U.S. patent number RE32,338 [Application Number 06/410,749] was granted by the patent office on 1987-01-27 for gripper member for retention of a plastic tube.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Baxter Travenol Laboratories, Inc.. Invention is credited to John B. Alexander, Michael T. Dennehey, Richard J. Greff, John M. Munsch.
United States Patent |
RE32,338 |
Alexander , et al. |
January 27, 1987 |
Gripper member for retention of a plastic tube
Abstract
A gripper member comprises an openable and closable pair of
handles interconnected by a hinge member. Each handle defines,
adjacent its hinge member, an arcuate recess positioned to face the
corresponding recess of the other handle and defining gripping
projections therein. A wall member is positioned longitudinally on
each handle to cross each arcuate recess, both wall members being
positioned at the same side of their respective recesses.
Accordingly, a plastic tube may be surrounded and gripped in the
arcuate recesses of the handles for rotational retention thereof as
a connector member is inserted into or withdrawn from the tube. At
the same time, the wall members pinch the tube into closed, sealed
relation with the handles in closed position.
Inventors: |
Alexander; John B. (Evanston,
IL), Dennehey; Michael T. (Arlington Heights, IL), Greff;
Richard J. (Ingleside, IL), Munsch; John M.
(Libertyville, IL) |
Assignee: |
Baxter Travenol Laboratories,
Inc. (Deerfield, IL)
|
Family
ID: |
26719983 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/410,749 |
Filed: |
August 23, 1982 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
Reissue of: |
043061 |
May 29, 1979 |
04227730 |
Oct 14, 1980 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
294/16;
606/157 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61B
17/122 (20130101); B25B 9/02 (20130101); A61B
17/2812 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A61B
17/122 (20060101); A61B 17/28 (20060101); A61B
17/12 (20060101); B25B 9/02 (20060101); B25B
9/00 (20060101); C25B 007/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;294/16,27,28,31,104,103
;81/3.44,3.41,3.42 ;128/346,321,322 ;257/9,10 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Marbert; James B.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Flattery; Paul C. Ellis; Garrettson
Ryan; Daniel D.
Claims
That which is claimed is:
1. A gripper member which comprises: an openable and closable pair
of handles interconnected by a hinge member, each handle defining,
an arcuate recess positioned to face the corresponding recess of
the other handle and defining gripping projections therein, and a
wall member positioned longitudinally on each handle across each
arcuate recess and at the same side thereof, whereby a flexible
plastic tube may be surrounded and gripped in the arcuate recesses
of said handles for rotational retention thereof as a connector
member is inserted into or withdrawn from said tube, said wall
members pinching said tube into closed, sealed relation when
occupying said recesses with the handles in closed position.
2. The gripper member of claim 1 which is made of an integral,
plastic piece, and said hinge member comprises a thin integral
flexible plastic strip, in which one handle defines a generally
rigid, sliding surface adjacent to and facing said hinge member,
and the other handle defines a generally rigid projection adapted
to abut and slide on said surface as the handles are closed, to
stabilize said handles against relative lateral motion.
3. The gripper member of claim 1 in which one handle carries at its
end opposed to said hinge member an integral pair of pinch arms and
a hook member carried on one of said arms, and the other handle
carries at its end opposed to said hinge member a detent member,
said hook member being adapted to engage the detent member to hold
said handles in closed position, said pinch arms being adapted to
disengage said detent and hook members by manual pinching, to
permit opening of said handles.
4. The gripper member of claim 1 in which each handle carries a
flange positioned longitudinally and at one side of said handle and
adjacent said arcuate recess, to prevent touch contamination by the
fingers of said plastic tube while it occupies the recesses of said
handles.
5. The gripper member of claim 1 in which said handles, in the
unstressed, as-molded condition, assume an acute angle with respect
to each other.
