Expendable Hemostat

Abstract

An expendable, strong, resilient, springy hemostat composed of two soft wire parts pivotally connected together between their jaw and handle ends and having loops at their finger ends and notches on one loop engageable with a latch on the other handle for maintaining the jaw ends in gripping relation.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Prior to the present invention, it was the practice in the medical field to use hemostats made by forging or machining a piece of alloy steel. Such hemostats were used many times before being replaced. Although the relatively high first cost was thus spread over many separate uses, the practice of repeated uses has not been satisfactory. For a long time high cost of reprocessing a hemostat, after each use, back through sterilization and packaging and stocking in a supply room has been excessive. There has also been a widespread unfilled need for a disposable hemostat with a low first cost without compromising service quality or reliability. In addition, there also has been a long felt need for a suitable and satisfactory mass produced, low cost hemostat for field and emergency equipment in both the military and civil defense programs.

Prior hemostats have been made to satisfy a particular repetitive service requirement but have not been suitable for a one-time use requirement.

SUMMARY

The hemostat of this invention, although formed from inexpensive wire, is rugged enough and sufficiently precise to meet the rigid service requirements of medical practice.

The simplicity of structure compared to former more elaborate hemostats will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings constituting a part of this disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the general configuration of the hemostat and the use of two pieces of wire to form the two parts;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the hemostat of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial elevational view of the hemostat of FIG. 1, showing the relationship of the latch and notches on the parts of the hemostat; and

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the underside of FIG. 1 showing the formation of a notch on one part of the hemostat.

The hemostat of the drawings comprises a first wire part 1 and a second wire part 3 pivotally connected by pin 5 between their jaw and handle ends. Each of the parts 1 and 3 includes a jaw 7 and handle 9. The jaws 7 have serrated clamping surfaces 11 so formed as to mesh with one another when the surfaces are brought into engagement with each other. The jaws are so shaped that the serrations at the tips first engage and then the other serrations progressively engage toward the pin 5 as the clamping pressure increases. This manner of progressive engaging action results in part from the curvature of the jaws and in part from the springy, resilient nature of the wire.

Each handle 9 has a shank 13 and a loop. These loops are formed by bending the ends of the shanks outwardly away from each other and then back toward the shanks. One loop 15 extends near to its shank while the other loop 16 extends past its shank and to a position beyond the other shank when the jaws are in clamping position. Loop 16 is provided with latches 17 on the surface opposed to the other shank and those latches are engageable with a notch 19 formed on the other shank.

The loop 16 is offset relative to the other shank so that when the jaws are brought into clamping position the latch 17 will come into, and remain in, engagement with the latch. The resiliency and springiness of the wire parts together with the offset relationship of loop 16 and the other shank insure that the latch and notch will remain in engagement and will hold the jaws in engagement with any material therebetween. The clamping force thus developed will be proportional to the amount of bending of the shank portion and to the particular latch which is engaged by the notch.

The loops 15 and 16 are of sizes and shapes convenient for the insertion of the human finger or thumb and, customarily, one loop receives the thumb and the other loop receives the second or third finger of the surgeon's hand. When the jaws of the hemostat are moved to unclamping position, the thumb or finger may be removed from its loop and the hemostat turned to rest on the back of the surgeon's hand where it is ready for immediate use when desired.

The parts 1 and 3 of the illustrated hemostat may be quickly and inexpensively made of wire of a suitable composition. Short lengths of such wire and having a diameter substantially that of the shanks of the hemostat are stamped, punched and formed with the necessary configurations at each end and then bent to the general shape shown in FIG. 1. The insertion and riveting of pin 5 is a simple operation which can be performed rapidly and inexpensively. The preceding steps may be carried out by using high production capacity wire forming tools. No expensive machinery or machining operations or excessive handling of the parts from one manufacturing step to the other is required.

Numerous compositions of wire possessing the desired characteristics of strength, resiliency, springiness and lightness may be used in making hemostats embodying the present invention. I prefer to use a wire composed of a commercially available, age-hardening aluminum alloy. Such an alloy is one in which the alloying constituents, such as copper, magnesium or zinc have a higher degree of solubility in the aluminum at elevated temperatures than at room temperatures. When such an alloy is heated at an elevated temperature, the solubility of the aluminum for the alloying ingredients increases and when the alloy is cooled, the solubility decreases slowly with resultant precipitation of part of the alloying elements out of solution. Such precipitation may take place over several hours or even as much as 4 days and is known as "age hardening." During the time the alloying ingredients are largely retained in solution, the alloy is ductile and may be worked readily. As the alloy cools and more of the alloying ingredients precipitate out of solution in the aluminum, the alloy becomes stronger and harder.

Having thus described this invention in such full, clear, concise and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, and having set forth the best mode contemplated of carrying out this invention, I state that the subject matter which I regard as being my invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in what is claimed, it being understood that equivalents or modifications of, or substitutions for, parts of the above specifically described embodiment of the invention may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in what is claimed.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A resilient hemostat composed of two wire parts pivotally connected between their ends, said parts being strong, springy and resilient, said parts having jaws at one end, shanks at the other end provided with open ended loops, a terminal portion of one loop having latches engageable with a notch on the opposed shank.

2. The combination of elements set forth in claim 1 in which the shank and loop portions of the handles of the wire parts are of substantially the same diameter and the loop carrying notches is offset relative to the opposed shank.