Oral care implement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9724181-B2
Application number	US-201514700296-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 30, 2015
Priority date	May 7, 2014
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure is concerned with an oral hygiene implement having a longitudinal axis, a carrier element mounted for driven movement, a motion transmitter that has a first end for transferring a drive force to the carrier element, which first end is provided at a position being offset from the longitudinal axis, and the motion transmitter has a second end positioned essentially on on the longitudinal axis or is arranged for being positioned essentially on the longitudinal axis during operation, wherein the motion transmitter has a first coupling part comprising the first end, which first coupling part essentially extends along a centre axis arranged at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis, and a second coupling part comprising the second end, which first coupling part is fixedly connected with a first connecting portion of an elastic pivot element that allows that the first coupling part and the second coupling part can pivot with respect to each other at least in a first pivoting plane spanned by the longitudinal axis and by the centre axis, and wherein the first coupling part is made from a plastics material, including reinforced plastics materials, having a Young's modulus of at least 5000 MPa or from a metal material, and at least the first connecting portion, in particular the whole elastic pivot element, is made from a plastics material having a Young's modulus of not more than 3000 MPa, optionally of not more than 1000 MPa, further optionally of not more than 500 MPa.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An oral hygiene implement having
a longitudinal axis;
a carrier element mounted for driven movement;
a motion transmitter that has a first end for transferring a drive force to the carrier element, which first end is provided at a position being offset from the longitudinal axis, and the motion transmitter has a second end positioned essentially on the longitudinal axis or is arranged for being positioned essentially on the longitudinal axis during operation;
wherein the motion transmitter has a first coupling part comprising the first end, which first coupling part essentially extends along a centre axis arranged at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis, and a second coupling part comprising the second end, which first coupling part is fixedly connected with a first connecting portion of an elastic pivot element that allows that the first coupling part and the second coupling part can pivot with respect to each other at least in a first pivoting plane spanned by the longitudinal axis and by the centre axis, wherein the elastic pivot element is arranged so that pivoting in the first pivoting plane occurs with a restoring force in a range of between about 0.15 N·mm/degree and about 0.5 N·mm/degree; and
wherein the first coupling part is made from a plastics material, including reinforced plastics materials, having a Young's modulus of at least 5000 MPa or from a metal material, and at least the first connecting portion is made from a plastics material having a Young's modulus of not more than 3000 Mpa.

2. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the elastic pivot element is an injection molded elastic pivot element.

3. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the first coupling part of the motion transmitter is made from a metal material.

4. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the second coupling part is fixedly connected with a second connecting portion of the elastic pivot element.

5. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the first coupling part comprises an undercut section comprising a recess, cut-out, through-hole, indentation, protuberance, or projection that is in a positive fit connection with the first connecting portion of the elastic pivot element.

6. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the elastic pivot element comprises a hinge section that defines a pivot point about which the first coupling part and the second coupling part can pivot, in particular where the hinge section is formed as a living hinge.

7. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 6 , wherein at least the living hinge of the elastic pivot element is made from a non-elastomeric plastic material such as polypropylene or polyethylene.

8. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 6 , wherein at least the living hinge of the elastic pivot element is made from a thermoplastic elastomer.

9. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the elastic pivot element is made from a material having a hardness in the range of from about 40 Shore A to about 80 Shore D.

10. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein pivoting in a second pivoting plane perpendicular to the first pivoting plane occurs with a restoring force in a range of between about 2.5 N·mm/degree and about 4.0 N·mm/degree.

11. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the first end of the motion transmitter is arranged to move along a line inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis or on a curve with respect to the longitudinal axis and the second end of the motion transmitter is arranged for movement essentially along the longitudinal axis.

12. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising a hollow housing and wherein the motion transmitter is disposed within the hollow housing.

13. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the motion transmitter is at the second end connected to or connectable with a drive shaft of a handle portion.

14. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the oral hygiene implement is realized as a replacement part, in particular a replacement brush head, attachable to and detachable from a handle portion of an oral hygiene device.

15. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the oral hygiene implement is realized as an oral hygiene device comprising a drive having a drive shaft that is connected with the motion transmitter.

16. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the elastic pivot element is made from a plastic material having a Young's modulus of not more than 1000 Mpa.

17. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the elastic pivot element is made from a plastic material having a Young's modulus of not more than 500 Mpa.

18. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the elastic pivot element is made from a material having a hardness in the range of from about 50 Shore A to about 65 Shore D.

19. An oral hygiene implement having
a longitudinal axis;
a carrier element mounted for driven movement;
a motion transmitter that has a first end for transferring a drive force to the carrier element, which first end is provided at a position being offset from the longitudinal axis, and the motion transmitter has a second end positioned essentially on the longitudinal axis or is arranged for being positioned essentially on the longitudinal axis during operation;
wherein the motion transmitter has a first coupling part comprising the first end, which first coupling part essentially extends along a centre axis arranged at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis, and a second coupling part comprising the second end, which first coupling part is fixedly connected with a first connecting portion of an elastic pivot element that allows that the first coupling part and the second coupling part can pivot with respect to each other at least in a first pivoting plane spanned by the longitudinal axis and by the centre axis; and
wherein the first end of the motion transmitter is arranged to move along a line inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis or on a curve with respect to the longitudinal axis and the second end of the motion transmitter is arranged for movement essentially along the longitudinal axis.

20. The oral hygiene implement in accordance with claim 19 , wherein the first coupling part is made from a plastic material having a Young's modulus of at least 5000 MPa or from a metal material, and the first connecting portion is made from a plastic material having a Young's modulus of not more than 3000 Mpa.

Assignees

• Braun Gmbh

Inventors

• Schaefer Norbert
• Utsch Jörn
• Fritsch Thomas

Classifications

• A61C17/3436

  Rotation around the axis perpendicular to the plane defined by the bristle holder · CPC title

• A61C17/34 Primary

  driven by electric motor · CPC title

• A61C15/047

  power-driven · CPC title

• A61H13/00

  Gum massage · CPC title

• Y10T74/18888

  Reciprocating to or from oscillating · CPC title