JPH0373105A - Electric toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remarkably improve bearing efficiency and to obtain a high rate for eliminating deposit by supporting the tip side of a driving shaft to which a toothbrush is connected with a rolling bearing, and the rear end side of which connected to a driving means with a slide bearing. CONSTITUTION:Since the driving shaft 3 performs reciprocal movement in an axial direction, the mounting of the driving shaft 3 on holders 13, 14 are performed via bearings. At such a case, the driving shaft 31 is supported with the rolling bearing 31 and the slide bearing 3 loaded on the holders 13, 14. The rolling bearing 31 supporting the tip side of the driving shaft 3 to which a toothbrush body 2 is connected is formed so that a ball 33 can be moved in the axial direction when the driving shaft 3 performs the reciprocal movement in the axial direction. The slide bearing 38 supporting the rear end part of the driving shaft 3 performs the whirl-stop of the driving shaft 3 other than the guidance of the movement of the driving shaft 3 in the axial direction.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush, and particularly to a type of electric toothbrush that causes a toothbrush body to perform reciprocating motion in an axial direction. [Prior Art] In a type of electric toothbrush that makes the toothbrushing body reciprocate in the axial direction, the toothbrushing body is connected to its tip and has a plurality of drive shafts that are reciprocated by a driving means. It is supported by sliding bearings.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in a sliding bearing, bearing loss occurs rapidly and the bearing is inefficient, and when the toothing pressure increases, the toothing body cannot be driven and may stop. The present invention has been made in view of these points, and its purpose is to provide an electric toothbrush that is efficient and does not stop even when the toothbrushing pressure is high. .

[Means to solve the problem]

Therefore, the present invention provides a drive shaft to which the tooth brushing body is connected.
In an electric toothing device equipped with a driving means ε for reciprocating the driving shaft in the axial direction, the driving shaft has a rolling bearing at the leading end to which the toothing is connected, and a sliding bearing at the rear end connected to the driving means. It is characterized by being supported by [Function] According to the present invention, since a highly efficient rolling bearing is used as the bearing on the front end side of the drive shaft, the efficiency as a whole is also high. [Example] The present invention will be described in detail below based on the illustrated example. In the figure, 1 is a housing consisting of a main housing 10, a cap 11 and a battery cover 12 attached to the upper and lower ends of the main housing 10, respectively, The main housing 10 houses a battery 9, a motor 5, a motion conversion mechanism for converting the rotational motion of the motor 5 into reciprocating motion in the axial direction, and the like, and the cap 11 protrudes from the front end surface of the main housing 10. The drive shaft 3 and waterproof gasket 4 are covered and protected. 8 in the figure is a switch, which is a pair of push buttons 8 attached to the front of the main housing 10 with a frame 82.
1 and 81, a switch plate 81 that performs scene motion by alternately operating both push buttons 81 and 81, and a contact portion (not shown) that is turned on and off as the switch plate 81 moves. There is. A motion converting mechanism for converting the rotation of the motor 5 into reciprocating motion and driving the drive shaft 3 reciprocatingly is disposed in the upper portion of the main housing 10 via a holder 13, 14. This motion conversion mechanism includes a face gear 52 that is supported by a shaft 15 provided between holders 13 and 14 and meshes with a binion 51 mounted on the output shaft of the motor 5, and an eccentric formed integrally with the face gear 52. The cam follower 30 consists of a shaft 53 and a cam follower 30 that engages with the eccentric shaft 53, and the eccentric shaft 53 is positioned inside a horizontally long hole.
is provided at the lower end of the drive shaft 3, which is freely mounted with an axial slide in a holder 13,14. When the motor 5 rotates the eccentric shaft 53 via the pinion 51 and the face gear 52, the eccentric shaft 53 causes the cam follower 30 and the drive shaft 3 to reciprocate up and down. The inner peripheral edge of the packing 4 is located on the tip side of the drive shaft 3,
The outer peripheral edge is fixed to the upper end of the main housing 10 by a fixing ring 17, and flexes up and down as the drive shaft reciprocates by 36°. Incidentally, when the drive shaft 3 moves downward, the lower end of the inner peripheral edge of the gasket 4 comes into contact with the upper end surface of the holder 13.degree. 14, as shown in FIG. The holder 13.14 is used to position the packing 4 in the axial direction of the drive shaft 3, and the elasticity of the packing 4 is intended to reduce noise caused by rattling between the parts. It is something that exists. Now, since the drive shaft 3 performs reciprocating motion in the axial direction, it is necessary to attach the drive shaft 3 to the holders 13 and 14 via bearings.
