Surgery – Instruments – Means for removal of skin or material therefrom
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-27
2001-03-27
Smith, Jeffrey A. (Department: 3732)
Surgery
Instruments
Means for removal of skin or material therefrom
C606S210000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206892
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an instrument for removing ticks with a gripping handle portion which is similar to pliers.
Instruments for removing ticks have been known for a long time, and they exist in a large variety of shapes and sizes. Frequently, the instruments are constructed in the form of tweezers. Such instruments are used both in the private and the commercial fields, when ticks are to be removed from the human or animal skin, to which they are attached. Such a removal of ticks from the skin is necessary, since a bite of the ticks may transmit dangerous diseases to the human and domestic animals. Both during the removal by means of fingers and by means of tweezers, it is possible to tear off in most cases only the body of the tick that swells considerably during the sucking of blood, whereas the mouthparts of the tick continue to be attached in the skin. In this state, it is still possible to transmit diseases.
A complete removal of a tick while it sucks blood, can be realized in most cases only with a good feel for gripping or holding and by subsequently twisting out the mouthparts of the tick. In this connection, the twisting motion effects a cautious pulling of the tick. Further, the twisting motion accomplishes a stabilization between the mouthparts and the tick body, so that the known instrument is capable of preventing in nearly all cases a tearing of the mouthparts.
However, the known instruments are problematic, in that despite gripping the tick with a special gripping arrangement, it is not always possible to avoid having the fully bloated body of the tick be squashed and exploded. The risk of squashing and exploding the tick body exists in particular in a strongly bloated state of the tick body. Thereafter, a safe and clean removal of the tick is no longer ensured.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an instrument of the initially described kind for removing ticks, which facilitates an easy removal of ticks from the skin with a simplest handling, even when the body of the tick is strongly bloated.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above and other objects and advantages of the invention are achieved by the provision of an instrument which comprises a handle portion and pickup device mounted to one end of the handle portion. The pickup device comprises a base wall which has a slot therein for receiving a tick which is attached to the skin of a person or animal, as the base wall of the instrument is slid over the surface of the skin.
The pickup device and, more specifically, the slot make it possible to pick up and twist out or extract a tick in a simple manner, without incurring the risk of squashing the tick body by a gripping motion or a gripping in the fashion of pliers having gripping elements moving toward each other. In so doing, it is possible to pick up the tick simply between its mouthparts and body.
The construction of the instrument with both a gripping handle portion and a pickup device produces an instrument that always offers a suitable removing instrument in a combined manner both for not yet strongly bloated or not even bloated tick bodies and for very highly bloated tick bodies.
Consequently, the instrument for removing ticks in accordance with the invention, defines an instrument that facilitates with a simplest handling an easy removal of ticks from the skin, even in the case of highly bloated tick bodies.
With respect to a particularly simple pickup of a tick, it is possible to form the slot in a flat base wall of the pickup device. For picking up the tick, the instrument can be placed with its flat base wall on a correspondingly flat skin portion, and the pickup device can then be displaced on the skin portion such that the tick being removed is received in the slot. Thereafter, it is possible to twist or pull out the tick.
To ensure a particularly reliable pickup of the tick in the region of its mouthparts or between its mouthparts and body, the flat base wall can be made convex or substantially curved at least in the region of the slot. This ensures a safe sliding of the region of the slot directly on the skin. In other words, the flat base wall—proceeding from the region of the slot—curves away from the skin, on which the pickup device is placed.
As regards a particularly simple and reliable extraction of the tick, the flat base wall could have an inclination in the region opposite to the slot.
With respect to a reliable pickup of the tick, the slot can comprise two converging side walls. The tick would then be picked up preferably in the narrowest portion of the slot. In this connection, it will be advantageous, when the side walls converge at an acute angle, so that while picking up the tick, an engagement between the pickup device and the tick occurs as quickly as possible.
In a constructionally particularly simple configuration, it is possible to make the slot substantially triangular. In this connection, straight-line walls would be realized that are particularly simple to make.
With respect to a particularly reliable pickup of the tick, the walls can be inclined or sloped such that they form acute-angled pickup edges substantially opposite to each other. In this connection, a slope could be provided toward the plane of the flat base wall of the pickup device.
To prevent an unwanted tilting or even detaching of the tick body while it is being picked up, it is possible to slope the walls at the closed end of the slot such that they merge into one another continuously. Furthermore, it is possible to slope the walls along their entire length, including the closed end at the same angle. This angle may be about 45°, thus enabling a reliable removal of a tick.
In a constructionally simple and visually appealing configuration, the flat base wall can be formed as a base surface of a substantially cylindrical pickup device, which includes the slot. To ensure that the pickup range is as great as possible and thus reliable, the slot could extend from the periphery of the base wall to a point beyond the center of the circle defined by the base wall. In this connection, the slot could be formed as a slender gap.
The cylindrical pickup device can be formed by a cylindrical jacket which is joined at the periphery of the circular base wall. Furthermore, with respect to a reliable pickup of the tick or the tick body, the cylindrical jacket can include a radial passage in the region of the open end of the slot. It would then be possible to move the pickup device toward the tick in such a manner that the tick is moved through the open end of the slot and into the jacket. In so doing, the tick enters simultaneously through the radial passage of the cylindrical jacket into the interior of the jacket. Thus, the tick is partially surrounded by the cylindrical jacket.
To ensure a reliable pickup of even very large, i.e., very highly bloated ticks, the radial passage in the jacket can be formed approximately along the arc of half a circle of the circular base wall. This configuration would provide substantially the maximal passage with respect to a predetermined cylinder size.
In a constructionally simple manner, the pickup device can be attached to the end of the gripping handle portion facing away from the gripping member thereof. This would realize an instrument that comprises at its one end a gripping member and at its other end a pickup device.
In a further, constructionally simple manner, the pickup device can connect directly to the gripping handle portion. In this connection, an integral configuration with the gripping handle portion is advantageous. Also, the pickup device can either be cast with the gripping handle portion or be injection molded together with the gripping handle portion. It would be possible to use as material any plastic that is satisfactory to process.
To ensure a simple operation of the instrument, the gripping handle portion and/or the pickup device could be surrounded at least in part by a sleeve. Such a sleeve could be made of plastic or, in a particularly stable cons
Alston & Bird LLP
Fortuna Vertrieb Dr. G. Schick GmbH
Smith Jeffrey A.
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