Disposable hand piece for surgical lasers

Claim 1

A disposable hand piece for controlling and directing the application of a laser beam produced by a laser powered by an electrical power source and transmitted through an optical fiber connected to said laser and encased in a sheath, comprising: (a) an elongated body having a leading end and a trailing end, comprising: (i) a plastic molded top portion having a pair of opposed resiliently outwardly biased side panels at the leading end thereof; (ii) a plastic molded bottom portion having a pair of notches formed in opposed sides thereof for receiving said side panels, said top portion being shaped to nest in said bottom portion behind the leading end thereof; (iii) said top and bottom portions being secured together to form said body and providing: (aa) a bore extending through said body, said optical fiber encased by said sheath being mounted in said bore; (bb) a cavity within said body intermediate the length thereof; and (cc) in a leading portion of said bottom portion forward of said cavity, means anchoring the leading end of said optical fiber encased by said sheath; and (b) a pressure-sensitive switch mounted in said cavity between said panels and including electrical contacts positioned for being actuated by depressing either of said panels inwardly while holding said hand piece; and (c) electrical leads extending from said switch through said sheath encasing said optical fiber and branching from said sheath to said power source enabling said laser beam to be switched on and off by means of depressing either of said panels to actuate said switch while holding said hand piece.