Automatic flossing apparatus

Claim 2

An automatic flossing apparatus having an elongated body, and having two spools, one for disbursing new floss and one for rolling up the used floss, a two prong pivotable headpiece hinged at one end of said body, an oscillator for subjecting said pivotable headpiece and floss to short back and forth motions from side to side, wherein the floss follows a circuit beginning at said spool of new floss, then to said oscillator, then across said two prongs of said pivotal headpiece, back to said oscillator, then picked up by said spool for the used floss, and tension means for maintaining tension on said floss circuit, said tension means simultaneously taking up slack caused by feeding the floss across said circuit and by the short back and forth oscillations of said pivotable headpiece.

Claim 3

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said headpiece is reversible by being tiltable up and down, whereby said headpiece can be adjusted from a downward facing position allowing easy access to the lower teeth to an upward facing position allowing easy access to the upper teeth.

Claim 4

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the force to be applied on the oscillator to cause the oscillator to oscillate and the floss to be subject to back and forth motions can be exercised alternatively by either: (1) lateral motions of the fingers of the operator/user applied on both or either tips of the oscillator, said tips protruding outside the side walls of the body of the apparatus, or (2) swing motions applied on the axis of the oscillator and generated by a motor through the action of a cam.

Claim 5

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 1 comprising a mechanical system to constantly increase the floss tension between the spools. Wherein the rotation of one spool is automatically transmitted to the other spool and wherein as a result of: (1) different spool sizes, or (2) changes of ratio in the parts used to transmit the rotation from one spool to the other, or (3) both one and two above, the spool rolling up the used floss wants to roll more floss than the disbursing spool can unwind and whereby instigating a rotative motion to unroll new floss while rolling up used floss, inevitably diminishes the floss length between the spools and therefore increases the tension in said floss circuit.

Claim 6

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 4 wherein the transmission of rotation from one spool to the other is achieved by a transmission mechanism composed of one or several gears, contact wheels or pullies and belts.

Claim 7

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 5 comprising a mechanical system to sustain the floss tension, wherein a crank or like mechanism allows the transmission of rotation of one spool to the other to take place in one intended direction causing the disbursing spool to unwind the new floss and the pick-up spool to roll up the used floss, said crank or like mechanism being attached to either spool prevents said transmission of rotation to take place opposite to the one intended direction.

Claim 8

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 6 comprising a mechanical system to reduce the increasing floss tension built up by the transmission of rotation between the spools, wherein whenever the increasing floss tension exceeds a level controlled by a tension release spring, said floss tension triggers a mechanism which interrupts the transmission of rotation between the spools and allows at least one spool to spin free on its axis and release an increment of floss thereby reducing the increased tension.

Claim 9

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 7 comprising a mechanical system to reduce the increasing floss tension built up by the transmission of rotation between the spools, wherein said transmission of rotation is achieved by one belt kept under tension by two tension wheels each one having its axis at the opposite end of an oscillating piece free to move on its pivot and wherein, said oscillating piece is subject to the pressure of a tension release spring causing the two tension wheels to press on the belt and wherein the axis of the tension wheels indirectly extend upward to become movable stakes sustaining the floss circuit under tension whereby, whenever the floss tension overcomes the resistance of said tension release spring, the axis of both said tension wheels are displaced to cease pressing agaist the belt, which in turn interrupts the transmission of rotation between the spools, which in turn allows one spool to spin free on its axis, which in turn releases an increment of floss from one of the spools, which in turn reduces the floss tension. This process can also be implemented with one tension wheel.

Claim 10

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 8 comprising a number of sub-tension springs to maintain sub-levels of tension in the floss circuit whenever the floss is subject to the variations of tension inherent with the hand motions of the operator/user pulling with variable strength on the floss anchored around a tooth. Said sub-levels of tension being necessary to insure that the transmission of motion of the oscillator to the headpiece is carried by the motions of the floss.

Claim 11

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the floss transfer from the disbursing spool to the pick-up spool is instigated by a discrepancy existing between the allowed arced course described by the prongs and the allowed arced course described by the oscillator, said discrepancy causing the prongs to run a shorter course than the oscillator. Whereby the oscillator by said discrepancy forces the floss to slide over the prongs with each swing while simultaneously the floss either slides over one end-guider of the oscillator or is subject to being pulled out of the spools. But since the cranked spool only allows the disbursing spool to unwind and the pick-up spool to roll up on the account of the transmission rotating both spools together, the oscillator in one swing is prevented by the crank from pulling the floss from the pick-up spool which causes the floss to slide over the end-guider of the oscillator, while in the alternate swing the crank then allows the floss to be pulled out of the disbursing spool which causes the floss to be transferred with each alternate swing from the disbursing spool to the pick-up spool by an increment equal to said discrepancy.

Claim 12

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the floss transfer between the spools is provided in this alternate process by the motions of the oscillator. Wherein each alternate swing of the oscillator is utilized to impart a rotative motion to one of the spools, said rotative motion causing the spool disbursing the new floss to unwind and consistently causing the pick-up spool to roll up the used floss.

Claim 13

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the two prongs of the headpiece are united by a slightly curved flexible rod rotating within a space comprised between the two faces of a U-shaped support, said space being so asymmetrically profiled as to force said rod to conform to said space in the position where the prongs are perpendicular to said support, wherein said perpendicular position of the prongs either upward or downward is further secured by the floss tension causing the prongs to curve toward one another and to further engage and lock into carved notches located on the edges of the hinge support. Wherein said headpiece the U-shpaed support holding the prongs swings laterally from a pivot joining the headpiece to an extension of the body of the apparatus, wherein the design of said pivotable support and a corresponding design in said extension limits the headpiece to swing within a definite arc course.

Claim 14

An automatic flossing apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the two spools are incorporated into a cartridge consisting of two housings joined by a transversal piece. One housing containing the fresh floss rolled over a hollow polygoned shaped shaft, said shaft fitting over a corresponding axle drive, said shaft turning with said axle within the housing. The fresh floss being pulled out of the housing through a vertical slit. The other housing being of a similar design stores the used floss but has a horizontal slit across the ceiling of the housing corresponding to the vertical slit in the wall of the housing and said housing is circularly opened in the middle of the ceiling to allow the centered polygoned shaped shaft to extend outwardly above the housing, while said shaft extension is cut vertically by a number of tapered slits ending below the level of the ceiling of the housing. Whereby the above described disposition the operator/user of the apparatus can reanchor as many times as necessary the end section of the used floss onto the shaft by aligning two opposed slits of the shaft extension with the horizontal slit across the ceiling of the used floss housing.