Toothbrush

The tooth brush comprises a figurehead detachably fixed to a handle. The head contains a module with at least one pushbutton, a loudspeaker, a digital sound generator and a battery (19). When the button is pressed, a tune is generated by the sound generator for a particular period of time and played back through the loudspeaker. This design makes the toothbrush less expensive to produce and makes it easier for children to become accustomed to regular and thorough cleaning of their teeth.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
A toothbrush according to the prior art is known from German Auslegescrift 
No. 3,149,233. A battery is moduled onto the end of the stem. This head 
houses a miniature tape recorder and a loudspeaker. After actuation of a 
pushbutton, the tape recorder plays a tune for 2 to 3 minutes and then 
rewinds automatically. This is intended to make the cleaning of teeth more 
attractive to children and above all they are to be encouraged to clean 
their teeth for a sufficient period of time. This proposal lacks, in 
particular, practical feasibility. Up until now, a miniature tape recorder 
having the small dimensions necessary has not been developed. Furthermore, 
the assembly and wiring of the individual electronic components is 
complex. 
The invention is based on the object of further developing a toothbrush 
that can be made less expensively than the prior art toothbrush. This 
object is achieved by providing the signal generator as a digital sound 
generator, wherein the sound generator, the battery, the pushbutton and 
the loudspeaker are housed in a module arranged in the head, the head 
being detachably fixed to the stem.

The toothbrush according to FIG. 1 has a brush body 1 and a handle 2, at 
the free end of which an external thread 3 is moulded on. A figurehead 4 
is screwed onto this thread 3. The head 4 houses an electronic module 5, 
the circuit diagram of which is shown in FIG. 2 according to a first 
embodiment of the invention. The head 4 is expediently sealed water-tight. 
The module 5 comprises a control unit 10, a digital sound generator 11 with 
three individual chips 12a, 12b, 12c, in each of which four tunes of 2 to 
3 minutes duration are stored, and a digital voice synthesizer 13 for the 
issuing of cleaning instructions at certain intervals within the period of 
time during which a tune plays in each case. The sound generator 11 is 
connected to a loudspeaker 14 and via a control line 15 to the control 
unit 10. The input to the control unit 10 is via three illuminated 
pushbuttons 16a, 16b, 16c, each with a light-emitting diode 17a, 17b, 17c 
of different colours. Control unit 10 and sound generator 11 are powered 
by two batteries 18, 19, the one battery 18 serving operation of the 
light-emitting diodes, while the other battery 19 supplies the electronics 
of the control unit 10 and the sound generator 11. 
The embodiment shown in FIG. 3 differs from the embodiment of FIG. 2 in 
that the module 5' contains a single pushbutton switch 16, and the three 
light emitting diodes 17a, 17b, 17c of different colors are rigidly 
mounted to the housing of module 5'. In the three chips 12a, 12b, 12c, 
different types of tunes are stored, i.e., in chip 12a morning tunes, in 
chip 12b, midday tunes and in chip 12c bedtime tunes. When the switch 16' 
is pressed the next time then the tunes stored in the next chip 12b are 
played and so on. 
The embodiment has proved to be of great pedagogic value in that the 
children are reminded by their toothbrush of forgotten brushings when they 
next operate the brush. When, e.g., a child has not brushed his/her teeth 
after lunch this will be noticed in the evening when the wrong type of 
tunes are played by the brush. 
The function of the toothbrush shown is as follows. 
At the beginning of cleaning teeth, one of the three buttons 16a, 16b, 16c 
is depressed, namely depending on the time of day, morning, midday, 
evening. By means of the actuated button 16a, 16b, 16c, the corresponding 
individual chip 12a, 12b, 12c with a repertoire of tunes suitable for the 
time of day is selected via the control unit 10, a tune is called up from 
the repertoire and played. During the playing period, the tune is 
periodically interrupted for the issuing of cleaning instructions by means 
of the voice synthesizer 13, for example "bottom left outside, bottom 
middle outside etc.", for example at intervals of approximately 15 
seconds. During the playing duration of the tune, the light-emitting diode 
17a, 17b, 17c assigned to the depressed button 16a, 16b, 16c remains 
switched-on, and the reception of signals of the buttons 16a, 16b, 16c by 
the control unit 10 is blocked. 
The digital sound generator 11 with the chips 12a, 12b, 12c and the voice 
synthesizer 13 has a low power requirement and can be made very small so 
that the entire module 5 can be constructed as a cube having an edge 
length of just 2 cm. The same module 5 can be installed in heads 4 of 
various shapes which, at low costs, makes it possible to produce a range 
of heads satisfying different tastes. Since the head 4 is connected 
detachably to the handle 2, it may also be used by children for playing. 
This is of great pedagogical advantage if it is time for cleaning teeth by 
using play. In addition, in this way the toothbrush can be exchanged when 
it has become worn out without having to throw away the figurehead at the 
same time. 
The figurehead 4 can also be used to house a reservoir 26, which can be 
closed by means of a cover 25, with a reel 27 with dental floss, indicated 
by dot-dashed lines in FIG. 1. This makes the dental floss available at 
any time it is needed during the cleaning of teeth.