Squeeze motion to rotary motion tilt head driver

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention provides a tool which converts squeeze motion to rotary motion and with a head tiltable to various anges to accommodate access to sites.
A novel cable drive mechanism is employed and one-way turning is provided so that continuous resetting of the tool in the socket to be driven is not required.
Such action is particularly desirable in situations where many rotations of the head may be required, and removal and reinsertion of the head into the screw slot on each turn is undesirable.
While the present invention has utility in many fields, it finds specific utility in surgical fieds where, for example, it is desired to fasten a prosthetic implant into or onto adjacent bones.
For example, in out U.
S.
Pat.
No.
4,636,217, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, a spinal implant prosthetic insert for implementation into a void in the spinal column in place of a diseased or injured vertabra is disclosed.
The insert is rigidly fixed in place with bone screws that will screw into the adjacent upper and lower vertabrae after the insert has been positioned in place.
The driving shafts which cause the screws to move into the upper and lower bones are often awkward to reach with standard driving tools.
Furthermore, the drive mechanism between the driving shafts and the screws requires a large number of turns before the screws are fully in place.
With standard tools, this can be difficult and rather exhausting.
With the present invention, the screws or other rotatable fasteners can be accessed quite easily by tilting the head of the present invention to the proper position and inserting the driver into or around the fastener.
After the driver has been properly connected to the fastener, it only takes further squeezing motions of the handles to provide one-way rotary motion of the driver.
Thus, in the surgical use discussed above, the screws may be set in the upper and lower bones with simple squeezing motions much more easily than has been permitted with the prior art devices