US 5,700,270 A · Surgical clip applier

Abstract

A surgical clip applier includes a housing, a pair of handles pivotably connected to opposite sides of the housing, a channel assembly which is anchored to the housing and a jaw assembly which is anchored to the channel assembly. The jaws are opened and closed by a cam plate which is slidably positioned in the channel assembly and is provided with cam slots at its distal end to engage drive rivets positioned on the jaw members. A pusher bar assembly is also provided to feed clips from a series of clips to the jaw mechanism, and the instrument operates such that all moving components move in the same direction during the closing stroke of the handle, and then move in the same direction opposite to the closing direction when the handles are in the opening stroke. A novel lockout mechanism is also provided to render the instrument inoperable after all the clips have been utilized from the instrument.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A surgical clip applier comprising:

a housing;
a pair of handles pivotably connected to opposite sides of said housing;
an elongate body portion fixedly secured to and extending from said housing and carrying a plurality of clips;
a jaw assembly fixedly secured to and extending from an end of said body portion opposite said housing, said jaw assembly adapted to accommodate a clip therein;
and
a cam plate slidably positioned in said body portion, said cam plate being operatively connected at a first end to at least one of said handles and at a second end to said jaw assembly, such that moving said handles from an open position to a closed position causes a sliding movement of said cam plate with respect to said body portion and said jaw assembly to effect closure of a clip in said jaw assembly.

3 more elements

In a surgical clip applier having a housing, a pair of handles pivotably connected to the housing, a channel assembly fixed to and extending from the housing, a series of clips arranged serially in end to end relation and carried by the channel assembly, a pair of jaw members secured to and extending from an end of the channel assembly opposite the housing, a clip follower for urging the series of clips towards the jaw members, a clip pusher member slidably disposed in the channel assembly for advancing a distalmost clip from the series of clips to a position between the jaw members in response to movement of the handles, and a jaw closure camming mechanism to effect closure of the jaw members to deform a clip positioned therebetween in response to movement of the handles, the camming mechanism including a cam plate slidably disposed intermediate the pair of handles and the jaw member, the improvement which comprises:

a lockout mechanism for rendering the clip applier inoperable upon deforming a last clip of the series of clips, the lockout mechanism including a first blocking member associated with the clip follower for engagement with the cam plate to prevent movement of the cam plate, and at least one frangible member to disengage the cam plate from the handles upon closure of the handles when the first blocking member is engaged with the cam plate.

A surgical clip applier comprising:

a housing;
a pair of handles pivotably connected to opposite sides of the housing;
a channel assembly fixedly secured to and extending from an end of the housing and carrying a series of clips in end to end relation;
a jaw assembly having a pair of opposed jaw members fixedly secured to and extending from an end of the channel assembly opposite the housing, the jaw members having a clip positioned therebetween;
a clip pusher member slidably disposed in the channel assembly and being operatively connected at one end to at least one of the handles, the pusher member having a nose portion at a second end for engaging a distalmost clip in the series of clips and being operable to move the distalmost clip to a position between the jaw members;
and
a cam plate slidably disposed in the channel assembly and being operatively connected at one end to at least one of the handles, the cam plate being operatively connected at a second end to said jaw assembly;
wherein movement of the handles from an open position to a closed position causes the cam plate and the pusher member to simultaneously move in a proximal direction towards the housing, such that the cam plate moves towards the housing to effect closure of the jaw members to deform the clip, and the pusher member moves towards the housing to position the nose portion behind the distalmost clip in the series of clips, and wherein movement of the handles from the closed position to the open position causes the cam plate to move towards the jaw assembly to effect opening of the jaw members to release the deformed clip, and causes the pusher member to move towards jaw assembly to advance the distalmost clip in the series of clips to a position between the jaw members.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Surgical clip applier

Life of this patent

Surgical clip applier

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims21