Patent ID: 8287654

Claim:
An apparatus for clearing surgical tubing, the apparatus comprising: a pair of rollers; and a grip assembly connected to the pair of rollers; wherein the grip assembly is operable to move the rollers to engage the tubing therebetween, the movement of the rollers being limited by the grip assembly such that a minimum tubing gap between the rollers is equal to approximately twice an uncompressed wall thickness of the tubing such that the tubing is closed but the tubing wall is not squeezed to less than the uncompressed wall thickness, the grip assembly being further operable to slide along the tubing with the rollers; and wherein the grip assembly includes first and second shell halves movable between open and closed positions with a channel defined therebetween, and the rollers are mounted in the grip assembly, engagement between the first and second shell halves in the closed position preventing bringing the rollers together to less than the minimum tubing gap.