Device for handling wax spider-like sprues

Abstract

A device for handling spider-like sprues, includes a first support forming a first plane, the first support including a supporting device for supporting a wax spider-like sprue; a second support forming a second plane, the first support and the second support forming a first pre-determined angle (1); a first connection system between the first support and the second support; a third support forming a third plane, the second support and the third support forming a second pre-determined angle (2); and a second connection system between the second support and the third support.

Claims

1. A device for handling wax spider-like sprues, comprising: a first support lying in a first plane, said first support comprising a supporting device to support a wax spider-like sprue; a second support lying in a second plane, said first support and said second support forming a first determined angle 1; a first connection system between said first support and said second support; a third support lying in a third plane, said second support and said third support forming a second determined angle 2, and a second connection system between said second support and said third support, wherein the first determined angle 1 and the second determined angle 2 are selected so that the first and third planes are nonparallel to each other.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: the first connection system has a radius of curvature such that the device can tilt on the first support or on the second support, and the second connection system has a radius of curvature such that the device can tilt on the second support or on the third support.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the supporting device includes an orifice into which a hinge pin of the wax spider-like sprue can fit.

4. The device according to claim 3, comprising a translation blocking system for blocking the wax spider-like sprue in translation.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein the translation blocking system consists of a projecting shoulder in the orifice adapted to cooperate with an external shoulder formed on the hinge pin of the wax spider-like sprue.

6. A device for handling wax spider-like sprues, comprising: a first support lying in a first plane, said first support comprising a supporting device to support a wax spider-like sprue; a second support lying in a second plane, said first support and said second support forming a first determined angle 1; a first connection system between said first support and said second support; a third support lying in a third plane, said second support and said third support forming a second determined angle 2, a second connection system between said second support and said third support, and a rotation blocking system for blocking rotation of the supporting device of the wax spider-like sprue.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the rotation blocking system is a friction screw adapted to bear on the supporting device of the wax spider-like sprue.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein: the first support has a U-shaped tubular structure, the second support is formed from two tubes, the third support has a U-shaped tubular structure, the first connection system is formed from two tubular bends, each tubular bend cooperating: at a first end with an end of a tube of the first support, and at a second end with a first end of a tube of the second support; the second connection system is formed from two tubular bends, each tubular bend cooperating: at a first end, with a second end of a tube of the second support, and at a second end, with the end of a tube of the third support.

9. A device for handling wax spider-like sprues, comprising: a first support lying in a first plane, said first support comprising a supporting device to support a wax spider-like sprue; a second support lying in a second plane, said first support and said second support forming a first determined angle 1; a first connection system between said first support and said second support; a third support lying in a third plane, said second support and said third support forming a second determined angle 2, and a second connection system between said second support and said third support, wherein the first determined angle 1 is between 20 and 70 degrees.

10. A device for handling wax spider-like sprues, comprising: a first support lying in a first plane, said first support comprising a supporting device to support a wax spider-like sprue; a second support lying in a second plane, said first support and said second support forming a first determined angle 1; a first connection system between said first support and said second support; a third support lying in a third plane, said second support and said third support forming a second determined angle 2, and a second connection system between said second support and said third support, wherein the second determined angle 2 is between 20 and 70 degrees.

11. The device according to claim 9, wherein the first determined angle is 45 degrees.

12. The device according to claim 10, wherein the second determined angle is 45 degrees.

13. The device according to claim 1, wherein the supporting device is connected to a first and a second member of the first support, the first and second members separated by, and connected to, a third member of the first support so that the first, second and third members lie in the first plane.

Description

(1) Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will become clear from the description given below for information and that is in no way limitative, with reference to the appended figures, among which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a non-limitative example embodiment of a device for handling wax spider-like sprues according to the invention,

(3) FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show three positioning examples of the device according to the invention shown in FIG. 1,

(4) FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the device according to the invention shown in FIG. 1,

(5) FIGS. 6 and 7 show a translation blocking system included in the device according to the invention, and

(6) FIG. 8 shows an example embodiment of the structure of a device conforming with the invention.

(7) Common elements in all figures have the same reference numbers.

(8) FIG. 1 shows a non-limitative example embodiment of a device 1 for handling wax spider-like sprues according to the invention. The device 1 comprises: a first support 2 forming a first plane, the first support 2 comprising means 3 of retaining a wax spider-like sprue; a second support 4 forming a second plane, the first support 2 and the second support 4 forming a first determined angle 1; first connection means 5 between the first support 2 and the second support 4, the first connection means 5 having a radius of curvature such that the device 1 can tilt on the first support 2 or the second support 4; a third support 6 forming a third plane, the second support 4 and the third support 6 forming a second determined angle 2; second connection means 7 between the second support 4 and the third support 6, the second connection means 7 having a radius of curvature such that the device 1 can tilt on the second support 4 or the third support 6.

(9) The first support 2, the second support 4 and the third support 6 are formed from PVC tubes in this example.

(10) Furthermore, the first connection means 5 and the second connection means 7 are formed from PVC tube bends. The radii of the bends are such that the device can tilt in three positions smoothly and without difficulty. Thus, the device 1 may be tilted in three stable positions: a first position in which the device 1 is supported on the first support 2; a second position in which the device 1 is supported on the second support 4; a third position in which the device 1 is supported on the third support 6.

(11) When the device 1 is tilted on the first or second connection means 5 or 7, these connection means form support points and make the device 1 stable while facilitating displacement of the device 1 on the table because all the supports are at points and not entire surfaces.

