DE9108004U1 - Oral care instrument - Google Patents

Description

Novelties GmbH 25 June 1991

Design and sales
of novelties
D-IOOO Berlin 12

NOV41.G1

Oral care instrument

Description

The invention relates to an oral care instrument of the type specified in the preamble of claim 1, which is particularly adapted to the conditions for mobile use when traveling or the like.

Intensive care of teeth and gums is important, especially for the prevention of diseases.

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increased importance. For this reason, tooth cleaning devices are constantly being improved so that they can be used as multi-purpose devices that use pressurized water to combine cleaning of the teeth and interdental spaces with massaging the gums.

A cleaning brush is known from DE-OS 31 11 06 3 that can be used to clean teeth or braces and that has a fluidic oscillator. The cleaning brush has a hollow handle that is connected to a flexible water hose. Inside the hollow handle there is a rod-shaped tablet body made of substances with germicidal, sterilizing properties, which gradually dissolves in the flowing water and is carried by the water to the areas to be cleaned. The connection between the brush head of the cleaning brush and the hollow handle is made via a coupling tube in the form of a double plug connection. The water hose required to supply water from a pressurized water source is permanently connected to the handle.

The solution described above has the general disadvantage that all connections of the cleaning elements on the 5 handle, which are designed as plug connections when the cleaning brush is moved towards the user's mouth. Such connections fail excessively when plugged in or unplugged frequently and lead to unacceptable leaks, especially when subjected to strong radial and axial loads during use of the cleaning brush. In addition, it is a significant disadvantage that

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that the water-soluble reagent with disinfectant effect, which is in the form of a stick, is loose in the handle of the cleaning brush, i.e. in an undefined position, which leads to an incalculable increase in the flow resistance in the handle. Furthermore, if larger parts of the tablet come loose, there is a significant risk of the nozzles in the brush head becoming blocked, as there are no safety devices. Finally, the rigid connection of the water hose to the handle makes it difficult to store the cleaning brush in a confined space when not in use.

Based on the deficiencies of the prior art, the object of the invention is to find a solution with which a fluid-operated device for cleaning the teeth and massaging the gums is created as an easily dismantled, easily assembled and functionally reliable oral care instrument.

The invention is based on the knowledge that convenient and functionally reliable assembly and disassembly of individual parts of an oral care instrument with coordinated dimensions of the individual parts is an essential prerequisite for the design of the instrument in a mouth care set that can be packed in the smallest of spaces. According to the invention, the oral care instrument can be dismantled into the necessary minimum number of individual parts and consists of a handle, a toothbrush that can be connected to the handle and has several water outlet openings for rinsing the mouth, a toothbrush that can be connected to the handle and

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ble and several gum massage rollers with water outlet openings that serve as an oral irrigator and to drive the massage roller, a water supply hose that can be connected to the handle and an adapter for connecting the water supply hose to a pressurized water pipe. These individual parts are arranged together in a lockable container in a very small space.

Depending on the application, the oral care instrument can be used either as a toothbrush or as a massage device by replacing the individual parts on the handle with a simple movement of the hand.

The invention is also based on the knowledge that a screw connection for individual parts of a fluid-operated oral care instrument that are frequently to be detached and reassembled offers far greater protection against leaks than a plug connection, with comparable manufacturing effort. In order to ensure that the individual elements of the instrument can be quickly and, above all, conveniently detached or connected with just a few turns, the threads used are provided with a greater pitch and a high flank depth. The advantages that can be achieved in this way are associated with a high sealing effect on the thread flanks, which is additionally supported by the use of a sealing element at the remaining seam between two individual parts. According to the invention, the individual parts of the oral care set are provided with such a thread and sealing element at one of their ends. This applies in particular to the handle, the toothbrush and the gum massage roller, the connection points of which

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when the oral care instrument is used, are subjected to the greatest mechanical stress in the area of the user's mouth and where loosening in the direction of the user of the instrument must be avoided.
5

The use of cleaning or disinfecting additives when using the oral care instrument is advantageously possible without the risk of affecting the functional reliability of the device if the additives are located in a separate insert which is arranged inside the handle of the oral care instrument. A particularly advantageous option is an insert that is shaped to fit the interior of the handle and is easily exchangeably held in place by flange elements inside the handle. The outer wall of the insert has a large number of individual openings, preferably holes, through which the water flowing through the handle can enter the insert in order to dissolve the required amount of additives as it flows through it. A sieve device located downstream of the insert in the direction of flow and in the connecting piece of the toothbrush or gum massage roller ensures in a simple and at the same time advantageous way that no undissolved amounts of the additives get into the toothbrush or gum massage roller and can lead to undesirable blockages at the water outlet openings there. The use of a separate insert is also advantageous because the additives can also be filled into the insert in powder form or as a paste.

