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:
Oct. 10, 1995
Filed:
Nov. 14, 1994
Bert D Heinzelman, Tenafly, NJ (US);
Christopher J Brooks, Glen Head, NY (US);
EP Technologies, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
The invention provides an improved catheter steering mechanism for pulling a first catheter steering wire while simultaneously allowing a second catheter steering wire to remain static, and vice versa. The mechanism includes at least one rotatable gear and means, such as a rotatable knob, for manually rotating the gear. A first linearly slidable toothed rack is attached to the proximal end of one steering wire, and a second linearly slidable toothed rack is attached to the proximal end of the other steering wire. A toothed gear rotatable by rotation of the knob engages each of the toothed racks to move them linearly in opposite directions in response to rotation of said gear. Preferably three intermeshing gears are used so that movements of the racks are in the same direction as the rotation of the knob. Preferably the steering wires are connected to the racks by connections that transfer tension as the racks move away from the wires but allow the wires to remain static, when the rack moves toward its associated wire.