Method for manufacturing brushes.

The present invention concerns a method for manufacturing brushes, in particular a brush with a transparent brush body.

It is generally known that the demand for brushes, in particular tooth brushes with a transparent brush body is rising. This is particularly the case for tooth brushes for children.

It is known that children need to be encouraged to look after their oral hygiene, and it was found that children are attracted by and can be motivated by providing for a transparent brush body.

Thus, US 5,966,769 discloses a tooth brush with a preferably transparent body which is filled with a fancy, viscous liquid which fascinates the children as they brush their teeth.

However, a disadvantage of such a tooth brush is that it is difficult to manufacture as the brush body is composed of several parts.

An additional disadvantage is that it is not evident to develop a method whereby a brush body formed of several parts is ergonomic to hold.

It is also known that manufacturers try to provide brush bodies with external stickers or prints, such as what are

called "transfer decals". These may be for example comic characters in order to encourage the children, but in the case of adults' brushes they may be for example logos or other commercial messages.

A disadvantage of the use of stickers or other printing techniques is that it represents a relatively expensive and time-consuming phase when manufacturing brushes.

An additional disadvantage is that the stickers or prints are provided on the surface of the brush body and may be subject to wear or abrasion.

When manufacturing brushes, in particular tooth brushes, we mainly distinguish two techniques.

According to a first known technique, bundles of fibres are fixed in openings or holes in a brush body by means of anchor plates.

A major disadvantage of this technique is that one can only use bundles of fibres having one particular diameter, unless one and the same brush is manufactured in different machines.

According to a second known technique, as described for example in EP 0,405,204 or in EP 0972,465, bundles of fibres are provided directly in holes or openings in the brush body or they are provided indirectly in a part of the brush body, after which the fibres are connected to one another at their far ends provided in the openings, for

example by fusing together the above-mentioned far ends of the fibres of said bundles of fibres.

Since no anchor plates are applied thereby, the openings in which the bundles of fibres are provided may have any shape whatsoever.

The bundles- of fibres can thereby be provided in a holder which will be part of the finished brush, whereby the bundles of fibres are then fixed in the brush body by means of said holder.

The invention also concerns a method which makes • it possible to easily realise brushes according to the above- mentioned second technique, whereby all sorts of patterns of fibres to be inserted can be realised in a very simple manner.

To this end, the invention concerns a method for manufacturing brushes formed of a brush body and bundles of fibres provided thereon, whereby the bundles of fibres are fixed in the brush body by means of a holder for bundles of fibres, or at least in a part of the brush body, whereby the holder forms a part of the finished brush body, characterised in that the brush body is transparent for at least a part, at least at the holder, and in that the method provides an object between the holder and the brush body or the above-mentioned part of the brush body which is visible through a transparent part of the brush body.

An advantage of the method according to the invention is

that an object can be provided in a relatively easy and time-saving manner inside the brush body.

An additional advantage is that the object may have all sorts of shapes, such as a figurine made of a holographic material, a mirror, a little bell or any other object producing a noise with every movement. It is clear that such objects may have an educational or stimulating effect while brushing one's teeth.

According to a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, the above-mentioned object is a plate or a label on which a message has been printed on the side which is turned away from the bundles of fibres.

This message may be a brand logo for promotional aims, a reflective text, a pattern or the like.

The advantage thereof is that the text, as the brush body is transparent, can be read by the user. Said text may have an educational nature and may explain how to brush, or it may be of promotional nature. A company may for example print its data on a plate and then deliver tooth brushes, made according to the method of the present invention, to its customers, for example.

In a very specific embodiment of the method, we think of a manufacturer of toothpastes or tooth brushes made according to the invention, offering his products to dentists within the scope of a promotion campaign. The dentist's data will then be printed on the plate, and the dentist can

distribute these brushes among his patients.

Should a patient feel an acute pain while brushing, he will immediately have the dentist' s phone number at hand and can call him to make an appointment. Naturally, the manufacturer's logo may be printed on the plate as well, or it may be printed on the brush body itself during a final processing phase of the method.

It is clear that the use of a tooth brush according to the invention will prove to be very helpful to the manufacturer, the dentist as well as the patient.

Preferably, the far ends of the bundles of fibres in the holder are covered by the object, or even the back of the holder is entirely covered by it.

This is advantageous in that when the far ends of the fibres of the bundles of fibres have fused together, this mass of fused plastic is not visible to the user.

