Patent Publication Number: US-2007113360-A1

Title: Fluid driven toothbrush

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application claims priority of Taiwanese Application No. 094220374, filed on Nov. 24, 2005.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      This invention relates to a fluid driven toothbrush, more particularly to a fluid driven toothbrush including a disc that is provided with bristles and that is driven to rotate by a tangentially flowing fluid.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
       FIG. 1  illustrates a conventional toothbrush that includes a hollow handle  11 , a battery unit  14 , a motor  15  connected electrically to the battery unit  14  and having an output shaft that is provided with a cam  151 , a lever  16  connected to an urging member  162  and driven by the cam  151  to swing back and forth, an elastic tube  12  connected to an open end of the handle  11  and in contact with the lever  16  so as to vibrate when the lever  16  swings back and forth, and a brush head  13  provided with bristles  131  and connected to the elastic tube  12  so as to co-vibrate with the elastic tube  12 .  
       FIG. 2  illustrates an oral irrigator that includes a seat  21 , a water container  22  formed on the seat  21  and provided with a cylinder-and-piston assembly  23 , an irrigator jet tip  243 , and an irrigator handle  242  connected to the water container  22  through a tube  241 .  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The object of the present invention is to provide a fluid driven toothbrush including a brush head that is capable of being driven to rotate by an injected fluid flow without using electrical power as required by the aforesaid conventional toothbrush.  
      According to this invention, there is provided a fluid driven toothbrush that comprises: a brush-mounting shank defining a fluid channel and a disc-receiving chamber that is in fluid communication with the fluid channel and that is defined by a chamber-defining surface; and a brush head including a disc that extends axially and rotatably into the disc-receiving chamber and that is rotatable about a rotation axis. The brush head further includes a plurality of angularly disposed vanes centered at the rotation axis, protruding axially from the disc, and disposed in the disc-receiving chamber. Each of the vanes has a free end face in sliding contact with the chamber-defining surface of the disc-receiving chamber. The fluid channel has a curved discharging end section terminated at the disc-receiving chamber and extending in a tangential direction relative to the disc so as to generate a tangential flow in the disc-receiving chamber to push the vanes in sequence to thereby rotate the disc. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a sectional view of a conventional toothbrush;  
       FIG. 2  is a sectional view of a conventional oral irrigator;  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of a fluid driven toothbrush according to this invention for connecting to a faucet;  
       FIG. 4  is a fragmentary exploded perspective view of the preferred embodiment;  
       FIG. 5  is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating how a brush-mounting shank engages a handle of the preferred embodiment;  
       FIG. 6  is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating how a flow rate can be controlled through a regulator valve mounted in the handle of the preferred embodiment;  
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view illustrating the configuration of a brush head of the preferred embodiment;  
       FIG. 8  is a fragmentary sectional view of the preferred embodiment viewed from a radial direction;  
       FIG. 9  is a fragmentary sectional view taken along lines IX-IX in  FIG. 8 ;  
       FIG. 10  is a fragmentary sectional view taken along lines X-X in  FIG. 8 ;  
       FIGS. 11 and 12  are fragmentary sectional views to illustrate how the brush head is driven to rotate by a fluid flow and how the fluid flow flows through the brush head; and  
       FIGS. 13 and 14  are fragmentary schematic views to illustrate the preferred embodiment in a state of use.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
      FIGS.  3  to  8  illustrate the preferred embodiment of a fluid driven toothbrush according to this invention connected to a faucet  100  through a hose  32  and a connector  200 . The connector  200  has first and second outlet ports  201 ,  202  and a two-way valve  203  for controlling discharge of the fluid flow through a selected one of the first outlet port  201  and the second outlet port  202 .  
      The fluid driven toothbrush includes: a brush-mounting shank  41  defining a fluid channel  414  (see  FIG. 8 ) and a disc-receiving chamber  413  (see  FIG. 4 ) that is in fluid communication with the fluid channel  414  and that is defined by a chamber-defining surface  413 ′; and a brush head  50  including a disc  51  (see  FIG. 7 ) that extends axially and rotatably into the disc-receiving chamber  413  and that is rotatable about a rotation axis (Z). The brush head  50  further includes a plurality of angularly disposed vanes  512  centered at the rotation axis (Z), protruding axially from the disc  51 , and disposed in the disc-receiving chamber  413 . Each of the vanes  512  has a free end face  510  in sliding contact with the chamber-defining surface  413 ′ of the disc-receiving chamber  413  (see  FIGS. 7 and 9 ). The fluid channel  414  has a curved discharging end section  415  (see  FIG. 9 ) terminated at the disc-receiving chamber  413  and extending in a tangential direction relative to the disc  51  so as to generate a tangential flow in the disc-receiving chamber  413  to push the vanes  512  in sequence to thereby rotate the disc  51 . The discharging end section  415  of the fluid channel  414  is tapered toward the disc-receiving chamber  413 , thereby increasing the pushing force of the fluid flow acting on the vanes  512 .  
