Surgery – Instruments – Suture – ligature – elastic band or clip applier
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-15
2001-10-23
Jackson, Gary (Department: 3731)
Surgery
Instruments
Suture, ligature, elastic band or clip applier
Reexamination Certificate
active
06306149
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to feeding arrangements for medical clip and stapling devices, particularly for the pinching or clipping of blood vessels or for the closure of wounds, and is related to commonly owned, co-pending U.S. application Ser. No.: 09/504,572 filed Feb. 15, 2000, entitled “Ladder-Type Medical Feeding Mechanism”, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Prior Art
Clips and surgical staplers have been used by physicians to replace suturing and for closing wounds or to tie-off blood vessels during a surgical procedure or other traumatic medical event. Such surgical clips and stapler applicators generally comprise of closed jaws, which crimp a U-shaped clip flat across the tissues to be tied or sutured. Typically, such an application device is arranged through the spaced clips in a sequential manner, those clips being fed serially to the jaws.
The tools typically in use dispense such clips to the jaws sequentially, the distalmost clip being pinched, and the next adjacent clip immediately therebehind being advanced immediately adjacent the pinched clip. Examples of such clip feeding arrangements are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,450 to Thornton et al, showing a clip feeding and dispenser mechanism which uses a spring to force the movement of clips in line with an applicator.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,847 to Noiles et al, shows a ratchet driven cartridge for advancing sequentially a plurality of staples. U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,585 to Mittelsteate et al, shows a ligating clip advancing device for advancing a plurality of clips along a track between a pair of pinched jaws. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,504 to Klieman et al, shows a spring activated homeostatic clip applicator wherein a double ratchet apparatus advances clips through a magazine to cause a clip-feed blade to slide through the magazine to place a clip in the deforming jaws. Each of the above identified prior art patents is incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
It is an object of the present invention, to provide a medical clip feeding mechanism which is an improvement over the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention, to provide a medical clip feeding mechanism which advances the distalmost clip into the jaws of the stapling device prior to the advancement of the next available clip moving along the feed track.
It is yet a still further object of the present invention, to provide a simple and easy to use clip feeder arrangement which is tolerant of slight dimensional irregularity in the clips or staplers utilized by the stapling device or gun and cycles the drive mechanism to engage and disengage the clips and their pusher member.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a clip or staple feeding arrangement for providing clips or staples to the jaws of a medical stapling gun. The new staple clip gun comprises a handle at one end thereof, for holding and actuating the clip stapling arrangement. The handle comprises a housing and a trigger mechanism for actuating the jaws and clip feeding mechanism. The housing has an opening through which the proximal end of a barrel is supported. The barrel has a distal end where the jaws, utilized for feeding and pinching the clips or staples, is located. A generally U-shaped frame member is arranged through the length of the inside of the barrel. The frame member has a plurality of bridges spaced along its elongated length. A jaw control rod, moveable proximally and distally, is supportively arranged upon those bridges, to provide the pinching movement to the jaws at the distal end of the barrel. The frame has several portions along its length on its lowermost side, having elongated slots therein. The distalmost slot is arranged near the distal end of the barrel, and a mid-slot is arranged along a mid portion of the frame's length. A ramp-like projection is arranged at a location on each side of the distalmost and the mid-portion slot in the frame, which ramp acts as a cam track to guide pins extending transversely from the sides of upstanding fingers of an elongated, spring stainless steel clip feeder bar into engagement with the distalmost clip and the elongated, slotted ladder respectively. The elongated, slotted ladder pushes all but the distalmost clip distally along in the frame.
The barrel is arranged to receive a clip cartridge at its rearmost opening at the housing in the handle. The frame is arranged to receive a clip or stapler cartridge which includes an elongated ladder, through an opening in the rearside of the handle. The clips are generally U-shaped, and have leg members which extend distally from the housing. The clips and the elongated ladder are arranged to be slidable within the generally U-shaped channel, the channel providing their enclosure in the package. The elongated ladder has a plurality of elongated slots or holes of generally rectangular shape which holes are arranged longitudinally down the middle portion thereof. The ladder has a distal end, which abuts the last (proximalmost) clip within the cartridge.
The cartridge in each of the preferred embodiments of the present invention contains about twenty U-shaped clips or staples seriatim therein. Each clip is in an abutting and in a pushing relationship with its adjacent distal clip.
The elongated cycling clip pusher or feeder bar is arranged within the barrel and supported beneath the frame member therewithin. The cycling clip pusher or feeder bar has a distalmost finger projecting towards the cartridge, and having a pin extending from each transverse side thereof. The clip pusher or feeder bar also has a proximal finger extending upwardly in a spaced relation to the elongated slot location in the lowermost side of the mid-portion of the frame member. The elongated cycling clip pusher or feeder bar is advancable distally and returnable proximally in a cyclic manner responding to the actuation of the trigger mechanism within the handle of the clip device. The proximate finger also has a pin extending transversely from each side thereof in a manner similar to that of the distalmost finger.
Movement of the trigger mechanism cycles the longitudinal distal advancement of the elongated clip pusher or feeder bar relative to the frame member. As the proximal finger is advanced simultaneously with the distal finger, the proximal finger is biasedly permitted by the spring nature of the stainless steel clip feeder to enter the hole of the elongated ladder corresponding to the location of the opening in the lower portion of mid-portion of the frame. The same longitudinal advance of the clip pusher or feeder bar effects simultaneous distal advancement of the distal finger. As the distalmost finger advances, its spring-like bias pushes it into the slot in the frame where permitted by the pins cammed with the ramp-like tracks. The distal finger then touches the backside of the distalmost clip, to push it distally and thereby to effect its entry between the pincher jaws. The trigger mechanism then effects the squeezing together of the pincher jaws by advancing the crimp box pushed by the pusher rod, to crimp the clip or staple onto a body component to be pinched close. The trigger mechanism also simultaneously continues to advance the proximal finger on the clip feeder bar, which proximal finger has traveled the length of the rectangular hole in the ladder at its location adjacent its opening in the frame member. As the proximal finger enters the rectangular hole in the ladder, the proximal finger moves within that rectangular hole until it comes to a bar across the distal end of that hole, where it then begins to push the ladder distally a spaced distance, to then make the ladder push upon all of the series of clips within the cartridge, thus effecting delivery of the next available clip to its “stand-by” position at the distal end of the frame.
Squeezing of the trigger mechanism effects the rearward or proximate cycle of movement of the clip pusher or feeder bar in a proximal direction, th
Halgren Don
Jackson Gary
Microline Inc.
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