HK1154195B - Packaged electric toothbrush - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

US-B1-6,178,579 describes a packaged electric toothbrush including a body portion for containing a battery operated motor drivingly connected or connectable to a brush head holder including at least one brush head. The toothbrush includes a "try me" facility for remotely testing the operation of the toothbrush, such as by a prospective purchaser of the toothbrush whilst the toothbrush is still in its protective sales packaging. The "try me" facility allows the prospective purchaser to test the operation of the electric toothbrush by actuating the power switch of the electric toothbrush through the packaging.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a packaged electric toothbrush including a body portion for containing a battery operated motor drivingly connected or connectable to a brush head holder including at least one brush head, wherein the toothbrush includes a "try me" facility for remotely testing the operation of the toothbrush, such as by a prospective purchaser of the toothbrush, whilst the toothbrush is still in its protective sales packaging. The "try me" feature comprises a two-sided metal strip, such as aluminium foil, separated by a di-electric material, such as paper or plastics. Respective sides of the strip are connected at one end to respective parts of an electric circuit used to operate the electric toothbrush and, in particular, to energise the electric motor thereof. The other end of the strip is folded over and includes a centrally disposed aperture onto or over which is disposed a bendable metal connector such that upon bending or pressing of the connector the two sides of the strip are electrically connected together to temporarily operate the toothbrush whilst still in its packaging.

Preferably, the "try me" feature may be permanently disconnected from the toothbrush after being purchased by simply being pulled away from the electrical circuit to which it is attached.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

• Figure 1 is a side elevation of a toothbrush, which may be used with the invention, having a pair of brush heads, one of which is angled inwardly slightly with respect to the other;
• Figure 2 is an enlarged and partly cut away view of the end of the toothbrush of Figure 1 which includes the brush heads;
• Figure 3 is a schematic plan view showing the mode of operation of the toothbrush heads of Figure 1 and 2,
• Figure 4 is an enlarged schematic view of the brush head end of a toothbrush which may be used with the invention, and,
• Figure 5 is a section of elevation along the line "A" - "A" of part of Figure 4.
• Figure 6 is a perspective and partly cut away view of an embodiment of the invention, which includes a "try me" feature.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring firstly to Figure 1, an electric toothbrush shown generally at 1 comprises a plastics body portion 2 for housing a motor, battery and associated electrical circuitry (not shown) and a detachable generally hollow brush head holder 3 including at the free end thereof a first brush head 4 and a second brush head 5, each being partly rotatable by being drivingly connected to the motor in the housing 2 in a manner to be described. A push button 6 in the housing 2 is used to operate the toothbrush 1 and a "try me" feature shown generally at 7 can be used to temporarily operate the toothbrush 1 in accordance with the invention in a manner to be described with reference to Figure 6.

In Figures 2 and 3 there is shown the operable end of the brush head holder 3 in which it will be seen that the first brush head 4 includes a generally disc-shaped bristle holder 8 from which extend respective sets of bristles shown generally at 9 in Figure 2. Similarly, the second brush head 5 comprises a generally disc-shaped bristle holder 10 from which extend sets of bristles shown generally at 11. Brush head 4 is mounted for rotation on a pivot pin 12 and brush head 5 is mounted for rotation on a pivot pin 13, although the plane of rotation of brush head 5 is slightly offset to the plane of rotation of brush head 4 by about 5° such that the bristles 11 are inclined slightly inwardly towards the bristles 9. This has been found to be advantageous in that the brush heads 4,5 can collectively clean a greater surface area of teeth than would be the case if both were rotatable in the same plane, by virtue of the generally curved placement of teeth within a mouth.

Reciprocating clockwise and anti-clockwise rotation of the first brush head 4 is facilitated by means of a bell crank mechanism which includes a stainless steel crankshaft 14 secured for rotation about its major axis in a journal 15 extending from a spigot 16 on the inside of the brush head holder 3 as shown more clearly in Figure 2. The end of the crankshaft adjacent thereto includes an elbow joint 17, the free end of which extends into a slotted region 18 within the bristle holder 8 of the brush head 4, which slotted region 18 is sufficiently long (or tall) to accommodate 360° rotation of the crankshaft 14 and in particular movement of the elbow 17 about the major axis of the crankshaft 14 so that upon rotation thereof continuously clockwise or anti-clockwise it will be apparent that the brush head 4 will be forced to oscillate back and forth about the pivot 12.

