Toothbrush with tapping motion
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorWolter Benning
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure is directed to a low-cost toothbrush with a simple-to-manufacture design that provides a tapping motion of the brush head. In an embodiment, a dental cleaning device includes an eccentric rotating mass motor and a drive shaft mechanically coupled to the motor. A spring element is mounted to the drive shaft in a configuration in which it acts in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the drive shaft. The spring element and drive shaft form an assembly having a resonant frequency. A power source supplies to the motor power sufficient to cause the motor to operate near the resonant frequency of the assembly.
Claims16
A dental cleaning device comprising:
- a housing;
- a rotary motor with an eccentric mass, the rotary motor being mounted to the interior of the housing;
- a driven member mechanically coupled to the motor and having an end extending outward from the housing which is configured to be coupled to a brush head having bristles and;
- a spring element mounted to the interior of the housing and to the driven member in a configuration in which the spring element acts in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the driven member and parallel to the direction of the bristles;
- the motor, spring element and driven member forming an assembly having a resonant frequency;
- a power source supplying to the motor power sufficient to cause the motor to operate near the resonant frequency of the assembly, wherein while operating at the resonant frequency the driven member moves predominantly in a tapping motion.
A power toothbrush comprising:
- a frame;
- an eccentric mass rotary motor mounted on the frame;
- a drive shaft mechanically coupled to the motor at a first end;
- a torsion spring mounted to the drive shaft and to the frame in and adapted to apply a force to the drive shaft in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the drive shaft;
- the torsion spring, motor, drive shaft and frame forming an assembly having a resonant frequency;
- a brush head mounted on a second end of the drive shaft in an orientation in which the bristles on the brush head are parallel to the direction of the force exerted by the torsion spring;
- a battery supplying DC power to the motor power sufficient to cause the motor to operate near the resonant frequency of the assembly,
- wherein while the motor is operating near the resonant frequency, the brush head moves in a substantially tapping motion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.