US3531072A - Self-locking toothbrush holder - Google Patents

Description

p 9, 1970 A. M. LVINDQUIST 3,531,072

SELF-LOCKING TOOTHBRUSH HOLDER Filed Jan. 26, 1968 LINDQUIST INVENTOR.

ALFTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,531,072 SELF-LOCKING TOOTHBRUSH HOLDER Alberta M. Lindquist, 690 A Rand Ave., Oakland, Calif. 94610 Filed Jan. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 700,793 Int. Cl. A46b 17/00 US. Cl. 248113 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fixture including a horizontal platform element having an aperture therein for receiving the neck of the handle of a toothbrush for supporting the latter and a vertical back element provided with pressure adhesive for securing the fixture to a wall, said fixture being formed of thin, springy, but manually bendable sheet material which is bent near its middle transversely at a right angle to provide said elements, said aperture being connected with an edge of said platform element by a narrow slot with outwardly diverging sides engagement with which by a brush neck, when the latter is shifted broadside edgewise toward said slot with the brush inclined from vertical, deflects said slot sides upwardly and downwardly to widen said slot to admit said brush neck into said aperture, or to permit the withdrawal of said brush neck from said aperture.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The field of invention involves the development of facilities which will render available in an economical form a fixture for hygienically supporting a toothbrush in whatever quarters a person may be occupying, whether these be at home or as a guest in a hotel, motel or private residence, or in dressing rooms provided for industrial employees, or for students in gymnasiums and dormitories or in clothes lockers generally where there is a need for having a toothbrush available.

Prior US. patent to Jenkins, No. 2,957,584 shows a folding disposable toothbrush rack made of paper stock and foldable to produce a vertical back and a horizontal platform, the latter having apertures for receiving handles of toothbrushes. The back was provided with a pressure adhesive for securing the same to a wall. Flanges formed by bending from side edges of said paper stock held the back and platform elements in right angled relation.

In my US. Letters Patent No. 3,367,610 issued Feb. 6, 1968, I disclosed a toothbrush holder formed of a strip of thin manually bendable sheet vinyl which takes a set when bent to form a right angle between a vertical back element and a horizontal platform element, the latter having a hole for inserting a handle of a toothbrush downwardly therein, the bristles of said brush engaging the platform element adjacent said hole for supporting said brush on said holder. While paid patented holder serves its purpose very effectively wherever there is plenty of head room above the holder to permit the brush handle to be inserted vertically downwardly into the hole provided in the holder, this holder is not adapted for use where the head room above the holder is too small to permit thus inserting the toothbrush handle. This prevents the preferred embodiment of said patented holder illustrated in the patent from being used in locations on the inside of cabinets where the holder must be disposed only a short distance below the top of the cabinet or below one of the shelves therein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A principal object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush holder comprising a right angled brack- Patented Sept. 29, 1970 et including a vertical back and horizontal platform, and a flat facility adapted to be converted into such a bracket manually wherein the platform is provided with a brush holding aperture connected with an edge of said platform by a narrow slot through which a brush neck may be moved broadside, with a horizontal thrust, to introduce said neck through said slot and into the brush aperture when the smallest cross-sectional dimension of said brush neck is greater than the width of said slot at its narrowest point and wherein said brush neck can be likewise removed by a reverse horizontal movement of said brush and yet which will prevent the accidental displacement of said brush vertically or horizontally from the aperture in said platform.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a toothbrush holder and facility for making the same in which the introduction of the neck of a brush into the aperture of said holder and the withdrawal of said brush neck therefrom may be accomplished with relative ease by merely inclining the brush from vertical and presenting the neck of said brush edgewise to said holder.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a bottom plan view of a preferred embodiment of the facility of the invention which is adapted to be converted manually without the use of tools into the brush holder of the invention by bending said facility transversely near its middle into the form of a right angle.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the facility shown in FIG. 1 after the latter has been manually bent to convert this into a brush holding fixture.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the manner in which the pressure adhesive cover of said fixture is peeled therefrom in preparing to apply said fixture to a wall surface.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a bathroom cabinet with the sliding door thereof partly open and with the top thereof partly broken away to illustrate the mounting of a pair of said brush holders of the invention against the inner surface of an end wall of said cabinet and showing a brush hanging in normal stored position in the foremost of said holders and a second brush inclined from vertical and turned edgewise to the aperture slot of the rear holder as is preferable when inserting the neck of a brush into or withdrawing it from said aperture.

