JPH0910242A - Motor-driven toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve a tooth cleaning effect by making an elliptic brush perform circular motion with an eccentric axis as a center and increasing a momentum. CONSTITUTION: A brush holder 2 for which the brush 1 is freely rotatably attached to a tip part is mounted to the tip part of a motor-driven toothbrush main body, a driving shaft protruded from the motor-driven toothbrush main body and a linked shaft 5 inside the brush holder 2 are connected, the reciprocating motion of the linked shaft 5 driven back and forth in an axial direction by the driving shaft is converted into the rotary motion of the brush 1 and the brush 1 is rotated. In this motor-driven toothbrush, the brush 1 is turned to an elliptic shape, the brush 1 is freely rotatably attached to the brush holder 2 at an eccentric position to the center of the elliptic brush 1 and the eccentric position to the rotary center of the brush 1 and the linked shaft 5 are linked.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush for brushing teeth by rotating the brush.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, electric toothbrushes of this type have been disclosed in JP-A-6-245820 and JP-A-6-121710.
Some are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. In this, a brush holder having a brush rotatably attached to its tip is attached to an electric toothbrush body as an attachment, and a drive shaft of the electric toothbrush body and an interlocking shaft in the brush holder are connected. The brush is rotatably attached to the brush holder at the center of the brush. By rotating the drive shaft in the axial direction, the interlocking shaft is reciprocally driven in the axial direction, and the reciprocating motion of the interlocking shaft is performed by the rack and pinion. The brush was driven to rotate in place of the rotational movement.

[0003]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned conventional example, since the circular brush simply rotates about the center of rotation of the brush, the circular brush makes a simple circular motion. At the same time, the amount of exercise is limited, and there is a problem that the brushing effect is low and it takes time to brush the teeth.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to increase the amount of movement as well as the oval brush circularly moving around an eccentric shaft, resulting in a tooth brushing effect. It is to provide an electric toothbrush that can enhance the

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, an electric toothbrush according to the present invention has an electric toothbrush in which a brush holder 2 having a brush 1 rotatably attached to its tip is attached to the tip of an electric toothbrush main body 3. Drive shaft 4 protruding from the main body 3
And the interlocking shaft 5 in the brush holder 2 are connected, and the drive shaft 4
In which the reciprocating motion of the interlocking shaft 5 reciprocally driven in the axial direction is converted into the rotational motion of the brush 1 to rotate the brush 1, the brush 1 having an elliptical shape and the elliptical brush 1 The brush 1 is rotatably attached to the brush holder 2 at a position eccentric to the center of the brush 1, and the position eccentric to the rotation center of the brush 1 and the interlocking shaft 5 are interlocked with each other. .

It is also preferable that the elliptical elongated hole 6 is provided on the brush 1 side and the pin 7 provided at the tip of the interlocking shaft 5 is loosely fitted in the elongated hole 6.

[0007]

According to the above structure, when the drive shaft 4 reciprocally drives the interlocking shaft 5 in the axial direction, the elliptical brush 1 can be rotated about an axis eccentric to the center of the brush 1. ,
The movement of the brush 1 becomes complicated and the momentum of the brush 1 increases, so that the brushing effect can be improved.

At this time, if the elliptical elongated hole 6 is provided on the brush 1 side and the pin 7 provided at the tip of the interlocking shaft 5 is loosely fitted in the elongated hole 6, the elongated hole 6 is formed with respect to the pin 7. By sliding, the reciprocating motion of the interlocking shaft 5 can be smoothly converted into the rotating motion of the brush 1.

[0009]

EXAMPLE An electric toothbrush body 3 has a motor and a battery built therein, and the drive shaft 4 at the tip of the electric toothbrush body 3 can be driven by driving the motor. The drive shaft 4 is configured to be reciprocally driven in the axial direction of the drive shaft 4 and oscillated in the circumferential direction of the drive shaft 4. Although various toothbrush attachments can be detachably connected to the tip of the electric toothbrush body 3, in the case of the present invention, an attachment of a rotary toothbrush is detachably connected as shown in FIG. The attachment of this rotary toothbrush is formed by rotatably mounting the brush 1 on the tip of a brush holder 2 as shown in FIGS.

