Thera Patent Gmbh & Co Kg Gesellschaft Fur Industrielle Schutzrechte

Thera Patent Gmbh & Co. Kg Gesellschaft Fuer Industrielle Schutzrechte

3m Espe Ag

Espe Dental Ag

Thera Patent Gmbh & Co. Kg

Thera Patent Gmbh & Co.

Gerd Brandhorst

Wolf-Dietrich Herold

Ingo W Wagner

Klaus Hammen

Guenter Rehfeld

Helmut Pauser

Wolf D Herold

Ralf Heiduczek

Marc Peuker

Joachim Zech

Johann Fetz

Martin Beuschel

Hermann Nirschl

Guenther Rehfeld

Christina Wolf

Gunter Rehfeld

Mark Peuker

Wolfgang Taeschner

A device is provided which determines the end of the processsing time for hardening masses, in particular dental molding masses. The device comprises a display unit and a sensor unit which record the change in at least one of the rheological properties of the mass. A method that can be used with such a device is described.

Device for determining the end of the processing time for hardening masses

When dispensing a flowable substance from a container by way of a motor driven dispensing device, for ensuring that the container is properly inserted into the device, that the substance is still usable and/or that the dispensing speed is selected in accordance with the viscosity or other properties of the substance, the container is provided with a marking which may be stored in a transponder provided at a front container cap. When the container is properly inserted into the dispensing device, the transponder cooperates with a sensor disposed in an end wall of the device for enabling and/or controlling the dispensing mechanism on the basis of the characteristic data detected.

Device for discharging flowable materials and method of using same

A dental impression tray comprises a mold shell made of synthetic material and having an inner space for receiving the impression material, and a support shell made of metal and surrounding the exterior of the mold shell in order to provide the overall impression tray with the rigidity and dimensional stability required for taking precisely fitting impressions. The support shell may be detachably connected to the mold shell by positive or non-positive engagement. While the mold shell including the impression material is passed on to the technician who will produce a model of the teeth from which the impression was taken and who may subsequently dispose of the mold shell including the impression material, the support shell will remain with the dentist, immediately ready for reuse upon sterilization.

Dental impression tray

A mixer is used for producing multi-component pastes at a mixing ratio other than 1:1. A deviating channel,is provided between the inlet opening,for the component of the larger volume proportion and the mixing chamber, to delay the feed of this component with respect to the other component. The presence of this deviating channel,causes all components to enter the mixing chamber simultaneously, thereby obtaining a paste which has the desired mixing ratio from the start.

Mixer for multi-component pastes, incorporating a delay chamber

In a film tube containing a flowable substance, a fold 11 is formed in the film, which fold is so shaped that it abruptly decreases the cross-section at this location of the tube. The fold 11 may be fixed by a V-shaped weld 12. When the film tube is compressed, maximum stress is exerted on the area of the film close to the apex 13 of the V-shaped weld 12, so that the tube starts to rupture and form a dispensing opening at this location.

Film tube for flowable substances

A device for emptying a film tube 15 containing a pasty substance comprises a cap structure 11 including a transverse wall 12 supporting the front of the tube, a cylindrical flange 13 formed on the wall for receiving the front end of the tube, and a dispensing pipe 17. The pipe 17 extends from a recess 16 formed in the wall 12 and having an at least partially circular-cylindrical shape, with a spike 18 being integrally formed at the center of the recess and extending parallel to the axis of the tube. The tip 19 of the spike is retracted from the plane of the wall 12. When dispensing pressure is exerted on the tube 15, the portion of the tube film overlying the recess 16 will bulge into the recess, until its central part is scratched by the tip 19 of the spike and thus caused to burst. The content of the tube can then flow into the recess 16 surrounding the spike 18 and out through the pipe 17.

