JPS592499B2 - Fitting mechanism for hand-held personal care devices - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hand-held device for caring for the body, particularly teeth and the oral cavity, and in particular a hand-held device for caring for the body, particularly the teeth and the oral cavity, and in particular for use with rotary vibrating body care actuating heads such as toothbrush heads and pine surge heads, and with pulsed liquid flow. The present invention relates to a fitting mechanism for a hand-held device that is operated by fitting a liquid jet jetting personal care actuating head into a replacement.

An object of the present invention is to simplify the structure of the fitting mechanism between the hand-held part and the operating head of each operating mode in the above-mentioned hand-held device for body care, and to prevent the fitted operating head from coming off during the operation of the hand-held device. , the operation head can be removed by stopping the operation.

The structure of the present invention that achieves the above object is as described in the above-mentioned claims, by means of a sliding ring provided on the hand-held portion, during operation, the socket portion at the tip of the hand-held portion engages with the fitting end of the operating head. The fitting part is covered to prevent the head from coming off, and the operating head can be removed by retracting the sliding ring when the operation is stopped.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on the accompanying drawings.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the hand-held part of the hand-held device according to the invention has a cylindrical outer housing 1, in which a generally cylindrical, hollow and coaxially arranged insert is provided. The member 2 is installed inside, and the insert member 2
A distributor 3 is provided at the rear end, and a sleeve-shaped cylinder 4 is provided at the front end.

The insert member 2 houses an axially movable piston 5, which is located in a chamber 14, and a helical cam 6 is fixed to the front end of the piston 5, and further, This cam 6 is configured to engage with a hollow cylindrical driven cam 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, the rear surface of the driven cam 7 is provided with a slot 8 that matches the curved surface of the cam 6 and a pair of holes 8a arranged symmetrically in the radial direction.

Although this cylindrical driven cam I is rotatable within the member 9, its movement in the axial direction is prevented by the member 9.

That is, this member 9 rotatably supports the driven cam 7 therein, and is pressed toward the front part of the cylinder 4 of the insert member 2.

The compression spring 12 has its front end pressing against a ring 10 fixed to the cylinder 4, and its rear end pressing against the piston 5.
As shown in FIG. 1, the piston 5 is moved to the rearmost position as shown in FIG.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the radially arranged protrusions 11 are provided so as to be slidable along axial grooves 13 (a plurality of grooves).

These grooves 13 are bored in the wall surface of the cylinder 4 and prevent the piston 50 from rotating.

The distributor 3 is provided with an inlet conduit 15 for the inflow of liquid into the working chamber 14 of the piston 5 and a return conduit 16 for the outflow of the liquid which also returns to the working chamber 14, both conduits being connected to an external ferrule fitting. It is connected to 17.

A flexible double tube 18 is attached to this ferrule fitting 17.

Inside the housing 1, an axially slidable sleeve 19 surrounds the insert 2, the front end of which can be manually slid along the housing 1 by the user. control ring 20, while its rear end forms a cylindrical sliding valve 21 which operates in conjunction with three 01J rings 22, 23 and 24.

A plurality of O-rings 22, 23, 24 are arranged around the distributor 3 at intervals in the axial direction.

The slide valve 21 has an inlet/outlet 25 in the shape of a shallow annular groove on its inner wall.

This entrance/exit 25 is delimited by diagonal counterbores provided at both ends.

Now, when sleeve 19 and control ring 20 are retracted to the rearmost position shown in FIG. The chamber 14 leads to the return conduit 16 through a radially arranged hole 26 in the distributor 3, an inlet/outlet 25 and a transfer hole 27 in the distributor 3, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sleeve 19 and the control ring 2
0 has moved to the central position, the inlet/outlet 25 of the sliding valve 21 is blocked by the two O-rings 23 and 24.

As a result, the return conduit 16 is occluded.

When the sleeve 19 and control ring 20 are advanced to the forward position as shown in FIG. It is closed by an O-ring 23 placed in the center.

In this position, the inlet conduit 15 communicates via the working chamber 14 with the side conduit described below.

Now, this side conduit includes the hole 26, the inlet/outlet 25, the annular space between the distributor 3 and the sleeve 19, and the cylinder 4.
(in FIG. 1, the cylinder 4 presses against the distributor 3 with a seal 38 interposed)
, the radially arranged holes 29 in the cylinder 4, the internal space of the cylinder 4, and the plurality of holes 8a (third hole) in the end face of the driven cam γ.
) and the internal space of the driven cam 7.

In FIGS. 1, 4, and 5, a shaft 30 that is firmly fitted into the driven cam 7 is provided inside the tip of the nousing 1, and this shaft 30 communicates with the internal space of the driven cam 7. It is provided with an axial conduit 32 and forms an outer part 31 of rectangular cross-section.