(12) In this embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the first determined angle 1 is 45 degrees and the second angle 2 is 45 degrees. It is obvious that the angles could be different without going outside the scope of the invention.

(13) It should be noted that the retaining means 3 of a wax spider-like sprue have an orifice 8 into which the hinge pin of the wax spider-like sprue will fit. This will be disclosed in detail later.

(14) FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show the device 1 conforming with that shown in FIG. 1, the device 1 being provided with a wax spider-like sprue 9.

(15) In FIG. 2, the device 1 is supported on the first support 2 such that the wax spider-like sprue 9 is in an approximately vertical position such that the operator can construct the spider-like sprue using the different wax and ceramic elements. It should be noted also that the spider-like sprue 9 can pivot on itself about a vertical axis Y.

(16) As shown in FIG. 3, during assembly, the operator can tilt the device 1 on the second support 4 such that the wax spider-like sprue 9 is tilted relative to the table 10 on which the device 1 is placed. In this position, the spider-like sprue 9 can also pivot on itself.

(17) A shown in FIG. 4, the operator can tilt the device 1 on the third support 6 such that the wax spider-like sprue 9 is in a horizontal position (i.e. approximately parallel to the table 10). In this horizontal position, the spider-like sprue 9 can also pivot on itself.

(18) FIG. 5 shows a bottom view of the first support 2. This FIG. 2 more particularly shows the retaining means 3 and the end of the hinge pin 11 of the spider-like sprue 9 that is inserted in the orifice of the retaining means 3. In this non-limitative embodiment, the device 1 comprises a rotation blocking system 12 for the retaining means 3 of the wax spider-like sprue 9. This blocking system 12 consists of a friction screw adapted to bear on the retaining means 3 of the wax spider-like sprue 9. This friction screw blocks and releases the rotation movement of the retaining means 3. The rotation movement of the spider-like sprue about its hinge pin 11 in the orifice 8 of the retaining means 3 is still possible but it is limited by the friction action of the hinge pin 11 in the orifice 8.

(19) FIGS. 6 and 7 show a translation blocking system of the wax spider-like sprue relative to the device according to the invention. In this non-limitative embodiment, the translation blocking system 13 consists of a shoulder that projects in the orifice 8. The shoulder 13 is adapted to cooperate with an external shoulder 14 formed on the end of the hinge pin 11 of the wax spider-like sprue 9.

(20) More particularly, in FIG. 6, the retaining means 3 are vertically in position and the end of the hinge pin 11 of the wax spider-like sprue 9 is placed in the orifice 8 of the retaining means 3. In the lowest position, the shoulder 18 of the hinge pin 11 is in contact with the upper surface 15 of the retaining means 3. The spider-like sprue can thus be pivoted about itself by rotating it about the Y axis of the orifice 8. No rotation blocking system is shown in this embodiment. Obviously, a rotation blocking system could be used to block rotation of the retaining means 3 about the Y axis.

(21) When the device 1 is positioned on the second support 4, the shoulder 18 of the hinge pin 11 is also in contact with the upper surface 15 of the retaining means 3 such that the wax spider-like sprue cannot escape.

(22) When the device 1 is positioned on the third support 6, the wax spider-like sprue is in the horizontal position (i.e. parallel to the table on which the device 1 is supported). Thus, the risk that the wax spider-like sprue will escape from the retaining means 3 is avoided due to the shoulder 13 formed on the orifice 8. When the hinge pin 11 is pulled along a direction Dx, in other words towards the outside of the retaining means 3, the hinge pin becomes cantilevered. The surface 16 of the shoulder 14 of the hinge pin 11 then comes into contact with the shoulder 13 of the orifice 8. This contact prevents extraction of the hinge pin 11 and therefore the wax spider-like sprue.

(23) All that is necessary to eliminate this blockage is to position the device 1 on the first support 2 once again. Since the hinge pin 11 is no longer cantilevered in this position, the operator can easily extract the hinge pin 11 from the orifice 8 without being prevented by the translation blocking means 13.

(24) FIG. 8 shows an example embodiment of the first support 2, the second support 4 and the third support 6. The three supports may for example be made of PVC. According to this embodiment: the first support 2 has a U-shaped tubular structure, the second support 4 is formed from two tubes, the third support 6 has a U-shaped tubular structure, the first connection means 5 are composed of two tubular bends, each tubular bend cooperating: at a first end 5E1, with the end of a tube of the first support 2, and at a second end 5E2, with a first end of a tube of the second support 4, the second connection means 7 are composed of two tubular bends, each tubular bend cooperating: at a first end 7E1, with the second end of a tube of the second support, and at a second end 7E2, with the end of a tube of the third support 6.

(25) Such a structure of the device 1 according to the invention forms an ergonomic tool that is inexpensive to make. The tubular structure of the assembly has no aggressive surface and the PVC material from which the tubes are made is not cold for handling.

(26) In general, such a device for handling wax spider-like sprues: limits the development of muscular-skeletal disorders due to the reduction of postural constraints, can be used by right handed or left handed persons; is lightweight, solid and does not require any particular maintenance.

(27) Furthermore, the first support, the second support, the third support, the first connection means and the second connection means enable easy effortless handling of the wax spider-like sprue.

(28) The device for handling wax spider-like sprues according to the invention has been disclosed with reference to a tubular structure, but obviously the first, second and third supports could be composed of plates without going outside the scope of the invention.