Device for emptying a film tube

A device suited for dispensing a dental substance comprises a cartridge 20 or receiving the substance, with a curved dispensing nozzle 22 disposed at the front end and a flange 21 of octagonal cross-section provided at the rear end of the cartridge. The flange 21 serves to engage a slide-in socket 16 of an applicator 10 which includes a piston rod 12 for advancing a dispensing piston 23 disposed in the cartridge 20. In the retracted position of the piston rod 12, the cartridge 20 may be laterally inserted into the slide-in socket 16 of the applicator 10. The socket has two parallel walls spaced by a distance which is between the largest and the smallest diameter of the octagonal flange 21. The material of the flange 21 and/or the material forming the slide-in socket 16 is resilient so that the cartridge 20 may be stepwise rotated about the axis of the piston rod 12 with respect to the applicator 10 without requiring the piston rod 12 to be withdrawn and the cartridge 20 to be removed from the slide-in socket and re-inserted in a new orientation.

Device for dispensing a flowable substance

Ejector holder for a syringe-type cartridge

A container for storing and dispensing a substance, particularly a dental substance, comprises a cylindrical cartridge 20 and a dispensing nozzle 21 communicating therewith. The dispensing nozzle 21 is formed as a rigid curved tube having an inlet opening of the same diameter as the cartridge 20 and being aligned with the cartridge axis 14, whereas the dispensing opening of the nozzle 21 extends at an angle with respect to the cartridge axis 14. The nozzle 21 is circularly curved and tapers in such a way that its inner cross-sectional shape is circular throughout the length of the nozzle. The interior cross-section and the wall thickness of the nozzle 21 decrease toward the dispensing end.

Container for storing and dispensing a dental substance

For emptying a film tube 15 containing a flowable substance, the front end f the tube is provided with a ring 17 the peripheral portion 19 of which exceeds the inner diameter of a cartridge 1 which receives the tube 15. The ring 17 has a conical sealing surface 20 which cooperates with a sealing edge 12 formed inside the cap 2. In operation, the cylindrical rear portion 7 of the cap 2 is slid onto a front portion 4 of the cartridge 1, whereby the ring 17 provided on the tube 15 has its sealing surface 20 centered and aligned in the radial and axial directions to ensure proper engagement between the sealing edge 12 and the sealing surface 20.

The container herein described protects a sterile capsule containing predrmined amounts of a multi-component curable material (such as bone cement) against contamination. The container allows externally applied pressure to be transmitted to the capsule. The material components contained in the capsule are thereby brought into contact and may be mixed in an oscillating mixer. Even when the mixer is not operated in a sterile environment, the capsule remains sterile, which is essential for use such as in an operating room. For transmitting the pressure required for actuating the capsule, the container consists of two shell portions 1 and 2 which can be moved against each other by application of external compression forces. When the container is opened, the capsule is protected by means of a ring 3 or apron against contacting non-sterile container surfaces.

Sterile container

The container includes a film tube 11 for flowable substances. The film t is opened and placed in a cylindrical housing 31 between a cap 33 and a movable piston 32. At the end facing the cap 33, the tube 11 is provided with a ring 20 which has a conical sealing surface 21. When the piston 32 is advanced to dispense the content of the tube 11, the sealing surface 21 is forced against a complementary conical counter surface 35 formed in the cap 33 and surrounding an outlet. The content of the tube 11 is thus prevented from reaching the inner wall of the housing.

Container for flowable substances

An apparatus for mixing and dispensing two-component substances comprises o cartridges 12, 13 with pistons 15, 16 which are displaceable in the cartridges and are advanced in common by an electrical motor via a magnetic clutch 30. When the motor is switched off and the clutch 30 disengaged, the pistons 15, 16 may be manually retracted and re-advanced by means of a handwheel 33. At the end of the manual retracting motion, the pistons 15, 16 entrain a shaft 18 which serves to drive a mixer head 14, so that when the pistons 15, 16 become free of the cartridges 12, 13, the shaft 18 disengages from the mixer head 14. The cartridges 12, 13 including the mixer head 14 connected thereto may then be removed as a unit from the apparatus and replaced by another unit in order to exchange the emptied cartridges or, with the cartridges being still filled partially, to use the apparatus for preparing a different substance. Although the motor drive is designed for moving the pistons 15, 16 slowly, the manual retracting and advancing of the pistons renders an exchange of the cartridges rapid and unproblematic.

Growing community of inventors

Landsberg, Germany

Gerd Brandhorst