Novelty toothbrush with light-up fiber optic bristles

Abstract

A low cost and manufacturable toothbrush with bristles that light up at the tips is provided for brushing teeth and entertaining children. The toothbrush includes a body with a handle and a head. Bristles are attached to the head and include transparent filaments fused to the head. A light source is disposed in the body of the toothbrush and light emanating from the light source is directed into the transparent filaments and is visible a tips of the transparent filaments that face away from the head.

1 .- 9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . A toothbrush, comprising:
 a toothbrush body having a head portion and a handle portion;   a light source disposed in the toothbrush body;   transparent bristles disposed in the head portion of the toothbrush body, the transparent bristles being fused to the head portion of the toothbrush body, the light source being configured such that light emanating from the at least a portion of the light source faces first ends of the bristles held by the toothbrush body, and second free ends of the bristles face away from the head portion of the toothbrush body;   wherein light emitted from the light source that enters the first ends is visible at the second ends of the light source.   
     
     
         11 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein the light source is wholly located within the head portion of the toothbrush body. 
     
     
         12 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , further comprising a diffuser lens disposed between the first end of the transparent bristles and the light source. 
     
     
         13 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein said light source includes a light disposed in the handle portion of the toothbrush body and includes a light pipe to direct light to the first ends of the transparent bristles. 
     
     
         14 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein said light source includes a light disposed in the handle portion of the toothbrush body and includes a reflector with a reflective surface redirecting light to the first ends of the bristles. 
     
     
         15 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein the transparent filaments have square cut ends. 
     
     
         16 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein the transparent bristles include at least two different bristles having different diameters from each other. 
     
     
         17 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein the toothbrush body is opaque. 
     
     
         18 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein the bristles are arranged in tufts and are thermowelded to eliminate spaces between the bristles. 
     
     
         19 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , further comprising a switch for one of switching the light source on, switching different colors, or switching different lighting patterns. 
     
     
         20 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , further comprising a switch turning the light source on and a controller automatically turning off the light source after a predetermined period. 
     
     
         21 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein the light source includes at least two different color LEDs that are turned on and off in sequence. 
     
     
         22 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein a face of the head portion is transparent. 
     
     
         23 . The toothbrush of  claim 10 , wherein the light source is disposed within the head of the toothbrush and comprises surface mount LEDs with a wide viewing angle of greater than 100 degrees. 
     
     
         24 . A toothbrush comprising:
 a toothbrush body having a handle portion and a head;   a plurality of toothbrush bristles connected at a front face of the head and having distal ends facing away from the head, wherein the bristles have varying diameters;   a circuit including a light source, wherein the light source is configured so that light emitted from the light source is directed into the bristles and is emitted from the bristles at the distal ends.   
     
     
         25 . The toothbrush of  claim 24 , wherein the circuit includes a switch operable to one of the turn the light sources on/off and select a lighting color or a lighting pattern. 
     
     
         26 . The toothbrush of  claim 24 , wherein the light source is disposed within the head of the toothbrush. 
     
     
         27 . The toothbrush of  claim 26 , wherein the light source comprises surface mount LEDs with a wide viewing angle of greater than  100  degrees. 
     
     
         28 . The toothbrush of  claim 27 , further comprising a diffuser filter placed between the base of the bristles and the light source. 
     
     
         29 . The toothbrush of  claim 24 , wherein the bristles are transparent filaments fused in place in through holes in the front face of the head. 
     
     
         30 . The toothbrush of  claim 24 , wherein the front face of the head is opaque.