Heart valve with two-part base

Claim 1

A heart valve for controlling the flow of blood comprising: base means having inner wall means providing a passage for the flow of blood; valving disc means movably associated with the base means for movement to an open position to allow flow of blood through said passage in one direction and to a closed position to restrict the flow of blood in the opposite direction through said passage, said disc means being free to rotate about its central axis as the disc means moves between its open and closed positions, said disc means having a hole through the central portion thereof and an annular uninterrupted outer peripheral edge; retaining means secured to the base means for holding the disc means in movable assembled relation with the base means, said retaining means including a radially inwardly directed rod having an inward end portion curved into the passage and extended through the hole in the disc means, said rod having a circular cross section and a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the hole thereby allowing blood to flow through the hole and permit limited lateral movement of the disc means relative to the rod, outwardly directed stop means on a portion of the rod intermediate the ends of the rod engaged by the disc means when the disc means is in the full open position, and pivot means on the base means offset from a diameter of the passage and engageable with the disc means for controlling the pivotal movement of the disc means off-center from a diameter of the disc means, said base means having a first annular part and a second annular part having an annular groove accommodating an annular portion of the first part, said first part and second part of the base means having continuous inner annular wall means providing the passage through the base means, and means securing the first part to the second part, said rod being attached to the second part and said pivot means being attached to the first part.