JPH03261407A - Vibration toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure sufficient vibration of brush hair and to increase a dental deposit eliminating effect at the time of brushing by providing a brush part, a grip part, and a vibration generating part, connecting the vibration generating part to the grip part through a vibration transfer suppressing means, and vibrating the brush part by the vibration generating part. CONSTITUTION:In a grip part, a battery 12 is contained and in a vibration generating part 14, a motor 16 is contained, and to a rotation axis 18 of the motor 16, a weight 20 is fixed eccentrically. The vibration generating part 14 is connected to the grip part 10 through a spring 22. When a switch 24 is turned on, a power source is supplied to the motor 16, the weight 20 rotates in the periphery of an eccentric axis, and the whole vibration generating part 14 vibrates. The vibration is transferred directly to a brush part 28, and the brush part 28 is vibrated. Since the grip part 10 is connected to the vibration generating part 14 through the spring 22, the vibration of the vibration generating part 14 is absorbed by the spring 22, the transfer of vibration to the grip part 10 is suppressed, an object to be vibrated becomes only the brush part 28, and the brush part secures sufficient vibration.

Description

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

[Prior Art] Various so-called vibrating toothbrushes have been proposed in the past, which increase the plaque removal effect during brushing by slightly vibrating the toothbrush. This vibrating toothbrush generally includes a vibration generating section provided on the tip side of a grip section held by a user, and a flange section having brush bristles connected to the vibration generating section. The vibration generating unit usually includes an electric motor or the like, and has an eccentric weight fixed to the rotating shaft of the electric motor, and when power is applied to the electric motor, the weight rotates and generates vibration. This vibration causes the entire toothbrush to vibrate.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in many cases, a battery is housed within the gripping portion as a power source for the electric motor, which increases the mass of the gripping portion and, by extension, the entire vibrating toothbrush. Furthermore, since the gripping portion is held by hand, the mass of the gripping portion as an object to be vibrated increases accordingly. This increase in mass leads to damping of the vibration of the vibrating toothbrush as a whole, resulting in a problem in that the vibration of the flange portion is reduced and the plaque removal effect is reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to increase the mass of the gripping portion by storing a battery or the like, thereby reducing the weight of the gripping portion and the hand. Even when the toothbrush is gripped, at least the vibrations applied to the brush part from the vibration generating part are not attenuated, and therefore, by ensuring sufficient vibration of the bristles, the plaque removal effect during flange can be increased. There are vibrating toothbrushes to offer.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve such an object, the present invention includes a brush portion having brush bristles, a grip portion held by a user, and a vibration generation portion, and a vibration generation portion. The brush part is connected to the grip part via a vibration transmission suppressing means, and the vibration generating part is configured to vibrate at least the brush part.

[Operation] Since the vibration generating section is connected to the gripping section via the vibration transmission suppressing means, it is possible to suppress whether the vibration generated in the vibration generating section is transmitted to the gripping section. The object that is forcibly vibrated by the vibration generator is the part of the entire vibrating toothbrush excluding the gripping part, that is, the part on the brush part side. The mass of becomes smaller.

Therefore, sufficient vibration of the brush portion can be ensured.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the invention. code 1
The grip portion is indicated by 0 and houses the battery 12 in this embodiment. Reference numeral 14 denotes a vibration generating section, and a motor 16 is housed in this vibration generating section 14, and the motor 1
A weight 20 is eccentrically fixed to the rotating shaft 18 of 6. This vibration generating section 14 is coaxially connected to the gripping section 10 via a spring 22 as a vibration transmission suppressing means.

This spring 22 allows current from the battery 12 to be transferred to the motor 16 by turning on the switch 24 of the gripping part 10.
It may also function as a conductive path connected to, or other conductive paths (not shown) may be separately provided as appropriate.

The brush portion 28 having the brush bristles 26 flocked thereto is removably connected to the distal end side of the vibration generating portion 14 via a well-known attachment/detachment portion 30, thereby making only the brush portion 28 replaceable as appropriate. In theory, this brush portion 28 may be integrally constructed with the vibration generating portion 14.

According to the configuration of this embodiment, by turning on the switch 24, power is supplied to the motor 16, and the weight 2
By rotating around the eccentric axis, the vibration generating part 1
4 The entire body exhibits vibration.

This vibration is directly transmitted to the brush part 28, and
Vibrate 8. On the other hand, since the grip part 10 is connected to the vibration generation part 14 via the spring 22, the vibration generation part 1
4 is absorbed by the spring 22, and transmission of the vibration to the grip portion IO is suppressed. As a result, the object forcibly vibrated by the vibration generator 14 is essentially only the brush portion 28, and even if the mass of the grip portion 10 is large, the vibrations applied to the brush portion 28 will not be attenuated. .

Next, FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the invention. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the rotor 32 constituting the motor 16 itself is made eccentric with respect to the stator 34,
As a result, the entire motor 16 vibrates due to the rotation of the rotor 32, and in order to securely hold the motor 16, an open cylindrical portion 36 is integrally protruded from the tip of the gripping portion IO, and this cylindrical The motor 16 is held within the portion 36 from the outer circumferential side. In this embodiment as well, the base end of the motor 16 is connected to the grip part 10 via the spring 22, and the outer periphery of the motor 16 is connected to the inner periphery of the cylindrical part 36 via an elastic member 38 as another vibration transmission suppressing means. is in contact with. Further, the motor 16 is directly connected to the brush section 28 via a detachable section 30.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the spring 22 is replaced with
The difference is that an elastic ring 40 is employed as the vibration transmission suppressing means, and that the vibration generation structure is generated by the motor 16 of the vibration generation section 14. That is, in this embodiment, the motor 16 is first elastically supported by the case body of the vibration generating section 14 via the coil spring 39, and the rotating shaft 18 of the motor 16 is placed at an eccentric position with respect to the rotary disk 42. are connected to each other via a non-circular connector (not shown). This rotary disk 42 has a central shaft 44 attached to the case body of the vibration generating section 14.
is rotatably held around the When the rotary shaft 18 of the motor 16, which is connected eccentrically to the central axis 44 of the rotary disk 42, rotates, the rotary disk 42 receives a rotational moment and rotates around the central axis 44, and the motor 1
The rotating shaft 18 of No. 6 rotates in an arc. This results in
The motor 16 itself vibrates, and the vibration of the motor 16 causes the vibration generator 14 itself to vibrate via the coil spring 39 and the like. In this embodiment as well, the vibration of the vibration generator 14 is transmitted to or suppressed by the elastic ring 40 to the gripping part 10, and the brush part 28 is sufficiently vibrated.

