Apparatus supporting a plurality of dental instruments

Claim 1

In an apparatus for supporting a dental handpiece and for supplying necessary operating agents to the handpiece, said handpiece having a hose containing supply lines extending to a connecting member, said apparatus including a housing having support means including at least one support recess for receiving and storing a dental handpiece, a coupling member for each support means coacting with the connecting member of the handpiece to connect agent supply lines in the housing to the supply lines of the hose of the handpiece, and control means for controlling the flow of agents to the elements in the coupling member, the improvements comprising said housing including a source of water, a source of air and at least one source of electrical power, each coupling member being disposed in an easily accessible portion of the housing, said connecting and coupling members being designed for easy releasable interconnection, said coupling member being constructed with elements for separately transferring electrical power, air and water from the sources in the housing to the connecting member of the handpiece, said control means having evaluation means for receiving signals indicating the type of handpiece being connected to the coupling member and selectively connecting the various sources to the elements of the coupling member in response to the indicated type of handpiece, and said coupling member and connecting member having cooperating coding means for creating a signal to indicate the type of handpiece being connected by the coupling member so that the evaluation means automatically selects the desired agents for a specific type of handpiece when that handpiece is connected to the coupling member.