Cautery Apparatus

Abstract

Cautery apparatus including a base for mounting an elongated pen-shaped cautery tool formed on one end with a long, narrow tip constructed of metal having good heat retention characteristics. The base includes an electrical heater and has a retractor mounted thereon for receipt of the cautery tool and shiftable from a heating position to carry the tool from a position holding the tip adjacent the heater to a retracted position moving the tip away from the heater. The retractor is biased to its retracted position and a thermally responsive retainer is engageable with such retractor to hold it in the cautery heating position and is responsive to a predetermined temperature to release the retractor to be returned to its retracted position.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention:

The present invention relates to cautery devices for burning holes through a patient's injured fingernail, or the like, to relieve pressure created by blood accumulated thereunder.

2. Description of the Prior Art:

It has been common practice to provide cautery devices with electrical cords connected with the handles thereof for heating the cautery tip to a desired temperature. Cautery devices of this type suffer the shortcoming of being relatively inconvenient to use because of their relatively large size and the fact that the electrical cord restricts manipulation of the tool. Cauterizing tools have also been proposed which include a handle formed with a battery-receiving compartment for receipt of batteries that are utilized to heat a cauterizing tip. A cauterizing apparatus of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,874. Cauterizing devices of this type suffer the shortcoming of requiring a relatively large handle thereby rendering the tool relatively unwieldy to use and presenting a rather frightening appearance for a patient about to have a hole burned through his injured fingernail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The cautery apparatus of the present invention is characterized by a pen-shaped cautery tool having a pointed cauterizing tip and receivable in a retractor which is normally biased to a retracted position but which may be moved to a heating position disposing such tip adjacent an electrical heater. A thermally responsive retainer contacts the retractor and is operative to hold such retractor in the cautery heating position and is responsive to a predetermined temperature of the heater to release such retractor for retracting the cautery tool.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cautery apparatus of the type described which includes a cautery tool that is relatively compact in construction and which can be readily manipulated during the cauterizing operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cautery apparatus of the type described which includes a tool that does not have an electrical cord, or the like, connected therewith.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a cautery apparatus of the type described wherein the cautery tool can be rotated to a number of positions with respect to the base on which it is mounted.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a cautery apparatus of the type described wherein the heating element is automatically turned off at a predetermined temperature.

These and other objects and the advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cautery apparatus embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are vertical sectional views similar to FIG. 2 but in enlarged scale and partially broken away; and

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 5--5 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The cautery apparatus of present invention includes, generally, a base 21 having a mounting device 23 carried thereon for receipt of a cautery tool 25. Referring to FIG. 4, the cautery tool includes a curved tip 29 made of metal having high heat retention characteristics and such tip is disposed in heat exchange relationship with an electrical heating coil 31 mounted in the base 21. Consequently, the cautery tool 25 may be placed in the mount 23 and the heating element 31 energized to heat the cautery tip 29. When such cautery tip is heated sufficiently, the tool 25 may be removed from the base 21 and utilized to cauterize a hole through an injured fingernail to relieve pressure resulting from collection of blood thereunder.

In the preferred embodiment, the base 21 is of generally hollow construction and is made of an electrically insulative plastic. Such base includes a bottom wall 35 having an inverted cup-shaped upper portion 37 mounted thereon. The bottom wall 35 is formed with an upwardly opening concave cradle 38 which has a rotatable ball 39 formed by the lower portion of the mounting device 23 sitting thereon.

Referring to FIG. 3, the mounting device 23 is conveniently made in two halves and is formed with a barrel 43 projecting upwardly from the ball 39 and through an opening 44 in the top wall of the base 21. The barrel 39 has a cylindrically-shaped retaining sleeve, generally designated 47, telescoped into the upper portion thereof.

Disposed in the lower extremity of the barrel 39 are a pair of diametrically opposed downwardly projecting resilient fingers 51 which are formed on their lower extremities with respective inturned retaining ribs 49. The fingers 51 are composed of a pair of laminations possessing different coefficients of thermal expansion so such fingers will spread apart when heated.

A cylindrically-shaped retractor, generally designated 55, is telescoped downwardly into the sleeve 47 and is formed on its upper extremity with a radially outwardly projecting flange 57. The retractor 55 is biased upwardly by means of a coil compression spring 59 which surrounds such retractor and abuts the rim 57 on its upper end and abuts an inwardly crimped rim 61 formed intermediately in the sleeve 47 on its lower end. The lower extremity of the retractor 55 is formed with a pair of expanded exterior rings 65 and 67 which are spaced apart to form a retaining channel 69 therebetween for receipt of the radially inwardly bent retaining ribs 49 formed in the lower extremities of the respective fingers 51.

Referring to FIG. 5, the heating coil 31 is formed with a lower extremity defining a first electrical terminal 71. The coil 31 is mounted by means of the terminal 71 which is carried in an electrical insulator 73 mounted in an aperture 75 formed in the wall of the mounting ball 39. The top end 81 of the heating coil 31 has the free end of a resilient electrical terminal 83 normally spaced therefrom. The opposite end of the electrical terminal 83 is mounted in an electrical insulator 85 carried in an aperture 87 formed in the wall of the spherical mounting ball 39. It is noted that the free end 83 of the resilient electrical terminal is disposed in confronting relationship with the lower extremity of the retaining sleeve 47 and in the path of the lower extremity of the retractor 55 for engagement thereby when such retractor is in the inserted position shown in FIG. 4 to thereby hold such free extremity 83 in engagement with the top end 81 of the heating coil 31.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a male electrical plug, generally designated 86, is formed integrally with the base 21 and includes a pair of plug prongs 87 and 88 which are connected across the primary coil of a step-down transformer 89. One end of the secondary coil of the transformer 89 is connected with one terminal of an indicator light 91 by means of a lead 93 and the other terminal of such indicator light is connected with the resilient heating coil terminal 83 by means of a lead 95. The mounting terminal 71 of the heating coil 31 is connected with the opposite end of the secondary coil of the transformer 87 by means of a lead 99. Consequently, the voltage applied to the heating coil 31 is reduced well below the line voltage to thereby reduce the danger to the personnel utilizing the cauterizing apparatus.

