Articles which can be stored in this manner include, but are not restricted to, toothbrushes, hairdressing equipment such as combs and brushes, writing and drawing implements, surgical and dental equipment, kitchen utensils such as knives, spoons and forks, workshop tools such as screwdrivers and drill bits, and all and any similar such hand utensils.

The invention will be described particularly with reference to toothbrushes and drawing implements which cover the broad range of separately storable articles however it is to be borne in mind throughout that the invention is not so limited.

Hand-held articles are frequently stored together. In the case of the storage of toothbrushes belonging to different users, this can lead to cross- contamination. In the case of other articles, there may be a problem of readily accessing one article from the array of articles, and/or a problem of grime or other matter associated with any one article further fouling that same article or other articles in close proximity to it.

In the case of reusable sterile articles, it would also be useful to have a container which has the dual function of storing the article and sterilizing the article. This is important for surgical and dental equipment, and particularly for toothbrushes.

Toothbrushes are a known vector for disease transmission in a household due to cross-contamination

from adjacent brushes, contamination due to unhygienic handling by the user or other household members, contact by airborne viruses and bacteria, contact by pests and vermin, and contact by a host of other household contaminants. Currently, there is no universally available product on the Australian market which is not only a useful and convenient receptacle for toothbrushes but which would also reduce or eliminate these contamination problems.

OJBECTS OF THE INVENTION It is therefore a broad object of the present invention to provide a storage container which addresses the above-mentioned problems of access and cross-fouling of stored articles.

It is a subsidiary object of the invention to provide a receptacle for toothbrushes which permits toothbrushes to be stored in a convenient manner in a bathroom or ensuite, while simultaneously enabling the toothbrushes to be sterilized and to be maintained in a sterile state until next use.

SUMMARIES OF THE INVENTION According to the broad aspect of the present invention there is provided a device for storing articles, said device comprising a container in which a reciprocally movable article holder is snugly located; said article holder having a plurality of spaces for individual articles defined by substantially vertical walls extending from a common axis and connected to a base of the holder, and the container itself; wherein the base of the holder is separated from a floor of the container; and means to enable reciprocal movement of the article holder into and out of the container.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a device for storing and

sterilizing toothbrushes, said device comprising a fluid container in which a reciprocally movable toothbrush holder is snugly located; said toothbrush holder having a plurality of individual toothbrush spaces defined by substantially vertical walls extending from a common axis and connecting to a perforated support platform of the holder, and the container itself; wherein the support platform of the holder is separated from a floor of the container; and means to enable reciprocal movement of the toothbrush holder into and out of the container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION It is essential that the base of the article holder be maintained above the floor of the container so as to provide a space in which grime or other matter associated with the articles can settle and thus prevent further contamination of the article itself or of other articles within the container. Preferably, perforations are provided in the base to enable the grime or other matter to pass through to the floor of the container.

It is useful to provide a sloping shelf within each article defining space, which shelves are formed either integrally with, or separately from the base of the holder, to enable the articles to be automatically projected outwardly from the device when the article holder is raised relative to the container.

In the case of toothbrushes and like articles which are to be simultaneously sterilized, the device enables toothbrushes to be separately immersed in a disinfecting fluid immediately after use and to be stored in that fluid until next use. This ensures that any disease vectors transmitted from the use to the toothbrush, are destroyed and that the toothbrush is maintained in a sterile zone until it is to be used again.

The container can have an infinite number of

designs determined by a host of factors varying from purely utilitarian considerations such as the number of articles to be used with it, to the personal aesthetic features necessary to conform the container with the décor of its environment. For instance, the container may assume a design based upon a substantially horizontal configuration so that articles can be held in an essentially horizontal disposition, or a design could be based on a vertically orientated arrangement to enable the articles to be held vertically. In a good number of practical situations, space is at a premium and in that case a vertical arrangement is generally preferred. In that case, the container will typically have a flat supporting base with vertically extending side walls with the top of the container being open. The side walls can be planar or curved so as to form a container with a number of separate walls, for instance giving rise to a triangular, rectangular or hexagonal cross-sectional shaped container; or a container with a single continuous wall, for instance giving rise to a circular, oval or elliptical cross-sectional shaped container. A preferred container design is one which is cylindrical and has a height which is greater than the length of the stored article.

The container can be fabricated from a wide range of materials varying from plastics materials through to composites, ceramics, glass and metals. Wood can also be used but in the case where the container has the additional function of sterilization, it can have a plastic or like fluid-proofing lining or membrane to ensure that the disinfecting fluid to properly retained.

The preferred fabrication materials are plastics materials such as perspex, polyethylene, and polyvinylchloride.

