Surgical needle

Claim 1

A CURVED SCLERAL SURGICAL NEEDLE HAVING AN INNER CONCAVE SURFACE AND AN OUTER CONVEX SURFACE AND ADAPTED FOR OPHTHALMIC USE CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A POINT, A SUTURE ATTACHING MEANS POSITIONED AT THE END OF SAID NEEDLE DISTANT FROM SAID POINT, A PORTION FORMED BY FOUR CUTTING EDGES EXTENDING FROM THE POINT TOWARD SAID SUTURE ATTACHINE MEANS, TWO OF SAID CUTTING EDGES BEING POSITIONED ALONG THE HORIZONTAL MID-LINE OF SAID NEEDLE AND A LOWER CUTTING SUBSTANTIALLY BEYOND AN UPPER AND A LOWER CUTTING EDGE POSITIONED ALONG THE VERTICAL MID-LINE OF SAID NEEDLE, AND HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY RHOMBOIDAL CROSS-SECTION FORMED BY SAID FOUR CUTTING EDGED, A NEXT PORTION BEYOND SAID RHOMBOIDAL CROSS-SECTION HAVING A CROSS-SECTION APPROXIMATELY A HEXAGON, ALL SIDES OF WHICH ARE SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT, THE UPPER SIDE OF SAID HEXAGON FORMING THE INNER CONCAVE SURFACE OF SAID NEEDLE, THE UPPER AND LOWER PARALLEL SIDES OF THE HEXAGON BEING OF SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL LENGTH AND LONGER THAN EACH OF THE REMAINING SUBSTANTIALLY EQUALLY LONG FOUR SIDES, AND THE REMAINING FOUR SIDES FORMING TWO OPPOSED EDGES ALONG THE HORIZONTAL MID-LINE OF SAID NEEDLE, A NEXT PORTION BEYOND SAID HEXAGONAL CROSS-SECTION HAVING A CROSS-SECTION APPROXIMATELY A RECTANGLE, ALL SIDES OF WHICH ARE SUBSTANTIALLY STRAIGHT, SAID NEEDLE BEING OF GREATER WIDTH THAN DEPTH AND SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT THROUGHOUT ITS LENGTH FROM SAID RHOMBOIDAL CROSS-SECTION TO SAID SUTURE ATTACHING MEANS, AND SAID NEEDLE TAPERING INWARDLY FROM THE WIDEST PORTION THEREOF FORMED BY SAID HEXAGONAL CROSS-SECTION HORIZONTAL MID-LINES UP TO SAID SUTURE ATTACHING MEANS.