Medical Personal-Services Suction Handle

• US 20150343121A1
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Medline Industries Incorporated (Medline Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Medline Industries Incorporated (Medline Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Turturro, Michael, Kobida, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,884,143 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 1/7411 by changing the size of a vent in combination with changing the cross-section of the line A61M1/7413
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 1/76 Handpieces specially for suction-irrigation A61M1/774, aspiration tips A61M1/84

Abstract

A medical personal-services suction handle includes a hand-graspable housing and a primary suction pathway disposed through the hand-graspable housing and having a suction line port at one end and an intake port at an opposing end thereof. An on/off valve disposed at least partially within the primary suction pathway has a user-manipulable interface by which the on/off valve selectively opens the primary suction pathway and occludes the primary suction pathway. A user-engageable pneumatic pathway serves, when selectively engaged, to pneumatically couple the primary suction pathway to a secondary external port in the hand-graspable housing such that suction is applied via the primary suction pathway to both the intake port and the secondary external port. By one approach the secondary external port comprises a thumb-control port.

Claims

1. A medical personal-services suction handle comprising:

a hand-graspable housing;

a primary suction pathway disposed through the hand-graspable housing and having a suction line port at one and an intake port at an opposing end thereof;

an on/off valve disposed at least partially within the primary suction pathway and having a user-manipulable interface by which the on/off valve selectively opens the primary suction pathway and occludes the primary suction pathway;

a user-engageable pneumatic pathway that, when selectively engaged, pneumatically couples the primary suction pathway to a secondary external port in the hand-graspable housing such that suction is applied via the primary suction pathway to both the intake port and the secondary external port.

2. The medical personal-services medical personal-services suction handle of claim 1 wherein the on/off valve comprises a ball valve having a pneumatic pathway formed radially therethrough.

3. The medical personal-services suction handle of claim 2 wherein the user-manipulable interface comprises a tab that extends outwardly of the hand-graspable housing and that moves only within a corresponding slot that is formed in the hand-graspable housing.

4. The medical personal-services suction handle of claim 2 wherein the user-engageable pneumatic pathway includes, at least in part, a pneumatic pathway formed through the ball valve.

5. The medical personal-services suction handle of claim 4 wherein the user-manipulable interface comprises a tab that extends outwardly of the hand-graspable housing and that moves only within a corresponding L-shaped slot that is formed in the hand-graspable housing, such that the on/off valve is opened by moving the tab along a first portion of the L-shaped slot and the user-engageable pneumatic pathway is selectively engaged by moving the tab along a second portion of the L-shaped slot.

6. The medical personal-services suction handle of claim 5 wherein the secondary external port comprises a thumb-control port.

7. The medical personal-services suction handle of claim 6 wherein the secondary external port and the first portion of the L-shaped slot are axially aligned with one another.

8. The medical personal-services suction handle of claim 7 wherein the secondary external port and a part of the first portion of the L-shaped slot that is closest to the secondary external port are no further apart than 3 cm.

9. The medical personal-services suction handle of claim 1 wherein the hand-graspable housing includes a clip disposed proximal to intake port to latch an intake to which the hand-graspable housing connects via the intake port.

10. The medical personal-services suction handle of claim 1 wherein the hand-graspable housing has a convex depression in an exterior portion of the hand-graspable housing that includes the secondary external port.

11. An in-line medical personal-services suction component comprising:

an in-line suction path housing having a primary suction pathway disposed therethrough;

a user-engageable pneumatic pathway that, when selectively engaged, pneumatically couples the primary suction pathway to a secondary external port in the in-line suction path housing such that suction is applied via the primary suction pathway to the secondary external port.

12. The in-line medical personal-services suction component of claim 11 wherein the secondary external port comprises a thumb-control port.

13. The in-line medical personal-services suction component of claim 11 further comprising a user-manipulable interface by which a user selectively engages the user-engageable pneumatic pathway to pneumatically couple the primary suction pathway to the secondary external port.

14. The in-line medical personal-services suction component of claim 13 wherein the user-manipulable interface comprises a tab that extends outwardly of the in-line suction path housing.

15. The in-line medical personal-services suction component of claim 11 wherein the in-line suction path housing comprises a medical personal-services suction handle.

16. The in-line medical personal-services suction component of claim 15 further comprising:

an on/off valve disposed at least partially within the primary suction pathway and having a user-manipulable interface by which the on/off valve selectively opens the primary suction pathway and occludes the primary suction pathway.

17. The in-line medical personal-services suction component of claim 16 wherein the on/off valve comprises a ball valve having a pneumatic pathway formed radially therethrough.

18. The in-line medical personal-services suction component of claim 17 wherein the user-manipulable interface comprises a tab that extends outwardly of the in-line suction path housing and that moves only within a corresponding slot that is formed in the in-line suction path housing.

19. The in-line medical personal-services suction component of claim 18 wherein the user-engageable pneumatic pathway includes, at least in part, a pneumatic pathway formed through the ball valve.

20. The in-line medical personal-services suction component of claim 19 wherein the slot comprises an L-shaped slot that is formed in the in-line suction path housing, such that the on/off valve is opened by moving the tab along a first portion of the L-shaped slot and the user-engageable pneumatic pathway is selectively engaged by moving the tab along a second portion of the L-shaped slot.