The socket 33 is formed at the front end of the previously described member 9 and surrounds the shaft 30 so as to form a coaxial annular space.

The claw sleeve 34 is firmly fitted into the front end of the cylinder 4, and the O-ring 35 is attached to the socket 3.
3 and the internal flange of the sleeve 34.

The sleeve 34 has a conical counterbore 3 at its front end.
6 and an annular inner groove 37.

The shaft 30, socket 33, claw sleeve 34, O-ring 35, etc. form a socket into which the operating head is fitted.

In FIG. 4, a plug end 40 is connected to a mechanically actuated interchangeable actuating head 4 such as a toothbrush or other pine surger.
It corresponds to the end of the shaft of No. 1 and includes an inner sleeve portion 42 and an outer portion 43.

The inner sleeve part 42 is inserted on the shaft 30, the middle part of the inner sleeve 42 has a rectangular cross-sectional shape that fits on the rectangular part 31 of the shaft 30, while the left end part fits on the rectangular part 31 of the shaft 30. It has an internal circular cross-sectional shape that matches the external circular cross-sectional shape of the rear part of the.

The outer part 43 is provided with an elastically deformable tongue 44 (generally parallel to the shaft axis of the toothbrush), which tongue 44 has a radially projecting hook 45 which can be attached to the sleeve. 34 is engaged with the annular inner groove 37.

In this way, the plug end 40 of the above-mentioned interchangeable actuating head (e.g. a toothbrush) is connected to the shaft 30 and the front rectangular section 31.
are integrally connected in the rotational direction, and are locked by a hook 45 to prevent movement in the axial direction, especially to prevent it from coming off in the axial direction.

In other words, the annular inner groove 37 of the sleeve 34 forms a trapezoid-shaped portion that engages with the hook 45.

When radial pressure is applied inwardly to the protrusion 46 of the outer portion 43, the aforementioned hook 45 disengages from the inner groove 37, thereby removing the toothbrush or other exchangeable head from the socket of the hand-held device. It is now possible to do so.

an annular shoulder 47 formed at the end of the projection 46 on the outer portion 43 when the toothbrush head 41 is attached;
forms a stop that engages the front end of the control ring 20 of the sliding sleeve 19 and stops the control ring 20, so that the sliding sleeve 19 cannot move to the forward position shown in FIG. There is no such thing.

Therefore, when the toothbrush head 41 is inserted, the actuation switching means consisting of the sliding sleeve 19 and the control ring 20 is not switched to the forward position to supply a pulsed liquid flow, and the toothbrush head 41 is inserted. Only the rotational vibration force will be transmitted to 41.

Further, since the outer diameter of the inner sleeve 42 is set smaller than the inner diameter of either the socket 33 or the O-ring 35, these parts 33, 35 do not come into contact with the sleeve 42 described above.

Therefore, when the toothbrush is moved, rotational vibration occurs smoothly without any friction occurring in these parts, and the tip of the hook 45 simply slides along the bottom of the annular inner groove 37.

As shown in FIG. 5, the replaceable jet jet head comprises a jet nozzle 51, the plug end 50 of which has an inner sleeve 52 and an elastically deformable tongue 54. and an outer part 53.

The hook 55 of the tongue portion 54 is a trapezoidal portion for locking the liquid jet head in the axial direction, and is removably engaged with an annular inner groove 37 formed in correspondence with the sleeve 34.

However, in this case, the outer diameter of the inner sleeve 52 corresponds to the inner diameter of the socket 33, so that the inner sleeve 52 is held pressed into the socket 33, thus compressing the O-ring 35.

On the other hand, since the inner diameter of the hole formed inside the inner sleeve 52 is set larger overall than the outer diameter of the shaft 30, the inner sleeve 52 does not come into contact with the shaft 30.

Additionally, an annular shoulder on the rear end surface of the projection 56 is spaced a considerable distance from the claw 55 to allow the control ring 20 to be moved to a forward position, as shown in FIG.

The hand-held device described above has an inlet conduit 15 connected to a pump supplying pulsed liquid and a flexible dual tube 18.
The return conduit 16 is connected to the reservoir of the pump via the pump, and the operation is performed as follows.

When the sleeve 19 and the control ring 20 forming the actuation selection switching means are in the rearmost position shown in FIG. The aforementioned side pipe leading to O
Blocked by the ring 24, the flow of liquid that has entered via the inlet conduit 15 will be returned to the return conduit 16 without any action.

