Abstract:
A bone wax applicator has a cylinder magazine for storing bone wax and a piston for movement within the cylinder in response to manual activation of a trigger connected to the piston. The wax is moved out of the cylinder magazine through a tube mounted to communicate with one end of the cylinder magazine. The tube has a free end extending from the cylinder magazine with an opening at the free end. A dissector tip is attached to the free end adjacent the opening. Wax exuded from the opening is available to be spread on bleeding bone surfaces using the dissector tip.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     When bone is cut or opened, the bone bleeds. During surgical procedures, if it is necessary to cut or open a section of bone, bone wax is applied along the cut or open section to stem the bleeding. In the past the bone wax applicator has taken the form of the dissector  10  shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings. The dissector of FIG. 1 is known as a “Penfield” and has a manually engageable handle  11  and a flattened tip  12  formed at an angle to the handle. The flattened tip is used to apply and spread the bone wax over the cut or open section of bone. The dissector tip  12  comes in varying sizes and is selectable by the surgeon to accommodate the task at hand. The “Penfield” tip is shaped somewhat in the form of a spatula and the present invention envisions size variations of the tip to accommodate the surgeon&#39;s preference. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A bone wax applicator has means for providing a force and contains a cylinder having a piston end and an outlet end. A piston is coupled to the force and is disposed within the cylinder for close sliding fit therein and for movement between the cylinder piston end and the cylinder outlet end in response to application of the force. The cylinder has an access opening and an access opening cover that is moveable between open and closed positions. An open wax transport tube is connected at one end to the cylinder outlet end and has an opposing free end. The opposing free end has a discharge opening. A dissector tip is attached to the opposing free end adjacent the discharge opening. 
     A bone wax applicator is useful for controlling bone bleeding, wherein the applicator contains a manually engageable force generator and a cylinder having an axial length, a piston end and an outlet end. A piston is connected to the manually engageable force generator. The piston is configured for close sliding fit within the cylinder and for movement between the cylinder piston and cylinder outlet ends. The cylinder has an accessible wax receiving chamber therein when the piston is positioned at the piston end of the cylinder. An access cover is provided for the wax receiving chamber, wherein the access cover is moveable between open and closed positions. A wax distribution tube is connected at one end to the cylinder outlet end and has a wax outlet port at an opposing free end. A dissector tip is mounted adjacent the wax outlet port for applying the wax supplied through the wax outlet port. 
     A bone wax application gun has a gun body with a gun handle depending from the gun body. A gun barrel extends laterally from the gun body. A gun trigger is pivotally mounted in the gun body and has an accessible free end and an opposing end. A cylinder having an axial length and an outlet end is mounted in the gun barrel. A piston is configured for a close sliding fit within the chamber. Means for providing movement of the piston along the cylinder axial length is disposed between the gun trigger opposing end and the piston, wherein such means is responsive to gun trigger pivotal motion. A wax transport tube is attached at one end to the cylinder outlet end and extends toward a free end from the gun barrel. The wax transport tube has a hole in the free end and a dissector tip is mounted on the wax transport tube adjacent to the free end. The cylinder has an accessible wax containment chamber therein. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an elevation of an existing dissector used to apply wax to exposed bone interior. 
     FIG. 2 is an elevation of one embodiment of the bone wax applicator of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic depiction of a portion of the internal mechanism of the embodiment of FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 4 is a detail taken along the line  4 — 4  of FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 5 is a section taken along the line  5 — 5  of FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 6A is a section of one embodiment of the present invention taken along the line  6 — 6  of FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 6B is a section of an alternative embodiment of the present invention taken along the line  6 — 6  of FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 7 is a section taken along the line  7 — 7  of FIG.  6 A. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     One embodiment of the present invention takes the form of the gun-like device depicted at  13  in FIG. 2 of the drawings. The gun-like form has been used for surgical tools for different purposes than that envisioned for the invention disclosed herein; i.e., disposable skin stapler, Auto Suture (tm) made by Multifire, Inc. The gun-like form  13  of FIG. 2 has gun body portion  14  from which depends a gun handle  16 . A barrel portion  17  extends laterally from the gun body having a door or access closure  18  located on the barrel portion. The door has a hinge  19  and a latch  21 , so that the door may be opened or closed from the barrel portion  18  and may be latched in the closed position by the latch  21 . A hollow wax distribution tube  22  extends from the free end of the barrel  17 . The wax distribution tube has a free end cut somewhat on a bias as seen in FIG. 2, so that a hole  23 , best shown in FIG. 4, is formed at the free end of the tube  22 . A tip  24 , similar to the tip  12  of FIG. 1, is formed adjacent the hole  23 , serving to collect bone wax extruded from the hole  23  for application to cut or open sections of bone by the tip. The tip  24  may have a body portion  24   a extending back toward the free end of the barrel  17  for supporting the wax distribution tube  22 . A trigger  26  is shown with a free end extending from the inside of the gun body  14  for a purpose to be hereinafter described. The tip  24 , as previously discussed, is available in different sizes, for example, ranging from 2 through 5 millimeters in width. The inside diameter of tube  22  has been found to be conveniently about 3 millimeters. The extension of the tube  22  and the tip  24  from the free end of the barrel  17  has been established in a preferred embodiment as within the range of 7.5 to 10 centimeters. 
