US20070251034A1

US20070251034A1 - Toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments

Info

Publication number: US20070251034A1
Application number: US11/648,800
Authority: US
Inventors: Michael Meressa; Ellen Michael
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2006-01-03
Filing date: 2007-01-03
Publication date: 2007-11-01

Abstract

The electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments is a device having an electric toothbrush with a removable neck, independently removable rotary brush, and a housing defining a handle. The electric toothbrush has separate toothpaste and battery compartments in the handle. A forward compartment houses a plurality of batteries provided for powering a DC motor disposed in front of the forward compartment. Aft of the battery compartment is a toothpaste compartment having space to store a tube of toothpaste. Each compartment has a separate hinged door with a snap lock for secure compartment closure. The removable neck includes a drive shaft, housing engagement member and gear assembly to provide torque to the rotary brush head when the neck is attached to the handle body. When not in use, the toothbrush is shielded from germs by a brush head cap with pocket clip for attachment to a shirt pocket.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/755,076, filed Jan. 3, 2006.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric motor driven rotary toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments in the handle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous designs of electric and battery-powered toothbrushes exist in the marketplace. Many electric toothbrushes have rotary brush heads attached to a neck that is removable from the handle, i.e., body of the toothbrush. However, to date, it is difficult to find an electric toothbrush having separate compartments to store toothpaste and batteries for operation.
Thus, an electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments solving the aforementioned problems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments is a device comprised of a housing defining a handle with a hollow interior having space in the front for a DC motor and two compartments disposed in-line and longitudinally to the rear of the DC motor. The DC motor has a rotor coupling disposed along a longitudinal axis of the electric toothbrush. The rotor coupling is operatively connected to the motor to receive an axially rotatable drive shaft disposed inside of a removable neck having an independently removable rotary brush. The forward compartment houses two batteries provided for powering the DC motor. The aft compartment has sufficient space for, and is used to store a tube of toothpaste. Each compartment has a separate hinged door with a snap lock for secure compartment closure. The angled removable neck includes a drive shaft, body engagement member, and gear assembly to provide power to the rotary brush head when the neck is attached to the handle body. When not in use, the toothbrush is shielded from germs by a brush head cap with pocket clip for attachment to a shirt pocket.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of the electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of the electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a side view of the electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a partially exploded, perspective cutaway view of the electric toothbrush according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the protective brush head cap on the electric toothbrush with separate toothpaste and battery compartments according to the present invention.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention is an electric toothbrush 5 comprised of a housing 15 defining a handle with a hollow interior space having a front section 11 for a DC motor 26 and two compartments 16 and 8 disposed longitudinally in-line and to the rear of the DC motor 26. The DC motor 26 has a rotor coupling 27 disposed along a longitudinal axis of the electric toothbrush 5.
As shown in FIG. 2, the rotor coupling 27 is operatively connected to the motor 26 to receive a rotatable drive shaft 30 disposed inside of a removable neck 19 having an independently removable rotary brush head 21. Note that rotatable drive shaft 30 has a notch 32 at the end of the drive shaft provided for engaging the blade shaped rotor coupling 27.
The forward compartment 16 houses a plurality of batteries 80 provided for powering the DC motor 26. As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, opposing forward compartment 16, and disposed on an outside surface of housing 15 is a, preferably sliding, power switch 70 which is connected to the motor 26 and batteries 80 to control power to the toothbrush 5.
The aft compartment 8, being disposed at a longitudinally distal end 7 of the toothbrush 5, has sufficient space for, and is used to store a tube of toothpaste T. Aft compartment 8 has a separate, preferably arcuate, compartment door 10 that is pivotally attached to the housing 15 by hinges 12. The door 10 has a snap latch 14 that removably engages a latch keeper 25 for secure compartment closure.
Similarly, forward battery compartment 16 has a separate, preferably arcuate, compartment door 20, which is pivotally attached to the housing 15 by hinges 22. The battery compartment door 20 has a snap latch 24 that removably engages a latch keeper 25 for secure compartment closure.
As shown in FIG. 4, the preferably angled, removable neck 19 which includes the drive shaft 30, also includes a ring-like housing engagement member 51 having a plurality of radially extending engagement tabs 52, and gear assembly 40 and 50 to provide power, i.e., torque transmission of the motor 26 to the drive shaft 30 and to the rotary brush head 21 when the neck 19 is attached to the handle body, i.e., housing 15.
The housing engagement member 51 is disposed about the circumference of a longitudinally distal end of the neck 19. The housing 15 has disposed within a front section 11 a plurality of engagement slots 54 for receiving the engagement tabs 52 to removably twist lock the neck 19 in place so that the drive shaft 30 is properly engaged with the rotor coupling 27.
Additionally, the drive shaft 30 is canted from the longitudinal axis of the tooth brush housing 15 so that worm gear 40 may directly engage rotary gear 50 thereby converting torque 90° to provide a perpendicularly disposed rotational torque for driving the rotary brush head 21 without the use of an intervening gear train. The canted drive shaft 30 advantageously provides for a rotary bristle 21 disposition that is substantially radially in-line with the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush housing 15.
Rotary gear 50 includes an axle that connects the rotary gear 50 to bristle platform 56. The bristle platform 56 has a plurality of holes for receiving in a compression fitting, the pronged toothbrush head 21.
Referring to FIGS. 2 and 5, it is shown that when not in use, the toothbrush 5 may be shielded from germs by a removably attachable protective pocket clip equipped brush head cap 60 that additionally facilitates fastening of the toothbrush 5 to a shirt pocket, pant pocket, or the like for easy transportation of the toothbrush 5.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. An electric toothbrush comprising:

a housing having a hollow interior provided for housing a DC motor and having two compartments longitudinally in-line and to the rear of the DC motor, the housing defining a handle, a first compartment of the two compartments in the housing being at a longitudinally distal end of the toothbrush and having sufficient space to contain a tube of toothpaste, the first compartment having at least one hinge and a first arcuate compartment door attached to the hinge, the first arcuate compartment door having a snap latch disposed at an end opposite the hinge for removably locking the first door over the first compartment, a second compartment of the two compartments in the housing being disposed longitudinally in-line to the first compartment, the second compartment having at least one hinge and a second arcuate compartment door attached to the door, the second arcuate compartment door having a snap latch disposed at an end opposite the hinge for removably locking the second door over the second compartment;

a DC motor having a rotor coupling disposed along a longitudinal axis of the electric toothbrush, the rotor coupling being operatively connected to the motor;

a neck and brush head assembly attached to the housing having a neck and a rotary brush removably connected to the neck, the neck and brush head assembly having a ring-like engagement member disposed about the circumference of a longitudinally distal end of the neck, the engagement member including a plurality of tabs extending radially from the engagement member so that the handle may receive the tabs thereby removably locking the neck and brush head assembly in place;

a drive shaft disposed inside the neck and head assembly and connected to the rotor coupling so that the drive shaft is engaged with the rotor coupling for torque transmission of the motor to the drive shaft, the brush head having a 90° torque converter for converting the axial torque in the drive shaft to a perpendicularly disposed rotational torque to drive the removable rotary brush;

batteries disposed in the second compartment; and

a power switch electrically connected between the batteries and the DC motor for powering up the electric toothbrush, the power switch being disposed along a side of the housing.

2. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, further comprising a removably attachable protective brush head cap removably attached over the neck and brush head assembly for shielding the toothbrush from germs.

3. The electric toothbrush according to claim 2, wherein the brush head cap includes a pocket clip capable of clipping the toothbrush to a pocket in order to fasten the toothbrush to a shirt pocket for easy transportation of the toothbrush.

4. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the drive shaft has a notch defined therein fitting over the rotor coupling to secure the drive shaft engagement with the rotor coupling.

5. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the removable rotary brush is independently removable from the removably locking neck.

6. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the 90° torque converter comprises a worm gear and a rotary gear engaging the worm gear.

7. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the first compartment has at least one latch keeper releasably engaging the snap latch of the first arcuate compartment door.

8. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the second compartment has at least one latch keeper releasably engaging the snap latch of the second arcuate compartment door.

9. The electric toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the 90° torque converter comprises a worm gear and a rotary gear engaging the worm gear, the neck assembly being angled away from the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush housing.

10. The electric toothbrush according to claim 9, wherein the drive shaft is canted from a longitudinal axis of the tooth brush housing so that worm gear directly engages the rotary gear.

11. The electric toothbrush according to claim 10, wherein the rotary brush is disposed substantially radially in-line with the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush housing.

12. The electric toothbrush according to claim 11, wherein the rotary brush has a platform, the rotary gear including an axle connecting the rotary gear to the platform.

13. The electric toothbrush according to claim 12, wherein the rotary brush platform has a plurality of holes defined therein, the rotary brush having a brush head having prongs engaging the holes in the platform for attaching the head to the platform.