When the toothbrush head is mounted and the switching means, i.e. the sleeve 19 and the control ring 20, are switched into the central position shown in FIG. The tube is an O-ring 24
Therefore, the pulse pressure of the inflow liquid pushes the piston 5 forward against the reaction force of the spring 120, while between the pulse pressures, the piston 5 returns to its original position due to the force of the spring 120. return.

In this way, the motor action in the form of reciprocating movement of the piston 5 is performed, which causes the helical cam 6 to operate, driving the rotational vibration movement of the driven cam 7 and the shaft 30, and thus A tooth grab actuating head similarly moves to provide a mechanical rotary oscillatory motion.

In other words, the piston 5 and the driven cam 7, which perform the above-mentioned motor action, form a driving means for the shaft 300 rotational vibration.

Since the aforementioned side channel is shut off by the O-ring 24, the inner sleeve 42 of the working head (such as a toothbrush)
There is no need for a tight fit inside the socket 33 of the handheld device.

Therefore, the O-ring 35 is not particularly pressed by the inner sleeve 42.

Until the hydraulic motor is operated, the working chamber 14 is short-circuited to the return conduit 16 at the position of the sliding sleeve 19 shown in FIG. 1, so that trapped air trapped inside can escape from the motor. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, when the sleeve 19 is moved to the central position, the motor will automatically start.

Once the toothbrush head is installed, the stopping action of the annular shoulder 47 as described above makes it impossible to slide the control ring 20 and the sleeve 19 into the forward position, so that the opening of the aforementioned side channel is impossible. There isn't.

Attaching the head for jetting the liquid jet, the operation selection switching means,
That is, when the sleeve 19 and the ring 20 are moved to the forward position shown in FIG. and is supplied to the injection nozzle 51 through a narrow conduit inside the injection nozzle.

In other words, the side conduit forms a liquid flow supply means for supplying a pulsed liquid flow toward the liquid jet operation head inserted into the socket portion.

On the other hand, since the O-ring 35 ensures liquid tightness, liquid will not leak from the outer periphery of the nozzle.

Since the plug end 50 of the actuating head does not come into contact with the shaft 30, the hydraulic motor is actually actuated in the central position while the sleeve 19 moves from the rear position through the central position to the forward position, but the shaft Even if 30 moves momentarily, the liquid jet head is never moved by the movement and is always fixed stably and firmly.

As is clear from the above description, the hand-held device for body care according to the present invention is used by inserting operating heads for body care of various operating modes into the socket portion of the hand-held portion so as to be replaceable. The fitting mechanism having the characteristic structure of the present invention will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8.

Although FIGS. 6 to 8 show the fitting mechanism of the hand-held device, other parts are substantially the same as the structure described above.

The main body of the hand-held device includes a socket-forming sleeve 102 fixed at the front part of a cylindrical housing 101 with a driven cam 103, which is held rotatably but does not move in the axial direction. It is set up like this.

The driven cam 103 has an extension part forming a tubular shaft 104 capable of rotational vibration, and the tubular shaft 104 has a cylindrical part 105, the tip of which has a rectangular shape with a rectangular cross section. A portion 106 is formed.

The socket forming piece 107 is attached to the socket forming sleeve 102.
It is fixed across the top of Karano Uzing 101,
At its end, an outwardly directed annular bulge 108 is provided as a mating portion.

The O-ring 109 fits into a groove formed between the socket-forming piece 107 and the socket-forming sleeve 102.

The control ring 110 forming a sliding ring has the same function as the control ring 20 of the above-described embodiment, and is provided so as to be slidable in the axial direction on the outside of the bousing 101.

Control ring 110 can be selectively switched to any of the three positions mentioned in connection with the previous embodiment by means not shown.

The three positions are the rearmost position (Fig. 6) where the hydraulic path of the hydraulic motor (not shown) is short-circuited, and the center position where the shaft 104 rotates and oscillates without receiving liquid supply through the side pipe. position (FIG. 7) and a forward position (FIG. 8) where a pulsed liquid flow is supplied via a side channel.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the toothbrush actuating head 112 includes a rear insertion end 113 that
3 is equipped with an inner sleeve 114 having an outer diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the socket forming piece 107 and the O-ring 109, and an annular gap 116 is provided in the inner blind hole so that the blind hole is Shaft 1040 is formed to tightly attach to cylindrical portion 105, and inner portion 115 having a rectangular cross section is tightly and securely attached to a portion of shaft 104, ie, rectangular portion 106.

Similarly, the insertion end 113 is provided with an outer plug portion 117 which is provided with two radially flexible tongues 118 .

These two tongue-shaped portions 118 each have a fitting recess 119 on the inner surface of the free end side, and the recess 119 is
When the ring 110 is in its rearmost position, it is configured to resiliently engage the annular bulge 108.