     The schematic showing of FIG. 3 includes structure represented as on the body  14  of the gun-like device  13 , wherein the trigger  26  is pivotally attached to the gun body  14  at a pivot point  27 . Forcing the trigger  26  to pivot about pivot  27  in the direction dictated by a force F in FIG. 3 causes a saw toothed rack  28  to rotate an inner saw toothed gear  29  in a clockwise direction. The gear  29  is fixed to and rotates with a shaft  31  mounted in the gun body as seen in FIG.  3 . The rack  28  is therefore configured to rotate the inner gear  29  when the force F is applied and to resume a neutral position, as shown in FIG. 3, when the force F is removed. The trigger  26  is urged back into the neutral position by means such as the spring  32  extending between a position on the trigger  26  and a position on the body  14  of the gun-like device  13 . 
     An outer saw toothed gear  33  is also mounted on the shaft  31  and therefore rotates in a clockwise direction with inner gear  29  when force F is applied to the trigger  26 . Outer gear  33  has peripheral saw tooth shaped teeth thereon which engage saw tooth shaped teeth  34  formed on a piston rod  36 , thereby driving the piston rod laterally to the right as seen in FIG. 3. A piston  37  is mounted on a free end of the piston rod  36  and the piston rod is supported by appropriate bearing means  14   a  within the gun body  14 . The bone wax applicator of the invention described herein is a tool for operating room use and is therefore envisioned as a one-time use device. Therefore, an anti-reverse rotation lock arm  39  is pivoted about a point  38  on the gun body  14  and urged into engagement with the teeth on the inner gear  29  by a spring  41  to hold the piston  37  in the position to which it was advanced by application of the force F on the trigger  26 . Alternatively, the anti-reverse rotation lock may be released by moving the lock arm  39  in a counterclockwise direction about pivot  38  if the purpose demands. It should be recognized that the structure represented in FIG. 3 of the drawings is merely a schematic depiction of the best known manner in which the piston  37  may be advanced within the cylinder  42 . FIG. 3 may not represent the most efficient way in which to obtain the desired effect. 
     The section of FIG. 5 through a portion of the barrel  17  on the gun-like device shows the wall of an internal cylinder  42 . The cylinder  42  is completed by the inside surface  18   a  on the door  18  previously described. An inside diameter  22   a  of the wax distribution tube  22  is also seen in FIG. 5. A seal  43  is provided between the door  18  and adjacent portions of the barrel  17  so that when the door  18  is closed and latched in the closed position, the cylinder formed by the walls  42  and  18   a  will not allow wax contained therein to escape past the door when the piston  37  is advanced within the cylinder. 
     In FIG. 6A, the cylinder formed by the cooperation of the walls  42  and the inner wall  18   a  of the door  18  is shown with the closely fitted piston  37  located therein. As previously described, the piston is advanced in a direction to the right in FIG. 6A by the application of force F on trigger  26  and the ratcheting action of the mechanism described in FIG.  3 . The door hinge  19  and the seal  43  around the door are seen in FIG. 6A, together with the sliding latch  21  that enters a detent  44  when the door  18  is closed to retain the door in a closed position. It may be seen from FIG. 6A that when the door  18  is opened access is provided to the cylinder having the walls  42 . In this fashion, a prepared flat wax patty is inserted within the cylinder  42  ahead of the piston  37 . The wax used to facilitate stemming bone bleeding is beeswax and is prepared and packaged in sterile form. 
     With reference now to FIG. 6B of the drawings, it may be seen that the end of the cylinder formed by the walls  42  nearest the free end of the barrel portion  17  of the gun-like device has an opening  42   a  that is connected to one end of the wax distribution tube  22  and communicates with the inside diameter  22   a  of tube  22 . A wax charge  46  is shown disposed within the cylinder  42  in the front of the piston  37 . The cylinder and piston shapes of FIG. 6B are circular in cross section as opposed to the cross section of the cylinder shown in FIG.  5 . Thus, in this embodiment, the wax charge  46  would be a volume in the shape of a circular cylinder. FIG. 6B is used to describe the outlet end  42   a  connected to the inside of the wax distribution tube  22  because there is more room in FIG. 6B to more clearly describe the interconnection with the tube  22 . Nonetheless, the connection in the embodiment of FIG. 6A is the same as that described for the embodiment of FIG.  6 B. 
     FIG. 7 depicts a section of the embodiment of FIG. 6A in elevation. As may be seen therein, the wax patty  46  is placed within the cylinder formed by the cylinder walls  42  in a position ahead of the piston  37 , so that the wax may be advanced through the inside diameter of the wax distribution tube as the force F advances the piston  37  along the axial length of the cylinder  42 . 
     Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention has been shown and described herein, it will be understood that modification and variation may be made without departing from what is regarded to be the subject matter of the invention.