Invalidity dossier
US 4192071
Dental appliance
Current assignee: Individual
Added 9/23/2026, 4:22:20 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US4192071A, "Dental Appliance"
Bibliographic data (per supplied text): Patent number US4192071A; application US05/873,430; inventor Norman Erickson; original assignee/current assignee listed as "Individual." Priority and filing date: 1978-01-30. Publication (grant) date: 1980-03-11. Anticipated expiration: 1998-01-30; legal status: Expired – Lifetime (the source notes legal status is an assumption, not a legal conclusion). Classification: A61C17/00 and A61C17/06/A61C17/08 (saliva removers; aspiration nozzles). Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US4192071](/patent/US4192071)/en
Purpose: A dental appliance for evacuating debris and liquid from the mouth during dental operations, collecting solid debris, preventing debris from falling into the throat (oral pharynx) even when the patient is supine, and removing liquid from the mouth.
Plain-language scope: The appliance has two main parts. A collector member includes a semirigid bite block portion gripped by the molars on one side of the mouth; it deforms on the patient's initial bite to form a seat, then resists further deformation so the patient can exert substantial pressure on it. Integrally formed with the bite block are an extension member (handle) and a combination tongue guard and collector membrane holder whose bottom surface is contoured to the inner curvature of the patient's lower arches; the holder has a vertical slot dividing it into right and left foot portions. A resilient collector membrane is frictionally held in the slot with its major portion extending outward, contoured to circumferentially seal the mouth into forward and rear compartments; it folds concave across its length into top-of-mouth and bottom-of-mouth portions. A bore through the extension member, bite block, and holder communicates with the membrane to evacuate collected liquids. Figures show a perspective view in the mouth, an exploded side elevation, a top plan, and a front elevation. The background discusses saliva pumps versus high-velocity vacuum and prior Erickson patents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,090,122; 2,937,445; 3,924,333).
Not established by the excerpt: the full claim set and claim language; the complete description (text is expressly excerpted); the drawings' details; and any information on litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or prior-art analysis.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:50:57 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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