Personal care device
AssigneeBraun GmbH
InventorsTobias Schwarz, Julius Hoppert, Riccardo Dessi, Christian Ellsaesser
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A personal care device, such as an electric toothbrush, has a handle having a longitudinal axis and a treatment head connected to a carrier. The carrier extends within the handle and is mounted at the handle for pivoting motion around a pivot axis against a restoring spring force. A drive unit, such as a linear actuator, is mounted on the carrier, and at least one electrical connector is arranged between the handle and the carrier to convey electrical energy from an energy source fixedly mounted with respect to the handle to the drive unit. The electrical connector can be realized as an elastic metal sheet element having a spring constant for providing at least a part of the restoring spring force.
Claims17
A personal-care device comprising:
- a handle having a longitudinal axis;
- a treatment head connected to a carrier and mounted at the handle for pivoting motion around a pivot axis against a restoring spring force;
- a drive unit mounted on the carrier;
- at least one electrical connector arranged between the handle and the carrier to convey electrical energy from an energy source fixedly mounted in the handle to the drive unit;
- wherein the electrical connector comprises at least a first spring element formed by a metal sheet and configured to have a S-shaped or Z-shaped profile to elastically apply a spring force during the pivoting motion, wherein the metal sheet has at least a first arm, a second arm, and a transverse arm interconnecting the first arm and the second arm, each of the arms being formed by a generally flat portion of the metal sheet, wherein the first arm is oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle, wherein the second arm has a cut-out through which a plastic connector finger extends and that is plastically deformed and holds the second arm in place, and
- wherein the pivot axis extends substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the handle and is located intermediate the first spring element and the treatment head.
An electric toothbrush comprising:
- a handle having a longitudinal axis;
- a brush head connected to a carrier and mounted at the handle for pivoting motion around a pivot axis against a restoring spring force;
- a drive unit mounted on the carrier;
- at least one electrical connector arranged between the handle and the carrier to convey electrical energy from a battery fixedly mounted in the handle;
- wherein the electrical connector comprises at least a first spring element formed by a metal sheet and configured to have a S-shaped or Z-shaped profile to elastically apply a spring force during the pivoting motion, wherein the first spring element has a first arm, a second arm, and a transverse arm interconnecting the first arm and the second arm, each of the arms being formed by a generally flat portion of the metal sheet, wherein the first arm is oriented substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle,
- wherein the electric toothbrush comprises at least one second spring element comprising a rectangular bar and located between the handle and the carrier to provide a restoring spring force to the carrier when the carrier is pivoted out of its rest position, wherein the at least one second spring element is structured and configured to provide more than about 50% of the total restoring spring force and
- wherein the pivot axis extends substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the handle and is located intermediate the first spring element and the brush head.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.