Abstract:
An equine dental float includes a handle with a head at one end, the head including a trough like structure with a plurality of individual teeth mounted in the trough. A pin mounted through an aperture in each of the plurality of teeth aligns the teeth and removably connects the teeth within the trough. Each tooth is polygonal in shape and has a plurality of cutting edges, with one of the cutting edges of each tooth projecting upwardly out of the trough to form a filing surface.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This is a continuation-in-part application of Ser. No. 29/012,756 filed Sep. 8, 1993, now U.S. Design Pat. No. D357317. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates generally to files, and more particularly to an improved equine dental float. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Horses teeth are continuously growing, and it is typically necessary to periodically file projecting edges of the teeth. Without &#34;floating&#34; the horses teeth will grow to a point where the horse will have difficulty in chewing without injury to the mouth. 
     The instrument utilized to file the horses teeth is called a &#34;float&#34; with a float head having carbide grit thereon, much like sandpaper. The size of the grit will determine the coarseness of the float head. 
     The most common problem associated with equine floats is the length of time which the float head will retain sufficient grit for effective floating. As with sandpaper, the grit will eventually wear off of the float head until the float must be replaced or rebuilt. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved equine dental float. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a float with removable and replaceable individual cutting teeth. 
     Yet another object is to provide a float head with individual cutting teeth having a plurality of separate cutting surfaces, permitting rotation and reuse of each cutting tooth. 
     Still another object is to provide a dental float with easily replaceable teeth and a plurality of identical teeth reducing the cost of manufacture. 
     These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art. 
     The equine dental float of the present invention includes a handle with a head at one end, the head including a trough like structure with a plurality of individual teeth mounted in the trough. A pin mounted through an aperture in each of the plurality of teeth aligns the teeth and removably connects the teeth within the trough. Each tooth is polygonal in shape and has a plurality of cutting edges, with one of the cutting edges of each tooth projecting upwardly out of the trough to form a filing surface. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the float of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken at lines 2--2 in FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken at lines 3--3 in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the float head of the float of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the float head shown in FIG. 4; and 
     FIG. 6 is a partially exploded perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the drawings, in which similar or corresponding parts are identified with the same reference numeral, and more particularly to FIG. 1, the equine dental float of the present invention is designated generally at 10 and includes an elongated handle 12 with a float head 14 mounted at a forward end, and a hand grip 16 mounted at a rearward end. 
     Referring now to FIG. 5, float head 14 includes a trough 18 having a rearward end wall 20, forward end wall 22, opposing longitudinal side walls 24 and 26 and an interior cavity 28. The upper ends of end walls 20 and 22, and side walls 24 and 26 forms an upper perimeter edge 30 continuously along the walls. Side walls 24 and 26 are sloped towards one another and have a common lower edge 18a. A plurality of individual and triangular shaped teeth 32 are interconnected by an elongated pin 34 and received within the correspondingly shaped trough cavity 28. 
     Because each tooth 32 is preferably identical, only one tooth will be described in detail herein. Tooth 32 includes a forward face 32a and a rearward face 32b (shown in FIG. 3). Preferably, tooth 32 is in the shape of an equilateral triangle with three identical side walls 36a, 36b and 36c extending from forward face 32a to rearward face 32b. Rearward face 32b has a smaller area than forward face 32a such that side walls 36a, 36b and 36c slope rearwardly from forward face 32a to rearward face 32b (as shown more clearly in FIG. 2). The juncture between each side wall 36a, 36b and 36c  and forward face 32a forms three cutting edges 38a, 38b and 38c along each of the edges of forward face 32a. 
     An aperture 40 is centered in forward face 32a and extends from forward face 32a to rearward face 32b to receive pin 34. Aperture 40 has a counter sunk forward surface 40a to receive the counter sunk surface 42a of pin head 42 therein. The rearward end 34a of pin 34 is journaled through an aperture 44 in rearward end wall 20, once journaled through apertures 40 in teeth 32, to retain teeth 32 aligned within trough cavity 28. 
     A set screw 46 is threaded through a threaded aperture 48 in forward end wall 22 of trough 18, and is aligned with aperture 44 to directly contact the flat bearing surface 42b on pin head 42, as shown in FIG. 2. Thus, clockwise rotation of set screw 46 will impose a biasing force on pin head 42 to force the pin into contact with teeth 32 and bias the teeth against rearward end wall 20 of trough 18. 
     Because trough 18 has a generally V-shaped cross-section, as shown in FIG. 3, each tooth 32 will be aligned with one another such that each cutting edge 38a is parallel with one another, all cutting edges 38a line within the same horizontal plane. 
     A second embodiment of the teeth for float 10 are shown in FIG. 6, and includes pairs of teeth 32&#39; including a forward tooth 132 and a rearward tooth 232 in each pair. Each forward tooth 132 is triangular in shape and has three side walls 136a, 136b and 136c extending at a sloped rearward angle from the forward face 132a to the rearward face 132b. Each side wall 136a, 136b and 136c includes three raised surfaces 150a, 150b and 150c separated by two depressed surfaces 152a and 152b, such that cutting edge 138a includes raised portions and depressed portions. 
     A second rearward tooth 232 is provided to correspond with forward tooth 132, but with side walls 236a, 236b and 236c having raised portions 252a and 152b aligned with depressed portions 152a and 152b of tooth 32&#39;. Similarly, rearward tooth 232 has depressed portions 250a, 250b and 250c which are aligned with raised portions 150a, 150b and 150c of tooth 132. This alternating raised and depressed portion on the cutting edges 138a and 238a provides a &#34;grit&#34; or &#34;bite&#34; to the set of teeth 132 and 232 which is finer than the &#34;grit&#34; of teeth 32 shown in FIG. 4. By providing the pair of teeth 32&#39; with a greater number of raised and depressed portions, the &#34;grit&#34; or coarseness of the float head can be made finer, thereby removing less material on each pass. Similarly, the coarseness of the float head produced by teeth 32 may be adjusted by increasing the area of the rearward face 32 b, so as to decrease the amount of slope between the forward face and rearward face. This in turn reduces the &#34;bite&#34; 54, the distance between each cutting edge 38a and the juncture between side wall 36a of the next adjacent tooth 32, as shown in FIG. 2. 
     In operation, the desired set of teeth 32 are chosen and journaled on pin 34. While teeth 32 are shown as freely rotatably on pin 34, it is envisioned that other configurations of the cutting teeth may be journaled on pin 34 to prevent rotation, such as by slot and key. Pin 34, with a set of teeth 32 journaled thereon, is then inserted within trough cavity 28 with the rearward end 34a of pin 34 journaled in aperture 44. Set screw 46 is threaded through aperture 48 and into contact with pin head 42 to secure the teeth in position. 
     If one or more of the teeth become worn, the set of teeth 32 may be removed from trough 18 and one or more individual teeth rotated to position a new cutting edge 38b or 38c, or completely replaced with a new tooth. In addition, an entirely new set of teeth 32 or 32&#39; or 132 may be interchanged as desired in the float head 14. 
     Whereas the invention has been shown and described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof, it should be understood that many modifications, substitutions and additions may be made which are within the intended broad scope of the appended claims. For example, polygonal shapes other than a triangle may be used for each tooth, thereby providing different numbers of cutting edges for the teeth.