US2798602A - Container combination - Google Patents

Description

July 9, 1957 c. T. RIALL CONTAINER COMBINATION vFiled March 19, 1956 INVENTOR. CHARLES 7.' RMLL,

l l', 4 /f f ATTORNEY 2,798,602 Patented July 9, 1957 CONTAINER COMBINATION Charles T. Riall, Danbury, Coun., assignor to American Cyanamid Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Maine Application March 19, 1956, Serial No. 572,312 Claims. (Cl. 206--63.3)

This invention relates to a combination of a container and a plurality of running lengths of sutures or ligatures, the container being provided with suitable marking indicia permitting the measuring of any desired length of suture.

Generally, sutures come packaged in several conventional types. ln one of these, a continuous length of the suture is wound on a spool or reel. When a length of the suture is required, it isunwound from the spool and cut. While this type of package is designed to provide a long length of the strand, the strand will invariably be difficult to handle because of curling when it is taken from the spool or reel. Quite often there is some degree of kinking. Another disadvantage of this type of package is that the length of strand desired is, at best, an approximation.

Another conventional type of suture package is that which contains precut sutures of the same length. This type of package has obvious disadvantages in that no provision is made for obtaining a suture of a longer length.

The present invention obviates the disadvantages of the prior methods of packaging sutures. It provides an elongated container which may be, for example, a flattened paper tube of much greater length than the normal length of sutures desired. Within this tube or container a plurality of sutures run substantially parallel to each other and are kept in such parallel relation and, which is at least as important, are kept from being lcaught in the edges of the flattened tube or container. This latter feature is of vital importance because the normal way of making a flattened tube is of folded paper in which the sutures are placed and the open edges then glued or fastened together. If the sutures are not held at all times in a substantially parallel group out of contact with the edges of a liattened tube, one or more sutures can be caught either in the narrow folded edge or, what is still worse, in the adhesive which fastens the open edges. Such an occurrence destroys immediately the usefulness of the container because, when it is fcut to a suitable length, it is not possible to withdraw the suture or sutures caught in the flattened edges without excessive force, and so it is not possible to withdraw one by one all of the sutures in the form of single, uncurled and unkinked lengths.

The container in the form of the flattened tube is marked with suitable indicia so that it may be cut to predetermined lengths and sutures of any desirable predetermined length made available individually.

The present invention, which is limited to a container package containing sutures or ligatures, should not be confused with other types of containers which have been used, for example in the packaging of explosives, sausages, yarn and the like, where either the tube is circular and not flattened or is filled with material such as explosive, which can be in contact with the whole of the inside surface of the ilattened tube and which presents no problern of removing individual strands of sutures which may be caught in the iiatten'ed edges of a container. Some such elongated containers have been marked with indicia permitting the cuting off of predetermined lengths. They do not, however, present the problem which is presented with sutures which must be kept parallel, or substantially parallel, and which must be maintained in spaced relation from the outer edges of thehtlattened container.

The concept of individual sutures maintained parallel requires some explanation and limitation. In a long container which may be 50 or 100 feet long, it is not necessary that the individual sutures be exactly parallel throughy It is only necessary the full length of the total container. that they be kept parallel in any short portion thereof and, in fact, one of the best ways of keeping the sutures spaced from the iattened outer edges of the container is to give a twist to the parallel sutures every foot or so. Thus, any tendency for an individual suture to spring out to the edges is opposed. v p

The long, flattened container of the present invention is preferably packaged in such a manner that it can be withdrawn. For example it may be coiled in a coil in a box and pulled out through a slot, or it may be folded` in accordion pleats in a box, or any other means may be employed for the dispensing of the container in any length which is desired.

The invention will be described in greater detail in the i drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View, partially cut away, of the preferred form of the invention; i

Fig. 2 is a similar view of an alternative form of the invention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged line A-A of Fig. l; and,

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of an alternative construction of the container and its` enclosed strands.

Fig. l of the drawings shows a receptacle 1 in which a coil 10 of a fiat tubular container is placed, the container passing out through the dispensing slot 2. The container itself as shown in Fig. 3 is formed of two strips 4 of material such as paper glued at each edge. Before gluing, there is placed in the container a plurality of sutures shown at 8 which are assembled in substantially parallel lengths and, particularly as shown in Fig. 3, the individual suture strands are not only maintained parallel to each other but are also well-spaced from the two flattened edges of the container, which are shown fastened together with adhesive 5. The spacing from the flattened edges is suiliciently great so that there is no danger of any strand accidentally catching in the attened edges or coming in contact with the adhesive.

