The drive system for a personal care appliance, such as a toothbrush, includes a first opposing pair of permanent magnet assemblies positioned longitudinally along the length of the internal surface of a cylindrical appliance housing, each first permanent magnet assembly having one potion with a north polarity and the other portion a south polarity, and a second pair of permanent magnet assemblies which are orthogonal to the first pair of permanent magnet assemblies, one second permanent magnet assembly having a plurality of abutting first parts along the length thereof, the parts alternating between a north polarity and a south polarity, the other second permanent magnet assembly having similar parts with reversed polarity. First and second armatures are mounted on, or a portion thereof forms, a spindle element which extends along the length of and outward from the cylindrical housing. A plurality of drive windings are positioned around the armatures in such a manner that application of current to the windings, under programmable control, produces axial and/or tangential movement of the spindle and the workpiece. FIG. 1
