Card – picture – or sign exhibiting – Check – label – or tag – Permanent identification device
Patent
1988-08-03
1989-11-28
Mancene, Gene
Card, picture, or sign exhibiting
Check, label, or tag
Permanent identification device
40913, 2642711, G09F 302
Patent
active
048828670
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a dental instrument of the type comprising an elongate handle portion, which consists of a plastic material and which, at least at its one end, has an instrument portion. Further, said handle has circumferential mutually different, ring zones for the purpose of facilitating identification of an instrument to be selected by the dentist. Generally, instruments having different functions exhibit such zones present in different numbers and/or in different colours.
The development of odontology which has taken place during the latest decades has resulted in a significant increasc of the number of technical equipment which dentists have to use when treating patients. This is especially true in respect of hand instruments of the type above mentioned. Not only has the number of different instruments increased due to the fact that different functions require different instruments but, in addition thereto, each such function requires a group of instruments differing from each other in respect of the size, shape etc. of the tool parts proper. As a matter of fact, the total number of such instruments is now that great that it has become common practice to collect each functional group cf instruments on a prepared tray, e.g. amalgam trays, deturation trays etc. In order to make it possible for the dentist quickly to distinguish between different instrument groups on such a tray the handle portions within each such group have a common colour which may be obtained by e.g. an eloxation process. However, there does then still remain the problem of quickly and conveniently differentiate the various instruments inside each group. This can be achieved in the way that the handle portions are provided with circumferential markings in colours deviating from the colour of the handle body. It has been suggested to apply the colours by painting. However, this method is most unsatisfactory since the instruments must stand sterilization, e.g. in a autoclave. During such sterilization processes the instruments are subjected to high temperatures and/or to the influence of chemically active substances causing the applied ring markings to weaken and, eventually, to disappear completely after a period of time which is unacceptably short from an economical point of view.
The object of the invention is to provide a dental instrument of the type above defined in which the identifying circumferential zones get a long effective lifetime. According to the generic inventive idea this has been achieved in the way that each identifying ring zone is constituted by the envelope surface of an annular, sleeve- or disc-like member carried by a tool portion extending axially inside the handle. This means that the ring zones will be constituted by three-dimensional bodies and not by thin, two-dimensional layers.
The invention does also relate to a method of manufacturing such a dental instrument. The new method comprises the steps of first applying onto a portion of the instrument, which in the completed instrument is surrounded by the handle, one or more members shaped like rings, sleeves or discs, and then forming said handle, preferably by moulding or injection-moulding it from a plastic material, the colour of which differs from the colour of each individual ring zone.
One embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawing.
FIG. 1 is a lateral view of a completed dental instrument having two marking rings.
FIG. 2 is a lateral view illustrating a stage cf the manufacturing process.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a circular member the envelope surface of which will constitute an identifying zone of the instrument handle.
FIG. 4 is a part-sectional, diagrammatic, lateral view of a device for injection-moulding of the handle of the instrument in conformity with the method according to the invention.
The instrument shown in FIG. 1 has a handle portion shaped like an elongate sleeve 1 and, at each of its two ends, an instrument, or tool, portion 2 and 3, respectively. In order to mark the
REFERENCES:
patent: 1984839 (1934-12-01), Murray
patent: 2016644 (1935-10-01), Luball
patent: 2915926 (1959-12-01), Woerner
patent: 4671916 (1987-06-01), Hamas
patent: 4720907 (1988-01-01), Rapp
Mancene Gene
Stone Cary E.
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