Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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AIC'UPUNCTURE NEEDLE GUIDE ANI) RE~TR~IN'L'
Field of Invention
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' The field of invention is that of devices for locating areas
in the body of a patient which would benefit from acupuncture therapy,
with a subsequent employment of an acupuncture needle in the area
located, and electrical therapy, if needed.
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Background of Invention
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This invention is related to that disclosed in United States
patent application Serial No. 368, 037, filed on June 7, 1973 and matured
into patent number 3, 859, 983 on January 14, 1975. With a needle
disposed approximately as is illustrated in Fig. 3, and with the lower
end of the guide placed over an area requiring treatment, an operator,
or physician, may tap the end 43 of the needle, as with a finger, to
imbed the needle in the patient's body to a desired depth. The guide
assumbly may then be withdrawn from the needle to leave the needle
in the desired position.
It is desired that the needle be restrained from undesired
movement longitudmally of the tube, and further that adequate electrical
contact be made between the needle and the tube to establish an adequate
` 20 electrical circuit where desired. In prior practice, when the needle
was inserted the tube was removed, and if electrical therapy was desired,
an electrical connection had to be made with the needle. With the pre-
sent device, electrical contact is already available, if desired, when
the needle is applied.
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Summar~ of Invention
This invention resides in employing a tubular needle
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guide to be secured and carried by a handle, and providing
on said needle guide a yieldably resistant restraint to engage
a needle firmly against interior surface of the side wall of
the tubular conductor, to resist undesired movement of the
needle in the tubular guide, and to establish an adequate
electrical contact of the needle with the tubular guide.
Thus, broadly stated, this invention relates to a
guide assembly for an acupuncture needle, including a tubular
guide to receive and guide an acupuncture needle, the tubular -
guide having both ends open, and a yieldably resilient -
restraint carried by the tubular guide, and having a section
extending substantially transversely to cross an open end
thereof to form an opening between the interior surface of
the guide and the section, the section being adapted to -
yieldably engage a needle against the interior surface of -
the guide to frictionally resist undesired movement of
such needle longitudinally of the tubular guide.
This invention is achieved by the construction here-
inafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,
wherein:
Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing in small scale,
and without detail, a hand-held, electrical locating device
connected by a wire to a meter, through which meter the
electrical probe is in circuit with an electrode, preferably
of a bracelet type. -
Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the electrical
locator on a substantially larger scale than Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a partial, sectional, vertical elevational
view of one end portion of said electrical locator.
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Fig. 4 is a top view of a bracelet-type electrode.
Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of said bracelet
electrode taken on line 5--5 of Fig. 4.
Fig. 6 is a horizontal, partial, sectional view of
said electrode taken on line 6--6 of Fig. 5. ;
Fig. 7 is a vertical, sectional view taken on line
7--7 of Fig. 2.
Fig. 8 is a vertical, elevational view of the upper
portion of the tubular guide and needle, showing a modification
of the applied yieldably resistant wire.
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Fig. 9 is a partial plan view taken on line 9--9 of
Fig. 7.
In these views the reference character 1 designates a
manually employable electrode assembly, in circuit with a meter
generally designated as 2, and intended to provide (either through
batteries of by a transformer, not shown) direct electrical current
to be transmitted to and through a patient. The meter is provided
with an off-on switch 3, and a control 4 of a conventional type, to
regulate the flow of current. There is also provided a calibrated dial
5 and the ~sual conventional gauge arm 6. The meter, of course,
would be provided with a means of evaluating a characteristic of
electrical current, preferably resistance, which will change when
current passes through areas of the body which are less conductive
than normal areas, and which evaluation would indicate the possible ;
benefical application of an acupuncture needle.
` The reference character 7 designates an electrode,
desirably of the bracelet type, so that the same need not be grasped i
in the hand of a human patient, because the adequacy of electrical
contact may vary with the variations in the grip of a patient, and
produce misreadings on the rneter.
Referring now to Figs. 2, 3, and 4, which are of a larger
scale than Fig. 1, the reference character 8 designates a handle, of
electrically non-conductive material, and formed at one end portion
thereof with a diametrically transverse hole 9. ~ tubular needle guide
10 is received in said hole 9, and carries at one end a wire restraint
12 having an end portion 12a bent to extend freely and resiliently across
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the upper end of the tubular guide. A hole 11 extends longitudinally
through the needle guide to give it the aforesaid tubular character.
An elongated tubular sleeve 13 is received in a hole 14
elongated in the handle, and preferably concentrically therewith.
~ ~ Said hole intersects the aforesaid hole 9, and the sleeve is adapted- to receive a coil expansion spring 15 which reacts between a metallic
,~ ~ ball 16 and a metallic pin 17, the latter being received diametrically
- ~ through the walls of said sleeve 13. The spring 15 and the ball 16,
pin 17, and the sleeve 13 are all electrically conductive.
