Surgical bone awl
AssigneeLab Medical Engineering & Manufacturing
InventorsThomas E. Shuler, Robert A. Latour, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A surgical awl is provided for orthopaedic applications that include creating or enlarging holes in bone. The awl has a shaft and a cutting tip that has a working end and an opposite attachment end, which mechanically locks in place into a recess formed in the end of the shaft opposite the handle. A release mechanism is provided to allow the user to selectively disengage the cutting tip from the shaft. The awl has a hole-retention sleeve which surrounds at least part of the awl shaft and the awl tip and could be configured to surround the entire shaft and tip. The retention sleeve has a forward cutting edge. A protective sleeve may be used in place of the retention sleeve to protect the manual awl tip release mechanism from being accidentally activated to release the awl tip.
Claims10
A surgical bone awl apparatus, comprising:
- a shaft having a receiving end and a gripping end disposed generally opposite said receiving end;
- a handle attached to said gripping end of said shaft and configured to facilitate awl manipulation;
- an awl tip defining a working end and an attachment end disposed opposite said working end;
- said receiving end of said shaft being configured to be selectively connected to said attachment end of said awl tip;
- a locking mechanism attached to said shaft and configured to lock said awl tip selectively connected to said receiving end of said shaft so as to enable said awl tip to remain fixed with respect to said shaft while undergoing torsional, bending, and axial loads in all directions;
- a release mechanism attached to said shaft and configured to unlock said awl tip selectively connected to said receiving end of the shaft so as to enable said awl tip to be selectively disconnected from said receiving end of said shaft;
- a hole-retention sleeve defining a cylindrical shape and an axial passage which surrounds at least part of said awl tip and at least part of said receiving end of said shaft;
- said retention sleeve defining a forward cutting edge;
- and
- said retention sleeve defining a pressure collar disposed opposite said forward cutting edge.
A surgical bone awl apparatus, comprising:
- a shaft having a receiving end and a gripping end disposed generally opposite said receiving end;
- a handle attached to said gripping end of said shaft and configured to facilitate awl manipulation;
- an awl tip defining a working end and an attachment end disposed opposite said working end;
- said receiving end of said shaft being configured to be selectively connected to said attachment end of said awl tip;
- a locking mechanism attached to said shaft and configured to lock said awl tip selectively connected to said receiving end of said shaft so as to enable said awl tip to remain fixed with respect to said shaft while undergoing torsional, bending, and axial loads in all directions;
- a release mechanism attached to said shaft and configured to unlock said awl tip selectively connected to said receiving end of the shaft so as to enable said awl tip to be selectively disconnected from said receiving end of said shaft;
- a protective sleeve defining a cylindrical shape and an axial passage which surrounds at least part of said receiving end of said shaft so as to shield said release mechanism from being accidently activated to release said awl tip.
A surgical bone awl apparatus, comprising:
- an awl tip defining a working end and an opposite attachment end, said attachment end defining a cam member, said attachment end defining a radially extending lip;
- a shaft having a receiving end and a gripping end disposed generally opposite said receiving end, said receiving end defining a recess therein, said recess being configured to receive said attachment end of said awl tip therein;
- a handle attached to said gripping end of said shaft and configured to facilitate awl manipulation;
- a locking mechanism including a clip member attached to said shaft and defining a hook, said clip member resiliently biasing said hook to engage said lip to lock said awl tip received in said recess so as to enable said awl tip to remain fixed against axial movement with respect to said shaft while undergoing axially directed loads;
- said locking mechanism includes a slot configured to receive said cam so as to prevent rotation of said awl tip relative to said shaft when said attachment end of said awl tip is received in said recess;
- a button moveably disposed in said shaft and configured to disengage said hook from said lip and thereby release said awl tip from said recess when said button is moved in a first direction;
- a hole-retention sleeve defining a cylindrical shape and an axial passage which surrounds said awl tip, said axial passage being configured to surround at least part of said attachment end of said shaft so as to shield said button from being accidentally moved so as to release said awl tip;
- said retention sleeve defining a forward cutting edge and a pressure collar disposed opposite said forward cutting edge;
- and
- said axial passage being configured to allow passage of a surgical instrument therethrough.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.