Brush head 5 is driven in a different manner by means of a drive pin 19 which extends diametrically outwardly from the bristle holder 8 of the brush 4, to which it is fixed for rotation therewith, and is received in a slotted region 20 of the bristle holder 10 of the brush head 5. In this case, the slotted region 20 is wide enough to permit the drive pin 19 to move in an arc dictated by the movement of the elbow 17 within the slotted region 18 about the major axis of the crankshaft 14 but in an opposite sense so that clockwise movement of the brush head 4 causes anticlockwise movement of the brush head 5, and vice versa.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the absence of any gears in this part of the electric toothbrush 1 enables it to be easily cleaned in running water and because there are few moving parts as compared to toothbrushes which include gears or crank arms for driving the or each brush head it will be appreciated that manufacture of the toothbrush can be easily facilitated.

In Figures 4 and 5 there is shown a preferred embodiment of the engagement between the elbowed end 17 of the crankshaft 14 with the slot 18 in the first brush head 8 and between the drive pin 19 within the slot 20 in the second brush head 10. In each case a respective part-spherical ball joint 21, 22 made of nylon are received within the respective slots 18, 20, which in this instance are partly arcuate so as to maximise the surface area available for contact by the ball joints 21, 22. This has the advantage of minimising wear and in practice it has been found that the use of nylon in the ball joints 21, 22 gives excellent results in terms of self-lubrication properties when the brush heads 8,10 are made of a suitable plastics material, such as PVC. As well, it will be apparent that during use of the toothbrush, saliva and indeed debris from foodstuffs being cleaned will also assist in lubricating the moving parts, whereafter they may be cleaned in running water with little risk of particles of debris adhering to the generally smoothly profiled surfaces in this region of the toothbrush.

In Figures 4 and 5 the locus of movement of the ball joint 21 is shown in which it will be seen that as the crankshaft 14 rotates in one direction only the ball joint 21 essentially assumes maximum upper and lower positions about the central axis of the crankshaft 14 within the slot 18 as shown in Figure 5 and left to right positions as shown in Figure 4 to thereby drive the bristle holder 8 back and forth about its central axis in the manner shown arrowed to, in turn, drive the second bristle holder 10 via the drive shaft 14 back and forth about its own axis, but in the opposite sense so that as one brush head moves clock wise, the other always moves anti-clockwise, and so on.

In Figure 6 there is shown an embodiment of the invention which includes a "try me" feature shown generally at 7. This includes a twin sided metal foil strip 23, such as a double sided aluminium strip separated by a dielectric material (not shown) such as paper or plastics, respective sides of the strip 23 being electrically connected to respective parts of a printed circuit board 24 by connectors 25 and 26 forming part of a closeable circuit for operating a motor 27 to, in turn, rotate the crankshaft 14 and hence oscillate the brush heads 4, 5 in the manner as described with reference to Figures 2 and 3.

The free end of the strip 23 has a folded over region in the form of a ring 28 onto which can be fitted a metal disc 29 which includes a domed central region 30 which may be pressed to temporarily connect both sides of the strip 23 to complete the circuit between the connectors 25 and 26 and thereby temporarily activate the toothbrush 1. As will be appreciated, because the "try me" feature 7 includes a strip 23 by which it allows a prospective purchaser of the toothbrush to determine if and how it works prior to purchase following pressing of the metal disc 29, after purchase the "try me" feature 7 can be effectively deactivated by simply pulling the strip 23 away from the printed circuit board 24 and hence out of engagement with the connectors 25, 26 thereon, whereafter an end cap 31 can be refitted onto the housing 2 of the toothbrush 1 in order to commence normal operation via pressing of the button 6.

Claims (2)

1. A packaged electric toothbrush (1) including a body portion (2) for containing a battery operated motor (27) drivingly connected or connectable to a brush head holder including at least one brush head (4), wherein the toothbrush (1) includes a "try me" facility (7) for remotely testing the operation of the toothbrush (1) such as by a prospective purchaser of the toothbrush (1) whilst the toothbrush (1) is still in its protective sales packaging, characterized in that the "try me" feature comprises a two-sided metal strip (23), such as aluminium foil, separated by a dielectric material, such as paper or plastics, respective sides of the strip (23) being connected at one end to respective parts of an electric circuit (24) used to operate the electric toothbrush (1) and, in particular, to energise the electric motor (27) thereof, the other end (28) of the strip (23) being folded over and including a centrally disposed aperture onto or over which is disposed a bendable metal connector (29,30) such that upon bending or pressing of the connector (23, 30) the two sides of the strip (23) are electrically connected together to temporarily operate the toothbrush (1) whilst still in its packaging.
2. A toothbrush according to Claim 1 in which the "try me" feature may be permanently disconnected from the toothbrush (1) by being pulled away from the electrical circuit (24) to which it is attached.