Once the toothbrush actuating head 112 is thus installed, the control ring 110 can be advanced to its central position as shown in FIG. The control ring 110 then cannot move forward any further.

That is, the control ring 110 is prevented from being slid to the forward position and into the operating position for ejecting the liquid stream.

The size of the bulge 108 and recess 119 that fit and engage each other, the diameter of the hole in the ring 110, and the thickness of each tongue 118 near the recess 119 are such that the control ring 110 is slid forward to the central position. At this time, the tongue portion 118 is elastically deformed to such an extent that it does not come off the bulge 108.

As a result, while the control ring 110 is in the central position, the toothbrush does not move forward due to the covering action of the tip 110a of the control ring 110, and is activated only after the control ring 110 has retreated to the rearmost position. A device is provided so that the head 112 can be removed.

The liquid jet jet head 120 shown in FIG. 8 includes a rear insertion part 121 with an inner tubular sleeve 122, and the inner diameter of the central hole of the rear insertion part 121 is the same as that of the shaft 104.
The outer diameter of the rear insertion portion 121 is set to be approximately the same as the inner diameter of the socket forming sleeve 102 and the socket forming piece 107.

In order to facilitate insertion of the sleeve 122 into the insertion hole of the liquid jet head, the end of the sleeve 122 is rounded.

As shown in FIG. 8, when the sleeve 122 is inserted, the O-ring 109 is pressed into the O-ring groove to maintain a fluid tightness.

Similarly, the insertion portion 121 includes a pair of protrusions 123 that protrude in the radial direction, and the protrusions 123 are elastically deformable and have the same effect and shape as the tongue-shaped portion 108 in FIG. It is constructed integrally with the tongue portion 124.

Further, these tongue-shaped portions 124 have a recess 125 as a fitting portion that elastically engages with the bulge 108 formed as a fitting portion of the socket forming piece 107 in an unlockable manner.

With the control ring 110 in the rearmost position, the actuating head 12
0 to a handheld device, its control ring 110
, i.e. the sliding ring can be slid into a forward position.

In operation, the shaft 104 is not in contact with the sleeve 122 so that no vibrations are transmitted to the sleeve 122 and a pulsed liquid jet is provided through the central hole of the actuation head 120.

During operation, the control ring 110 has its tip 110 a over the tongue 124 to prevent the recess 125 of the tongue 124 from coming into engagement with the annular bulge 108 .

As a result, the risk of this working head 120 becoming dislodged during operation is eliminated.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing one embodiment of the overall configuration of a hand-held device for body care according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIG.
3 is a schematic sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the body care operating head fitted into the main body of the hand-held device shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing another embodiment of the operating head for body care, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the fitting mechanism which is a feature of the present invention. 1 is a sectional view showing a state in which one embodiment of the operating head is fitted into the fitting mechanism of FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a state in which another embodiment of the same operating head is fitted. 1...Housing, 4...Cylinder,
5... Piston, 6... Cam, 1...
...Followed cam, 14...Chamber, 19...
...Sleeve, 20...°・Control ring, 30...
...Shaft, 33...Socket, 41.
... Working head, 51 ... Injection nozzle,
101...Housing, 102...Socket forming sleeve, 104...Shaft, 1
07... Sleeve forming piece, 108...
Bulge, 110... Control ring, 110a.
... Tip portion, 112 ... Toothbrush operating head, 114 ... Inner sleeve, 118 ...
...tongue, 119... recess, 120...
"P-injection nozzle, 124...tongue, 125.
・・・・・・Concavity.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A fitting mechanism for a handheld device for body care comprising a handheld portion and a body care operating head with multiple operating modes, which is provided so as to be replaceable by fitting into a socket portion at the tip of the handheld portion, The socket portion includes a shaft rotatably arranged to carry and drive a rotationally vibratory personal care operating head;
a hollow socket-forming piece adapted to coaxially surround the shaft and connect to a liquid-jetting personal care actuating head that is cut off from a liquid jet; The socket-forming piece has a corresponding mating portion adapted to releasably engage a mating portion formed on the mating end outer portion of each of said body care actuating heads; The socket part surrounds the socket forming piece coaxially and with a space therebetween, and manually moves the fitted body care operating head in the axial direction between two positions, a rear position where it is not activated and a front position where it is activated. a sliding ring that is slidable, the sliding ring sliding on the outer side of the outer portion of the personal care actuating head in the vicinity of the fitting portion that engages the fitting portion of the socket portion; By passing through, the outer portion and the socket portion are prevented from disengaging while sliding forward to the forward position, and the sliding ring is slid back to the rear position. A fitting mechanism for a hand-held device for personal care, characterized in that the gap is pulled back to the rear from the outer part of the operating head for personal care.