Semi-automated needle feed method and apparatus

A needle threading and swaging apparatus for attaching a suture to a surgical needle having a suture receiving opening formed therein, said apparatus comprising:

• (a) a semi-automatic needle singulating station for receiving a plurality of randomly arranged surgical needles, said station having a sliding surface for assisting an operator in singulating surgical needles for transfer to an indexing conveyor;
• (b) a robotic apparatus for transferring said surgical needles from said indexing conveyor to a precise positioning apparatus, said robotic apparatus and said precise positioning apparatus orienting each positioned surgical needle for subsequent automatic handling at a first predetermined location;
• (c) a universal gripper for receiving each positioned surgical needle at said first predetermined location and indexing each positioned surgical needle in a predetermined orientation from said first predetermined location through successive locations for sequential processing at subsequent predetermined locations,
• (d) a suture cutting station located at a second predetermined location for automatically cutting an indefinite length of suture material to a definite length and automatically inserting said suture into said suture receiving opening formed in said surgical needle;
• (e) a third means for swaging said surgical needle to close said suture receiving opening about a free end of said suture to secure said suture thereto and form therefrom a needle and suture assembly,
• (f) means for receiving individual needle and suture assemblies from said universal gripper for subsequent packaging;
• whereby unsorted needles and an indefinite length of suture material are formed into a plurality of oriented surgical needle and suture assemblies.

A semi-automatic needle sorting and infeed apparatus for singulating and precisely positioning curved surgical needles for subsequent swaging, said apparatus comprising:

• (a) a needle singulating station, said station having a sliding surface for receiving a plurality of needles, said sliding surface enabling an operator to individually singulate a single needle from said plurality and deposit a single needle upon an indexing conveyor;
• (b) an imaging station for obtaining an image of individual needles at a predetermined location on said indexing conveyor, said imaging station including digitizing means for converting said image into digital signals;
• (c) computer control means for processing said digital signals to obtain positional and orientation data for each selected one of the imaged needles on said indexing conveyor;
• and
• (d) robotic transfer means for removing said needle from said indexing conveyor in accordance with its individual positional and orientation data and transferring said needle to a precision conveyor for further orientation and precise positioning;
• (e) a precision transfer station for transferring the needle to a universal gripper for a subsequent automatic swaging operation.