Patent ID: 8113826

Claim:
A device that expands the palate to alter the width or the length of the maxillary jaw of a person, said device securing to the palate and applying forces incrementally, said device further comprising: a pair of expansion assemblies, mutually parallel and spaced apart, each of said expansion assemblies having a base and an opposite fixed end; a first bar joining to said bases generally perpendicular to said expansion assemblies, said first bar having an elongated shape, a longitudinal axis, two opposite ends and an eyelet at each end wherein the plane of each eyelet locates away from the longitudinal axis, said eyelets having diameters parallel to the plane defined by said expansion assemblies; a second bar joining to said fixed ends generally perpendicular to said expansion assemblies and mutually parallel and spaced apart from said first bar, said second bar having an elongated shape, a longitudinal axis, two opposite ends and an eyelet at each end wherein the plane of each eyelet locates away from the longitudinal axis, said eyelets having diameters parallel to the plane defined by said expansion assemblies; said second bar being offset from said fixed ends wherein the eyelets of said first bar and said second bar occupy a common plane; said expansion assemblies including a tube, generally cylindrical with two opposite ends, said tube being closed upon one end defining said base and open upon the opposite end, a spring abutting the open end of said tube and extending coaxially away from said tube, and a rod, generally cylindrical with a free end and an opposite end defining said fixed end, said rod locating within said spring and entering the open end of said tube; and a spacer provided between the second bar and said rods to maintain the eyelets in a common plane.