Along the length of the container 3 there are printed length marks or similar indicia at regularly spaced intervals shown at 9. Other printed material which designates the name of the manufacturer, type of material, gauge of the suture and the like is shown on the container, and the labels themselves may be used as measuring indicia. In the case of Figs. 1 and 3, they are 3 inches in length as shown at 12 with intermediate markings at 1 and 2 inches.

Figs. 2 and 4 show a slightly modified suture package in which the container (Fig. 4) is formed of a single strip of paper 6 folded at 7 and joined at only one of the longitudinal edges by adhesive 5 in the same manner as the two edges of the container in Fig. 3. Instead of a coil of container in the receptacle, it is shown as folded at 11 in Fig. 2 and is dispensed by pulling out at the top as illustrated. Fig. 2 also illustrates a typical method of insuring the substantial parallelism of the suture strands and their maintenance well-spaced from the flattened edges of the container. In the portion of the container suture package embodying the sectional view taken along the l length'of'container, say 18- inches.

shown broken away in Fig. 2, there is illustrated at 13 a twist of the parallel strands of sutures. Such a twist occurs at suitable predetermined intervals and maintains sufficient, pull on the outer sutures to prevent their springing out and sticking in the Frat-tened edges'.

Inq order tofillfust-rate various modifications ofY the invention in a minimum number of drawings, Fig. 1 shows the two-strip container in coil form, whereas Fig. 2 shows a folded single-strip container in a folder form. Obviously, ofcourse,eit-her type of container construction can be placed in the receptacle in either coil or folded form. v

I-i1 use lthe surgeon withdraws a suitable predetermined A The container isthen cutwit-h scissors arid holds the strands of sutures in such form that they may be withdrawn individually without kinking, curling or pulling out their neighbors. Particularl-yfthere. is'no possibility of sticking of a suture by becoming-wedged'or stuck in the attened edges of the container.

The container has been illustrated' as made up ofY paper, and lfory many purposes Ythis is the preferred material as it can be used with sutures that are to be dry-heat sterilized, it takes printing readily and it is cheap. However, the invention is ofcourse not limited to a suture package in which the container made ofpaper, and any other suitable film or fabric may be used, such as regenerated cellulose film, commonly 'sold as -Cellophane, cloth or plastics. Of course, where the sutures are to be sterile, the material of which` they container is made must be capable of withstanding the sterilizing operation.,

It will be noted from the drawings that the iiattened tubiular container usedy in the present invention is relatively narrow, that is to say its transverse dimension is orders of magnitude less than its total length. Also the sutures are only held by the slight pressure of the tiattened tubular container and are not threaded through numerous holes or otherrestrictions so that after a portion ofthe.

container has been cut at a predetermined length, individual s uture strands can be simply and rapidly removed 4 without the use of force. This is of vital importance because in the hospital operating room where normally sterile conditions. are vital',` sutures must be rapidly and individually withdrawable. This result is achieved in the present invention by the combination of features described above.

In the drawings the flattened tubular container is shown as made of paper or similar material fastened at one or both edges with adhesives. Materials of this type are preferably fastened in such` a, manner but where plastics are used, which are either heat-scalable or pressure-sealable, the edge or edges to be sealedv may be formed either by heat 0r by pressure or both:v

The present invention is in part a continuation of my copending application Serial No. 344,921, filed March 27, 1953, now abandoned.

I claim:

1. A suture package comprising` in combination a relatively narrow elongated attened tubular container, a plurality of running lengths of suture strands therein, said strands lying loose andA substantially parallel and spaced from the edges of' the iiattened container, the container having imprintedA thereon indicia indicating predetermined lengths whereby a series ofsuture strands of predetermined length can be obtained by cutting the` container at said length andY said suture strands are individually removab'lefrom said cut length.

2-. A suture package according to claim l in which the elongated tubular container is f ormed of two separate strips of material fastened' at the edges with adhesive.

3. A package according to claim 2 in which the container is formed ofjpaper. i

4. A suture package according toy claim 1 in which the elongated tubular container formed of a single, longitn dinally folded strip of material, the free edges of which are fastened by adhesive.

5. A package according to claim 4 in which the container is formed ofjpaper. v

References Cited in the file ofj this patent- UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,938,921) Marschall 1 Sept. 17, 1912 1,740,476, Qytschinni-koi:1 -n Dec. 24, 1929 2,671,556, Caraway n Mar'. 9, 1954

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