JPH01244710A - Electrically-driven toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure the reliability of a water-proof character by forming an opening to a switch part on a case side surface, arranging an operating piece made of a rubber to be equipped with a projection from a case external side, and sandwiching the operating piece with a case and a switch panel, and fixing it. CONSTITUTION:A driving shaft 10 is projected from the upper surface of a case 1, and a brush body is mountably and removably fitted to it. An opening 4 is formed in a point corresponding to a switch 3 on the side surface of the case 1 in a cylinder shape, a driving block is assembled in the case 1, and thereafter, an operating piece 7 made of the rubber is arranged to the opening 4 from the case 1 external side. The operating piece 7 is sandwiched by the case 1 and a switch panel 8, and the switch panel 8 is fixed to the case by means of an ultrasonic welding, etc. A projected part 7c for sealing is provided at the back surface side of the outer circumference of the operating piece 7, the projected part 7c for sealing is made into contact with the case 1, and a sealability is made good. Consequently, the reliability of the water-proof character can be secured, and since a lead switch need not be used, cost- reduction can be contrived.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush.

[Prior art 1] Conventionally, the switch of an electric toothbrush needs to be waterproof, and an O-ring is inserted between the switch handle or switch cam and the case to make it waterproof. Furthermore, a case split into two and a cylindrical case have been used to assemble the drive block.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, in the past, a cylindrical case has a simpler waterproof structure than a split case, but after the drive block is assembled inside the case, Since the provided switch handle is attached later, a switch cam, etc. for transmitting drive force between the switch handle and the switch is required, making the structure complex and difficult to assemble.

Furthermore, since electric toothbrushes use water and toothpaste at the same time, if they are not cleaned properly after each use, the toothpaste may clump between the switch handle and the case, causing the switch to become hard. As a countermeasure to this problem, a reed switch and a magnet have been used, but the cost is high and there is also loss due to the resistance caused by the reed switch.

The present invention is intended to solve the problems that occur when using a cylindrical case with high reliability in waterproofness.It increases reliability in waterproofness, eliminates troubles caused by toothpaste, and reduces costs. To provide an electric toothbrush that is easy to assemble and repairable.

[Means for Solving the Problems 1] The electric toothbrush 9 of the present invention is assembled by inserting a drive block 2 having a smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the cylindrical case 1 from the bottom opening of the cylindrical case 1. In,
An opening 4 is formed in the switch 3 portion on the side of the case 1, and a rubber operator 7 equipped with a protrusion 6 for pressing and operating the switch 3 facing the opening 4 is arranged in the opening 4 from the outside of the case 1. The device is characterized in that the operator 7 is sandwiched and fixed between the case 1 and the switch panel 8, and by adopting such a configuration, the above-mentioned object of the present invention can be achieved. This is what I did.

[Function] According to the present invention, an opening 4 is formed in the switch 3 portion on the side surface of the cylindrical case 1, and a rubber-made rubber member is provided with a protrusion 6 for pressing and operating the switch 3 facing the opening 4. By disposing the operator 7 in the opening 4 from the outside of the case 1 and clamping and fixing the operator 7 between the case 1 and the switch panel 8, reliability in waterproofness can be ensured. In addition, it eliminates troubles caused by toothpaste and reduces costs.Furthermore, since the operator 7 only needs to be held between the case 1 and the switch panel 8, it is easy to assemble and has excellent repairability. It became.

[Examples] The present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to Examples. An electric toothbrush 9 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. This electric toothbrush 9 is constructed by inserting and assembling a small-diameter drive block 2 from the bottom opening of a cylindrical case 1 as shown in FIG. A drive shaft 10 protrudes from the top surface of 1, and a brush body (not shown) is detachably attached to this drive shaft 10. The power source of the electric toothbrush 9 is a dry battery 11 which is inserted into the case 1 from the bottom opening of the case 1, and a bottom cap 12 is attached to the bottom opening of the case 1.

The drive block 2 is constructed by incorporating a motor 13 in a base 19, a pinion 14 fixed to the motor shaft, a gear 15, an eccentric portion 16 provided on the gear 15, a drive lever 17, a drive shaft 10, a switch 3, etc.

