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:
Mar. 05, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 10, 1994
James S Bates, Bloomington, IN (US);
Hugh A Tripp, Foxboro, MA (US);
Boston Scientific Corporation, Natick, MA (US);
Abstract
A surgical extractor for removing calculi, such as kidney stones and gall stones, from the body. The extractor includes a handle at an proximal end of the extractor with a slider for operation by a physician. At the distal end the extractor includes a plurality of pairs of wires with portions of each pair being formed along the turn of a helix. When a retaining sheath is retracted, the wires, formed of a shape memory material such as stainless steel, expand such that each pair of wires closely assumes a path along a helical turn with individual wires remaining closely adjacent. This use of plural wires for each strand multiples the number of contacts with entrapped calculi and can be provided without any deleterious effect on the reliability or size of the extractor.