Electric tongue brush

Abstract

The present invention addresses the problem of providing an electric tongue brush capable of easily and reliably electrically removing a coating on the tongue. An electric tongue brush 1 for removing a coating on the tongue comprises: a tongue brush body 2 which is provided with a body case 2A and a tapered neck part 2B that extends from one end of the body case 2A; a brush head 3 in which a plurality of bristle bundles 6 are implanted and which is rotatably provided at the tip of the neck part 2B; a battery 7 and an electric motor 8 which are included in the case body 2A; and a conversion mechanism which converts the rotation of the electric motor 8 into reciprocating rotary motion or rotary motion. Each bristle bundle 6 implanted in the brush head 3 is configured by bundling a plurality of nylon filaments having a thickness d of 75-80 µm and a length L of 5-12 mm, and the circumcircle diameter D of the plurality of bristle bundles 6 is set to φ 2.0-2.5 cm.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an electric tongue brush for removing tongue coating by means of a brush head that is electrically reciprocated or rotated. [Background technology]

[0002] It is known that removing tongue coating from the surface of the tongue is an important oral care measure, particularly for preventing bad breath. Therefore, various tongue brushes for manually scraping tongue coating, which causes bad breath, have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2), and have already been put to practical use. While these tongue brushes are simple in construction and inexpensive, they have the drawback of requiring skill in use.

[0003] Incidentally, electric toothbrushes that brush teeth electrically instead of manually have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 3 and 4), and have already been commercialized. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Utility Model Registration No. 3190601 [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-029136 [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-176742 [Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2018-183280 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, when it comes to tongue brushes, manual types are the norm, and it is not common to find any electric types.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its object is to provide an electric tongue brush that can easily and reliably remove tongue coating that has adhered to the tongue. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an electric tongue brush (1) for removing tongue coating, characterized in that it comprises a tongue brush body (2) having a main body case (2A) and a tapered neck portion (2B) extending from one end of the main body case (2A), a brush head (3) having a plurality of bristle bundles (6) planted therein and rotatably mounted at the tip of the neck portion (2B), a battery (7) and an electric motor (8) built into the case body (2A), and a conversion mechanism for converting the rotation of the electric motor (8) into reciprocating rotational motion or rotational motion of the brush head (3).

[0008] According to the present invention, when a user inserts the brush head side of an electric tongue brush into their mouth and moves the bristles of the reciprocating or rotating brush head against the surface of the tongue, the bristles easily and effectively remove tongue coating that has adhered to the surface of the tongue, preventing not only bad breath but also stomatitis and viral infections.

[0009] In the above electric tongue brush (1), the conversion mechanism that converts the rotation of the electric motor (8) into the reciprocating rotational motion of the brush head (3) may include a first mechanism that converts the rotation of the output shaft (8a) of the electric motor (8) into the reciprocating linear motion of the rod (13), and a second mechanism that converts the reciprocating linear motion of the rod (13) into the swinging motion of the swing arm (16).

[0010] Here, the first mechanism may include a gear (9) connected to the output shaft (8a) of the electric motor (8), a ring gear (10) meshing with the gear (9), an eccentric cam (12) whose center of rotation is a point eccentric from the center of rotation of the ring gear (10), and a driven member (14) having an elongated hole (14a) with which the eccentric cam (12) engages, and the second mechanism may include a swing arm (16) whose swing end is slidably fitted in an elongated hole (5a) formed radially in the brush head (3), whose base end is rotatably connected at one point to the tip end of the rod (13), and whose other point is swingably supported around a swing shaft (18).

[0011] According to the above configuration, the rotation of the output shaft of the electric motor is converted into the reciprocating linear motion of the rod by the first mechanism, and the reciprocating linear motion of the rod is converted into the reciprocating rotational motion of the brush head by the second mechanism. Therefore, the rotation of the output shaft of the electric motor is converted into the reciprocating rotational motion of the brush head via the first and second mechanisms.

[0012] In addition, in the electric tongue brush (1), the conversion mechanism that converts the rotation of the electric motor (8) into the rotation of the brush head (3) may be composed of bevel gears (20, 22) that convert the rotation direction of the output shaft (8a) of the electric motor (8) into a direction perpendicular to the axis.

[0013] According to the above configuration, the rotation direction of the output shaft of the electric motor is converted to a direction perpendicular to the axis by the bevel gear and transmitted to the brush head, so that the brush head can be rotated in the normal rotation direction (a rotation direction perpendicular to the rotation direction of the output shaft of the electric motor) to easily and reliably remove tongue coating adhering to the tongue.

[0014] Furthermore, in the electric tongue brush (1), each of the bristle bundles (6) implanted in the brush head (3) may be formed by bundling together a plurality of nylon filaments having a thickness (d) of 75 to 80 μm and a length (L) of 5 to 12 mm, and the circumscribed circle diameter (D) of the plurality of bristle bundles (6) may be set to φ2.0 to 2.5 cm.