6. A gripper member which comprises: an openable and closable pair
of handles interconnected by a hinge member, each handle defining,
adjacent said hinge member, an arcuate recess positioned to face
the corresponding recess of the other handle and defining gripping
projections therein, and a wall member positioned longitudinally on
each handle across each arcuate recess and at the same side
thereof, whereby a plastic tube may be surrounded and gripped in
the arcuate recesses of said handles for rotational retention
thereof as a connector member is inserted into or withdrawn from
said tube, said wall members pinching said tube into closed, sealed
relation when in said recesses with the handles in closed position,
each handle carrying a flange positioned longitudinally and at one
side of said handle and adjacent said arcuate recess, to prevent
touch contamination by the fingers of said plastic tube while it
occupies the recesses of said handles, one handle defining a rigid,
sliding surface adjacent to and facing said hinge member, and the
other handle defining a rigid projection adapted to abut said slide
on said surface as the handles are closed, to stabilize said
handles against relative lateral motion.
7. The gripper member of claim 6 in which one handle carries at its
end opposed to said hinge member an integral pair of pinch arms and
a hook member carried on one of said arms, and the other handle
carried at its end opposed to said hinge member a detent member,
said hook member being adapted to engage the detent member to hold
said handles in closed position, said pinch arms being adapted to
disengage said detent and hook members by manual pinching, to
permit opening of said handles.
8. The gripper member of claim 7 in which said handles, in the
unstressed, as-molded condition, assume an acute angle to each
other.
9. A gripper member made of an integral plastic piece, which
comprises:
an openable and closeable pair of handles interconnected by a hinge
member, said hinge member comprising an integral, flexible plastic
strip, each handle defining, adjacent said hinge member, an arcuate
recess positioned to face the corresponding recess of the other
handle and defining gripper projections therein, whereby a flexible
plastic tube may be surrounded and gripped in the arcuate recesses
of said handles for rotational retention thereof as a connector
member is inserted into or withdrawn from said tube, and in which
one handle defines a generally rigid, sliding surface adjacent to
and facing said hinge member, and the other handle defines a
generally rigid projection adapted to abut and slide on said
surface as the handles are closed, to stabilize said handles
against relative lateral motion.
10. The gripper member of claim 9, which includes releasable means
for retaining said handles in enclosed position for surrounding and
gripping the flexible plastic tube in the arcute recesses.
11. The gripper member of claim 9, in which each handle carries a
flange positioned longitudinally at one side of said handle and
adjacent said arcuate recess, to prevent touch contamination by the
fingers of said plastic tube while it occupies the recesses of said
handles. .Iadd.
12. A gripper member which comprises: an openable and closable pair
of handles interconnected by a hinge member, each handle defining,
an arcuate recess positioned to face the corresponding recess of
the other handle, and a wall member positioned longitudinally on
each handle across each arcuate recess and at the same side
thereof, whereby a flexible plastic tube may be surrounded and
gripped in the arcuate recesses of said handles for rotational
retention thereof as a connector member is inserted into or
withdrawn from said tube, said wall members pinching said tube into
closed, sealed relation when occupying said recesses with the
handles in closed position. .Iaddend. .Iadd.13. A gripper member
which comprises: an openable and closable pair of handles
interconnected by a hinge member, each handle defining, adjacent
said hinge member, an arcuate recess positioned to face the
corresponding recess of the other handle, and a wall member
positioned longitudinally on each handle across each arcuate recess
and at the same side thereof, whereby a plastic tube may be
surrounded and gripped in the arcuate recesses of said handles for
rotational retention thereof as a connector member is inserted into
or withdrawn from said tube, said wall members pinching said tube
into closed, sealed relation when in said recesses with the handles
in closed position, each handle carrying a flange positioned
longitudinally at one side of said handle and adjacent said arcuate
recess, to prevent touch contamination by the fingers of said
plastic tube while it occupies the recesses of said handles, one
handle defining a rigid sliding surface adjacent to and facing said
hinge member, and the other handle defining a rigid projection
adapted to abut said slide on said surface as the handles are
closed, to stabilize said handles against relative lateral motion.
