JP2560025B2 - Electric electronic toothbrush - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electric electronic toothbrush.

[Prior Art] It has been confirmed that a conventional electric toothbrush, ion toothbrush or electronic toothbrush (hereinafter referred to as an electronic toothbrush) can effectively remove plaque by utilizing a potential gradient. 5092 and JP-A-60-253461
As described in No. 6, the structure is extremely complicated and therefore expensive, and its spread is limited.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has announced that most people in their 40s and older have periodontal disease. This is because there is a strong feeling that daily tooth brushing is a boring and unpleasant task, and tooth brushing time is insufficient. In addition, even though anyone makes sufficient efforts to prevent diseases of the body other than teeth, they tend to neglect their efforts to prevent tooth diseases, that is, brushing teeth.
As a result, if the teeth become bad, a great deal of money is inevitable for the treatment of the bad teeth.

At present, the world's dentistry community considers the core brushing method for the prevention of periodontal disease to be “bass brushing,” which is designed so that the tip of the toothbrush is pointed at the boundary between the tooth and the gum. It is necessary to polish fine vibration of about 3 m / m for 10 reciprocations at one place so as not to jump out of the space, but as mentioned above, it is difficult to carry out.

On the other hand, too much tooth brushing or so-called side brushing causes a wedge-shaped defect or gingival recession that wears the root and gums of the tooth,
Hypersensitivity may occur.

Therefore, in recent years, a so-called electric toothbrush that performs the toothbrushing work, that is, the brushing work using an electric motor is commercially available, and the brush bristles are moved about 10 times faster than hand brushing, and there is no problem such as a wedge-shaped defect. Bus method polishing
Is effective. As a conventional example thereof, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-16
6108, JP-A-58-69505, JP-A-58-105709, and JP-B-42-27372. However, few of these electric toothbrushes have the function of the electronic toothbrush described above, and even if there is, the structure is extremely complicated,
(See Jitsuko Sho 43-5092), so it became extremely expensive and could not withstand general use.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The first invention of this application has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. The object is to have a simple structure and can be manufactured at low cost. To provide an electric electronic toothbrush.

Further, the object of the second invention of this application is
An electronic toothbrush for forming an electric circuit including at least teeth and brush bristles is provided with an electric electronic toothbrush in which a brushing effect of brushing is further improved by supplying a DC pulse current to the electric circuit.

[Means for Solving Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the first invention of the present application is
A brush head part with brush bristles and a grip handle are provided, and a user grips the grip handle and brushes teeth with the brush bristles to form an electric circuit including at least the tooth and the brush bristles. In the electronic toothbrush, the brush head is configured to be attachable to and detachable from the grip handle, and the grip handle is made of a conductive material and is connected to one electrode of a power source and protrudes from the grip handle. A support shaft, a drive means that is disposed in the grip handle and that reciprocates at least the support shaft in the longitudinal direction, and is made of a conductive material. One end is connected to one electrode of the power source and the other end is connected. A contact metal fitting that makes electrical contact while sliding relative to the support shaft, and a conductive material that is provided on at least a part of the outer surface of the grip handle and is connected to the other electrode of the power supply. With end pieces, The shear head portion receives the support shaft when the brush head portion is attached to the grip handle, and a receiving structure that is locked to the support shaft in the longitudinal direction thereof, and a liquid path in which the liquid is in contact with the bristles. The brush bristles and the support shaft are configured to be electrically conductive at least with the liquid passage interposed during the mounting.

In order to achieve the above object, the second invention of this application is
A brush head part with brush bristles and a grip handle are provided, and a user grips the grip handle and brushes teeth with the brush bristles to form an electric circuit including at least the tooth and the brush bristles. In the electronic toothbrush, the brush head portion is connected to the gripping handle portion so as to be movable relative to each other, and is configured to be capable of substantially reciprocating movement by a driving means incorporated in the gripping handle portion. One electrode of the pulse generating means is positioned in the vicinity, and the other electrode of the pulse generating means is positioned on at least a part of the outer surface of the grip handle.

