Surgical Cable Tensioner
AssigneePioneer Surgical Technology, Inc.
InventorsMatthew P. Gephart, Peter Didyk
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, an instrument for tensioning a surgical cable is provided that includes a rotary tensioner that is rotatable in a tensioning rotary direction to apply tension to the surgical cable. The instrument further includes a body supporting the rotary tensioner, a pawl portion of the body configured to be received at least partially in a recess of a ratchet gear of the rotary tensioner, and a living hinge portion of the body supporting the pawl portion. The living hinge portion is configured to permit the pawl portion to be shifted out of the recess and shifted into an adjacent recess of the ratchet gear with turning of the rotary tensioner in the tensioning rotary direction
Claims12
An instrument for tensioning a surgical cable, the instrument comprising:
- a support;
- a rotary tensioner rotatably mounted to the support, the rotary tensioner rotatable in a tensioning rotary direction to apply tension to a surgical cable during a surgical cable tensioning operation;
- an annular arrangement of recesses of the rotary tensioner;
- a pawl configured to be received at least partially in one of the recesses of the rotary tensioner;
- an arcuate arm extending around the recesses of the rotary tensioner and connecting the pawl to the support, the arcuate arm being configured to urge the pawl radially inward toward the one recess;
- the pawl and the rotary tensioner having confronting surfaces that engage and place the elongate arm in tension after the surgical cable tensioning operation so that the elongate arm resists turning of the rotary tensioner in a release rotary direction opposite the tensioning rotary direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.