referring now to the drawings , and particularly to fig1 - 5 , a diathermy treatment apparatus or hand piece of the present invention is indicated in its entirety by reference character 1 . the hand piece includes a housing 3 which may be readily gripped by a surgeon and which may be readily maneuvered and operated in the operating field for carrying out a variety of diathermy treatments with all of the controls ( as will be hereinafter explained in detail ) carried directly on the hand piece so as to facilitate operation of the hand piece by the surgeon without unnecessary detractions , such as the requirement of a foot switch for actuation of the hand piece and the like . more specifically , housing 3 is provided with a removable panel 5 providing access to one or more batteries 7 located within the housing , the batteries constituting a direct current ( dc ) power source for a radio frequency ( rf ) generator located entirely within the housing ( as shown in fig6 ) for supplying a radio frequency oscillatory current to one or more output electrodes ( as will be hereinafter described in detail ) for diathermy treatment . while batteries 7 are herein disclosed to be located within the hand piece housing 3 , it will be understood that within the broader aspects of this invention , the direct current power supply ( e . g ., the batteries or an inverter ) may be located remotely from the hand piece and electrically connected thereto by suitable leads . it will further be appreciated that within the broader aspects of this invention , the radio frequency generator is desirably located within the hand piece so as to minimize capacitance changes , standing wave problems , rf energy interference , and the like between a remotely located radio frequency generator interconnected to the electrodes by long leads , as was heretofore conventional . in other words , it is an object of this invention to reduce , as much as possible , the distance between the radio frequency generator and the electrodes . further , in accordance with this invention , hand piece 1 includes a trigger operated switch 9 readily disposed for operation by the index finger of the surgeon for energization and de - energization of the diathermy apparatus 1 . a rotary switch or potentiometer 11 is provided on the hand piece which may be utilized by the surgeon for varying the power output of the radio frequency generator means in a manner as will be more particularly described in regard to the schematics shown in fig7 and 8 . also , a light indicating diode warning light , as indicated at 12 , is provided for indicating the status of batteries 7 . thus , all necessary controls for the diathermy hand piece of the present invention are carried by the hand piece , and the necessity of a foot actuated switch and long power leads and switch leads are eliminated . referring now to fig2 and 3 , a removable bi - polar electrode probe assembly , as indicated in its entirety at 13a , is provided for being plugged into the end of housing 3 for electrical connection with the radio frequency generator . more specifically , electrode probe 13a is a so - called coaxial electrode probe having a first or central coaxial electrode 15 and a second or outer electrode 17 surrounding the inner electrode 15 . intermediate electrical insulation 19 is provided between the electrodes 15 and 17 . an outer layer of insulation 20 surrounds the outer electrode , and the outer insulation 20 is covered by a stainless steel sheath 21 . the electrode probe assembly 13a has a body portion 23 . male electrode terminals 25a and 25b are , respectively , electrically connected to electrodes 15 and 17 . thus , the electrode assembly 13a may be readily plugged into a socket ( not shown ) in the left - hand end ( as viewed in fig1 ) of housing 3 so as to electrically connect the electrodes 15 and 17 to the radio frequency generator of the hand piece 1 of the present invention in a manner as will hereinafter appear . also , in this manner , electrode probes may be readily changed by the surgeon during surgery without the necessity of complicated disassembly of the apparatus . further , the electrode probes may be readily sterilized in any conventional manner and sealed in a sterile plastic bag or the like until ready for use . referring to fig4 and 5 , an alternative embodiment of the electrode assembly is indicated in its entirety by reference character 13b . more specifically , electrode assembly 13b has a pair of spaced bi - polar tweezer - type electrode forcep tips 27a , 27b extending outwardly and downwardly from the end of the insulative electrode body with a gap g between the electrode tips . this type of electrode assembly is particularly well suited for bi - polar coagulation techniques . while not shown , those skilled in the art will appreciate that a mono - polar electrode probe used in conjunction with a patient grounding mat may be used with the handpiece 1 of the present invention for mono - polar diathermy techniques , including mono - polar coagulation and surgical cutting . referring now to fig6 the basic components of the diathermy hand piece 1 of the present invention are shown in schematic or block diagram form . more particularly , it can be seen that batteries 7 are connected in series via the on / off switch 9 to a radio frequency generator , as indicated in its entirety by reference character 29 . the output ( i . e ., the power ) of radio frequency generator 29 is selectively controlled by means of a rotary potentiometer 11 . further , the output of radio frequency generator 29 is supplied to a pair of female electrical receptacles , as indicated at 31a , 31b , for receiving the electrical terminals 25a , 25b of either electrode assembly 13a or 13b such that the electrode probes may be readily plugged into or removed from receptacles 31a , 31b . referring now to fig7 a first detailed embodiment of the radio frequency generator 29 is illustrated in its entirety by reference character 29a . more particularly , radio frequency generator 29a is so - called self - oscillating flyback converter suitable for driving a higher voltage which utilizes the core characteristics of a transformer 30 to determine the frequency output of the generator . more specifically , a diode d1 , such as an in4148 diode , prevents negative spikes from occurring at the vmos gate of a power transistor q1 . resistor r1 may be , for example , a 100 ohm resistor and is used as a parisitic suppressor . capacitor c1 may , for example , have a capacitive value of about 0 . 