Cleaning implement

Abstract

A one-piece toothbrush or other cleaning implement formed of plastics material by injection moulding comprises an elongated handle 10, a head 11 at one end of the handle and a group of at least thirty resiliently flexible bristles 12 of a small diameter extending from the head generally axially of the handle, the bristles 12 in the group being laterally spaced apart from each other. The cleaning implement is a one-piece member of injection moulded plastics material and as such is cheap to manufacture from waste plastics.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A one-piece cleaning implement formed of plastics material by injection moulding, the implement comprising an elongated handle, a head at one end of the handle and a group of at least thirty resiliently flexible bristles extending from the head generally axially of the handle, the bristles in the group being laterally spaced apart from each other, wherein each bristle is less than 2 mm in diameter.  
     
     
         2 . A one-piece cleaning implement as claimed in    claim 1   , in which the group of bristles is substantially circular in cross-section.  
     
     
         3 . A one-piece cleaning implement as claimed in    claim 1   , in which each bristle is the same length, with each bristle being between 4 and 15 mm in length.  
     
     
         4 . A one-piece cleaning implement as claimed in    claim 1   , in which the bristles around the outside of the group are shorter than the bristles in the centre of the group, with the longest bristles being between 4 and 15 mm in length.  
     
     
         5 . A one-piece cleaning implement as claimed in    claim 4   , in which the length of the bristles in the group increases in a stepwise manner towards the centre of the group.  
     
     
         6 . A one-piece cleaning implement as claimed in    claim 1   , in which the bristles extend from a surface of the head which lies in a plane normal to the longitudinal axis of the handle.  
     
     
         7 . A one-piece cleaning implement as claimed in    claim 1   , in which a gap between adjacent bristles of the implement contains a cleaning material.  
     
     
         8 . A one-piece cleaning implement as claimed in    claim 1   , in which the bristles are sufficiently flexible to enable opposite ends of the bristle to be brought end-to-end.  
     
     
         9 . A one-piece cleaning implement as claimed in    claim 1   , in which the maximum distance between any two bristles is less than 10 mm.  
     
     
         10 . A one-piece toothbrush formed of plastics material by injection moulding, the toothbrush comprising an elongated handle, a head at one end of the handle and a group of at least thirty resiliently flexible bristles extending from the head generally axially of the handle, the bristles in the group being laterally spaced apart from each other, wherein each bristle is less than 2 mm in diameter.  
     
     
         11 . A one-piece toothbrush as claimed in    claim 10   , in which the opposite end of the handle to the head is pointed.