put a needle and suture combination, which mojliggor simple avlegsnande of the needle from the suture

摘要

1428559 Needles ETHICON INC 30 May 1973 [31 May 1972] 25709/73 Heading DIG [Also in Division A5] In a combined needle and suture, the needle has an opening at its blunt end whereby it is swaged with 62-75 per cent compression on to one end of the suture, which is coated with resin and of smaller diameter than the untreated length of suture, the combination having a pull-out tension of from 3 to 26 oz. As shown in Fig. 1, e.g. braided silk suture material 12 is drawn from a spool 11 and passes over a guide 14, through a frictional brake 15 and then to a tensiometer 22, directly as shown in the dotted line for sutures of small diameters, or for thicker sutures, via a magnetic brake 18 controlled by a rheostat 20, as shown in the full line. The suture passes to idler rollers 39, 40 and a dancer roller 38 to idler pullies 35, 36 on a carriage 34 movable by a lead screw 28 driven by a motor which also rotates a rack 24 so that the suture is wound evenly on the rack under tension. One end of the rack 24, where the suture changes direction, is dipped in a resin bath (43) (Fig. 3, not shown), possibly after dipping in a xylol cleaning bath, and dried. The ends treated with resin are then of the diameter which they were under tension, i.e. less in diameter than the untreated suture, which is about as thick as the needle. The sutures are cut from the rack to have resin at both ends or at one end only, according to whether needles are to be connected to one or both ends. A needle 46, Fig. 5, is drilled at 47 to take the end of the suture. The drilled end of the needle is placed on an anvil 49, located in a depression 49. A hammer 50 is then brought into contact with the needle 46 to swage the end, the movement of the hammer being limited by means of stops 51, 52 on the hammer 50 and anvil 48 according to the dimensions and properties of the needle and suture, such that the suture pulls out of the needle at an applied tension between 3 oz and 26 oz. The suture may be absorbable or not, and the suture coating may be any non-toxic adhesive, e.g. braided silk, polyester or nylon, or a polyester or epoxy resin. Other resins and adhesives are disclosed.