Methods and devices for the trituration of mixtures

(74) Bryns Patentkontor A / S (54) Mixing ampoule with two compartments.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a blend ampoule for use in carrying out an intimate blend of chemical substances, in particular dental or pharmaceutical products, and having two compartments separated by a movable closure which, by elasticity, are clamped between the walls of the container and capable of be pushed into one of the compartments under the action of a slider which is guided to the bottom of the compartment opposite the mixing chamber of the two compartments.

The preparation of dental amalgams can take place in containers intended to contain the components in a separate state and for subsequent mixing of the pre-dosed substances. One of the compartments in the container contains the metal powder and the other contains the mercury. When the mixing is complete, the container is placed on a vibrator and thanks to the presence of a crusher in the mixing chamber, the amalgam paint is carried out.

To date, crushers or grinding tools in the form of cylinders, rods or balls have been used in containers of this kind. The grinding time of the vibrator of the amalgam using the crusher is of the order of 8-12 seconds depending on the weight of the crusher.

Furthermore, it is known to use a flat body as a grinding tool in vibration mills, which serves to crush solids.

A mixing cartridge of the type mentioned is also known, in which the movable closure is in the form of a ball.

In the hitherto known containers, by grinding paste to produce amalgam, a completely satisfactory homogeneity quality of the amalgam is not achieved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is to provide a blending cartridge of the type mentioned, in which blends of chemical substances, especially amalgams, can be obtained with better homogeneity than in the hitherto known containers.

This is achieved according to the invention in that the movable closure or partition consists of a plate or an analog flat body which later serves as a grinding tool or crusher for securing the mixture of substances by motion generation.

It should be noted that here with the term plates which may otherwise have a thickness of a few mm, is meant not only flat cylinders with planar surfaces, but also all flat rotating bodies with planar, convex and concave surfaces. The edges of these plates may be suitably rounded.

These plates can be designed in any way suitable to the nature of the products to be mixed. They can have variable dimensions depending on the dimensions of the used ampoules.

It has been shown by experiments that the grinding of amalgams by means of such plates, which thus has two functions, partly to serve as a movable closure between the two compartments of the amu- ple, and partly to serve as stirring by the mixing process itself, is clearly better than grinding up. . . .

grinding by means of the grinding means hitherto used, especially the aforementioned spheres. The mechanical properties of the obtained amalgam, which are directly related to the degree of grinding and the homogeneity of the amalgam, were found to be clearly improved.

It appears that the better grinding ability of crushers in the form of plates compared to the previously known crushers is due to their flat shape and their greater mobility during vibration.

The vibrators on which the containers are placed subject the containers to shaking, usually helical shaking movements.

The mobility of the plates enables them, it seems, in that they have rotating motions, to follow this helical stirring motion.

It should be noted that the reason for a better grinding ability of the plates is without doubt related to their weight. In fact, even though they are less heavy than spheres or cylinders made of the same material, the above-described plates nevertheless have a grinding time that is much shorter in producing a better quality amalgam.

This shows that the essential point of the grinding is not in the weight of the grinding means, but in their mobility.

An embodiment of the blending cartridge according to the invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the drawings, in which fig. 1 shows an axial section after filling; FIG. 2 shows a similar section, but after mixing the two substances, and fig. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 show various embodiments of the plate.

In the exemplary embodiment, the vial 1 has two compartments separated from each other by a suitable diameter plate 2. The plate 2 is held in place by the elasticity of the walls. Advantageously, in the inner wall of the vial, at the height of the two compartments adjacent to each other, an annular groove or analog constriction may have been formed, in which the plate is held elastically tightly.

When the plate has been ejected, the lower part of the slider 3 tightly blocks the lower space, which serves as a mixing chamber.

The filling of this apparatus takes place in the same way as for ampoules with a ball that close.

Experiments with the ampoule according to the invention have shown that with a plate made of plastic material and with a few mm thickness, grinding times of the order of 6-8 sec. and amalgams of excellent quality.

The following comparative examples will further illustrate the present invention.

Example 1.

This example consists of a comparison between the required grinding times for a sphere and for a plate of equal weight to the same amount of amalgamating material.

The table below shows the results obtained:

<td>crushes</td><td>Nature</td><td>Diameter</td><td>Thickness</td><td colspan="2">Weight</td><td>Paint time in seconds</td>

<td>cool</td><td>Plastic</td><td>8 mm</td><td> -</td><td> 0,37</td><td>g</td><td> 12</td>

<td>Plate</td><td>Teflon</td><td>8 mm</td><td>3.5 mm</td><td> 0,38</td><td>g</td><td> 10,5</td>

It is found that with the same weight on the crusher the grinding time for the plate is clearly better than for the ball.

Example 2.

This example is carried out as Example 1 with the same crushers, but with an amount of amalgamating material equal to twice the amount of Example 1.

<td>crushes</td><td colspan="2">Weight</td><td>Paint time in seconds</td>

<td>cool</td><td> 0,37</td><td>g</td><td> 15</td>

<td>Plate</td><td> 0,38</td><td>g</td><td> 11</td>

When examining the two examples, it is found that the increase of the mass to be milled at the plate has only very little effect on the milling time: in sec. more, while the ball milling time is increased by 2 sec.

These examples show the record's unmatched superiority to the bullet.

Example 3 ·

This example consists of a comparison of the required grinding times for two different weight plates for the same amount of amalgamating material.

<td>crushes</td><td>Nature</td><td>Diameter</td><td>Thickness</td><td>Weight</td><td>Paint time in sec.</td>

<td>Plate Plate</td><td>Teflon plexiglass</td><td>8 mm 8 mm</td><td>3.5 mm 3.5 mm</td><td> 0,38 0,20</td><td>g 10.5 g 11</td>

This example confirms that the weight of the crusher has a relatively small significance for the grinding of amalgams by means of plates.

Furthermore, the experiments show that the grinding of amalgam by means of a plate produces less heating of the amalgam, which is always desirable for the quality of the obtained amalgam.

From the given examples it can be seen that the grinding of dental amalgams by means of plates gives excellent results both in terms of grinding time and mechanical qualities of the obtained amalgams.