The cauterizing tool 25 includes a relatively long, slender handle 101 which simulates a fountain pen thereby rendering the tool itself readily maneuverable and providing a less frightening appearance to a patient than is the case for the conventional rather bulky cauterizing tools which incorporate a power source for heating the cautery tip. The cautery tip 29 is preferably made of stainless steel or other metal which possesses high heat retention characteristics. The tip 29 is curved on its extremity and forms a point 103 for burning a small hole through a fingernail or the like.

In operation, when it is desirable to cauterize a hole through an injured fingernail, the cauterizing tool 25 is pressed downwardly in the holder 23 against the bias of the spring 59 (FIG. 3) to spread the resilient lower extremities of the retaining fingers 51 to engage the retaining channel 69 formed in the lower extremity of the retractor 55 to thereby hold such retractor 55 in its depressed position shown in FIG. 4. While the retractor 55 is held depressed within the barrel 43, the lower end thereof will maintain the free end of the electrical contact 83 (FIG. 5) held downwardly in contact with the upper end 81 of the heating coil 31 to thereby act as a closed switch to complete an electrical circuit through the indicator light 91 and through such heating coil 31. Consequently, the indicator light 91 will be energized to indicate that the cauterizing tip 29 is being heated.

When the cauterizing tip 29 has been heated to the desired temperature, the retaining fingers 51 will have been heated sufficiently to spread lower extremities thereof apart sufficiently to disengage the retaining ribs 49 from the retaining channel 69 of the retractor 55 to free such retractor to be biased upwardly by means of the biasing spring 59. Retraction of the retractor 55 upwardly will disengage the lower extremity thereof from the free end of the electrical contact 83 to thereby free such contact to disengage the upper end 81 of the heating coil 31 to open the circuit through the indicator light 91 and through the heating coil 31 thereby indicating that heating has been completed and preventing overheating of the tip 29.

The cauterizing tool 25 may then be removed from the holder 23 and utilized to perform the cauterizing operation without the inconvenience of handling a relatively bulky handle which houses an electrical source or manipulating a tool which has an electrical cord connected with one end thereof. It is noted that the mounting ball 39 may be pivoted to angle the mounting device 23 and, consequently, the tool 25 in any one of a number of directions for convenient storage or use.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be apparent that the cauterizing apparatus of present invention provides a cauterizing tool which is relatively convenient to use and which presents a pleasing appearance to a patient thereby avoiding unnecessarily frightening youthful or squeamish patients. Further, the cauterizing apparatus automatically discontinues heating of the cauterizing tip at a predetermined temperature to prevent overheating thereof and provides a visual indication that heating has been completed. Additionally, the holder may be pivoted to numerous different positions for convenient access thereto and for fitting into any number of different storage spaces.

Various modifications and changes may be made with regard to the foregoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Claims

I claim:

1. Cautery apparatus comprising:

a base;

an elongated cautery tool formed on one end with a long narrow tip constructed of metal having good heat retention characteristics and tapering gradually inwardly and forwardly to terminate in a cautery point, said tool tapering outwardly and rearwardly from said tip to form a long slender handle extending rearwardly from said tip to cooperate with the rear portion of said tip to form a substantially regular and continuous longitudinal cross section leading rearwardly from said tip;

electrical circuit means in said base and including a series connected electrical heater and switch means;

a retractor mounted on said base for receiving said tool, said retractor being movable to carry said tool from a heating position holding said tip adjacent said heater to a retracted position to move said tip away from said heater, said retractor operatively engaging said switch means to maintain said heater energized when said retractor is in said heating position and being operative to open said switch means when said retractor moves to its retracted position;

biasing means biasing said retractor to its retracted position; and

a thermally responsive retainer carried by said holder and disposed in heat exchange relationship with said heater element and engageable with said retractor for holding said retractor in its heating position and responsive to a predetermined temperature to release said retractor to be biased to said retracted position.

2. Cautery apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said base is formed with a spherical cavity defining retractor support means; and

said retractor includes an open ended barrel for receipt of said tool and formed at one extremity with a spherical ball received in said spherical cavity for relative rotation therein to orient said barrel at different angles.

3. Cautery apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said cautery tool includes a peripheral recessed channel formed adjacent said tip; and

said retainer includes a multi-metallic thermostatic blade normally engagable in said channel to hold said retractor in said heating position and responsive to said predetermined temperature to flex and disengage said channel to free said retractor for retracting to said retracted position under the influence of said biasing means.

4. Cautery apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said switch means includes switch actuator means disposed in the path of said retractor as said retractor moves between said retracted and heating positions and engagable thereby to hold said switch means in its closed position while said retractor is in its heating position to maintain said heater energized, said actuator being operative upon movement of said retractor from its heating position to its retracted position to open said switch.

5. Cautery apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said electrical circuit includes a step-down electrical transformer for connection with a high voltage source to provide low voltage to said heating element.

6. Cautery apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said electrical circuit includes indicator means responsive to a predetermined temperature of said heating element to indicate heating of said cautery tip has been completed.

7. Cautery apparatus as set forth in claim 1 that includes:

mounting means carried by said base and mounting said retractor for rotational movement whereby said retractor may be rotated to different positions for holding said cautery tool in different positions.