Elastic ring mounting pistol and magazine
OwnerPeter STIEVENinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an elastic ring installation tool for connecting braces to brackets attached to the teeth of a patient, comprising a housing with a barrel, at the front end of which a magazine holder with a magazine in the form of a strip provided with elastic rings for placement onto brackets provided on the teeth is arranged for mounting the braces to the teeth by the elastic rings, a rod with wire fingers is movably supported in the barrel section for picking up the elastic rings and transferring them to the tooth brackets. In accordance with the invention, the magazine holder is supported so as to be movable away from the wire fingers in a direction normal to the axis of the rod for pulling an elastic ring engaged by the wire fingers in a sideward direction for removing the elastic ring from the magazine.
Claims7
An elastic ring installation tool for connecting braces to brackets attached to the teeth of a patient for the installation of orthodontic braces, the installation tool comprising:
- a housing (1) with a barrel section (1.1) having a front end;
- an operating rod (4) axially movably supported in the barrel section (1.1) so as to be extendable along an extension path through a front end of the barrel section (1.1);
- a magazine holder (8) supported at the front end of the barrel section (12) so as to be movable in a plane normal to the extension of the operating rod (4), the magazine holder (8) supporting a magazine (7) having elastic mounting rings (6) attached thereto and being position adjustable to a location where an elastic mounting ring (6) is in axial alignment with the operating rod (4), the operating rod (4) being provided with elastic ring engagement wire fingers (5) extending into the elastic ring upon advancement of the operating rod (4), and a mechanism for moving the magazine holder (8) together with the magazine (7) and the elastic mounting rings (6) sideways for dislodging an elastic mounting ring (6) engaged by the elastic ring engagement wire fingers (5) from the magazine (7), and the elastic ring engagement wire fingers (5) being spreadable apart so as to expand the elastic mounting ring (6) for placement thereof onto and around a tooth bracket.
A method of installing elastic mounting rings onto brackets attached to the teeth of a patient for connecting orthodontic braces to the teeth, comprising the steps of:
- removing the elastic mounting rings from a ring holder to which the mounting rings are connected by picking up a ring and expanding it and depositing it on a bracket attached to a tooth, wherein, for the removal of the ring from the ring holder, the ring holder is moved in a plane normal to the direction of movement of the expandable engagement structure away from the mounting ring picked up so as to facilitate proper installation of the elastic mounting ring onto a tooth bracket.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.