Laser surgical knife

Claim 2

A laser surgical knife comprising: a laser oscillator for outputting laser rays; an attachment means of said laser surgical knife which is held by an operating surgeon's hand for irradiating laser rays from said laser oscillator on an affected operation area; a manually operated adjusting means electrically connected to said laser oscillator for adjusting its output power, said adjusting means including a plurality of manually operated switches which are mounted on said attachment means of said laser surgical knife; a laser beam outlet shutter means operatively connected to and controlled by one of said plurality of manually operated switches, said shutter means having an open position for passing said beam to said attachment means and a closed position for preventing passage of said beam to said attachment means; wherein said adjusting means includes a control means for permitting the activation of said oscillator only when said shutter means is closed and for permitting changes in said output power of said laser oscillator by the manual operation of said plurality of manually operated switches only relative to a preset normal mode output power and within preset safe operating limits.

Claim 3

A laser surgical knife as recited in claim 1, wherein said attachment means has said plurality of switches contained therein, said plurality of switches including a switch for operating said shutter means, a power-up switch and a power-down switch for respectively increasing and decreasing said output power of said laser oscillator, and wherein said control means is arranged such that if both said power-up and power-down switches are simultaneously operated, then said output power of said laser oscillator is kept at said preset normal mode power output.

Claim 4

A laser surgical knife as recited in claim 2, including a first inverter, wherein said switch for operating said shutter means is operatively connected to said shutter means by said first inverter and wherein said manually operated adjusting means includes a power-up means and a power-down means for respectively increasing and decreasing said output power of said laser oscillator in response to said power-up and power-down switches and a normal power means for setting said power output of said laser oscillator at its preset normal mode output power; and a first three-input AND gate and a second inverter, wherein said power-up means has an output of said three-input AND gate connected to its input, one input of said and gate being connected to an output of said first inverter and another input of which is connected to said power-up switch through said second inverter and another input of which is connected to said power-down switch; and a second three-input AND gate and a third inverter, wherein said power-down means has an output of said second three-input AND gate connected to its input, one input of said second AND gate being connected to said output of said first inverter and another input of which is connected to said power-up switch and another input of which is connected to said power-down switch through said third inverter; and a two-input AND gate, a fourth inverter and a two-input exclusive OR gate, wherein said normal power means has an output of said two-input AND gate connected to its input, one input of said two-input AND gate being connected to said output of said first inverter and the other input of which is connected to an output of said fourth inverter whose input is connected an output of said two-input exclusive-OR gate whose inputs are respectively connected to the outputs of said second inverter and said third inverter.