Patent ID: 8087116

Claim:
An electric toothbrush having: a motor; a cam rotatably driven by the motor and having a projecting head offset from the cam's axis of rotation; whereby in use the projecting head of the cam describes a circular motion around the cam's axis of rotation; an elongate transfer member for transferring motion from the cam to a toothbrush head, said transfer member having first and second ends, the first end having a receiver for receiving the projecting head of the cam, the second end having or being linked to a mechanism for transferring oscillatory motion to a toothbrush head, the transfer member having a pivot point positioned between its two ends; said receiver having an elongate aperture for receiving the projecting head of the cam including long sides and short sides, the length of the aperture being equal to or greater than the diameter of the circular motion of the projecting head of the cam, the width of the aperture, perpendicular to said length, having a length less than the length of said aperture; whereby in use circular motion of the projecting head of the cam causes the elongate transfer member to pivot around its pivot point to thereby convert the circular motion of the projecting head into substantially planar oscillatory motion of the transfer member by action of the projecting head of the cam against the long sides of the elongate aperture.