Standard (Lamp) Miller Laryngoscope Blade
When developing this blade with Welch Allyn in 1941, Dr. Miller was attempting to overcome four major shortcomings of existing straight blades.
First, was the height of the proximal portion of the blade, which he reduced by compressing the €œC€ shaped cross-section into a modified €œD€ shape. This change helped to prevent dental trauma and allowed intubation of patients with small oral openings.
Second, because most blades were curved distally only at the tip, they did not facilitate lifting of the epiglottis. This problem was solved by starting the curve two inches back from the tip providing a positive lifting action.
Third, existing blade styles were wide distally; this limited the manageability of the instrument, prohibiting intubation. Therefore, the Miller blade was designed with a narrow tip.
Finally, the tongue or base of the Miller blade was rounded to prevent pushing the tongue into the floor of the mouth.
In 1990, Welch Allyn modified the Miller blade to improve its functionality and field of view. First, the blade or tongue of the blade was flattened so that the tongue would be swept aside, rather than compressed. This was implemented due to the present technique of sweeping the tongue rather than compressing. The flat base helps to hold the tongue out of the field of view.
The overall field of view was increased by modifying the cross-sectional area of the blade without altering width or height.
The Standard (Lamp) Miller Laryngoscope Blade is available in six sizes:
- Size 00
- Size 0
- Size 1
- Size 2
- Size 3
- Size 4
Select a size from the drop-down menu in the upper right corner of this page.
Robust Design. Welch Allyn’s laryngoscope design uses a single piece of 304-series stainless steel as its load-bearing member.This one-piece construction of the Welch Allyn blade is more robust than the typical competitive product.Furthermore, its one-piece blade construction eliminates the potentially weaker soldered or brazed joint.
Design Features. Welch Allyn’s innovative design incorporates an easy-to-remove light pipe that eliminates the difficult-to-clean areas of most competitive laryngoscopes.
Removable Light Pipe. Another feature designed to help improve the cleaning of a Welch Allyn blade is its surface finish. Typical laryngoscope finishes have a surface roughness of 32μ in. The surface finish used on all Welch Allyn blades has a roughness of just 8μ in. This creates a surface texture that is approximately four times smoother than competitive blades, resulting in an easier-to-clean, stain-resistant laryngoscope blade. What’s more, the surface finish is not a plating and therefore does not alter the 304-series stainless steel construction of the blade itself.
More Value by Design. There are primarily two causes of reduced light transmission in fiber optic laryngoscopes: fiber optic breakage and epoxy blockage. Light degradation caused by fiber optic breakage will occur in varying degrees in any laryngoscope that is subjected to severe changes in temperature.
- When a fiber optic laryngoscope is steam-sterilized, the heat involved causes the epoxy (used to hold the fibers in place within the fiber optic bundle) to expand and extrude past the end of the light pipe.
- The epoxy cools following the autoclave process and hardens over the optics, blocking light emissions from those fibers. As more and more fibers are blocked, less and less light is emitted and the accuracy of the intubation process may be jeopardized.
FREE Polishing Service. Welch Allyn’s state-of-the-art blade design allows for the removable fiber optic light pipe to be repolished throughout the life of the blade. When the optics are repolished, occluding epoxy is removed from the input and output points of the fiber optic pipe. This restores the light transmission to its optimum level, thus increasing the overall life of the blade. A Welch Allyn light pipe can be repolished three times over its lifetime—and can then be replaced at a fraction of the cost of a complete blade.
Welch Allyn will provide this repolishing service free of cost whenever it is needed over the life of the laryngoscope blades.
Upgradable and Repairable by Design. The removable fiber optic design truly makes Welch Allyn blades the smart choice for you. That’s because this unique design makes our blades the most affordable way to upgrade from standard to fiber optic lighting—while still offering the benefits of one-piece blade construction.
To upgrade to fiber optics, simply replace your current, standard lamp light pipe with the fiber optic pipe.
Welch Allyn Warranty. Welch Allyn laryngoscope blades and handles are guaranteed against all manufacturing defects for the life of the instrument. Welch Allyn will repair or replace, free of charge, any parts of its own manufacture proven to be defective through causes other than misuse, neglect, damage in shipment or normal wear. Every Welch Allyn laryngoscope blade comes with a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects.
Made in the USA |