[0015] According to the above configuration, the filaments that make up the bristle bundles implanted in the brush head are thinner, longer, and more flexible than the filaments that make up the bristle bundles of a toothbrush, with a thickness of 75 to 80 μm and a length L of 5 to 12 mm, so there is no problem such as the bristle bundles scratching the surface of the tongue. [Effects of the Invention]

[0016] According to the present invention, tongue coating adhering to the tongue can be easily and reliably removed electrically, which contributes to preventing bad breath. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view of an electric tongue brush according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a brush head portion of an electric tongue brush according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a drive system of an electric tongue brush according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 3(a) to 3(c) are diagrams showing the reciprocating rotational motion of the brush head of the electric tongue brush in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a drive system of an electric tongue brush according to a second embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0019] <First Embodiment> Figure 1 is a perspective view of an electric tongue brush according to embodiment 1 of the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the brush head portion of the electric tongue brush, Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the drive system of the electric tongue brush, and Figures 4(a) to (c) are diagrams showing the reciprocating rotational motion of the brush head of the electric tongue brush.

[0020] The electric tongue brush 1 according to this embodiment is primarily intended to electrically remove tongue coating adhering to a person's tongue, and as shown in Fig. 1, is configured to include a tongue brush main body 2, a brush head 3 rotatably provided at the tip of the tongue brush main body 2, and a drive system for reciprocatingly rotating the brush head 3. In the following description, the directions of the arrows shown in Fig. 1 will be referred to as "up and down" and "front and back."

[0021] The tongue brush body 2 is composed of a cylindrical body case 2A with a bottom and a tapered cylindrical neck portion (handle) 2B extending upward from the top end of the body case 2A, with a brush head 3 rotatably mounted on the top end of the neck portion 2B. The brush body 2 is made of a resin such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyacetal (POM), and the neck portion 2B is detachably connected to the body case 2A. Also, as shown in Figure 1, a round ON / OFF switch 4 for rotating / stopping the brush head 3 is provided at an intermediate height position of the tongue brush body 2.

[0022] As shown in detail in Fig. 2, the brush head 3 is configured by implanting multiple bristle bundles 6 in a cylindrical shape on a rotatably supported disk-shaped bristle implantation base 5. Here, each bristle bundle 6 is configured by bundling multiple nylon filaments (not shown) with a thickness d of 75 to 80 µm and a length L of 5 to 12 mm. Note that in Figs. 1 and 2, each bristle bundle 6 is illustrated as a single cylindrical mass, but in reality it is configured by bundling multiple filaments (not shown). Furthermore, the outer diameter D of the cylinder formed by the multiple bristle bundles 6 implanted on the bristle implantation base 5 (the circumscribed circle of the multiple bristle bundles 6 forming a cylindrical shape) is set to φ2.0 to 2.5 cm.

[0023] Next, the configuration of the drive system of the brush head 3 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

[0024] 3, a battery 7 serving as a power source and an electric motor 8 that is driven and rotated by the power supplied from the battery 7 are housed in a vertically placed state within the main body case 2A of the tongue brush main body 2. A gear 9 is attached to the upper end of an output shaft (motor shaft) 8a that extends upward from the center of the electric motor 8, and the gear 9 meshes with a ring gear 10. The battery 7 can be a disposable primary battery or a rechargeable secondary battery.

[0025] The ring gear 10 is housed in the upper part of the main body case 2A and is supported rotatably about a rotation shaft 11 disposed along the front-to-rear direction (the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 3). An eccentric cam 12 is attached to the rotation shaft 11 and has its center offset by ε as shown in the figure from the center of the rotation shaft 11. A driven member 14 is attached to the lower end of a rod 13 that is inserted vertically into the neck portion 2B of the tongue brush main body 2, and the eccentric cam 12 engages with an elongated hole 14a formed in this driven member 14.

[0026] Here, the gear 9, ring gear 10, eccentric cam 12, and driven member 14 constitute a first mechanism for converting the rotation of the output shaft 8a of the electric motor 8 into reciprocating linear motion of the rod 13 in the vertical direction (the direction of arrow A in Figure 3).

[0027] 3, the bristle base 5 of the brush head 3 is rotatably supported by a shaft 15 whose center is disposed in the front-to-rear direction, and a long hole 5a is formed in the rear surface of the bristle base 5 along the radial direction. A roller 17 provided at the upper end (swing end) of a swing arm 16 is slidably fitted into this long hole 5a. The swing arm 16 has a lower end (base end) pivotally attached to the neck portion 2B of the tongue brush body 2 by a swing shaft 18 so as to be swingable.