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Like the toothbrush and the handle, the gum massage roller is also designed as a hollow body through which water can flow. According to the invention, the gum massage roller has an area that is angled transversely to its longitudinal axis, opposite the threaded end section. The angled area is fork-shaped at its end. A massage roller is rotatably mounted in this fork-shaped end. The previously described angle ensures in a simple and at the same time advantageous way that the water flowing through several water outlet openings above the fork point on the front side of the gum massage roller can be guided to the massage roller for the purpose of driving it and can also be guided past the massage roller for the purpose of irrigating the mouth. The massage roller is designed in such a way that it offers the water exiting the front side of the gum massage roller as large an area of contact as possible. According to a preferred development of the invention, the massage roller is designed like a gear, whereby the drive water emerging from the front side is directed onto the corresponding tooth flanks when the gum massage roller is used.

In order to be able to connect the water supply hose of the oral care instrument to the most diverse forms of water outlet fittings, an appropriate adapter is used. The adapter consists of a small diameter section that is connected to a larger diameter section by means of a conical transition piece 0. The water supply is connected to the small diameter section.

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guide hose can be connected using a plug connection. The section with the large diameter is used to connect the adapter to a water outlet fitting. In the interior of the adapter section with a large diameter, a radially flexible sealing cone that tapers conically inwards is therefore arranged, which has several ring-shaped sealing lips. The sealing lips point in the direction of the insertion movement of the water outlet fitting to be connected and thus advantageously enable an additional inhibiting effect against the adapter slipping off the water outlet fitting. After sliding the adapter onto a water outlet fitting, it can be fixed using a clamping device. For this purpose, the adapter has a recess on the outside of its section with a larger diameter into which the clamping band of the clamping device can be inserted. Particular application advantages arise with adapters that are made of flexible material.

Advantageous further developments of the invention are characterized in the subclaims or are presented in more detail below together with the description of the preferred embodiment of the invention using the figures. They show:

Figure 1 is a plan view of an oral care instrument with all accessories and the container opened,

Figure 2 shows a section through an oral care instrument with the container closed,
30

Figure 3 shows a longitudinal section through the handle of the oral care instrument,

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Figure 4 shows a cross-section through the handle along the line A...A in Figure 3,

Figure 5 is a plan view (with partial section) of the toothbrush of the oral care instrument,

Figure 6 shows a section through the toothbrush of the oral care instrument along the line A...A in Figure 5,

Figure 7 shows a section through the toothbrush of the oral care instrument along the line B...B in Figure 5,

Figure 8 is a side view (with partial section) of the gum massage roller of the oral care instrument,
15

Figure 9 is a plan view (with partial section) of the front part of the gum massage roller,

Figure 10 a view of the gum massage roller from the front with the massage roller removed,

Figure Il shows a section through the gum massage roller along the line A...A in Figure 8,

Figure 12 a top view of the rolled-up water supply hose of the oral care instrument,

Figure 13 a longitudinal section through the adapter of the oral care instrument,
30

Figure 14 a top view of the adapter with inserted clamping device

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as well as

Figure 15 is a side view of the clamping device for the adapter.
5

The oral care instrument 1 shown in Figures 1 and 2 consists in the preferred embodiment of a handle 2, a toothbrush 3, a gum massage roller 4, a flexible water supply hose 5 and an adapter 6 for connection to a water source. The individual parts 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are arranged in a secure position in a plastic container 7 by means of fastening devices (not shown). The container 7 can be easily closed by a lid 8, which is hinged to the container 7 by means of a hinge (not shown) and has a snap closure. Due to the good use of space of the individual parts 2 to 6 within the container 7, the oral care instrument 1 can be made extremely compact and is therefore very handy and convenient to use in practical use.

Figure 3 shows a longitudinal section through the handle 2 of the oral care instrument 1, which is designed as a cylindrical hollow body. The handle 2 has a socket 45 with an internal thread 15 at one end, into which the toothbrush 3 or the gum massage roller 4 can be screwed, depending on the application. At its other end, the handle 2 has an axially arranged socket 46 for connecting the water supply hose 5, which has the corresponding plug connectors at its ends.

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binder 36. According to an advantageous further development, the handle 2 has a threaded connector at both ends and the water supply hose 5 is designed accordingly.
5

To ensure safe handling of the oral care instrument 1, it is advantageous to design the outer surface of the handle 2 to be particularly easy to grip. For this purpose, several groups of ring-shaped ridges 4 3 are formed on the surface of the handle 2.

