Ethicon, Gmbh

Harro Hofliger Verpackungsmaschinen Gmbh

Harro Hofliger

Erwin Bauder

Konstantin K Ivanov

Manfred Reiser

Donald Pompei

Martin Sobel

Joseph Stanley Siernos

Manfred Hild

John Rega

Clifford A Dey

Mehmet Reyhan

Andrew Chaloka

Roland Eissele

Edgar Wieland

David Roslon

Jost Mucheyer

Alan Hughieson

James Lotze

Walter Bohringer

Bernhard Wachter

Lorens Slokovic

Raul Quinones

Haro Hofliger

A machine and process for packaging armed sutures into tray packages. The machine has a frame with a rotatable indexing disc member mounted to the top of frame. A plurality of tool nests are rotatably mounted to the top of the indexing disc. Tray packages mounted in the tool nests are rotated to wind sutures into a suture channel in the packages. A stylus having a front nose member and a rear heel member guides suture into the suture channel.

Suture winding machine, suture tray package, and method of winding sutures

The specification discloses an automated apparatus and method for packaging surgical needles having sutures attached thereto wherein a bundle of needles and sutures are placed at a semi-automated separation station and an operator feeds the needles, one at a time, into a rotating needle feed wheel. As the feed wheel advances, the suture is tensioned and directed along a pre-determined path to separate it from the remaining sutures in the bundle. The apparatus has a plurality of individually rotatable tool nests which are sequentially spaced on a rotating or indexing turntable. These tool nests sequentially receive plastic packages for receiving the needle and suture at a first station. At a second station, a needle is inserted into the package by robotic fingers which have retrieved the needle and attached suture from the rotating needle feed wheel. The rotating needle feed wheel and the rotating tool nests are synchronized to step together as each advances. At a third station, the package and needle are rotated to tension the suture and position the package and the suture for automatic winding of the suture into the package. At a fourth station, the rotatable tool nest is rapidly rotated to wind the suture into a circumferential channel in the package which surrounds the needle.

Automatic zipper package winding and packaging machine

Needle feed wheel and needle transfer mechanism

Zipper package winding tool mechanism

Growing community of inventors

Waiblingen, Germany

Erwin Bauder