JPH08275961A - Electric toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To dispense with a special switch operation and improve the usability by providing such a constitution that a handle electrode makes contact with a hand when the handle part is held by the hand at tooth brushing, and an oral electrode provided near the brush part inserted in to the mouth also makes contact with the body fluid, whereby a driving circuit is formed to drive a motor. CONSTITUTION: When a user holds a handle part 1 by the hand and puts a brush part 2 with a toothpaste into the mouth, an oral electrode 4 makes contact with the body fluid, whereby the oral electrode 4 and a handle part electrode 3 are electrically connected to each other through the body fluid of the user. At this time, a prescribed bias voltage is applied to a transistor by a lead-acid battery 9 and a dry battery 10 to lay the transistor into the continued state, whereby the current-carrying circuit to a motor 5 is formed to drive the motor 5. The brush part 2 is vibrated by the eccentric motion of a weight 6 accompanying the rotation of the motor 5, and the user can clean the teeth with a simple operation of only regulating the contact position or inclination of the brush part 2 to the teeth.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional manual toothbrush, it is not easy to set the contact angle of the user's brush with respect to the teeth in order to brush the tooth properly, and the force is applied to the toothbrush. It was difficult, and I often applied too much force to the surface of the tooth to polish it too much. In such tooth brushing, the teeth are not sufficiently cleaned, and the tooth surfaces may be worn. In order to solve this problem, the shape and size of the brush section are optimally set for tooth cleaning, and the motor provided in the handle section vibrates the brush section by contacting the teeth with a uniform and moderate force. An electric toothbrush has been proposed which enhances the tooth cleaning effect and does not wear the tooth surface due to excessive frictional force.

[0003]

However, in the electric toothbrushes conventionally proposed, it is necessary for the user to turn on the switch at the start of tooth brushing and to turn off the switch at the end of tooth brushing. There is a problem that the operation of the switch is troublesome for the elderly and the sick person, and there is a relatively large number of failures due to water infiltration from the switch part.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an electric toothbrush which is easy to operate and has no failure.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a brush portion which is inserted into the mouth and cleans teeth at one end of a handle portion which is held by hand when brushing teeth. An electric toothbrush that vibrates the brush portion by a motor housed in the handle portion, the electric toothbrush being provided in the vicinity of the brush portion, and when the brush portion is inserted into the mouth, an intraoral electrode that comes into contact with body fluid, and A handle electrode provided on the handle and in contact with the hand when the handle is held, and a handle electrode provided in the handle, the oral electrode coming into contact with body fluid, and the handle electrode coming into contact with the hand are in a conductive state. And a drive circuit for driving the motor.

[0006]

According to the electric toothbrush of the present invention, when the handle is held by hand when brushing the teeth, the handle electrode comes into contact with the hand, and when the brush at one end of the handle is inserted into the mouth, the brush comes close to the brush. The provided intraoral electrode comes into contact with body fluid, and the drive circuit is brought into conduction through the handle electrode, body fluid, and intraoral electrode to drive the motor, and the brush is vibrated by the motor to brush the teeth. .

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing the drive circuit of FIG.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a synthetic resin-made substantially cylindrical handle portion 1 is provided, and at one end of this handle portion 1, a brush portion 2 used in contact with teeth is used. , Is detachably attached. A handle portion electrode 3 is fixed to a portion of the handle portion 1 that is gripped by a user, and in the vicinity of the brush portion 2,
When the brush portion 2 is set in the mouth of the handle portion 1, the intraoral electrode 4 that comes into contact with the body fluid is fixed. A motor 5 is arranged in the handle portion 1, and a weight 6 for adjusting inertial resistance of the motor 5 is fixed to a rotating shaft 7 of the motor 5. A drive circuit 8 for driving the motor 5 is arranged in the handle portion 1, a button battery 9 is connected to the drive circuit 8, and an AA dry battery 10 is detachably connected. The drive circuit 8 includes a motor 5, a stem electrode 3 and an intraoral electrode 4.
Is connected.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drive circuit 8 portion of the present embodiment is composed of transistors 11, 12 and 13, the mouth electrode 4 is connected to the emitter of the transistor 11, and the collector of the transistor 11 is connected to the transistor 13. The base of transistor 11 is the base of transistor 12
Connected to the collector. The motor 5 is connected between the collector of the transistor 13 and the emitter of the transistor 11, and the base of the transistor 12 is connected to the handle electrode 3 via the resistor 14. Then, between the emitter of the transistor 11 and the emitter of the transistor 13,
Dry battery 10 with the emitter side of transistor 11 as the positive electrode
The button battery 9 is connected between the emitter of the transistor 13 and the emitter of the transistor 12 with the emitter side of the transistor 13 as a positive electrode.

