Brushhead for a power toothbrush with a wedge and spring handle interface
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorTyler G. Kloster
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The brushhead (24) is part of a power toothbrush (10) which includes a handle portion (12) with a drive shaft (14) having a wedge-shaped free end (40) and a circumferential recess (36) in the external surface (35) adapted to receive a portion of a helical spring Member (32). The brushhead includes a hollow neck portion (28) to receive the drive shaft. The hollow part of the neck portion includes a circumferential recess (38) in its interior surface (37) which is in registry with the recess on the drive shaft when the brushhead is operatively positioned on the handle, wherein the hollow portion includes a wedge-shaped recess (44) at the distal end thereof which receives in a mating relationship the wedge-shaped end of the drive shaft.
Claims13
A brushhead assembly for a power toothbrush, wherein the brushhead assembly can be removed from and inserted onto a handle portion of the toothbrush, the handle portion including a drive shaft extending therefrom having a wedge-shaped free end and a peripheral circumferential recess in an external surface thereof to receive a portion of a spring member, the brushhead comprising:
- a brush member for cleaning teeth, mounted on a distal end of an extending neck portion, the neck portion being hollow over a portion of its length from a proximal end thereof to receive the drive shaft from the handle portion, wherein the neck portion includes a peripheral circumferential recess in an internal surface of the hollow portion thereof, which is in registry with the recess in the drive shaft when the brushhead assembly is operatively positioned on the handle, into which recesses the spring member is received, to provide reliable axial retention of the brushhead assembly on the drive shaft, and wherein the hollow portion of the neck at an upper end of the hollow portion includes a mating wedge-shaped recess to cooperatively receive the wedge-shaped end of the drive shaft in a sufficiently tight relationship to provide efficient torque transfer between the drive shaft and the brushhead assembly.
A power toothbrush, comprising:
- a handle portion having a drive assembly with an extending drive shaft with a wedge-shaped free end, the drive shaft including a circumferential recess in an external surface thereof;
- a brushhead having a brush member for cleaning of teeth and an extending neck portion upon which the brush member is mounted at a distal end thereof, the neck portion being hollow over a portion of its length from a proximal end thereof, adapted and configured to receive the drive shaft from the handle portion, including a peripheral circumferential recess in an internal surface of the hollow portion thereof, which is in registry with the recess in the drive shaft when the brushhead assembly is operatively positioned on the handle, and wherein the hollow part of the neck portion includes a mating wedge-shaped recess at a distal end thereof to cooperatively receive the wedge-shaped free end of the drive shaft in a sufficiently tight relationship to provide efficient torque transfer between the drive shaft and the brushhead;
- and
- a spring member adapted and configured to fit within the circumferential recess and the peripheral recess which are in registry when the brushhead is operatively positioned on the handle, providing reliable axial retention of the brushhead on the drive shaft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.