Apparatus for treating plastic parts for use in dental and orthodontic applications

An apparatus for polymerizing plastic material for dental purposes, comprising:

• a pressure vessel having walls with interior surfaces defining a hollow interior with a central opening, said vessel including a bottom end wall and a top cover closing said opening;
• a temperature sensor positioned with said hollow interior;
• a heating device positioned within said hollow interior;
• compressed gas inlet means for supplying gas to said hollow interior;
• a motor-driven blower positioned in said pressure vessel having a central axis for rotation substantially coaxial with a central axis of said pressure vessel, said blower being positioned adjacent said bottom wall;
• a support for material to be treated positioned in said hollow interior spaced from said bottom wall, said blower being positioned between said bottom wall and said support, said heating device being disposed in a plane substantially parallel to said bottom wall lying between said support and said blower;
• a screen baffle disk permeable to flow positioned between said support and said heating device covering said heating device over its entire area, a gas stream created by said blower passing through said heater and through said screen baffle disk and past said support for material to be treated.

An apparatus for polymerizing plastic material for dental purposes, comprising:

• a pressure vessel having walls with interior surfaces defining a hollow interior with a central opening, said vessel including a bottom end wall and a top cover closing said opening;
• a temperature sensor positioned within said hollow interior;
• a heating device positioned within said hollow interior;
• compressed gas inlet means for supplying gas to said hollow interior;
• a motor-driven blower positioned in said pressure vessel having a central axis for rotation substantially coaxial with a central axis of said pressure vessel, said blower being positioned adjacent said bottom wall;
• a support for material to be treated positioned in said hollow interior spaced from said bottom wall, said blower being positioned between said bottom wall and said support, said heating device being disposed in a plane substantially parallel to said bottom wall lying between said support and said blower;
• a screen baffle disk permeable to flow positioned between said support and said heating device covering said heating device over its entire area, a gas stream created by said blower passing through said heater and through said screen baffle disk and past said support for material to be treated, said walls forming a hollow interior of said pressure vessel are formed substantially cylindrical with two niche-type enlargements each having a radial depth, each niche-type enlargement being positioned diametrically opposite each other, each niche-type enlargement is partially covered by a screen baffle wall element, each screen baffle wall element extending from said screen baffle disk covering the heater to a distance spaced from said cover approximately equal to a radial depth of said niche-type enlargements.