Patent ID: 6277132
Filing Date: 2001-08-21
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A needle inserter with a needle protector for surgical suturing instruments, comprising:a needle insertion structure having a clothesline clip-like handle part at one end and a mounting part at the opposite end, said mounting part having longitudinal slots with an internal groove disposed therebetween, one of said slots, that is the walls defining said one slot, having a curved end and a predetermined width corresponding to the space between two jaws of a suturing instrument when disposed in a parallel closed position, and the other of said slots and said internal groove being wedge-shaped so that said needle inserter can be pushed fully onto a correspondingly shaped jaw of said suturing instrument, a suturing needle received, and engaged in, said one slot so as to be disposed at the curved end thereof in a predetermined position, a needle protector with a grasping end and a T-shaped front part with a web adapted to be received in said one slot and having an end with an extension projecting over the tip of a suturing needle disposed in said needle insertion structure when said needle protector is in place on said needle insertion structure, said web, said protector and said needle inserter consisting of an elastic plastic material, which permits the parts to be molded and which also permits resilient engagement of said needle in said first slot, but permits removal of said needle when said handle part of said needle inserter is compressed.