The switch 3 includes a switch lever 20 and a switch metal fitting 25.
It consists of 26. The switch lever 20 is a base body 19
A pair of bearings MS21 are provided facing each other on the outer surface of the part 21, and the bearings MS21 are mounted so as to be freely movable. The click protrusion 24 of the lever 20 enters, and by rotating the switch lever 20, the click protrusion 24 enters the other click groove 23 or click groove 22. In addition, switch metal fittings 25 and 26 are attached to the base 19, and the switch lever 2
When the click protrusion 24 of 0 is in the click groove 22, the switch ii4:25 is pushed by the switch lever 20 and comes into contact with the switch fitting 26 to be electrically connected and turned on. When the switch lever 20 rotates and the click protrusion 24 enters the click groove 23, the switch lever 20 separates from the switch metal fitting 25, and therefore the switch metal fitting 25 separates from the switch metal fitting 26 due to its own spring force and is turned off. It is set so that it is in the state. When the switch 3 is on, the motor 13 and the pinion 14 fixed to the motor shaft rotate, and the pinion 14 is rotated.
4 rotates, and the drive lever 17 reciprocates by driving the eccentric portion 16 provided on the gear 15. The reciprocating rotation 17 of the drive lever 17 causes the drive shaft 18 to reciprocate and rotate. The attached brush body is designed to rotate back and forth.

An opening 4 is formed on the side surface of the cylindrical case 1 at a location corresponding to the switch 3. After the drive block is assembled inside the case 1, a rubber operator 7 is placed in the opening 4 from the outside of the case 1, and the operator 7 is held between the case 1 and the switch panel 8, and the switch panel 8 is fixed to case 1 by ultrasonic welding or the like. A sealing convex portion 7c is provided on the back side of the outer periphery of the operator 7, and this sealing convex portion 7c comes into close contact with the case 1 to improve sealing performance. The back of the operator 7 is provided with a protrusion 6 for pushing and operating the switch 3 facing the opening 4 on the side surface of the case 1. The projections 6 provided on the 22''C operator 7 include a projection 6a facing one end of the switch lever 20 and a projection 6b facing the other end of the switch lever 20.The surface of the operator 7 has a projection 6a. , 6b are provided with operating sections 7a and 7b, respectively, and these operating sections 7a and 7b have different shapes, so that the on side and the off side can be distinguished. Operation section 7a
When pressed, one end of the switch lever 20 is pushed by the protrusion 6a, the click protrusion 24 of the switch lever 20 enters the click groove 22 and is turned on, and conversely, the other end of the switch lever 20 is pressed.
When b is pressed, the switch lever 20 is rotated by the protrusion 6b, and the click protrusion 24 enters the click groove 23, turning it off.

Here, if the protrusion 6 is formed into a step shape and a contact part 6C is provided on the base side of the protrusion 6, when the operator 7 is pressed, the contact part 6C will contact the case 1 when pressed for a certain length and the contact part 6C will not be able to be pressed any further. Therefore, the speed of the push operation of the operator 7 is restricted. Fig. 5 shows the state in which the switch 3 is turned on, and Fig. 6 shows the state in which the switch 3 is turned on.
indicates that it is off. Note that, as in the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, the bearing has the click grooves 22 and 23 integrally formed in the portion 21, so that a separate click member is not required.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, in the present invention, an opening is formed in the switch part on the side surface of the cylindrical case, and a rubber operator is provided with a protrusion for pressing and operating the switch facing the opening. is placed in the opening from the outside of the case, and this operator is clamped and fixed between the case and the switch panel, ensuring reliable waterproofing and eliminating problems caused by toothpaste.
Since there is no need to use a reed switch, costs can be reduced, and since the operator only needs to be held between the case and the switch panel, assembly is easy and repairability is also excellent.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway front view of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A#i in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 shows the drive block placed in the same cylindrical case as above. 4 is a perspective view of the drive block used in the above, FIG. 5 is a sectional view when the switch is turned on by operating the operator, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view when the switch is turned on by operating the operator. 1 is a cross-sectional view in an off state, and 1 is a case, 2 is a drive block, 3 is a switch, 4 is an opening, 6 is a protrusion, 7 is an operator, 8 is a switch panel, and 9 is an electric toothbrush. Agent Patent Attorney Ishi 1) Ai Figure 7 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an electric toothbrush assembled by inserting a drive block with a smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the cylindrical case from the bottom opening of the cylindrical case, an opening is formed in the switch part on the side of the case, and this opening The electric motor is characterized in that a rubber operator equipped with a protrusion for pressing and operating a switch facing the front is disposed in the opening from the outside of the case, and the operator is clamped and fixed between the case and the switch panel. toothbrush.