To resist withdrawal of the sleeve 13 froln the handle 8,
it is desired to drill and tap a hole in the handle to receive a set
screw 18. To avert the possibility of the set screw conducting elec-
tricity to the hand of an operator of the device, it is desired to fill
the hole 18 with a was filler or some other electrically non-conductive
substance, 19. It is also desireable to form a slot 20 in an end of
the sleeve 13, This affords the use of solder 21 to secure an end
portion of a wire 22 disposed in the end portion of said sleeve 13.
` The wlre shown is of the single strand type, and has insulation 23.
A screw 24 is threadedly received in the end portion
of the handle 8, so that the end of said screw may bear against the
needle guide 10 to positively prevent dislodgment of the needle guide.
It is intended that the needle guide have sliding adjustable travel in
the hole 9, so that the portion protruding beneath the handle may be
adjusted to suit the purposes and convenience of theoperator of the
device, and such sliding adjustment is available upon loosening of
the screw 24 so that it does not engage tightly against the surface of
the guide lP. To maintain the guide in the desired position until the
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~¦ ~ screw can be tightened, is the function of the steel ball 16 and spring
15. As is best seen in Fig. 3, it may be desirable to crimp the end
13a of the sleeve 13 to resist the escàpe oE the ball 16 should the guide
10 be withdrawn, to replace it with either a longer or shorter guide.
A lock nut 25 may be ernployed to resist undesired rotation of the
screw 24.
A cup 26 is formed by an annular wall 27, and has a
i; bottom wall 28. As may be clearly seen from Figs. 2 and 3, the shank
of the screw 24 passes through the bottom wall to engage in the handle,
and the head 24a of the screw clamps the bottom wall against the nut 25.
It is desirable that the diameter of the chamber be several tLmes the
diameter of the tubular guide, and it is also desirable that said chamber,
which is of non-conductive material,be filled with an absorbent material
and soaked with a saline solution or alcohol, or the like, to serve as
a conductor of electrical current.
The electrical wire 22, 23 extends from the handle to -
make an appropriate electrical connection ~ not shown) within the
meter. From the opposite side of the meter a wire 38, 39 leads to
a bracelet-type of electrode designated generally in Figs. 5 and 6,
as 30. The bracelet portion of the electrode is designated as 31, and
the ends of the bracelet are connected between two conductive metal
plates 32 and 33. Screws 34 extend through holes in the flattened
end plates 35 of the bracelet to maintain the bracelet and said plates~
in said assembly. The two plates 32, 33 are formed with a groove,
respectively designated as 36 and 37 in the respective lower and upper
plates, and this groove is dimensioned to clamp on the insulation 39
of the wire 38. It is proposed that the wire 38 be extended beyond
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the insulation so that it will be engaged with the conductive surfaces
of the plates 32, 33. If desired, a soldered connection may also be
employed. A conventional expansion strap is contemplated, but,
of course, any strap that will grip a limb of a patient, human or
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~; animal, will serve.
It may naw be seen that by engaging a bracelet electrode
on the wrist of a patient or limb of an animal, and by tracing either '
the cotton-filled chamber 26 or the tubular electrode 10 over the skin
~; over areas suspected of requiring treatment, the current will pass
from the meter through one electrode or the other, and thence through
- the body of a patient to the other electrode and then back to the meter ` ~ I
where the dial gauge 5 will indicate resistance. Clearly the area can ¦ `
at first be generally located by the larger diameter chamber 26J and
the specific area, should it be a small one, may be narrowed down ~
by subsequent use of the tubular guide. Once the precise area has been ¦
determinedJ a needle 42, having a sharply pointed end may be dropped
into the guide, and tapped in position in the body of a patient without
first having to remove the locator and provide some form of marking ~
or indentation of the skin for a later application of the needle after the ,
locating devlce has been removed.
Obviously, it may require a medically skilled person to
be aware of areas of the body where additional resistance might normally ;
be anticipated, and which would therefore not normally require or ,
benefit from treatment.
It should be noted that the needle 42 is formed with a
shank 43, of greater diameter than the needle itself. It frequently occurs ¦that a needle is tapped into position by a finger tip of the operator,
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and the shank 43 affords a surface which may be tapped.
As may be seen clearly in Figs. 3, 7 and 9, the end
portion 12a of the coil spring lZ is disposed across the end of the
tubular guide 10 so as to engage the needle 42 with the side wall of
said tubular guide. It is proposed to use a spring 12 of adequate re-
silience that the end portion 12a may be yieldably forced to move and
permit passage of the needle shank 43. It is believed clear that the
restraint 12a releasably restrains the needle in a desired position,
but permits ready adjustment of said position. It also, as is desired
for this invention, engages the needle against the wall of the tubular
guide with sufficient firmness to make an adequate electrical contact
therewith.
In Fig. 8, the modified version of the invention has a
rectilinear extent 41 of wire secured to the outer wall of the tubular
guide. Downwardly the wire termina~es in an orcuate section 41b,
also secured to said outer wall. The end portion of wire, extending
across the opening of the tube is designated 41a.
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