FIG. 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, in addition to vibrating the brush portion 28 by the eccentric weight 20 as in the first embodiment, the brush portion 28 is also vibrated by the eccentric weight 20.
8 is moved back and forth in the longitudinal direction. That is, a weight 20 is fixed to the rotating shaft 18 of the motor 16, and a binion 46 is fixed to the tip of the weight 20.
6 is meshed with a bevel gear 50 that rotates around a central axis 48 orthogonal to the rotating shaft 18, and an eccentric shaft 52 is protruded from the bevel gear 50 at a position eccentric to the central axis 48. 52 is connected to a slider 54. The slider 54 protrudes from the vibration generating section 14 in the distal direction and is held slidably at least in the longitudinal direction. The brush portion 28 is connected to the tip of the slider 54 via the detachable portion 30. Note that the gripping portion IO is attached to the cylindrical portion 3 as in the second embodiment.
6, and is connected to the vibration generating section 14 via the spring 22 and the elastic member 38. According to this embodiment, the rotating shaft 18
As the eccentric weight 20 rotates, the vibration generating section 14 vibrates, and the brush section 28 vibrates without transmitting the vibration to the grip section 10. At the same time, Binion 46
Due to this rotation, the eccentric shaft 52 of the bevel gear 50 rotates in a circular arc, thereby causing the slider 54 and thus the brush portion 28 to reciprocate.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a vibration generating section 1 having the structure of the first embodiment is used.
4 is formed into a cylindrical shape opening toward the proximal end, and is fitted into the grip portion IO via an elastic member 38. One electrode of the battery 12 in the gripping part 10 is guided to the distal end side of the vibration generating part 14 via a conductive cord 56 and connected to a support shaft 58 made of a conductive material and protruding from the vibration generating part 14 in the distal direction. are doing. The other electrode of the battery 12 is connected to the case body of the grip IO made of a conductive material. The brush portion 28 has a spindle insertion hole 60 into which the spindle 58 is inserted, and a liquid communication groove 62 that opens on the outer surface at a position at the terminal end of the spindle insertion hole 60 and close to the brush bristles 26. It is configured to be electrically connected to the support shaft 58 via the brush bristles 26 or the liquid communication groove 62 due to saliva or the like.

With the above configuration, when the motor 16 in the vibration generating section 14 rotates, the vibration is transmitted to the brush section 28, as in the first embodiment.

In addition, at least a part of the surface of the gripping part 10 is connected to one electrode of the battery 12, and by gripping it with the user's hand, electric current can be transferred from the battery 12 to the user's hand, body, etc.
Through the teeth, the brush bristles 26 and the liquid communication groove 62 pass through the saliva.
A closed circuit is constructed in which the liquid flows as a medium to the spindle 58, and from the spindle 58 to the other electrode of the battery 12 via the conductive coat 56, and also functions as a so-called electronic (ion) toothbrush.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a sixth embodiment. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that a motor 16 is installed within the vibration generating section 14 in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush.

The point that the weight 20 is eccentrically fixed to the tip of the rotating shaft 18 is similar to the above. As a result, the vibration caused by the rotation of the rotating shaft 18 causes the vibration generator 14 to vibrate in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush. The proximal end of the vibration generating section 14 is slidably fitted onto a central shaft 70 protruding from the center of the gripping section 10 to prevent vibrations in the longitudinal direction of the vibration generating section 14 from being transmitted to the gripping section 10. There is. Reference numeral 72 indicates a coil spring with a small spring constant. In addition, while allowing relative movement between the gripping part 10 and the vibration generating part 14, in order to prevent water from entering the vibration generating part 14, the outer periphery of the end of the gripping part 10 and the outer periphery of the end of the vibration generating part 14 are A bellows 74 is provided between them.

In addition, although the above embodiment shows an example in which the battery is housed in the grip, it is not necessary to be limited to this, and it is also possible to house another power source or introduce a power source from outside via a power cord. You may also do this.

[Effects] As explained above, according to the present invention, since the vibration generating part is connected to the gripping part via the vibration transmission suppressing means, even if the gripping part has a large mass, the gripping part can be It is substantially no longer an object of vibration, and therefore it is possible to ensure sufficient vibration of the brush portion having brush bristles, which has the excellent effect of increasing the plaque removal effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cutaway side view of a main part showing a first embodiment of a vibrating toothbrush according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cutaway side view of a main part showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a cutaway side view of the main part showing the third embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a cutaway side view of the main part showing the fourth embodiment of the invention, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a cutaway side view of a main part showing a sixth embodiment of the present invention. 10... Gripping part 14... Vibration generating part 22... Spring 28... Brush part 38... Elastic member 40... Elastic ring

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A brush part having brush bristles, a grip part held by a user, and a vibration generation part, the vibration generation part is connected to the grip part via a vibration transmission suppressing means, and the vibration generation part A vibrating toothbrush configured to vibrate at least a brush portion.