Dental handpiece

Claim 1

A TURBINE-DRIVEN DENTAL HANDPIECE COMPRISING: A T-SHAPED CASING, THE HEAD THEREOF BEING HOLLOW; UPPER AND LOWER BEARING ELEMENTS SECURED IN THE HEAD OF THE CASING AT THE LONGITUDINALLY DISPOSED ENDS THEREOF, EACH BEARING ELEMENT HAVING A SMOOTH INTERNAL BEARING SURFACE DEFINING A LONGITUDINAL BORE, EACH BEARING ELEMENT BEING SUBSTANTIALLY IMPERMEABLE TO AIR AND LIQUID AND HAVING A PLURALITY OF ORIFICES THROUGH WHICH AIR IS SUPPLIED TO THE BORE, EACH BEARING ELEMENT TERMINATING AT ITS INNER END IN A SMOOTH RADIAL BEARING SURFACE, THE RADIAL BEARING SURFACES OF THE UPPER AND LOWER BEARING ELEMENTS BEING LONGITUDINALLY DISPOSED FROM EACH OTHER AND DEFINING A ROTOR-RECEIVING CHAMBER THEREBETWEEN, EACH RADIAL BEARING SURFACE HAVING A PLURALITY OF ORIFICES THROUGH WHICH AIR IS SUPPLIED TO THE ROTOR-RECEIVING CHAMBER AND A PLURALITY OF EQUALLY SPACED RADIAL GROOVES TO FACILITATE PASSAGE OF AIR TO THE ROTOR-RECEIVING CHAMBER; A ROTOR HAVING A PAIR OF LONGITUDINALLY DISPOSED EXTERIORLY CONTINUOUSLY SMOOTH UNINTERRUPTED RADIAL BEARING SURFACES DISPOSED WITHIN THE ROTOR-RECEIVING CHAMBER WITH THE RADIAL BEARING SURFACES BEING SPACEDLY JUXTAPOSED TO THE CORRESPONDING RADIAL BEARING SURFACES OF THE BEARING ELEMENTS AND DEFINING THEREWITH ROTOR BEARING SPACES, THE ROTOR HAVING UPPER AND LOWER EXTERIORLY CONTINUOUSLY SMOOTH UNINTERRUPTED CYLINDRICAL SPINDLES AXIALLY SECURED THERETO, THE EXTERIORLY SMOOTH SURFACE OF THE SPINDLES BEING SPACEDLY JUXTAPOSED TO THE CORRESPONDING INTERIOR SURFACE OF THE BORE AND DEFINING THEREWITH SPINDLE BEARING SPACES, THE GAP ACROSS EACH ROTOR BEARING SPACE BEING APPROXIMATELY. 0200 TO .0025 INCH AND THE GAP ACROSS EACH SPINDLE BEARING SPACE BEING APPROXIMATELY .00042 TO .00045 INCH; MEANS FOR ROTATABLY DRIVING THE ROTOR ABOUT ITS AXIS; MEANS FOR SUPPLYING AIR TO THE ROTOR BEARING SPACES AND TO THE SPINDLE BEARING SPACES; AND MEANS FOR COMMINGLING A LIQUID WITH THE AIR, WHEREBY THE RAPID ROTATION OF THE ROTOR SAID SPINDLES CAUSES THE COMMINGLED LIQUID AND AIR TO SUBSTANTIALLY SEPARATE INTO TWO ZONES OF FLUID, AN OUTER ZONE OF LIQUID BEING COLLECTED ADJACENT THE UPPER AND LOWER BEARING ELEMENTS AND AN INNER ZONE OF AIR BEING COLLECTED ADJACENT THE ROTATING ROTOR AND SPINDLES.