Low wear bearing for a surgical retractor

Claim 1

In a rack and pinion type retractor having: a rack having teeth to accept and cooperate with a pinion; a pinion; a first arm attached to and extending to one side of said rack; a second arm extending to the same side of said rack; housing means connected to said second arm for receiving said rack and supporting said pinion; said rack and pinion operating to separate said arms and retract tissue: the improvement comprising: means operatively connected to said rack and said housing means, to limit the rotation of said housing means with respect to said rack when said arms are moved apart to retract tissue to reduce the resulting contact stresses between the rack and the housing means including: at least two force distributing means mounted on said housing means and including at least three bearings each having a generally cylindrical base and a generally rectangular portion projecting from said base; with two of said bearings disposed on one side of said rack with one of said bearings disposed on the opposite side of said rack; said housing means having generally cylindrical recessess therein to receive, in loose fitting rotatable relationship, each of said bearings respectively with the bearings on the same side of said rack spaced longitudinally along said rack; said rack having a slot on opposed sides thereof aligned with said recesses to receive said rectangular portions from the bearings.