Braun Gmbh

Braun Aktiengesellschaft

The Procter Gamble Company

Gillette Canada Company

Norbert Schaefer

Thomas Willi Fritsch

Andreas Kramp

Georges Driesen

Joern Utsch

Michael Stolper

Michael Sauer

Armin Schwarz-Hartmann

Uwe Schober

Rainer Hans

Robert Schäfer

Ahmet Cem Firatli

Martin Haas

Frank Ziegler

Benedikt Heil

Martin Stratmann

Torsten Klemm

Wolfgang Stegmann

Vladimir Gartstein

Mingchih M Tseng

Niclas Altmann

Donald James White, Jr

Hansjörg Reick

Marlis Hübner

Karen Lynn Claire-Zimmet

Michael Schmid

Peter Janouch

Andreas Larscheid

Friedrich Henninger

Marc Kunz

Uwe Jungnickel

Duy Phong Vu

Gordon Gerald Guay

Rory McGarry

Alexander Hilscher

Phong Duy Vu

Heidrun Annika Schmelcher

Ulrich Stoerkel

Tobias Schwarz

Karl Herzog

Norbert Gerstner

Bernhard Boland

Ingo Vetter

Uwe Bielfeldt

Frank Roland Gliemroth

Stefan Schamberg

Bernd Trebitz

Sven Alexander Franke

Leo Faranda

Kervin Heinrich Küchler

Reiner Engelmohr

Andreas Moehring

Carl Stückrath

Erik Eisenkolb

Daniel Dietzel

Ahmet C Firatli

Scott Batson

Hansjoerg Reick

Jörn Utsch

Helge Zimmet

Ivo Kunath

Oswald Gromer

Peter Ruppert

Heinz Kern

Joachim Klimeck

Frank Stefan Skopp

Matthias Paschold

Marcel Denis Knorr

Eva Susanne Dominique Thurnay

Christian Probst

Florian Baier

Peter Schaefer

Christof Miltenberger

Jannik Scheele

Frank Müller

Donald James White

Silvia Kamalla

Jiri Sobota

Michael Dröβler

Bernard Boland

Eva Susanne Thurnay

Winfried Ziemann

Stefan Meier

Rory Mcgarry

Rory Mc Garry

Marlis Huebner

Joem Utsch

Robert SCHÄFER

Marko Limpert-Kiesel

Küchler Kervin

Kervin Kuchler

Jorn Utsch

Carl Stuckrath

Vladimir Fischer

An oral care device attachment for being coupled to an oral care device handle having an essentially cylindrical drive shaft coupling end. The attachment has an outer attachment tube having a coupling end for being detachably secured at a housing of the device handle. A carrier is mounted for driven motion at the outer attachment tube. A motion transmitter is disposed inside the outer attachment tube and has a first end coupled with the carrier and a second end arranged for coupling with the essentially cylindrical drive shaft coupling end. The second end has a coupling unit having a top plate and at least one at least partly deformable and essentially cylindrical wall element extending from the top plate, or at least two elastic or deflectable wall elements extending from the top plate, respectively. Each of the elastic or deflectable wall elements extends over a portion of a virtual receiver cylinder, so that an essentially cylindrical receiver receptacle is defined by the top plate and the one at least partly deformable essentially cylindrical wall element or by the top plate and the at least two elastic or deflectable wall elements.

Attachment for an oral care device handle

An electric toothbrush having bristle driven pulsation includes a brush head having a bristle holder and bristle tufts attached to the bristle holder. The bristle tufts and corresponding bristles are disposed at a perpendicular and/or a non-perpendicular angle with respect to a mounting surface of the brush head. The electric toothbrush also includes an electric toothbrush handle removably attached to the brush head. The electric toothbrush handle includes a linear motor configured to drive the bristle holder via a gearing structure coupled to the linear motor and the bristle holder. The linear motor causes the bristle holder to rotate clockwise and counterclockwise at a rotation frequency which exceeds a rotation frequency threshold (e.g., 100 Hz, 120 Hz, etc.). The linear motor also causes the brush head to vibrate in a direction toward and away from a contact surface in synchronization with the rotation of the bristles.

