Automatic surgical apparatus for ligutaring blood vessels

A surgical apparatus for use with knot carrying cartridges and intended for repetitively and instantly making ligatures on blood vessels which are cut, which has substantially the appearance of a haemostatic clamp, comprising a hollow elongate support, slidable means slidably mounted in said support, two arms each having one end pivotally mounted on respective sides of said elongated support and having a rug on the other end for receiving fingers of a user and including means for actuating said slidable means, a hollow elongate charger removably fixed within said elongate support said charger and support being complimentary to each other said charger including a tubular shaft having knot-carrier cartridges slidably mounted thereon that are threaded with a small clearance thereonto, said tubular shaft being arranged co-axially within said charger and connected by its rearward end to a vacuum source so that a suction force will be created at its front end, said charger including at its front end a cartridge disengaging means, each said cartridge comprising a single tubular part having a front end and deflection points diametrically opposed adjacent said front end and carrying a preformed knot within said tubular portion adjacent the front end, which is initially loose, and whose strands extend radially in opposite directions, and bear against said deflection points each of said strands coextending said cartridge to a point adjacent the rear end thereof, each of said strands coextending from said point in a direction transverse with respect to the axial direction of the cartridge, defining a catching portion thereof, each of said strands extending from said catching portion and being fixed on an anchoring portion of the cartridge, each cartridge including two slidable blades, one slidably mounted on each side of said cartridges and extending from the rear end thereof, the front portion of said blade for cutting the strands of the knot at the level of the radially directed portions of the strands, cooperating coupling means and disengagement means extending from the rear end of said cartridges beyond said cutting blades by means of which each cartridge is removably coupled to the preceding and the following cartridges so that the train of cartridges can be displaced as a group, and a heel on each said cartridge at the rear end thereof, gripping means mounted on said sliding means for gripping said heel when the corresponding cartridge arrives at the front end of the charger, link means connected between said arms and said slidable means for movement thereof in an alternating longitudinal movement which includes a first advance movement in the course of which said disengagement means provided on each cartridge and said disengaging means at the front end of the charger disengage the first cartridge of the train, or leading cartridge, from the following cartridge, and abutments on the front end of the charger to intercept the transverse catching portions of the strands, thereby tightening the knot, said link means further providing a first return movement of the leading cartridge so that its said respective cutting blades come into abutment with the following cartridge and are caused to slide from a retracted position to a cutting position to cut the strands of the tightened knot, a second advance movement in the course of which the leading cartridge is expelled from the charger, and a second return movement at the end of which the apparatus returns to its initial condition, the second cartridge assuming the position of the cartridge which had been expelled.