For the purpose of supplying cleaning agents or disinfectants, which are transported by the water flow into the area of the mouth to be cared for, there is an elongated, centrally arranged insert 16 in the interior of the handle 2. This insert is arranged below the threaded connector 45 to which the toothbrush 3 or the gum massage roller 4 is attached and is fixed by flange elements 40 located on the inner wall of the handle 2, on which the insert 16 rests with its support bracket 19. This makes it easy to replace the insert 16 through the threaded connector. As shown in Figure 4, the insert 16 is in a bypass flow because there are flow openings 44 between the flange elements 40. As a result, only a relatively small partial flow is used to dissolve the additives present in granular or pasty form in the insert 16, which advantageously leads to longer replacement cycles for the insert 16. The water required to dissolve the additives can be fed through several openings 18, which are provided

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preferably designed as a circular bore, penetrate into the insert 16 and transport the dissolved substances to the main flow of water at the threaded connector 45.

The toothbrush 3 belonging to the oral care instrument 1 has a number of water outlet openings 9 in its bristle area 14, through which the water used for mouthwash passes between the bristles into the oral cavity. Figure 5 shows a partial section (view of the brush from below) of the position of a sieve 21 inside the threaded connector 47. The sieve 21 is held in the interior of the threaded connector 47 by several sieve holders 3 9 positioned upstream in the direction of flow and prevents any undissolved components of the additives in the insert 16 of the handle 2 from getting through the water to the relatively small water outlet openings 9 in the bristle area of the toothbrush 3 (shown in Figure 6) and causing undesirable blockages there. The section of the brush housing 10 connecting the bristle area 14 and the threaded connector 47 has, as shown in Figure 7 (as a section along the line B...B according to Figure 5), a rectangular cross-section which gives the toothbrush 3, which is designed as a hollow body, the necessary mechanical stability.

The gum massage roller 4, which is also designed as a hollow body and is shown in Figure 8, is provided with a threaded connector 48 at one of its ends and 0 has a fork-shaped section 42 (shown in Figure 9) at the opposite end.

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in which a massage roller 29 is rotatably mounted. The structural design of the end of the gum massage roller 4 that carries the threaded connector 48 corresponds to that of the threaded connector 47 of the toothbrush 3 described above. The fork-shaped section 42 is angled by a certain amount transversely to the longitudinal axis of the gum massage roller. On the front side of the housing 30 of the gum massage roller 4 there are two differently designed water outlet openings 23 and 25 arranged one above the other, as shown in Figure 10. The water outlet opening 25 is used to guide water to drive the massage roller 29, whereas the smaller water outlet openings 23 are used to guide water for the oral irrigator that can be used during the gum massage. By bending the fork-shaped section 42, it is easily achieved that the water emerging from the opening 25 hits the massage roller 29 directly and the water emerging from the openings 23 can be guided past the massage roller 29 into the oral cavity.

According to a preferred embodiment of the oral care instrument, the massage roller 29 is gear-shaped. This means that the tooth flanks can be used in an advantageous manner as an attack surface for the water emerging from the openings 25 to drive the massage roller 29 and at the same time as massage elements. The housing 30 of the massage roller 4 shown in cross section in Figure II has a particularly high mechanical stability in order to be able to transmit the pressure forces required for massaging.

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The threads 12, 15 and 27 of the individual parts of the oral care instrument 1 shown in Figures 3, 5, 8 and 13 have only a few threads with a high flank depth and a large pitch. This has the significant advantage that the screw connection between the individual parts is achieved with just a few turns and a good sealing effect is guaranteed due to the relatively large sealing surfaces on the thread flanks. The sealing effect and good fit of the individual parts 3 and 4 screwed into the handle 2 are further improved by elastic sealing rings 11 and 41 located at the end of the threaded connectors 47 and 48. The sealing rings 11 and 41 are secured in position by flanges 13 and 24 arranged at the screw-in end of the threads 12 and 27.

Figure 12 shows a top view of a water supply hose 5 in the rolled-up form required for the packaging state. At each end, the hose 5 has two coupling plugs 36 for connection to the handle 2 or to the adapter 6.

The adapter 6 required for connecting the oral care instrument 1 is shown in longitudinal section in Figure 13 and consists of a section of small diameter 49, which is connected to a section of larger diameter 50 by means of a conical transition piece 37. The coupling socket 31 in the adapter section 49 is designed by means of an insert made of solid plastic in the form of a plug-in nest and serves to connect to the water supply hose 5. The adapter 6 consists entirely of an elastic material, for example

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Rubber, and thus easily adapts to the dimensions of the connection pieces of water outlet fittings when the adapter 6 is pushed onto a corresponding connection piece. The required seal at the connection point of the water outlet fitting is realized by a radially flexible sealing cone 38 that tapers conically inwards. The sealing cone 38 is located within the section 50 of the adapter 6 and has several ring-shaped sealing lips 51 that point at an angle in the direction of insertion of the water outlet fitting.