.Iaddend. .Iadd.14. The gripper member of claim 13 in which each
flange is positioned on the handle at the side thereof which is
opposed to the wall member of said handle. .Iaddend. .Iadd.15. The
gripper member of claim 14 in which one handle carries at its end
opposed to said hinge member an integral pair of pinch arms and a
hook member carried on one of said arms, and the other handle
carries at its end opposed to said hinge member a detent member,
said hook member being adapted to engage the detent member to hold
said handles in closed position, said pinch arms being adapted to
disengage said detent and hook members by manual pinching, to
permit opening of said handles. .Iaddend. .Iadd.16. The gripper
member of claim 15 in which said handles, in the unstressed,
as-molded condition, assume an acute angle to each other. .Iaddend.
.Iadd.17. The gripper member of claim 16 in which said hinge member
comprises a thin integral, flexible plastic strip. .Iaddend.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The technique of peritoneal dialysis has been one technique in
which the kidney function of a uremic patient is replaced by
dialyzing the peritoneum by inserting peritoneal dialysis solution
into the peritoneum of the patient, allowing solute exchange from
the blood to the peritoneal dialysis solution through the
peritoneum, and then removing the peritoneal dialysis solution.
In a recent development, the technique of continuous ambulatory
peritoneal dialysis permits the patient to have a surgically
implanted catheter which may be connected intermittently to a
peritoneal dialysis transfer set. The transfer set, in turn,
connects to a bag of peritoneal dialysis solution, which is emptied
through the transfer set into the peritoneal cavity. The patient
then is ambulatory, without disconnecting the bag or the transfer
set, until the dialysis exchange procedure has taken place, after
which the peritoneal dialysis solution is allowed to flow back into
the bag, which may then be disconnected from the transfer set.
A description of the continuous ambulator peritoneal dialysis
technique may be found in Popovich U.S. application Ser. No.
773,912, filed Mar. 3, 1977 and entitled: "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR
CONTINUOUS AMBULATORY PERITONEAL DIALYSIS", and Dennehey, et al.
U.S. application Ser. No. 005,748, filed Jan. 23, 1979, and
entitled "SOLUTION CONTAINER FOR CONTINUOUS AMBULATORY PERITONEAL
DIALYSIS".
As part of some peritoneal dialysis techniques, it is desirable to
make a sterile connection between the solution container, and the
transfer set, and then later to break the same connection in an
aseptic manner after the container has been refilled with spent
peritoneal dialysis solution, for reconnection to another
container.
While connections between sets and bags or other containers are
routinely made, it turns out that a good, sterile, connection seal
between the port tubing of a bag and a spike of a set in a flexible
port tubing of a container is very difficult to disconnect. The
flexible port tubing is usually not very easily gripped with the
fingers, and it turns out to be difficult to get a good grip on it,
so that the spike can be twisted out in an aseptic mamner. When a
nurse or a technician is using extreme effort to break the
connection between the spike of the transfer set and the tubing of
a filled bag, it is possible for the fingers to touch the
connection in a contaminating way. Also it is possible for the bag
of spent solution to spill in the effort of disconnection.
In accordance with this invention, a gripper member is provided for
gripping plastic tubing and the like to provide rotational
retention to the plastic tubing, plus mechanical advantage so that
the effort involved in the rotational retention is easier. It then
becomes a much easier matter to simply twist and remove the spike
out of the tube while, at the same time, the gripper member holds
the tubing of the solution container closed so that solution does
not spill.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with this invention, a gripper member, which may be
made of one single integral plastic piece, comprises an openable
and closable pair of handles interconnected by a hinge member. Each
handle defines, adjacent said hinge member, an arcuate and
preferably essentially semi-circular recess positioned to face the
corresponding recess of the other handle. Each recess defines
gripping projections therein to receive and hold tubing or the like
which is placed in the recess.
