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US 7,597,555 B2Granted
Dental articulator extender
OwnerEdwin T. Van Valeyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An extender device connects between the halves of an articulator thereby increasing the width of the articulator while still allowing the articulator to be handled as one piece during its application to the models. In an embodiment, the extender device is of a snap-fit design.
Claims4
A dental model articulator comprising:
- a first articulator half and a second articulator half, each articulator half having a first arm segment terminating at its distal end in a first arm connection element and terminating at its proximal end in a node element, and a second arm segment terminating at its distal end in a second arm connection element and terminating at its proximal end in a retaining element, the retaining element receiving the node element to define a hinge joint;
- the first and second articulator halves connected solely by first and second extender elements at opposed ends of the extender elements, the first extender element connecting between the first arm connection element of the first articulator half and the second arm connection element of the second articulator half, and the second extender element connecting between the second arm connection element of the first articulator half and the first arm connection element of the second articulator half, the length of the first and second extender elements widening a distance between the first and second articulator halves.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.