Orthodontic Elastic Ring Installation Tool
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing elastic ring installation tools often disorient elastic rings during removal from the support disc, causing them to be improperly aligned for installation on tooth brackets, leading to installation inaccuracies.
Innovation Solution
An elastic ring installation tool with a magazine holder and an operating mechanism that uses a movable magazine holder and wire fingers to securely engage and remove elastic rings from a support strip, maintaining their orientation for proper installation by employing a sideward motion to transfer the rings to tooth brackets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If elastic rings are picked up by wire fingers and pulled forward, then the rings are removed from the support disc, but the rings become disoriented and misaligned for proper installation
Solution Approach 1:
The magazine holder is made movable in a direction normal to the axis of the pick-up rod, introducing a lateral dimension to the ring removal process. This sideward motion allows the ring to be transferred from the support strip to the wire fingers while maintaining its original orientation, resolving the contradiction between efficient removal and proper alignment
2Force
If the attachment neck of the elastic ring is stretched in the axial direction, then the ring is pulled off the support disc, but the ring loses its proper orientation in the plane normal to the carrier
Solution Approach 1:
The ring detachment process is segmented into two independent actions: first, the attachment neck is stretched axially to break the connection with the support disc; second, the magazine holder moves laterally to reposition the ring. This segmentation allows the force application and orientation maintenance to occur as separate steps, resolving the contradiction between detachment force and orientation preservation
3Reliability
If wire fingers advance to enter and take along the elastic ring, then the ring is secured for transfer, but the ring becomes disoriented from its needed position
Solution Approach 1:
The movable magazine holder acts as an intermediary between the support strip and the wire fingers. It receives the ring from the support strip and transfers it to the wire fingers through lateral motion, ensuring the ring maintains its correct orientation throughout the transfer. This intermediary mechanism allows secure gripping without compromising alignment
Data Source
AI summary
An elastic mounting ring installation tool for connecting braces to brackets attached to the teeth of a patient has a housing with a barrel section, at the front end of which a magazine holder with a magazine provided with elastic rings for placement onto brackets provided on the teeth is arranged for mounting the braces to the teeth by the elastic mounting rings and a rod with wire fingers is movably supported in the barrel section for scooping up the elastic rings and transferring them to tooth brackets of the patient. 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 disconnecting the elastic ring from the magazine.