Perspex is ideal because of its strength and rigidity at low wall thicknesses, and the fact that it can be produced in a transparent form. It is also suitable when sterilizing solutions are to be used as it can withstand

the corrosive affects of a large number of disinfecting materials. A transparent form is particularly useful in this case as it enables inspection of the interior of the container so that the user can readily determine whether the disinfecting material needs to be topped up or changed, whether there has been a guild up of sediment which should be removed, and for readily ascertaining the location of a particular article and the state of that article.

The holder is suitably designed to separately hold two or more articles. When those articles are, for instance toothbrushes, separation of the toothbrushes is desirable so that the user can readily select his or her toothbrush, and in order to ensure that any grit or other debris with which one toothbrush has been contaminated does not become entrained within the bristles of another toothbrush. Typically there will be from four to six receptacles for toothbrushes in any one device. However, for use in institutions and like places, a multiplicity of toothbrush receptacles will normally be provided.

The design of the holder will be determined by the design of the fluid container and, as previously noted, this can assume an infinite number of configurations. However, for the sake of succinctness, further discussion will be confined to toothbrush container designs useful with the preferred form of vertical fluid container described above, without in any way suggesting a diminution of the breadth of the inventive scope intended to be covered.

Thus, in the vertical fluid container, the toothbrush holder can comprise an array of vertical partitions extending from a common toothbrush support platform. The partitions define separate receptacles in which individual toothbrushes can be placed in a vertical orientation. Preferably, the receptacles are open along

one vertical side to enable toothbrushes to be inserted sideways or at an inclined side angle, as will become apparent hereinafter, and to enable viewing of the toothbrushes should the fluid container be fabricated from transparent material.

The dimensions of the toothbrush holder are preferably such as to provide a snug fit within the fluid container. In that case the side wall of the fluid container can comprise a wall, along with one or more of the partitions, which retains the individual toothbrushes in situ. Furthermore, in this arrangement the common toothbrush support platform will be perforated to enable the disinfecting fluid to passage into and from the receptacles when the holder is moved into and out of the container.

Means for aiding the agitation of the disinfecting fluid within the container can also be provided. One manner of achieving this is to have a plurality of holes formed in the base of the toothbrush holder, which are angled so that whenever the holder is raised or lowered, the flow of disinfecting fluid through the holes is accelerated in an inclined direction giving rise to a vortex-like flow of fluid about the toothbrush (es). Such a fluid flow will increase as the holder is moved and will transfer to the entire fluid in the container.

Another or additional way of increasing the fluid flow is to incorporate fluid passageways in the side walls of the container or in the partitions separating the individual toothbrushes. Fluid will stream through such passageways whenever the holder is raised or lowered, thus adding to the flow of fluid within the individual compartments and over the toothbrushes.

Such agitation has the dual function of

continually forcing fresh disinfecting fluid into contact with the toothbrush head and simultaneously assisting the settlement of particulate matter to the bottom of the container.

In the case of the preferred cylindrical fluid container, the partitions can define longitudinal receptacles having substantially triangular, square, hexagonal or the like cross-sectional shapes. A particularly preferred shape is triangular. In this embodiment the partitions will suitably radiate from a common central axis.

The upper end of the toothbrush holder can be open or can be formed integrally with the lid which is adapted to overlie the fluid container. In either embodiment, a handle is associated with the upper end to enable the toothbrush holder with its retained toothbrushes to be raised or lowered relative to the container to thereby gain access to the toothbrushes and/or the interior of the container.

It is essential that the toothbrush holder be maintained above the case of the fluid container so as to provide space in which debris from the toothbrushes can settle. This can be achieved in a number of ways such as by having protrusions in the form of ribs or the like extending from either the base of the fluid container or from the lowermost part of the toothbrush holder such as from the support platform, which function to elevate the holder from the container base; or by indents in the container side wall which prevent the holder from extending past a predetermined position; or by designing the dimensions of the container so as to only enable the holder to be inserted to a pre-set point, for instance by tapering the container; or by having an arrangement whereby the upper end of the holder has a lip or rim which rests on an upper edge of the container.

Preferably, the container lid is formed integrally with the toothbrush holder and the perimeter of the lid constitutes the rim which rests on the upper edge of the container and retains the bottom of the toothbrush holder above the base of the container. The lid can form a seal with the container to prevent the access of vermin and the like to the interior thereof.

Furthermore, the seal can be designed to ensure that the container is spill proof in the event that it is accidentally toppled or should it be required for travelling. This can be achieved, for instance, by the use of a rubber seal such as an o-ring, and a screw or clip-fit lid.

