Semi-automated needle feed method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A semi-automatic needle singulating and positioning apparatus for singulating an individual surgical needle from a plurality of surgical needles and positioning the needle for subsequent automated handling, said apparatus comprising:
- (a) a semi-automatic needle singulating station for receiving a plurality of randomly arranged surgical needles, said station having a sliding surface for assisting an operator in singulating surgical needles for transfer to at least one indexing conveyor;
(b) an imaging system for imaging said surgical needles on said at least one indexing conveyor and generating data signals representative of the position and orientation of an individual surgical needle on said at least one indexing conveyor;
(c) a robotic needle handling device responsive to said data signals representative of the position and orientation of a surgical needle on said at least one indexing conveyor to transfer an individual surgical needle to a precise positioning apparatus;
(d) a precise positioning apparatus for receiving singulated needles from said robotic needle handling device and precisely positioning the singulated needle at a first predetermined location;
(e) a universal gripper for receiving each precisely positioned and singulated needle at said first predetermined location and indexing said needle in a predetermined orientation from said first predetermined location through successive stations for sequential processing at subsequent predetermined locations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A semi-automated machine for singulating individual surgical needles from an bulk supply and attaching a suture to the surgical needle is described. Each of the surgical needles has a suture receiving opening formed therein for receiving a suture. The machine includes a needle singulation station, a precise positioning station, a suture feeding station, a swage station, a pull-test station and an off-load station. The singulation station has a sliding surface that assists an operator in singulating needles and depositing them in a pair of drop locations for subsequent automatic handling. Indexing conveyors, an articulated robot and a precision conveyor are used with a pre-positioning and a precise positioning station for orienting each needle for automatic handling. A universal gripper mounted on a rotary indexing device automatically receives each individual needle in a predetermined orientation and conveys the needle for sequential processing from station to station to form the needle-suture assembly. A swage station is provided for swaging the needle to close the suture receiving opening about the suture to secure said suture thereto and form therefrom a needle and suture assembly. A final off-load station provides an apparatus for assembling a predetermined number of need-suture assemblies in a bundle for subsequent packaging.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A semi-automatic needle singulating and positioning apparatus for singulating an individual surgical needle from a plurality of surgical needles and positioning the needle for subsequent automated handling, said apparatus comprising:
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(a) a semi-automatic needle singulating station for receiving a plurality of randomly arranged surgical needles, said station having a sliding surface for assisting an operator in singulating surgical needles for transfer to at least one indexing conveyor; (b) an imaging system for imaging said surgical needles on said at least one indexing conveyor and generating data signals representative of the position and orientation of an individual surgical needle on said at least one indexing conveyor; (c) a robotic needle handling device responsive to said data signals representative of the position and orientation of a surgical needle on said at least one indexing conveyor to transfer an individual surgical needle to a precise positioning apparatus; (d) a precise positioning apparatus for receiving singulated needles from said robotic needle handling device and precisely positioning the singulated needle at a first predetermined location; (e) a universal gripper for receiving each precisely positioned and singulated needle at said first predetermined location and indexing said needle in a predetermined orientation from said first predetermined location through successive stations for sequential processing at subsequent predetermined locations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A needle threading and swaging apparatus for attaching a suture to a surgical needle having a suture receiving opening formed therein, said apparatus comprising:
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(a) a semi-automatic needle singulating station for receiving a plurality of randomly arranged surgical needles, said station having a sliding surface for assisting an operator in singulating surgical needles for transfer to an indexing conveyor; (b) a robotic apparatus for transferring said surgical needles from said indexing conveyor to a precise positioning apparatus, said robotic apparatus and said precise positioning apparatus orienting each positioned surgical needle for subsequent automatic handling at a first predetermined location; (c) a universal gripper for receiving each positioned surgical needle at said first predetermined location and indexing each positioned surgical needle in a predetermined orientation from said first predetermined location through successive locations for sequential processing at subsequent predetermined locations, (d) a suture cutting station located at a second predetermined location for automatically cutting an indefinite length of suture material to a definite length and automatically inserting said suture into said suture receiving opening formed in said surgical needle; (e) a third means for swaging said surgical needle to close said suture receiving opening about a free end of said suture to secure said suture thereto and form therefrom a needle and suture assembly, (f) means for receiving individual needle and suture assemblies from said universal gripper for subsequent packaging; whereby unsorted needles and an indefinite length of suture material are formed into a plurality of oriented surgical needle and suture assemblies. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A semi-automatic needle sorting and infeed apparatus for singulating and precisely positioning curved surgical needles for subsequent swaging, said apparatus comprising:
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(a) a needle singulating station, said station having a sliding surface for receiving a plurality of needles, said sliding surface enabling an operator to individually singulate a single needle from said plurality and deposit a single needle upon an indexing conveyor; (b) an imaging station for obtaining an image of individual needles at a predetermined location on said indexing conveyor, said imaging station including digitizing means for converting said image into digital signals; (c) computer control means for processing said digital signals to obtain positional and orientation data for each selected one of the imaged needles on said indexing conveyor; and (d) robotic transfer means for removing said needle from said indexing conveyor in accordance with its individual positional and orientation data and transferring said needle to a precision conveyor for further orientation and precise positioning; (e) a precision transfer station for transferring the needle to a universal gripper for a subsequent automatic swaging operation. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification