An Apparatus for Extracting Saliva and for Conveying Heated Air to the Mouth in Dental Operations.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 18th July, 1887.
Specification Accepted, 13th Sept., 1887.
[Communicated from abroad by HORACE W. PARSONS, of the Town of Wamego,
in the County of Pottawatomie, State of Kansas, U.S.A., Dentist.]
An Apparatus for Extracting Saliva and for Conveying Heated
Air to the Mouth in Dental Operations.
1, SAMUEL SIDNEY BROMHEAD, of 97 Newgate Street, London, E.C., Patent
Agent, (Communicated) do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention consists in a novel method and apparatus mainly for removing
saliva from the mouths of patients during dental operations with a dental engine,
and comprising special constructions and combinations of parts, substantially as
hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this
specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in
both the figures.
Figure represents a view in elevation of my newly invented apparatus as
applied to, or combined with, a dental engine; and showing the whole as in
operation upon a patient. Figure 2, is a sectional longitudinal view, upon a
larger scale, of a certain mouthpiece for supplying heated air to the mouth of
the patient, and forming a part of the invention.
A is a dental engine of the ordinary or any suitable construction, 6 being its main
shaft, and c its working-arm, consisting of a tube and contained flexible rotating shaft
that carries the burr or other tool, d, used by the dentist in operating upon the teeth
in the mouth of a patient, (represented at B.)
C is an exhaust-pump, which may be an ordinary cylinder and piston one operated
by a crank, e, on the main shaft of the dental engine, or which may be operated by
any suitable motor.
D is a glass or other bottle, forming a saliva-receptacle, closed by a rubber or other

page_text: tight stopper, and which is connected with the pump C by a rubber tube, f, for the
purpose of exhausting the air from the saliva-receptacle D, in order that the vacuum
created in said receptacle will have the effect of causing the saliva to pass from the
mouth of the patient through another tube, g, applied at its one end to the patient's
mouth and entering at its other end the receptacle or stopper thereof, said stopper
being suitably perforated to receive the ends of the tubes fg, that connect with said
receptacle. In this receptacle D the saliva, as it is run or drawn from the mouth of
the patient, remains, said receptacle being emptied and cleaned from time to time, as
required.
The exhaust-pump C is fitted with the usual or any suitable suction and discharge
valves, and the tube f of course connects with the suction portion of the pump, while
another tube, h, which may also be a rubber one, connects at its one end with the
air-discharge outlet of the pump, so that the air ejected by the pump will be forced
out through the tube . This tube connects at its other or outlet end, subject to
control by a cock, i, with a close air-receptacle, E, into which the exhausted air, as it
is discharged by the pump, is delivered, and in which it is held under compression
and allowed to pass at the will of the operator to and through a flexible tube, k, which
is connected with the arm c of the dental engine, and which serves to convey the air
to the tooth being operated on, and may be manipulated by the dentist as required.
The air is heated in its passage through or before leaving said tube as follows:
The tube k is constructed or provided at its outer end with a mouth-piece G, composed
in part of a small metal tube, l-as, for instance, of iron, brass, silver, or platinum, or
there might be a coil of iron or platinum wire, m, around the said tube, so that by
passing a current of electricity over this tube it becomes warm or hot, as desired,
whereby the air being forced through the tube by the air-pump, or it might be by a
syringe-bulb instead, becomes hot or heated before passing into the mouth of the
patient. Around the tube l, or its wire covering, is a suitable non-conducting and
indestructible material, n, such as asbestos cloth, and over or round this again a
finishing-shield, o, to the insulated mouth-piece, that thus may be readily handled.
This electric air-heating mouth-piece at or upon the discharge end of the flexible
tube k need be but short and of very small diameter-say of the thickness of a pencil
and about two inches long. The current of electricity may be passed over it by
or from a battery, I, and through wires or connections from opposite poles of
the battery, and the current be made or broken, as required, by a push-pin,
or on the mouth-piece. The temperature produced may be regulated by varying
the number of battery-cells in use or by changing the tube of the mouth-piece
from or to silver, brass, iron, or platinum. The heated air thus discharged from
the tube k may not only be used on the tooth to ease pain and facilitate the
dental operation, but it may also be used for other purposes-as, for instance, to
blow away chips or dust from or before the burr d, or to dry the root, canal, or
cavities by inserting a fine gold point; or the tube might be used for
atomizing purposes on the patient.
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23
in
While I prefer to heat the air issuing from the tube in the manner described,
it might be otherwise heated, if desired-as, for instance, by passing it through a
suitably-arranged coil heated by a flame.
Again, while the air might be forced through the tube k direct, and in such.
case the close air-receiver E be dispensed with, it is preferred to use the interposed
air-receiver E to hold the air under pressure discharged by the pump, and whereby
increased force may be given to the issuing current of air.
The close air-receiver E is in the form of a cylinder fitted with a plunger or
piston, a, which is forced in or down by a spring, bas, for instance, between a
collar or pin on the piston-rod c and a fixed yoke, d, through which said rod is free
to slide. Air discharged by the pump and entering the vessel E forces the piston up
or out against the tension of the spring, thus retaining within said vessel or receiver a
supply of compressed air for future use, and by graduating the piston-rod where it
passes through the yoke, as shown at w, the extent of pressure at which the air is held
in the receiver may readily be determined.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is performed as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The combination, with an air-pump, of a saliva-receptacle and an air-receiver,
connected, respectively, with the suction portion of the pump and the air-discharge
outlet thereof, the said receptacle and receiver being provided with tubes adapted to
lead to the mouth of the patient substantially as herein shown and described.
2. The combination, with a dental engine and an air-pump operated therefrom, of a
saliva-receptacle connected with the pump and provided with a tube adapted to lead
to the mouth of the patient, and an air-receiver, also connected to the pump and
provided with a pipe adapted to lead to the mouth of the patient, substantially as
herein shown and described.
3. The combination, with the dental engine, of an air-pump, an air-receiver holding
the air discharged by the pump under pressure, a valve for controlling the discharge
of air from said receiver, a tube or duct adapted to convey such discharge-air from
the receiver to the outer or tool-carrying end of the working-arm of the engine, and
to the mouth of the patient, and means, substantially as herein described for heating
the air prior to its discharge from said tube, essentially as specified.
4. The combination, with the working-arm () of a dental engine, and an air-pump,
of an air tube having an insulated mouth-piece G, and a push-pin 8, and attached to
the said working-arm C, and an electric battery and its connections with the mouth-
piece, substantially as herein shown and described.
5. The mouth piece G, composed of the metal tube I, the non-conducting and
indestructible material 149 and the shield o; and provided with the push-pin s,
substantially as herein shown and described.
In apparatus for treating patients during dental operations, the air compressing
vessel E, adapted to receive a forced current of air and to discharge. the same as
required, in combination with the piston or plunger a¹, within said vessel, the
spring 6, operating to actuate said plunger against the incoming current of air, and
means, substantially as described, for determining the pressure of the air, within the
vessel E, essentially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
S. S. BROMHEAD,
97, Newgate Street, E.C.,
Patent Agent.