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:
Sep. 13, 1994
Filed:
Apr. 15, 1993
Brian K Estabrook, Foxboro, MA (US);
Stephen DiMatteo, Seekonk, MA (US);
Lionel J Motta, Coventry, RI (US);
John C Wright, Mystic, CT (US);
Ultracision, Inc., Smithfield, RI (US);
Abstract
The ultrasonic instrument includes a shaft having an integral sheath of PTFE encompassing the shaft and attached solely to the shaft. At the proximal end of the shaft, wrench flats are exposed through openings in the sheath and grooves cooperate with complementary ribs on the sheath, to prevent relative longitudinal and rotational displacement of the sheath and shaft. The sheath is in contact with the shaft at the nodes along the shaft. The diameter of the sheath is about 5 mm whereby the instrument may be used with a 5 mm trocar port. To manufacture the instrument, the sheath is initially formed to a diameter equal to or less than the diameter of the shaft and then mechanically expanded. Subsequently, the sheath is heat-shrunk about the shaft and rolled continuously along the shaft, except at regions corresponding to the nodes along the shaft, to expand the sheath to a larger diameter to space the sheath from the shaft except at the nodes of the shaft.