Ethicon, Gmbh

Other

John F Blanch

David D Demarest

Timothy P Lenihan

William F Smith

Anthony Esteves

Michael G Hodulik

Robert A Daniele

Robert B Duncan

George Horst Reinemuth

Richard Paul Branco

Andres Folch

Martin Sobel

William D Rattan

Teresa M Shaw

Matthew Cafone

Dennis P Yost

A device for singulating surgical needles from a bulk supply of needles includes a vibratory bowl for receiving the supply of needles. The bowl has a floor to receive the needles, a track extending from the floor to a needle discharge point and a selectively vibrating motor to vibrate the surgical needles into a single file along the track. A discharge device has first and second needle receiving pockets, and positions the first and the second needle receiving pockets below the needle discharge point. A controller selectively vibrates the vibratory bowl and selectively positions the first and second needle pockets below the needle discharge point, the controller singulating individual needles from the single file of needles into the first and second needle receiving pockets. A discharger discharges the singulated needles in a spaced relationship on a conveyor for subsequent imaging at an inspection station.

Needle sorting device

A method for cuffing suture, including: feeding the suture to a drawing axis for drawing and cutting thereof; heating the suture to stiffen a small length; gripping the suture and alternately drawing it along the drawing axis by first and second grippers; cutting the suture to provide uniform lengths; and providing a predetermined length of suture travel between the heating step and the cutting step, which is a discrete number, two or more, times the uniform length of suture being cut by the apparatus, to provide a discrete number, two or more, of apparatus cutting cycles between heating of the suture and cutting of the suture, whereby after heating of a small length of suture, the suture is cooled to allow setting and hardening of the suture material prior to cutting.

Method for cutting suture

A machine, and operating procedures for a machine, for automatically threading, swaging and packaging surgical needles. A first mechanism is used to suture the needles and to pull test the needles to determine if certain maximum and minimum pull test requirements are met. The sutured needles are then transferred to packages on a second mechanism, and that mechanism indexes the packages through a series of stations to complete the packaging of the needles. Various checks are made at the packaging mechanism before that mechanism is operated to index the needle packages; and different items at the station used to pull test the needles, are monitored to determine if they return timely to predetermined positions. Also, check are made at the station at which the needles are transferred to the packages, to be sure that those items are in preferred positions before the packages are moved. A detector unit and procedure are employed to inspect the packages for sutures hanging outside the packages, and another detector unit and procedure are provided to inspect the packages for needles protruding from the packages.

Operating procedures for automated needle sorting, swaging and packaging machines

A device for singulating surgical needles from a bulk supply of needles including a vibratory bowl assembly for receiving said bulk supply of needles. The bowl assembly having a floor to receive the needles, a track extending from the floor to a needle discharge point and a selectively vibrating motor to vibrate the surgical needles into a single file along the track; a discharge device having first and second needle receiving pockets, the device positioning the first and the second needle receiving pockets below said needle discharge point; a controller for selectively vibrating the vibratory bowl and selectively positioning the first and second needle pockets below the needle discharge point, the controller singulating individual needles from the single file of needles into the first and second needle receiving pockets; a discharger for discharging the singulated needles in the first and second needle pockets in a spaced relationship on a conveyor for subsequent imaging at an inspection station.

A semi-automated machine for preparing double-armed sutures, i.e., a suture with a surgical needle at either end of the suture, from a bulk supply of surgical needles and an indefinite length of suture material 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 and cutting 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 suture drawing and cutting station automatically inserts an end of the indefinite length of suture into the first of the pair of needles that form the double-armed suture. A swage station is provided for swaging the needle to close the suture receiving opening about the suture to secure said suture thereto. The suture drawing and cutting station then cuts the indefinite length, and inverts the cut end for insertion into the second of the pair of needles. The swage station then swages the second needle to close the suture receiving opening about the suture to secure said suture thereto and thereby form the double-armed suture.

Method and apparatus for forming double-armed sutures

Apparatus for cutting an indefinite length suture to different lengths for subsequent threading and swaging to surgical needles includes a drawing tower having first and second guide members defining a drawing axis parallel thereto. First and second grippers are provided to grip the indefinite length suture and to alternately draw it along the drawing axis, with each gripper being mounted for reciprocal movement along a guide member. Each gripper alternately grips the suture and draws it a distance beyond the location of a cutter assembly while the other gripper reciprocates to a start position before the cutter assembly. A tipping assembly heats a predetermined small length of the suture to stiffen the suture thereat after subsequent cooling, in preparation for cutting the suture thereat and inserting a stiffened lead cut end of the suture into an end of a needle for swaging thereto. Both the tipping assembly and the cutter assembly are variably positioned in the apparatus to accommodate different cut lengths of suture. A long length of suture travel is provided between the tipping assembly and the cutter assembly which is a discrete number of apparatus cutting cycles between the tipping and cutting operations to allow the tipped suture to cool prior to cutting.

Suture cutting system

A semi-automated machine and method 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 singulation station having a sliding surface that assists an operator in singulating needles and depositing them in a pair of drop locations for subsequent automatic handling. Indexing conveyors, an articulated robot and a precision conveyor are used with a precise positioning station for orienting each needle for automatic handling. 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 suture feeding and cutting station automatically cuts an indefinite length of suture material to a definite length suture strand and automatically inserts an end of the definite length suture strand into the suture receiving opening formed in the needle. 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. A suture pull-test station test each needle suture bond, and selectively and destructively tests the bond for adjusting the swage dies and for statistical quality control. A final off-load station provides an apparatus for assembling a predetermined number of need-suture assemblies in a bundle for subsequent packaging.