In order to better explain the characteristics of the invention, the following preferred embodiments are described as an example only without being limitative in any way, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 schematically represents the method according to the invention; figures 2 and 3 schematically represent the different parts for manufacturing a tooth brush with a

transparent brush body.

Figure 1 schematically represents the method of EP 0,972,465 by way of example, to which the present invention is additionally applied.

In order to manufacture brushes, use is made hereby, for the supply of fibres, of a device 1 having at least one support 2 which is provided with openings 3 that are mutually arranged according to a certain pattern, whereby the bundles of fibres 4 which must be provided in a transparent brush body 5 can be collected in said support 2.

The method mainly consists of a combination of four steps, i.e. a first step 6 whereby at least one amount of bundles of fibres 4 is separated sidelong from loose fibres 7; a second step 8 which consists in gradually and mechanically filling the above-mentioned support with the above- mentioned bundles of fibres 4; a third step 9 which consists in conveying the bundles of fibres 4 from the support 2, by means of the latter, to a holder 10; and a fourth step 11 which consists in fixing the bundles of fibres 4 in the holder 10 and in fixing the bundles of fibres 4 in the brush body 5 or at least in a part of the brush body 5, by means of said holder 10.

The holder 10, as represented in the figure 1, is formed of a pre-shaped part of the brush body 5.

The bundles of fibres 4 may be fixed in the holder 10 for

example by letting the bundles of fibres 4 protrude from the holder 4 with one far end 4 ' and by subsequently fusing together the fibres at these far ends.

For the sidelong separation of the bundles of fibres 4 and the subsequent positioning in the openings 3 of the support 2, the method which is described in detail in the above- mentioned patent EP 0,972,465 may be followed.

According to the invention, the above-mentioned four steps 6, 8, 9 and 11 are combined with an additional fifth step

12 in which an object 13 is provided in between the above- mentioned holder 10 with the bundles of fibres 4 on the one hand, and the transparent brush body 5 on the other hand, and is encapsulated.

By "transparent" is meant in this context that the object

13 is visible to a user when he is holding the brush body 5 in his hand, for example visible through a transparent part 5 ' at the head of the brush body 5.

Figures 2 and 3 schematically represent examples of a preferred embodiment of the method for tooth brushes whereby, in the above-mentioned manner, the object 13 is a plate which is printed on on the side which is turned away from the bundles of fibres 4.

As mentioned, the print may be a text, a pattern, a logo or the like.

Apart from the above-mentioned educational and/or

promotional advantages, an additional advantage hereby is that a transparent tooth brush can be made which is nice to look at.

For, when fixing the bundles of fibres 4 in the holder 10 by fusing together the fibres, far ends of the bundles of fibres 4 which protrude from the holder 10 are selected at such a length during the fixation step 11 that not only the fibres of one bundle of fibres are fused together, but also the fibres of adjacent bundles of fibres are connected with each other, such that a whole 14 is obtained which is compressed under hot conditions.

A disadvantage related thereto is that the material 14 which is compressed on the above-mentioned holder 10 usually has an unpleasant look and may deter a user from using the brush.

However, by combining the method with the additional step according to the present invention, the object ^' 13 will cover the compressed material 14, as shown in figure 3.

It is clear that the method according to the present invention can also be realised according to the different combinations or with the different optional accessories as described in the above-mentioned patent EP 0,972,465. Thus, for example, accessories may be used to obtain a specific configuration for a bundle of fibres.

Naturally, according to a variant, there may also be provided for a manual or semi-automatic supply of the

complementary parts, in particular of the transparent brush bodies 5.

The above-mentioned steps 6, 8 and 9 are not strictly necessary for the invention and they can be realised in other ways or, if need be, they can be realised by another manufacturer whereby the method then starts with a holder with bundles of fibres that are already fixed in it which are subsequently assembled in a transparent or partly transparent brush handle with a label or another object provided in between.

The method is particularly useful for manufacturing tooth brushes, but it can also be applied for manufacturing other types of brushes.

In case the fibres have been rounded beforehand, it is clear that a rounding is no longer required afterwards, but the other steps can still be applied of course.

Moreover, it is not excluded for the object 13 to be actually ink, or another material forming a print for the brush body (5) or the above-mentioned part of the brush body (5) . Known printing techniques therefore are tampo printing, silkscreen printing, decalcomania, hot foil marking, laser marking and the like.