In order to guarantee a firm fit after the adapter 6 has been pushed on, the adapter 6 is additionally fixed by a clamping device 3 3 (shown in Figures 14 and 15). For this purpose, the adapter 6 has a recess 32 on the outside of its section 50, into which the clamping band 35 of the clamping device 3 3 can be inserted.

The invention is not limited in its implementation to the preferred embodiment given above. Instead, a number of variants are conceivable which make use of the solution presented even in fundamentally different embodiments.

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Claims (18)

N0V41.G1 Sheet 15 Claims 1. Oral care instrument with fluid-operated individual elements, particularly for cleaning the teeth and massaging the gums, marked by
- a handle (2), a toothbrush (3) that can be connected to the handle (2) and has several water outlet openings (9) for rinsing the mouth and or a gum massage roller (4) which can be connected to the handle (2) and has several water outlet openings (23, 25) serving as the oral irrigator and for driving the massage roller (29), - a water supply hose that can be connected to the handle (2) (5) as well as - an adapter (6) for connecting the water supply hose (5) to a pressurized water pipe, which are arranged together as individual parts in the form of a set in a sealable container (7). N0V41.G1 Sheet 16 2. Oral care instrument according to claim 1, characterized in that the individual parts (2, 3, 4 and 5) are designed to be axially connectable to one another essentially by a screwing process. 3. Oral care instrument according to claim 2, characterized in that the threaded connectors (45, 47, 48) present on the individual parts (2, 3, 4 and 5) are each provided with a thread (12, 15, 27) which has a large pitch and a large flank depth. 4. Oral care instrument according to claim 3, characterized in that the threaded connectors (47, 48) of the toothbrush (3) and the gum massage roller (4) are provided with an additional sealing element (11, 41). 5. Oral care instrument according to claim 4, characterized in that the sealing element is designed as a sealing ring (11, 41). 6. Oral care instrument according to claim 3, characterized in that in the interior of the threaded connector (47, 48) of the toothbrush (3) and the gum massage roller (4) a sieve device (21, 22) is arranged transversely to the direction of the water flow. 91 OB004. N0V41.G1 Sheet 17 7. Oral care instrument according to claim 1, characterized in that the gum massage roller (4) has an area angled transversely to the longitudinal direction at its end facing away from the connection point with the handle (2). 8. Oral care instrument according to claim 7, characterized in that the gum massage roller (4) has the shape of a fork (42) at its angled end facing away from the connection point with the handle (2), in which a massage roller (29) is mounted so as to be rotatable about an axis (26). 9. Oral care instrument according to claim 8, characterized in that the massage roller (29) is essentially designed like a gear wheel. 10. Oral care instrument according to one of claims 7 and 8, characterized in that the massage roller (29) consists of plastic or hard rubber. 11. Oral care instrument according to one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that in the housing wall (30) of the gum massage roller (4) at the base of the fork (42) water outlet openings (23, 25). N0V41.G1 Sheet 18 12. Oral care instrument according to claim 11, characterized in that the water outlet opening (25) is directed towards the massage roller (29), whereas the axis of the water outlet openings (23) runs outside the area of action of the massage roller (29). 13. Oral care instrument according to claim 1, characterized in that an insert (16) provided with openings (18) and filled with cleaning or disinfecting substances is arranged within the cavity enclosed by the housing (20) of the handle (2). 14. Oral care instrument according to claim 13, characterized in that the insert (16) is held replaceably by several flange elements (40) in the interior of the handle (2). 15. Oral care instrument according to claim 1, characterized
characterized in that the adapter (6) consists of two sections (49, 50) of different diameters which are separated from one another by a conical transition (37). 16. Oral care instrument according to claim 15, characterized in that the section of larger diameter (50) in its interior N0V41.G1 Sheet 19 a sealing cone (38) which tapers conically inwards and is flexible at least in the radial direction. 17. Oral care instrument according to claim 16, characterized in that the sealing cone (38) is provided on its inside with several inwardly directed, ring-shaped sealing lips (51) which are arranged inclined in the insertion direction of a water outlet fitting to be connected. 18. Oral care instrument according to one of claims 15 to 17, characterized in that the adapter (6) has an annular recess (32) on the outside of the section (50) into which a clamping device (33) can be inserted.