US 3,975,032 A · Surgical wire driving assembly

Abstract

A wire driving assembly for use as a surgical instrument engages a wire in rotating driving relation through a retainer which includes a passageway therethrough for passage of the wire. Cooperating with the retainer is a body member, the latter including a bore in which the retainer is received. Driving connection between the retainer and the wire is achieved by a tapered interior bore of the body member and cooperating engaging elements received in sets of apertures located along the length of the retainer and radially thereof. Each set of apertures is of a different diameter, the diameter of the set at the forward end of the retainer being the largest. Spherical elements are positioned in the apertures and move radially inwardly to a wire engaging position and radially outwardly to a wire releasing position. In one form, a biasing spring urges the retainer towards the wire driving position and release of the wire is effected either by movement of a release element or rearward movement of the driving assembly relative to the wire. In another form, a biasing spring urges the body member forward of the retainer and release is effected by a manual release element. In still another form, a biasing spring urges the body member to the release position and a manual lever is used to establish a wire engaging position by urging the body member in a forward direction.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A surgical wire driving assembly for driving a wire in a rotary direction and providing for operator controlled incremental axial movement of said wire comprising:

body means having a bore, the forward end of which is tapered,
retainer means having a complementary taper positioned in said bore and having a passageway therethrough to receive a wire element to be driven,
one of said body and retainer means being movable axially relative to the other,
means to effect rotation of said body and said retainer means,
said retainer means including at least three sets of spaced spherical wire engaging elements positioned along and circumferentially about the axis of the passageway and movable radially thereof and being operative in a first position of said retainer means relative to said body means to establish a wobble-free driving relation with respect to a wire located in said passageway and operative in a second position of said retainer means relative to said body means to establish a release position with respect to a wire located in said passageway,
means to bias one of said body and retainer means into one of said first or second positions, and
manually movable means having a surface engageable by an operator's hand to effect movement of one of said body and retainer means to the other of said first or second positions.

4 more elements

A surgical instrument for holding a wire member in a fixed position to effect rotation thereof and for implanting a wire member into a patient's bone structure and providing for operator controlled incremental axial movement of said wire comprising:

a wire driving assembly including means to mount said assembly on a power source to effect rotation of said assembly such that rotary motion is imparted to a wire member to be implanted in a bone, the wire normally extending beyond the front face of said assembly,
said assembly including means so engaging a wire member that as said assembly is urged towards a patient's bone and the wire is engaged by the bone, the engaging means effects rotation of the wire member while maintaining the wire fixed axially with respect to said assembly,
said engaging means including a body means having a bore, the forward end of which is tapered,
retainer means having a complementary taper positioned in said body means and having a passageway therethrough to receive said wire,
said retainer means including at least three sets of spaced spherical wire engaging elements positioned along and circumferentially about the axis of the passageway and movable radially thereof and being operative in a first position of said retainer means relative to said body means to establish a wobble-free driving relation with respect to a wire located in said passageway and operative in a second position of said retainer means relative to said body means to establish a release position with respect to a wire located in said passageway, the front face of said retainer means being spaced axially from the front face of the body means in the wire engaging position,
means normally biasing one of said body and retainer means to one of said first or second positions, and
manually movable means having a surface engageable by an operator's hand to effect movement of one of said body and retainer means to the other of said first or second positions.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Surgical wire driving assembly

Life of this patent

Surgical wire driving assembly

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19