In order to accommodate toothbrushes which are of a small length, such as are found in electric toothbrush devices, the toothbrush receptacles can have a shelf which is located at either a preformed position or at variable positions along the length thereof. Such a shelf will preferably be conformed to the cross-sectional configuration of the receptacle, thus, for instance, for the substantially triangular cross-sectional receptacles referred to previously, the shelf will also be triangular.

The shelf can be fitted, for instance, by tags along appropriate edges which fit into slots formed in the receptacle walls.

A skirting, band, or like supporting arrangement can be formed around the lower end of the holder to provide additional support for the articles when the holder is either removed from its container or raised to such a height that the articles could otherwise fall sideways and out of their individual receptacles. Such an arrangement is preferably formed integrally with the side walls of the receptacles.

The toothbrush holder and lid can be fabricated from the same range of materials as the container, but it is, of course, not necessary to use the same material for the construction of each element of the device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a perspective view of a device according to one aspect of the invention showing a stored toothbrush, Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device of Figure 1 showing how the toothbrush can be retrieved, Figure 3 is a perspective view of a portion of the device of Figure 1 showing a removable shelf, Figure 4 is a perspective view of a device according to another aspect of the invention showing a multiplicity of stored toothbrushes, Figure 5 is a perspective view of a device according to yet another aspect of the present invention showing how articles can be displayed for retrieval, and Figure 6 is a partial cut-away perspective view of a device according to still yet another aspect of the present invention showing means to increase the agitation of fluid in the device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, in all of which like reference numerals refer to like parts.

Referring firstly to Figures 1 and 2, the device comprises a fluid container 10, a toothbrush holder 11 and a lid 12.

The fluid container 10 has a clear cylindrical perspex side wall to enable the contents to be viewed and extends approximately 220 mm from an integrally formed opaque perspex base 13. It has a diameter of approximately 70 mm.

The toothbrush holder 11 comprises six planar rectangular partitions (four, viz. 14,15,16,17 can be seen in the drawings) extending from a common central axis. These partitions define six receptacles for toothbrushes to be oriented in a vertical manner as illustrated by the toothbrush 18 between partitions 15 and 16. An integrally formed toothbrush supporting platform 19 is provided at the lower end of the partitions and this platform is perforated with large openings 10 to enable fluid and debris to passage therethrough.

The lid 12 formed integrally at the upper end of the partitions is of disc-shaped design and overlaps the top of the fluid container 10 in a sealing manner to prevent contamination of the contents from external sources.

A handle 21 is located on the tope of the lid 12 to enable the toothbrush holder to be raised and lowered by hand.

The partitions, supporting platform and lid are fabricated from opaque sheet perspex material and the handle is a ceramic knob.

In use, disinfecting fluid is placed in the container to a height to ensure that the entire length of the toothbrushes will be covered. Toothbrushes are arranged in their individual receptacles with their bristles at their lower ends, and the toothbrush holder is lowered into the fluid container. The toothbrushes are

immediately disinfected and are maintained in that state until they are removed for use. Any debris which is entrapped within the toothbrush bristles and becomes dislodged will settle down throughout the openings 20 into the space between the platform 19 and the base 13.

In order to remove a toothbrush, the handle 21 is gripped and rotated so as to bring the required toothbrush into a position for easy selection. The toothbrush holder is then raised part way as shown in Figure 2 until a sufficient portion of the toothbrush is exposed so that it can be removed.

Figure 3 shows a shelf 30 which can be fitted to the partition walls 15,16 by means of spring clips 31,32 or the like. The shelf enables smaller brushes, such as commonly used on electric toothbrushes, to be retained at a higher, and therefore more easily accessible, position within the container.

Figure 4 shows a device for storing a large number of toothbrushes, such as in an institution or school bathroom. The device has two separately removable toothbrush holders 40,41 which separately hold up to 10 toothbrushes each.

Figure 5 shows a device for storing coloured pencils 50. The device is similar to that shown in Figure 1 except that there are no perforations in the base 51 of the holder and each receptacle includes a sloping floor 52 which ensures that the pencils radiate outwardly from their respective receptacles as the holder is raised.

Figure 6 shows a portion of a device which is also similar to Figure 1. That is, there is depicted a portion of an individual toothbrush receptacle defined by a container wall 60, two angularly inclined partitions 61, 62 and a support base 63. The support base includes

several angled holes 64 extending from the bottom to the top surface of the base. The partition wall 62 includes a plurality of fluid passageways 65 in its outer periphery.

Raising or lowering of the toothbrush receptacle will cause the fluid to be increasingly agitated as it passes through the holes 64 and the passageways 65, giving rise to a vortex-like flow which assists in the cleaning of the toothbrush (not shown) in the receptacle and the movement of particulate matter to the bottom of the container.