JPH08356A - Electric toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To select a brushing motion depending on the section of teeth by changing over the rotational direction of a drive motor for an electric tooth brush. CONSTITUTION:A case 1 is internally provided with a drive motor 3 and a motion conversion device C. The rotation of the motor 3 is transmitted to a sleeve 6a via a motor pinion 5 and a bevel gear 6 on the operation of the device C. The rotation of the motor 3 is, then, converted to the reciprocating motion of the first drive shaft 11 via a ratchet gear 6b and a ratchet tooth, or of the second drive shaft 12 via a ratchet gear 6c and the ratchet tooth, according to a motor rotating direction. Also, a brush body 17 is jointed to the shaft 11, while an arm 14 to the shaft 12. Then, the pinion 18b of a rotary brush body 18 is made to gear with the rack 14a of the arm 14. As a result, a toothbrush 18a fitted to the rotary brush body 18 can be selected between the case of vertical and rotary reciprocating motion, and the case of only the rotary reciprocating motion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various electric toothbrushes have been proposed. One of the typical ones
Secondly, a brush body having a brush portion at its tip (a portion corresponding to the handle of an ordinary toothbrush) is made to reciprocate linearly in the axial direction by a motor provided inside the case (bath polishing), or a shaft. There is a device (rolling polish) which is reciprocally oscillated around (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho-6).
1-64204). In addition, some rolling polishes include a bunch of brushes that reciprocally rotate. There are many things that make a bunch of brushes vibrate slightly (scraping polish), one that makes the stroke of axial reciprocating motion given to the brush variable, and many others. A conventional electric toothbrush is also known in which bath polishing, rolling polishing, and the like can be switched and used.

[0003]

However, even though the conventional ones can be switched and used, the selected toothbrushing method is a single one (bath polishing, rolling polishing or scraping polishing, etc.), and these are combined. I couldn't choose the brushing method I used. Therefore, it is not sufficient to brush the teeth depending on the parts such as the teeth that are required to be complicated, or between the teeth and the gingiva.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to select composite brushing in an electric toothbrush capable of switching the brushing operation depending on the tooth portion.

[0005]

A feature of the present invention is that a drive motor provided inside the case and capable of selectively rotating in the forward and reverse directions, and a motion conversion device for converting rotational motion of the drive motor into reciprocating motion. A first drive shaft that is movably supported in the case in the axial direction of the case and that extends from the motion conversion device to the upper end opening of the case; and the upper end of the case that is connected to the tip of the first drive shaft. A brush body protruding from the opening, a rotating brush body rotatably provided at the tip of the brush body, and a pinion for rotationally driving the rotating brush body,
A rack that meshes with the pinion is provided at the tip, and an arm that is axially movably supported inside the brush body and a rear end of the arm that are connected to the motion conversion device are connected to the inside of the case. The second drive shaft is movably supported in the axial direction of the case. In the above motion conversion device, a clutch mechanism having a first eccentric cam and a second eccentric cam that are selectively driven corresponding to the first drive shaft and the second drive shaft by switching the rotation direction of the drive motor is provided. Equipped.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, inside a hollow cylindrical case 1 having an upper end opening 1a, a drive motor 3 which can be selectively rotated in the forward and reverse directions by switching a forward and reverse rotation changeover switch (not shown) is provided in a frame. It is supported and stored by 2. The drive motor 3 uses a dry battery (not shown) as a drive power source. The frame 2 is provided with a room 2a for accommodating a drive conversion device C, which will be described later, and the motor shaft 3a of the motor 3 projects in the room 2a in the longitudinal (vertical) direction of the main body case 1. The motion converter C uses the rotary motion of the motor 3 for the case 1
Is converted into a linear reciprocating motion along the longitudinal direction.

The motion conversion device C will be described. Room 2
The motor pinion 5 is fixed to the motor shaft 3a protruding to a. A bevel gear 6 is meshed with the motor pinion 5, and the bevel gear 6 is rotatably supported by a shaft 4 which is supported by the frame 2 across both ends of the chamber 2a. Bevel gear 6
A sleeve 6a is integrally formed on the shaft 6, and this sleeve is rotatably fitted on the shaft 4.

A first ratchet wheel 6b and a second ratchet wheel 6c whose teeth are opposite to each other are integrally formed on the sleeve 6a. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the first ratchet wheel 6b is fitted in the hollow part formed in the first eccentric cam 7, and the second ratchet wheel 6c is fitted in the hollow part formed in the second eccentric cam 8. It is fitted. First eccentric cam 7 and second
A first ratchet claw 7a and a second ratchet claw 8a whose claws are in opposite directions are integrally formed on the inner peripheral surface of the hollow portion of the eccentric cam 8. This ratchet wheel 6b, 6c
And ratchet pawls 7a, 8a engageable with each ratchet wheel
And constitute a clutch mechanism D.

As shown in FIG. 4, the first eccentric cam 7 has a first cam follower 9 having a long groove 9a whose outer periphery is inscribed.
The hollow first drive shaft 11 is fixed to the first cam follower 9. As shown in FIG.
The second eccentric cam 8 is fitted in the long groove of the second cam follower 10 having the long groove 10a whose outer circumference is inscribed.
A second drive shaft 12 is fixed to the second cam follower 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the first drive shaft 11 is supported movably in the longitudinal direction via a bearing portion 15 provided on the frame 2, and the upper end opening 1 a of the case 1 from the first cam follower 9 is supported. It extends to the vicinity. In addition, the second drive shaft 12
Is slidably coaxially penetrated into the hollow of the first drive shaft 11 and protrudes from the first drive shaft.

A hollow brush body 17 is detachably connected to the tip of the first drive shaft 11 via an attachment 16. The brush body 17 has an upper end opening 1a of the case 1.
Projecting from. A rotating brush body 18 is rotatably provided at the tip of the brush body 17 via a shaft 19. The rotating brush body 18 is provided with a toothbrush 18a on the surface protruding from the brush body 17, and a pinion 18b is integrally formed at the rear end of the brush body 17.

The tip of the second drive shaft 12 is detachably connected to the rear end of the arm 14 through the connecting bush 13 inside the brush body 17, and the tip of the arm 14 is connected to the brush body 1.
7 is extended to the tip. A rack 14a is formed at the tip of the arm 14 as shown in FIG.
A pinion 18b meshes with the rack 14a. Next, the operation will be described. When the outer peripheral surface of the case 1 is gripped and a changeover switch (not shown) for switching between forward and reverse rotation of the drive motor 3 is operated, the motor shaft 3a of the motor 3 rotates in one direction (forward rotation), and the rotation of the motor shaft 3a 4, through the motor pinion 5, the bevel gear 6, and the sleeve 6a.
The first and second ratchet wheels 6b and 6c shown in FIG. 5 are rotated counterclockwise. When the first ratchet wheel 6b rotates counterclockwise, the first ratchet pawl 7a engages with the first ratchet wheel 6b to rotate the first eccentric cam 7 counterclockwise. At this time, the second ratchet pawl 8a only slides on the surface of the second ratchet wheel 6c and does not transmit the rotation to the second eccentric cam 8.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the first eccentric cam 7 rotates counterclockwise, the first cam follower 9 linearly reciprocates in the longitudinal direction (vertical direction) of the case 1 through the long groove 9a, 1st drive shaft 1 fixed to 1 cam follower 9
Since 1 also follows, the brush body 17 connected to the tip of the first drive shaft 11 also follows and reciprocates up and down. At this time, since the second eccentric cam 8 does not rotate, the second cam follower 10, the second drive shaft 12, and the arm 14 remain stationary. For this purpose, as shown in FIG.
Will reciprocate together with the brush body 17 in a state of being meshed with the rack 14a in a stationary state, and will reciprocally rotate. The rotating brush body 18 along with the reciprocating rotation of the pinion 18b
Also, the toothbrush 18a makes a reciprocating rotary motion. That is, the toothbrush 18a reciprocates up and down together with the brush body 17, and simultaneously reciprocally rotates together with the pinion 18b.

On the other hand, when the changeover switch is operated to perform reciprocating rotary polishing, the shaft 3a of the motor rotates in the other direction (reverse rotation), and the first and second ratchet wheels 6b, 6c rotate in the clockwise direction. Then, this time, the second ratchet pawl 8a is engaged with the second ratchet wheel 6c to rotate the second eccentric cam 8 clockwise. At this time, the first ratchet pawl 7a only slides on the surface of the first ratchet wheel 6b, and the first eccentric cam 7
Does not transmit rotation to. As shown in FIG. 5, the second eccentric cam 8
When is rotated clockwise, the second cam follower 10 linearly reciprocates in the longitudinal direction of the case 1 via the long groove 10a, and the second drive shaft 1 fixed to the second cam follower 10 is moved.
Since 2 also follows, the arm 14 connected to the tip of the second drive shaft 12 also follows and linearly reciprocates. At this time, since the first eccentric cam 7 does not rotate, the first cam follower 9, the first drive shaft 11, and the brush body 17 remain stationary. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 2, the rack 14a reciprocates together with the arm 14 while meshing with the pinion 18b, and reciprocally rotates the pinion 18b. The rotating brush body 18 along with the reciprocating rotation of the pinion 18b
And the toothbrush 18a reciprocally rotates. That is, in this case, the toothbrush 18a only reciprocates and does not perform vertical reciprocating motion.

It should be noted that the rotary brush body 18 may be detachably provided on the brush body 17, whereby the rotary brush body 18 can be replaced when the toothbrush 18a is damaged.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, a single drive motor is used and its rotation is selected to be used in either forward or reverse directions, so that the toothbrush only makes a rotational motion. The case (single polish of rolling polish) and the case where the toothbrush performs a motion in which a linear reciprocating motion is added to the rotary motion (composite polish of bath polish and rolling polish) can be selected selectively, so it depends on the part. Toothbrush more properly,
The toothpaste effect can be enhanced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an essential part showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view at a sectional position different from that of FIG. 1 by 90 °.

3 is a partially enlarged sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3B.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 case 1a upper end opening 3 drive motor 7 1st eccentric cam 8 2nd eccentric cam 11 1st drive shaft 12 2nd drive shaft 14 arm 14a rack 17 brush body 18 rotating brush body 18a toothbrush 18b pinion C motion conversion device D clutch mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A drive motor provided inside the case and capable of selectively rotating in the normal and reverse directions, a motion conversion device for converting rotational motion of the drive motor into reciprocating motion, and a shaft of the case inside the case. A first drive shaft that is movably supported in a direction and extends from the motion conversion device to the upper end opening of the case; and a first drive shaft that is connected to the tip of the first drive shaft and projects from the upper end opening of the case. Brush body, a rotating brush body rotatably provided at the tip of the brush body, a pinion for rotationally driving the rotating brush body, and a rack meshing with the pinion at the tip, the brush body An arm that is movably supported in the axial direction inside, is connected to the rear end of the arm and is connected to the motion conversion device, and is movably in the axial direction of the case inside the case. A second drive shaft being held, wherein the motion conversion device selectively drives the first drive shaft and the second drive shaft by switching the rotation direction of the drive motor. An electric toothbrush provided with a clutch mechanism having a first eccentric cam and a second eccentric cam.