Devices of this type serve to guide the surgical sewing material, starting from a spool of thread, to a surgical needle configured as a rule at least partly as a hollow needle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,808,055 describes a device for guiding surgical sewing material that consists of a gripping portion and a transport device positioned in the gripping portion, by means of which the sewing material can be guided to the needle by forward and backward sliding of a glide shoe. The disadvantage of this known guide device is the fact that the construction of the transport device is very large and in addition operation of the transport device requires some practice.
A generic device, of simpler construction, for guiding surgical sewing material to a needle that has no separate transport device is known in practice. This well-known device consists essentially of a shaft, on whose distal end the needle can be secured, and whose proximal end is configured as a gripping portion equipped with an open guide channel for the sewing material that is to be guided. The sewing material, contained in the guide channel, is guided to the needle by continued sliding of additional sewing material through the proximal end of the shaft into the guide channel. This otherwise very reliable device has the disadvantage that the sewing material pushed forward toward the needle, because of its own stiffness, tends to pile up and to protrude upward out of the guide channel as soon as a slightly greater resistance occurs in the forward area of the sewing material, for instance when it is introduced into the needle. However, as soon as the sewing material protrudes out of the guide channel, further advancement of the sewing material toward the needle is impossible.
On the basis of this situation, it is the aim of the invention to create a device for guiding surgical sewing material to a needle that is of simple construction and ensures reliable transport of the sewing material to the needle.