JPS63249507A - Electromotive type electronic toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a dynamic electronic toothbrush.

``Prior art'' Has it been confirmed that conventional electric brushes, ion toothbrushes, or electronic toothbrushes (hereinafter referred to as electronic toothbrushes) can effectively remove dental plaque by using potential gradients? -No. 5092 and JP-A-60-
As described in No. 253461, its structure is extremely complicated and therefore expensive, which limits its widespread use.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has announced that most people over the age of 40 are still suffering from the disease. This is due to the fact that they do not spend enough time brushing their teeth due to the strong belief that the work is boring and unpleasant. Also.

Although everyone makes sufficient efforts to prevent and treat physical diseases other than teeth, we tend to neglect efforts to prevent dental diseases, that is, brushing our teeth. As a result, when teeth deteriorate, people are forced to incur extremely large expenses for treatment.

Currently, the core i for periodontal disease prevention in the depressed dental world.
The ``bath method'', which is said to be the 19th method, involves placing the tip of the tooth flange bristles on the border between the teeth and the gums, and brushing the tip of the tooth flange bristles with a brush of 31/ so that it does not protrude from between the teeth. As mentioned above, it is difficult to carry out vibration polishing by reciprocating 10 times at each location.

On the other hand, due to excessive polishing and so-called horizontal polishing.

There is a risk of wear and tear on the root xylem and gums of the tooth, resulting in loss of shape, recession of the tooth, and hypersensitivity.

Therefore, in recent years, the so-called electric Minami brush, which uses an electric motor to perform the tooth brushing work, has been introduced on the streetcars.It moves the bristles about 10 times faster than manual brushing, and eliminates the problem of wedge-shaped chipped caps. "Bath method polishing"
is becoming effective. As a conventional example, JP-A-57-
No. 166108, JP-A-58-69505, JP-A-5
There are such things as No. 8-105709 and Special Publication No. 42-27372. However, few of these electric toothbrushes have the functions of the electronic toothbrushes mentioned above, and even if they do, they have extremely complicated structures (Tenko Sho 43-5092).
(see No.), therefore, it was extremely expensive and could not be popularized by the general public.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] The first invention of this application was made in view of the problems of the prior art described in L, and its purpose is to have a simple structure and to manufacture it at low cost. We offer the best electric toothbrushes.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an electronic toothbrush that forms an electric circuit including at least teeth and bristles, by passing a DC pulse current through the electric circuit to improve the cleaning effect of brushing. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a more improved electric electric toothbrush.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The first invention of this application provides: - In order to achieve the above object,
The brush includes a brush head portion in which brush bristles are flocked and a gripping handle, and when a user grips the gripping handle and brushes the teeth with the brush bristles, an electric circuit including at least the teeth and the brush bristles is formed. In the electronic toothbrush, the brush head is configured to be removable from the gripping handle, and the gripping handle is made of a conductive material and is connected to one side of the power source.
+[a support shaft connected to the pole and protruding from the gripping handle;
provided on at least a part of the outer surface of the gripping handle, TW
an end body made of a conductive material connected to the other electrode of the source; and a driving means disposed within the gripping handle for substantially reciprocating at least the brush head attached to the gripping handle. The brush head includes a receiving structure that receives the support shaft when the brush head is attached to the gripping handle, and a receiving structure that electrically connects the brush bristles and the support shaft through a liquid when the brush head is attached. It is equipped with a liquid path.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the second invention of this application includes a brush head portion in which brush bristles are flocked and a gripping handle, and a user grips the gripping handle to remove the piles with the brush bristles. In an electronic toothbrush that forms an electric circuit including at least teeth and bristles by brushing, the brush head is movably connected to the gripping handle and driven by a driving means built in the gripping handle. It is configured to be capable of reciprocating motion, and one electrode of the DC pulse generating stage f is located at or near the bristles of the brush head,
In addition, the other electrode of the DC pulse generating means is located on at least a part of the outer surface of the second special handle.

