Veterinary surgical tool for enlarging the pelvic girdle of a heifer during parturition

Claim 1

A veterinary surgical tool for performing a sagittal section through the pelvic floor of a heifer to allow enlargement of the pelvic girdle during parturition, comprising: an elongated shank having a sufficient length between a forward end and a rearward end to allow insertion of the forward end through the pelvic girdle with the rearward end extending rearwardly clear of the heIfer; a hook-shaped section of the shank located at the forward end having a rearwardly facing surface formed thereon for engaging an anterior portion of the pelvic floor along a sagittal plane; a knife edge formed along the rearwardly facing surface protruding radially outwardly from the shank a distance substantially equal to the vertical thickness of the pelvic floor; an abutment flange fixed to the shank adjacent the rearward end; impact means operatively connected to the shank for manual longitudinal movement along a longitudinal shank axis and for forcible impaction against the abutment flange to create a reaction force against the shank directed rearwardly along the shank axis sufficient to draw the knife edge rearwardly through the pelvic floor, thereby effecting a sagittal section of the pelvic floor and allowing enlargement of the pelvic girdle; and aligning means operatively interconnecting the shank and the impact means for maintaining the impact means and shank in angular alignment with each other to enable an operator to manipulate the knife edge angularly about the longitudinal shank axis by angularly rotating the impact means about the longitudinal shank axis, and to maintain the knife edge in a fixed angular orientation when the impact means is held angularly stationary thereby enabling the operator to accurately position the knife edge against the pelvic floor and to hold that position during the sectioning operation.