The brush holder 2 is composed of a tubular tip-side housing 10 and a tubular base-side housing 11, and the base portion of the tip-side housing 10 is inserted into a connecting tube 12 at the tip of the base-side housing 11. The connecting cylinder 13 is inserted, and the distal housing 10 is connected to the base housing 11 so as to be rotatable in the circumferential direction. A seal ring 14 such as an O-ring is interposed between the connecting cylinder 12 and the connected cylinder 13. Further, a regulation projection 9 is provided on the inner surface of the connecting cylinder 12, and the regulation projection 9 regulates the angle at which the tip side housing 10 swings in the circumferential direction with respect to the base side housing 11.

An interlocking shaft 5 is inserted in the brush holder 2 from the front end side housing 10 to the base side housing 11, and a seal ring such as an O ring is provided between the interlocking shaft 5 and the front end side housing 10. 24 is interposed.
The interlocking shaft 5 is slidable in the longitudinal direction of the interlocking shaft 5 and rotatable in the circumferential direction of the interlocking shaft 5. Interlocking axis 5
A drive element 15 is integrally mounted on the base end side of the drive element 15. When the brush holder 2 is attached to the electric toothbrush body 3, the drive element 15 is connected to the drive shaft 4. As a result, the interlocking shaft 5 reciprocates in the axial direction of the interlocking shaft 5 together with the drive shaft 4, or swings in the circumferential direction. A pair of recessed grooves 16 is provided on the inner surface of the connected cylinder 13 in the axial direction of the interlocking shaft 5, and a pin 17 protruding from the interlocking shaft 5 is slidably inserted into the recessed groove 16. As a result, when the interlocking shaft 5 swings in the circumferential direction, the distal end side housing 1 together with the interlocking shaft 5
0 swings.

The brush 1 has an oval shape and is formed by implanting bristles 1b on an oval brush base 1a. An opening 18 is provided on the brush mounting surface on the side surface of the tip of the brush holder 2, and the brush 1 is mounted on the opening 18 through a lever 19. Brush base 1 of brush 1
A fitting hole 20 is provided in the center of a, and a brush 1 is formed by fitting a fitting portion 21 provided on the lever 19 into the fitting hole 20.
Is detachably attached to the lever 19. As a result, the brush 1 can be attached as shown in FIG.
The brush 1 can be removed as shown in FIG. Lever 1 above
Reference numeral 9 is attached so as to be rotatable around a position eccentric to the center of the elliptical brush 1. That is, the eccentric shaft 2 arranged at a position eccentric to the center of the brush 1.
A lever 19 is rotatably attached to the brush holder 2 at 2. Interlocking shaft 5 at the position corresponding to the center of brush 1.
A long hole 6 that is long in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction is bored, and a pin 7 protruding from the tip of the interlocking shaft 5 is loosely fitted in the long hole 6.

When the drive shaft 4 is reciprocally driven in the axial direction and the interlocking shaft 5 is reciprocally driven, the lever 19 moves the eccentric shaft 22.
And the brush 1 rotates together with the lever 19. That is, FIG. 5 (a), FIG. 6 (a), and FIG. 7 (a)
The lever 19 and the brush 1 rotate as shown in FIG. FIG.
6A shows the drive shaft 4 in the uppermost stage, FIG. 6A shows the drive shaft 4 in the middle stage, and FIG. 7A shows the drive shaft 4 in the lowermost stage. In this way, the elliptical brush 1 is attached to the eccentric shaft 22.
By rotating around, the movement of the brush 1 becomes complicated and the momentum of the brush 1 increases, so that the brushing effect can be improved. At this time, since the pin 7 is loosely fitted in the long hole 6, the axial reciprocating motion of the interlocking shaft 5 is smoothly converted into the pivoting motion of the lever 19. Further, when the drive shaft 4 is driven to swing in the circumferential direction, the housing 10 on the tip end side of the brush holder 2 swings in the circumferential direction together with the interlocking shaft 5, and the brush 1 moves to the position shown in FIG.
It swings as shown in (b), FIG. 6 (b), and FIG. 7 (b). When brushing teeth, even if the drive shaft 4 is reciprocally driven in the axial direction and the brush 1 is rotated, the drive shaft 4 is reciprocally driven in the axial direction and is oscillated in the circumferential direction to brush the brush 1.
It may be performed by rotating and swinging. Note that FIG.
Shows the movement of the brush 1 of FIGS. 5 to 7 collectively.

In the case of the present invention, the interlocking shaft 5 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 11, the pin 7 and the pin 17 are integrally provided so that the pin 1 can drive the brush 1 to rotate, and the pin 17 can move the interlocking shaft 5 and the distal end side housing 10 together. It is designed to rotate. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the number of parts required to realize the operation shown in FIG. In the conventional technique, in order to realize the operation as shown in FIG. 9, as shown in FIG. 12, a separate pin 7'or pin 17 'is attached to the interlocking shaft 5, and the pin 7'and the brush 1 are interlocked. Alternatively, the interlocking shaft 5 and the distal end side housing 10 are integrally swung by the pin 17 ', which requires a large number of parts, but in the case of the present invention, the number of parts can be reduced.

Further, in the case of the structure shown in FIG. 12, since the pin 17 'is exposed from the opening 23, the opening 2
3 may infiltrate a toothpaste or the like, causing abrasion at the reciprocating or swinging parts of the plastic molded product, which may shorten the service life. However, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 10, the pin 17 and the recessed groove 16 are slidably fitted inside the connected tube 13, and the connection tube 12 and the connected tube 13 are connected to each other. Since the seal ring 14 is interposed, it is possible to reliably prevent the dentifrice from invading the inside thereof, to eliminate wear of the parts and to improve the life.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the brush is formed into an elliptical shape, and the brush is rotatably attached to the brush holder at a position eccentric with respect to the center of the elliptical brush. Since the eccentric position is linked to the above-mentioned interlocking shaft, when the drive shaft reciprocally drives the interlocking shaft in the axial direction, the elliptical brush rotates around the eccentric shaft with respect to the center of the brush. That can be moved,
As the movement of the brush becomes complicated, the momentum of the brush increases, the brushing effect can be improved, and the brushing time can be shortened.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the elliptical elongated hole is provided on the brush side and the pin provided at the tip of the interlocking shaft is loosely fitted in the elongated hole, the pin is attached to the pin. On the other hand, the long hole slides to smoothly convert the reciprocating motion of the interlocking shaft into the rotating motion of the brush, which enables smooth operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an attachment of the electric toothbrush of the present invention,
(A) is a plane sectional view and (b) is a partially cutaway front view.

2A is a side sectional view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the entire electric toothbrush of the above.

4 (a) and (b) are perspective views for explaining attachment / detachment of a brush of the above attachment.

5A and 5B are views for explaining the above-described operation, wherein FIG. 5A is a partially cutaway front view illustrating rotation of a brush, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view illustrating swinging of the brush.

6A and 6B are views for explaining the above-described operation, FIG. 6A is a partially cutaway front view illustrating rotation of a brush, and FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view illustrating swinging of the brush.

7A and 7B are views for explaining the above-described operation, FIG. 7A is a partially cutaway front view for explaining rotation of a brush, and FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view for explaining rocking of the brush.

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of FIG. 6 (b).

FIG. 9A is an explanatory diagram for explaining the rotation of the brush of the above, and FIG. 9B is an explanatory diagram for explaining the swing of the brush of the same.

FIG. 10 is a side sectional view of the above attachment.

FIG. 11 is a front view showing the interlocking shaft of the above.

FIG. 12 is a side sectional view illustrating a conventional technique of an attachment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Brush 2 Brush Holder 3 Electric Toothbrush Body 4 Drive Shaft 5 Interlocking Shaft 6 Slot 7 Pin

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A brush holder having a brush rotatably attached to its tip is attached to the tip of an electric toothbrush main body, and a drive shaft projecting from the electric toothbrush main body and an interlocking shaft in the brush holder are connected to each other. In an electric toothbrush for rotating the brush by converting the reciprocating motion of the interlocking shaft reciprocally driven in the axial direction by the drive shaft into the rotating motion of the brush, the brush has an elliptical shape and the center of the elliptical brush. An electric toothbrush characterized in that a brush is rotatably attached to a brush holder at an eccentric position, and the position eccentric to the rotation center of the brush and the interlocking shaft are interlocked. 2. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein an elliptical elongated hole is provided on the brush side, and a pin provided at the tip of the interlocking shaft is loosely fitted in the elongated hole.