A wall member is positioned longitudinally on each recess, across
each arcuate recess and positioned at the same side thereof. As the
result of this, a plastic tube may be surrounded and gripped in the
arcuate recesses of the handles for rotational retention thereof,
as a connector member is inserted into or withdrawn from the tube.
At the same time, the wall members pinch the tube into closed,
sealed relation when the tube occupies the recesses with the
handles in closed position.
Preferably, one handle of the gripper member defines a rigid,
sliding surface adjacent to and facing the hinge member. The other
handle defines a rigid projection adapted to abut and slide on the
surface as the handles are closed. The effect of this is to
stabilize the handles against relative lateral motion, since the
width of both the rigid sliding surface and the rigid projection is
substantial, and preferably essentially the width of the handles,
to suppress rocking or relative sideways motion of the handles as
they are closed together. This relative sideways motion could be
expected to take place if only the hinge member were present, since
the hinge member is generally too flexible to effectively suppress
sideways motion of the handles.
It is also preferred for one handle of the gripper member to carry,
at its end opposed to the hinge member, and integral pair of pinch
arms, and a hook member carried on one of the arms. The other hinge
carries at its end opposed to the hinge member a detent member. The
hook member is adapted to engage the detent member by a snap-in
action, to hold the handles in closed position.
The pinch arms are then adapted to disengage the detent and hook
members by manual pinching, to permit opening of the handles.
It is further preferred for each handle of the gripper member to
carry a flange positioned longitudinally at one end and one side of
the handle, and adjacent the arcuate recesses, to prevent touch
contamination of the plastic tube by the fingers while it occupies
the recesses.
The gripper member of this invention may be effectively used to
hold the flexible tubing port of a solution bag, while a spike of a
set or the like is being inserted or removed from the tubing to
promote the aseptic and easy disconnection or connection of the
components without spilling of the contents of the bag.
In the drawings, FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, perspective view showing
a solution bag being gripped by the gripper member of this
invention, to facilitate the disconnection of the flexible, tubular
port of the bag with a spike of a set, for example, a set in a
peritoneal dialysis procedure.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the gripper member of this invention in
open condition.
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the gripper member of FIG. 2 in closed
position, taken from the other side.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along lines 4--4 of FIG. 2, but
also showing a sectional part of the other handle in closed
position.
Referring to the drawings, a fragmentary portion of a solution set
10, defining a conventional penetrating spike 12, is shown in the
processs of being disengaged from a flexible, tubular port 14 of a
solution bag 16 which has, for example, been utilized in a
continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis procedure, and is now
full of spent dialysis solution.
For such disengagement between spike 12 and port 14, the user
endeavors to rotate the spike, for example in a counterclockwise
manner as shown by arrow 18 with the hands, while tube 14 is being
gripped by the gripper member 20 of this invention, and optionally
rotated in the direction of arrow 19.
Preferably, gripper member 20 is placed with its facing edge being
just adjacent to the thinner end 22 of relatively thickened portion
24 of the tubular port 14, in the event that type of tubing is
used. Port 14 may include an inner tube 25, which fits
telescopically into port 14, and terminates at inner end 22 to help
define the relatively thickened portion 24. Hub 27 of spike 12
defines an annular, stepped surface to press against the outer end
of inner tube 25 to restrict penetration of the spike. FIG. 1 shows
the gripper member 20 being placed farther down port 14 to show
more clearly the thickened portion 24 and the inner end 22 with the
thinner portion of port tubing 14, but in actual use the gripper
member should preferably be moved outwardly to be almost flush with
inner end 22. In the case of tubing which does not use the
thickened portion 24, the gripper member should preferably be
placed close to the pointed end of spike 12.
It can be seen how the removal by rotation of spike 12 is
facilitated by the presence of gripper member 20, which
rotationally retains port tubing 14.
