GB2132162A

GB2132162A - A suture pack

Info

Publication number: GB2132162A
Application number: GB08330438A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hermann Riesenberger; Horst Schwable
Original assignee: Intermedicat GmbH
Current assignee: Intermedicat GmbH
Priority date: 1982-12-14
Filing date: 1983-11-15
Publication date: 1984-07-04
Also published as: ES284910Y; JPS59120145A; DE3246162C1; FI833844A; BR8306543A; GB2132162B; GR78951B; EP0115580B1; EP0115580A2; EP0115580A3; GB8330438D0; ES284910U; ATE28556T1; DE3372698D1; FI72426C; FI72426B; FI833844A0; MY8700171A; JPS617817B2

Abstract

A suture pack comprises a first film portion (10) with a trough-like depression (11) in which a folded card (12), holding most of the or each suture, is accommodated. The depression (11) is covered by a second film portion (13) which is sealed to the first film portion (10). The pack is opened by pulling apart two tear-open tabs (14, 15) to tear the second film portion (13). A tab (33) which consists of a part punched out from the upper side of the folded card (12), is fixed to that end of the tear-off region of the second film portion (13) which is remote from the tear-off tabs (14, 15), so as to stand up at the end of the tearing movement. The or each suture (38) contained in the folded card (12) is fixed to tab (33) for gripping by the fingers. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A pack for surgical sewing material The present invention relates to a pack for surgical sewing material comprising a sealed container defined by a trough-like first film portion and a second film portion which closes the first film portion along overlapping peripheral regions to form a tear-open cover; tear-open tabs provided on the film portions and, a folded member which holds most of the surgical sewing material and is arranged in the container. The folded member comprises a tab joined firmly to the second film portion having a slot for securing a length of the sewing material projecting from the folded card.

One known pack of this type (German Patent No. 3,032,037) comprises a container which consists of two film portions welded to one another and which contains a folded card as the sewing material holder. The sewing material in the form of a thread is arranged inside the folded card and projects from an opening in the folded card. The free end of the thread is secured in a slot of a tab which projects outwards from the bottom wall of the folded card and which comprises several transversely extending fold lines. The end of the tab is joined to the second film portion forming the cover. If the cover is torn open, the folded tab stands upright, whereas the folded card remains in the trough formed by the first film portion. The end of the thread secured in a slot of the tab or the needle fastened to the end of the thread may be gripped to withdraw the thread in its entire length from the folded card. The known pack requires additional material and relatively complicated folding for the tab integral with the folded card. In the folded position, the tab covers part of the folded card. The tab has to be additionally secured to the folded card and covers the printing thereon which is not completely visible on the side in question through the second film portion. In addition, the thickness of the pack consisting of the folded card and the folded tab is considerably increased in the region of the tab compared with elsewhere.

An object of the present invention is to provide a pack for surgical sewing material in which the tab for fixing and presenting an end of the thread is not undesirably increased in thickness and does not overlap inside the container.

According to the invention, there is provided a pack for surgical sewing material comprising a sealed container comprising a first film portion defining a trough and a second film portion which closes the first film portion along overlapping peripheral regions to form a tear-open cover; tear-open tabs provided on the film portions and, a folded member which is arranged in the container and which holds most of the surgical sewing material contained, which member comprises a tab attached to the second film portion and having a slot for securing a length of the sewing material projecting from the folded member, wherein said tab is not folded and consists of a punched-out portion of that side of the folded member which is exposed after the second film portion has been torn open.

In the pack according to the invention, the tab to which the end of the thread is to be gripped is secured consists of a part punched out from the upper side of the folded member. When the second film portion is torn open, the tab is raised from the upper side of the folded member, taking the end of the thread with it. The end of the thread may then be taken up from the free-standing tab. Thus, in the packed state, the tab fits into a correspondingly shaped opening in the upper side of the folded member. If the upper side of the folded member is printed with wording which is visible through the transparent, first film portion, this wording may also extend over the tab which, in this state, does not of course form part of the upper side of the folded member.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the tab is connected by narrow tear-off webs to the upper side of the folded member.

These webs are preferably arranged on that edge of the folded member, remote from the tear-open tabs of the pack. When the second film portion is torn open, the webs joining the tab to the upper side of the folded member are also torn off. The tab is then only secured to the opened cover, from the base of which it projects, so that the end of the thread can be gripped on both sides of the tab. The tab may also be torn off at the same time. Since a pack containing surgical sewing material is generally opened using rubber gloves which do not provide for precise, sensitive handling, it is important for the tab, to which the end of the thread is fixed and which consists of for example, a piece of single-ply cardboard, to be able to be gripped from both sides between the thumb and index finder to ensure that the end of the thread arrives safely in the hand. The torn off tab forms a holder for the thread. In the case of multiple-thread packs, all the threads are secured to this tab so that, in the operating theatre, the pack can be thrown away after the tab has been torn off.

These threads may be individually withdrawn as required from the tab in the slot(s) of which the threads are secured. This eliminates the need for the additional holders normally en countered in multiple-thread packs which are removed from the pack together with the threads.

In one advantageous embodiment of the invention, the upper side of the folded mem ber projects freely at the edge remote from the tear-open tabs and the projecting part extends over the depression of the trough formed by the first film portion and is joined to the second film portion substantially only in the region of the tab. In this way, the projecting edge of the folded member is held fast between the two film portions so that the entire folded member is fixed in the container and is unable to move, particularly during the tearing movement. In the region of the projecting edge, the folded member is joined firmly to the second film portion of the container in the region of the tab, by for example, welding or bonding. It is this joint at the foot of the tab which ensures that the tab stands upright when the container is torn open. The tab is preferably at least semicircular in shape and arranged midway along the folded member.

Beneath its upper side, the folded member may comprise an intermediate wall which forms the upper boundary to a space for accommodating the thread and which comprises an opening located beneath the tab, for the passage of the sewing material secured to the tab. Accordingly, the actual space for accommodating the sewing material is not delimited by the upper side of the folding card, but instead by the intermediate wall. It is only after the tab has moved into its upright position that the opening in the intermediate wall, through which the sewing material is withdrawn from its storage space, is exposed.

Over this opening in the intermediate wall, the tab comprises another opening or slot for passing through and securing the sewing material.

When the tab has moved into its upright position, the thread is drawn at the point of exit from the storage space towards that narrow side of the folded member from which the tab is been removed. To prevent the folded member from being torn open at that point and to avoid excessive friction on the thread, the opening in the intermediate wall advanteously extends into the adjacent narrow side of the folding card. It is from that region of the opening situated in the narrow side that the sewing material is ultimately withdrawn.

The tab comprises at least one punched-out tongue, the edge of which terminates in an edge of the tab. Accordingly, this tongue forms an arcuate slot into which the thread can be inserted and held fast.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the tab is fixed to the second film portion by two legs separated from one another by an opening. The outer ends of the legs are adjoined by the thin tear-off webs at which the tab is joined to the upper side of the folded member. By virtue of the opening between.

the legs, the tab can be torn off easily and precisely from the second film portion. The opening is also used for passing through the length of thread fastened to the tab and for inserting this length of thread into a slot which extends from the opening. At least two tongues are preferably provided on the tab, of which one has an edge terminating in the opening and hence forms a corresponding slot.

The pack may be used for surgical sewing material consisting of a single thread or even for sewing material consisting of several separate threads. Where several threads are provided, they are secured adjacent one another at equal intervals to the slots in the tab.

Although the end of the thread may be secured to the tab, it is also possible, in cases where threads having a needle at their ends are used, to insert these needles into slots in the upper side of the folded member, these slots lying outside the region of the tab. In this case, the thread is best guided outwards from inside the folded member through slots provided in the tab, although the end of the thread (or the needle) is not directly fastened to the tab. In this case, too, the tab stands upright when the pack is torn open, so that the thread is drawn over the edge of the tab and, in this way, can likewise easily be taken up with fingers or by a needle holder in order to remove the needles fixed to it from the folded member.

The tab is best preceded and followed, longitudinally of the folded member, by a slot for the insertion of a needle. In this connection, it is possible, where there are two threads each attached to a needle, for the needles to be secured at a wide interval from one another in the slots in the folded member so that each thread may be separately gripped without the other thread being taken up at the same time. If the sewing material consists of a single thread with a needle at each end, one of the needles may be secured in each of the slots.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a pack in its closed position; Figure 2 is a cross-section through the pack of Fig. 1; Figure 3 shows how the pack is torn open by pulling the film portions apart at the tearopen tabs; Figure 4 shows the pack in its open position after it has been torn open; Figure 5 is a perspective view of a blank of a member of the pack in its initial state, i.e.

unfolded; Figure 6 is a perspective view of this blank during folding; Figure 7 is an elevation of the blank in its folded position; Figure 8 is an exploded view of the component parts of the pack; Figure 9 shows the folding card with sev eral threads accommodated therein; Figure 10 is a view similar to that of Fig. 9, but showing a single thread having a curved needle at its end, and Figure 11 is a view similar to Figs. 9 and 10, but showing two threads each having a curved needle at its end, and with one thread having a curved needle at each end.

The embodiment of a pack illustrated consists of a first film portion 10 of a substantially rigid film which is formed in such a way that a trough-like depression 11 is produced therein for accommodating a folded card 12, and of a second film portion 1 3 which covers the trough 11 and which is welded to the edges surrounding the trough 11 of the first film portion 10. The pack is substantially rectangular in shape, the second film portion 1 3 forming a flat cover for the trough 11 formed in the first film portion 10. Adjoining one longitudinal edge of the pack, both film portions 11, 1 3 have laterally projecting tearopen tabs 14, 1 5 which match one another and, as shown in Fig. 1, are folded around the second film portion 1 3. In order to define the tear-open tabs 14, 1 5 better, the tearopen tab 1 5 is approximately 2 mm wider than the tear-open tab 14. At the bases at which the side edges of the tear-open tabs 14, 1 5 merge with the edge 16, there are short incisions 1 7 into the consistuent materials of both films portions. The effect of the incisions 1 7 is that, when the tear-open tabs 14, 1 5 are pulled apart, as shown in Fig. 4, the second film portion 1 3 tears open along two tear lines 1 8 which run substantially parallel to the narrow sides of the pack, so that film strips of the second film portion 1 3 are left over the trough 11 and hold down in the trough 11, those regions of the folding card 1 2 adjacent its narrow sides, even after the pack has been opened, so that the folding card is retained in the trough 11 between the film portions 10, 13.

The blank of the folded card 1 2 is shown in Fig. 5. The folded card 1 2 consists of for example, paper or of plastics-coated paper or entirely of plastics material and comprises a bottom wall 19, an intermediate wall 20 and an upper side 21. The bottom wall 19 is rectangular in shape and, along its longitudinal sides, is connected both to the intermediate wall 20 and to the upper side 21 through two pairs of parallel fold lines 22 which respectively define flat narrow sides 23 and 24. From each transverse side of the bottom wall 19, a folding tab 26 projects beyond another narrow side 25.

When the blank is folded, the narrow sides 23, 24 and 25 are folded upwards from the bottom wall 1 9 so that they form the side walls of the final, box-like folded card 1 2 which is shown in Fig. 7. The intermediate wall 20 is then folded over, the folding tabs 26 are folded over the intermediate wall 20 and the upper side 21 is folded over the folding tabs 26 and the intermediate wall 20 from the opposite side. Punched-out tongues 27 stand out from the intermediate wall 20, projecting beyond the adjoining folding line 22, so that they are not folded over. These tongues 27 are pushed through corresponding slots 28 in the upper side 21 to hold the folded card 1 2 in its closed position. Alternatively, it would also be possible to bond or, in the case of a plastics material, to weld the upper side 21 to the intermediate wall 20.

The sewing material is introduced into the space enclosed by the folded card with the folded card in the position shown in Fig. 6, i.e. before closing. The end of the sewing material is passed through an opening 29 in the intermediate wall 20. The opening 29 comprises an extension 30 which extends into the narrow side 23.

As shown in Fig. 7, the upper side 21 is wider than the bottom wall 1 9 and the intermediate wall 20 so that the free end of the upper side 21 forms a free projecting edge 31 extending over the entire length of the folded card 1 2. A substantially semicircular slit 32 is provided midway along the upper side 21.

The ends of this slit 32 are separated by narrow webs 32 from the free longitudinal side of the edge 31. Accordingly, the tab 33 extends from the edge 31 into the interior of the upper side 21 and lies in one plane with the remaining material of the upper side 21.

On the edge 31 and the tab 33, a rectangular opening 35 is situated above the extension 30 of the opening 29.

The tab 33 comprises two punched-out tongues 36, 37. The edge of the tongue 36 freely extends into the slit 32 whilst the edge of the tongue 37 freely extends into the opening 35. The tongues 36 and 37 are used for holding the end of the sewing material.

This is shown in Fig. 8. The sewing material, in the form of a thread 38, projects through the opening 29 in the intermediate wall 20 and is clamped in the slot between the tongue 37 and the tab 33. The sewing material is introduced into the slot from the opening 35.

The thread 38 is then inserted into and held fast in the slot formed between the tongue 36 and the tab 33. The folded card 1 2 is introduced into the trough 11 of the first film portion 10 in such a way that the projecting edge 31 of the folded card 12 is remote from the tear-open tab 1 4. The dimensions of the trough 11 are such that the folded card 1 2 just fits into it, a shoulder 43 being providd on the first film portion 10 for supporting the edge 31. Thereafter, the second film portion 1 3 is placed over the first film portion 10 and the two film portions 10 and 1 3 are bonded or welded along their edges. The joining zones are shown in chain lines in Fig. 8 on the second film portion 1 3. The legs of the tab 33 separated by the opening 35 are joined to the second film portion by two connecting zones 39 which extend inwards from the edge of the second film portion 1 3.

These connecting zones 39 project beyond the webs 34 towards the longitudinal centre line of the folded card.

If, for tearing open the pack, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the freely projecting tear-open tabs 14 and 1 5 which are not joined to one another, are pulled apart, the second film portion 1 3 tears along the tear lines 18, thereby exposing the upper side of the folded card 12, except for the end peripheral regions. When the tear lines 1 8 have reached the opposite edge, i.e. when the edge 31 of the folded card is exposed, the webs 34 tear because the legs of the tab 33 adhere at their bases to the torn-off part 13' of the second film portion. As a result, the tab 33 stands upright, as shown in Fig. 4, and presents the end of the sewing material 38 fastened to its tongues 36 and 37 for removal by the user.

The movement of the tab 33 into its upright position releases an opening corresponding to the tab in the upper side 21 which in turn exposes a corresponding area of the intermediate wall 20. It is in this exposed area that the opening 29 is situated. The point at which the sewing material 38 passes through shifts from the opening 29 into the extension 30.

Figs. 9 to 11 show different variants of the arrangement of sewing material in and on the folded card 12, the tab 33 being shown in that position which it assumes after opening of the pack. In the interests of clarity, the two film portions 10 and 1 3 have not been shown.

In the embodiment shown by way of example in Fig. 9, the sewing material 38 consists of numerous parallel threads of which the ends are secured between the tongues 36 and 37 of the tab 33. When the folded card 1 2 is in its closed position, these threads extend through the opening 29 and are inserted from the side of the opening 35 into the slot bordering the tongue 37, so that they pass through this slot onto the upper side to the tab 33, from where they are drawn into the slit bordering the tongue 36. Between the two tongues 37 and 36, the sewing material extends on the upper side of the tab 33 so that it is visible through the transparent, second film portion 1 3. After the pack has been torn open, the individual threads of the sewing material 38 may be individually taken up and withdrawn from the folded card 1 2. It is also possible for the tab 33, which in the position shown in Fig. 9 adheres only to the second film portion 1 3 (not shown), to be completely torn off from this second film portion in order to withdraw all the sewing material, to use the tab 33 as a holder for the sewing material and to discard the pack. Data, symbols, colour codes or the link information may be applied to the tab 33 for identifying the sewing material fastened to it.

Fig. 10 shows a variant in which the sewing material consists of a single thread to the end of which a needle 40 is attached. The sewing material 38 is guided out from inside the folded card in the same way as in Fig. 9, but in this case the thread-after passing through the slot of the tongue 37-is not guided below the tongue 36, but instead is inserted with its needle 40 into a slot 41 formed in the upper side 21 of the folded card. When the pack is torn open, the tab 33 stands upright in this case, too. The sewing material 38 which extends beyond the edge of the tab 33 is also raised and may thus readily be taken up.

In the variant shown in Fig. 11, another slot 42 in addition to the slot 41 in the upper side 21, is used for securing a second needle 40. In this case, the folding card 1 2 is used to accommodate two separate threads each having a needle 40. One of the threads is guided through the slot of the tongue 36 whilst the other is guided through the slot of the tongue 37. Both threads extend transversely beyond the edge of the tab 33 so that they may be individually taken up when those tabs stand upright. To make the threads easier to grip, the slots 41 and 42 are situated in different halves of of the upper side 21 so that they are separated by wide intervals and the two threads do not cross one another after they have left the folded card.

Instead of the two threads, it is also possible in the manner described to secure a single thread with two needles attached to its ends.

Claims

1. A pack for surgical sewing material comprising a sealed container comprising a first film portion defining a trough and a second film portion which closes the first film portion along overlapping peripheral regions to form a tear-open cover; tear-open tabs provided on the film portions and, a folded member which is arranged in the container and which holds most of the surgical sewing material contained, which member comprises a tab attached to the second film portion and having a slot for securing a length of the sewing material projecting from the folded member, wherein said tab is not folded and consists of a punched-out portion of that side of the folded member which is exposed after the second film portion has been torn open.

2. A pack as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the tab of the folded member is connected by narrow tear-off webs to said side of the folded member.

3. A pack as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the webs are arranged on that edge of the folded member remote from the tear-open tabs.

4. A pack as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein said side of the folded mem ber projects freely at an edge remote from the tear open tabs and the projecting part extends over the trough depression of the first film portion and is attached to the second film portion substantially only in the region of the tab of the folded member.

5. A pack as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the tab of the folded member is at least substantially semicircular and is situated midway along the folded member.

6. A pack as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein beneath said side of the folded member, said member comprises an intermediate wall which forms the upper boundary to a space for accommodating the sewing material and which comprises an opening located beneath the tab of the folded member for the passage of the sewing material secured to this tab.

7. A pack as claimed in Claim 6, whereinthe opening extends into an adjacent narrow side portion of the folded member.

8. A pack as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the tab of the folded member has at least one punched-out tongue the edge of which terminates in an edge of this tab.

9. A pack as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 8, wherein the tab of the folded member is fixed to the second film portion by two legs separated from one another by an opening.

10. A pack as claimed in Claim 9, wherein at least two tongues are provided, one of which comprises an edge terminating in the opening between said legs.

11. A pack as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 10, wherein in the longitudinal direction of the folded member, the tab of the folded member is preceded and followed by a slot for insertion of a needle.

1 2. A pack as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 11, wherein the folded member is box-like with flat narrow sides.

1 3. A pack for surgical sewing material substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 8 with or without reference to any of Figs. 9 to 11 of the accompanying drawings.