U.S. patent number 3,670,734 [Application Number 05/056,343] was granted by the patent office on 1972-06-20 for apparatus for removing skin sections.
Invention is credited to Thomas G. Hardy, Jr..
United States Patent |
3,670,734 |
Hardy, Jr. |
June 20, 1972 |
APPARATUS FOR REMOVING SKIN SECTIONS
Abstract
An apparatus for obtaining skin sections of preselected
thickenesses and widths having a reciprocating blade mounted within
its housing. The blade can be reciprocated either manually by a
displacing member or mechanically by a motor and suitable power
source. The graft thickness is determined by positioning to a
selected setting a member located at the forward portion of the
housing so that more or less of the cutting edge of the blade is
exposed, and the graft width is determined by positioning
selectively removable guide runners located in spaced relationships
each with the other.
Inventors: |
Hardy, Jr.; Thomas G.
(Winston-Salem, NC) |
Family
ID: |
22003788 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/056,343 |
Filed: |
July 20, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
606/132 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61B
17/322 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A61B
17/322 (20060101); A61b 017/322 () |
Field of
Search: |
;128/305,305.5 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Pace; Channing L.
Claims
I claim:
1. An apparatus for removing skin sections comprising: a housing; a
cutting blade reciprocally mounted on said housing for severing
skin sections; means for reciprocating said cutting blade; guide
means releasably secured to said housing; and means regulating the
relative positioning of said cutting blade and said guide means
including a one-piece plate positioned adjacent said housing having
a first recess along the forward edge and a second recess within
said first recess, said plate being selectively moveable to expose
the cutting edge of said blade to a selected recess.
Description
BACKGROUND, BRIEF SUMMARY AND OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
Quite a number of complex power and manually driven devices for
obtaining skin grafts are now available for general use in surgery.
These devices, commonly and occasionally referred to herein as
dermatomes, are for the most part difficult to set up and use
because of the required power source connection, sterilization, and
maintenance of all parts. Because of this, these dermatomes are
tedious and expensive to use.
The present invention is designed for simplicity and for use in a
doctor's office, minor surgery operating room, emergency room, or
major surgery operating room. It contains a minimum of moving parts
and is considerably easier to use than conventional devices. This
results in a significant saving of time and expense for the patient
and hospital as compared to that normally experienced in setting up
a conventional dermatome in the various operating areas of a
modern-day hospital.
The present invention consists of a simple housing with a
substantially flat bottom portion and a reciprocally mounted blade
held by that housing in a manner to expose the cutting edge of the
blade against the skin area to be removed. In the simplest
embodiment, the blade is reciprocated by a lever movable between
two positions and continuously biased in one of these positions by
a spring. A handle extends upwardly and rearwardly from the housing
in close proximity to the movable lever so that the user can grasp
the dermatome with the thumb and last three fingers of his hand
about the handle and use the forefinger to displace the lever and
thus reciprocate the blade for cutting. Preferably a pair of
runners are positioned along the bottom of the housing and thus
form guide means for selecting the surface width of the skin graft
to be obtained. A displacing member is located at the forward
portion of the housing and is adjustable by rotation at selected
height settings to permit skin sections of predetermined
thicknesses to be taken.
A somewhat more expensive yet equally satisfactory dermatome is
offered as an alternative embodiment and contains a small motor
driven by an appropriate power source that is cam-linked with a
movable lever to thus provide powerized reciprocation for the
housing-mounted cutting blade.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that a primary object of the
present invention is to provide a dermatome of extremely simple
design which can remove skin sections of predetermined thicknesses
and surface widths.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dermatome
of the type described wherein a cutting blade can be reciprocally
mounted within a housing and actuated either manually or by an
appropriate motor drive.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a
dermatome of the type described which can be used in the doctor's
office, clinic, emergency room or operating room.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more
apparent after a consideration of the following detailed
specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings
wherein like characters of reference designate like parts
throughout the several views.
FIGURE DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the manually operated dermatome
constituting one embodiment of the present invention illustrating
the reciprocally mounted cutting blade and the movable lever
operably connected to reciprocate the blade.
FIG. 2 is a top plan, fragmentary view of the manually operated
dermatome illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a bottom plan and fragmentary view of the manually
operable dermatome shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 having a one-piece
slidably adjustable bottom plate to selectively vary the width of
the graft to be taken.
FIG. 4 is a bottom plan and fragmentary view of a dermatome such as
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 having yet another variation of the guide
means to vary the width of the graft to be taken.
FIG. 5 is an end elevational and sectional view taken along the
lines 5--5 of FIG. 4 showing the recessed positioning of the
movable guides within the surface of the housing.
FIG. 6 is perspective, fragmentary and exploded view of the
structure permitting adjustment of the displacing member shown
particularly in FIG. 1.
FIG. 7 is a side elevational, sectional and fragmentary view of a
motor driven dermatome constituting another embodiment of the
present invention illustrating the motor-driven connection to the
movable lever for reciprocating the cutting blade.
