Tooth-brush.

Application filed December 8,1902, Serial No. 134,238. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, John A. Yates, of Rockport, in the county of Spencer and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful 5 Improvements in Tooth-Brushes, of which the following is a specification.

Tooth-brushes as at present constructed, so far as known to me, are provided with a back and handle formed from substantially rigid io material—such as bone, wood, and the like. The use of brushes thus constructed is believed in frequent cases to produce injury to the teeth and gums by reason of the rigidity of the brush. The fact that the force which is em15 ployed in brushing the teeth is by these brushes transmitted to the teeth and gums renders it desirable and in many cases necessary to employ a considerable degree of care in the use of the brush.

My invention has for its object to provide a brush which shall possess rigidity enough to permit of the proper application of the brush to the teeth to clean the same, while at the same time permitting the brush proper or bris25 tie portion thereof to yield relatively to the handle when an undue or unnecessary degree of force is applied, thereby reducing the danger of injury to the teeth or gums and avoiding the objections above mentioned to the rigid 3° non-yielding brushes which are now in use.

The invention is fully set forth in the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novel features thereof are pointed out and clearly 35 defined in the claims at the close of this specification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a toothbrush embodying my invention, the dotted lines indicating positions which the handle of 4° the brush may be caused to assume by bending the “neck” or portion between the neck and handle of the brush. Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the neck of yielding material and a resilient reinforcing-strip, which ishere45 inafter referred to and which is shown in dotted lines. Figs. 3 and 4 are. similar views showing modifications hereinafter referred to. Fig. 5 is a section on line 5 5, Fig. 2.

Having reference to the drawings, 1 designates what I shall term the “back” of the 50 brush, being that part thereof in which the bristles are set.

is the neck, of yielding material, and 3 is the handle.

The back or bristle-containing portion of 55 the brush may be made of any well-known material and of any desired shape, and the bristles may be given any form or configuration desired and may be secured in the back in any well-known manner. The handle^: 3 60 may also be made from any well-known material and in any desired form. The ‘ ‘ neck ” 2, by which I designate the connecting portion between the back 1 and the handle, is made from flexible material—such, for example, as 65 rubber—which maybe given the desired form by molding or in any other well-known manner. The precise length and shape of the neck 2 are not materia] to my invention so long as its size and shape are such as to permit the back 70 to yield relatively to the handle when pressure is applied. The material of the neck should have such a degree of resiliency as will cause the neck and handle to assume their normal position when the pressure which is applied 75 to flex or bend the neck is removed. As will be obvious and as is shown in.the drawings, the ends of the neck portion 2 which join the back and handle, respectively, should preferably correspond in cross-sectional shape and 80 size to the proximate portions of the back and handle, so that the finish and appearance of the brush will not be impaired. The flexible neck should be securely joined or united to the back and handle, and this may be done in 85 any well-known manner. In practice I have found that good results are obtained by the employment of a reinforcing piece of flexible material—such, for example, as a flat or round wire of spring-steel—which is shown at 4. 9° This wire is beneficial in that by its use the degree of resiliency desired maybe more readily attained, and it also serves as an aid to secure the parts together firmly and conveniently. 1 prefer to use a piece of metal of somewhat .95 greater length than the neck and to pass it

759,490 centrally through the neck portion lengthwise thereof, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, and insert the ends which project at either end of the neck portion into recesses or holes formed in the 5 back and handle, respectively. The ends of the spring-piece 4 may be secured by cement or in any other suitable manner in the said recesses or sockets. By employing a springpiece which is flat or of ribbon shape the diio rection of flexure of the brush may be controlled and determined. The flat piece of spring metal is preferably placed with its flat sides parallel or substantially parallel with the bristle-face of the brush, and the brush 15 will then flex or yield in a plane at right angles to the flat face of the wire or strip 4 and longitudinally thereof. By employing a piece of spring metal of the proper size, flexibility, and resiliency the entire flexibility or yielding 2o of the brush may result from and be controlled by the said wire or metal strip, in which case the part which I have designated 2 and called the “neck” of the brush will only be required to form a proper finish and covering for the 2 5 flexible connecting wire or strip 4, and the said neck 2 may in and of itself have little or no resiliency or spring, thereby permitting the employment of other than resilient materials in the construction of the neck 2. It will 3° therefore be clear that without departing from the invention the neck, which I have designated 2, may be formed of yielding resilient material and may be employed without any resilient strip or wire or similar device, or 35 the reinforcing strip or wire of resilient material may be employed with a neck, also of yielding and resilient material—as, for example, rubber—or the yielding strip of metal or wire may be entirely relied upon for the yield4° ing or flexure of the brush relatively to the handle, as also for securing the back and handle together, without employing a yielding covering of any kind for the resilient strip or wire.

In Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown modified forms of the neck 2, the form shown in Fig. 3 being provided at each end thereof with a projection 5, which is mortised into the proximate portions of the back and handle, the said 5° projections 5 being received in recesses formed in the said back and handle, as will be clear. This method of joining the neck portion to the back and handle is advantageous in many cases in that firmer and better joints are se cured between these parts. In Fig. 4 the pro- 55 jections 5, which are shown in Fig. 3, are replaced by dovetailed projections 6, which are in the same manner set into corresponding recesses in the back and handle and serve to increase the firmness and strength of the union 6 a between the parts and to prevent the back and handle from being separated from the neck by strain applied lengthwise of the brush, which would tend to pull the parts thereof apart. As will be clear, the form of joint be- 65 tween the neck .and the back or handle may be varied, as also the method of joining the parts in any well-known manner.