Abstract:
A surgical blade assembly comprises a scalpel blade and handle. A guard is attached to the assembly and is pivotally moveable between a sheathed and an unsheathed position. A spring resiliently biases the guard to the sheathed position. A hinge may attach the guard to the assembly and allow pivoting of the guard relative to the blade.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The invention relates to a protective guard for a scalpel.  
           [0002]    A surgical scalpel typically comprises a blade and a handle. The blade is extremely sharp to permit a surgeon to cut into the skin of a patient. The sharpness of a blade, however, poses a potential hazard to individuals handling the instrument. Not only may the blade accidentally cut any handler but may expose him to pathogens, germs, and viruses from the blood of the patient.  
           [0003]    Recently, scalpels have been provided with removable covers. The covers are removed prior to use in surgery, and are recommended to be maintained near the location of the surgery. Once the scalpel is done being utilized as part of the surgery, the cover may be replaced on the scalpel.  
           [0004]    There are certain disadvantages with the above approach. First, the cover must be found and again placed back on the scalpel. This may not always occur. Moreover, in the rush of surgery it is sometimes the case that the scalpel is not recovered for a period of time. During this period of time the scalpel provides a risk of cutting.  
           [0005]    In addition, the placement of the cover back onto the scalpel is itself dangerous. It is possible to cut oneself while putting the cover onto the scalpel and thus the prior art removable scalpel is somewhat disadvantageous.  
           [0006]    A need therefore exists for a protective cover for a scalpel blade that permits a surgeon to use a scalpel without interference and still provides protection during the course of an operation.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    Like existing scalpels, the invention comprises a scalpel blade with a handle. In contrast, however, the invention employs a guard that is attached to the scalpel and is moveable between a sheathed and an unsheathed position. The guard maybe resiliently biased toward the sheathed position to protect against cuts during surgery as well as after. The guard always remains with the scalpel but does not interfere with its use.  
           [0008]    The guard is hinged to the handle and pivots on this hinge between the sheathed position and the unsheathed position. A spring serves to urge the guard towards the sheathed position. The spring is received between the guard and the handle in a base formed in the handle.  
           [0009]    In a preferred embodiment, the spring is positioned at an angle relative to the top of the body of the scalpel handle. This angle ensures that the hood is biased about the pivot pin to the sheaved position.  
           [0010]    The hood is preferably provided with a thumb indentation that the surgeon can contact with any portion of the hand to move the hood to its open position. Thus, the surgeon merely biases the hood against the force of the spring, and the hood is thus moved back to its unsheathed position for surgery.  
           [0011]    Once the surgeon releases the hood the hood will immediately spring back to the sheathed position under the influence of the spring. Thus, there is no need to replace the cover, as it will immediately and without any action from the surgeon return to the sheathed position.  
           [0012]    In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the hood has a shape such that a thicker portion of the hood is found at the handle, and perhaps a portion of the scalpel blade more remote from the cutting end of the scalpel. The hood preferably becomes thin at forward positions. This will facilitate the surgeon being able to see more clearly around the hood at the location of the surgery.  
           [0013]    In addition, to provide the same benefit, the guard may be clear. The guard may be sized to receive the blade such that the guard covers the entire surface of the blade, preventing the exposure of any sharp edge except when the scalpel is used. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    The various features and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the currently preferred embodiment. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows:  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1A illustrates an embodiment of the invention, showing scalpel blade, body, and guard.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1B shows a detail of the FIG. 1A embodiment.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2 illustrates the bottom side of the guard of FIG. 1.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 3 illustrates the top side of the guard, highlighting its tapered form.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4 illustrates the embodiment of the invention of FIG. 1, illustrating the pivoting of the guard relative to the scalpel blade. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1A illustrates an embodiment of the invention, surgical blade assembly  10 , comprising scalpel blade  14 , body  18 , and guard  22 . As shown, guard  22  is mounted to handle body  18 , through a hinge pin  26 . Scalpel blade  14  is attached to body  18  as known. Additionally, spring  30 , shown in relatively uncompressed state, in hole  34  of body  18  urges guard  22  to be in a closed state, or sheathed, as shown in FIG. 1. One end of spring  30  is fixed within guard  22 . Spring is also inclined along an Z axis in hole  34  relative to a top plane  35  of the body  18 .  
         [0021]    Space K between guard  22  and body  18  creates room for guard  22  to pivot relative to scalpel blade  14  in the direction of arrow Y to an open state or unsheathed position. In this state, spring  30  is compressed. A force in the direction of arrow G will move guard in this direction compressing spring  30  and making space K smaller as guard  22  pivots on hinge  26 . Preferably, the area  28  on top of the hood  22  receives a finger or other portion of the surgeon&#39;s hand. The force is passed through this area down against the spring to bias the spring to its unsheathed position. Once the surgeon releases the hood, the spring will return the hood to its sheathed position. One of ordinary skill in the art would know of other techniques to resiliently bias guard  22 .  
         [0022]    As shown in FIG. 1B, the pivot pin  26  is spaced to one side of the hole  34 . The hole  34  is spaced at an angle A along the axis Z relative to the top surface  35  of the handle body  18 . In this way, the force from the spring will cause the hood to pivot counter-clockwise, as shown in this view, about the hinge pin  26 . This will provide a sure and prompt closing of the hood once released.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 2 illustrates a bottom view of guard  22 . Guard  22  has slot  42  to at least partially receive scalpel blade  14 . Slot  42  is accordingly sized to accommodate scalpel blade  14 . Edge  21  of guard  22  is blunt.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 2 also shows tapered portion  38 . Accordingly, guard  22  comprises first end  40  having a width W 1  and second end  41  having a width W 2 . To taper guard  22 , width W 1  is less than the width of W 2 . This taper offers an improved view of the tip of surgical blade assembly  10  so that a surgeon may track and follow scalpel blade  14  in a less obstructed fashion.  
         [0025]    Indeed, FIG. 3 illustrates a view of surgical blade assembly  10  as possibly seen by a surgeon using the instrument. As shown, tapered portion  38  offers less sight obstruction to the surgeon of cutting surface  46 . Also, guard  22  may be made of generally transparent plastic to permit a direct view of scalpel blade  14  on cutting surface  46  as shown.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 4 illustrates surgical instrument  10  on cutting surface  46 . As shown, scalpel blade  14  cuts into surface  46 . Guard  22  pivots relative to scalpel blade  14  to permit it to cut into cutting surface  46  without interference. As mentioned above, a surgeon may place a finger  60  on the area  28  and cause the hood to pivot relative to the handle  18 . This allows the scalpel blade  14  to be exposed for cutting. Once the surgeon releases the hood, the spring  30  will return the hood to its sheathed position such as shown in FIG. 1A.  
         [0027]    In this way, surgical blade assembly has a guard that is easily moved out of the way of scalpel blade  14  as it is used. When guard  22  is released, it is then closed by spring  30  as it decompresses. Thus, without any additional thought or effort, guard  22  protects against accidental cuts.  
         [0028]    The aforementioned description is exemplary rather that limiting. Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. The preferred embodiments of this invention have been disclosed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. Hence, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. For this reason the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.