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US 5,581,838 AGranted
Articulating toothbrush assembly
OwnerAnthony C. Roccoinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A toothbrush assembly is disclosed which includes an articulating head portion for releasable supporting a brushhead, and which is configured to releasably mount a plurality of interchangeable dental accessory tools. A spring biased actuation member having a plurality of sprockets associated therewith is provided for effectuating incremental articulated movements of the brushhead supporting portion with respect to the handle of the toothbrush assembly to position the brushhead in a desired angular orientation.
Claims15
An articulating toothbrush assembly which comprises:
- a) an elongated body portion having front and rear end sections, the front end section defining a yoke having first and second opposed yoke arms each having a toothed aperture extending at least partially therethrough;
- b) a head portion dimensioned to extend between the opposed yoke arms and configured to support a brush member and having a bore extending therethrough including first and second spaced apart annular toothed areas and first and second spaced apart annular race areas;
- c) an axle shaft extending through the toothed apertures of the yoke arms and the toothed bore of the head portion and having first, second and third spaced apart sprockets provided thereon for facilitating incremental articulation of the head portion with respect to the body portion;
- and
- d) means positioned within the toothed aperture of the second yoke arm for biasing the axle shaft into an engaged position wherein the first sprocket is engaged in the toothed aperture of the first yoke arm, the second sprocket is engaged within the first toothed area of the bore, and the third sprocket is engaged within the second toothed area of the bore and the toothed aperture in the second yoke arm, whereby movement of the axle shaft against the bias of the biasing means moves the axle shaft from the engaged position to a disengaged position wherein the first and second sprockets are disposed within the first and second race areas of the bore and the third sprocket is engaged in the toothed aperture in the second yoke arm to permit articulated movement of the head portion of the toothbrush assembly relative to the body portion of the toothbrush assembly.
2 more elements
An articulating structural assembly which comprises:
- a) an first structural portion including a yoke section having first and second opposed yoke arms each having a toothed aperture extending at least partially therethrough;
- b) a second structural portion having a shank section dimensioned and configured to extend between the opposed yoke arms and having a bore extending therethrough which includes first and second spaced apart annular toothed areas and first and second spaced apart annular race areas;
- c) an axle shaft extending through the toothed apertures and the bore and having first, second, and third spaced apart sprockets provided thereon for facilitating incremental articulated movements of the second structural portion with respect to the first structural portion;
- and
- d) means positioned within the second yoke arm for biasing the axle shaft into an engaged position wherein the first sprocket is engaged in the toothed aperture of the first yoke arm, the second sprocket is engaged in the first toothed area of the bore, and the third sprocket is engaged in the second toothed area of the bore and the toothed aperture in the second yoke arm, whereby movement of the axle shaft against the bias of the biasing means moves the axle shaft from the engaged position to a disengaged position wherein the first and second sprockets are disposed within the first and second race areas of the bore and the third sprocket is engaged in the toothed aperture of the second yoke arm to facilitate articulated movement of the second structural portion relative to the first structural portion.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.