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:
May. 12, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 22, 1995
Rodney J Solomon, Andover, MA (US);
Hubert K Yeung, Lynnfield, MA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
In the present invention, an easily assembled, reliable bending neck is formed for use with invasive medical devices. The bending neck comprises a series of pivotally hinged segments, each having a central lumen. The segments are positioned end-to-end, while the lumens collectively provide a shaft to accommodate delicate interconnections to a head assembly attached to the bending neck. Separate from the lumen are channels formed in each segment. The channels, combined from each segment, run the length of the bending neck and are aligned to accommodate cables used to articulate the bending neck. The separation of the lumen from the channels isolates the delicate interconnections from the motion of the cables as the bending neck is articulated. The cables and the separated lumen and channels form a bending neck having high reliability, that is easy to assemble, for use with invasive medical devices. In a one embodiment of the present invention, a bending neck has a pair of cables and its articulation is limited to lateral directions. In an alternate embodiment, the bending neck has three cables and is articulable in combinations of the lateral and vertical directions. The present invention includes an assembly method for the bending neck.