KR101586283B1

KR101586283B1 - Electric toothbrush for preventing a gum damage

Info

Publication number: KR101586283B1
Application number: KR1020150059060A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 박환규
Original assignee: 박환규
Priority date: 2015-04-27
Filing date: 2015-04-27
Publication date: 2016-01-19
Also published as: WO2016175490A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum, and more particularly, to a toothbrush which is capable of automatically rotating the toothbrush head when the user moves the toothbrushing position to the upper teeth or the lower teeth without changing the rotation direction of the toothbrush head. The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum that can be appropriately changed in direction and safely and effectively brushing teeth.
A power toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum according to the present invention includes a toothbrush body; A drive motor incorporated in the toothbrush body to generate a rotational force; A rotating toothbrush having a toothbrush head rotated by the driving motor and having a plurality of bristles implanted; A switching member having a contact portion disposed in contact with the toothbrush head so as to flow in a forward direction or a reverse direction in contact with the upper teeth or the lower teeth in the course of brushing; And switching means for generating a switching signal for converting the rotational direction of the driving motor in the forward and reverse directions in accordance with the forward and backward flow of the switching member.
According to the electric toothbrush of the present invention, when the user moves the position of the toothbrush head to the upper teeth or the lower teeth in the process of brushing the teeth, the rotation of the toothbrush head It has an advantage that the direction is automatically changed to a direction in which the cleaning effect is excellent without damaging the gums. As a result, the user does not have to change the rotational direction of the toothbrush head by operating a separate operation button as in the conventional art, which is convenient and safe, and also improves the cleaning efficiency.

Description

[0001] ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH FOR PREVENTING A GUM DAMAGE [0002]

The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum, and more particularly, to a toothbrush which is capable of automatically rotating the toothbrush head when the user moves the toothbrushing position to the upper teeth or the lower teeth without changing the rotation direction of the toothbrush head. The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum that can be appropriately changed in direction and safely and effectively brushing teeth.

Generally, a toothbrush is a cleaning tool that removes foreign substances adhered to teeth or protects against harmful bacteria, and a hand-held toothbrush for holding a handle and moving the user in a predetermined direction to clean the toothbrush is mainly used.

The manual toothbrush method includes a scraping method in which the toothbrush is reciprocated against the teeth, a bass method in which the teeth are tilted by about 45 degrees to oscillate the teeth back and forth between the teeth, the teeth and gums Or the like, or the like.

Among the methods of using the manual toothbrush described above, the bath method, the up-down or circular motion method has an advantage of being relatively easy to wash and reducing the damage of the gum, but it is difficult to do so due to the muscle structure of the hands and arms. In addition, it is difficult to acquire proper brushing method easily. In addition, since it is cumbersome to perform vertical movement and circular movement of the toothbrush even if it is a real expert, in most cases, the toothbrush is moved in the forward and backward directions to brush the teeth.

However, the method of brushing the manual toothbrush has a disadvantageous effect on oral hygiene, such as a low removal efficiency of foreign substances and an inflammation on the gums, and thus electric toothbrushes rotated by an electric motor such as a driving motor have been widely used.

For example, as shown in Korean Registered Patent Publication No. 10-1412007, a powered toothbrush is used to wipe a tooth by rotating a toothbrush head in which a plurality of bristles are implanted by driving an electric motor built in the electric toothbrush, , It is recognized that it is a good tool to motivate the dental care of children who are not able to brush their teeth as well as general adults, while the exercise of the arm is unnecessary even for an elderly person, have.

However, the electric toothbrush can not be wiped up and down as the toothbrush head rotates only in one direction, and there is a limit to damage the gums in the course of rotation.

To solve these drawbacks, there has been proposed a bidirectional electric toothbrush disclosed in Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0374644 registered in the Republic of Korea.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bidirectional electric toothbrush includes a rechargeable battery 8 and a motor 7 inside a handle 3, and a toothbrush 6, a toothbrush blade 1, A mouth protector 4 and a mouth protection shaft 5 are attached to the handle 1. The handle is provided with a motor changeover switch 2 for rotating and rotating the toothbrush blade 1 so as to rotate and reverse the toothbrush blade .

The bidirectional electric toothbrush described above operates the motor changeover switch 2 in the right direction 10 such that the toothbrush blade 1 rotates from the upper gum 12 to the teeth 11 when brushing teeth of the upper gum 12 The toothbrush blade 1 is moved from the lower gum 14 to the teeth 11 by rotating the motor changeover switch 2 in the leftward direction so as to rotate the toothbrush blade 1 9), it is possible to perform the brushing while minimizing the damage of the gums.

However, the bidirectional electric toothbrush has a disadvantage in that it is very troublesome to use the motor changeover switch 2 since it is required to move the motor changeover switch 2 left and right every time the position for wiping with the upper and lower teeth is changed.

