Heart valve with two valving members

Claim 1

A heart valve for controlling the flow of blood comprising: base means having a passage with a blood inlet side and a blood outlet side through which blood can flow; a pair of valving disc means located generally within said passage for controlling the flow of blood through said passage, said disc means being the only obstruction to the flow of blood in said passage, each of said pair of valving disc means being smaller than said passage and movable to closed oppositely inclined positions to restrict the flow of blood through the passage in one direction and movable to open generally parallel positions to permit the flow of blood through the passage in the direction opposite the one direction, each of said valving disc means having opposite sides and an axis about which the valving disc means is free to rotate; and retaining means cooperating with the base means and valving disc means to hold the valving means in free floating relationship with the base means and retaining means, said retaining means having a first means on one side of said base and a second means on the other side of said base, said first means including members having two symmetrical pairs of interior guide surfaces to control coordinated transitory movement of the valving disc means and with the base means allow the valving disc means freedom to rotate about their axes as they move between the open and closed positions, one pair of interior guide surfaces cooperating with one valving disc means and the other pair of interior guide surfaces cooperating with the other valving disc means, said first means locating the valving disc means when in the open generally parallel positions in locations where blood flows adjacent the opposite sides of the valving disc means whereby blood washes the opposite sides of the valving disc means, said second means including means cooperable with the first means to locate the disc means in the passage.