Surgical suture needle counter

• US 20030155259A1
• Filed: 02/03/2003
• Published: 08/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Tomoaki Koseki
• Original Assignee: Tomoaki Koseki
• Inventors: Koseki, Tomoaki
• Application Number:
  US10/358,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20030155259A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 206/380
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/06133 of parallelepipedal shape, e.g. made of rectangular or slightly oval panels
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/06142 having needle- or suture- retaining members, e.g. holding tabs or needle parks
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2050/21 Magnetic holders
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/0804 Counting number of instruments used; Instrument detectors

Abstract

A surgical suture needle counter with the structure of having a needle fixing body made of thin plate formed of continuous projections and hollow parts in a waveform, wherein needles are inserted into the aperture of the projections and dropped into the hollow part to be fixed and held. Side rods protrude in both sides of the base of the hollow parts of the needle fixing body to clarify the precise position for the needle to be dropped when seen from above. The curved form of the hollow part of the needle fixing body is made to match the cross-section form of the needle to enable the inserted needle to fall into the aperture and fit closely onto the tray base. When the lid is open wide and turned to the base of the tray, the inside of the tray is inclined to facilitate easier visual confirmation of the fixed needles. The needle fixing body is mold processed of resin to be made a slightly longer than the tray ditch so that each projection part of the waveform adheres closely onto the tray, to increase the force to hold and fix the needles. Projections are provided to the base of the tray to grasp the needles, to obtain stronger force to hold and fix the needles. With the above points, this invention provides an affordable needle counter for surgical suture needles without using any magnetic material, having a strong force to hold and fix the needles, made to enable faster and easier visual confirmation of the number of needles after counting at one glance.

Claims

1. A surgical suture needle counter which is a container to count the number of used surgical suture needles and to dispose the used needles, which consists of a tray, a lid, and of needle fixing bodies mounted inside the tray, wherein the needle fixing body is made of a thin plate forming continuous waveform projections and hollow parts, needles are inserted into the aperture between the projections that have springy features, the needles are dropped into the hollow part and fixed there, numbers to count the needles are inscribed on the side of the needle fixing body inside the tray, the lid is closed after counting the needle for disposal.

2. A surgical suture needle counter according to claim 1, with the feature of side rods protruded on both sides at the base of the hollow parts of the needle fixing body, to clarify the precise position for the needle to be dropped looking at the needle counter from the top.

3. A surgical suture needle counter according to claims 1 and 2, wherein the curved form of the hollow part of the needle fixing body is made to match the cross-section form of the needle, to enable the inserted needle to drop into the needle fixing body and fit closely onto the base of the tray.

4. A surgical suture needle counter which is a container to count the number of used surgical suture needles and to dispose the used needles, which consists of a tray, a lid, and of needle fixing bodies mounted inside the tray, wherein the tray and the lid are fixed with a hinge, so when the lid is open and turned over to the other side to enable the upper part of the lid to contact the base of the tray, thus the inside of the tray is more visible as being inclined in relation to the horizon level, to increase the visibility of the content of the needle counter, and the needle fixing body is made of a thin plate forming continuous waveform projections and hollow parts, needles are inserted into the aperture between the projections that have springy features, the needles are dropped into the hollow part and fixed there, side rods protrude on both sides of the base of the hollow parts of the needle fixing body to clarify the precise position to drop in the needle, the curved form of the hollow part of the needle fixing body is made to match the cross-section form of the needle, to enable the inserted needle to drop into the needle fixing body and fit closely onto the base of the tray, numbers are inscribed on the side of the needle fixing body inside the tray to count the needles, the lid is closed and sealed after counting the needles for disposal.

5. A manufacturing method for a surgical suture needle counter according to claim 4, wherein a ditch is applied onto the tray to mount needle fixing bodies, a needle fixing body is made of mold processing of resin material made slightly longer than the tray ditch, and when the needle fixing body is mounted onto the tray ditch, each projection part of the waveform adheres closely to increase the force to hold and fix needles.

6. A surgical suture needle counter according to claims 4 and 5, wherein a cut slit is made at the base of the hollow part of the needle fixing body, the cut slit parts are placed within the two pairs of projections projected to the right and to the left sides which protrude up to about the center part of the height of the needle fixing body from inside the tray, the distance between each projection is equal to the diameter of the thinnest needle, and so when the needle dropped into the aperture of the projection is the thinnest size, the needle is firmly fixed without any gap between projections, and as the needle size becomes larger the upper part of the projection opens, and the needle is grasped between the upper parts of the inside of the hollow parts of the needle fixing body to firmly fix and hold the needles.