held at an acute angle to the horizontal, and wherein at least one of said first slot or said second slot has a contour at least in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the arm in which it is formed, said contour, at least in part, the complement to the respective contour of the respective one of said grip segment or said further segment such that a cooperative interaction between said contour of at least one of said first or second slot and the complementing respective contour of the respective one of said grip segment or said further segment results such that the toothbrush is retained in a stable, non-rotational manner with the bristle portion of the brush portion held in a vertical plane parallel to a plane containing said base portion, so that the drainage of any retained water in the brush portion of the toothbrush is facilitated; wherein there is at least two pairs of first and second slots, said first or second slots in each subsequent pair of slots then alternating in slot depth so that when two or more toothbrushes are secured upon said rack, each toothbrush may be operator positioned with its handle portion positioned at a higher elevation in reference to its brush portion, said toothbrushes being positioned for maximum efficient drainage, while juxtaposed in relation to one or more additional toothbrushes so as to prevent accidental cross contamination from one toothbrush bristle portion to another toothbrush bristle portion.