Surgical instrument with snag free box hinge

Abstract

A surgical instrument includes a pair of elongated members joined together by a box hinge. The box hinge is formed of a slot in the first member having substantially flat, generally parallel sides and a hinge portion in the second member. The hinge portion of the second member conforms to the generally flat surfaces of the slot and is generally the same width as that of the second member on either side of the box hinge. The width of the first elongated member is larger than the width of the second elongated member at either end of the box hinge portion. The transitional slope of the side surfaces of the second elongated member is nearly flat between the box hinge portion, the handle end portion, and the working tip portion. The unique construction of the box hinge creates a snag-free surface that allows for the use of the instrument for tasks such as suturing without the suturing thread snagging on the instrument.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 284,519, filed Oct. 30, 2002, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 367,610, filed Mar. 25, 2002.TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] This invention relates to medical and surgical instruments and more particularly to surgical instruments such as needle holders, forceps, hemostats, clamps, and occluders which incorporate a precision box hinge. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Medical and surgical instruments such as needle holders, needle drivers, forceps and occluders that incorporate a box hinge between handle ends and working tip ends are well known. Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, these instruments include a pair of members joined together by a box hinge. Forming the box hinge one of the members includes a slot having flat, parallel sides and the other member includes a portion machined to conform with the flat, parallel sides of the slot. The mach...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005] The present invention provides a box hinge for a medical or surgical instrument that completely eliminates any possibility of snagging a suture on edges of the instrument around the box hinge.

[0007] More specifically, a surgical instrument in accordance with the invention includes a pair of elongated members joined together by a box hinge. The box hinge is formed by a slot in the first member having substantially flat, generally parallel sides and, instead of a machined portion, as in the known art, a hinge portion of generally continuous cross-section in the second member. The hinge portion of the second member conforms and cooperates with the substantially flat surfaces of the slot. The hinge portion of the second member may be generally the same width as that of the second member on either side of the box hinge, thereby eliminating points where a suture can snag above and below the box hinge. In other words, the hinge portion of the second member preferably has a generally continuous cross sectional shape being generally that of portions of the second member on either end of the hinge portion.

Problems solved by technology

Likewise, the matched grinding has the disadvantage of being costly typically still snagging when suture thread is of very fine diameter, and still leads to snagging due to mismatch of the interface as the working tip ends are opened slightly to hold the suture needle or other objects.

Images