Pull test apparatus for permanently attached sutures

Abstract

A semi-automated machine for singulating individual surgical needles from an bulk supply and attaching a suture to the surgical needle is described. Each of the surgical needles has a suture receiving opening formed therein for receiving a suture. The machine includes a needle singulation station, a precise positioning station, a suture feeding station, a swage station, a pull-test station and an off-load station. A universal gripper mounted on a rotary indexing device automatically receives each individual needle in a predetermined orientation and conveys the needle for sequential processing from station to station to form the needle-suture assembly. A swage station is provided for swaging the needle to close the suture receiving opening about the suture to secure said suture thereto and form therefrom a needle and suture assembly. The suture pull-test station tests each needle suture bond with a pre-determined pull for quality control. This pull is adjustable via a precision spring tension device. The pull test station includes two sets of jaws for gripping the suture, the first for the quality control pull test, and the second for a destructive test in which the strength of the bond is measured for adjusting the swage dies and for statistical quality control purposes. A final off-load station provides an apparatus for assembling a predetermined number of need-suture assemblies in a bundle for subsequent packaging.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.