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US 4,026,520 AGranted
Surgical staple extractor
AssigneeSenco Products, Inc.
InventorsRobert G. Rothfuss, Russell C. Stone, Matthew H. Wykoff
Life of this patent
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AssigneeSenco Products, Inc.
InventorsRobert G. Rothfuss, Russell C. Stone, Matthew H. Wykoff
Estimating the term…
A manually operated surgical staple extractor comprising a pliers-like tool having first and second handle elements pivotally joined together and swingable between open and closed positions. The first handle element terminates at its forward end in a pair of elongated anvils in parallel spaced relationship. The forward ends of the anvils are angled toward each with their front-most tips substantially contiguous. The rearward ends of said anvils are provided with aligned notches, the first handle element providing a steep upwardly and rearwardly sloping surface adjacent each of the notches. The second handle element is operatively connected to a thin blade means shorter than the anvils. When the first and second handle elements are in their open position, the lower edge of the blade means lies above the anvils. When the handle elements are shifted to their closed position, the blade is pivoted downwardly such that its lower edge passes between the anvils to a position therebelow. The blade means is sufficiently thin that, as it passes between the anvils, there is clearance between the blade means and each anvil substantially equal to the diameter of the crown portion of a staple.
A manually operated extractor for a surgical staple of the type having, when implanted in the skin of a patient, an exposed crown and opposed L-shaped skin engaging legs, said extractor comprising a pliers-like tool having first and second handle elements pivotally joined together near their forward ends and being shiftable between an open position and a closed position, said first handle element having a bifurcated forward end, said bifurcations terminating in a pair of elongated anvils in parallel spaced relationship and adapted to be slipped beneath said crown portion of a surgical staple in the skin of a patient, said anvils having forward ends angled toward each other with the frontmost tips thereof being substantially contiguous, said anvils having rearward ends provided with aligned notches to receive said crown of a surgical staple, said bifurcations providing a steep upwardly and rearwardly sloping surface adjacent each of said notches to assist in locating said staple crown in said notches, a thin blade means being located between said bifurcations of said first handle element, said second handle element being operatively connected at its forward end to said blade means, said blade means having a nose portion shorter than said anvils and having a lower edge, said blade nose portion being shiftable by said second handle element between a first position when said handle elements are in said open position wherein said lower edge of said nose lies above said anvils and said notches therein and a second position when said handle elements are in said closed position wherein said nose lies between said anvils with said lower edge below said anvils, there being clearance between said nose portion and each of said anvils at least substantially equal to the diameter of said crown portion of said staple, whereby when said anvils are slipped beneath the crown portion of a staple in the skin of a patient with the crown located in said aligned anvil notches and said blade is shifted to its second position by said second handle element, said crown of said staple will be formed into a U-shape causing said L-shaped staple legs to shift upwardly and outwardly enabling them to be lifted from the skin of a patient.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.