In addition, since it is necessary to stop the brushing operation in the process of moving the motor change-over switch 2 to the left and right, it is inconvenient to use and the cleaning time is increased.

In addition, the bidirectional electric toothbrush described above may cause serious irritation to the tooth when the direction of rotation of the toothbrush blade is changed due to carelessness or malfunction of the user, or when changing the cleaning position without switching the motor changeover switch 2 There are limitations that cause adverse effects on tooth health.

Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1412007 "Rotary electric toothbrush" Korean Utility Model Registration No. 20-0374644 "Bi-directional electric toothbrush"

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described subject matter, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a toothbrush device that automatically changes the direction of rotation of a toothbrush head when a user moves a toothbrushing position to an upper tooth or a lower tooth without changing the rotation direction of the toothbrush head. The present invention provides a toothbrush that has a function of preventing damage to a gum that can effectively perform brushing.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a power toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum, the toothbrush comprising: a toothbrush body; A drive motor incorporated in the toothbrush body to generate a rotational force; A rotating toothbrush having a toothbrush head rotated by the driving motor and having a plurality of bristles implanted; A switching member having a contact portion disposed in contact with the toothbrush head so as to flow in a forward direction or a reverse direction in contact with the upper teeth or the lower teeth in the course of brushing; And switching means for generating a switching signal for converting the rotational direction of the driving motor in the forward and reverse directions in accordance with the forward and backward flow of the switching member.

The return member may be further configured to apply a return force to move the switching member to the neutral position in a state in which the switching member is moved in the forward or reverse direction.

The switching member includes a switching rod rotatably installed on the toothbrush main body and formed with the contact portion bent at an end thereof, and a switching cam interposed between the switching bar and the switching bar, And a tact switch installed in proximity to generate a switching signal corresponding to the flow.

The tact switch includes a first tact switch disposed on one side of the switching cam to generate a switching signal in forward rotation, a second tact switch disposed on the other side of the switching cam to generate a switching signal in the reverse rotation, And the return member may be constituted by the first tact switch and the elastic member provided on the second tact switch so as to apply an elastic force to the switching cam.

Preferably, the toothbrush body is provided with a rod mounting portion having a rod insertion hole into which the switching rod is inserted, and the tact switch is disposed at one side of the switching cam to generate a switching signal at the time of forward rotation, And a second tact switch disposed on the other side of the switching cam to generate a switching signal in the reverse rotation, wherein the return member includes a rod housing installed in the tact switch and having a moving hole communicating with the inner housing space, A driving rod inserted into the rod housing and moving forward and rearward and formed with a latching jaw, and an elastic member inserted in the rod housing and applying an elastic force to the driving rod.

According to the electric toothbrush of the present invention, when the user moves the position of the toothbrush head to the upper teeth or the lower teeth in the process of brushing the teeth, the rotation of the toothbrush head It has an advantage that the direction is automatically changed to a direction in which the cleaning effect is excellent without damaging the gums. As a result, the user does not have to change the rotational direction of the toothbrush head by operating a separate operation button as in the conventional art, which is convenient and safe, and also improves the cleaning efficiency.

1 is a view for explaining a conventional electric toothbrush,
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a power toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a switching member and switch means for explaining a main portion of a toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
4A and 4B are views for explaining the switching means and the return member of the electric toothbrush having the function of preventing the damage of the gum according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4A is an exploded perspective view, FIG. 4B is a cross- Fig.
FIGS. 5A to 5C are views for explaining the action of the electric toothbrush having a function of preventing the gum damage according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A is a view for explaining the action of the toothbrush head when brushing the upper teeth FIG. 5B is a view for explaining the action of the toothbrush head when performing brushing of the lower teeth, and FIG. 5C is a view for explaining the action of the switching means and the returning member in performing brushing.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to an electric toothbrush, and more particularly, to a toothbrush, Switching member and switch means.

2 to 3, the electric toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention automatically adjusts the rotation direction of the toothbrush head when the user moves the toothbrushing position to the upper or lower teeth A driving motor 2, a rotating toothbrush 3, a switching member 4, and a switching means 5 are provided.

The toothbrush body 1 is a main body portion of a powered toothbrush formed so that the user can hold the toothbrush by hand, but the shape is not particularly limited, but in the present embodiment, a driving motor 2, a rechargeable battery (Not shown), a printed circuit board for performing a function of a control unit, and the like, and a bar mounting portion 12 (see FIG. 1) formed with a bar insertion hole into which a bar- . A bushing (not shown) or a bearing is inserted into the rod insertion hole to rotatably support the rod.

The driving motor 2 is a constituent element incorporated in the toothbrush main body 1 to generate a rotational force and is constituted by a DC motor rotated by a power source applied from a rechargeable battery and equipped with a speed reducer 2a.

