Gripping Force Test

We have completed the testing for the gripping force of the various forceps devices. For each device, the forceps was clamped onto a Tekscan 6900 model sensor (Tekscan, Inc. South Boston, MA) which was encompassed with a latex sleeve. The pressure saturation for the sensor was 1100 pound per square inch and data was collected and analyzed with I-scan (Tekscan Inc., South Boston, MA) software. Prior to testing, the new sensor was conditioned initially by applying known compressive forces with an Instron 8521S servohydraulic load frame (Instron Corp., Canton MA). Then, a two-point linear calibration was performed with the I-scan software. Six trials were then recorded for each device to determine the maximum gripping force for each forceps.
A picture of the test set-up was taken (Figure 1). Table 1 contains the raw data results for the four forceps devices. The average maximum gripping force was 1.2 ± 0.2 N for the LASCHAL® PLAF, 35.8 ± 2.8 for the Laschal Castroviejo, 38.9 ± 1.4 for the Geistar Castroviejo, and 7.2 ± 1.2 for the Jarit Cardio-Grip. Figures 2-5 display typical schematics from the I-scan software for each device.

Table 1:

Results for gripping force testing of various non-traumatic forceps devices in Newtons

Figure 1:

Overall photograph of the test set up

Figure 2:

I-scan schematic on the gripping pressure of the LASCHAL® PLAF

Figure 3:

I-scan schematic on the gripping pressure of the LASCHAL® Castroviejo

Figure 4:

I-scan schematic on the gripping pressure of the Geistar Castroviejo

Figure 5:

I-scan schematic on the gripping pressure of the Jarit Cardio-Grip