| 摘要 |
<p>The present invention is a fully autoclavable dental hand piece assembly which includes a unique, highly miniaturized, internally disposed, one-way check valve (27) that effectively prevents microbial contamination from reaching the cooling fluid supply lines that provide cooling fluid to the unit. The one-way check valve (27) is specially designed to be able to effectively withstand the high temperatures required in the autoclave step to which the hand piece, including the check valve, is exposed. Uniquely, the one-way check valve (27) can readily be installed either whithin the hollow handle (16) of a conventional dental hand piece or within a conventional, universal dental hand piece coupler without the necessity of making any substantial modification to the design of the hollow handle or the universal coupler. Also disclosed is a novel coupler assembly (17) for coupling together the hand piece, the air, and water supply lines. In one form of the invention the coupler embodies easily removable air, and water valves which function to prevent back flow of contaminants into the supply lines.</p> |
