Surgical scalpel with automatically retractable blade
OwnerGiuseppe Pilo, Antonio Giovanni Flumeneinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A surgical scalpel includes a blade carried by a blade support, which is slidable within an outer sheath. The blade support is movable from a first position in which the blade is within the sheath to a second position in which the blade is exposed. One end of the blade support has a hollow cylinder, in which a stationary piston is disposed. Movement of the blade support from the first position to the second position creates a vacuum within the hollow cylinder, so that when the surgeon releases his or her grip on the scalpel, the blade support is quickly and automatically retracted to the first position.
Claims17
An automatically retracting scalpel, comprising:
- a sheath having a sidewall, an open first end and a second end;
- a blade support having a first end carrying a scalpel blade and a second end, said blade support being slidably disposed in the sheath and capable of movement from a first position in which the scalpel blade is within the sheath and a second position in which the blade extends beyond the first end of the sheath;
- a cylinder;
- and
- a piston slidably moveable with respect to the cylinder and substantially air-tightly sealed to the cylinder, one of the piston and the cylinder being disposed at the second end of the blade support, the other of the piston and the cylinder being disposed at the second end of the sheath,
- whereby movement of the blade support from the first position to the second position causes relative movement between the piston and the cylinder to create a vacuum in the cylinder capable of retracting the blade support to the first position, and wherein the sidewall of the sheath is provided with a first opening permitting access to the blade support to allow a user's digit to hold the blade support in the second position.
An automatically retracting scalpel, comprising:
- a sheath having an open first end and a second end;
- a blade support having a first end carrying a scalpel blade and a second end, said blade support being slidably disposed in the sheath, and capable of movement from a first position in which the scalpel blade is within the sheath to a second position in which the blade extends beyond the first end of the sheath;
- a cylinder fixed to the second end of the blade support;
- and
- a piston fixed to the second end of the sheath, the piston being slidably moveable with respect to the cylinder and substantially air-tightly sealed to the cylinder,
- whereby movement of the blade support from the first position to the second position causes relative movement between the piston and the cylinder to create a vacuum in the cylinder capable of retracting the blade support to the first position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.