Cauterizer blade wiping device

A body, which may have a tubular or dome-like shape with an open top and bottom, has a wall with one or more elongated slots extending along the wall from the top toward the bottom. A cauterizer blade may be drawn through a slot in any suitable orientation to wipe debris from the blade. A mounting, such as a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet, may be used to attach the body to a surgical drape. A slot may have two parallel inner edges for wiping or scraping the cauterizer blade. The distance between the inner edges defines the slot width, which should be approximately equal to the width of the cauterizer blade to be cleaned. The sides of the slot may be beveled to form chisel-like inner edges that enhance the wiping action. At the top of the body the slot may also have a "V"-shaped notch to guide the cauterizer blade into the slot. The adhesive sheet may be attached to the open bottom of the dome-shaped body. Both sides of the adhesive sheet may be coated with adhesive to both adhere the body to the surgical drape and to trap in the adhesive any debris that falls into the body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to devices used for wiping burned tissue 
debris, known as eschar, from a surgical cautery knife blade. 
Surgical instruments such as cautery knives, cautery pencils and various 
other cautery device tips often become soiled with particles of tissue, 
blood and other debris during a surgical intervention. The accumulation of 
these materials on the instrument can severely hinder its use. Surgeons 
must repeatedly wipe the instrument tip with gauze or scrape the tip with 
a scalpel during surgery. This procedure, however, requires that the 
surgeon or an assistant interrupt the operation to clean the instrument, 
using both hands and taking great care to avoid accidental cuts and 
injury. This cleaning procedure is not only very disruptive to the 
surgery, but also does not allow for a safe and convenient place to safely 
dispose of the excess burned tissue debris or eschar. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,923, issued to De Vries et al., discloses a surgical 
knife cleaner consisting essentially of a closely coiled strand supported 
on a base member bonded by adhesive to a surgical drape. The surgical 
knife blade is cleaned by insertion through adjacent coils of the device. 
This type of surgical knife cleaner, however, does not provide sufficient 
frictional pressure against the sides of the knife blade to completely rid 
it of eschar debris. Moreover, this type of surgical knife cleaner 
requires that penetration of the blade through the coil be in a single 
direction imposed by the orientation of the device. 
Other cauterizer blade cleaning devices use sponge-like abrasive material 
as a wiping surface. After repeated use, eschar debris tends to build up 
on the abrasive material, thereby reducing its effectiveness and requiring 
other methods for further cleaning. 
There is a need for a more versatile type of surgical instrument cleaner 
that is accessible from multiple directions, that provides a more thorough 
wiping action against soiled side of instrument blades, and that provides 
a means for containing scraped tissue debris for convenient disposal. 
These problems and deficiencies are clearly felt in the art and are solved 
by the present invention in the manner described below. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention comprises a body having a wall with one or more 
elongated slots having sidewalls extending between the inner and outer 
surfaces of the wall and having a slot length extending in a longitudinal 
direction from an edge of the wall. The wall may have any suitable shape 
and contours. A cauterizer blade may be drawn through a slot in any 
suitable orientation to wipe debris from the blade. The orientation of the 
blade in the slot may be described by an angle of incidence and a pivotal 
angle with respect to a longitudinal axis of the slot. 
The body also has one or more portions defining a planar area oriented at 
an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the slot. The present 
invention also comprises a mounting that may be used to attach the body to 
a suitable surface, such as a surgical drape, with the planar area 
parallel to the surface. In an exemplary embodiment, the mounting 
comprises a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet. When the body is mounted on 
a surgical drape, for example, the slot and surrounding wall are oriented 
at a convenient angle with respect to the patient. The angled wall 
functions in a shield-like manner to enhance retention of debris behind 
the inner surface of the wall over a wide range of blade angles of 
incidence. 
The shape of the slot is critical to one aspect of the present invention. A 
sidewall of the slot is bounded by a longitudinal inner edge along the 
inner surface of the wall and a longitudinal outer edge along the outer 
surface of the wall. Each of the two surfaces of the cauterizer blade 
contacts one inner edge when the blade is drawn through the slot, thereby 
wiping or scraping the blade. The distance between the inner edges defines 
the slot width, which should be approximately equal to the width of the 
cauterizer blade. The distance between the outer edges is greater than the 
slot width. For example, the sidewalls may be planar and thus have a 
beveled appearance. This arrangement allows the cauterizer blade to be 
positioned in the slot at any pivotal angle in a wide range, with each 
blade surface in contact with an inner edge. In addition, this arrangement 
provides chisel-like inner edges that enhance the wiping action. At the 
edge of the wall the slot may also have a notch having a suitable shape, 
such as a "V", to guide the cauterizer blade into the slot. 
The wall may have any suitable shape that, when the body is mounted on a 
surface, is maintained in the above-described orientation. In an exemplary 
embodiment, the body is generally dome-shaped with an open top and bottom. 
The wall thus has a curved, annular or tubular shape with circular rims 
defining the open top and bottom of the body. One or more slots extend 
longitudinally from the upper rim toward the lower rim. When a cauterizer 
blade is drawn through a slot, debris falls into the open circular area in 
the center of the body. In such an embodiment, the lower circular rim may 
define the above-described planar area. A pressure-sensitive adhesive 
sheet covering the lower circular rim may thus be used to attach the body 
to a surgical drape or other surface. Furthermore, the adhesive sheet may 
be double-sided to retain debris that falls into the open central area by 
trapping it in the exposed adhesive. 