Bristle driven pulsation

An oral care device attachment for being coupled to a drive shaft of an oral care device handle, the attachment including: an outer attachment tube having a coupling end that is intended for being secured at the oral care device handle; a carrier mounted for driven motion at the outer attachment tube; a motion transmitter disposed inside of the outer attachment tube; where a spring is arranged that the motion transmitter is biased into a position towards the coupling end of the outer attachment tube.

A personal hygiene device has a drive unit having a support, a stator fixedly mounted at the support, and an armature spring-mounted at the support for driven linear oscillating motion along a first longitudinal direction parallel to or coinciding with an x-axis of an x-y-z coordinate system. The armature has a center of gravity located in rest at a coordinate [x, y, z], and a drive shaft fixedly coupled with the armature and having a center of gravity located in rest at a coordinate [x, y, z]. A first treatment head assembly, detachably connected to the drive shaft, has a center of gravity located in rest at a coordinate [x, y, z]. A secondary mass element, spring-mounted at the support for essentially linear oscillating motion along the first longitudinal direction, has a center of gravity located in rest at a coordinate [x, y, z]. At least the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the armature has an offset in at least one of the y-direction and z-direction with respect to the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the drive-shaft or with respect to the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the first treatment head assembly, i.e., y&#x2260;yand/or y&#x2260;yand/or z&#x2260;zand/or z&#x2260;z; and the secondary mass element is configured such that the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the secondary mass element is aligned with the coordinate [x, y, z] of the joint center of gravity of the drive shaft, the first treatment head assembly and the armature in the at least one offset direction, i.e., y=yand z=z, so that a line connecting the coordinate [x, y, z] of the center of gravity of the secondary mass element and the coordinate [x, yz] of the joint center of gravity is parallel to or coincides with the x-axis.

Personal hygiene device

A personal hygiene device has a handle and a treatment head pivotably connected with the handle. Applying a treatment force against the treatment head causes a pivoting of the treatment head relative to the handle. A sensor, such as, e.g., a Hall sensor, fixedly secured with respect to one of the handle and the treatment head, measures a measurement variable. A sensor cooperation unit defines or influences the measurement variable in dependence on the relative position of the sensor and the sensor cooperation unit, such e.g., as a sensor permanent magnet, fixedly secured relative to one of the handle and the treatment head. A spring unit defines a rest position of the treatment head when no treatment force is applied. The spring unit has a first spring constant in the treatment direction and a second spring constant in a lateral direction, the second spring constant being at least about two times higher than the first spring constant.

A personal hygiene device has a handle, a treatment head, and a motor carrier disposed in the handle. The motor is pivot-mounted against at least one spring element arranged between the handle and the motor carrier. The motor has a stator portion fixedly mounted at the motor carrier and an armature portion spring mounted at the motor carrier to allow a motion relative to the motor carrier. The armature portion is coupled with a drive shaft connected with the treatment head for transferring motion thereto, wherein an external treatment force acting on the brush head leads to pivoting of the motor carrier relative to the handle. The motor has a motor permanent magnet and a coil for providing an alternating electromagnetic field interacting therewith to excite an oscillating motion of the drive shaft. A Hall sensor is fixedly mounted to the handle or to the motor carrier; and a sensor permanent magnet is fixedly mounted to the other one of the handle and motor carrier, so that a pivoting motion of the motor carrier leads to a relative movement between the sensor permanent magnet and the Hall sensor.

An electrically driven device includes an electric motor with a drive shaft having a first rotary axis and a drive pin eccentrically thereto, and a driven shaft having a second rotary axis and mounted for pivoting motion. The driven shaft is coupled to the drive shaft by a scotch yoke mechanism, converting a rotary motion of the drive shaft into a reciprocating pivoting motion of the driven shaft. The scotch yoke mechanism includes a cross slider having a sliding support extending perpendicular to the first rotary axis and receiving the drive pin either directly or by a sliding block having a bearing receiving the pin. The cross slider is axially guided to move in an axial direction perpendicular to the first rotary axis and to the extension of the sliding support. The driven shaft is coupled to the cross slider by a pivotable crank arm, thereby converting a rotary motion of the drive shaft into a reciprocating motion of the driven shaft.

