AU2003282767A1

AU2003282767A1 - Toothbrush package

Info

Publication number: AU2003282767A1
Application number: AU2003282767A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Albert C. Chen; James Kemp; Martin Howard Klee; Robert C. Pierce; John Patrick Rouse
Original assignee: Colgate Palmolive Co
Current assignee: Colgate Palmolive Co
Priority date: 2002-10-11
Filing date: 2003-10-09
Publication date: 2004-05-04
Also published as: CA2502241A1; WO2004033316A2; WO2004033316A9; WO2004033316A3; EP1558112A2; RU2005114014A; RU2316243C2; BR0315224A; US20050229345A1; EP1558112A4; MXPA05003764A; KR20050062607A; CN1719994A

Description

WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 TITLE Toothbrush Package 5 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Consumer research shows that toothbrush purchases are often based on impulse decisions. Thus, the appearance of a toothbrush and/or its packaging can play a role in for mulating that purchase decision. For marketing purposes, it 10 is also helpful for the toothbrush or its packaging to have an eye-catching appearance on the shelf. Also, use of a toothbrush, particularly by juveniles, can be enhanced if that brush has an attractive, novel appearance. Others have taken various approaches to create a visually attractive 15 toothbrush and/or its packaging. One such approach is illustrated in U.S. Patent No. 4,779,173 issued December 24, 1986. This patent dis closes a battery operated bulb in a toothbrush handle. Light from the bulb is transmitted to the head of the 20 toothbrush through a plurality of plastic filaments (column 4, line 64 to column 5, line 24). Another patent disclosing light from a power source, e.g. LED or laser, conveyed to a toothbrush head through fibers is U.S. Patent No. 5,030,090. United States Patent No. 5,121,462 discloses a 25 process for making scintillating optical fibers. U.S. Pat ent No. 5,588,084 provides additional detail of the scintil lation enhancement flours and wave-shifting dyes uniformly dissolved into the core material of the fiber and the clad ding which serves to protect the core and enables the fiber WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 to function as an "optical pipe" . The cladding has an in dex of refraction which is lower than that of the core so that the light rays are retained within the fiber's core and transported along its length to appear as visible light at 5 the fiber ends. With scintillating fibers, the light emit ted at the ends is gathered from ambient light entering the side of the fibers so that an LED and battery is not needed to generate the light emitted from the fiber ends. Another patent related to scintillating fibers is U.S. Patent No. 10 6,078,052 issued June 20, 2000. United States Patent No. 5,813,855 discloses an illuminated toothbrush wherein a powered light source in the toothbrush handle directs light toward cleaning elements or bristles in the toothbrush head. The bristles are illumi 15 nated by the light traveling from the source in the handle through the toothbrush handle and to the head. There it im pinges on a roughened surface of the bristles embedded in the head. That light then glows from the ends of the bris tles. Another lighted toothbrush is disclosed in U.S. Pat 20 ent No. 5,160,194 in which a battery operated light shines directly on the user's teeth. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention utilizes scintillating fluorescent light collecting fibers to illuminate various consumer prod 25 ucts and packaging for such products. The light emanating from the ends of such fibers is used to attract attention of the consumers to the products contained in the packaging. To the consumer, the visible ends of the fibers appear to 2 WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 glow as if powered, e.g., by a battery operated bulb. How ever, these fibers do not use any powered light sources to produce this effect. The ambient light around the fibers is gathered through the sides of the fibers and is transmitted 5 through the fibers like an optical pipe and emanates from the fiber end as a relatively bright light. One illustrated embodiment of this invention is a toothbrush with a transparent or translucent handle. Embed ded within the handle are an array of scintillating fluores 10 cent light collecting fibers which terminate near the base of the cleaning elements or bristles in the toothbrush head. If the fibers terminate at the base of the bristles, the light from the fibers can be distributed through all of the bristles so that the bristles adopt a glow. If a pinpoint 15 of light is preferred, the scintillating fluorescent light collecting fibers can be placed within the bristles so that they extend to or near the working surface of the bristles. This provides a bright light display within the bristles that draws the attention of potential consumers observing 20 the toothbrush in the store. The light within the bristles also provides an ap pealing and novel appearance that would attract one to use the toothbrush, especially juveniles. Since regular use is the most important element of oral hygiene, the novelty of a 25 lighted brush provides an important inducement and reminder for juveniles to use the toothbrush. Because the scintil lating/collecting fibers are continuously collecting ambient light and displaying it through the fiber ends the novelty 3 WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 look of the bristles is always presented to the user or po tential customer as long as there is some ambient light around the toothbrush. A package for the toothbrush preferably has a 5 transparent or translucent portion generally corresponding to the area of the toothbrush containing the scintillating fluorescent light collecting fibers. This allows ambient light around the package to enter the fibers and causes them to emit light at the ends of the fiber. That light shines 10 out of the transparent/translucent portion of the package to attract potential customers who might be shopping for a toothbrush. In other embodiments of the invention, the ends of the scintillating fluorescent light collecting fibers can be 15 placed at various points along the length of the toothbrush (other than in the head) to create novel points of light on the toothbrush body. That lighting pattern can also be used to attract potential consumers or users. In other embodiments, the scintillating fluores 20 cent light collecting fibers can be embedded in the packag ing of any number of consumer products, for example, a liq uid soap dispenser or shampoo bottle. If that packaging ma terial is translucent or transparent in the area of the fi bers, ambient light will reach the fibers causing the ends 25 of the fibers to emit light. That light can be used as an adjunct to graphics on the packaging, thereby attracting consumers and encouraging use after purchase. 4 WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 In all of these embodiments, different color lighting can be created by colored fibers, for example, us ing green, amber and red fibers. More information regarding these fibers is avail 5 able from the Website of one manufacturer of such fibers, Poly-Optical Products, Inc. of Irvine, California (www.poly-optical.com). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 10 Figure 1 illustrates a prior art toothbrush 2 us ing a battery powered light 4 in which that light is trans mitted to the embedded bristles via fibers 6, but not the fibers of this invention. Figure 2 is a side elevational view of a scintil 15 lating fluorescent light collecting fiber of this invention. Figure 3 is a side elevational view of a toothbrush containing embedded fibers to illuminate the toothbrush bristles. Figure 4 is a top plan view of a toothbrush pack 20 age containing a fiber illuminated toothbrush. Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view in elevation showing scintillating fluorescent light collecting fibers embedded within the toothbrush bristles. Figure 6 is a top plan view of a powered 25 toothbrush with the light collecting fibers in the handle. Figure 7 is a side elevational view of a liquid soap dispenser bottle with the scintillating fluorescent 5 WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 light collecting fibers illuminating ornamental features on the bottle. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Figure 2 schematically illustrates a typical scin 5 tillating fluorescent light collecting fiber 10 (" scintil lating fiber") This scintillating fiber 10 collects light from many wavelengths, visible or not visible to the naked eye, along its length 12 and emits light at each end 14 of the fiber in the visible range. Thus, the light is always 10 "on " with this fiber and no powered light source is needed, for example, an LED and battery as has been used in the prior art such as the device disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,813,855 (See Figure 1). Figure 3 illustrates scintillating fibers 10 em 15 bedded in toothbrush 16. They extend from the handle 18 to head 20 of the toothbrush. At least some portion of the toothbrush 16 should be transparent or translucent to allow ambient light to reach the outer surface 12 of fibers 10. As illustrated in this Figure, one end 14 of fiber 10 termi 20 nates immediately adjacent the cleaning elements or bristles 22 mounted in head 20 of toothbrush 16. The cleaning ele ments 22 may be mounted or affixed to the head 20 of toothbrush 16 in a manner that light emitted from one end 14 of fiber 10 is transmitted through the cleaning elements 22 25 so that the light is readily seen by a potential consumer of the toothbrush 16 when passing the area where toothbrushes are sold. In a similar vein, the lighted bristles 22 can form an attractive light pattern to encourage use of the 6 WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 toothbrush and thereby improve oral hygiene of potential us ers, particularly juveniles. As previously discussed, fi bers 10 can be treated with various chemicals to emit vari ous light colors from their ends 14. This provides an addi 5 tional attraction for consumers and users. Any suitable form of cleaning elements may be used as the cleaning elements 22 in the embodiment of Figure 3 of this invention. Figure 5 shows an alternative embodiment for dis 10 playing the light gathered in scintillating fiber 10. In this embodiment, the scintillating fiber 10 is bent within head 20 so that the end 14 of fiber 10 extends above the face 21 of the head 20 to a terminus at or about the working end 23 of cleaning elements 22. Thus, the ambient light 15 gathered in fibers 10 is emitted as visible light from the ends 14 of scintillating fiber 10 at a point where the light is directly viewed by potential consumers or users. This embodiment provides a brighter, more direct light within the cleaning elements 22. In this embodiment, the cleaning ele 20 ments themselves need not be transparent or translucent be cause they are not themselves transmitting light. A package 24 containing toothbrush 16 is illus trated in Figure 4. At least that portion 26 of the package 24 overlying fibers 10 in the toothbrush 16 should be trans 25 parent or translucent to allow ambient light to reach scin tillating fibers 10 and allow viewing of the light emitted from ends 14 of the fibers 10. To facilitate discussion, Figure 4 is shown without cleaning elements 22 in place. 7 WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 Such elements would typically be arranged relative to fiber ends 14 on head 22 in a manner similar to that shown in Fig ures 3 or 5. The term "cleaning elements " is intended to be 5 used in a generic sense which could include conventional fi ber bristles or massage elements or other forms of cleaning elements such as elastomeric fingers or walls arranged in a circular cross-sectional shape or any type of desired shape including straight portions or sinusoidal portions. Where 10 bristles are used, the bristles could be mounted to tuft blocks or sections by extending through suitable openings in the tuft blocks so that the base of the bristles is mounted within or below the tuft block. It is to be understood that the specific illustra 15 tion of the cleaning elements is merely for exemplary pur poses. The invention can be practiced with various combina tions of the same or different cleaning element configura tions (such as stapled or in-molded technology bristles, etc.) and/or with the same bristle or cleaning element mate 20 rials (such as nylon bristles, spiral bristles, rubber bris tles, etc.) Similarly, while Figures 3 and 5 illustrate the cleaning elements to be generally perpendicular to the face of head 20, some or all of the cleaning elements 22 may be angled at various angles. It is thereby possible to select 25 the combination of cleaning element configurations, materi als and orientations to achieve specific intended results to deliver additional oral health benefits, like enhanced 8 WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 cleaning, tooth polishing, tooth whitening and/or massaging of the gums. Figure 6 illustrates a toothbrush 16A which in cludes a power driven movable disc or section 28 having ele 5 ments in the head 20 of toothbrush 16. The movable section 28 could be oscillated rotationally such as by using the type of drive mechanism shown in U.S. Patent No. 5,625,916, or could move in and out using the type of drive mechanism shown in U.S. Patent No. Re 35,941; all of the details of 10 both patents are incorporated herein by reference thereto. Alternatively, the other types of drives referred to above could move section 28 in other manners and directions. Al though Figure 6 shows movable section 28 to be at the one end of the head 20, the movable section(s) 28 could be lo 15 cated at any desired location on the head 20. The non-powered cleaning elements 22 in the Figure 6 embodiment can be lighted as described above. Alterna tively or additionally, scintillating fibers 10 can be em bedded in transparent or translucent portions of the handle 20 18A of powered toothbrush 16A to emit light from the ends 14 of scintillating fibers 10. A switch 30 can be used to regulate the powered features of the toothbrush 16A. The scintillating fibers 10 of this invention have wide application in a variety of consumer products. One 25 such product, a liquid soap dispenser 32, is shown in Figure 7. As illustrated, the scintillating fibers 10 are embedded in translucent or transparent portions of the dispenser 32. At least one end 14 of fiber 10 is directed toward the sur 9 WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821 face of the dispenser. Visible light emitted from the end 14 of fiber 10 can be used to enhance decorative patterns contained in the side of container 32. 5 10