[0028] On the other hand, a bent portion 13A is formed at the upper end of the rod 13, and the upper end of this bent portion 13A is connected to the lower end (base end) of the swing arm 16 by a pin 19.

[0029] Here, the swing arm 16 constitutes a second mechanism for converting the vertical reciprocating linear motion of the rod 13 into the reciprocating rotational motion of the brush head 3 (alternating forward and backward motion within a predetermined angle range).

[0030] Next, the operation of the electric tongue brush 1 configured as above will be described.

[0031] When a user holds the case body 2A of the electric tongue brush 1 and presses the ON / OFF switch 4 once, electricity is supplied from the battery 7 to the electric motor 8, starting the electric motor 8 and rotating the output shaft 8a of the electric motor 8. The rotation of the output shaft 8a is then reduced through the gear 9 and ring gear 10 and transmitted to the rotating shaft 11, causing the rotating shaft 11 and the eccentric cam 12 connected thereto to rotate.

[0032] As described above, when eccentric cam 12 rotates within elongated hole 14a of driven member 14, the rotation of eccentric cam 12 is converted into a reciprocating linear motion in the vertical direction (direction of arrow A in FIG. 3) of stroke S (=2ε) of rod 13 via driven member 14. That is, the rotation of output shaft 8a of electric motor 8 is converted into a reciprocating linear motion in the vertical direction of rod 13 by the first mechanism.

[0033] The vertical reciprocating linear motion of the rod 13 is converted into a reciprocating rotational motion of the brush head 3 by a second mechanism, as will be described below.

[0034] That is, when the rod 13 moves upward by the stroke S from the neutral state shown in Fig. 4(a), the swing arm 16 swings in the direction of the arrow (counterclockwise) around the swing shaft 18 as shown in Fig. 4(b), and the brush head 3 connected to the swing arm 16 via the roller 17 rotates in the direction of the arrow (clockwise) around the shaft 15 by the angle θ shown in the figure. At this time, the roller 17 provided at the tip of the swing arm 16 slides radially outward while rolling within the elongated hole 5a of the implantation base 5 provided on the brush head 3.

[0035] Conversely, when the rod 13 moves downward by a stroke S from the neutral state shown in Fig. 4(a), the swing arm 16 swings in the direction of the arrow (clockwise) around the swing shaft 18 as shown in Fig. 4(c), causing the brush head 3 connected to the swing arm 16 via the roller 17 to rotate in the direction of the arrow (counterclockwise) around the shaft 15 by the angle θ shown in the figure. At this time, the roller 17 provided at the tip of the swing arm 16 slides radially outward while rolling within the elongated hole 5a of the planting base 5. In this embodiment, the angle θ is set to 45°.

[0036] As described above, the vertical reciprocating linear motion of the rod 13 is converted by the second mechanism into reciprocating rotational motion within a predetermined angle range of 2θ (=90°) of the brush head 3. Therefore, when the user holds the electric tongue brush 1 in their hand and presses the ON / OFF switch once to turn it ON, the electric motor 8 is started and the rotation of its output shaft 8a is converted by the first and second mechanisms into reciprocating rotational motion around the shaft 15 of the brush head 3.

[0037] From the above state, the user inserts the brush head 3 of the electric tongue brush 1 into their mouth and moves the bristle bundles 6 of the reciprocating brush head 3 against the surface of the tongue. The bristle bundles 6 easily and effectively remove tongue coating, preventing not only bad breath but also stomatitis and viral infections. Furthermore, since the electric tongue brush 1 requires less skill than a manual tongue brush, anyone, regardless of age or gender, can easily remove tongue coating from the surface of their tongue. Furthermore, the filaments constituting the bristle bundles 6 implanted in the implantation base 5 of the brush head 3 have a thickness d of 75 to 80 μm and a length L of 5 to 12 mm, which is thinner, longer, and more flexible than the filaments constituting the bristle bundles of a toothbrush. Therefore, problems such as the bristle bundles 6 scratching the surface of the tongue do not occur.

[0038] Furthermore, when the user presses the ON / OFF switch 4 again after the tongue brush 1 has finished removing tongue coating, the power supply from the battery 7 to the electric motor 8 is cut off, and the rotation of the electric motor 8 and the brush head 3 stops.

[0039] <Embodiment 2> Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

[0040] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the drive system of the electric tongue brush according to embodiment 2 of the present invention. Note that the basic configuration of the electric tongue brush 1 according to this embodiment is the same as that of the electric tongue brush 1 according to embodiment 1, so a repeated explanation will be omitted below, and in the following explanation, the same reference numerals will be used for the same elements as those shown in Figures 1 and 2.

[0041] The electric tongue brush 1 according to this embodiment differs from that of the first embodiment only in the configuration of the drive system of the brush head 3, and the brush head 3 is driven to rotate continuously in one direction.