．． The rolling bearing 31 attached to the 14 and the sliding bearing 3
8 supports the drive shaft 3. As shown in FIG. 5, the rolling bearing 31 that supports the distal end side of the drive shaft 3 to which the tooth hanging body 2 is connected includes an annular retainer 32 and a plurality of axial holes 34 formed on the retainer 32. Balls 33 and retainer 32 respectively arranged inside
When the drive shaft 3 reciprocates in the axial direction, the balls 33 move in the axial direction, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. It's like getting. The sliding bearing portion 38 supporting the rear end side of the drive shaft 3 is a sixth
As shown in the figure, sliding surfaces 36.3 are provided on both sides of the outer surface of the cam follower 30 attached to the rear end of the drive shaft 3.
6 and a sliding surface 16.16 provided on the holder 14, which not only guides the axial movement of the drive shaft 3 but also prevents the drive shaft 3 from rotating. Here, if only the loss due to bearings is considered,
As shown in FIG. 7 (&), it is sufficient to support the drive shaft 3 only with the rolling bearings 31 and 31, but in this case,
Cost increases. For this reason, only the tip end side of the drive shaft 3 is used as a rolling bearing 31, and the end side of the drive shaft 3, which is close to the toothed body 2 where the load F in the direction perpendicular to the axial direction is applied and therefore has a large load R1, is used, and the rear end of the drive shaft 3 is Regarding the end side, the load R2 that must be shared is small and the loss of the bearing has little effect on the drive of the drive shaft 3, so we are trying to reduce costs by using a sliding bearing. be. In particular, in this embodiment, the cam follower 30 connected to the rear end of the drive shaft 3 is used instead of the cam follower 30 that directly receives the drive shaft 3 on a sliding bearing as shown in FIG. 7(b). By supporting this, the load R7 applied to the sliding bearing part 38 is made to be smaller than the load R2 in the above case, and by supporting it on the sliding surface 16.16 provided on the holder 14, the part Cost reductions are also being achieved by reducing the number of parts. Note that the above loads Ri, R2, R3, and R4 are R,=[
] (11/β2)]・FR2−(Ij#2)・R3=−[1+(ll#3)]・F rL−(11/13>・FR,2<R1, R3<R1, The relationship is R, < R2. [Effects of the Invention] As described above, in the present invention, the front end side of the drive shaft to which the toothing is connected is a rolling bearing, and the rear end side connected to the drive means is a rolling bearing. It is supported by a sliding bearing,
The bearing at the front end of the drive shaft, which is subjected to a large load when brushing teeth, is a highly efficient bearing, and the bearing at the rear end of the drive shaft, which has a small load, is a sliding bearing, which makes it possible to keep costs from increasing. This can greatly improve bearing efficiency, and T! Even if the polishing pressure is high, it does not stop and a high plaque removal rate can be obtained, and if it is powered by a battery, the battery life is long.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are longitudinal cross-sectional views of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a broken perspective view of the same, FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the driving means of the same, and FIG. An enlarged perspective view of the bearing, FIG. 6 is a horizontal sectional view showing the sliding bearing part of the same as above, and FIGS. 7(a) and (b) are explanatory views of the same as the above, where 2 is a toothed body and 3 is a drive. The shaft, 31 is a rolling bearing, and 38 is a sliding bearing.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an electric toothbrush comprising a drive shaft to which a toothbrush body is connected and a drive means for reciprocating the drive shaft in the axial direction, the drive shaft has a distal end side to which the toothblade is connected. An electric tooth brushing device characterized in that the rear end side connected to a driving means is supported by a sliding bearing using a rolling bearing.