The rotary toothbrush handle 3 includes a rotary bar 31 rotated by a drive motor 2 and a toothbrush head 32 formed on the rotary bar 31 and having a plurality of bristles. Here, the rotating rod 31 is installed in a structure capable of being detached from the output shaft 21, which is rotated by receiving the rotating force from the driving motor 2 so as to be replaceable at the time of wear and deformation of the bristles.

The switching member 4 is disposed on the toothbrush head 32 so as to move forward or backward in contact with the upper tooth or the lower tooth in the process of brushing the toothbrush. (41), and a switching cam (42) formed on the swing rod (41) and interlocked with each other.

When the contact portion 411 is stably placed in the upper teeth and the lower teeth in the process of brushing the teeth, the swinging rod 41 has a contact portion 411 contacting the teeth at an end of the body formed in a bar shape. There is no particular limitation on the structure or shape, but in the present embodiment, the bent portion 41 is formed so as to be curved at the upper end of the bar 41 to surround the bristles.

The switching cam 42 is formed to have a substantially conical shape so as to be able to apply an external force to the first and second tact switches 5a and 5b to be described later during forward and reverse rotation of the switching bar 41, 42 may be formed integrally with the switching rods as shown in FIG. 3, or they may be assembled in a state of being manufactured as independent members.

On the other hand, the switching means 5 is a component for generating a switching signal for converting the rotational direction of the drive motor 2 in the forward and reverse directions in accordance with the forward and reverse flow of the switching member 4, A tact switch provided in proximity to generate a switching signal corresponding to the forward and reverse flow of the switching cam 42, as will be described later in detail, in the present embodiment, As shown in FIG.

4A and 4B are views for explaining the switching means and the return member of the electric toothbrush having the function of preventing the damage of the gum according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4A is an exploded perspective view, FIG. Sectional view showing a cross-sectional structure. In FIGS. 4A and 4B, the tact switch is shown in a simplified form, not specifically shown in detail.

Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, the electric toothbrush having a function of preventing damage to a gum according to an embodiment of the present invention applies a return force such that the switching member 4 is moved to the neutral position in a state in which the switching member 4 is moved in the forward direction or the reverse direction The return member 6 is constituted.

The return member 6 can be selected and configured without any particular limitation as long as it is capable of applying a returning force so that the swinging rod 41 is in the neutral position. However, in the present embodiment, .

3 to 4B, the switching means 5 includes a first tact switch 5a constituted by a tact switch and arranged at one side of the switching cam 42 to generate a switching signal in forward rotation, And a second tact switch 5b disposed on the other side of the cam 42 to generate a switching signal in the reverse rotation.

Here, the first and second tact switches 5a and 5b may be configured by selecting various kinds of known tact switches configured to be turned on / off when a pressing force is applied from the outside. For example, as is well known, a tact switch has built-in a connection terminal (not shown) and an elastic contact (not shown) inside a rubber-based cover portion 52 provided on a switch body 51, The elastic contactor may be configured to perform an on / off operation while being in contact with and detached from the connection terminal while the elastic member 52 is deformed. Therefore, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The return member 6 is composed of first and second return members 6a and 6b provided on the first and second tact switches 5a and 5b and includes first and second tact switches 5a 5b which are inserted into the rod housing 61 to be moved forward and backward and formed with hooking protrusions 622. The rod housing 61 is provided with a moving hole 611 which communicates with the inner housing space 612, A driving rod 62 and an elastic member 63 which is inserted into the rod housing 61 and applies an elastic force to the driving rod 62. [ Here, the elastic member 63 is composed of a compression coil spring which is hooked on the engagement step 622 of the driving rod 62 and applies an elastic force.

Hereinafter, the operation of the electric toothbrush having the function of preventing damage to the gum according to an embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described.

FIGS. 5A to 5C are views for explaining the action of the electric toothbrush having a function of preventing the gum damage according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5A is a view for explaining the action of the toothbrush head when brushing the upper teeth FIG. 5B is a view for explaining the action of the toothbrush head when performing brushing of the lower teeth, and FIG. 5C is a view for explaining the action of the switching means and the returning member in performing brushing.

When the user holds the toothbrush main body 1 and operates the power button (not shown) in an ON state, the electric rotating toothbrush according to the present invention rotates the rotation bar 31 by the operation of the driving motor 2 In this state, the toothbrush head 32 is inserted into the mouth and the bristles are brought into close contact with the teeth.

Particularly, when the position of the toothbrush head 32 is moved to the upper tooth t1 or the lower tooth t2 in the process of brushing teeth, the rotational direction of the toothbrush head automatically moves in a direction in which the cleaning effect is excellent without damaging the gums It is easy to use and safe because it is converted.

