Toothbrush
name: label: maker
content: Oral-B
notes: label: Description
content: Henry Nicolas Sargol (1897-1957) was born in France, moved to Fresno, Ca. as a young man, and worked as an “agent” or “special agent.” In 1938, he designed a toothbrush with soft nylon bristles that, compared with other brushes on the market, was less abrasive to tooth enamel, better for massaging the gums, and more effective at picking up tooth powder. Robert William Hutson (1919–2001), a young dentist in San Jose, Ca., learned of Sargol’s designs and decided to develop them further. In 1949 he established the Oral B Company in Santa Clara, Ca., and filed for a trademark on the term. He also added numbers (such that, for instance, the Oral B-60 had 60 tufts). This example has an “Oral B-60” inscription on the handle.
label: Description
content: Ref: Robert W. Hutson, “Toothbrush,” U.S. Design Patent 160,604 (Oct. 24, 1950).
label: Description
content: Robert W. Hutson, “Brush,” U.S. Patent 2,845,659 (Aug. 5, 1958).
label: Description
content: Ad for Oral-B toothbrushes in Los Angeles Times (June 21, 1953), p. A10.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Beauty and Hygiene Products: Oral Care
label: See more items in
content: Beauty and Health
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.291116.328
label: accession number
content: 291116
label: catalog number
content: 291116.328
objectType: label: Object Name
content: oral hygiene product
label: Object Name
content: toothbrush
label: Other Terms
content: Toothbrush; Dentistry
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/4 in x 6 1/4 in x 1/2 in; 1.905 cm x 15.875 cm x 1.27 cm