[Operation] According to the first invention of this application, when the user holds the handle portion of the grip portion and brushes his / her teeth while bringing the end body into contact with the hand,
A liquid such as saliva is used as a medium in the mouth, and a power source → hand → body → teeth → bristles → liquid path → spindle → the electric circuit of the power source is formed to generate a flow of electrons. In addition, the drive means causes the brush head to reciprocate substantially to automatically brush the teeth. If the bristles are deformed or if you want to use bristles of other shape or material, you can remove only the brush head from the grip handle and replace it with a new one.The grip handle need not be replaced. Absent.

According to the second aspect of the present application, since the brush head part reciprocates substantially by the driving means, the user can automatically perform the brushing operation only by holding the grip handle part. A pulse current, that is, an intermittent current is passed through an electric circuit including teeth and bristles to promote blood circulation and prevent alveolar pyorrhea and gingivitis.

[Examples] The present invention will be described below based on Examples shown in the drawings.

1 to 6 show a first embodiment of an electric electronic toothbrush according to the present invention. The mechanism for reciprocally moving the brush head in this embodiment is the one described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-166108, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-69505, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-105709. Is basically the same as.

In other words, this toothbrush is mainly
The brush head 10 includes a handle 12 and a handle 12.
It is configured to be attachable to and detachable from. Brush head part 10
Is formed of, for example, a synthetic resin, and the bristles 14 are planted on its head, and an insertion hole 16 as a support structure for a support shaft described later is formed from its base to the vicinity of the root of the bristles 14. Has been formed. Reference numeral 18 is a communication hole as a part of the liquid passage, and the communication hole 18 allows the brush head portion surface 19 near the root of the brush bristles 14 to communicate with the inside of the insertion hole 16. The base end side of the brush head portion 10 is formed in a bifurcated shape to form a head side locking portion 20. The head-side locking portion 20 has a shape complementary to a handle-side locking portion described later, and has a pair of recesses 22 and a brush head portion 10.
Has a groove 24 located on the end surface of the. Reference numeral 26 is a slit.

On the other hand, the handle 12 is mainly made of, for example, a synthetic resin, and an outer cylinder 28 held by the user, and the outer cylinder 28.
A motor 30 housed therein, a power conversion mechanism 32 for converting the rotational motion of the motor 30 into a substantially reciprocating motion, that is, a reciprocating linear motion, a reciprocating circular motion or a reciprocating elliptic motion, and a handle material 12 made of a conductive material. A support shaft 34 protruding and extending;
It is composed of

More specifically, the rotation power of the motor 30 is a power conversion mechanism.
In 32, the gear 38 through the two orthogonal gears 36, 38
Is transmitted from the shaft 40 to an eccentric cam 42 which is eccentric. The eccentric cam 42 has an elongated hole 46 of the motion member 44 shown in FIGS.
And the eccentric cam 42 rotates around the shaft 40, whereby the motion member 44 exhibits a substantially reciprocating motion in the axial direction of the handle 12 while being guided by the guide groove 48 (see FIG. 3). The drive means is not limited to this, and for example, an electromagnet reciprocating mechanism may be adopted.

An end portion of the movement member 44 opposite to the elongated hole 46 projects from an opening end of the handle portion 12, and the opening end of the handle portion 12 and the movement member 44.
A rubber 50 is interposed between and to seal the inside of the handle portion 12 from the outside and to absorb a substantially reciprocating motion of the motion member 44. A handle side locking portion 52 having a shape complementary to the head side locking portion 20 of the brush head portion 10 is formed on the protruding portion of the movement member 44. The handle-side locking portion 52 includes a protrusion 54 that fits into the forked portion of the head-side locking portion 20,
A protrusion 60 that fits in the groove 24 of the head-side engaging portion 20, and the protrusion 54 has a protrusion 60 for aligning with the recess 22.
Are integrally formed. Further, in this embodiment, the support shaft 34 is fixed to the movement member 44, the tip end portion thereof extends from the projection 54 in the axial direction, and the base end portion thereof is located in the space 45 of the movement member 44. It is a free end.