1 microfarads . with the transformer shown , such as is commercially available from indiana general of valparaiso , indiana , under the trade designation f626 - 12 - qz , the operating frequency of the frequency generator 29a is about 250 kilohertz . as indicated , the voltage source supplied to one of the terminals may vary between about 3 and 15 volts . accordingly , batteries 7 of the present invention may range from a plurality of aa size conventional alkaline batteries to one or more conventional d size alkaline batteries , depending on the desired power output of the device and the number of repeated operations desired before it is necessary to change the batteries . in fig8 still another embodiment of another radio frequency generator is indicated in its entirety by reference character 29b . generally , batteries 7 are connected in series by means of the selectively operable , on / off switch 9 to an oscillator circuit , as generally indicated at 33 , which generates a square wave at , for example , a frequency of about 500 kilohertz . the outputs of oscillator 33 are driven in opposite polarities and are supplied to output transistors q2 , such as irf532 transistors , commercially available from international rectifiers , el segundo , california , via nand gates 35 and a mos driver 37 with a speed - up rc circuit 39 interposed between the nand gates 35 and the mos driver 37 . a toroid transformer 41 having a toroidal core 43 is driven in a push - pull manner by transistors q2 . more specifically , the toroid transformer 41 has a double primary 45 , with each primary 45 consisting of 7 windings , and a secondary winding 47 having 35 windings . the toriod may , for example , be a type 204t250 - 3c8 , commercially available from ferroxcube of saugerties , new york . the secondary winding 47 of transformer 41 is directly connected to the output terminals 31a and 31b of the hand piece . the power output is controlled by sequentially gating the two nand gates 35 &# 34 ; on &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; off &# 34 ; at a variable duty cycle by means of a variable duty cycle oscillator 49 at a frequency far below the frequency of oscillator 33 . variable duty cycle oscillator 49 comprises two nand gates 51 interconnected to the power output adjustment switch 11 . in actual operation , a hand - held diathermy apparatus 1 of the present invention utilizing the frequency generator power supply , as generally indicated at 8 , was successfully used in opthalmalic operations as a bi - polar coagulator for small blood vessels . this device produced up to 4 watts of power for several short periods up to about 10 seconds each from two standard &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; size alkaline batteries 7 . in other tests , the apparatus delivered about 4 watts of power into a 500 ohm load ( not shown ) which was found to be sufficient for coagulation of small blood vessels . batteries 7 with higher power densities and yet of reasonable physical size and weight are available . for example , two &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; size battery cells , such as model csc933b30 , commercially available from electrochem industries , inc ., of clarence , new york , deliver about 16 watts of power for several short periods of about 10 seconds each . it has been found that this power can fulfill several applications for surgical diathermy . it will be appreciated that if still higher power outputs are required for the radio frequency generator , the battery or dc power supply may be separated from the hand piece and connected to it by lead wires . since only dc current is flowing through the above - mentioned lead wires , the capacitive changes and standing wave phenomena , heretofore disclosed as a problem in regard to prior diathermy apparatus in which the radio frequency generator was located remotely from the hand piece , is eliminated . also , those skilled in the diathermy art will recognize that it will be possible to utilize the hand piece 1 of the present invention as a uni - polar coagulator in which case one of the two output terminals 31a , 31b is attached to a ground plate electrode ( not shown ) in electrical contact with the patient &# 39 ; s body , and the other electrode is connected to the coagulating hand piece . also , by utilizing higher radio frequency energy , for example , about 13 megahertz , a single electrode usable for cutting procedures is feasible . it will also be understood that electrodes 13a or 13b may be readily sterilized in any conventional manner and sealed in a plastic bag or the like ready for use . also , hand piece 1 is preferably made of sanitary construction such that after surgery it may be readily cleaned and sterilized , such as with suitable gas , and sealed in a bag for use . generally , the term &# 34 ; diathermy &# 34 ; is herein used in a broad and not in a limiting sense . for example , it will be appreciated that this apparatus and method may be utilized for conventional diathermy bi - polar and uni - polar coagulation procedures , and for other applications . in particular , the apparatus of this invention , having a radio frequency output ranging between about 1 kilohertz to microwave frequencies , may be utilized for the treatment of living tissues by integrating at least the output stage of the radio frequency generator 29 into the hand piece . it will be further appreciated that when such higher frequency radio frequency energy is utilized ( i . e ., radio frequencies having a wavelength shorter than about 1 meter or less ), many of the standing wave problems typically associated with prior art diathermy apparatus in which the radio frequency generator is located remote from the hand piece and connected thereto by elongate lead wires is eliminated because the distance from the radio frequency generator 29 of the present invention and the electrodes 15 and 17 is considerably less than the wavelength of the radio frequency energy . in view of the above , it will be seen that the other objects of this invention are achieved and other advantageous results obtained . as various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense .
a hand - held or portable diathermy apparatus is disclosed comprising a housing , a battery power supply preferably within the housing , and at least one electrode carried by the housing . the apparatus includes a radio frequency power generator for generating an oscillatory current ranging between about 1 kilohertz and about 20 megahertz , and supplying this oscillatory current to the electrodes . a manually operated switch is carried by the housing for selective energization of the radio frequency generator whereby , upon energization thereof , the apparatus is capable of being cycled several times outputting up to about 20 watts of power for up to 20 seconds or more on each cycle .