Wound closure tape and applicator therefor

A wound closure adhesive tape product for use with a tape applicator, said tape product comprising:

• a strip of surgical tape having a pressure sensitive adhesive coating on one surface and a releasable backing strip covering the adhesive-coated surface,
• said strip of tape being transversely perforated at regular intervals along its length to subdivide the strip into joined tape segments separable along the perforations upon the application of a tensile force at said perforations,
• said releasable backing strip being continuous and imperforate throughout its length,
• said tape and backing strip being wound together into a supply roll for installation in an applicator,
• said strip of tape includes a pair of opposed notches one at each of the opposite marginal edges of said tape aligned with the perforations dividing said tape sections,
• said opposed notches of a pair being slightly offset from one another along said tape.

A disposable applicator for applying a liner-backed sterile surgical adhesive tape from a supply roll of such tape comprising:

• a casing sized to fit within the hand of a user, including wall means defining a tape roll supply chamber, a separate waste liner storage chamber, and passage means interconnecting said chambers,
• said casing including external front and bottom walls defining a tape outlet slot therebetween,
• a guide post at the inside corner between said front and bottom walls and spaced inwardly therefrom and above said slot,
• an external surface of said guide post and spaced inner surface of said front wall defining a guide path for the lined tape from the supply chamber toward said outlet slot,
• an external surface of said guide post and spaced inner surface of said bottom wall defining a guide path for waste liner toward said passage means,
• and said post, front wall and bottom wall surfaces being interrelated so as to define divergent paths for said tape and liner to cause their separation at the divergence of their paths,
• said front wall including a resilient depressible front wall portion engagable with a surface of said post to press a section of tape passing therebetween against said post,
• said casing being generally quadrangular in shape as defined by generally flat and straight external walls, said supply and storage chambers being of quadrangular shape and defined in part by said external walls.

A blade-less, disposable surgical tape applicator system comprising in combination:

• a casing sized to fit within the palm of the hand of a user and partitioned internally to define a tape supply chamber and a waste liner storage chamber,
• a tape outlet slot at a lower forward corner of said casing leading from said supply chamber and formed by converging wall portions of said casing,
• a rigid internal guide surface spaced inwardly of said slot within said casing at said corner and defining with said converging wall portions divergent guide paths including a tape path leading from the supply chamber to said outlet slot and a waste liner path leading from the supply chamber toward said storage chamber,
• internal partition means extending along and spaced from a bottom wall of said casing rearwardly of said guide surface to define with said bottom wall a waste liner passage as a continuation of said liner path, said passage communicating at opposite ends with said supply chamber and said storage chamber,
• a supply roll of liner-backed sterile surgical adhesive tape loosely positioned within said supply chamber for centerless rotation therein, said tape, but not said liner, being divided at regular intervals along its length into connected segments by transverse perforations terminating at opposed marginal edge notches providing visual indications of the divisions between segments and a focus for tensile separating force applied across said perforations to facilitate separation of each segment from said roll,
• an unlined leader portion of said tape extending from said roll across said internal guide surface and along said tape path through said outlet slot,
• a leader portion of said liner extending with said tape across said guide surface and thence diverging from said tape along said liner path and into said liner passage,
• said outlet slot, guide surface and divergent paths being operable such that as said tape leader is withdrawn through said slot said liner is separated therefrom and propelled along said passage into said storage chamber,
• said roll being preset in roll form to an extent such that as said liner enters said storage chamber it self-coils independently of the shape of said chamber,
• the tensile strength of said perforated tape portions being such that sufficient tension can be applied to the tape across a perforated tape portion during application of a tape segment to a skin surface to close a wound without separating the applied segment from the roll, and being such that application of a higher tension to the tape across a perforated tape portion separates the applied segment from the roll without the aid of any cutting means,
• said casing including a resilient depressible wall portion depressible by selectively applied hand pressure and cooperative with said guide surface to apply a controlled variable tension to the tape including a low tension for closing a wound and thereafter a higher tension for separating an applied segment from the roll without the aid of any cutting means.