[Operation] According to the first invention of this application, when a user brushes his/her teeth by grasping the grasping handle part and especially not touching the end part, liquid such as saliva during the day is used as a medium. Power → Hands → Body → South →
An electric circuit of the power source is formed from the brush bristles to the liquid path to the support shaft, and a flow of electrons is generated. In addition, the drive means causes the brush head to substantially reciprocate, thereby automatically brushing the brush head. If the brush bristles become deformed or you want to use a different shape or material, you only need to remove the brush head from the gripping handle and replace it with a new one; there is no need to replace the gripping handle. do not have.

According to the second invention of this application, since the brush head section is reciprocated by the f-stage drive, the user can automatically perform browsing operations while holding the gripping handle. Since DC pulse current is applied to the electric circuit including at least the teeth and the brush bristles, the tooth cleaning effect is dramatically improved.

[Example] The present invention will be explained below based on an example shown in the drawings.

1 to 6 show a first embodiment of the electric toothbrush of the present invention. In this embodiment, the mechanism for substantially reciprocating the brush head is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 57-166108 and No. 58-69 previously filed by the applicant.
No. 505 and JP-A-58-105709.

That is, this toothbrush has the brush head part 1 as ).
0 and a handle 12, and the brush head 10 is configured to be detachable from the handle 12. The brush head section 10 is made of, for example, synthetic resin, has brush bristles 14 implanted in its head, and has a structure extending from its base to the vicinity of the root of the brush bristles 14 as a support structure for a supporting shaft, which will be described later. An insertion hole 16 is formed. Reference numeral 18 denotes a communication hole as a part of the liquid path, and this communication hole 18 allows the brush head surface 19 near the root base of the brush bristles 14 to flow through the communication hole 18.
and the inside of the insertion hole 16 are communicated with each other.

The base end side of the brush head portion IO is formed into a bifurcated shape, and a head side locking portion 20 is formed. This head-side locking portion 20 has a shape complementary to a net-side locking portion to be described later, and has a pair of recesses 22 and a groove 24 located on the end surface of the brush head portion IO. Note that the reference numeral 26 is a suriudo.

On the other hand, the handle portion 12 mainly includes an outer cylinder 28 made of, for example, synthetic resin and gripped by the user, a motor 30 housed in the outer cylinder 28, and a substantially reciprocating motion that allows the rotational movement of the motor 30 to be carried out. That is, the power conversion mechanism 32 converts into reciprocating linear motion, reciprocating circular motion, or reciprocating elliptical interlocking motion.
and a support shaft 34 made of a conductive material and extending protruding from the handle 12.

More specifically, the rotational power of the motor 30 is transmitted in the power conversion mechanism 32 to an eccentric cam 42 eccentric from the shaft 40 of the gear 38 via two orthogonal gears 36 and 38. The eccentric cam 42 is fitted with the elongated hole 46 of the moving member 44 shown in FIG.
The handle 12 is guided by the guide groove 48 (see Figure 3).
Approximately reciprocating in the axial direction of JJ! exhibits movement. In addition.

The driving means need not be limited to this, and for example, an electromagnetic reciprocating mechanism may be employed.

The end of the movement member 44 opposite to the long hole 46 protrudes from the open end of the handle 12, and a rubber 50 is interposed between the end of the handle 12 and the N member 44. Handle 12
The inside is sealed from the outside, and the substantially reciprocating motion of the moving member 44 can be absorbed. IJ! Moving member 4
A net-side locking portion 52 having a shape complementary to the head-side locking portion 20 of the brush head portion 1O is formed on the protruding portion of the brush head 4. This handle (ill locking portion 52) includes a protrusion 54 that fits into the forked portion of the head side locking portion 20, and six pieces 56 that fit into the groove 24 of the head side locking portion 20. The protrusion 54 is integrally formed with a convex portion 60 for aligning with the recess 22. In this embodiment, the support shaft 34 is fixed to the movable member 44, and its The distal end portion projects and extends in the axial direction from the projection 54, and the proximal end portion thereof is a free end within the cavity 45 of the movement member 44.

