Patent ID: 7220267

Claim:
A surgical needle holder comprising: an electrically-insulated housing, an insulated electrically-conducting support body within the housing for mounting a surgical needle, and an actuating mechanism for the support body including an operating knob on the housing moveable by an operator from a first position to cause the mechanism to move the support body and withdraw the surgical needle within the housing, and a second position to move the needle to an operating position external to the housing, and means biasing the actuating mechanism to said first position so that when the operator releases the operating knob the needle is automatically withdrawn within the housing of the needle holder, wherein the actuating mechanism is in the form of a moveable plunger carrying the surgical needle and mounted within the holder, and spring means acting to bias the plunger when under tension as the plunger is moved to the forword position, thereby constraining the plunger to return the needle to the withdrawn position when the tensioning force is removed upon release of the operating knob.