Toothbrush having a brush holder movable against spring force

• US 5,901,397 A
• Filed: 12/11/1997
• Issued: 05/11/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Hafele, Peter, Roddeman, Gerardus J. H., Wolfger, Arno
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Randall E.
• Application Number:
  US08/988,599
• Time in Patent Office: 516 Days
• Field of Search: 15/22.1, 15/22.2, 15/28, 15/167.1, 15/172
• US Class Current: 15/22.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/22 with brushes, cushions, cups, or the like brush bodies, e.g. arrangements of the bristles A46B
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 2204/002 using batteries

Abstract

In a toothbrush (1) comprising a stationary part (10) and a brush holder (24) which is movable with respect to the stationary part (10), and comprising a spring (48) which acts between the stationary part (10) and the brush holder (24), a link-motion device (49) is arranged between the stationary part (10) and the brush holder (24), in addition to the spring (48), in order to obtain a desired force characteristic, which link-motion device (49) is loaded by the spring (48) and comprises a link-motion follower (51) and a link-motion surface (50) having two link-motion surface portions (52, 53), the two link-motion surface portions (52, 53) adjoining one another by an edge-like transition portion (54).

Claims

1. A toothbrush comprising at least one stationary part, and a brush holder which is adapted to hold a brush and is movable with respect to the stationary part, and a spring which acts between the stationary part and the brush holder, and in which the brush holder can be held in a normal position by the spring force of the spring and in which the brush holder is movable into a deflection position against the spring force of the spring when a given limit value of the cleaning force exerted on the brush during operation of this brush is exceeded, characterized in that, in order to obtain a desired force characteristic, a link-motion device is arranged between the stationary part and the brush holder, in addition to the spring which acts therebetween, which link-motion device is loaded by the spring and comprises a link-motion surface and a link-motion follower, which are movable relative to one another, and the link-motion surface of the link-motion device comprises two link-motion surface portions, and the two link-motion surface portions adjoin one another by an edge-like transition portion.

2. A toothbrush as claimed in claim 1, wherein the link-motion device comprises a slidably guided slider in which a cut-out has been provided, and the two link-motion surface portions of the link-motion surface of the link-motion device are formed by two bounding surface portions of the cut-out and the link-motion follower engages in the cut-out.

3. A toothbrush as claimed in claim 2, wherein the slider is slidably guided on the stationary part, and the link-motion follower is stationarily mounted on the brush holder, and the spring is arranged between the stationary part and the slider.

4. A toothbrush as claimed in claim 3, wherein the spring is a helical tension spring.

5. A toothbrush as claimed in claim 2, for slidably guiding the slider, the slider has at least one slot in which a guide roller engages.

6. A toothbrush as claimed in claim 1, wherein the link-motion follower comprises a rotatably mounted link-motion roller.