Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – Control means responsive to or actuated by means sensing or... – Cutter control
Reexamination Certificate
1995-08-09
2001-07-24
Dexter, Clark F. (Department: 3724)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
Control means responsive to or actuated by means sensing or...
Cutter control
C425S289000, C029S564600, C083S100000, C083S153000, C083S175000, C083S277000, C083S279000, C083S385000, C083S451000, C083S452000, C083S454000, C083S636000, C083S950000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264456
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for cutting predetermined lengths of a flexible material such as thread, rope, wire, tubing, and the like, and more specifically, to an apparatus for automatically cutting a predetermined length of suture material for attachment to a surgical needle.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
The medical products industry presently utilizes semi-automated procedures for swaging sutures to surgical needles. For instance, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,551, manual intervention is required by an operator to accurately position a suture within the needle for swaging and to adjust swaging dies to increase or decrease swage pressure when suture strands of different gauges are to be swaged. This process is costly in terms of man-hour labor and efficiency because manual positioning is required for swaging to take place.
Presently, suture material may be supplied wound on a bobbin, a king or driven spool before being cut and positioned within the swaging end of a surgical needle. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,177 the suture material is fed from a spool and taken up on a rotating tension rack where uniform length strands are subsequently cut. Thus, the length of the suture is determined by the size of the rack and manual intervention is required to change the rack each time a different length of suture is desired.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,904, the suture material is supplied wound on a bobbin and is fed through various guide means and a heater for straightening the material, prior to insertion within the crimping cavity of the surgical needle. In one embodiment shown therein, an elaborate television monitoring means is required for aligning the drawn suture within the crimping cavity of the surgical needle prior to swaging thereof. In the same embodiment, a rotary encoder device is used to determine the length of suture material unwound from the bobbin prior to cutting. In an alternative embodiment, after swaging of the indefinite length of suture material to the needle, the needle-suture assembly is additionally fed a predetermined distance prior to cutting to obtain a suture strand of predetermined length. Thus, to obtain uniform lengths of suture material every time requires careful manipulations and precise controls, and the processes used to accomplish these tasks are also costly in terms of man-hour labor and efficiency.
It would be far more desirable to provide a suture cutting system and apparatus that is fully automated and which can automatically cut uniform lengths of suture material at high-speeds.
It would also be highly desirable to provide a suture cutting system that can accurately position suture material within the confines of the crimping ends of surgical needles at an appreciable rate and without elaborate techniques or manual procedures.
Also desirable would be to provide a suture cutting system that is operable under the control of a control system computer which can impart automatic adjustments to the swage tooling dies when different size sutures are swaged to various sized surgical needles.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the instant invention to provide an automatic suture cutting assembly that virtually eliminates operator exposure to repetitive manual operations.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a suture cutting apparatus that is fully automated and which can automatically and cleanly cut uniform lengths of suture material at high-speeds and without brooming of the suture tip.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a suture cutting apparatus that includes a heat treating (tipping) device for stiffening a portion of the suture strand to be cut to aid in its insertion within a suture receiving end of a surgical needle.
Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a cutting apparatus which can be automatically set up to cut predetermined lengths of flexible articles or strands.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a suture cutting system that can accurately position suture material within the confines of a suture receiving opening of a surgical needle at an appreciable rate and without manual intervention.
These and other objects of the present invention are attained with an apparatus for cutting an indefinite length suture strand to uniform lengths for subsequent threading and swaging to a surgical needle having a suture receiving opening formed therein, wherein the apparatus comprises a drawing frame having at least one longitudinal member and defining a drawing axis parallel thereto. A means for feeding the indefinite length suture strand to the drawing axis for drawing and cutting thereof is provided. First and second gripping means are provided for gripping the indefinite length suture strand and drawing it along the drawing axis; the first gripping means being mounted for reciprocal movement on the longitudinal member. Also provided is a retractable cutting means for cutting the indefinite length suture strand to obtain a clean and broom-free horizontal cut. The second gripping means reciprocates to a start position along the drawing axis while the first gripping means is drawing the indefinite length suture strand to a predetermined distance beyond the retractable cutting means. The indefinite length suture strand is then inserted within the suture receiving opening of the needle and cut to a predetermined length by the retractable cutting means after the second gripping means has gripped the indefinite length suture strand at the start position.
Further benefits and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description given with reference to the accompanying drawings, which specify and show preferred embodiments of the invention.
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Demarest David
Lenihan Timothy
Rattan William
Dexter Clark F.
Scully Scotty Murphy & Presser
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