Forceps

Claim 1

Obstetrical forceps comprising: two non-crossing tong parts, each said part having a baby head engaging tong spoon, and a tong leg providing a handle disposed to be gripped by a user's hand; said handles being mutually engageable to define the minimum distance between said tong spoons; manually engageable and disengageable hinge means operable to hingedly connect said legs of said two parts, comprising a first member carried by one of said tong legs, and a second member carried by the other of said tong legs, said members being adapted to telescopically engage one another, said hinge means being located at the ends of said tong legs remote from said tong spoons; and bracing means received in a mounting groove in one of said leg handles for longitudinal movement with respect to said tong leg handle, said bracing means including a portion disposed between said tong parts to be engageable with a surface of the other tong leg handle and a portion exposed for engagement by a user's hand gripping said leg handles, said bracing means thereby operable to adjustably fix a minimum distance between the tong legs, and thus the tong spoons of said two tong parts, said bracing means being moveable generally away from said hinge means to effect relative closure of said tong spoons; the other of said legs defining an interlocking groove, said bracing means including retaining means for engaging said interlocking groove, whereby said tong parts facilitate manual hinge means engagement and tong spoon separation adjustment without the user removing his hands from said handles after insertion of the tong spoons into a body cavity.