US1599059A - Surgical needle and method of making the same - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 7 1926. 1,599,059

, H. D. MORTON sunezcn, NEEDLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE sum F iled- Sept. 9, 1925 gvwemtoz cgfm/ m to employ needles having three Such needles are open to the objecformed by such adjacent Patented Sept. '7, 1 926.

UNITED SURGICAL NE DLE AN Application filed September 9, 1925.

The 7 following is a gical needle and methods of making the invention in the form description of a surpreferred by me; but

that various modificabe made without departing from'the spirit of my invention and without exceeding the scope of my claims.

In surgical operations much effort is re quired to force a needle of the usual type through certain tissues, upon some portions'of the body, and tendons; and the pr ncipal ob ect of my such as the skin the scalp invention is to provide a needle having keen cutting edges, permitting it to be more read1- ly passed through su ch tissues than any other type of needle with which I am familiar.

It will be apparent, however, that my invention also possesses utility in otherarts than surgery, where it is necessary to pass a needle through resistant material.

I am aware that it is old in the prior art sides. 7 tion that the angles or more flat sides are so. obtuse as to preclude the possibility of machining th edge. For example,

em to a keen cutting such sides on a triangular needle form angles; and, on a square needle 90 angles. pressure is therefore necessary Nearly as great to force such a needle through certain tissues as is required when needle is employed.'

the ordinary conically-pointed Surgical needles are usually of relatively small diameter; and if if it were attempted to order to produce abrasive wheels would hollow grind them in keen cutting edges, the

necessarily be of lesser diameters than the tapered portion of the needle itself, very delicate and and would therefore be short-livedQ Furthermore, in orderto give the high surface speed req uisite for "properly abrading the metal to form keen cutting edges,

it would be necessary to rotate these smallwheels atan impracticably high rate.

is possible, with facturing methods, to

By my invention, it

simple and practical manuexternally grind the needle to form a plurality of edges so keen that only slight effort is required to cause the needle to readily cut its way through thick and resistant tiss LIBS.

My invention will best be understood by reference to the-accompanying drawings, in

- which I have illustrate d the preferred forms blades approach the n METHOD or MAKING 'rnn SAME.

Serial No. 55,268

of my invention and methods of making the same, and in which Fig.1 shows, partly in section and partly in perspective, a portion of a needle blank with the usual conical point; Fig. 2 is a similar view of a portion of .such blank after there have been formed therein three tapered grooves, starting on the straight portion of the needle somewhat above the tapered portion thereof and terminating close to the point of the blank; Fig. 3 shows, partly in section and partly in perspective, such needle blank with one of the three flutes between the grooves externally ground away to form a blade having a keen cutting edge; and also, inperspective, a portion of. an abrasive wheelwhich may be employed for this external grinding; Fig. 4 shows, partly in section and partly in perspective, the point and three cutting blades of the needle in finished form; Fig. 5 is an elevation of a portion of a complet-' ed needle with a part thereof broken away to show the form of the groove and blades.

- Like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

Referring to the drawings: 1 indicates the body of a needle, which may have formed in its shank end an eye or other thread-carryingnieans (not shown). 2 is the point of the needle, which maybe of any convenient STATES PATENT "OFFICE. I

HARRY n. Mon'ron, or. new YORK, n. Y.

blank, so that a strong central core -ofsub stantially. uniform cross-sectional area extends throughout the grooved portion of the blank; and so that the height from this core of the cutting blades to which the flutes are reduced progressively increases as such straight portion of the needle. P, l and 4 are flutes remaining in the. tapered portion of the blank after the pointing and the forming of the grooves, 3 3 and 3. In the machining of each flute material is preferably so removed from one side thereof as to leave a cutting edge coincident with. the j surface of the blank,

