Ethicon, Gmbh

Harro Hofliger

Joseph Stanley Siernos

Martin Sobel

Konstantin K Ivanov

Robert J Cerwin

Marvin Alpern

Clifford A Dey

Anthony Esteves

Robert A Daniele

Jack Cascio

David D Demarest

Erwin Bauder

John Rega

Mehmet Reyhan

William F Smith

Robert B Duncan

Manfred Reiser

Donald Pompei

Manfred Hild

Andrew Chaloka

Albert C Grosenbeck

Bernhard Wachter

Raul Quinones

David Roslon

Walter Bohringer

Alan Hughieson

An apparatus for inserting surgical needles in needle parks. The apparatus has a frame, a needle block slidably mounted to the frame, a shuttle member slidably mounted to the frame, and a pick-up head. The needle block has a plurality of guide members spaced apart to receive at least one surgical needle and at least one needle park. The apparatus is used in a method of automatically loading surgical needles into the needle parks of surgical suture packages.

Package winder inserter

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

A package for sutures having a winding channel. The package has a base member and a cover member that is mounted to the base member. A plurality of cantilevered doors cover the winding channel.

Package for sutures

A package for sutures having a winding channel. The package has a base member and a cover member that is mounted to the base member. A plurality of cantilieverd doors cover the winding channel.

A suture package having a base member, an upwardly extending outer wall about the periphery of the base member, a plurality of grooves in the base member for receiving a suture, and a top lid member. The package has a central needle park and a discharge opening in the lid member for removing a needle and suture from the package. The package may alternatively have spoke members and rib members extending up from the base member containing grooves which form a suture channel for receiving a suture.

Suture tray package having grooved winding surface

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.

Zipper package winding tool mechanism

A suture package having a base, an upwardly extending wall, an inner dispensing wall, a suture channel between the walls, and a top friction plate member mounted therein. The package has a central needle park and a discharge opening in the friction plate for removing a needle and suture from the package.

Center dispense suture package

A suture package is designed to facilitate automated loading of multiple needles and sutures into the package. The package includes a tray, for containing the needles and sutures, and a cover. The sutures are contained in a peripheral channel of the tray and an array of resilient cantilevered fingers prevent the sutures from lifting up out of the channel. Needle parks retain the needles that are attached to the sutures. In another embodiment of the invention, a package for retaining a wound suture and attached needle includes a tray for containing the needle and suture, including cover-latching elements that each have two vertical surfaces. Tabs on the removable cover each contact a surface of a corresponding latching element and have a free element that engages a shoulder of the element.

Multi-strand suture package and cover-latching element

An easy loading suture package contains sutures in a channel near the periphery of the package. Resilient cantilevered fingers extend most of the way across the channel to prevent any part of the suture from coming up out of the channel either during or after loading of the suture into the package. A needle park retains a needle attached to one end of the suture. The package lends itself to fabrication by molding and is adapted for automated loading and convenient, reliable dispensing.

Easy-loading suture package

A needle park for a package that holds one or more surgical needles and sutures has a generally planar base. A cantilevered arm, fixed at one end and free at its other end, extends above and parallel to the base. A needle is introduced between the free end of the arm and the base and held between the arm and base. A nib that extends from the free end of the arm toward the base secures the needle. The needle park may be molded as part of a one-piece needle and suture package and is well adapted for automatic loading.

Growing community of inventors

Whitehouse Station, NJ, United States of America

Joseph Stanley Siernos