      In this embodiment, each of the vanes  512  has a first axial end  5125  (see  FIG. 7 ) connected to the disc  51 , and a second axial end  5126  opposite to the first axial end  5125 , and is formed with a recess  5121  extending axially from the second axial end  5126  to the first axial end  5125  and radially from the free end face  510  toward the rotation axis (Z). The disc  51  is formed with a plurality of jet holes  5112 , each of which is axially aligned and is in fluid communication with the recess  5121  in a respective one of the vanes  512  (see  FIG. 8 ). The disc  51  is provided with bristles  53  (see  FIGS. 4, 8 , and  10 ) disposed opposite to the vanes  512 . A flange  511  extends radially from the disc  51  so as to define a shoulder  517  therebetween. The chamber-defining surface  413 ′ is formed with a neck  417  that is in sliding contact with the shoulder  517  (see  FIG. 8 ).  
      The fluid channel  414  is defined by a channel-defining surface  414 ′ (see  FIGS. 8 and 9 ) that has a discharging end edge  416 . The discharging end edge  416  has a leading edge portion  4161  and a trailing edge portion  4162  (see  FIG. 9 ) with respect to a flowing direction of the tangential flow. The free end face  510  of each of the vanes  512  has a trailing edge  5101  with respect to the flowing direction of the tangential flow. The recess  5121  in each of the vanes  512  is defined by a recess-defining surface  5121 ′ (see  FIG. 7 ) that extends inwardly from the trailing edge  5101  of the free end face  510  of the respective one of the vanes  512 . The recess-defining surface  5121 ′ of the recess  5121  in each of the vanes  512  faces toward and is aligned with the discharging end edge  416  of the channel-defining surface  414 ′ of the fluid channel  414  in the tangential direction with respect to the disc  51  when the trailing edge  5101  of the free end face  510  of the respective one of the vanes  512  coincides with the leading edge portion  4161  of the discharging end edge  416  of the channel-defining surface  414  (see  FIG. 9 ), there by guiding the fluid flow through the respective jet hole  5112  in the disc  51 .  
      A handle  31  is connected detachably to the brush-mounting shank  41  (see  FIGS. 4 and 5 ), and is formed with a fluid passage  314  that is in fluid communication with the fluid channel  414 . The handle  31  has a connecting end portion  313  that is formed with an inner retaining groove  315 . The brush-mounting shank  41  has a connecting end portion  411  that extends into the connecting end portion  313  of the handle  31  and that is formed with a retaining boss  4111  engaging the inner retaining groove  315  in the connecting end portion  313  of the handle  31 . A regulator valve  33  (see  FIG. 6 ) is mounted in the fluid passage  314  in the handle  31 , and is in the form of a ball valve.  
      The brush-mounting shank  41  further has a circular end portion  412  opposite to the connecting end portion  411  and defining the disc-receiving chamber  413 . The brush head  50  further includes a cylindrical shaft  55  (see  FIGS. 4, 7 , and  8 ) that defines the rotation axis (Z) and that is formed with an axially extending inner threaded hole  551 , and a cylindrical central sleeve  518  that projects axially from the disc  51  and that is sleeved rotatably on the shaft  55 . Each of the vanes  512  extends radially from the central sleeve  518  toward the chamber-defining surface  413 ′ of the disc-receiving chamber  413 . The circular end portion  412  of the brush-mounting shank  41  has a base wall  4121  (see  FIG. 8 ) that has a peripheral edge, and a surrounding wall  4122  that extends axially from the peripheral edge of the base wall  4121 . The discharging end section  415  of the fluid channel  414  terminates at the surrounding wall  4122  of the circular end portion  412  of the brush-mounting shank  41 . A fastener  52  extends through the base wall  4121  of the circular end portion  412  of the brush-mounting shank  41  to engage threadedly the inner threaded hole  551  in the shaft  55 .  
      FIGS.  11  to  14 , in combination with  FIGS. 3 and 9 , illustrate how the fluid driven toothbrush brushes and rinses simultaneously the teeth when in a state of use. In operation, tap water flows through the fluid passage  314  in the handle  31  and the fluid channel  414  in the brush-mounting shank  41  and into the disc-receiving chamber  413 , and pushes the vanes  512  in sequence to rotate the brush head  50  (see  FIG. 11 ), thereby enabling brushing of the teeth. At the same time, the tap water further flows through the jet holes  5112  so as to generate water jets to rinse and clean the teeth during brushing (see  FIGS. 12, 13 , and  14 ).  
      By virtue of the design of the vanes  512  and the discharging end section  415  of the fluid channel  414  extending in the tangential direction, the fluid driven toothbrush of this invention can be used to brush teeth efficiently. Moreover, with the inclusion of the jet holes  5112  in the disc  51  of the brush head  50 , the fluid driven toothbrush of this invention is capable of perform brushing and rinsing simultaneously.  
      While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretations and equivalent arrangements.