' so that 7 ice I the cutting edges of all the flutes converge toward the needle point at the same angle as that of the original blank. Before the blank is hardened, a portion of the perimeter of each flute may be removed throughout the' length thereof, as by millingor by external rough grinding; or, if in'eferred, this external grinding may be done atone'operatiou after the blank has been hardened, tempered and polished. After the point,- grooves and eye (oi-'otherthread-attaching means)- have been forn'ied in the'needle blank, the blank may behar'dened, tempered'and polished in the usual manner-the extreme point being re-ground', if necessary. The grooves 3", 3" and 3 arepreferably carried beyond the tapered portion of the blank and for a short distance alongthestraight portion thereof, in order to'provide'nieans for so registering and holding the' blank in a fixture (not shown) that the flutes may be brought into contact withan abrasive wheel in the correct position f'orgrinding. The flutesel,4 and P are then successively moved into and maintained in contact with the face of an abrasive wheel 5,-in such a position and for su'clr a time as' to remove suflieient of the reiri'aining' material from the perimeter of each such flute as to reduce it to a blade haviu akecn cuttin ed 'e. In the'grindin h t) t": t)

operationyth'e needle is sosupported'that' the upper edg'e'of thcflute which is toform the cuttingedge and toward which'the grinding is to be done, is parallel to the axisof rotation of the abrasive'wheelz- The contour of the flutes is such as to permit of feeding. the needle at a right angle to't'he axis of rotation of the abrasive wheel and directly against the face thereof so that' the abrasion is cf fected without the necessity of feeding it across such face'thercby producinga muclr keener cutting blade than would otherwise be possible. The grinding thus starts at the widest portion of the tapered flute and, asthe'ne'edle is fed forwardly, the ground surface continues to lengthen until the small end of the'flute is reached. This results in reducing each flute to a radial blade which extendsthe entire length of the'taperedportion of the needle except the extreme point thereof.

It will be obvious that the external grinding which is made possible by my construction permits of the use of an abrasive'wheel of muclr larger diameter than that of the needle. This is a very advantageous featnre', because it is thereby possible to impart a high surface speed to such wheel; with consequent iinpr vement in the cutting qualities of the blades. The cutting edges may, after grinding, be subjected to a strop ping process, such as is wellknown to'those skilled in the art.

VVhat- I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A needlehaving a plurality of tapered blades extending along a core of substantially uniform cross section.

2. A needle having a plurality of tapered blades radiating from a core of substantially uniform cross section.

3; A surgical needle having a point, a body, a plurality of radial cutting blades extending throughout a portion of the distance from said point to said body. and a core of substantially uniform cross section adjacent said blades.

4. A needle having formed therein a plurality of alternate grooves andflutes, the bottom of each such groove being substantially parallel throughout its length to the longitudinal axis of said needle and thesaid flutes formingv cutting blades- 5. A needle havinga conical end,-a plurality of cutting. blades extending along a portion thereof, and a core of substantially uniform' cross section adjacent said blades.

6: A needle having formed in a tapered portion thereof a plurality of alternate grooves and flutes, the bottom of each such groove being substantially parallel throughout its length to the longitudinal axis of:

said needle and the perimeter of eachof said: flutes being externally ground to form; a cutting blade tapering in height toward the pointof such needle.

7. The method of makinganeedle'which consists in formingalternate taperedgrooves and flutes in a blank and producing a cutting: edge on each such fluteby machining metal from the perimeter thereof.

8. The method of making a: needle which consists in forming three or more tapered grooves-in a blank and producing a cutting edge on each of the flutes between said grooves by externally grinding the perimeter thereof:

9. Themethod of making a needle which consists-in conically pointing ablank, grooving' a part of said conical portion to form a plurality of flutes, hardening and tempering said blank and machining metal from the perimeterof eachsuchflute to'redu'ce itto a cutting blade.

10. Tlicmethod of making a cutting needle which consists in forminga pluralityof alternate tapered grooves and flutes in a blank, hardening, tempering and pointing said blank, positioning said blank with an edge of each of said flutes successively parallel to the axis of rotation of an abrasive wheel, and machining metal from the perimeter of each of said flutes by feeding the same at a right angleto the-axisof rotation of said wheel toreduee such flute to a cutting blade.

11:. The'method of making a needle which consists in tapering a portion of a blank. grooving"said tapered portion through a part of its length to produce a plurality of flutes and a core of substantially uniform cross section throughout said grooved portion, and forming a cutting edge on each such flute rimeter thereof. 7 v

12. The method of making a needle which consists in conically pointing a blank, grooving a part of said conical portiontoproby machining metal from the pe-.

r from the perimeter thereof With an abraduce a plurality of flutes and a core of sub stantially uniform cross sectlon throughout sald grooved portion and'forming a cutting edge on each such flute by grinding metal sive .Wheel of substantially greater diameter than the diameter of said blank.

HARRY D. MORTON.

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