Orthodontic bracket

Claim 1

AN ORTHODONTIC BRACKET FOR USE WITH LIGHT-WIRE CORRECTIVE TECHNIQUES, AND FORMED FROM AN INITIALLY FLAT, UNITARY, ELONGATED STRIP OF SHEET METAL HAVING FRONT AND REAR SIDES, A TOP SURFACE AND A BOTTOM SURFACE, AND HAVING A PAIR OF LONGITUDINALLY SPACED-APART NOTCHES ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE CENTER OF THE STRIP AND EXTENDING FROM THE TOP SURFACE TOWARD THE BOTTOM SURFACE, THE STRIP HAVING A CENTER SECTION BETWEEN THE NOTCHES, A PAIR OF FLANGE SECTIONS ON OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE STRIP EXTENDING AWAY FROM THE NOTCHES, AND A PAIR OF SPACED-APART WEB SECTIONS EXTENDING BETWEEN THE CENTER SECTION AND THE FLANGE SECTIONS, THE WEB SECTIONS HAVING UPPER SURFACES, AT LEAST A PORTION OF THE UPPER SURFACES SLOPING UPWARDLY FROM THE FRONT SIDE TOWARD THE REAR SIDE AND AWAY FROM THE BOTTOM SURFACE; THE CENTER SECTION OF THE STRIP BEING BENT IN A GENERALLY U-SHAPED CONFIGURATION WHEREBY THE REAR SIDE OF THE CENTER SECTION CURVES CONCAVELY TO DEFINE A LOCK-PIN CHANNEL EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY THE LENGTH OF THE STRIP; THE WEB SECTIONS BEING BENT TOWARD EACH OTHER ACROSS THE OPEN END OF THE U-SHAPED CONFIGURATTION AND THEN BENT TO EXTEND AWAY FROM THE CHANNEL WITH UPPER PORTIONS OF THE REAR SIDES OF THE WEB SECTIONS IN JUXTAPOSITION, THE UPPER SURFACES OF THE JUXTAPOSED WEB SECTIONS FORMING A RELATIVELY NARROW PIVOTAL EDGE TO SUPPORT AN ARCH WIRE, THE PIVOTAL EDGE HAVING A WIDTH LESS THAN TWICE THE THICKNESS OF THE STRIP; AND THE FLANGE SECTIONS EXTENDING AWAY FROM EACH OTHER AND APPROXIMATELY PERPENDICULARLY AWAY FROM THE PIVOTAL EDGE,THE REAR SIDES OF THE FLANGE SECTIONS BEING ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO A TOOTH BAND, THE TOP SURFACES OF THE FLANGE SECTIONS BEING APPROXIMATELY LEVEL WITH THE TOP SURFACE OF THE CENTER SECTION WHEREBY AN ARCH-WIRE CHANNEL IS DEFINED BY THE FRONT SIDES OF THE FLANGE SECTION, THE ARCH-WIRE CHANNEL EXTENDING APPROXIMATELY PARALLEL TO THE FLANGE SECTIONS AND APPROXIMATELY PERPENDICULAR TO THE PIVOTAL EDGE AND THE LOCK-PIN CHANNEL.