Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Machines – Brushing
Patent
1994-03-17
1995-07-25
Roberts, Jr., Edward L.
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Machines
Brushing
15201, A61C 1734
Patent
active
054350328
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to toothbrushes.
The invention relates more particularly to electrically driven toothbrushes in which brush bristles are arranged to be moved relative to the brush holder.
There are many examples of such toothbrushes including the disclosure in 1939 of rotary driven bristles in U.S. Pat. No. 2,215,031. A similar rotational drive arrangement is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,795. U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,620 explains how a rotational motor drive is converted into reciprocal linear motion to drive the bristles rotationally clockwise and counterclockwise. U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,579 discloses a toothbrush in which a toothbrush head is moved in relation to a brush holder so that all the bristles mounted in the brush head move together sideways and backwards and forwards relative to the holder.
The last mentioned arrangement is not very satisfactory for cleaning teeth and especial gingivial regions and the other prior art arrangements suffer from being mechanically complex and liable to ingress of water and other contamination.
It is an object of the invention to overcome or at least reduce the disadvantages of the prior art arrangements.
According to the invention there is provided a tooth brush head comprising a hollow body closed at one side by a resilient material membrane extending over the one side and formed with an array of cavities to receive and hold bases of tufts of bristles the ends of which extend away from the body at the one side, in which the walls of the cavities enclosing the bases extend into the hollow body having or thereby forming protrusions, and at least one movable finger extending along inside the body which is arranged to be driven in use to push against and move respective of the cavities or protrusions and hence move the ends of the bristles relative to the hollow body in accordance therewith.
The finger may be arranged to be driven backwards and forwards along the inside of the body.
The finger may be arranged alternatively or additionally to push each respective protrusion in one or more directions a right angles to the longitudinal axes of the bristles.
The finger may also be arranged to push the protrusions parallel to the longitudinal axes of the bristles.
A tooth brush heads according to the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a side view of a toothbrush;
FIG. 2 is a side view of a toothbrush head;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of part of the head;
FIG. 3A is an enlarged cross-sectional end view of part of the head;
FIG. 4 is an underside view of the head;
FIG. 5 is a diagramatic view of the inside of part of the head;
FIG. 6 is a diagramatic view of the inside of part of a modified head;
FIG. 7 is a diagramatic view of the inside of part of a different head;
FIG. 7A is an end view of FIG. 7;
FIG. 8 is a diagramatic view of the inside of a part of a further head.
FIG. 9 is an exploded isometric view of a different head;
FIG. 10 is an isometric view of a resilient membrane for the head of FIG. 9;
FIG. 11 is a sectional side view of part of the head of FIG. 9; and
FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of a tuft for use with the head of FIG. 9.
Referring to the drawings, in FIG. 1 a battery operated toothbrush has a handle 10 and a head 11. The arrangement of the handle is well-known and contains a battery and motor which drives a gear to convert the rotary motor drive into reciprocating motion, such an arrangement is shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,620 but many other drive arrangements are known. Embodiment of the invention relate basically to the arrangement of heads and not to the motor and drive mechanisms and so no further description of the motor and drive mechanisms will be provided in this specification.
In FIG. 2, the head 11 is shown with tufts 12 of bristles, of generally conventional type, fixed and securely held in a resilient membrane 13. A snap-on connector 14 is provided to releasable attach and hold the head 11 to the handle 10. One end 15, of a finger to be desc
REFERENCES:
patent: 4545087 (1985-10-01), Nahum
Behr Omri M.
Isis International, Inc.
McDonald Matthew J.
Roberts, Jr. Edward L.
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