Articles, kits and methods adapted for facilitating adjustability of operative apparatuses

Inventors

Gilkey, Mitchell Ross • Cohen, Alexander Ross

Assignees

ClearCam Inc

Abstract

Embodiments of the disclosures made herein are directed to facilitating adjustability of operative apparatuses. More specifically, embodiments of the disclosures made herein are directed to mitigating adverse implications of having to adjust a control portion of an operative apparatus to a user-defined setting that is not otherwise a predefined setting position of the control portion. Such adverse implications may arise, for example, due to the time required for performing such adjustment with a required degree of precision. Thereby, such embodiments serve to mitigate, if not eliminate, that manner in which adjusting the control portion of the operative apparatus to the user-defined setting during a procedure can undesirably and/or unacceptably limit efficiency and/or effectiveness of the procedure.

Core Innovation

The disclosure describes kits and methods to facilitate adjustability of an imaging element cleaning apparatus for use with a visualization scope by mitigating efficiency/effectiveness loss when adjusting a control portion to a non-predefined user setting. An imaging element cleaning apparatus is provided with a control body translatably attached to a chassis, enabling movement of the control body between a fully retracted position and a fully displaced position relative to the chassis along an axial reference axis.

When the control body is in the fully displaced position, an imaging element surface of the visualization scope is axially spaced away from a cleaning member by an offset distance. The cleaning member is fixedly coupled to the control body so that axial translation of the control body between the fully retracted position and the fully displaced position correspondingly causes axial translation of the cleaning member between a stowed position and a fully extended position.

One or more spacer bodies limit axial travel by providing a spacer-limited amount of axial displacement of the control body relative to the chassis. A spacer width is selected to be greater than the offset distance and less than the width of each other spacer body so the spacer bodies act as travel limiters for achieving a correct offset relative to the imaging element surface. Sterile packaged kits are described that include the cleaning apparatus together with spacer sets in separate containment spaces, enabling the apparatus to be adapted for use with the visualization scope using the spacer-limited displacement.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim set covers 2 inventive features: an axially translatable control body fixedly coupled to a cleaning member to define an offset distance, and selection and engagement of a spacer body from a set based on spacer-body width relative to the offset distance to provide a spacer-limited amount of axial displacement.

Overall, the claims focus on an axially translatable control body coupled to a cleaning member to define an offset distance relative to an imaging element surface, and on selecting and engaging a spacer body from a set to impose spacer-limited axial displacement relative to the chassis.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications