GB2237202A

GB2237202A - Vaginal speculum

Info

Publication number: GB2237202A
Application number: GB8922749A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Regina Ray-Jean Chen
Original assignee: CHEN REGINA RAY JEAN
Current assignee: CHEN REGINA RAY JEAN
Priority date: 1989-10-10
Filing date: 1989-10-10
Publication date: 1991-05-01
Also published as: DE8912200U1; GB8922749D0

Abstract

A disposable vaginal speculum comprising an upper blade element (11), a lower blade element (21) and articulated by slots (112) receiving pins (211) to provide sliding and pivoting adjustment of the blade elements. Handle portions (12) and (22) respectively have a slot and a protruding wing (3) moving within the slot and gripped by arms (121) lying either side of the slot. Wing (3) has a plurality of slideway paths containing ramp formations (34) to locate a protrusion (122) on one arm (121) to set the speculum in a desired position. <IMAGE>

Description

VAGINAL SPECULUM The present invention relates to a vaginal speculum, which may be disposable, having pivoted and slidable means so as to widely open and be fixed at a particular position. Such a speculum may be made from resilient material such as plastics, thus, greatly reducing the cost of manufacturing so that it may be regarded as disposable.

A conventional vaginal speculum (as shown in Figure 7) employs a screw fastener to adjust and maintain the wide open position of the upper and lower blade elements. However, the adjusting procedure of the speculum causes much inconvenience for an operator.

Further, the speculum includes a great number of elements so that the manufacturing cost is too high for this to be a disposable device. Ideally, a vaginal speculum should be: (1) easy to adjust; (2) disposable; and (3) low in manufacturing cost.

The present invention provides a vaginal speculum comprising an upper portion having an upper blade element connected to a handle portion extending substantially perpendicular to the upper blade element, a lower portion having a lower blade element connected to a handle portion extending substantially perpendicular to the lower blade element, said upper and lower portions being articulated together to permit sliding and pivoting movement with respect to one another, and position setting means provided on said handle portions comprising on one said handle portion at least one pathway provided with a series of locating formations along said pathway and locating means on the other said handle portion adapted to slide along said pathway or pathways and to locate against a selected one or selected ones of said locating formations under the users control to set the position of said blade elements.

The position setting means may comprise a plurality of parallel pathways each containing a series of locating formations.

The position setting means may further comprise at least one said pathway running transversely of said parallel pathways and providing an entrance path to each of said parallel pathways.

Movement of said locating means along one of said parallel pathways may effect pivoting movement of said articulation whilst movement of said locating means along said transverse pathway effects sliding movement of said articulation.

Said locating formations are preferably ramp or saw-tooth formations having abutment faces resisting movement of said locating means towards a speculum closed position.

Said pathway or pathways are preferably provided on a protrusion from one handle portion sliding within a slot in the other handle portion.

The locating means on said other handle portion may comprise an opposed pair of resilient arms adapted to pass either side of the location of said pathway or pathways and to bear resiliently against said locating formations.

Said articulation is preferably formed by a pair of opposed arcuate slots in one of said upper and lower.

portions in which slide respective ones of a pair of protrusions on the other of said portions.

Such a vaginal speculum may be made at a very low cost.

The handle permits holding the device without touching the blades which may contaminate the blades.

The adjusting means may permit the operating and adjusting of the blades accurately without any of the parts providing an obstacle to the vision of the operator.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to illustrate these and further features of an embodiment of the present invention, reference will now be directed, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a disposable vaginal speculum according to the invention; Figure 2 is an enlargement of the gripping means of the handle of the lower blade element; Figure 3 is an elevational view showing the closing of the blades with respect to the gripping means; Figure 4 illustrates the position of the gripping means with respect to the lower blade element for opening of the top blade element; Figure 5 illustrates the wide opening of the vaginal speculum; Figures 6 and 6A are partial cross-sectional views showing a protrusion of a gripping element engaged with a saw-tooth structure; and Figure 7 is a perspective view of a conventional vaginal speculum.

Referring to the drawings, in particular to Figure 1, the disposable vaginal speculum comprises an upper blade element 1 and a lower blade element 2.

The upper blade element 1 has a smooth downward curved surface 11 integrally formed with a slidable gripping handle 12 connected with the lateral sides of the upper blade element 1. An arcuate slot 112 is provided on each lateral side of the upper blade element 1. The slidable gripping handle 12 is laterally provided with a pair of gripping elements 22 made from plastics material having good flexibility and extending forward as a pair of opposed arms so as to grip a retention element 3 integrally formed with a handle 22 of a lower blade element 2. The lower blade element 2 is a curved upward trough 21 integrally formed with the handle 22. The combination of the upper blade element 1 and lower blade element 2 forms the speculum.A pair of protrusions 211 are formed at the lateral side of the lower blade element 2 so that each protrusion 211 is within a respective slot 112 of the upper blade element 1 and thus the protrusions 211 are slidable within the slots 112. Retention means 3 is a wing like perpendicular projection on the handle 22 such that a gripping means 121 formed on the slidable gripping handle 12 can grip the retention means 3 and maintain themselves at a fixed position, which in turn permits the elements 1, 2 to open widely freely and accurately.

Referring to Figures 2 and 6, the lateral edge of the retention means 3 is provided with a slidway or pathway 31 so as to allow the sliding of the gripping means into any one of a plurality of parallel pathways between parallel ribs 32 defining pathways transverse to pathway 31 containing saw-tooth like structures 33 to retain the gripping means 121 in a fixed position. The saw-tooth like structures 33 take the form of ramps having abutment faces producing a ratchet-toothed structure resisting closing movement of the blade elements, i.e. the abutment surfaces face the handle 22.

The pathway 31 is also provided with saw-tooth like structure 34 in order to engage with the gripping means 121.

Referring to Figures 3, 4 and 5, when the upper blade element 1 is combined with the lower blade element 2, the protrusion 211 on the lower blade element 2 is slidable within the slot 112 of the upper blade element 1 and the gripping means 121 of the upper blade element 1 grips on to the retention element 3 of the lower blade element 2. A protruded structure 122 on the gripping means 121 first slides into the sliding path 31 of the retention means 3 and then slides on to an appropriate rib 32. This defines the height within the slots at which the projections act as a pivot; the blades can thus be opened to a desired degree. The adjustment of the gripping means 121 and the retention element 3 enables the speculum to open to the desired width.The adjustment for the blades 1, 2 after the positioning of the gripping means 121 and the retention element 3 is restricted by the combination of slots 112 and the protrusions 211.

The gripping means 121 includes rearwardly extending tabs 123, by pinching which the operator may release the grip on the retention element to allow readjustment against the bias direction of the saw-tooth formations.

There has therefore been specifically described a disposable vaginal speculum providing easy adjustment and low cost and overcoming the disadvantages of past designs.

Although we have shown and described this invention in connection with a particular embodiment, alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternativesr modifications, and variations as fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

Claims

1. A vaginal speculum comprising an upper portion having an upper blade element connected to a handle portion extending substantially perpendicular to the upper blade element, a lower portion having a lower blade element connected to a handle portion extending substantially perpendicular to the lower blade element, said upper and lower portions being articulated together to permit sliding and pivoting movement with respect to one another. and position setting means provided on said handle portions comprising on one said handle portion at least one pathway provided with a series of locating formations along said pathway and locating means on the other said handle portion adapted to slide along said pathway or pathways and to locate against a selected one or selected ones of said locating formations under the users control to set the position of said blade elements.

2. A speculum as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the position setting means comprise a plurality of parallel pathways each containing a series of locating formations.

3. A speculum as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the position setting means further comprises at least one said pathway running transversely of said parallel pathways and providing an entrance path to each of said parallel pathways.

4. A speculum as claimed in Claim 3, wherein movement of said locating means along one of said parallel pathways effects pivoting movement of said articulation whilst movement of said locating means along said transverse pathway effects sliding movement of said articulation.

5. A speculum as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said locating formations are ramp formations having abutment faces resisting movement of said locating means towards a speculum closed position.

6. A speculum as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said pathway or pathways are provided on a protrusion from one handle portion sliding within a slot in the other handle portion.

7. A speculum as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the locating means on said other handle portion comprise an opposed pair of resilient arms adapted to pass either side of the location of said pathway or pathways and to bear resiliently against said locating formations.

8. A speculum as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said articulation is formed by a pair of opposed arcuate slots in one of said upper and lower portions in which side respective ones of a pair of protrusions on the other of said portions.

9. A speculum substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 6A of the accompanying drawings.

10. A disposable vaginal speculum comprising: (a) an upper blade element and a gripping handle substantially perpendicular to the upper blade element, an opening being formed at the top of said gripping handle, a pair of arch-shaped slot being formed at the lateral side of said blade and a pair of gripping members having inwardly protruded element being formed on the gripping handle; and (b) a lower blade element having a curved upward integrally formed with a handle substantially perpendicular to said lower blade element being provided with protrusion so as to slide within the slot of said upper blade element, a substantially perpendicular retention means being mounted to said handle for the engagement with the gripping means of the upper blade element, wherein the retention means being provided with sliding path at the edge the thereof so as to permit the protruded element on the gripping means to slide therein and firmly retain by a plurality of saw-like structure provided on the sliding path and the plurality of rib structure.

11. The disposable vaginal speculum as set forth in Claim 10, wherein the saw-like structure is ratchettoothed structure being biased toward the handle.