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A denture treating apparatus employs a receptacle base with a chamber closed by a rotatable cover. A denture and an effervescing denture treating composition, such as a denture cleaning tablet is place in water in the chamber. When the chamber is closed, the pressure created by the effervescing tabl

A denture treating apparatus employs a receptacle base with a chamber closed by a rotatable cover. A denture and an effervescing denture treating composition, such as a denture cleaning tablet is place in water in the chamber. When the chamber is closed, the pressure created by the effervescing tablet causes the active ingredients to penetrate small spaces in the denture. A seal is compressed between relative thick peripheral lips on the cover and receptacle base. Thinner sections of the receptacle base can bow under pressure to show that pressure is building up. A shiftable handle on the cover makes it easier for a user to close the cover and compress the seal.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A denture treating apparatus comprising: a receptacle base forming a chamber with an open end, the receptacle base including a receptacle base peripheral lip extending around the open end with an upwardly facing surface on the receptacle base peripheral lip;a cover, securable to the receptacle ba

1. A denture treating apparatus comprising: a receptacle base forming a chamber with an open end, the receptacle base including a receptacle base peripheral lip extending around the open end with an upwardly facing surface on the receptacle base peripheral lip;a cover, securable to the receptacle base over the open end of the chamber, to close the chamber, the cover including a cover peripheral lip opposed to the receptacle base peripheral lip when the receptacle base is secured to the open end of the chamber;a seal positioned on the upwardly facing surface of the receptacle base peripheral lip between the receptacle base peripheral lip and the cover peripheral lip; whereinthe cover can be rotated relative to the receptacle base to compress the seal to form a pressure tight chamber in which a denture can be cleaned; and whereinthe receptacle base comprises a one-piece molded member including a cylindrical outer wall and a bottom wall, the bottom wall being narrower than the section of the cylindrical outer wall forming the receptacle base peripheral lip, and with the upwardly facing surface on which the seal is positionable having a minimum width that is greater than the thickness of the bottom wall, so that deformation under pressure occurs in the bottom wall and not in the vicinity of the seal to maintain seal integrity under pressure. 2. The denture treating apparatus of claim 1 wherein the chamber can be sealed to retain a sufficient pressure to outwardly deform the bottom wall. 3. The denture treating apparatus of claim 2 wherein the receptacle base peripheral lip is not substantially deformed relative to the bottom wall when pressure is developed in the chamber. 4. The denture treating apparatus of claim 1 wherein a section of the cylindrical outer wall of the receptacle base is thicker than an adjacent section of the cylindrical outer wall joining the bottom wall. 5. The denture treating apparatus of claim 1 wherein the seal comprises a gasket seal. 6. The denture treating apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cover comprises a molded member including strengthening ribs extending along an exterior face to impart rigidity to the cover when the chamber is pressurized. 7. The denture treating apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cover is screwed into engagement with the receptacle base to close the chamber, with the seal closing a peripheral gap between the cover and the receptacle base and applying uniform pressure to the seal around the peripheral gap to seal the peripheral gap, the peripheral gap forming the only path between the chamber and the exterior environment surrounding the denture treating apparatus. 8. The denture treating apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cover comprises a flat disk with an annular wall extending upwardly to form a peripheral edge of the flat disk and a peripheral lip at the top of the annular wall. 9. The denture treating apparatus of claim 8 wherein the bottom wall of the receptacle base is parallel to the cover disk in the absence of pressure in the chamber in excess of ambient pressure, the bottom wall bowing outward relative to the cover disk when excess pressure is developed in the chamber. 10. The denture treating apparatus of claim 1 including a holder on an interior wall of the cover, the holder comprising means for retaining a denture treating tablet for introduction into the chamber, while in the holder. 11. The denture treating apparatus of claim 1 wherein the seal engages the cover and the receptacle base to form both a liquid tight and a gas tight seal so that excess pressure can be developed in the chamber when a denture treating tablet is introduced into water in the chamber. 12. The denture treating apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cover includes a cover peripheral lip having a thickness greater than the remainder of the cover to impart relative rigidity to the cover peripheral lip, the seal being positioned between the receptacle base peripheral lip and the cover peripheral lip when the chamber is closed. 13. A denture treating apparatus comprising: a receptacle base forming a chamber with an open end;a cover, securable to the receptacle base over the open end of the chamber, to close the chamber; anda peripheral seal positioned between the cover and the receptacle so that pressure in the chamber can exceed ambient pressure for treating a denture placed in the chamber; wherein one of the receptacle base or the cover includes a section that is outwardly deformable when the pressure in the chamber is sufficient to improve performance of a denture treatment disposed in the chamber, wherein the deformable section is remote from the peripheral seal to limit leakage past the seal and portions of the receptacle base or the cover adjacent to the peripheral seal and between the peripheral seal and the deformable section are relatively stiffer than the deformable section. 14. The denture treating apparatus of claim 13 wherein the deformable section is outwardly deformable in the presence of a pressure within the chamber of at least ten psi greater than ambient pressure. 15. The denture treating apparatus of claim 13 wherein the deformable section comprises a section of one of the cover or the receptacle base that is thinner than sections of the cover and the receptacle base in engagement with the seal. 16. The denture treating apparatus of claim 15 wherein the deformable section comprises at least a portion of a bottom wall of the receptacle base forming a portion of the chamber. 17. A denture treating apparatus comprising: a receptacle base forming a chamber with an open end;a cover, securable to the receptacle base over the open end of the chamber, to close the chamber; anda handle, attachable to the cover, and engaging the cover to twist the cover relative to the receptacle base to open and close the chamber, the handle being sequentially shiftable in a first direction relative to the cover after attachment thereto between multiple positions to sequentially impart rotation at each position to close the cover, the handle also being sequentially shiftable in a second direction relative to the cover after attachment thereto to sequentially impart rotation to open the. 18. The denture treating apparatus of claim 17 wherein the handle and the cover are attached to each other at a central pivot and the handle includes a flexible hinge, spaced from the central pivot, flexing of the hinge permitting the handle to shift between the first and second positions to permit rotation of the handle. 19. The denture treating apparatus of claim 18 wherein a seal is located between the cover and the receptacle base, so that the handle may be rotated to twist the cover and compress the seal to form a pressure tight enclosed chamber. 20. The denture treating apparatus of claim 17 wherein a plurality of ribs protrude from an exterior face of the cover, the handle engaging the ribs to impart rotation to the cover relative to the receptacle base. 21. The denture treating apparatus of claim 20 wherein the ribs form a series of segments, recessed relative to the ribs, on the exterior face of the cover, the handle being shiftable and insertable into segments between the ribs. 22. The denture treating apparatus of claim 21 wherein a second handle extends from the receptacle base, the handle on the cover being shiftable relative to the second handle and insertable into different segments to angularly space the handles relative to each other for twisting the cover relative to the receptacle base to further compress the seal. 23. The denture treating apparatus of claim 22 wherein the handle includes a tapered wedge insertable into segments formed by ribs diverging from a center of the cover to a peripheral edge of the cover. 24. The denture treating apparatus of claim 20 wherein the ribs comprise strengthening ribs. 25. The denture treating apparatus of claim 20 wherein the cover includes a peripheral rim, with the ribs extending between a central point on the cover to the peripheral rim. 26. The denture treating apparatus of claim 25 wherein the cover comprises a one-piece molded member and the handle comprises a separate molded member attachable to the cover only at a central pivot point.