Electrically driven device

An electrically driven device includes a housing, an electric motor with a drive shaft having a first rotary axis and a drive pin eccentrically connected to the drive shaft, and a driven shaft having a second rotary axis and mounted in the housing for a pivoting movement. The driven shaft is coupled to the drive pin by a gear mechanism converting a rotary motion of the drive shaft into the reciprocating pivoting of the driven shaft. The gear mechanism has first and second transmission stages, the former including a cross slider, and the latter an elastically deformable transmission member. The cross slider has a sliding support extending perpendicular to the first rotary axis and receiving the drive pin. The cross slider is axially guided in the housing to move in an axial direction perpendicular to the first rotary axis and perpendicular to the extension of the sliding support. A link, offset relative to the second rotary axis, connects the cross slider to the elastically deformable transmission member.

An electrically driven device includes a housing, an electric motor with a drive shaft having a first rotary axis and a drive pin connected to the drive shaft eccentrically with respect to the rotary axis, and a driven shaft having a second rotary axis and mounted in the housing for performing a pivoting about the second rotary axis. The driven shaft is coupled to the drive shaft by a gear mechanism having a scotch yoke mechanism converting a rotary motion of the drive shaft into a reciprocating pivoting motion of the driven shaft. The scotch yoke mechanism includes a cross slider receiving the drive pin and having a sliding support extending perpendicular to the first rotary axis. The cross slider is guided in the housing by at least two elastically deformable elements. The driven shaft is coupled to the cross slider by a pivotable crank arm, converting a rotary motion of the drive shaft into a reciprocating of the driven shaft.

An oral hygiene implement has a neck section extending along a longitudinal direction and a head section having a through hole therein extending through the head section along a through hole direction having an angle with respect to the longitudinal direction and having a head section housing surrounding the through hole. The neck section has a neck section housing surrounding a neck section cavity. The through hole defines a first and a second opening in the head section housing. A cap element, separately made from the head section housing, is connected with the head section housing to essentially cover the first opening. A carrier element, separately made from the head section housing, is arranged to cover the second opening. Between an edge of the first opening and an edge of the cap there is a circumferential gap that allows water, saliva, or toothpaste to escape an interior of the head section during use.

Oral hygiene implement

The present disclosure is concerned with an oral hygiene implement having a longitudinal axis, a carrier element mounted for driven movement, a motion transmitter that has a first end for transferring a drive force to the carrier element, which first end is provided at a position being offset from the longitudinal axis, and the motion transmitter has a second end positioned essentially on on the longitudinal axis or is arranged for being positioned essentially on the longitudinal axis during operation, wherein the motion transmitter has a first coupling part comprising the first end, which first coupling part essentially extends along a centre axis arranged at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis, and a second coupling part comprising the second end, which first coupling part is fixedly connected with a first connecting portion of an elastic pivot element that allows that the first coupling part and the second coupling part can pivot with respect to each other at least in a first pivoting plane spanned by the longitudinal axis and by the centre axis, and wherein the first coupling part is made from a plastics material, including reinforced plastics materials, having a Young's modulus of at least 5000 MPa or from a metal material, and at least the first connecting portion, in particular the whole elastic pivot element, is made from a plastics material having a Young's modulus of not more than 3000 MPa, optionally of not more than 1000 MPa, further optionally of not more than 500 MPa.

Oral care implement

An oral-care implement having a housing extending along a longitudinal-extension direction, a functional element mounted at the housing for driven motion relative to the housing, a motion-transmitter element disposed within the housing and extending along the longitudinal-extension direction. The motion-transmitter element has a first coupling portion coupled with the functional element. The motion-transmitter element has a metal-sheet portion made from a punched and bent metal sheet. The metal-sheet portion can have at least one section having a non-flat cross-sectional shape in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal-extension direction, such as an L-shape, or U-shape, or S-shape.

An electrically driven device includes a housing, an electric motor with a drive shaft having a first rotary axis and a drive pin connected to the drive shaft eccentrically with respect to the rotary axis, and a driven shaft having a second rotary axis and mounted in the housing for a pivoting about the second rotary axis. The driven shaft is indirectly coupled to the drive shaft by a gear mechanism converting a rotary motion of the drive shaft into a reciprocating pivoting motion of the driven shaft. The gear mechanism includes a cross slider having a sliding support extending perpendicular to the first rotary axis and receiving the drive pin. The cross slider is guided in the housing by a parallel lever in the form of a parallelogram by at least two pivotable links. The driven shaft is coupled to the cross slider by one of the said links, thereby converting a rotary motion of the drive shaft into a reciprocating pivoting of the driven shaft.

Growing community of inventors

Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Norbert Schaefer