Electric Toothbrush and Toothbrush Head Therefor

Abstract

The invention is directed to a toothbrush head of an electric toothbrush, which comprises a handpiece equipped with a drive, a brush head carrier that is connectible to the handpiece, and several bristle supports that carry a respective bristle set, are movably mounted on the brush head carrier and drivable in an oscillatory manner by the drive, each of the bristle supports being adapted to be coupled to a translator element of the drive by means of a respective drive coupling. According to the invention the bristle supports each have drive coupling means enabling them to be coupled to eccentric drivers of the drive translator element which is adapted to be driven for rotation about a longitudinal axis. Owing to the arrangement of two separately mounted bristle supports which are driven by a common drive translator element about various axes of motion, it is possible to achieve an improved cleaning effect by simple means. The relative movement of the bristle sets that are mounted on the bristle supports assists the cleaning motion so that the cleaning effect is not obtained solely by the operator's movement.

1 . A brush head for an electric toothbrush having a handle section, the brush head comprising:
 a first end adapted to be releasably connected to the handle section; and   a second end remote from the first end, the second end including at least two bristle supports that each carry a respective bristle set;   wherein the at least two bristle supports include a main bristle support and an auxiliary bristle support;
 the main bristle support having a surface which includes a main bristle set arranged in the form of tufts, the tufts being disposed on the main bristle support so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation, wherein the tufts include a first set of tufts having shorter bristles, whose free ends all lie in a first plane and a second set of tufts having longer bristles, whose free ends all lie in a second plane; and 
 the auxiliary bristle support having a surface which includes an auxiliary bristle set arranged in the form of tufts, the tufts being disposed on the auxiliary bristle support, wherein the tufts include a first set of tufts having shorter bristles, whose free ends all lie in a first plane and a second set of tufts having longer bristles, whose free ends all lie in a second plane; 
 wherein the second plane defined by the second set of tufts on the main bristle support coincides with the second plane defined by the second set of tufts on the auxiliary bristle support. 
   
     
     
         2 . The brush head according to  claim 1 , wherein the first plane defined by the first set of tufts on the main bristle support coincides with the first plane defined by the first set of tufts on the auxiliary bristle support. 
     
     
         3 . The brush head according to  claim 1 , wherein the main bristle support is disposed at a distal end of the second end of the brush head. 
     
     
         4 . The brush head according to  claim 1 , wherein the main bristle support is disk-shaped. 
     
     
         5 . The brush head according to  claim 1 , wherein the second set of tufts on the main bristle support are arranged adjacent the outer edge of the main bristle support and include at least one pair of bristle tufts. 
     
     
         6 . The brush head according to  claim 5 , wherein the at least one pair of bristle tufts are tilted towards each other such that the angle of tilt is acute. 
     
     
         7 . The brush head according to  claim 5 , wherein the second set of tufts on the main bristle support further comprise a second pair of bristle tufts diametrically opposed to the at least one pair of bristle tufts. 
     
     
         8 . The brush head according to  claim 1 , wherein the second set of tufts on the main bristle support have bristles that are 0.5 mm to 2.5 mm longer than the first set of tufts on the main bristle support. 
     
     
         9 . The brush head according to  claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary bristle support includes a forward edge portion adjacent the main bristle support and a rearward edge portion proximal the first end of the brush head. 
     
     
         10 . The brush head according to  claim 1 , wherein the second set of tufts on the auxiliary bristle support are arranged adjacent the rearward edge of the auxiliary bristle support and include at least one pair of bristle tufts. 
     
     
         11 . The brush head according to  claim 10 , wherein the at least one pair of bristle tufts are tilted towards each other such that the angle of tilt is acute. 
     
     
         12 . The brush head according to  claim 10 , wherein the second set of tufts on the auxiliary bristle support further comprise a second pair of bristle tufts. 
     
     
         13 . The brush head according to  claim 1 , further comprising a translator element rotatable about a longitudinal rotation axis within the first end of the brush head. 
     
     
         14 . The brush head according to  claim 13 , further comprising a at least two drive couplers, each drive coupler being coupled to a respective bristle support and eccentrically coupled to the translator element by an eccentric driver, such that each of the bristle supports is oscillated in response to rotation of the translator element, at least one of the bristle supports coupled so as to rotate in oscillation about an axis of rotation extending transverse to the longitudinal rotation axis of the translator element. 
     
     
         15 . The brush head according to  claim 14 , wherein the main bristle support is rotatable about an axis of rotation essentially perpendicular to the longitudinal rotation axis of the translator element.