Electric toothbrush

• US 20060101598A1
• Filed: 11/16/2005
• Published: 05/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Matsue, Junji, Kamimura, Toru, Fujimoto, Norioki
• Granted Patent: US 7,810,200 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 15/22.200
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/3445 Translation along the axis of the toothbrush handle
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/18032 Rotary to reciprocating or rotary

Abstract

An electric toothbrush wherein the number of revolution of a motor shaft is in match with the frequency of reciprocating motion of the brush. A motor (2) housed in a tubular case (1) is coupled to a reciprocating shaft (5) slidably extending through the forward end of the case by a scotch yoke mechanism (40) for converting one turn of rotation of the motor shaft (21) into one stroke of reciprocating pivotal movement of a pivotal body (4), and by motion conversion means (3) for converting one stroke of reciprocating movement of the pivotal body (4) into one stroke of linear reciprocating motion of the reciprocating shaft (5).

Claims

1. An electric toothbrush comprising a motor housed in a case, motion conversion means for converting the rotation of a motor shaft of the motor into reciprocating motion approximately along an axis of the motor shaft, and a brush member movable with the reciprocating motion,

the motor shaft being provided with an eccentric rotating body rotatable with the rotation of the motor shaft,

the motion conversion means having a pivotal body supported by a rod and pivotally movable in a plane orthogonal to the motor shaft, the pivotal body having a portion slidably engaged with the eccentric rotating body and being pivotally movable by the rotation of the eccentric rotating body,

the motion conversion means further having a reciprocating shaft provided with the brush member and connected to another portion of the pivotal body to reciprocatingly move with the pivotal movement of the pivotal body and to cause the brush member to perform reciprocating motion.

2. An electric toothbrush comprising a tubular case serving also as a handle, a motor housed in the tubular case so as to position a motor shaft approximately along an axis of the tubular case, a reciprocating shaft coupled to the motor shaft by motion conversion means for converting the rotation of the motor shaft into reciprocating motion approximately along the axis of the tubular case, and a brush member attached to the reciprocating shaft,

the motion conversion means having a pivotal body pivotally movable about a support rod extending in a direction orthogonal to the motor shaft, and an eccentric rotating body provided on the motor shaft and engaged with a portion of the pivotal body positioned toward the motor shaft for pivotally moving the pivotal body so as to provide a scotch yoke mechanism, the reciprocating shaft being pivotally connected to the pivotal body to cause the brush member to perform reciprocating motion.

3. The electric toothbrush according to claim 2 wherein the pivotal body has a rectangular frame for the eccentric rotating body to slidably rotatably fit in and is pivotally movably supported by the support rod, and the reciprocating shaft is connected by a connecting member to a pivot positioned in the vicinity of the support rod and away from the axis of the tubular case toward a direction orthogonal to the axis of the tubular case.

4. The electric toothbrush according to claim 3 wherein the pivotal body has a flexible support arm extending toward the brush member from each of opposite ends thereof in the directions of pivotal movement thereof, and the support arm has an outer end held by the tubular case.

5. The electric toothbrush according to claim 4 wherein the support arm is in the form of a thin plate made from a synthetic resin integrally with the pivotal body and having a widthwise direction orthogonal to the direction of pivotal movement of the pivotal body, the support arm being readily elastically deformable within the plane of pivotal movement of the pivotal body and difficult to elastically deform in a direction orthogonal to the direction of pivotal movement of the pivotal body.

6. The electric toothbrush according to claim 2 wherein the reciprocating shaft extends through and is supported by a flexible bearing disposed at a forward end of the tubular case.

7. The electric toothbrush according to claim 2 wherein the pivotal body is generally U-shaped and comprises a connecting portion, and a rectangular frame and a bracket which are joined respectively to opposite ends of the connecting portion and opposed to each other, the eccentric rotating body being slidably rotatably fitted in the frame, the reciprocating shaft being pivotally connected to the pivotal body by a pivot supported on the bracket, the support rod being positioned in the vicinity of a bent portion of the pivotal body on the pivot side thereof and positioned in parallel to the pivot, the reciprocating shaft being pivotally movably supported by a bearing at a forward end of the tubular case.