Untitled record

Application filed February 10,1894, Serial No. 499,705. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Otto F. Hager, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, 5 have invented certain newanduseful Improvements in Tooth-Brushes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it apio pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in 15 tooth-brushes its object being to provide the tooth-brush' with improved attached means whereby water or any liquid’dentif rice may be forced in among the bristles during the act of brushing the teeth.

To that end my invention consists of a toothbrush having a hollow handle one end of the passage therein opening in among the bristles, its other end having removably attached thereto, by means of an improved form of 25 joint, a compressible bulb or reservoir for the reception of water or any liquid dentifrice which is to be forced through the passage in the handle to and among the bristles.

I will now proceed to minutely describe the 30 manner in which I have carried out my invention and then claim what I believe to be novel.

in the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view partly in section of my improved tooth-brush. 35 Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, and Fig. 3 is an end view of the bulb or reservoir with the handle and brush removed.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the handle having the hair or rubber bristles 2 secured 40 in one end thereof in any well known manner.

is a central longitudinal passage in the handle. One end of this passage has the outlet orifices 4 opening in among the base of the bristles. As shown in the drawings I have 45 preferably employed three of these orifices the two outer ones being inclined inwardly. More of these orifices could be employed but three are deemed sufficient for a thorough distribution of the liquid throughout the bristles.

The passage 3 is carried beyond the end of the bristles and opens outwardly at the end of the handle. This enables the passage 3 to be thoroughly cleansed by forcing water or any other cleansing liquid through the same. A screw-plug 5 serves to close the same while 5 5 the tooth-brush is in use. The other end of the handle is provided with the screw-threaded extension 6 of smaller diameter than the handle forming the annular shoulder 7. The oval shaped or oblong bulb or reservoir 8 is 60 preferably made of soft rubber in order that it may be compressed. One end is secured to the metal collar 9 having the annular milled edge flange 10 and the screw-threaded socket 11 adapted for the reception of the screw- 65 threaded extension 6 upon the handle 1. The metal collar 9 is provided with one or more passages 12 located out of axial alignment with the center, so that when the collar 8 is screwed tightly toward the handle the flow of 70 liquid is stopped, as the central passage 3 in the handle does not register with any of the passages 12. When it is desired to force the liquid by pressure from the bulb to the bristles it is only necessary to unscrew the han- 75 die 1 a turn or two so as to leave an intervening space between the inner end of nipple 6 and the inner end wall through the passages 12 in the collar 9, into and along the passage 3 in the handle 1 and is expelled therefrom in 80 and among the bristles during the operation of brushing the teeth. In the manner just described the water or dentifrice is expeditiously supplied to the bristles as desired and where dentifrice is employed it prevents the 85 waste which invariably occurs where the ordinary form of tooth-brush is used. After use the handle and bulb are tightly screwed together, which results, as has already been described, in holding the liquid securely with- 9c in the bulb until required for further use.

The metal collar 9 may be provided with a screw-threaded extension similar to the nipple 6 upon the handle, which in that event would be replaced by a socket similar to 11 95 thus reversing the parts, the operation remaining the same in both forms.

is a screw-threaded socket in the outer end of the bulb provided with the screwthreaded plug 14. The water or dentifrice is ioj admitted to the bulb through this opening.