The operation of this embodiment having such a configuration will be described. When the user grips the handle portion 1 with his / her hand and puts the brush portion 2 to which toothpaste is applied into the mouth, the oral electrode 4 comes into contact with the body fluid in the mouth, so that the oral electrode 4 and the handle electrode 3 are They are electrically connected to each other through body fluids. In this state, between the emitter and base of the transistor 16,
A predetermined bias voltage is applied by the button battery 9 and the dry battery 10, the transistor 12 becomes conductive, and a current flows through the transistor 11, so that the transistor 13 becomes conductive. Therefore, a closed circuit is formed by the dry battery 10, the motor 5, and the transistor 13, the voltage of the dry battery 10 is supplied to the motor 5, and the motor 5 starts rotating.

In this case, since the inertia resistance of the motor 5 is adjusted by the weight 6, the motor 5 does not start abruptly but slowly and safely starts,
It reaches a predetermined rotation speed and rotates stably. The eccentric movement of the weight 6 accompanying the rotation of the motor 5 causes the brush portion 2 with the toothpaste to vibrate, so that the user can easily adjust the contact position and inclination of the brush portion 2 with respect to the teeth. Cleaning is performed. At this time, the oral electrode 4 and the handle electrode 3
During this period, a current of several 100 μA flows through the body fluid of the user, and the plaque is removed by the ionic effect of this current, so the tooth cleaning effect is enhanced.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the handle portion 1 is gripped by the hand and the brush portion 2 is put into the mouth, the brush portion 2 automatically vibrates to brush the teeth and the switch operation is unnecessary. Therefore, it can be easily used by the elderly and sick, and the plaque can be effectively removed by the ionic effect of the minute electric current flowing through the body. Since there is no switch part, the waterproof property is good and no failure occurs, and the dry battery 10 mainly used for driving the motor 5 can be easily replaced, and stable operation can be continued. .

[0013]

As described above, according to the electric toothbrush of the present invention, when the handle is held by hand when brushing the teeth, the handle electrode comes into contact with the hand and the brush at one end of the handle is put in the mouth. When inserted, the intraoral electrode provided near the brush contacts the body fluid, and the drive circuit is brought into conduction through the handle electrode, body fluid and intraoral electrode to drive the motor. Since the brush is vibrated to brush the teeth, it is not necessary to operate the switch, and elderly people and sick people can easily brush their teeth by themselves. Removal is effective.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an electric toothbrush according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing the drive circuit of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Handle part 2 ... Brush part 3 ... Handle part electrode 4 ... Mouth electrode 5 ... Motor 8 ... Drive circuit 9 ... Button battery 10 ... Dry battery

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A brush portion inserted into the mouth for cleaning teeth is provided at one end of a handle portion held by hand when brushing teeth, and the brush portion is vibrated by a motor accommodated in the handle portion. An electric toothbrush, which is provided in the vicinity of the brush portion, and when the brush portion is inserted into the mouth, an intraoral electrode that comes into contact with body fluid and the handle portion, which is provided in the handle portion and contacts the hand while holding the handle portion Handle electrode, provided in the handle, the oral electrode is in contact with body fluids,
An electric toothbrush having a drive circuit for driving the motor when the handle electrode comes into contact with the hand and becomes conductive.