Package winder inserter

#This invention relates to packaging machinery and processes for assembling and packaging medical devices, in particular, the packaging of surgical sutures.

#Surgical sutures having needles attached are well known in the medical field. Sutures conventionally used may have one needle attached to the suture strand, or two needles, one on each end. Surgical needles are typically packaged in conventional packages. Such packages typically have sections for receiving the suture and structures conventionally referred to as needle parks for receiving surgical needles.

#Most existing packaging processes require that needles be manually placed in needle parks prior to winding or placing sutures in a package. This can result in damage to the needles and sutures, and it is a tedious task that can be fatiguing to the operator. In addition, transportation of needles and attached sutures from a conventional swaging or attachment apparatus to the packaging station results in additional handling and the possibility of in-process damage to needles.

#FIGS. 1a and 1b illustrate conventional surgical sutures with needles attached, and features thereof.

#FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional manual needle-swaging machine configured for production utilizing a conventional process.

#FIG. 3 illustrates a conventional assembled suture package, after processing by a known winding/packaging machine.

#FIG. 1a illustrates a conventional surgical suture with an attached needle. The assembly 5 is seen to have a needle 1, butt or barrel end of the needle and the area of suture attachment 2, suture strand 3, and suture trailing end 4. This assembly 5 is conventionally referred to as a “single-armed suture”. This name is derived from the characteristic that the assembly 5 has a single needle attached to one end only of the suture.

#FIG. 1b illustrates a similar surgical suture 8 with two attached needles 6 and 7, one on each end of the suture 8, comprising assembly 10. This assembly is referred to as a “double-armed suture”, derived from the characteristic that it has two needles 6 and 7 attached, one to each end of the suture 8.

#Sutures are attached to needles by a conventional manufacturing process referred to as “swaging”, employing the use of a conventional manual workstation as seen in FIG. 2. Said workstation is seen to have a table 13, mechanical press 14, and tooling 15. In operation, the operator 16 grasps a suture strand 17 from the holding tube 18, while simultaneously picking a needle 19 from the tray 20. The operator 16 manually positions a suture end into the needle attachment feature, typically an axially drilled hole or formed side channel (not shown), places this combination into the press tooling 15, and activates the press for one or more strokes, thereby crimping the metallic needle swage area 2 (FIG. 1a) and fixing said needle to said suture strand, forming the needle suture assembly 5. Double-armed sutures are assembled by performing the needle swaging procedure hereinabove on each end of the suture, forming needle/suture assembly 10.