Medical/surgical lavage unit with a control assembly that can be set to a momentary on state or a constant on state

1. A lavage unit including:

a handpiece;

an irrigation tube that extends from a source of irrigating fluid to said handpiece;

a tip assembly that extends forward from said handpiece, said tip assembly including an irrigation tube that is connected to said handpiece irrigation tube through which the irrigating fluid is discharged;

a pump that is selectively actuatable for forcing irrigating fluid through said tip assembly irrigation tube; and

a control assembly for regulating the actuation of said pump, said control assembly including a trigger that is moveably mounted to said handpiece and that is manually actuated for controlling the actuation of said pump; wherein:

said control assembly and said trigger are collectively configured so that said trigger has: a first position in which said control assembly holds said pump in an off state; a second position in which said control assembly causes said pump to go into an on state wherein said trigger transitions from the first position to the second position when a manual force is applied to said trigger and, upon the removal of the manual force, returns to the first position; and a third position in which said control assembly actuates said pump and wherein once said trigger is moved to the third position, said trigger remains in the third position until a disengaging force is applied to said trigger to move said trigger to at least one of the first position or the second position.

2. The lavage unit of claim 1 , wherein:

said control assembly includes a biasing member that applies a force to said trigger to hold said trigger in the first position; and

when said trigger is in the second position, said biasing member applies a force against said trigger to, in the absence of another force, return said trigger to the first position; and

when said trigger is in the third position, said trigger engages a complementary component integral with said handpiece that holds said trigger in the third position.

3. The lavage unit of claim 2 , wherein said biasing member is integrally formed with said trigger.

4. The lavage unit of claim 1 , wherein:

a handpiece suction tube extends from said handpiece to a suction source; and

said tip assembly includes a suction tube that is connected to said handpiece suction tube through which a suction is drawn.

5. The lavage unit of claim 1 , wherein said pump is disposed in said handpiece.

6. The lavage unit of claim 5 , wherein a motor for driving said pump is disposed in said handpiece.

7. The lavage unit of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said handpiece or said tip assembly includes a feature that facilitates the removable attachment of said tip assembly to said handpiece.

8. The lavage unit of claim 4 , wherein said irrigation tube of said tip assembly is disposed in said suction tube of said tip assembly.

9. The lavage unit of claim 8 , wherein said irrigation tube of said tip assembly is disposed in said suction tube of said tip assembly so that said irrigation tube is centered on a longitudinal axis that is laterally spaced from a longitudinal axis of said suction tube.

10. The lavage unit of claim 4 , wherein:

said tip assembly is formed so that said suction tube and said irrigation tube ( 750 ) each have a distal end; and

a spray shield extends forward from said tip assembly, said spray shield having a head that defines a void space located forward of said distal ends of said suction tube and said irrigation tube.

11. The lavage unit of claim 10 , wherein said spray shield is removably attached to said tip assembly.

12. The lavage unit of claim 1 , wherein said control assembly includes a component for regulating the operating rate of said pump.