The Procter Gamble Company

The Gillette Company

Braun Gmbh

Jochen Ganninger

Uwe Jungnickel

Benedikt Heil

Andreas Birk

Karl Herzog

Daniela Baum

Wolfgang Stegmann

Niclas Altmann

Alexander Hilscher

Marlis Hübner

Holger Schulz

Andreas Reuschenbach

Andreas Bresselschmidt

Michael Jöst

Franziska Schmid

Ulrich Störkel

Heidrun Annika Schmelcher

Ulrich Stoerkel

Kathi Ballmaier

Matthew Lloyd Newman

Joerg Kotitschke

Uwe Tretrop

Stefan Scheurich

Britta Stockinger

Christian Peter Mandl

Jochen Erich Kawerau

John Kit Carson

Ralf Wustrack

Stefan Triebig

Jörg Kotitschke

Christine Hielscher

Eva Kaiser

Marlis Huebner

Simone Bertrand

Jia-Wei Chiu

Mattthew Lloyd Newman

Ballmaier Kathi

Jiawei Chiu

A method of making a cleaning element carrier for a toothbrush comprises: providing at least two pluralities of loose filaments of a predefined length and different from one another in at least one of filament material, filament diameter, filament cross-section, filament shape, presence or absence of additives, presence or absence of a coating, and any combination thereof; providing a hole-perforation plate having a front surface, a back surface, a thickness therebetween, and a plurality of holes shaped and arranged according to a predetermined pattern; picking filaments from the pluralities of loose filaments; providing an energy source; arranging a plurality of bristle tufts in a fusing position in the hole-perforation plate so that ends of the bristle tufts are disposed at different distances from the energy source, wherein the distances are adjustable according to the at least one property, wherein the plurality of bristle tufts includes bristle tufts comprising an inner portion bristle tufts comprising a peripheral portion, and wherein a distance between the energy source and the ends of the bristle tufts comprising the inner portion is shorter than a distance between the energy source and the ends of the bristle tufts comprising the peripheral portion; applying energy from the energy source to the ends of the tufts until fuse balls are formed at the ends of the tufts; transferring the tufts to a molding position in the hole-perforation plate so that a distance between a bottom edge of at least one fuse ball of at least one bristle tuft and the front surface of the hole-perforation plate is different from a distance between the bottom edge of the fuse ball of said tuft and the front surface of the hole-perforation plate in the fusing position; over-molding the fuse balls with molten plastic material thereby forming a cleaning element carrier.

Method for producing a toothbrush head

A method for producing a toothbrush head comprises providing at least two bristle tufts that differ in at least one property; arranging the tufts in a hole-perforation plate comprising holes shaped and distributed according to the desired bristle field; arranging an energy source so that the ends of the bristle tufts and the energy source are arranged contactless, wherein the ends of the bristle tufts to be fused are arranged at different distances to the energy source and are adjusted according to the different property; applying energy to the ends of the bristle tufts until fuse balls are formed; transferring the bristle tufts to a subsequent process position, wherein the distance of the fuse ball of at least one bristle tuft to the hole-perforation plate is different from the distance of said fuse ball to the hole-perforation plate in the fusing position before; over-molding of the fuse balls of the bristle tufts with plastic material thereby forming the brush head or the part () thereof.

Method for producing a toothbrush head or a part thereof

An injection-molded first component of an article, the first component including a sheath element formed from a pre-sheath element, the sheath element having a cavity and a recess extending from the cavity into a wall of the sheath element surrounding the cavity. The recess is formed by a through hole in the pre-sheath element and a lid element closing the through hole. The lid element is connected to the pre-sheath element with a plastic material injection-molded over at least a part of a parting line between the lid element and the pre-sheath element.

Method to manufacture an injection molded component and injection molded component

A cleaning element carrier for a toothbrush in a form of a disk has a back surface including a central depression covering at least 70% of the back surface and forming an edge at the border. The carrier's front surface includes at least one protrusion so that the front surface comprises two levels, wherein the area covered by the depression is larger than the area covered by the protrusion.

Cleaning element carrier and toothbrush head comprising it

A method for producing a toothbrush head, comprising: providing at least two filament containers, each comprising a supply of loose filaments that differ in at least one of their property selected from material, diameter, cross-section, shape, and presence of additives and/or coating; picking bristle tufts from the containers and arranging them in a perforation plate comprising holes shaped and distributed according to a desired bristle field of the brush head to be produced; arranging an energy source and the ends of the tufts in a contactless arrangement, wherein the ends of the tufts to be fused are at different distances from the energy source, and wherein the distance is adjusted according to the at least one property; applying energy to the ends of the tufts until fuse balls are formed thereon; transferring the tufts to a molding position, wherein a distance between at least one fuse ball and the front surface is different from the distance between the bottom edge of said fuse ball and the front surface in the fusing position; over-molding the fuse balls with molten plastic material thereby forming a cleaning element carrier; transferring the cleaning element carrier to a brush head mold and injecting molten plastic material into the brush head mold forming a toothbrush head, wherein the cleaning element carrier is over-molded thereby and the tufts are still located in the perforation plate.