The wall may have other suitable shapes, such as a sector of the 
above-described annular or tubular shape. It need not, however, be curved 
along two radii of curvature such as to define a dome or sector thereof; 
it may be curved along only a single radius of curvature to define a ring 
or sector thereof; or it may be entirely or partially planar. Furthermore, 
the wall may have any suitable contours or thicknesses. For example, it 
may have a generally convex outer surface, such as that of a dome-shaped 
body, with a concave portion or trough between the convex portions for 
catching any debris that may accumulate around a slot and fall or trickle 
down the outer surface of the wall. In an annular wall having a plurality 
of slots distributed around its circumference, such a trough may extend 
around the circumference of the wall. 
The foregoing, together with other features and advantages of the present 
invention, will become more apparent when referring to the following 
specification, claims, and accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
As illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, a generally tubular or annular body 10 has a 
wall 12 with an upper rim 14 and a lower rim 16. Multiple slots 18 are 
distributed evenly around the circumference of body 10. A cauterizer blade 
may be drawn in a generally radial direction through a slot 18 to wipe it 
free of debris. Body 10 is made of any suitable rigid or semi-rigid 
material, such as plastic. 
Each slot 18 extends from upper rim 14 toward lower rim 16, following any 
local curvature of wall 12, and terminates at a slot bottom 20. Slot 
bottom 20 may be rounded. Each slot 18 has two slot sidewalls 30 that 
extend through the thickness of wall 12 between the inner and outer 
surfaces 22 and 24, respectively, of wall 12. Each slot 18 has two inner 
edges 26 at inner surface 22. Inner edges 26 are equidistant from each 
other at all points along their lengths, but they are not precisely 
parallel because they follow the local curvature of wall 12. The distance 
between inner edges 26 defines a slot width. The slot width is 
approximately equal to the width of cauterizer blade 17 and is preferably 
less than about two millimeters. To conform to the shape of cauterizer 
blade 17, the slots are relatively long and narrow, with the slot length 
being at least eight times as great as the slot width. 
Each slot 18 also has two outer edges 28 at outer surface 24 that, like 
inner edge 26, are equidistant from each other. The distance between outer 
edges 28 is greater than the slot width, thereby giving a beveled 
appearance to slot sidewalls 30. This arrangement provides a chisel-like 
or wiper-like action for enhancing removal of debris from cauterizer blade 
17. It also promotes effective cleaning of cauterizer blade 17 over a wide 
range of pivotal angles, such as the extreme pivotal angle shown in FIG. 4 
of approximately 45 degrees with respect to a radius of body 10. Each slot 
18 also has a "V"-shaped notch 32 at upper rim 14 for guiding cauterizer 
blade 17 into the slot 18. 
When cauterizer blade 17 is drawn through a slot 18, each of the two 
surfaces of cauterizer blade 17 contacts an inner edge 26. If the material 
from which wall 12 is made provides sufficient resiliency, the portions of 
wall 12 immediately adjacent slot 18 flex slightly to provide frictional 
sealing between cauterizer blade 17 and inner edges 26. Slot 18 may 
further include side portions 34 that extend perpendicularly to edges 26 
and 28, thereby forming a "T"-shaped slot 18, to facilitate flexure of the 
portions of wall 12 adjacent slot 18. 
Although body 10 may be generally described as tubular because it has open 
ends, body 10 is more specifically described as dome-shaped because the 
majority of outer surface 24 of wall 12 is convex. A portion of outer 
surface 24, however, preferably includes a concave area or trough 36 for 
catching any residual debris. (In the illustrated embodiment, the contours 
of inner surface 22 correspond inversely to those of outer surface 24 
because the thickness of wall 12 is uniform.) 
Four supports 38 inside body 10 provide additional strength and rigidity. 
The lower portion of each support 38 is coplanar with lower rim 16. 
A double-sided adhesive sheet 40 is adhesively attached to lower rim 16 and 
the lower portions of supports 38. Sheet 40 has upper and lower 
adhesive-coated surfaces 42 and 44, respectively. A silicone-coated 
backing sheet 46 covers lower adhesive-coated surface 44 to protect it 
prior to use. 
To use the present invention, backing sheet 46 is peeled away to expose 
lower adhesive-coated surface 44. Body 10 is adhered to a surgical drape 
48 by pressing it against drape 48 at a convenient location. As the 
cautery device is used on the patient, cauterizer blade 17 may be cleaned 
by inserting it in a vertically downward direction into a conveniently 
located one of slots 18 and then withdrawing it in a radially outward 
direction. Inner edges 26 wipe away debris clinging to blade 17, as 
described above. The loose debris falls inside body 10 and is trapped on 
upper adhesive-coated surface 42. 
Obviously, other embodiments and modifications of the present invention 
will occur readily to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of these 
teachings. Therefore, this invention is to be limited only by the 
following claims, which include all such other embodiments and 
modifications when viewed in conjunction with the above specification and 
accompanying drawings.