A CONTINUOUS DENTAL FLOSS AND A CONTAINER FOR STORAGE AND DELIVERY
THEREOF
TECHNICAL WELD
The invention relates to medicine, in particular, to stomatology, and is intended to improve the quality of hygienic condition of human oral cavity.
BACKGROUND ART
A number of various designs of dental flosses and devices for storage and delivery thereof have been provided.
A dental floss is described in US Patent No. 5305768 published 26.04.94, Int. el. A 61 C 15/00. In terms of design, this dental floss-is a length of filament having an increased thickness at its ends, each of the thicker ends of the dental floss being provided with a metal rim enclosed in a plastic ball.
This prior art dental floss is inconvenient in use since it is only a length of dental floss which soon becomes dirty and does not meet hygienic requirements for storage.
In addition, the above prior art dental floss is rather complicated for manufacture since its end portions are made thicker than the central portion and provided with metal rims enclosed in plastic balls. A container for storage and delivery of dental floss is described in US Patent No. 5573022 published 12.11.96, Int. cl. A 61 C 15/04 comprising a body having a freely rotatable bobbin with dental floss wound on, the bobbin being attached to the container bottom by means of a fixing arm which tensions the dental floss between the container and the user's hand or a tensioning member held in the other hand. The upper part of the container has a dental floss outlet opening and a dental floss cutting means mounted thereon.
This prior art device is inconvenient in use since its design does not provide for fixing the free end of the dental floss wound on the bobbin and the end of the dental floss may sink into the container.
In addition, this device has an intricate configuration and lacks compactness which hampers its use. The closest analogues of the proposed technical solutions are those described in US Patent No. 5316028 published 31.05.94, Int.
cl. A 61 C 15/00, relating to a dental floss and a container for storage and delivery thereof.
According to the said patent, a dental floss is continuous and includes the first cleaning section and a cut-off section where the dental floss is to be cut, the diameter of the cleaning section exceeding that of the section to be cut, and the second cleaning section having a larger diameter than that of the first cleaning section. The first cleaning section, the second cleaning section and the cut-off section are repeated along the entire length of the continuous dental floss. The dental floss cut-off section bears a bright cut-off mark which is repeated along the entire dental floss length and is located at the same position in the repetitive scheme. The prior art container for storage and delivery of continuous dental floss according to the above-said patent comprises a body having a dental floss outlet opening and a dental floss cutting means, and a means for winding continuous dental floss located inside the body.
The designs described above are not convenient in use since they do not provide any elements for holding the dental floss in the user's hands, and during cleaning interdentia the dental floss is held in hands by its short sections formed by cutting the dental floss
across the bright mark, and the dental floss storage and delivery container does not provide fixing of the dental floss which leads to a loss of the dental floss end remaining after cutting the dental floss across the bright mark.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The objective of the proposed invention is to provide convenient in use, having high hygienic qualities, easily manufactured and compact devices. The above objective is attained by a continuous dental floss comprising cleaning sections and cut-off sections where the dental floss is to be cut alternating along its entire length further comprises floss holding elements in the form of plastic balls which are mounted along the entire length of the dental floss and separate cleaning sections and cut-off sections, the length of cleaning sections exceeding the length of cut-off sections.
The objective of the invention is attained also by provision of a container for storage and delivery of continuous dental floss comprising a body having a dental floss outlet opening and a denal floss cutting means, and a means for winding continuous dental floss located inside the body, the body being shaped as a cylinder
with a coaxial bore; one of the ends of the body is provided with a cylinder-shaped removable cap with a coaxial opening having a diameter equal to that of the body bore; the dental floss winding means is made in the form of a bobbin with cheeks mounted coaxially with the body bore, the bobbin inside diameter exceeding the body bore diameter; a dental floss outlet opening is made in the side surface of the body and is provided with a slot parallel to the axis of symmetry of the body, the diameter of the dental floss outlet opening exceeding the diameter of the ball which is a dental floss holding element, and the slot width being smaller than the ball diameter; and the dental floss cutting means is mounted on the side surface of the body at a distance from the slot not exceeding the spacing between adjacent balls in the dental floss cut-off section and is made in the form of a blade with a cutting edge bent in the direction of dental floss movement.
In the dental floss according the invention, the dental floss holding elements in the form of plastic balls perform several functions:
- holding in hands during cleaning of interdentia; - fixing and holding the dental floss end remaining after cutting off a cleaning section in the container slot;
- dental floss marking to distinguish cleaning sections and cutoff sections.
Such multi-functional nature made it possible to attain the objectives set and to provide devices which are convenient in use, compact, highly hygienic and easily manufacturable.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood with reference to the attached drawings wherein: Fig. 1 shows the continuous dental floss for cleaning interdentia according to the invention;
Fig. 2 is a general view of continuous dental floss storage and delivery container and the continuous dental floss;
Fig. 3 and 4 are front and side (partly cut-out) views of the dental floss storage and delivery container and the dental floss.
Referring to the drawing (Fig. 1), the continuous dental floss includes cleaning sections 1 and cut-off sections 2 where the dental floss is to be cut alternating along the entire the dental floss length, and dental floss holding elements in the form of plastic balls 3a and 3b disposed along the entire length of the dental floss to separate cleaning sections 1 and cut-off sections 2.
Referring to the drawings (Figs. 2 - 4), the container for storage and delivery of continuous dental floss for cleaning interdentia comprises a body 4 in the form of a cylinder with a coaxial bore 5, one of the ends of the body 4 being provided with a cylinder-shaped removable cap 6 having a coaxial opening 7 of a diameter equal to that of the opening 5 in the body; the dental floss winding means is made in the form of a bobbin 8 with cheeks 9 mounted coaxially with the bore 5 in the body 4, the bobbin inside diameter exceeding the diameter of the bore 5 in the body 4. A dental floss outlet opening 10 is made in the side surface of the body 4 and is provided with a slot 11 parallel to the axis of symmetry of the body 4, the diameter of the dental floss outlet opening 10 exceeding the diameter of the ball 3 which is a dental floss holding element, and the width of the slot 11 being smaller than the diameter of the ball 3; and the dental floss cut-off means is mounted on the side surface of the body 4 at a distance from the slot 11 not exceeding the spacing between adjacent balls 3a and 3b in the dental floss cut-off section 2 and is made in the form of a blade 12 with a cutting edge bent in the direction of movement of the dental floss.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The continuous dental floss for cleaning interdentia and the container for storage and delivery thereof in accordance with the invention are used as follows. The free end of the dental floss with a holding element in the form of a ball 3a (see Fig. 1) is brought out from the slot 11 where it is fixed, and transferred into the dental floss outlet opening 10; then the cleaning section 1 of the dental floss is pulled out of the opening 10. In doing this, the user is holding the dental floss by its first holding element in the form of the ball 3a, and the dental floss is unwinding from the bobbin 8. Unwinding continues until the second holding element in the form of the ball 3b with the dental floss cut-off section 2 appears above the cylinder surface of the body 4. The section 2 is brought to the cutting edge of the dental floss cutting means 12, and the cleaning section 1 together with its two holding elements in the form of the balls 3a and 3b is cut off. The free end of the dental floss remaining after cutting is pulled out until the following holding element in the form of the ball 3a appears, and inserted in the slot 11 where it is fixed for future use. The preferable length of a cleaning section is between 40 mm and 150 mm and that of a cut-off section is up to 40 mm.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
The continuous dental floss and a container for storage and delivery of such dental floss according to the invention are convenient in use, compact, and have high hygienic properties due not only to a multi-functional nature of the dental floss holding elements but also to the design features of the dental floss storage and delivery container. These
combined with facility of manufacture enable rapid organization of the devices according to the invention.