Abstract:
A handpiece holder, which provides easy access to a medical, dental, or industrial handpiece, is replaceable and rotatable to hold handpieces in different angled positions.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This continuation application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/384,333, filed Apr. 1, 2009, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    This invention pertains to holders for handpieces used with various medical, dental, and industrial devices. In particular it relates to a handpiece holder, which provides easy access to the handpiece, is replaceable, and rotatable to hold the handpiece in different positions on a vertical support surface. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Various holders for handpiece devices, particularly in the medical, dental, and industrial industries, are known. For example, Casica et aJ., U.S. Pat. No. Des. 381,421, issued Jul. 22, 1997 discloses a surgical handpiece holder for medical devices. Booth, U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,059, issued Jun. 27, 1972, discloses a holder for dental hand pieces. These handpiece holders have different features dependent upon the needs of a user. Desirable features for a handpiece holder are: 1). Easy to access the handpiece, 2) Rotatable to hold the handpiece in different positions, and 3) Replaceable on the field. The invention described below provides a handpiece holder with all of these desirable features. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    The invention comprises a handpiece holder, which provides easy access to the handpiece, is replaceable, and rotatable to hold the handpiece in different rotational positions. Specifically, it comprises a base with means to affix the base to a vertical support surface, such as a wall or the housing of a dental, medical, or industrial device. These means to affix the base to a vertical support surface preferably allow the handpiece holder to be removed for replacement when damaged, and secure it in position not to rotate. To secure the base in position from rotating when mounted, positioning structure, such as pins or rods are affixed to the bottom of the base, and sized to fit within corresponding holes in the vertical support surface. 
         [0005]    A rotatable disc is rotatably attached to the base with a spring biased stop to releaseably secure the rotatable disc in a desired rotational position, which allows repositioning of the rotatable disc by applying sufficient force to overcome the spring bias of the stop until the desired angle of rotation is achieved. A U shaped holder with an opening structured to removably hold handpieces is then affixed to the rotatable disc for positioning at a desired angle or rotation. 
         [0006]    Preferred means to affix the base to the vertical support surface comprise a U shaped holder with a post having a post end adapted with flexible mechanical fingers sized to fit within a hole in the base in communication with a hole in the rotatable disc aligned with a hole in the vertical support surface to removably secure to the inside of the vertical support surface, when the post is inserted. The holder post may be removed by pulling it with sufficient force so that the fingers compress against the edges of the hole of the vertical support surface to release their hold. 
         [0007]    Preferred spring biased stops to releaseably secure the rotatable disc in a desired position on the base comprise a spring biased stop ratchet system, such as a spring biased pawl, spring biased ball bearings, etc., which have a biased stop end to selectively engage a toothed circumferential gear track to hold the rotatable disc in a given position until addition sufficient force is applied to overcome the spring bias, allowing the rotatable disc to be repositioned and held at a new desired angle of rotation. 
         [0008]    In one embodiment, the base has a perimeter with a plurality of spring biased pawls spaced there around. A rotatable disc structured as a disc housing is then rotatably secured surrounding the base perimeter. The rotatable disc housing has an interior circumferential geared track, which is engaged by the plurality of spring biased pawls when the housing is positioned surrounding the, base perimeter. The spring biased pawls releaseably hold the rotatable disc housing in a desired rotational position. The rotational position may be change by applying sufficient force to overcome the spring bias of the pawls allowing the rotatable disc to rotate for securing in another position. 
         [0009]    One construction to rotatably secure the rotatable disc housing surrounding the base has a rotatable disc housing with a center hole, which is rotatably attached to the base by a post attached to the U shaped holder. The end of the post of the U shaped holder has similar compressible expandable mechanical fingers, described above, which when passed through aligned holes in the rotatable disc housing and base and a hole in the vertical support surface holds the rotatable handpiece holder onto the interior segment of the vertical support surface to removably secure the rotatable handpiece holder to the vertical support surface. 
         [0010]    In another preferred embodiment, the rotatable disc housing and base ratcheting mechanism is reversed. In this embodiment the removable rotatable handpiece holder has a base with a gear toothed perimeter forming surrounding a center hole. The rotatable disc housing has a plurality of spring biased pawls along its interior walls structured to align with the base gear toothed perimeter via a corresponding center hole. The rotatable disc housing and base are then secured in place via a post placed within the aligned center holes. When positioned the rotatable disc housing spring biased pawls releaseably hold onto the base gear toothed perimeter to removably secure the rotatable disc housing in a desired position until sufficient force is applied to overcome the spring biased pawls allowing the disc housing to be rotatably repositioned. 
         [0011]    The spring biased stop thus allows the rotatable disc housing to be secured to the vertical support surface at various rotational angles. 
         [0012]    Affixed to the rotatable disc is a U shaped holder with an opening structured to removably hold handpieces placed thereon. The U shaped holder in one embodiment has a post with one end attached to the holder and the other end structured with expandable mechanical fingers. The post is structured to pass through the rotatable disc center hole and base center hole to allow the rotatable disc to rotate. The expandable mechanical fingers of the post extend through a hole in the vertical support surface and removably secure thereto the base of the rotatable handpiece holder by expanding to grip the interior wall surrounding the hole of the vertical support surface, when inserted. 
         [0013]    The invention thus provides a handpiece holder, which removably secures to a vertical support surface to. This provides easy access to medical, dental, or industrial handpieces, and is replaceable and rotatable to hold handpieces in different positions on the vertical support surface. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  is an exploded view of one preferred embodiment. 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is an assembled view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a back view of the embodiment of  FIG. 1  secured to a vertical support surface. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]      FIG. 1  is an exploded view of one preferred embodiment of the handpiece holder  101  structured as a rotatable housing. Attached to the handpiece holder  101  is a U shape clip  102  with an opening  103  structured to removably hold handpieces placed thereon. 
         [0018]    Inside handpiece holder  101  rotatable housing, is an interior opening  104 . A center post  105  is attached to an interior wall of handpiece holder  101 . At end of center post  105 , are compressible mechanical fingers  106  structured to expand and grip the interior surface surrounding a hole  114  in the vertical support surface  112 . There is a circumferential gear toothed perimeter  107  inside interior wall of handpiece holder  101 . 
         [0019]    A disc base  108  is structured to fit into space of the interior opening  104  of handpiece holder  101 . A through hole  109  in the center of disc base  108  allows center post  105  of the handpiece holder  101  to pass there through. There are three mechanical pawls  110  along the perimeter of the disc base  108  structured to ratchet along the gear toothed perimeter  107  of the interior wall of handpiece holder  101 , when assembled. 
         [0020]    Three mini posts  111  attached to the disc base  108  are used to securely position the disc base  108  onto a vertical support surface such as a housing or a wall  112 . These three mini posts  111  fit within three corresponding open holes  113  (not shown in the drawing) in the wall  112 . Thus, when the post  105  passes through a through hole  114 , it secures the disc base  108  via the post  105  and mini posts  111  to the vertical support surface so that the base  108  doesn&#39;t rotate. 
         [0021]      FIG. 2  depicts the front assembled view of handpiece holder  101  shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0022]      FIG. 3  depicts the back view of the support surface  112 , showing the mechanical fingers  106  of the handpiece holder  101  secured to the inside vertical support surface defining the center hole  114 . From these figures, it can be seen that the handpiece holder  101  can be rotated to any position desired. The handpiece holder  101  can also be removed when pulled with sufficient force in the direction vertical to the housing or wall to release the mechanical fingers  106 . 
         [0023]    Although this description has referred to the illustrated embodiments, it is not intended to restrict the scope of the claims. The claims themselves recite those features deemed essential to the invention.