On this day in 1965 Bernard Cyzer was granted the patent for TOOTHBRUSH WITH LIQUID CONTAINER. U.S. Patent No. 3,217,720.
Toothbrushes are known in which a cavity provided in the handle is connected with the brush head by a feed duct, and means are provided for squeezing a pasty dentifrice, treating liquid dentifrice, mouthwash, or the like (all of which treating liquids will collectively be referred to herein as “liquid dentifrice” for short), stored in the cavity, through the feed duck and into the clearances between the bristles or other brushing elements.
In a known toothbrush of this kind, the cavity is cylindrical and a piston mounted on a knob-operated spindle is movable into the feed-duct. In this and similar toothbrushes, the liquid dentifrice is not sufficiently sealed off from the air, and it is therefore apt to be contaminated by germs or other impurities carried by the air, as well as to trickle or seep out of the container of its own accord. The invention has the object of providing a toothbrush provided with a supply of liquid dentifrice accommodated in the brush-handle (to be called hereinafter a “toothbrush of the kind referred to”) which is free from the drawbacks stated above.
The invention consists of a toothbrush of the kind referred to, comprising at least one treating-liquid container, provided with an outlet closed by a self-sealing closure member, which container is lodged in a cavity located in a part of the toothbrush connected to the brush-head by a feed-duct; a hollow needle in conjunction with the feed duct; an operating member adapted to be actuated so as to bear against a resilient wall portion of the container and to shift the container towards the feed-duct, thereby urging the closure member of the container against the needle-tip for piercing the container in order to absorb a certain amount of the liquid dentifrice, which at the same time has been concentrated in the forward region of the container, and to pressure squeeze this certain amount of liquid into the brush-head; and biasing means for returning the container to its starting position when the operating member is released.
The container may be made from any suitable material, e.g. plastic, rubber or the like. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, it comprises a rigid part with open bottom and neck portions, which are closed respectively by a bottom cap having a resilient neck seal. The neck seal may be in the form, for example, of a membrane stretched across the mouth or of a plug of resilient material shaped correspondingly hollow in its inside and inserted in the mouth and bottom openings.