An end portion 62 as an end rod made of a conductive material is attached to the outer periphery of the approximately central portion of the outer cylinder 28, and is formed by coating the surface of an annular body made of, for example, a synthetic resin material with a conductive material. This end portion 62 is brought into contact with a connecting fitting 64 within the outer cylinder 28, and this connecting fitting 64 is connected via a lead wire 66 to a Leet wire 68 connected to an i4 source for driving the motor 30. The lead wire 68 is connected to one electrode of the motor drive power source, and is introduced into the outer cylinder 28 from the base end of the outer cylinder 28 together with a lead wire 70 connected to the other electrode. Like the lead wire 66, this lead wire 70 is connected to a wire 72 extending between the motor 30 and the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 28.
2 is connected to another connection gold A74. Connection fitting 74
In particular, as shown in the first UA, it is bent as appropriate, and its end is in contact with the free end on the ) & end side of the support @34.

In this way, one power source of the motor drive power source is connected to the end 62 attached to the outer periphery of the outer cylinder 28, and the other electrode of the motor drive power source is connected to the spindle 34. There is.

In this embodiment, the support shaft 34 makes a substantially reciprocating U motion together with the interlocking member 44, but the connecting fitting 74 is configured to maintain contact with the support shaft 34 while sliding thereon.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment having the above configuration will be explained.

First, when the brush head part 10 is attached to the handle part 12 from the state shown in FIG.
4, and finally the head side locking part 20 and handle side locking part 52 are securely engaged f#- with a certain interval. At this time, the protrusion 60 of the protrusion 54 fits into the recess 22 of the head-side locking part 20, and the six pieces 56 of the net-side locking part 52 fit into the groove 24 of the head-side locking part 20. Therefore, the brush head portion 10 is reliably attached to the handle portion 12. Also, the support shaft 3
4 is received in the insertion hole 16 and is inserted to the deep part of the insertion hole 16. In this state, as shown in FIG. 1, the support shaft 34 is visible from the outside through the communication hole 18! Although this is a breath, it is not necessarily limited to this, and the brush bristles 14 and the support shaft 34 may be substantially connected through the communication hole 18 through liquid such as saliva, and the communication hole 18 may connect the support shaft There is no need to expose 34.

When the power source is connected, the motor 30 rotates, and its rotational power causes the M moving member 44 to substantially reciprocate through the power conversion mechanism 32. This is the brush head lO! Jl moving member 4
Since it is locked to the storage side part 1 part 52 formed in 4,
The brush head portion 1O also exhibits a substantially reciprocating motion. Therefore, the user can automatically perform brushing by simply holding the outer tube 28 of the handle 12 and bringing the bristles 14 of the brush head 10 into contact with the teeth. In addition, in this embodiment, the support shaft 34 is J! ! Although it was fixed to the movable member 44, and therefore the support shaft 34 also made a substantially reciprocating motion together with the movable member 44 and the brush head portion IO,
There is no need to limit it to this, and at least the net side locking portion 52
When the brush head portion 10 is reciprocated, the brush head portion 10 approximately reciprocates accordingly, and for example, the support shaft 34 is moved relative to the insertion hole
It may be made to slide inside. On the contrary, if a structure is adopted in which the brush head portion 1O is made to make a substantially reciprocating motion by making only the support shaft 34 substantially reciprocating, the locking portion 20.52
is no longer necessarily necessary.

Furthermore, when the user grasps the outer cylinder 28, the end 62 is
By touching, power → hand → body → teeth → brush bristles 1
4 → liquid such as saliva → support shaft 34 → constitutes an electric circuit of power supply, thereby generating a flow of electrons, making it easier to remove dirt etc. from the south side, and further improving the brushing effect of brushing with the brush bristles 14. Improve.

Next, FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of a device for supplying DC power to the handle 12. In this example,
A converter 78 for converting alternating current to direct current is installed inside the case 76, and a switch 80 is used to turn the power supply 0N10FF.
is provided in the case 76 to form an rg- unit.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, a housing yI82 for housing the handle 12 is formed in the case 76, and a housing groove 84 for leaning the brush head 1O is also formed. Reference numerals 86 each represent an electric wire.

Note that it is not necessary to limit the present embodiment to this embodiment, and the switch may be provided in the handle 12, and the power source may also be replaced with a battery installed in the handle 12.