More specifically, when the user moves the toothbrush head 32 upward to perform toothbrushing on the upper tooth t1, as shown in FIG. 5A, The abutting portion 411 of the bending rod 41 is brought into contact with the end of the upper tooth t1 and when the bending rod 41 is further moved upward in this state, the bending rod 41 is rotated in one direction . 5B, when the switching rod 41 is rotated in one direction as described above, the switching cam 42 is interlocked and the driving rod 62 of the second return member 6b is pushed, The switching operation is performed while the pressing force of the driving rod 62 is applied to the switch 5b. The driving motor 2 is rotated in the forward direction during the ON operation of the second tact switch 5b to perform the tooth brushing operation on the upper teeth. At this time, since the bristles disposed in the toothbrush head 32 are rotated in a downward direction in the direction of the gum, damage to the upper gums can be prevented and cleaning efficiency of the upper teeth can be improved.

Conversely, if the user moves the toothbrush head 32 downward to perform toothbrushing on the lower tooth t2, the contact portion 411 of the barb 41 contacts the end of the lower tooth as shown in Fig. 5B In this state, when the downward movement is made further downward, the bending rod 41 is rotated in the other direction (counterclockwise in FIG. 5B). When the switching rod 41 is rotated in the other direction as described above, the switching cam 42 is interlocked and the driving rod 62 of the first return member 6a is pressed. Then, the pressing force is applied to the first tact switch 5a So that the switching operation is performed. According to the ON operation of the first tact switch 5a, the driving motor 2 is rotated in the reverse direction and the tooth cleaning operation is performed on the lower tooth t2. At this time, since the bristles arranged on the toothbrush head 32 are rotated as if sweeping upward in the direction of the gum, the damage of the lower gums can be prevented and the cleaning efficiency of the lower teeth can be improved.

When the user removes the contact portion 411 from the teeth in the process of cleaning the upper and lower teeth t1 and t2 as described above, the elastic member (not shown) incorporated in the first and second return members 6a and 6b 63 to project the drive rod 62 and press the switching cam 42 to rotate to the neutral position. When the switching cam 42 is in the neutral position, the driving motor is automatically stopped when the rotation of the driving motor 2 is set to be stopped. Therefore, the electric energy is unnecessarily wasted in the neutral state in which the cleaning cam 42 does not perform brushing can do. In addition, since the driving motor can be stopped and stored even if the user does not separately perform the off operation of the power button as in the conventional art, there is an advantage that convenience for use is improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

The terms used in the above embodiments are used only to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there is a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a component or a combination thereof described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

1: toothbrush body 11: cylindrical body
12: Rod mounting part 2: Driving motor
2a: Reducer 21: Output shaft
3: Rotating toothbrush 31:
32: toothbrush head 4: switching element
41: Round bar 411:
42: switching cam 5: switching means
5a: first tact switch 5b: second tact switch
6: return member 6a: first return member
6b: second return member 61: rod housing
62: driving rod 63: elastic member
t1: Upper tooth t2: Lower tooth

Claims

A toothbrush of the present invention having a function of preventing damage to a gum,
A toothbrush body;
A drive motor incorporated in the toothbrush body to generate a rotational force;
A rotating toothbrush having a toothbrush head rotated by the driving motor and having a plurality of bristles implanted;
A switching member having a contact portion disposed in contact with the toothbrush head so as to flow in a forward direction or a reverse direction in contact with the upper teeth or the lower teeth in the course of brushing; And
And switching means for generating a switching signal for converting the rotational direction of the driving motor in the forward and backward directions in accordance with the forward and backward flow of the switching member,
And a returning member for applying a returning force to move the switching member in a forward or reverse direction to a neutral position.

delete

The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the switching member includes a switching rod rotatably installed on the toothbrush body and having the contact portion bent at an end thereof, and a switching cam interposed in and interlocked with the switching bar,
Wherein the switching means comprises a tact switch disposed adjacent to the switching cam to generate a switching signal corresponding to the forward and reverse flow of the switching cam.

The method of claim 3,
The tact switch includes a first tact switch disposed on one side of the switching cam to generate a switching signal in forward rotation, and a second tact switch disposed on the other side of the switching cam to generate a switching signal in reverse rotation And,
Wherein the return member comprises the first tact switch for applying an elastic force to the switching cam and the elastic member provided for the second tact switch.

The method of claim 3,
Wherein the toothbrush body is provided with a rod mounting portion having a rod insertion hole into which the switching rod is inserted,
The tact switch includes a first tact switch disposed on one side of the switching cam to generate a switching signal in forward rotation, and a second tact switch disposed on the other side of the switching cam to generate a switching signal in reverse rotation And,
Wherein the returning member includes a rod housing provided on the tact switch and having a moving hole communicating with the inner housing space, a driving rod inserted into the rod housing and moving forward and rearward and formed with a latching jaw, And an elastic member for applying a force to the toothbrush.