The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 26, 1993
Filed:
Jun. 20, 1990
Alfred G Evans, Torrington, CT (US);
United States Surgical Corporation, Norwalk, CT (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method to determine the sharpness of a curved surgical needle point by a measurement of the perpendicular forces required to push the needle point through a supported membrane at a given rate of penetration. The apparatus includes a needle penetration fixture having a needle penetrable membrane, a load cell, and related control and recordation instrumentation. According to the method a needle is mounted on a rotatable fixture and first precisely aligned. Thereafter, the fixture is rotated so as to cause the needle to penetrate the membrane whereby the force necessary to penetrate the membrane force being recorded by recordation instrumentation and the process being controlled by control instrumentation.