Stand alone swage method

Methods and systems for packaging surgical needles. In this system, a plurality of packages are indexed, by means of a package carrier, through a plurality of work stations, at which various operations are performed on the packages. In particular, at each work station, an operating device is moved from a home position to an operating position to perform an operation on the package: and after finishing the operation, the operating device is returned to the home positions. With all of the operating devices in their respective home positions, the package carrier can then be moved to index the packages forward. Each of the work stations generates a respective return home signal when the operating device of the work station returns to its home position. A determination is made as to whether return home signals have been generated indicating that all of the operating devices have returned to their respective home position; and, if such return home signals have all been generated, the package carrier is moved to move each package thereon to another one of the work stations.

Operating procedures for automated needle sorting, swaging and packaging

A needle sorting device including an infeed device which first singulates a bulk supply of surgical needles into single file with an intermittently driven vibratory feed bowl assembly, and then individually separates and deposits the needles on a first conveyor for transmission to a processing station with a linear slide discharge mechanism. The first conveyor is translucent and during transit, one or more cameras obtain an image of the individual deposited needles. The image is digitized and the digital signals are transmitted to a control system computer which evaluates the position and orientation for needles and processes the information to obtain data for communication to one or more robot assemblies having grippers. Utilizing the position and orientation data, the robot assembly grippers removes selected needles from the first conveyor and transfers each needle to an engagement device located upon a second precision conveyor. This second precision conveyor is provided with additional devices to further orient the needle transferred thereto. A moveable hard stop is provided at the end of the precision conveyor to provide precise positioning of the needle to an accuracy of 0.001 inch at needle hand-off. Each oriented and precisely positioned needle is conveyed by the second conveyor to an automatic swaging station where sutures are automatically attached.

Apparatus for cutting an indefinite length suture to uniform lengths for subsequent threading and swaging to surgical needles includes a drawing tower having first and second guide members defining a drawing axis parallel thereto. First and second grippers are provided to grip the indefinite length suture and to alternately draw it along the drawing axis, with each gripper being mounted for reciprocal movement along a guide member. Each gripper alternately grips the suture and draws it a distance beyond the location of a cutter assembly while the other gripper reciprocates to a start position before the cutter assembly. A tipping assembly heats a predetermined small length of the suture to stiffen the suture thereat after subsequent cooling, in preparation for cutting the suture thereat and inserting a stiffened lead cut end of the suture into an end of a needle for swaging thereto. Both the tipping assembly and the cutter assembly are variably positioned in the apparatus to accommodate different cut lengths of suture. An improved cutter assembly is provided which positions and then clamps the suture between a pair of retractable locator arms, and then translates a knife blade across the clamped suture.

The present invention is directed to improvements in an Automated Swage Wind and Packaging Machine that is particularly adapted to assist in the automated singulation of surgical needles to enable subsequent automated handling of the needle, automatic swaging of the suture into a receiving end of the needle, automatic pull testing of the combined needle and suture, and automated packaging of the pull tested combined needle and suture into a tray having a cover.

Automated swage wind and packaging machine

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 singulation station having a sliding surface that assists an operator in singulating needles and depositing them in a pair of drop locations for subsequent automatic handling. Indexing conveyors, an articulated robot and a precision conveyor are used with a precise positioning station for orienting each needle for automatic handling. 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 suture feeding and cutting station automatically cuts an indefinite length of suture material to a definite length suture strand and automatically inserts an end of the definite length suture strand into the suture receiving opening formed in the needle. 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. A suture pull-test station test each needle suture bond, and selectively and destructively tests the bond for adjusting the swage dies and for statistical quality control. A final off-load station provides an apparatus for assembling a predetermined number of need-suture assemblies in a bundle for subsequent packaging.

Stand alone swage apparatus

A machine for the automated packaging of armed sutures or; in effect, surgical needles having sutures attached thereto and, more particularly, a needle gripper and transfer arrangement in an automated machine for the high-speed individualized packaging into trays of single or individual surgical needles each having an attached suture and a detachable cover providing a suture package utilized for the packaging of the individual or single needles and attached sutures. The machine includes vertically adjustable frame structure so as to adjust the elevation thereof relative to the needle transfer arrangement to facilitate the packaging of differently sized needles in a single size of packaging tray.

Needle transfer arrangement in a machine for the automated packaging of

A machine and a method for the automated packaging of armed sutures or; in effect, surgical needles having sutures attached thereto and, more particularly, an automated machine for the high-speed individualized packaging of single or individual surgical needles each having an attached suture into a tray and detachable cover providing a suture package utilized for the packaging of the individual or single needles and attached sutures. Additionally, the automated packaging machine incorporates operative mechanism adapted to wind the sutures into a peripheral channel of the tray and facilitating the attachment of the cover to the tray which contains the single needle and attached wound suture, and which cover concurrently constitutes a product-identifying label as a component of the tray, and upon removal of the cover enables a user to gain access to the contents of the tray; in essence, the armed suture.

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Tinton Falls, NJ, United States of America

John F Blanch