Locking arm having ball joints for use in an organ manipulator apparatus
First Claim
1. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state for use in an organ manipulator apparatus, the arm comprising:
- a cable; and
ball joints threaded along the cable, each of the ball joints having a convex surface, a concave socket surface, a length, and a diameter, wherein the socket surface is shaped for receiving the convex surface of an adjacent one of the ball joints, at least one said concave surface formed of a first material and having a groove formed therein, said groove being filled with a second material.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A flexible locking arm for use in an organ manipulator apparatus. The flexible locking arm has a flexible state, used to position the organ manipulator as needed, and a fixed state for mounting the manipulator in a desired orientation. Even in the fixed state, the organ manipulator maintains a limited freedom of movement, to allow the organ held to continue to move substantially according to its natural motion during functioning. For example, in an embodiment where a suction member exerts suction to retract a beating heart and suspend it in a retracted position during surgery by setting the flexible arm to the fixed state, as the retracted heart beats, a complaint joint allows it to expand and contract freely (and otherwise move naturally) at least in the vertical direction so that hemodynamic function is not substantially compromised.
-
Citations
32 Claims
-
1. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state for use in an organ manipulator apparatus, the arm comprising:
-
a cable; and
ball joints threaded along the cable, each of the ball joints having a convex surface, a concave socket surface, a length, and a diameter, wherein the socket surface is shaped for receiving the convex surface of an adjacent one of the ball joints, at least one said concave surface formed of a first material and having a groove formed therein, said groove being filled with a second material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 32)
-
-
3. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state for use in an organ manipulator apparatus, the arm comprising:
-
a cable; and
ball joints threaded along the cable, each of the ball joints having a convex surface and a concave socket surface, wherein each of the ball joints is molded from a first plastic and at least a first portion of the concave socket surface is molded with a textured second plastic which provides sufficiently high friction to lock the arm in the rigid state when the cable is tensioned to tighten the convex ball surface of an adjacent one of the ball joints against the first portion of the concave socket surface.
-
-
4. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state for use in an organ manipulator apparatus, the arm comprising:
-
a cable; and
ball joints threaded along the cable, each of the ball joints having a main portion defining a convex surface and part of a concave socket surface, and an insert portion defining a remaining part of the concave socket surface, wherein the main portion is molded from hard plastic and the insert portion is molded from a material having greater friction than does the hard plastic. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
-
-
7. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state for use in an organ manipulator apparatus, the arm comprising:
-
a cable; and
ball joints threaded along the cable, each of the ball joints having a first portion defining a convex surface and part of a concave socket surface, and a second portion defining a remaining part of the concave socket surface, wherein the first portion of each of the ball joints comprises molded hard plastic and the second portion comprises molded thermoplastic or silicone elastomer. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
-
-
8. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state for use in an organ manipulator apparatus, the arm comprising:
-
a cable; and
ball joints and sleeves threaded alternately along the cable, each of the ball joints defining a convex surface at each end, and each of the sleeves defining a concave socket surface at each end, wherein each of the ball joints is molded from plastic having a first hardness and each of the sleeves is molded from plastic having a second hardness different from the first hardness. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
-
-
11. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state for use in an organ manipulator apparatus, the arm comprising:
-
a cable; and
a first set of ball joints and a second set of ball joints threaded alternately along the cable, wherein each of the ball joints in the first set and the second set defines a convex surface and a concave socket surface, each of the ball joints in the first set is molded from plastic having a first hardness and each of the ball joints in the second set is molded from plastic having a second hardness different from the first hardness. - View Dependent Claims (12)
-
-
13. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state, said arm comprising:
-
at least one pair of interlocking links, one of said pair having a first substantially convex surface and the second of said pair having a substantially concave surface adapted to mate with said substantially convex surface, wherein at least a portion of the substantially concave surface comprises a jagged profile comprising circular shoulders;
a cable passing through an opening axially provided through each of said links; and
a mechanism to draw tension on said cable, thereby compressing said links against one another. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state, said arm comprising:
-
at least one pair of interlocking links, one of said pair having a first substantially convex surface and the second of said pair having a substantially concave surface adapted to mate with said substantially convex surface;
a cable passing through an opening axially provided through each of said links;
a mechanism to draw tension on said cable, thereby compressing said links against one another; and
at least one suction element connected at a distal end portion of said locking arm and being adapted to manipulate an organ;
wherein said substantially concave surface and said substantially convex surface are configured so that one of said substantially concave surface and substantially convex surface wedges into the other when compressed by drawing tension on said cable. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A locking arm having a flexible state and a rigid state, said arm comprising:
a plurality of alternately positioned ball joints and sleeves positioned over and along a tensioning cable;
each said ball joint having a convex surface at each of first and second ball joint ends, and each said sleeve having a convex surface at each of first and second sleeve ends;
said convex surfaces being configured and adapted to mate with adjacent ones of said concave surfaces;
wherein at least one pair of mating surfaces comprises one of said convex surfaces having a first hardness and one of said concave surfaces having a second hardness different from said first hardness.- View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
Specification