An end ring 62, which is an end body made of a conductive material, is attached to the outer periphery of the substantially central portion of the outer cylinder 28, and is formed by coating the surface of an annular body made of, for example, a synthetic resin material with the conductive material. . The end ring 62 contacts a connecting fitting 64 inside the outer cylinder 28, and the connecting fitting 64 is connected to the motor 30 via a lead wire 66.
Is connected to a lead wire 68 which is connected to a power supply for driving the. The lead wire 68 is connected to one electrode of the motor drive power source, and is introduced into the outer cylinder 28 from the base end portion of the outer cylinder 28 together with the lead wire 70 connected to the other electrode. The lead wire 70 is similar to the lead wire 66 in the motor 30 and the outer cylinder.
It is connected to a lead wire 72 extending between the inner peripheral surface of 28 and this lead wire 72 is connected to another connecting fitting 74. As shown in FIG. 1 in particular, the connection fitting 74 is appropriately bent, and its end portion is in contact with the free end portion of the support shaft 34 on the base end side.
In this way, one end of the motor drive power supply is connected to the end ring 62 mounted on the outer circumference of the outer cylinder 28, and the other electrode of the motor drive power supply is connected to the support shaft 34.

In this embodiment, the support shaft 34 reciprocates substantially together with the movement member 44, but the connecting fitting 74 is configured to keep the contact state while sliding on the support shaft 34.

 Next, the operation of the first embodiment having the above configuration will be described.

First, when the brush head portion 10 is attached to the handle portion 12 from the state shown in FIG. 2, the forked portion of the head-side engaging portion 20 expands while elastically deforming so that the protrusion 54 of the handle-side engaging portion 52 is formed. Receiving and finally securing the head side locking part 20 with moderation
The handle side locking portion 52 is locked. At this time, the protrusion 60 of the protrusion 54
Is fitted into the recess 22 of the head-side locking portion 204, and the convex piece 56 of the handle-side locking portion 52 is fitted into the recessed groove 24 of the head-side locking portion 20, so that the brush head portion 10 is securely handled. It is attached to the part 12. Further, the support shaft 34 is received in the insertion hole 16 and
Has been inserted all the way to the back. In this state, as shown in FIG. 1, the support shaft 34 can be seen from the outside through the communication hole 18, but it is not necessarily limited to this, and the brush hole 14 is substantially formed by the communication hole 18. It suffices to connect the support shaft 34 and the support shaft 34 via a liquid such as saliva, and it is not necessary to expose the support shaft 34 by the communication hole 18.

When the power source is connected, the motor 30 rotates and the rotational power thereof causes the motion member 44 to reciprocate through the power conversion mechanism 32. Since the brush head portion 10 is locked to the handle side locking portion 52 formed on the moving member 44, the brush head portion 10 also exhibits substantially reciprocating motion. Therefore, the user can automatically perform the brushing operation only by gripping the outer cylinder 28 of the handle portion 12 and bringing the brush bristles 14 of the brush head portion 10 into contact with the teeth. In this embodiment, the support shaft 34 is a moving member.
Therefore, the support shaft 34 is configured to reciprocate together with the moving member 44 and the brush head portion 10. However, the invention is not limited to this, and at least the handle side locking portion 52 is reciprocated. Then, the brush head portion 10 reciprocally moves along with this, for example, the support shaft 34 is relatively inserted into the insertion hole 16
You may make it slide inside. On the contrary, if the brush head portion 10 is reciprocated substantially by reciprocating only the support shaft 34, the engaging portions 20, 52 are not necessarily required.

Further, when the user touches the end ring 62 with his / her hand when gripping the outer cylinder 28, the power source → hand → body → teeth → bristles 14 →
Liquid such as saliva → spindle 34 → power circuit is configured to generate an electron flow, making it easier to remove dental plaque etc. from the tooth surface and further improving the brushing effect of the brush bristles 14 Let

Next, FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a device for supplying DC power to the handle 12. In this example,
A converter 78 for converting alternating current to direct current is installed in the case 76, and a switch 80 for turning on / off the power supply is provided in the case 76.
And is formed as a single unit. Further, in this embodiment, a storage groove 82 for storing the handle portion 12 is formed in the case 76, and a storage groove 84 for leaning the brush head portion 10 is also formed. Reference numeral 86 is an electric lead wire.

It is not necessary to limit to this embodiment, the switch can be provided in the handle portion 12, and the power source can be replaced with a battery installed in the handle portion 12.