Claims

1. A lighted consumer product comprising a body, por tions thereof being sufficiently translucent or transparent to permit entry of ambient light, lengths of scintillating 5 fluorescent light collecting fiber arranged in at least some of those portions of the body, at least one end of some of the fibers being directed toward the exterior surface of the body of the consumer product where light emitted from the end of the fiber can be seen by a person observing or using 10 the consumer product.

2. The lighted consumer product of claim 1 comprising a toothbrush having cleaning elements in the head thereof.

3. The toothbrush of claim 2 wherein at least one end of at least some of the scintillating fluorescent light col 15 lecting fibers are located adjacent cleaning elements in the head of the toothbrush.

4. The toothbrush of claim 2 wherein at least some of the scintillating fluorescent light collecting fibers have ends located out or near the working surface of the cleaning 20 elements.

5. A package for a consumer product comprising an en closure for that product, at least some portion of the en closure being sufficiently transparent or translucent to al low entry of ambient light into the interior of the package, 25 a consumer product within the package containing lengths of scintillating fluorescent light collecting fibers, the ends of the fibers being located within the product in positions where they can be seen by one observing the package. 11 WO 2004/033316 PCT/US2003/031821

6. A package for a consumer product containing scin tillating fluorescent light collecting fibers, the ends of which can be seen by one observing the package. 12