Switching arrangement for a rotating toothbrush
OwnerDieter Benzinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A switching arrangement for a rotating toothbrush which includes a rectangular casing accommodating the electric motor has a gravity switch provided in the housing and a switch actuated manually and provided externally on the housing. As a mercury gravity switch, a sensor is used, which consists of a tube closed at each end thereof and provided with a respective bottom portion at each end. Through each of the bottom portions at a lateral location, a conductor wire projects wherein through one of the bottom portions a further conductor wire projects whose forward portion within the tube is arranged at a distance to the wall of the tube and extends parallel to the conductor wires and leads almost to the end of the other bottom portion.
Claims31
A switching arrangement for a rotating toothbrush having a casing and being driven by a motor accommodated within the casing, the arrangement comprising:
- two sensors provided as a gravity switch each including a tube defining a closed interior and having an inner diameter and two opposing bottom portions in longitudinal direction of the tube, each of the bottom portions being arranged at a respective end of the tube;
- a first conductor wire having a forward portion projecting into the interior of the tube through one of the bottom portions;
- a second conductor wire having a foward portion projecting into the interior of the tube through the other of the bottom portions and being arranged at a distance to the first conductor wire;
- a third conductor wire having a forward portion projecting into the interior of the tube through one of the bottom portions at a distance to the first and second conductor wires and extending almost to the other of the bottom portions;
- and a mercury bead located in the interior of the tube and having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the tube for reversing the direction of rotation of the motor in dependence on the position of the toothbrush.
A switching arrangement for a rotating toothbrush having a casing and being driven by a motor accommodated within the casing, the arrangement comprising:
- two sensors provided as a gravity switch each including a tube defining a closed interior and having an inner diameter and two opposing bottom portions in longitudinal direction of the tube, each of the bottom portions being arranged at a respective end of the tube;
- a first conductor wire having a forward portion projecting into the interior of the tube through one of the bottom portions;
- a second conductor wire having a forward portion projecting into the interior of the tube through the other of the bottom portions and being arranged at a distance to the first conductor wire;
- a third conductor wire having a forward portion projecting into the interior of the tube through one of the bottom portions at a distance to the first and second conductor wires and extending almost to the other of the bottom portions;
- a mercury bead located in the interior of the tube and having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the tube for reversing in a stammer-free manner the direction of rotation of the motor by making electrical contact between the third conductor and, alternately, the first conductor and the second conductor in dependence on the position of the toothbrush;
- and an electric energy source having a positive pole and a negative pole, the third conductor wire of one of the sensors being connected to the positive pole of the energy source, and the third conductor wire of the other of the sensors being connected to the negative pole of the energy source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.