Next, FIGS. 8 and 9 show a second embodiment of the present invention. The difference of the second embodiment from the first embodiment is that it is provided on the outer circumference of the outer cylinder 28 (see FIG. 8). (Not shown) End ring
The point is that a pulse current is supplied to 62 and the support shaft 34. That is, a DC-DC converter 88 is provided inside the base end side of the outer cylinder 28, and the lead wires 68 and 70 connected to an external power source are connected to the motor 30 and via the lead wires 90 and 92.
It is connected to the DC-DC converter 88, and the output terminals of the DC-DC converter 88 are connected to the lead wires 66 and 72 of the first embodiment, respectively. Although not shown in FIG. Is connected to the end ring 62 via
72 is configured to be connected to the support shaft 34 via the connection fitting 74.

With such a configuration, a half-wave pulse current, which is the output of the DC-DC converter 88, flows in an electric circuit including at least teeth and bristles, and the effect of releasing plaque and the like from the tooth surface is further increased. improves.

In this case, it is not necessary to limit to the DC-DC converter 88, and any type may be used as long as it can supply a pulse current substantially. Further, for the purpose of further improving the separation of dental plaque and the like by supplying the pulse current in this manner, it is not necessary to take a concrete structure as in the first embodiment, and it is substantially electric. Any toothbrush having the function of a so-called electronic toothbrush can be applied.

[Effects] As described above, according to the present invention, the brush head portion can be appropriately replaced and made disposable,
It is possible to select an optimum brush head portion that matches the plaque of the user, the shape of the teeth, and the like, reduce the user's expense, and thereby provide the electric electronic toothbrush with an excellent effect.

Further, according to the present invention, by supplying a DC pulse current to an electric circuit including at least teeth and brush bristles, an electric electronic toothbrush capable of further improving the brushing effect of brushing can be provided to the market. effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a first embodiment of an electric electronic toothbrush according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a state in which the brush head portion and the handle portion of the same embodiment are separated, and particularly the handle portion is shown in cross section. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1, and FIG.
5 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a front view showing the moving member of the same embodiment, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the moving member, and FIG. 7 is power supply to the grip handle. FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a device for this purpose, FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing only a main part of a second embodiment of an electric electronic toothbrush according to the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a line IX-IX in FIG. FIG. 10 …… Brush head part 12 …… Stem part, 14 …… Brush bristles 16 …… Insertion hole, 18 …… Communication hole 20 …… Head side locking part 32 …… Power conversion mechanism 34 …… Spindle, 52… … Handle side locking part 62 …… End ring 88 …… DC-DC converter

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A brush head part having brush bristles and a grip handle, wherein at least the tooth and the brush bristles are formed by a user gripping the grip handle and brushing the teeth with the brush bristles. In an electronic toothbrush for forming an electric circuit, a brush head portion is configured to be attachable to and detachable from a grip handle, and the grip handle is made of a conductive material and is connected to one electrode of a power source for gripping. A support shaft projecting from the handle, drive means disposed in the grip handle to move at least the support shaft substantially in the longitudinal direction, and made of a conductive material, and one end of which is connected to one electrode of a power supply. And the other end is provided on at least a part of the outer surface of the grip handle for making electrical contact while sliding relative to the support shaft and connected to the other electrode of the power supply. End body made of conductive material The brush head part receives the support shaft when the brush head part is mounted on the grip handle, and the support structure is engaged with the support shaft in the longitudinal direction thereof, and the brush bristles come into contact with the brush bristles to support the liquid. An electric electronic toothbrush having a liquid passage in which the brush bristles and the spindle are electrically connected to each other at least when the liquid passage is interposed. 2. A brush head portion having brush bristles planted thereon and a grip handle portion, wherein at least the tooth and the brush hair are included by a user gripping the grip handle portion and brushing the teeth with the brush hair. In an electronic toothbrush that forms an electric circuit, the brush head portion is connected to the grip handle so as to be relatively movable, and is configured to be capable of substantially reciprocating movement by a driving means incorporated in the grip handle. An electric electronic toothbrush in which one electrode of the pulse generating means is located at or near the brush bristles, and the other electrode of the pulse generating means is located on at least a part of the outer surface of the grip handle.