Next, FIGS. 8 and 9 show a second embodiment of the present invention, and the difference between this second embodiment and the first embodiment is that it is provided on the outer periphery of the outer cylinder 28 (as shown in FIG. 8). (not shown) is the point where a DC pulse current is supplied to the end portion 62 and the support shaft 34. That is, inside the proximal end of the outer cylinder 28, there is a DC-DC
A converter 88 is provided, and the leet wire 68.70 connected to an external power source is connected to the motor 30 and connected to the DC-DC converter 88 via a leet m90.92.
The output terminals of the DC-DC converter 88 are connected to the lead wires 66 and 72 of the first embodiment, respectively, and the lead wires 66 and 72 are connected to the ends of the DC-DC converter 88 via the connecting fittings 64 (not shown in FIG. 8). 62 and the lead wire 7
2 is connected to the support shaft 34 via the connecting fitting 74.

With this configuration, for example, a half-wave pulse current, which is the output of the DC-DC converter 88, flows through the electric circuit including at least the teeth and the brush bristles, and the effect of separating dental plaque and the like from the tooth surface Ii is reduced. Further improvement.

In this case, it is not necessary to limit the converter to the DC-DC converter 88, and any converter that can substantially supply a DC pulse current may be used. In addition, in order to make the separation of dental plaque more effective by supplying a DC pulse current in this way, the first
It is not necessary to have a specific structure as in the embodiment, and any electric toothbrush can be applied as long as it is qualitatively an electric toothbrush and has the function of a so-called electronic south flage.

Effect] As explained above, according to the present invention, the brush head can be replaced as needed and made disposable, so it is possible to select the most suitable flange head that matches the user's plaque and tooth shape. This has the excellent effect of allowing selection, reducing user expenses, and helping to popularize electric electronic toothbrushes.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to actually provide the market with an electric electronic toothbrush that can further improve the cleaning effect of brushing by supplying a DC pulse current to an electric circuit including at least teeth and bristles. effective.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1st! : A is a cross-sectional view showing the first embodiment of the electric toothbrush according to the present invention; FIG. Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Figure 1, Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I'V-IV in Figure 1, and Figure 5 shows the movement of the same embodiment. Front view showing parts 1.4. FIG. 6 is a plan view of the moving member, FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a device for supplying power to the gripping handle, and FIG. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing only essential parts of the embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IX-IX in FIG. 8. lO...flange head part 12...handle part, 14...brush bristles 16...insertion hole, 18...communication hole 20...head side IL part 32...power conversion mechanism 34.・・Support shaft, 52 ・Handle side locking part 62 ・ Chain ring 88 days ・DC-DC converter

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An electric circuit including at least the teeth and the brush bristles, which is equipped with a brush head portion on which brush bristles are flocked and a gripping handle portion, and when a user grips the gripping handle portion and brushes the teeth with the brush bristles. In an electronic toothbrush that forms
The brush head is configured to be detachable from the gripping handle, and the gripping handle includes a support shaft made of a conductive material and connected to one electrode of a power source and protruding from the gripping handle; an end body made of a conductive material provided on at least a portion of the outer surface of the gripping handle and connected to the other electrode of the power supply; and an end body disposed within the gripping handle and attached to at least the gripping handle. a drive means for substantially reciprocating the brush head portion, the brush head portion having a receiving structure for receiving the support shaft when the brush head portion is attached to the gripping handle portion; An electric electronic toothbrush comprising a liquid path that electrically connects the bristles and the support shaft via liquid. (2) An electric circuit including at least the teeth and the brush bristles, which is equipped with a brush head portion on which brush bristles are flocked and a gripping handle, and when a user grips the gripping handle and brushes the teeth with the brush bristles. In an electronic toothbrush that forms
The brush head is connected to the gripping handle so as to be movable relative to the gripping handle, and is configured to be capable of approximately reciprocating movement by means of a drive means built into the gripping handle, and direct current pulses are applied to the bristles of the brush head or near the bristles. An electric electronic toothbrush, wherein one electrode of the generating means is located, and the other electrode of the DC pulse generating means is located on at least a portion of the outer surface of the gripping handle.