Source: http://www.google.fr/patents/US6168433
Timestamp: 2013-05-26 04:28:02
Document Index: 447512285

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 52', 'art 53', 'art 52', 'art 53', 'art 53', 'art 52', 'art 72', 'art 73', 'art 73', 'art 73', 'art 72', 'art 82', 'art 81', 'art 81', 'art 82']

Brevet US6168433 - Direct drive dental prophy angle - Google�BrevetsRecherche Images Maps Play YouTube Actualit�s Gmail Drive Plus » Recherche avanc�e dans les brevets | Historique Web | Connexion Recherche avanc�e dans les brevets BrevetsA dental prophy angle adapted to be engaged with a dental handpiece having a nose cone and a low-speed rotary driver within the nose cone. The prophy angle has a proximal end adapted to releasably engage with said nose cone, and a distal end having an implement-mounting member rotatable therein. A flexible...http://www.google.fr/patents/US6168433?utm_source=gb-gplus-shareBrevet US6168433 - Direct drive dental prophy angle Num�ro de publicationUS6168433 B1Type de publicationOctroi Num�ro de demande09/451,988 Date de publication2 janv. 2001 Date de d�p�t30 nov. 1999 Date de priorit�30 nov. 1999 InventeursDavid A. Hamlin Cessionnaire d'origineHamlin David A. Classification aux �tats-Unis433/125 Classification internationaleA61C1/18A61C17/00 Classification coop�rativeA61C17/005A61C1/185 Classification europ�enneA61C1/18DA61C17/00PR�f�rencesCitations de brevets (33)Citations hors brevets (1) R�f�renc� par (9)Liens externesUSPTO Cession USPTO EspacenetDirect drive dental prophy angleUS 6168433 B1 R�sum� A dental prophy angle adapted to be engaged with a dental handpiece having a nose cone and a low-speed rotary driver within the nose cone. The prophy angle has a proximal end adapted to releasably engage with said nose cone, and a distal end having an implement-mounting member rotatable therein. A flexible shaft extends from the nose cone through the angle to the mounting member and has a diameter which is substantially smaller than the interior wall of the prophy angle. The shaft has a coupling member with a free axial end adapted to engage the rotary driver in the nose cone to be rotated upon rotation of said driver, and an opposite captive end connected to said shaft with a shoulder surrounding said flexible shaft and facing away from said free end to confront an abutment limiting axial displacement of said coupling member within the prophy angle. The flexible shaft is a steel cable comprising a plurality of multi-stranded steel cords twisted together to form a cable and encased in a sheath of polytetrafluoroethylene.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to dental equipment, and more particularly to an attachment for a dental handpiece for mounting in a dental cleaning implement for use in prophylaxis procedures.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Dental prophy angles are used in the final step of the dental cleaning visit that practically all patients receive annually. There are marketed various disposable prophy angles, dental prophylaxis angles, that are believed represented by the disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,040,978, 5,645,426, 5,352,119, 5,730,595 and 5,156,547. It is recognized that the making of inexpensive prophy angles enables the dental professional or hygienist to discard the prophy angle rather than have to sterilize the unit for re-use. It is further recognized that making a disposable prophy angle (DPA) which is reliable enough to perform complete prophy on a single patient without failure eliminates the time cost and inconvenience associated with refitting the handpiece with a subsequent unit or units during the prophylaxis procedure.
Conventional DPA's are true analogs of the standard Doriot style prophy angle, using the same type of gear geometry. The advantage of this known system is to allow for a �use once and dispose� of a previously high labor cost item (clean, sterilize, and lube between patients). In the past, a number of the units would fail because of poor fit of the gears and their support housing. While a number of companies have engineered better tolerances and materials to overcome these problems, failure of the units still remains as a factor in the field.
An additional factor in the prophylaxis procedure is that the dentition requires the hygienist or dentist to change their handpiece orientation to clean all surfaces. The majority of the presently marketed prophy angles are rigidly fixed at a 90� angle and therefore do not allow adaptability of the DPA to accomplish conformation to various angles of the dentition without manipulating the entire handpiece with the attached DPA. This may become even more important as additional controls are incorporated onto the handpiece itself.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A failure-free disposable prophy angle of comparable or lower cost to presently available gear-driven angles for use in the dental field. Alternate embodiments include angle and/or rotational flexibility to the user without changing the handpiece orientation in the user's hand.
The invention provides a dental prophy angle design wherein the rotary force, supplied by a standard low speed dental handset, is transferred directly to the prophy cup eliminating gear transmission. The angle between the axis of rotation of the prophy cup and axis of rotation of said externally supplied force is preferably at a given divergent angle, normally approximately 90�. Alternative embodiments of the invention allow for a variety of angles and rotational orientations between the axis of rotation of the prophy cup and the drive axis of said externally supplied force in a prophy angle housing as required by the user. The entire unit has suitable durability to assuredly perform without failure for the period required to perform the polishing of an entire dentition of a single dental patient.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING All of the objects of the present invention are more fully set forth hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the prophy angle in accordance with the present invention. The prophy angle 11 shown in FIG. 1 has a generally tubular housing having a proximal end 12 and a distal end 13. At the proximal end, there is a hollow tubular wall 14 defining within the wall a hollow tubular drive chamber 15. Preferably, the wall 14 is cylindrical in form to engage and support the prophy angle in the nose cone of a dental handpiece. The outside peripheral surface of the wall 14 has shallow ribs to frictionally engage within the nose cone of the handpiece. The nose cone has a projecting lug which engages in a recess 16 to anchor the prophy angle 11 against inadvertent rotation in the handpiece. The lug may be replaced by other forms of anti-rotation stops.
In order to accommodate the desire to use prophy angles with angles other than 90�, as shown in FIG. 1, several prophy angles may be supplied in which the housings 11 are formed to provide different angles as requested by the dental technician, hygienist or dentist.
Instead of providing a plurality of prophy angles in which the projection of the distal end from the chamber axis is fixed, the prophy angle may be made in two parts, as shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment of the invention, a prophy angle 51 has a proximal end part 52 and a distal end part 53. The proximal end part has a drive chamber 55 with a recess 56 for engagement with the nose cone of the handpiece. At the remote end of the proximal part 52, a yoke 60 mounts the distal end part 53 for angular adjustment. Like the distal end 23 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the distal end part 53 has an axial passage 58 with an annular recess 59 to provide a bearing for a mounting member 21 of a flexible drive assembly which may be identical to the assembly shown in FIG. 1. The member 21 serves as the sole rotary support for the flexible drive shaft 31 which extends rearwardly through the channel 61 in the housing of the prophy angle 51. The flexible shaft 31 has a connector 35 with a stub 36 for engagement with the rotary drive of the nose cone, similarly to the engagement provided in the embodiment of FIG. 1. As shown, the angle of the axis of the passage 58 diverges from the extended axis of the chamber 55 at an adjustable angle which, in FIG. 2, is 90�. The yoke is frictionally engaged with the remote end of the proximal end part 52 with a friction coupling to enable adjustment of the yoke 60 to varying angles between 0-90�. As in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the flexible cable 31 preferably comprises a multi-stranded stainless steel cable having a teflon coating.
The embodiment of FIG. 2 provides for adjustment of the angle of the passage axis relative to the axis of the chamber 55, with the passage axis diverging from the chamber axis at a position corresponding to the position of the recess 56 circumferentially in the chamber 55. Where it is desired to adjust the position of divergence circumferentially of the chamber 55, an alternate embodiment may be provided, as shown in FIG. 3. In this embodiment of the invention, the prophy angle is made with a proximal part 72 and a distal part 73. The embodiment of FIG. 3 is designed to cooperate with a flexible drive assembly identical to the drive assembly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. To this end, the distal part 73 has an axial passageway 78 with a recess 79 to serve as a bearing for the mounting member 21 of the flexible shaft assembly shown in the previous figures. The assembly includes the member 21, the flexible shaft 31 and the connector 35. In the present instance, the near end of the distal part 73 has an enlarged cylindrical socket 81 which telescopically engages a hollow cylindrical plug portion 82 at the remote end of the proximal part 72. The free end of the plug part 82 has axially-projecting teeth 84 which cooperate with corresponding teeth 85 in the socket part 81. The socket part 81 is frictionally engaged with the plug part 82 and when fully engaged, the teeth 84 mesh with the teeth 85 to anchor the socket part against rotation about the common axis of the plug and socket. When it is desired to adjust the circumferential position of the divergence of the passage axis, the plug and socket are separated sufficiently to disengage the teeth and enable rotation of the socket 81 on the plug 82 to reposition the passage at a different position relative to the circumference of the chamber 75. The prophy angle of FIG. 3 may be provided with different angles of divergence between 0� and 90�, according to the desires of the dental technician, hygienist or dentist and may also be provided with an adjustable yoke as described in connection with the embodiment shown in FIG. 2.
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