Patent Application
20170079518
The present disclosure is directed toward metal laryngoscope blades.
Metal laryngoscope blades include a metal laryngoscope spatula with a brazed metal tip typically made of stainless steel and brazed using silver or similar inert metals. Brazing is a relatively cumbersome and time consuming manufacturing process. Moreover, brazing can lead to the formation of cavities at a metal tip which trap water leading to corrosion. Moreover, brazed metal tips can injure soft tissues particularly during a difficult intubation or an emergency intubation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,248 to Gobels entitled Laryngoscope discloses a spatula including an insert of elastic material, for example, rubber, plastic, or the like, for elastic reception of a patient's teeth when the spatula rests against the teeth upon use of the laryngoscope.
The present disclosure is directed towards metal laryngoscope blades having a non-metal safety tip as opposed to a conventional brazed metal tip. The non-metal safety tip can be formed from a wide range of non-metal materials including inter alia silicon, plastic, rubber, polymer, for example, polyurethane (PU), and the like. The non-metal safety tips can be mounted on a laryngoscope spatula by means of conventional manufacturing processes including inter alia overmolding, gluing, ultrasonic welding, interference fit mounting, and the like. The non-metal safety tips reduce injuries to soft tissues and facilitate less traumatic intubations compared to brazed metal tips. The non-metal safety tips can be color coded for facilitating visual distinction between different sizes of laryngoscope blades.
Laryngoscope blades with a non-metal safety tip of the present invention can be so-called Macintosh blades with a curved spatula, English style Macintosh blades, Miller blades with a straight spatula, and the like. Laryngoscope blades including a non-metal safety tip of the present invention can be constituted as a discrete metal laryngoscope blade intended for detachable mounting on a discrete laryngoscope handle. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,736,304 entitled Metal Laryngoscope Blade discloses such laryngoscope blades. Alternatively, metal laryngoscope blades with a non- metal safety tip of the present invention can be constituted as a single complete laryngoscope including a laryngoscope handle and an integral non-detachable laryngoscope blade. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,909,759 entitled Handheld Penknife-Like Laryngoscope discloses such laryngoscopes.
In order to understand the presently disclosed subject matter and to see how it may be carried out in practice, a preferred embodiment will now be described, by way of a non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The dual component laryngoscope 10 includes a conventional illumination arrangement 22 for providing illumination at the distal end 17 in the operative generally L-shaped configuration. Conventional illumination arrangements 22 include either a blade mounted illumination source or a handle mounted illumination source and a fiber optic light guide for transmitting illumination light from the handle mounted illumination source to the distal end 17. The distal end 17 terminates in a brazed metal tip 23. The metal laryngoscope blade 12 can be optionally formed with a teeth protector as described hereinabove with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,248 to Gobels.
The distal end 33 has a leading safety tip contact zone 36 having a front edge 37 and opposite leading side edges 38 meeting the front edge 37 at leading corners 39. The safety tip contact zone 36 is formed with one or more throughgoing bores 41 extending between the top surface 19 and the bottom surface 21. The non-metal safety tip 34 extends through the one or more throughgoing bores 41 for mechanically securing same on the safety tip contact zone 36. The safety tip contact zone 36 has a length L1 of at least 4 mm from the front edge 37 along the longitudinal centerline 14 to an imaginary line 42 trailing behind the one or more throughgoing bores 41.
The non-metal safety tip 34 can be mounted on the metal laryngoscope spatula 32 by means of conventional manufacturing processes including inter alia overmolding, gluing, ultrasonic welding, interference fit mounting, and the like. The non-metal safety tip 34 entirely embeds the safety tip contact zone 36 therein to afford wraparound protection during an intubation to prevent soft tissues injuries in contradistinction to the use of brazed metal tips 23.
Non-metal safety tips 34 are preferably color coded for indicating the size of a metal laryngoscope blade 31. Non-metal safety tips 34 are typically proportional in size to the size of a metal laryngoscope blade 21 in terms of their width W, length L2 where L2>L1 and height H. Exemplary Small, Medium and Large sizes of non-metal safety tips 34 have the following exemplary dimensions:
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications, and other applications of the invention can be made within the scope of the appended claims.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IL2015/050177 | 2/17/2015 | WO | 00 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61951303 | Mar 2014 | US |