[0042] As shown in Figure 5, similar to the drive system according to the first embodiment, a battery 7 as a power source and an electric motor 8 that is driven and rotated by the power supplied from the battery 7 are housed in a vertically placed state inside the main body case 2A (see Figure 1) of the tongue brush main body 2. An output shaft (motor shaft) 8a extending upward from the center of the electric motor 8 passes through the neck portion 2B (see Figure 1) of the tongue brush main body 2 and extends to the brush head 3, with a bevel gear 20 attached to its upper end.

[0043] The brush head 3 is connected to a rotary shaft 21 arranged along a front-rear direction perpendicular to the output shaft 8a of the electric motor 8, and a bevel gear 22 is attached to the front end of the rotary shaft 21, and this bevel gear 22 meshes with the bevel gear 20. Here, the two meshing bevel gears 20, 22 constitute a conversion mechanism that converts the rotation direction of the output shaft 8a of the electric motor 8 into a direction perpendicular to the axis.

[0044] Next, the operation of the electric tongue brush 1 configured as above will be described.

[0045] When a user grips the case body 2A of the electric tongue brush 1 and presses the ON / OFF switch 4 once, electricity is supplied from the battery 7 to the electric motor 8, starting the electric motor 8 and rotating the output shaft 8a of the electric motor 8. The rotation direction of the output shaft 8a is then converted to a direction perpendicular to the axis by the bevel gears 22 and 20 that make up the conversion mechanism, and transmitted to the rotating shaft 21 and the brush head 3 attached thereto, causing them to rotate.

[0046] From the above state, the user inserts the brush head 3 side of the electric tongue brush 1 into the mouth and moves the multiple bristle bundles 6 attached to the bristle base 5 of the rotating brush head 3 against the surface of the tongue. The bristle bundles 6 then easily and effectively remove tongue coating adhering to the surface of the tongue, preventing not only bad breath but also stomatitis and viral infections.

[0047] In addition, in this embodiment, the same effects as those obtained in the first embodiment can be obtained.

[0048] In this embodiment, if an electric motor 8 capable of rotating forward and reverse is used and the polarity of the electric motor 8 is alternately switched using a switching means such as a switching circuit, the brush head 3 can be rotated forward and reverse in the same manner as in embodiment 1.

[0049] In addition, in the above embodiment, the brush head 3 is rotated back and forth to remove tongue coating adhering to the tongue, but high-speed vibrations (high-frequency vibrations) may also be applied to the brush head 3 that is rotating back and forth or reciprocating.

[0050] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the application of the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims and the technical ideas described in the specification and drawings.

Claims

1. An electric tongue brush for removing tongue coating, a tongue brush body including a main body case and a tapered neck portion extending from one end of the main body case; a brush head having a plurality of bristle bundles planted therein and rotatably provided at the tip of the neck portion; a battery and an electric motor housed in the main body case; a conversion mechanism that converts the rotation of the electric motor into a reciprocating rotational motion or a rotational motion of the brush head; Equipped with The brush head is rotatably supported by a shaft whose center is disposed in the front-rear direction, The conversion mechanism converts the rotational or reciprocating motion of the brush head about the axis, The plurality of bristle bundles are configured to have a cylindrical shape by including a plurality of columnar portions each having a substantially fan-shaped base, The plurality of columnar portions each having a substantially sector-shaped base are spaced apart from one another by gaps, The circumscribed circle diameter of the plurality of hair bundles is set to φ2.0 to φ2.5 cm. An electric tongue brush.

2. The conversion mechanism converts the rotation of the electric motor into the reciprocating rotation of the brush head, a first mechanism that converts rotation of an output shaft of the electric motor into reciprocating linear motion of a rod; a second mechanism that converts the reciprocating linear motion of the rod into a swinging motion of a swing arm; The electric tongue brush according to claim 1, further comprising:

3. the first mechanism includes a gear connected to the output shaft of the electric motor, a ring gear meshing with the gear, an eccentric cam whose rotation center is a point eccentric from the rotation center of the ring gear, and a driven member having an elongated hole with which the eccentric cam engages; The electric tongue brush described in claim 2, characterized in that the second mechanism includes a swing arm whose swing end is slidably fitted into a long hole formed radially in the brush head, whose base end is rotatably connected to the tip end of the rod at one point, and whose other base end is supported so as to be swingable around a swing axis at another point.

4. The electric tongue brush according to claim 1, characterized in that the conversion mechanism that converts the rotation of the electric motor into the rotation of the brush head is composed of a bevel gear that converts the rotation direction of the output shaft of the electric motor into a direction perpendicular to the axis.

5. An electric tongue brush as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each of the bristle bundles implanted in the brush head is composed of multiple nylon filaments bundled together, each having a thickness of 75 to 80 μm and a length of 5 to 12 mm.

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