Disposable safety syringe

• US 20030004468A1
• Filed: 06/28/2002
• Published: 01/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nardino Righi, Roberto Rossi, Sergio Restelli
• Original Assignee: Nardino Righi, Roberto Rossi, Sergio Restelli
• Inventors: Rossi, Roberto, Righi, Nardino, Restelli, Sergio
• Application Number:
  US10/183,434
• Publication Number:
  US 20030004468A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/243
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2005/3231 Proximal end of needle captured or embedded inside piston head, e.g. by friction or hooks
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2005/3235 triggered by radial deflection of the anchoring parts between needle mount and syringe barrel or needle housing, e.g. spreading of needle mount retaining hooks having slanted surfaces by engagement with correspondingly shaped surfaces on the piston at the end of an injection stroke
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2005/3241 Needle retraction energy is accumulated inside of a hollow plunger rod
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/3234 Fully automatic needle retraction, i.e. in which triggering of the needle does not require a deliberate action by the user
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 5/508 Means for preventing re-use by disrupting the piston seal, e.g. by puncturing

Abstract

A disposable syringe (100; 200) comprises:

a syringe body (1) hollow on the inside and open at the front and the rear,

a plunger (40) sliding inside the syringe body (1) with an injection stroke extending from a retracted syringe-filling position to a forward syringe-emptying position, said plunger (40) being provided at the rear with a shaft (50) which can be operated manually and brought out of the syringe body through the rear end thereof,

an injection needle (10) integral with a needle carrier (11) attachable to the fore end (2) of the syringe body (1) and

hooking means (60), operatively connected to the shaft (50) of the plunger, able to hook said needle-carrier (11) to pull it inside the syringe body,

The needle-carrier (11) comprising first engagement means able to engage with the fore end of the syringe body and second engagement means able to engage with the hooking means.

Claims

1. A disposable syringe (100;

200) comprising;

a syringe body (1) hollow on the inside and open at the front and rear,

a plunger (40) sliding inside the syringe body (1) with an injection stroke extending from a retracted syringe-filling position to a forward syringe-emptying position, said plunger (40) being provided at the rear with a shaft (50) which can be manually operated and brought out of the syringe body through the rear end thereof,

an injection needle (10) integral with a needle-carrier (11) attachable to the fore end (2) of the syringe body (11) and

hooking means (60) operatively connected to said shaft (50) of the plunger, able to hook said needle-carrier (11) to pull it inside the syringe body;

characterized in that

said needle-carrier (11) comprises first engagement means able to engage to the front end of the syringe body and second engagement means able to engage with said hooking means (60).

2. A syringe according to claim 1, characterized in that said first engagement means of said needle-carrier are a first pair of opposed tongues (13) and said second engagement means of said needle-carrier are a second pair of opposed tongues (16).

3. A syringe according to claim 2, characterized in that said tongues (13, 16) protrude rearward and longitudinally from a cylindrical block (12) to which the needle (10) is fixed, said tongues being disposed around an axial hollow space (14) and being separated from each other by longitudinal slots, so as to be able to bend radially inward or outward.

4. A syringe according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that each tongue (13) of said pair of tongues has a groove or notch (15) able to be engaged by a collar (5) provided in the inner surface of said head (2) and each tongue (16) of said second pair of tongues having an abutment surface (17) able to engage with a retaining surface (63) provided in said hooking means (60).

5. A syringe according to claim 4, characterized in that

each of said tongues (13) of the first pair has at its end a tapered outer surface (19) which delimits said groove (15)

each of said tongues (16) of the second pair has at its end a tapered outer surface (18) which delimits said abutment surface (17), and

said hooking means have a cavity (66) with an inner tapered surface (68) which delimits said retention surface (64)

said tapered outer surface (19) of the tongues (13) able to slide on the inner tapered surface (68) of said hooking means (60) to cause inward bending of the said first pair of tongues (13) to release the groove (15) from the collar (5) of the syringe body, and said outer tapered surfaces (18) of the tongues (16) able to slide on the inner tapered surface (68) of said hooking means (60) to cause inward bending of the second pair of tongues (13) and to cause engagement of said abutment surface (17) of the tongues (16) with said retaining surface (64) of the hooking means (60).

6. A syringe according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said hooking means comprise a hooking device (60) disposed slidably inside said shaft (50) to pass from a forward position in which its fore part can engage with said needle-carrier (11) to hook it, to a retracted position in which said hooking device conveys the needle-carrier and the needle inside said shaft.

7. A syringe according to claim 6, characterized in that it further comprises:

elastic means (30) disposed between said shaft (50) and said hooking device (60), said elastic means being loaded when said hooking device is in its forward position; and

operating means (70;

270) able to lock said hooking device in its forward position and release said hooking device to allow retraction thereof into the retracted position through the action of the elastic means.

8. A syringe according to claim 7, characterized in that said shaft (50) has an internally hollow cylindrical body (54) and said hooking device (60) has a substantially cylindrical body with a front seat (66) able to engage with said needle-carrier (11) to hook it and a rear collar (61) having a greater diameter than the body able to slide inside said hollow cylindrical body (54) of said shaft, said elastic means (30) being a helicoidal spring disposed around said hooking device (60), inside said cylindrical body (54) of said shaft and compressed between a collar (53) disposed at the front in said body of the shaft and said collar (61) disposed at the rear in said hooking device.

9. A syringe according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that said operating means (70) are a lever pivoted in said shaft (50) said lever having a first end (72) able to engage with said hooking device (60) to lock it and a second end (74;

174) able to be operated to cause release of said first end (72) from the hooking device.

10. A syringe according to claim 9, characterized in that said shaft (50) has longitudinal walls (56) protruding outward from said body (54) disposed substantially parallel to each other, each of said walls comprising a hole or seat for a pivot (56), said holes (56) being disposed coaxially in a transverse direction to receive the two ends of a pivot (72) disposed transversally in said lever (70), said pivot (72) dividing the lever (70) into a first arm (75) disposed at the front and a second arm (76) disposed a the rear, said first arm (75) being slightly oblique with respect to said second arm (76) and said body (54) of the shaft having a longitudinal slot (59) disposed between said two parallel walls (55) able to allow the passage of said first arm (75) of the lever (70).

11. A syringe according to claim 10, characterized in that said first arm (75) of said lever has a rounded end (72) able to engage in an annular seat (62) provided in the end of said collar (61) of the hooking device (60) to lock it in position.

12. A syringe (100) according to any one of claims 7 to 12, characterized in that said operating means (70) have automatic release means operated automatically to release said hooking device (60), when the plunger (40) reaches the end of stroke after having performed the injection, said automatic release means being an outward protruding cam surface (74), provided at the rear end of said second arm (76) of said lever (70), able to engage with the rear end of said body (1) of the syringe, when the plunger (40) reaches the end of stroke, generating a rotation of the lever (70) around the axis of the pivot (71) so that the front end (72) of the first arm (75) of the lever releases the hooking device (60).

13. A syringe (200) according to any one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that said operating means (270) comprise manual release means, operated manually by the operator to release said hooking device (60), said manual release means being an inwardly protruding tooth (274), provided at the rear end of said second arm (76) of said lever (270), able to be operated manually by the operator to generate a rotation of the lever (270) around the axis of the pivot (71) so that the front end (72) of the first arm (75) of the lever releases the hooking device (60).

14. A syringe according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said hooking means are formed integrally in the head (51) of said shaft (50) and comprise engagement means (63) able to engage with said second engagement means (16) of said needle-carrier.