Oral irrigator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11744687-B2
Application number	US-201916415529-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 17, 2019
Priority date	May 24, 2018
Publication date	Sep 5, 2023
Grant date	Sep 5, 2023

Abstract

An oral irrigator has a first liquid container, a nozzle outlet, a pump driven by a drive to pump liquid from the liquid container to the nozzle outlet so that a liquid jet is emitted via the nozzle outlet, a first switch arranged so that the drive is powered when the first switch is actuated once and the oral irrigator is switched into an ON state, and so that powering of the drive is stopped and the oral irrigator is switched into an OFF state when the first switch is actuated once again, and a second switch arranged so that the drive is powered only while the second switch is continuously actuated by the user and powering is stopped when the second switch is released.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An oral irrigator comprising
a first liquid container;
a nozzle outlet;
a pump driven by a drive to pump liquid from the liquid container to the nozzle outlet so that a liquid jet is emitted via the nozzle outlet;
a first switch configured to power the drive only when the first switch is actuated once and the oral irrigator is switched into an ON state and so that powering of the drive is stopped and the oral irrigator is switched into an OFF state when the first switch is actuated once again; and
a second switch configured to power the drive only while the second switch is continuously actuated by the user and powering is stopped when the second switch is released by the user,
wherein the first switch and the second switch are disposed at a distance from one another and configured to operate independently from one another,
wherein the second switch is configured to override the first switch when, prior to actuation of the second switch, the oral irrigator is in the ON state, and
wherein releasing the second switch after overriding the first switch stops powering of the drive.

2. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising an air pump is configured to pump air into the liquid before the liquid exits the oral irrigator via the nozzle outlet as a liquid jet, wherein the first switch is configured so that the air pump is powered when the oral irrigator is switched into the ON state.

3. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 2 , wherein the second switch is configured so that the air pump is stopped when the second switch is actuated to override the first switch.

4. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the oral irrigator is configured to automatically switch from the ON state into the OFF state after a preselected time period.

5. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 4 , wherein one of the first switch and the second switch is configured to prolong the preselected time period by a preselected prolongation time period if the switch is actuated within a preselected control time period after the first switch is actuated to switch the oral irrigator into the ON state.

6. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the first switch and the second switch are configured to be on the outer side of the oral irrigator with a center-to-center distance therebetween of less than about 4 cm.

7. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 1 , wherein a visual indicator is incorporated only into the first switch to indicate that the oral indicator is in the ON state.

8. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the oral irrigator comprises a mode switch configured to switch between different modes of operation of the liquid jet emission.

9. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the mode of operation can be selected with the mode switch while the oral irrigator is in the OFF state.

10. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 8 , further comprising an indicator for indicating what mode of operation has been selected.

11. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the mode switch is configured so that the previously selected mode is indicated when the mode switch is actuated once and so that the mode is switched when the mode switch is actuated once again.

12. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the mode switch is located on the outside of the oral irrigator with a distance of at least about 6 cm from the closest of the first switch and the second switch.

13. The oral irrigator in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising a control unit connected to at least the first switch, the second switch, and the drive.

Assignees

• Braun Gmbh

Inventors

• Arias Haber Sabrina
• Sabisch Markus
• Mandre Shyam Kishan
• Schubert Fritz
• Galloway Ulrike
• Venzke Stephanie

Classifications

• A61C17/024 Primary

  with constant liquid flow · CPC title

• A61C1/0038

  Pneumatic systems · CPC title

• A61C1/0092

  Pumps specially adapted therefor · CPC title

• A61C17/0202

  Hand-pieces · CPC title

• A61H13/005

  Hydraulic gum massage · CPC title