Patent ID: 7852182

Claim:
An actuator mechanism for a personal care appliance having a housing, comprising: A yoke assembly having two or more spaced outer coil support legs and an intermediate workpiece support leg wherein the outer and intermediate support legs extend in an axial dimension between first ends and opposing free ends thereof; an armature positioned adjacent the free ends of the support legs of the yoke assembly; a spring assembly connecting the armature to the housing of the personal care appliance; an output drive shaft extending from the armature member adapted to receive a workpiece mounting shaft and/or a workpiece member at a free end thereof; at least one coil wound on the coil support legs of the yoke assembly; a source of power for the actuator mechanism; and a programmable control system for applying power to the coils to move the armature and the output drive shaft in at least two dimensions, including said axial dimension and a second dimension which is different than the axial dimension.