Turning to FIGS. 2 through 4, gripper member 20 which is shown to
be molded of a single, molded integral plastic piece such as a
polyolefin or a styrene copolymer plastic, comprises a pair of
openable and closable handles 26, 28 which are interconnnected by a
thin plastic hinge member 30. Each handle defines, adjacent the
hinge member 30, an arcuate recess which is preferably
semi-circular as shown. Each recess 32 defines gripping projections
34 therein which serve to press into the wall of tubing 14 to
prevent rotation of the tube in the closed recess 32 as in FIG. 1
when the handles are in closed position. Gripper member 20 is
preferably molded in the open position shown in FIG. 2, where the
handles 26, 28 are at an acute angle on the order of 45.degree., so
that it tends to spontaneously assume the open position, for user
convenience.
Additionally, a wall member 36 is provided as shown positioned
longitudinally on each handle 26, 28 across each arcuate recess 32,
and at the same side thereof as shown in FIG. 4. As a result of
this, a flexible plastic tube may be surrounded and gripped in the
arcuate recesses 32 of the handles for rotational retention as the
connector member 12 is inserted into or withdrawn from tube 14. At
the same time, the wall members 36 pinch the tube into closed,
sealed relation when the tube occupies the recesses with the
handles in closed position.
Since hinge 30 is relatively fragile, handles 26, 28 are
stabilized, as they close against relative lateral motion of the
respective handles out of the general plane normally occupied by
both of the handles, by the following means. Handle 26 defines a
generally rigid sliding surface member 38 which is positioned
adjacent to and facing hinge member 30. The other handle 28 defines
a generally rigid projection 40 which is adapted to abut and slide
on the surface 38 as the handles are closed. Members 38 and 40
define a substantial width in the direction perpendicular to the
plane normally occupied by handles 26, 28, with the result that the
abutment of projection 40 on surface 38 as the handles are closed
serves as a stabilizing aid to prevent the handles 26, 28 from
skewing out of the plane that they normally occupy as the handles
are forcefully closed on a flexible tube 14. Thus, the handles are
stabilized against relative lateral motion.
Gripper member 20 also defines a locking means to hold handles 26,
28 in the closed position, to facilitate the gripping of tube
14.
Handle 28 carries at its end opposed to hinge member 30 an integral
pair of pinch arms 42, 44, one of the arms 44 defining a hook
member 46 having a slanted surface 48. Pinch arms 42, 44 are
connected together by a flexible plastic member 50 so that arms 42,
44 may be flexed and moved relative to each other by the
fingers.
The other handle 26 carries at its end opposed to hinge member 30 a
detent member 52 which also defines a slanted surface 54.
Accordingly, upon closing of gripper member 20, hook member 46 and
detent member 52 are capable of snapping into engagement with each
other, to hold gripper member 20 in its closed position for
gripping tube 14, and rotationally retaining it.
When it is desired to open the gripper member again, pinch arms 42,
44 may be squeezed, causing hook member 46 to be withdrawn from
detent member 52, to permit the opening.
Gripper member 20 also defines a flange 56 defined on each of
handles 26, 28, and positioned longitudinally with respect to each
handle, and at one side of the handle as shown in FIG. 1, adjacent
arcuate recesses 32. The effect of this is to help prevent touch
contamination of the plastic tube by the fingers while the tube
occupies the recesses of the handles. It can be seen that the
flanges 56, when facing tube 14, serve as a barrier to prevent the
fingers of the user from accidentally touching tubing 14 during
manipulation.
This freedom from touch contamination is particularly important in
the field of peritoneal dialysis, where extreme care must be taken
for the avoidance of contamination, since peritonitis is a constant
risk with this type of procedure.
As can be seen from FIG. 3, it is preferred for a space 58 to be
defined between the edges of walls 36 when handles 26, 28 are in
the closed position, to provide room for the collapsed tubing to
fit. The width of spaces 58 is accordingly sized to permit a tight
seal of the tubing without significant mechanical disruption or
destruction of the structure of the tubing due to excessive
pressure.
The above has been offered for illustrative purposes only, and is
not intended to limit the invention of this application, which is
as defined in the claims below.
* * * * *