Mounting system for an oscillating motor in a personal care appliance

Abstract

Oscillating motor mounting systems for personal care appliances are disclosed that reduce vibration transmitted to the appliance handle. In order to reduce vibration in the handle, the oscillating motor is suspended within the personal care appliance via a suspension system.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 
     
         1 . A personal care appliance, comprising:
 a handle having a longitudinal axis;   a set of upper flexible mounts disposed within the handle;   a set of lower flexible mounts disposed within the handle; and   an oscillating motor suspended in a balanced manner between the set of upper flexible mounts and the set of lower flexible mounts, wherein the oscillating motor defines an oscillating axis.   
     
     
         2 . The personal care appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the set of lower flexible mounts includes a quantity of lower flexible mounts and wherein the set of upper flexible mounts includes a quantity of upper flexible mounts, wherein the quantity of lower flexible mounts is different than the quantity of upper flexible mounts. 
     
     
         3 . The personal care appliance of  claim 2 , wherein the quantity of lower flexible mounts is less than the quantity of upper flexible mounts. 
     
     
         4 . The personal care appliance of  claim 3 , wherein each of the upper flexible mounts and each of the lower flexible mounts are configured with a preload force. 
     
     
         5 . The personal care appliance of  claim 4 , wherein the lower flexible mounts and the upper flexible mounts are cooperatively positioned within the handle and configured such that the sum of the moments caused by the preload forces orthogonal to the oscillating axis is approximately zero and the sum of the preload forces along the oscillating axis is zero. 
     
     
         6 . The personal care appliance of  claim 1 , wherein each of the upper flexible mounts and each of the lower flexible mounts include compressible elastomeric vibration isolators. 
     
     
         7 . The personal care appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the lower flexible mounts lie on the X axis of the oscillating motor, the X axis being orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the handle. 
     
     
         8 . The personal care appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the upper flexible mounts include a three vibration isolators, one vibration isolator lies on the X axis of the oscillating motor while the other two vibration isolators are positioned an equivalent distance on opposite sides of the X axis from one another, the X axis being orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the handle. 
     
     
         9 . The personal care appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the set of upper flexible mounts includes three upper flexible mounts and wherein the set of the lower flexible mounts includes two flexible mounts. 
     
     
         10 . A personal care appliance, comprising:
 a handle having a handle base and a handle top, the handle having a longitudinal axis;   an oscillating motor positioned between the handle base and the handle top, the oscillating motor configured to impart oscillating motion to an object about an oscillating axis parallel with the longitudinal axis;   a first vibration isolator, a second vibration isolator and a third vibration isolator mounted between the oscillating motor and the handle top;   a fourth vibration isolator and a fifth vibration isolator mounted between the oscillating motor and the handle base;   wherein the first vibration isolator, the second vibration isolator, the third vibration isolator, the fourth vibration isolator and the fifth vibration isolator are configured to suspend the oscillating motor within the handle, and wherein the first vibration isolator, the second vibration isolator, the third vibration isolator, the fourth vibration isolator and the fifth vibration isolator are configured within the handle such that a preload force is applied to the oscillating motor from each vibration isolator, and wherein the first vibration isolator, the second vibration isolator, the third vibration isolator, the fourth vibration isolator and the fifth vibration isolator are positioned within the handle and configured such that the sum of the preload forces parallel to the oscillating axis is zero and the sum of the moments generated by the preload forces about the axes orthogonal to the oscillating axis are zero.   
     
     
         11 . The personal care appliance of  claim 10 , wherein each vibration isolator is configured to be compressed an equivalent amount when the handle is assembled. 
     
     
         12 . The personal care appliance of  claim 10 , wherein the first vibration isolator and the second vibration isolator are different sizes. 
     
     
         13 . The personal care appliance of  claim 10 , wherein the fourth vibration isolator and the fifth vibration isolator are different sizes. 
     
     
         14 . A personal care appliance, comprising:
 a handle having a longitudinal axis;   a number of upper flexible mounts disposed within the handle, each upper flexible mount including an elastomeric vibration isolator;   a number of lower flexible mounts disposed within the handle, each lower flexible mount including an elastomeric vibration isolator; and   an oscillating motor suspended between the number of upper flexible mounts and the number of lower flexible mounts;   wherein the upper flexible mounts and the lower flexible mounts are configured to apply a preload force on the oscillating motor.   
     
     
         15 . The personal care appliance of  claim 14 , wherein the oscillating motor is suspended in a balanced manner. 
     
     
         16 . The personal care appliance of  claim 14 , wherein the number of upper flexible mounts is different than the number of lower flexible mounts. 
     
     
         17 . The personal care appliance of  claim 16 , wherein the number of upper flexible mounts is greater than the number of lower flexible mounts. 
     
     
         18 . The personal care appliance of  claim 14 , wherein each of the upper flexible mounts and each of the lower flexible mounts are configured to be compressed an equivalent amount when the handle is assembled. 
     
     
         19 . The personal care appliance of  claim 18 , wherein each upper flexible mount of the number of upper flexible mounts includes an elastomeric bushing, at least two of the elastomeric bushings being of different size. 
     
     
         20 . The personal care appliance of  claim 18 , wherein each lower flexible mount of the number of lower flexible mounts includes an elastomeric bushing, at least two of the elastomeric bushings being of different size.