FIG. 5 is a vertical transverse sectional view through a bathroom cabinet of a different type showing a brush holder involving said invention installed on an end wall of said cabinet and illustrating the manner in which a toothbrush is inclined from vertical and disposed edgewise when inserting the neck of the same into or removing it from the aperture of saidholder.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring specifically to the drawings, the invention is therein illustrated as comprising a toothbrush holder 30 which embodies a flat strip 31, generally rectangular in shape, rounded at the corners and preferably made of white sheet vinyl, about .025 of an inch thick and polished on both sides. The strip 31 is preferably about one inch wide and about two and one-eighth inches in length. The strip 31 is divided near the middle thereof by a line 32 into a platform end portion 33 and a back portion 34. The latter portion is preferably about one inch long and has one surface thereof covered with a coating 35 of pressure adhesive. O'verlying this coating and temporarily adhering thereto is a waxed paper cover 36 which prevents premature contact with the adhesive 35.

The platform portion 33 has a brush neck receiving aperture 37 which is connected by a slot 38 with an end edge 39 of the strip 31 so as to divide this end portion of the strip into a pair of jaws 40 with diverging edges and which lie on opposite sides of said slot and are adapted to be spread apart as shown in FIG. by inclining the handle 45 of a brush 46 as shown in this view and inserting the neck 47 of said brush edgewise between the jaws 40 thus spreading said jaws apart vertically and widening the slot 38 whereby said brush neck 47 may be easily admitted into the aperture 37.

Removal of the brush from aperture 37 is likewise effected with the brush neck 47 inclined from vertical and presented broadside edgewise to the jaws 40.

Conversion of the holder 30 from its flat form as shown in FIG. 1 to the approximate form of a right angle as shown in FIG. 2 is accomplished by manually bending the strip 31 transversely close to the line 32 in a direction which will place the cover 36 on the outside of the bend. This having been accomplished, a place for installing the holder 30 must be chosen where there will be adequate room for accommodating the head 48 of the brush 46 both while the brush is stored in the holder as shown in the foreground of FIG. 4 and while it is being inclined as shown in FIG. 5 to introduce the brush neck into the holder or remove the same therefrom. This is best done by hanging the brush in the holder before the latter is applied to the place selected for mounting the same and then moving the holder to engage the mounting area with the pressure adhesive 35 on the back of the holder. Firmly pressing the back portion 34 of the holder against this surface now firmly mounts the holder so that it will remain indefinitely in the position in which it is thus mounted.

The holder 30 of the invention has the advantage of allowing movement of the neck of a brush horizontally into the aperture of the holder so that the holder 30 may be mounted inside a cabinet a close distance beneath the top of the cabinet or beneath any of the shelves thereof. Another advantage of the holder 30 is that when the jaws 40 are freed from pressure these resume their 00- planar relation and trap the brush 46 in the aperture 37 whereby the brush cannot be removed from the aperture 37 by lifting the same straight upwardly or in any other manner except by tilting the brush handle and presenting the brush neck 47 edgewise to the slot 38 and then pulling horizontally on the brush handle to flex the jaws 40 and release the brush as illustrated in FIG. 5.

I claim:

1. A facility from which a toothbrush holder may be manually produced and permanently mounted on a vertical surface without the use of tools, said facility comprising a flat strip of thin and stiff but springy sheet material,

said material being bendable transversely intermediate its ends at a right angle without breaking the same, by the application of ordinary manual pressure thereto, so that the material takes a set at said angle which stiflly retains said strip in bent form;

a layer of pressure adhesive, coating one face of one end portion of said strip; and a relatively non-adhesive protective cover overlying and temporarily sticking lightly to said coating,

there being an aperture provided in the opposite end portion of said strip for holding a toothbrush whereby said holder will support said brush when said strip is bent as aforesaid away from said cover and said cover is removed and said adhesive is applied to a suitable smooth vertical supporting surface,

said aperture being connected by a narrow slot with an edge of said strip,

the sides of said slot diverging outwardly so as to respond to broadside application edgewise of the neck of the handle of said toothbrush to said slot with said brush laterally inclined whereby said slot sides are flexed apart in opposite directions, one side being flexed upwardly and the other downwardly thereby temporarily widening said slot vertically and admitting said brush neck into said aperture, said slot sides rigidly resisting separation in a horizontal plane to admit or release said brush handle when the latter is pressed horizontally against said slot sides with said handle disposed vertically.

2. A combination as recited in claim 1, wherein said flat strip is bent transversely intermediate its ends at a right angle to convert the same into a toothbrush holder.

3. A toothbrush holder comprising an angle bracket including a vertical back having means for securing the same to a wall and a horizontal platform which is made of a single piece of stiff but springy material, and is provided with a brush holding aperture which is connected with an edge of said platform by a narrow slot, said slot dividing said edge into a pair of co-planar integral jaws which are adapted to be readily flexed apart upwardly and downwardly but not horizontally to widen said slot by said vertical flexing only when inserting a brush neck into and removing the same from said aperture as by inclining said brush laterally and presenting said neck thereof edgewise to said slot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,440,385 4/1948 Schulte 211- 2,523,539 9/1950 Neugass 2481 10 2,957,584 10/1960 Jenkins 211-65 3,367,610 2/1968 Lindquist 24811O CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 21165; 248--316

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