A hole perforation plate () has a front surface (), a back surface (), a thickness (D) therebetween, and a plurality of holes (), grouped into more than one arrangement () of holes (), wherein the more than one arrangement () of holes () can be identical or different compared to one another regarding the number of the holes (), the shape of the holes (), the size of the holes (), the distance between the holes (), the arrangement of the holes (), and a combination thereof, and wherein the front surface () is uneven in the area of the arrangement () of the holes ().

Hole perforation plate for manufacturing of a toothbrush head and part thereof

A head for an oral care implement has a mounting surface and at least one tuft mounted thereon. The tuft has a longitudinal axis and a cross-sectional area extending in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The tuft comprises a plurality of substantially cylindrical filaments. Each filament has a longitudinal axis and a cross-sectional area extending in a plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The cross-sectional area of an individual filament has a substantially non-circular shape. The plurality of filaments is arranged such that the cross-sectional area of the tuft has a scaled-up shape of the individual filament's cross-sectional area.

Head for an oral care implement

An injection-molding process and an apparatus for making a multi-component hollow article, and the article made thereby. The process comprises molding, from a first plastic material, a hollow body having a wall with at least one vent therethrough and at least one flap molded in an area adjacent to the vent. The flap is molded in a first position in which the vent is open. The flap is hingedly movable from the first position to a second position in which the vent is closed by the flap. After the flap is folded into the second position, the hollow body, including the folded flap, is at least partially overmolded with a second plastic material, wherein the second material is essentially precluded from leaking into the hollow body through the vent. The apparatus comprises a first mold bar for molding a hollow body, a second mold bar for overmolding the hollow body with a second plastic material, and a closing tool for moving, and optionally retaining, the flap in the second position. The resulting article has no second material inside its hollow body.

Process and apparatus for making multi-component hollow article and article made thereby

A method for manufacturing an injection-molded first component of an article, in particular a handle or a head of a toothbrush, having a sheath element with a cavity and a recess extending from the cavity into a wall of the sheath element surrounding the cavity, including the steps of: (1) providing a first mold having first mold components that define a first mold cavity in the form of a pre-sheath element having a through hole in the pre-sheath element at the location where the recess shall be formed, (2) injection-molding of the pre-sheath element using a first plastic material, (3) closing the through-hole with a lid element, (4) providing a second mold having second mold components for receiving the pre-sheath element and for defining a remaining second mold cavity that extends at least over a part of a parting line between the lid element and the pre-sheath element when the pre-sheath element is inserted in the second mold, (5) inserting the pre-sheath element into the second mold, and (6) connecting the lid element with the pre-sheath element by injecting a second plastic material into the remaining second mold cavity such that the sheath element is formed.

A method for producing a toothbrush comprises providing a head, a neck portion, and a handle; providing a coupling element; and combining the neck portion to the handle by the coupling element so that an irreversible connection is formed. The individual parts of the toothbrush to be formed can be produced in parallel or successively, wherein some of the parts can be produced by injection molding. A toothbrush formed by the method comprises a head, a neck portion, and a handle; these elements can be produced as building blocks separately and may be connected to one another via a coupling element to form an inseparable connection.

Method for producing a toothbrush and toothbrush produced thereby

A method of fusing without contact the ends of thermoplastic filaments grouped together to form at least two tufts. The method steps include providing at least two tufts of thermoplastic filaments arranged at a distance to each other, providing a heating plate at least partly made from a conductive material and structured to have at least two heating sectors separated from one another by at least one separation sector arranged for emitting at least less thermal radiation then the heating sectors, each of the heating sectors having conductive material and a heating surface corresponding in shape and position to the shape and position of the ends of the tufts, exposing the ends of the tufts to the heating plate such that the tuft ends and the heating sectors are aligned with each other, and generating an electric-current flow through the heating sectors so that the heating surfaces of the heating sectors emit thermal radiation that is absorbed by the ends of the filaments, whereby the ends of the filaments melt and the filaments of each tuft are fused together.

Device for fusing the ends of thermoplastic filaments

A toothbrush comprises a head, a neck portion and a handle, wherein the neck portion and the handle portion are connected to one another via a coupling element. The connection is constructed as an inseparable connection, i.e., after being combined once, the neck portion and the handle cannot be separated without the brush being destroyed by such separation. A method for producing such a toothbrush may comprise the following steps: providing a head, a neck portion, a handle, and a coupling element, and combining the neck portion to the handle by the coupling element so that an irreversible connection is formed.

Manual toothbrush concept being combined from three parts

A carrier for providing at least one cleaning element to a mold cavity is disclosed. The carrier includes a main body having a first surface including one or more openings of one or more blind holes having a depth (D) for carrying the at least one cleaning element and a second surface being substantially parallel to the first surface. The main body includes at least two partial bodies which are arranged adjacent to each other in the direction of the one or more blind holes so that at least one partial body comprises one or more through-holes as part of the one or more blind holes and one partial body comprising the second surface of the main body comprises the blind end of the one or more blind-holes.

Carrier for cleaning elements and method for producing such carriers for use in the production of toothbrush heads

Growing community of inventors

Eschborn, Germany

Jochen Ganninger