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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

-0001

1942

  • Work on this object began.

2014

2025

  • You found it!

Sketch For Handle-less Toothbrush (USA)

This is a Sketch for handle-less toothbrush. It was made by Joseph B. Friedman. It is dated September 7, 1942. Its medium is pencil on paper.

Joseph Friedman’s best-known invention is the flexible straw, but the range of his inventive activities encompassed writing implements, improvements to engines, and objects for personal care, including this sketch for a handle-less tooth brush. Friedman frequently sketched on loose scraps of paper—he was especially fond of envelopes—working out ideas and solving problems, as here.

It is credited Joseph B. Friedman Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, 2001.3031.

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Its dimensions are

H x W (drawing): 19.7 x 12.5 cm (7 3/4 x 4 15/16 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Tools: Extending Our Reach.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/51682477/ |title=Sketch For Handle-less Toothbrush (USA) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>