Vascular closure devices and methods

An actuator assembly, comprising:

• a chassis portion having an outer shell with an interior volume disposed within the outer shell;
• an elongate housing with an axial length greater than a transverse dimension thereof, a proximal end secured to a distal end of the chassis portion, a distal end extending away from the chassis portion, an inner lumen extending along the elongate housing to the distal end of the elongate housing, a distal section, a filament lumen that extends along the elongate housing and terminates at a distal port disposed in the distal section of the elongate housing, and a plurality of anchor deployer lumens, each anchor deployer lumen extending axially along the elongate housing and terminating distally at a distal port disposed in the distal section of the elongate housing;
• a plurality of anchor deployers, each anchor deployer being slidably disposed within a respective deployer lumen of the elongate housing and including a distal end which is configured to extend and spread from the distal section of the outer housing, each anchor deployer comprising:
• a deployment rod which includes an elongate resilient configuration with an axial length greater than a transverse dimension and a distal end that extends from the distal section of the elongate housing upon distal axial deployment,
• an anchor which is removably secured to the distal end of the deployment rod, and
• a filament which is slidably disposed within the filament lumen of the elongate housing and which includes a distal end which is secured to the anchor;
• and
• a filament lock mechanism disposed at a distal end of the filament lumen including a filament lock disposed in operative arrangement with the filaments of the respective plurality of anchor deployers, wherein the filament lock mechanism includes:
• a filament tube which has a distal section which is slidably disposed in a close fitting bore at the distal section of the elongated housing, which has a distal end which extends distally beyond a distal shoulder surface of the close fitting bore, which is slidably disposed relative to the elongate housing, which has an inner lumen disposed about the filaments, and which has a proximal section,
• a filament lock which has an inner lumen which is disposed about the distal end of the filament tube in an axial position that is distal of the distal shoulder surface of the close fitting bore and which is self-contracting from an expanded state to a relaxed state and configured to clamp onto the filaments disposed in the inner lumen of the filament tube once an outward radial support producing the expanded state of the filament tube is removed, and
• a filament tube actuator which is operatively coupled to the proximal section of the filament tube and which is configured to axially retract the filament tube relative to the distal shoulder surface upon activation so as to push the filament lock off of the distal end of the filament tube and allow the filament lock to clamp onto the filaments disposed in the inner lumen of the filament tube,
• wherein the filament lock comprises a tubular structure including a main body portion and also including a plurality of fingers extending proximally from the main body portion, the fingers being of sufficient axial length and elastically biased towards a center longitudinal axis of the main body portion such that respective distal ends of the fingers are configured to be self-contracting from an expanded state to a relaxed state and clamp onto the filaments disposed within the inner lumen of the filament lock when the fingers are in the relaxed state and the fingers may be elastically spread to a relative transverse separation to the expanded state sufficient to fit onto an outer surface of the distal end of the filament tube.