Fiberoptically illuminated appliances

Surgery – Endoscope – Having imaging and illumination means

Reexamination Certificate

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C600S191000, C600S212000, C600S241000, C600S223000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06176824

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to fiberoptically illuminated appliances and, more particularly, to medical, industrial and consumer products, which employ a translucent body for transmitting and projecting fiberoptic illumination.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many products perform functions that require illumination. In particular, the medical and dental areas include numerous procedures where optimal lighting conditions are necessary. When performing an operation, a surgeon almost always requires precisely directed lighting to obtain a clear view of the anatomical region being operated upon. Diagnostic procedures within the gastrointestinal tract typically require a fiberoptically illuminated scope. Dentists too utilize headlamps and other types of overhead lighting to obtain an improved view within a patient's mouth. Such lighting requirements are described in my co-pending patent application Ser. No. 60/029,664 filed Oct. 29, 1996.
To date, medical and dental appliances have been lighted primarily through the use of fiberoptic illuminators which project light through an attached cable containing glass or plastic fibers. The cable is typically connected to a surgical instrument or headlight device that projects light onto the area to be illuminated. Certain of the surgical instruments and appliances used for these procedures are manufactured with a dedicated channel containing glass or plastic fiber, which conveys light to the point where it is finally projected on the operative sight. See, for example, Schultz, U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,134, which is directed to a dental instrument and Moore et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,047, which relates to a disposable light conductive speculum. The latter patent employs a dedicated light bar that is mounted to a speculum. Light is projected from a distal end of the bar, through the air and toward the area of the body cavity being examined.
Unfortunately, most of the previously known medical and dental appliances are not optimally illuminated. The need to project light through glass or plastic fiber contained in a dedicated channel causes the amount of light to be restricted and typically creates a small spot of light rather than broadcasting light over a wider area. Standard headlamps and hand-held lights are simply impractical and inadequate for examining region's inside a patient's mouth, nose, ears, throat, rectum and genital tract. Obviously, such devices are useless for examinations of the gastrointestinal tract. Not only are conventional medical and dental instruments inadequately illuminated, they are usually relatively complicated and expensive to manufacture and maintain. And most are not readily disposable. As a result, inconvenient and often expensive sterilization processes and equipment are required in order to reuse these instruments.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved fiberoptically illuminated appliance that employs the standard operational portion of the appliance to conduct and emit light.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a fiberoptically illuminated appliance that achieves significantly improved lighting in a wide variety of medical, industrial and consumer product applications.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a fiberoptically illuminated appliance that is disposable and which may be mass produced quickly, conveniently and inexpensively.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a fiberoptically illuminated appliance that may be used with a wide variety of conventional fiberoptic illuminators.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a fiberoptically illuminated appliance that provides for significantly improved illumination of various openings and areas within the human body.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a fiberoptically illuminated appliance that does not require a dedicated light channel in order to transmit light.
This invention results from a realization that the body of an operational appliance may be used to conduct light and illuminate the operation being performed. This is accomplished by constructing the appliance of a light weight translucent material that transmits and projects fiberoptic illumination toward the function being lighted. By employing the appliance itself as a light projector, significantly improved lighting is achieved in a wide variety of medical, industrial and consumer applications.
This invention features a fiberoptically illuminated appliance that includes a light source and an elongate fiberoptic cable, which is operably interengaged to the light source and which conducts light from the light source therethrough. There is an appliance, which includes translucent operational means that are operated in a conventional manner for performing a primary predetermined function, which function is exclusive of lighting. The operational means define a continuous, light-conducting pathway, uninterrupted by air and include a light-emitting surface formed on the periphery of the operational means and communicably connected to the light-conducting pathway. There are means for communicably interengaging the cable and the operational means and directing light from the cable through the continuous light-conducting pathway to the light-emitting surface, from which surface light is projected to illuminate the primary predetermined function.
In a preferred embodiment, the appliance is a medical appliance, which may be introduced into and engaged with the human body. The translucent operational means may include a solid, light-conducting plastic. The appliance may consist exclusively of such a plastic. The light-emitting surface may cover a majority of the translucent operational means. The light-emitting surface may cover a majority of the light conductive plastic such that light transmitted to the appliance is emitted from a majority of the peripheral surface of the appliance. The continuous, light-conducting pathway may form a majority of the operational means.
The invention also discloses a method of illuminating a primary predetermined function, which function is exclusive of lighting, utilizing an appliance as described above.


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