Bowman Medical

THE DESIGN CHALLENGE

We were approached to design a disposable, single use, speculum device for medical professionals to use on women living in third world countries, to check against cervical cancer.

The original speculum design dating back to the 1840’s, was not designed with comfort in mind.  The one used today still looks almost identical to the one used more than 180 years ago!

The chosen concept design needed to consider ergonomics and cost to offer better advantages over the competition, so that they were able to seek investment for funding clinical trials and tooling.

THE DESIGN SOLUTION

Working closely with the Gynaecology department at De Montfort University, we were briefed how the speculum operates and the objectives of the project. Together, we developed key protectable IP features which resulted in a patent application.

Important considerations were technical plastic design for the mechanisms, electronics, disposability and disassembly after use and hygiene control.

Deliverables

  • Medical Intellectual Property, copyrights and patent meetings
  • Concept CAD
  • Product renders for Sales and Marketing literature
  • Fully engineered drawings for injection moulding
  • Producing business investor funding pack
  • Liaising with medical professionals