Electric toothbrush

• US 8,196,245 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2006
• Issued: 06/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Braun GmbH (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Original Assignee: Braun GmbH (The Procter & Gamble Company)
• Inventors: Schwarz-Hartmann, Armin, Haas, Martin, Ringelmann, Manfred, Jung, Philipp, Schmid, Michael, Bornheimer, Heiko, Fritsch, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): CHIN, RANDALL E
• Application Number:
  US12/162,410
• Publication Number:
  US 20090188058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,008 Days
• Field of Search: 15/221, 15/222
• US Class Current: 15/22.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/221 Control arrangements therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/3472 with combined movements of the brush body
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/40 orbiting, e.g. nutating

Abstract

An electric toothbrush is provided, the electric toothbrush having a housing, with a drive that is elastically mounted on the housing by means of a spring device and can be moved in an oscillatory fashion in at least one plane of motion, and with a transmission element that is connected to the drive and serves for transmitting the driving motion to a brush head.

Claims

1. A hand part of an electric toothbrush having a brush head, the hand part comprising:

a housing,

a drive that is elastically mounted on the housing by a spring device and that can be moved with an oscillatory driving motion in at least one plane of motion, and

a transmission element that is connected to the drive,

wherein the spring device has different spring constants in two different directions in the plane of motion of the drive such that the oscillatory motion of the brush head has different amplitudes in these directions, and wherein the spring device and the driving frequency of the drive are adapted to one another in such a way that the brush head carries out an elliptical driving motion.

2. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the drive can be moved along an elliptical motion path, the longitudinal axis of which is at least five-times longer than the lateral axis.

3. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the drive comprises an adjustment device configured to adjust its driving frequency.

4. The hand part of claim 3 wherein the adjustment device comprises an adjustable voltage stabilization circuit.

5. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the driving motion of the drive has a lower amplitude in the direction of a poking motion than in a lateral direction extending perpendicular thereto.

6. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the spring device has two principal axes with different spring constants, both of which lie in a plane that extends transverse to the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush.

7. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the spring device has a greater spring constant along a first axis of motion than along a second axis of motion generally perpendicular to the first axis of motion.

8. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the spring device comprises a labyrinth spring having spring arms of different lengths.

9. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the spring device comprises a disk-shaped member that extends in a plane that lies substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush.

10. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the spring device comprises a mounting carrier clamped in the housing.

11. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the spring device includes an orientation coding such that the spring device can be installed in the housing in a predetermined alignment.

12. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the spring device includes integral mounting sections for mounting the spring device on the drive or the housing.

13. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the spring device comprises a sheet metal stamping.

14. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the transmission element and the drive is coupled to the housing in a multiaxially pivoting fashion by a bearing.

15. The hand part according to claim 14, wherein the spring device is arranged on the side of the drive that lies opposite to the bearing.

16. The hand part of claim 14 wherein the bearing comprises an elastic sleeve.

17. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the transmission element is coupled to a through-opening section on the housing.

18. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the transmission element is rigidly connected to the drive.

19. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the drive features an electric motor with an imbalance.

20. The hand part of claim 19 wherein the imbalance is provided by an eccentrically mounted mass.

21. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the spring device is positively connected to the drive.

22. The hand part according to claim 1, wherein the drive is movably suspended and is connected to rigid connections on the housing.

23. The hand part according to claim 22, wherein the drive includes terminals, and the terminals of the drive are connected to the rigid connections on the housing by flat metal strips.

24. The hand part of claim 1 wherein the at least one plane of motion is transverse to the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush.

25. An electric toothbrush having a removably mounted brush head, the electric toothbrush comprising:

a hand part comprising a housing, a drive that is elastically mounted on the housing by a spring device and can be moved with an oscillatory driving motion in at least one plane of motion, and a transmission element that is connected to the drive and configured to transmit the driving motion to the brush head,

wherein the spring device has different spring constants in two different directions in the plane of motion of the drive such that the oscillatory motion of the brush head has different amplitudes in the these directions, and wherein the spring device and the driving frequency of the drive are adapted to one another in such a way that the brush head carries out an elliptical driving motion.

26. The electric toothbrush according to claim 25, wherein the spring device has a greater spring constant along an axis of motion that extends substantially parallel to a principal longitudinal direction of bristles of the brush head relative to the spring constant transverse to this principal longitudinal direction.