FIG. 8 is a plan, sectional and fragmentary view of the
motor-driven dermatome illustrated in FIG. 7.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE
As illustrated in the drawings and particularly in FIG. 1,
embodiments of the dermatome shown generally as 10 contain a
housing 12 from which extends a handle 14 upwardly and rearwardly
for gripping by the user. The housing has a pair of side flanges 16
between which is formed a downwardly inclined ramp 18 within which
is held a reciprocally mounted cutting blade 20 of conventional
design. A support 22 for the blade 20 is movably secured to the
ramp 18 by screws 26 or other suitable means. The blade 20 is
secured to the movable support 22 by a clamp 28 and an appropriate
screw 30 or other device.
A lever 32 is pivotally fastened by a pin 34 or an equivalent item
to ramp 18, and its short end 36 is movably connected with support
22 by another appropriate pinning means 38. Thus pivoting lever 32
about pivot point 34 will allow it to move between two positions
established by the length of slots 40 in their corresponding
reaction to screws 26. A spring 42 is positioned contiguous with
the short end 36 of lever 32 and the surface of housing 12 so that
lever 32 is continuously biased to a first position but will yield
when displaced with sufficient force to overcome the spring 42 and
move to a second position.
Though it is obvious that a pair of runners such as shown in FIG. 1
may be positioned adjacent the bottom of housing 12 to establish
the width of the skin section to be taken, it has been found
desirable to provide four runners formed in two pairs 44 and 48
proximate the bottom 50 of housing 12, and the inner pair 48 can be
removed to expand the width of the skin graft desired. Removal of
runner pair 48 permits the cutting of a skin section having a width
z while retention of this pair within the bottom 50 of the housing
12 will allow for the removal of a skin section having a width x.
Removing only one runner of the pair 48 will permit a third width
of skin section to be taken indicated in FIG. 4 as y.
Runner pairs 44 and 48 can be secured in any convenient manner to
the housing bottom 50; however, in the embodiment illustrated,
runner pairs 44 and 48 are seated within the bottom 50 of the
housing 12 by means of dovetailed grooves 52 best illustrated in
FIG. 5.
Another embodiment of a component for selectively establishing the
width of the skin section to be taken is illustrated in FIG. 3 and
comprises a one-piece bottom plate 54 having a major recess 56
along its forward edge and an additional somewhat diminished recess
58 within major recess 56. The plate is slidably adjustable in a
forward and rearward direction (see arrow) along the bottom of the
housing 12 so that the cutting edge 60 of blade 20 will be exposed
for one dimension when the bottom plate 54 is in its most rearward
position and in another dimension when the bottom plate is moved
forwardly so that the diminished recess determines the exposed
dimension of the blade.
A displacing member shown generally as 62 is pivotally mounted at
the forward portion of housing 12 between side flanges 16 in any
convenient manner so that the runners 64 are adjacent therewith as
shown in FIG. 1. Member 62 has at least two substantially flat
surfaces 66 and 68 representing selected settings of depth of cut
for the section to be obtained. Member 62 may be rotated manually
to expose the flat surface representing the thickness desired and
thus establish a vertical distance between member 62 and the
cutting edge of the blade. Commonly used thicknesses are 0.012 inch
for a thin skin graft and 0.015 inch for a thicker graft. A code
marking 70 for the displacing member 62 has been found to be a
convenient way of positively identifying the thickness of the skin
graft to be taken. By various embodiments disclosed previously,
three skin graft widths varying from approximately 1.5 to 4
centimeters can be obtained.
FIGS. 7 and 8 disclose generally the same housing and cutting
structure as the previous illustrations and descriptions; however,
lever 32 is power driven by a small motor 72 which can be actuated
by batteries 74 or other suitable power means. A camming drive such
as that illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 can be used to reciprocate
lever 32. Rotation of the flywheel 76 by the shaft 78 upon
energization of the motor will provide the necessary motion power
for reciprocating blade 20.
It is desirable to provide a plurality of longitudinally extending
grooves 80 along the bottom of housing 12 if a plurality of runners
are used or within the one-piece bottom plate 54 in the event that
structure is desirable as these indentures are effective in
increasing stability when the dermatome slides across the area from
which the skin section is being taken. Acrylic material has been
found to be very satisfactory for forming the housing 12 as well as
the displacing member 62. Obviously the simple design of the
present invention makes maintenance relatively easy. A hollow
handle 82 is preferable to house the motor 72 and accompanying
batteries 74 and is shaped to provide convenient gripping means for
the user.
A manual and power-driven embodiment of a dermatome has been
described herein, and it will be apparent to those skilled in the
art that many modifications and variations in the housing, blade
driving mechanism and skin graft thickness and width setting
devices may be made without departing from the spirit and purpose
of this concept. Such modifications and alterations are
contemplated.
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