| CPC A61B 17/135 (2013.01) [A61B 2017/00548 (2013.01); A61B 2017/00557 (2013.01); A61B 2017/12004 (2013.01)] | 16 Claims |

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1. A pneumatic tourniquet, comprising:
a) an inflatable strap adapted to receive pressurized gas and to be wrapped around a wounded limb to provide a desired hemorrhage suppressing force;
b) a flexible sealing element; and
c) a constricting device cooperating with a free end of said strap in such a way that said free end is unrestrainably displaceable within said constricting device until being clamped thereby when said strap is sufficiently tensioned to transmit the hemorrhage suppressing force,
wherein said constricting device comprises a housing member and a rocker rotatably mounted onto, and within, said housing member by a longitudinally extending axle, said rocker being configured to be angularly displaced about said axle until a surface of said rocker is set in clamping relation with a clamping edge of said housing member while said strap is interposed between said rocker surface and said clamping edge, in response to a force applied by the wounded limb onto said rocker when said strap is sufficiently tensioned,
wherein a clamping force applied by said rocker surface and said clamping edge onto said sealing element prevents flow of the pressurized gas from a circumferential pressure applying section of said strap which is wrapped around the wounded limb to said free end, causing said strap free end to be considerably thinner than said circumferential pressure applying section;
d) a casing which contains a puncture unit housing with which a gas cartridge filled with pressurized gas is coupled, a puncture pin that terminates with a pointed end, and an outlet port; and
e) means external to the casing for drivingly contacting said puncture pin by an amplified activation force to an inwardly displaced position at which the pointed end of said puncture pin punctures a puncturable cover normally sealing said gas cartridge, causing the pressurized gas to be discharged from the gas cartridge and flow via said outlet port to an interior of the inflatable strap.
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